Megan Hazen

I haven't had a chance to look at this too in depth yet, but, it looks like it could be very interesting:
http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

My cold has been giving me breathing issues, so i took the bus yesterday and today.
( stuff about taking the bus )

I wanted to mention, though, that capitalism is working on our oil issues. This summer gas prices finally got high enough that people started responding. Bike stores are sold out of bikes (used bikes are particularly hard to come by), and the buses are packed. People are really starting to figure out alternatives to driving their single occupancy cars. The most wondrous thing is that economics are also working on the supply, and oil prices have started to drop.

I've been saying for a while that what we need is to increase gas prices, not decrease them. People need to start thinking about alternatives, and clearly they need the financial incentive to do that. I'm rather thrilled with these developments.

(And, yes, i know, its a regressive demand issue. There are people out there who really are being hurt by the higher oil prices, and who don't have the option to modify their cars or commuting options. People are being hit by higher costs for food and other consumables related to gas prices, and some of those people can ill afford those increases. I get that. Still, i'd rather see those people be helped out by a capitalist driven decrease in oil prices, or other means entirely, than an artificial influx or more oil.)

Especially given all of that, I am vehemently against increasing our oil supply by opening up new oil reserves. I think that would be a temporary solution to a huge problem. I think it would harm our environment directly, while only delaying the need for different solutions to our energy issues. I think forcing people to become creative to find those solutions by allowing the oil prices to stay high has very little downside (exception noted in parenthesis above). The higher gas prices mean that people are walking or biking, which is a healthy habit for most people to adopt. It means they are using transportation options that are less harmful to the environment, and that they are more likely to support or adopt newly developed technologies. This is all good.

Honestly, even if oil prices come down, i'd like to see auto-fuel prices remain elevated. Although i know that is a pipe dream only likely to be supported by a city-dwelling bike enthusiast like myself!

In short, though, this issue of oil is important to me. It is a big reason that i favor Obama over McCain.

I must admit that i've been largely ignoring politics, so this came as a surprise to me:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2008146283_apcvnmccainveepstakes.html


However, i'm excited about it.  I suppose i could be worried because i think it might legitimately improve McCain's chances of getting elected, and i wish for Obama to win.  However, i'm thrilled that we have a woman on one of the tickets.  Now i'm going to go have to read about this person and see what i think of her...

I thought Biden was a good choice, and i understood the reasons for choosing him.  But, Palin is a bit more exciting (at least at the outset) to me.  Also, may i say, excellent game strategy.

Feel free to discuss.  I'm pretty ignorant these days, so i could probably use some argument.