Saturday, October 11th - my voting day

My early voting ballot is here. Tomorrow I'm going to sit down and (most likely) vote a straight Democratic ticket - with the exception that no incumbent in the City of Scottsdale is going to get my vote. By Monday morning I will have mailed it.

Joe Arpaio again as Sheriff? You've got to be kidding. That guy shouldn't be running *anything* much less a law-enforcement agency. His ads on local cable (which thankfully I only see at the gym) show him receiving the Arizona Republic and then throwing it in the trash immediately - referring to it as the LIBERAL MEDIA?

WTF? The AZ Republic(an) is LIBERAL? He must be smoking something he seized to have that idea.

He may well get re-elected but it won't be because of me.

The economy is just... well, crap. I sold all my retirement funds and stock positions in 2003 when I moved to Uruguay and I have to say - right now I'm feeling pretty OK with that decision. A greedy American Express financial adviser had already lost 1/3 of the value so why not?

I may buy back into the market just before the election - I think that will be the all-time-low for a lot of stocks.

The negativity of the McSame campaign shocks me (but only a little). When you don't have anything to be FOR, or its so volatile how much the candidate is erratically changing his mind - he really doesn't have much option but to go negative. If TJ Maxx in Seattle (I doubt they have locations in Juneau, AK or Anchorage, AK) sold Prada - Palin would have bought it there. (On the other hand anyone who shopped TJ Maxx has had their credit card details stolen due to the abject stupidity of the management of that retail chain!)

Palin - OMFG what a self-righteous bitch. Her silly pentecostal religion is going to bite her in the ass (two words about Pentecostals in high places: 'John Ashcroft') - along with the outcome of the investigation into her interference as governor w/r/t/ the job of that state trooper who divorced a family member. If McCain was smart (not really possible due to the pre-embalming process he appears to have undergone, VERY visible on HDTV) he'd quietly dump Palin and get Tina Fey from Saturday Night Live as his running mate. Looks the same and would do far less harm.

At the root of it - neither candidate will do a damn thing. It's not in their personal or party best interests. Since 1988, again in 1992, again in 1996, again in 2000 and again in 2004 - we heard a bunch of crap from both sides about how healthcare and social security would be fixed. Not going to happen in my lifetime. Hell, I was at my doctor's office this morning and they had their usual posting up about whether lunch would be catered by one of the Big Pharmaceutical companies. Apparently today - YES, it would be. Seems to be the case everytime I'm there.

America 2008 is a very fucked up place. Will it get "fixed"? I don't know. The Roman Empire eventually collapsed and "fixed" a lot of its problems. It's the only "fix" I see in sight. Meanwhile out of fear I continue to pay taxes and look forward to retiring offshore.