Glassbooth

In my previous post, I mentioned Project Vote Smart. Another useful site for voters is Glassbooth. Glassbooth lets you compare the presidential candidates against your views on those issues most important to you. Check it out!

Project Vote Smart

James Madison wrote "A people that mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power that knowledge brings." For those voters who want more and better information than what can be gleaned from TV commercials, check out Project Vote Smart (http://votesmart.org or 1-888-VOTE-SMART). Vote Smart provides a wealth of unbiased information about federal and state political candidates. The service is free.

Experience? Good or bad?

One of Hillary Clinton's mantras during her primary campaign against Barack Obama was her claim of being more experienced in governing. If that claim is worth anything, then why was her campaign so dysfunctional as compared to his?

Many others are offering their analyses of "What went wrong," but I'll mention a few obvious ones:

His lips are moving...

On tonight's NBC nightly news, Richard Engel asked President Bush about the impact of requiring extra tours of duty from our soldiers. Bush answered by stating that those soldiers volunteered for those extra tours.

Later in the show, Jim Miklasewski reported on the large number of soldiers who have been forced to delay their exits from military service by stop-loss orders, which force them to stay for additional tours after they should have been done with their service. At least 58,000 men and women have had their military careers extended by stop-loss orders.

Incredible.

Avoid Boscov's Department Stores

Boscov's Department Stores use opt-out instead of opt-in for their e-mail advertising. A few days ago, I received a message from them at a temporary throw-away e-mail address. The message read, in part:

DEAR VALUED BOSCOV'S CUSTOMER:

boscovs.com would like to send you periodic e-mails filled with valuable promotions.

In the future, we would like to send you information and offers that we know our customers find valuable.
...

Straight Talk Express Needs an Alignment

In 2000, I thought John McCain would make a good President. Among other things, I admired his apparent willingness to say what he thought regardless of whose feathers he might ruffle. His Straight Talk Express symbolized the idea.

We're number last! We're number last!

Researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine ranked the U.S. last among 19 leading industrialized countries in deaths that could have been prevented by access to timely and effective healthcare. You can read the Reuters article or visit the school's site for the actual report.

Here are responses from some of our politicians:

Texas: the Death Star State

The Associated Press reports on a man freed after 26 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. This is the 15th case since 2001 in which a Dallas County inmate has been freed by DNA evidence.

Poor Design, Wasted Time

One of my pet peeves is poor web site design and implementation. Here's one example of screwing it up multiple ways.

The Entertainment book offers 2-for-1 dining coupons and other types of discounts. I've purchased the book in past years, although I tried something else last year. Entertainment is now offering their 2008 books at a reduced price, so I decided to buy one. Most online purchases are easily done in a couple minutes. Not so here.

A Good News Day

Anybody who says the media never publishes good news obviously missed The Today Show today. Within about 30 minutes, the show broadcast three separate good news stories:

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