Tag: news (Page 6 of 9)

Required Reading – Vaccines

October 28, 2009 / DB

Below is a link to an article I think all parents should read. It addresses a very important subject I think many of us have some fears about.

An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All

To be clear, there is no credible evidence to indicate that any of this is true. None. Twelve epidemiological studies have found no data that links the MMR (measles/mumps/rubella) vaccine to autism; six studies have found no trace of an association between thimerosal (a preservative containing ethylmercury that has largely been removed from vaccines since 20011) and autism, and three other studies have found no indication that thimerosal causes even subtle neurological problems. The so-called epidemic, researchers assert, is the result of improved diagnosis, which has identified as autistic many kids who once might have been labeled mentally retarded or just plain slow.

I link to it not just because it is interesting and informative. It’s also a fantastic piece of journalism. At some point, we journalists have let the non-journalist world redefine how we should do our job. Articles are supposed to be objective, which in the language of critics really means balanced, which really means it should be carefully leveled so that each side in a debate receives equal space, equal respect, and there is no judgement of their arguments.

That sounds fine, but all-too-often the sides in a debate aren’t equal. Take climate change, for instance. We can argue about the specifics, the causes, and the true long-term effects, but the overwhelming scientific evidence is that we’re in the midst of a profound change in our climate. An extremely small number of scientist disagree with this view, many of them building their arguments on evidence that is not scientifically provable. Yet it isn’t uncommon to see these unmeasureable, unverifiable views presented as equal to those views that are supported by the scientific record. All in the name of giving each side of a debate equal time to air their views.

That’s why I love this article. Amy Wallace gives the anti-vaccine lobby space to present their views, offer their evidence, and explains their methods for pushing their cause. Then she carefully, point-by-point, shows how their arguments are refuted by all currently available scientific data. She points out how their arguments against that data are flimsy, at best. She writes an objective, balanced piece that presents both sides of the debate, and fills that piece with evidence that overwhelmingly supports the pro-vaccine community.

I’m sure many in the anti-vaccine world will find fault with her conclusions, methods, etc. And who knows, perhaps five or 10 or 20 years from now we’ll learn that scientists were wrong about vaccines.* But based on what we know today, there’s only one way to describe Wallace’s work: excellent journalism.

(My natural inclination is to trust the scientists who insist that vaccines are safe. But I must acknowledge that my views are certainly influenced by being married to a pediatrician.)

I was struck by something else while reading this. For all the barriers it breaks, information it carries, and promise it holds, at times the Internet is the worst thing that could have happened to otherwise intelligent people. Knowledge previously available only to trained professionals is now in the public domain. We can research any subject, sift through gigabytes of data, and educate ourselves where in the past we were forced to rely on the opinions of others.

Problem is, we’re often not trained to digest and analyze this information. It’s often difficult to verify the veracity of data, especially when it is repeated across various blogs and news sites. And when you’re dealing with a child that has an unexplained illness, it is easy to grasp at any straws that offer hope to understand the illness and perhaps lead the way to a cure.

While I have little time for the anti-climate change lobby, I can completely sympathize with the parents of autistic kids who get sucked into the anti-vaccine movement. I don’t know that I could think rationally if I was in their shoes. But it seems to me to be a classic example of how information overload can be a bad thing, and people who otherwise delete the mass e-mails promising Nigerian riches or relaying dark political conspiracies will buy into theories that aren’t supported while ignoring perfectly reasonable, verified conclusions.

❖

The Going Gets Weird

April 29, 2009 / DB

The President is telling us to wash our hands and cover our mouths when we sneeze and cough.

The state health commissioner here suggests that we no longer shake hands, but rather bow to each other or bump elbows in greetings and goodbyes.*

Wacky wild times we’re living in, friends.

(What’s that? Bumping elbows? Is that like the fist bump the Obamas shared on national TV last year? Oh God, the terrorists really have won!)

We have a friend who was supposed to go to Cabo this weekend. She called for advice from S. on what she should do. After they talked, we talked over what we would do if we were leaving this weekend rather than two months from now. The last time I checked the outbreak map, Cabo seemed to be clear, and we have a relative that was in Mexico a couple weeks ago who came back fine. So we are both confident we could make it in-and-out ok. We agreed, though, we wouldn’t want to bring anything back and give it to either L. or a few other relatives who have compromised immune systems. We also talked to one of our friends who is traveling with us in June. I liked the way she summed it up:

“Hopefully things will get better by then and we can still go. But I’ll tell you one thing for sure: I’m going somewhere nice on June 15.”

This is an interesting blog that’s been linked to by a couple others that I read. If you’re interested in reading the view from Mexico, you might bookmark it.

Our Long Wait Is Over

January 26, 2009 / DB

In case you missed it, and chances are you did, Indiana is now home to Miss America, ending our embarrassing 77-year drought. Now I no longer have to hang my head when I return to Kansas City and hear from friends who live both in Kansas and Missouri, “What kind of state can’t even claim a Miss America title?”

We’re off the shnide. Suck it, Iowa.

And, more importantly, my daughters finally have a real role model to pattern their lives after.

How Geeky Is Too Geeky?

January 23, 2009 / DB

A long-winded attempt to steer you towards a cool television channel and speculate on whether weird hobbies could derail a budding relationship.

I spend a little time each day watching Current TV. If you’ve never seen Current, it is a citizen journalism outlet that lets pretty much anyone submit small videos, which they call pods, of 2-5 minutes about just about any issue. Some pods are about serious matters like the economy, the war on terror, or child labor while others focus on cultural or technology issues. Check your local listings to see if it’s available in your area.

Last week I came across a feature on Geek magazine. The reporter interviewed the magazine’s publisher, some employees, and some people who have been seen in the pages of the magazine. They also followed one of the editors out as she was doing research for a story about a maid cafe. Maid cafes are an Americanized version of Japanese bars where the waitresses dress up as their favorite anime characters.

The young lady the editor interviewed explained that she got connected with the maid cafe from her other hobby: dressing up as Disney princesses. If you watch the clip, you’ll see that they display a photo of the young lady dressed up as Belle from Beauty And The Beast.* While it is a bit shocking to see a 20-something woman dressed up like a cartoon princess, here’s the thing: she’s kind of hot.**

(* I know 800% more about Disney princesses now than I did a year ago. I had no idea who Belle was this time last year.)

The maid get-up didn’t do much for me, but the Belle dress did. What does that say about me?

”What did you think of that Dorothy girl?”
”The whole Judy Garland thing kind of turned me on. That doesn’t make me some kind of fag, does it?”
No, baby, you’re money.”

All this got me thinking. What if, back in my swinging single days of my 20s***, I had met a young lady at a party, a bar, or other social gathering. We talk, we get along, hit it off a little bit, and make arrangements to see each other again. Somewhere along the way, whether during date one or sixteen, she admits that on weekends she likes to dress up as a Disney character and go to parties. I wondered if I would be embarrassed to introduce her or talk about her to my friends.

(Please, friends who knew me in my 20s, keep your comments to yourself.)

“So, tell me about this new girl.”
“Well, she’s smart, she’s funny, she seems to like my jokes. She’s into art and going to interesting places. And she’s kind of hot.”
“Very cool, when do I get to meet her?”
“Well, here’s the thing….”

We’re talking about the early days of a relationship, here. Not someone you’ve fallen in love with and decided to accept, no matter how many warts, odd hobbies, or strange habits they might have.

Dressing up like a Disney princess would be a deal breaker, at least for me.**** I had a hard enough time finding women to date and then trying not to screw it up without having to deal with baggage like that. Of course, the fact that I wouldn’t be able to get over something like a Disney princess dress says a lot about why it took me so long to have a relationship that lasted more than two weeks.

But, come on, dressing like a Disney princess?!?!?

(I tried to think of a corresponding deal-breaking hobby that would be an automatic deal-breaker for women and couldn’t come up with one that seemed to match dressing like Cinderella. Ladies, what would it be? Playing Dungeons & Dragons while dressed like your character, perhaps? Relating every aspect of modern life to The Lord of the Rings? Yelling at the TV during sporting events in the belief that you can affect the action on the court? Help me out here.)

44

November 6, 2008 / DB

What follows are some meandering thoughts on Tuesday night’s events. I don’t promise that they’re particularly interesting or insightful, but they do represent how I feel about that historic evening. Oh, and way less then the 18,000 words I wrote four years ago!

The front page of Wednesday’s Indianapolis Star blared a one-word headline: HISTORY. I thought, couldn’t they have at least interviewed me if they were going to write about me?

That’s right, the vote I cast a week ago, unlikely as it may seem, was the first time my vote has counted toward a presidential candidate’s electoral college total. Each time before, I had either voted for the losing candidate, or voted for the winner, but in a state he lost. Thus, my ’92 and ’96 votes for Clinton in Kansas, my ’00 vote for Gore in Missouri, and my ’04 vote for Kerry in Indiana were meaningless.

But this time, thanks to a massive ground effort, Barack Obama picked off Indiana, a 44-year red state, on his way to the White House. I genuinely feel like my vote made a difference. It was a sure thing that he would roll up big numbers in the state’s handful of Democratic counties. Even with big totals there, though, it would still be difficult to win Indiana. That’s where I, and people like me, came into play. It would be easy for me to stay home on Election Day (or early Election Day, as it were). The odds of a Democrat winning Indiana are slim. The county I live in is basically a one-party county. Roughly half of the offices on the ballot here featured Republicans running unopposed. Few of the handful of Democrats running had a legitimate shot to win their race. So the easy thing to do is to stay home and hope the rest of the country picks up the slack. But enough of us showed up across the state to cut McCain’s margin in the red counties way down from those Bush ran up four years ago. The result was, as the final votes were tallied, an amazing upset.

My vote counted. Yes I Can.

It goes without saying that I was in a better mood when I woke up Wednesday than I was the mornings after the last two presidential elections. That’s saying something, because Tuesday night / Wednesday morning I was suffering from a massive sinus headache most of the night, we had a fussy baby and two big sisters who are still confused about the time change. But, as I was feeding L. at 4:00 AM, I got a text saying Indiana had gone blue, and the need for sleep dissipated.

Yes, I’m thrilled Barack won. I’m delighted at the margin of victory, the tilt of states from red to blue, and all of that.

But, I am humbled by the meaning of his victory. I’m not talking about party or policy or philosophy. I’m talking about a black man being elected to live in the White House. 20 years ago, I was sitting in my bedroom, reading the Autobiography of Malcolm X, listening to Public Enemy, and wondering why, 20 years after the civil rights movement, so many people I lived around and went to school with continued to see the world through a prism that automatically discounted people who had darker skin than us. As Jesse Jackson was mocked for running for the Democratic presidential nomination, the unspoken rule was that blacks need not apply to the nation’s highest office, no matter how much progress they were otherwise making.

That didn’t seem to change in the 90s, despite African American culture taking a place square in the mainstream of pop culture, as Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, and Oprah became essential icons. As we moved to the 21st century, it seemed more likely we’d see a Hispanic president than an African American one. There were a handful of black senators and governors and cabinet members, but none seemed to have the national profile needed to make a run for the White House.

Yet here we are.

I was thrilled when Clinton won in 1992. That was my first election as a voter and my guy won. I thought the world was perfect. I was happy when he won in ’96, but it was more a feeling of relief. Despite being a Kansan and a Jayhawk, I didn’t want Bob Dole anywhere near the White House. I was devastated in both 2000 and ’04, partially because I underestimated the effects that the Karl Rove school of campaigning could have on a race. “Aren’t we better than this?” I thought each time.

But Tuesday night? I felt emotions I’ve never felt before on Election Day. Like a lot of people, I expected the win. When Ohio was called, I did some quick calculations, adding in west coast states that were sure to go blue, and saw the election was over no matter what happened in Virginia, Florida, Indiana, and Missouri. And still, when the clock struck 11:00 Eastern and David Gregory said they could now make the announcement that MSNBC was projecting that Barack Obama would be the next president, there was a flood of emotions I never expected. I wasn’t bawling like Jesse Jackson, but I have no trouble admitting there were some tears flowing.

Which might seem weird, for a white guy who grew up in the suburbs in a home first of modest means and later of more comfortable means, and who has only a couple African American friends. But since I became politically aware and adopted a system of beliefs, racial politics and civil rights have been at the core of my ideology. One of my core beliefs is that government exists to eliminate the barriers raised through history that prevent every person in this country from having an equal opportunity to succeed or fail.

To borrow a phrase that’s been used way too much the last two days, this was the mountaintop, although one I never expected to be scaled. While we will always have racial divides to bridge – people being people, there will always be some who point to the differences between us as an explanation for the troubles we face – as each year passes things get a little closer to the ideal. Barack Obama’s election is a massive step towards finally reaching that ideal. For at least the next four years, parents, teachers, and mentors can point to the White House and say “Anything is possible.”* It may be only a symbolic moment, but it feels much greater than that.

I kept expecting Kevin Garnett to come out on stage Tuesday and scream “Anything is possible!” as he did after the Celtics won the NBA title last June.
I do wonder if I could truly separate party and policy from accomplishment. Would I have had the same emotions had Colin Powell run, and won, in 2000 as a Republican? Probably not, although I believe I would have still been proud of the country and recognized it as a moment of massive change. But the same emotions? I doubt it.

And now the hard part. Despite being an early supporter, largely because of his stance on the war in Iraq, I did have some concerns about Barack’s readiness for office. Those concerns were addressed and satisfied over the course of the campaign, and I believe he is well prepared and suited to be a fine president. But capacity and readiness for office don’t necessarily make a great president, as events may conspire to wreck a presidency. He will enter office with a reservoir of good will and about 20 minutes of slack. Iraq is George Bush’s war. The economic meltdown is the responsibility of Bush and his economic team. But the first time something bad happens in Iraq or Afghanistan, or the first time the stock market plunges 500 points, Bush will be forgotten and the responsibility will rest with Barack. It’s a daunting time to take on that responsibility. I believe he’s up to the task. He better be, for all our sakes.

Best of all, no more political ads for awhile. Change we can all believe in!

Change Is Gonna Come

November 3, 2008 / DB

I guess there’s some big thing going on tomorrow (or more likely today, depending on when you’re reading this). All I know is I voted last week but for some reason I still won’t be able to buy beer tomorrow, which I think is garbage. This country might be a better place if you could get loaded before you voted.*

I think I use this line after every election.
I must say, early voting is the greatest invention since democracy itself. I’m not sure how conservatives like George Will and Fred Barnes can say, with a straight face, it’s a bad thing. Anything that gives eligible voters a greater chance to participate is a good thing. Because, you know, participation is the key element of democracy.

So, my sympathies to those of you who will be waiting in lines tomorrow.

I don’t know that I’ll be doing my 10,000 summation of election night as I did four years ago. I only had one kid then and it’s hard to find that kind of keyboard time these days. I do plan on connecting with a certain election party in Kansas City via iChat, so I may get to share my thoughts live with some of you.

Four years ago I made some bold predictions, based mostly on wishful thinking and belief that the movement the polls showed in the final days would be exaggerated on Election Night. Whoops.

This year, I don’t expect any big surprises. The polls at the national level have been steady for weeks. At the state level, there has been some tightening in a couple important states, but not enough to swing the election. Based on my most recent visit to 270towin.com, I have it at Obama 364, McCain 174. I think there’s one more state that could flip blue but I won’t call it.** I see Barack’s ceiling at 390, his floor at 278. At the popular vote level, I’ll go out on a limb and say Barack gets 52% of the vote to McCain’s 47%, with others grabbing the last 1%.

** I think Indiana stays red. Barely. But, if Barack does win here, the networks are going to lose a lot of viewers, because the race will be over early.

No matter who you support, or are against, I hope you have either voted or plan on getting out tomorrow.

Hello Again

September 10, 2008 / DB

I don’t know how to feel about Lance Armstrong’s return. I tend to want my retired athletic heroes to stay retired. Call me old fashioned. But, I read an article during this summer’s Brett Favre drama that convinced me that the whole idea of legacy and pleasing the fans is a little silly. Each athlete should do what makes him or her happy, not what keeps our mental image of them intact. So if Lance wants to hop on a bike again and attempt to prove that he’s got it, more power to him. I’ll follow the story, but I won’t have nearly the interest in it, or make the investment in time and emotion, that I did during the era when he dominated the Tour de France.

Accepting that does not clear him from criticism, though. He’s become a bit of a gossip page regular over the past years, and some have argued that his playboy ways have come to overshadow both the memory of his career as a biker and his efforts with the Livestrong foundation. I don’t know about that. When I hear his name, I still think of him riding up the Alps in a yellow jersey, no matter who he’s dating.

However, I do think it is a bit, I don’t know, sad, disappointing, frustrating that he is yet another supreme competitor that can’t turn those energies off. He seemed like someone who would make a good transition because of his focus on cancer research. Clearly that hasn’t been able to fill the void. While I admire him for his drive, determination, and epic commitment, I also feel a little sorry for people like him, Michael Jordan, etc. that are so driven that they can’t give up the thing that best quenched that thirst. Remember when Jordan seemed like the coolest, most together guy in the world? Since his final retirement, we’ve learned that he’s a bit of a freak, and probably not someone you want your kids to emulate. I fear Lance is heading down that same path, where a life of doing good and making a difference isn’t enough, and instead he becomes the sad, old guy who is hanging out with people half his age in an effort to prove he’s still got it.

And then there’s the whole doping angle. I still buy into his argument that he was tested time and again and never tested positive. But I’m not naive enough not to understand the best athletes are always ahead of the testing curve. The Tour has probably made the biggest and best strides in all of sports at nabbing offenders, and they damn near wiped out last year’s race they were so efficient in catching people. Maybe Lance is going to continue to pass every test and performance baseline they can throw at him. Maybe he always was and always will be clean. But I dread the headlines and resulting drama if he does ever fail a test.

So welcome back, Lance. I guess.

It’s Over. Finally.

June 8, 2008 / DB

Finally, a little political talk.

(The Obamas sully the presidency, and demonstrate their hatred for America, with their offensive fist-bump.)

I have to admit, as interested and involved as I’ve been in the contest this year, I largely tuned it out following the Indiana primary last month. I was frustrated with the tone the Democratic race was taking, and fearful it would continue to get nastier and nastier, potentially sapping the eventual nominee’s strength for the fall. Also, I did not want to come out of the process hating the Clintons. A good friend of mine, who is a Republican, teased me a few weeks back by saying, “See, this is what we’ve been saying about them for years!”

Fortunately things have calmed down and Barack can now focus his energies (and Steve Jobs-like Reality Distortion Field – he is a Mac user, you know) on John McCain for the fall.

One thing struck me as I was reading wrap-up pieces last week that attempted to put Obama’s presumptive nomination in perspective: major historic changes almost always have their roots in smaller events that would seem unrelated when they occurred. I believe that Hillary Clinton would have cruised to the nomination had she voted against sending troops to Iraq in 2003. A move most viewed as an effort to insulate herself against charges that she was soft on military/security matters, and thereby making her a stronger presidential candidate down the road, ended up being the opening an up-start like Obama needed to get into the race and gain traction. And while their respective charismas certainly played a role in the final result, their stances on Iraq were the area in which they had the most pronounced policy differences. It remains to be seen how much Iraq, which has kind of become a forgotten war, is an issue in the general election. But it certainly was a turning point in determining who the Democratic nominee is.

Let’s talk about history for a minute. Regardless of you views and who you support, I think it’s a pretty big deal that a black man is one of the two finalists to be president. And had he failed, a woman would have been in his place. We can talk about the progress we’ve made, what still needs to be done, etc. all day. And we can talk about symbolic progress versus real progress. But there is no doubting that we’re breaking through some of the biggest barriers we have left. Soon, no child, regardless of their background, will tell their teachers that they want to be president one day and be laughed at because they are female/black/etc. You may scoff at the real value of that, but I think that’s a huge step in the right direction. When you can inspire kids like that, they may not end up being president, but the limits they put on themselves are raised exponentially.

Along those lines, I loved Barack’s comments over the last month that praised Hillary for making the world a better place for his daughters and giving them the hope that they can do anything they want. I’ve been behind Barack since he entered the contest, but there’s no doubting that statement. It’s easy to buy into the polarized viewpoints of Hillary. But, she has changed the world for all women, whether they are liberals or conservatives or political agnostics. The heat she’s taken over the years will make it easier for the next legitimate female presidential nominee to break through and get people to believe that she can lead the nation. As a father to girls, I’m pleased the gender-based glass ceiling is being chipped away a little more each year.

One thing that gives me hope (if it’s not redundant to say that) about Obama for the fall is that he has grown as a candidate through this process. I think you can make the argument that for all the ill-will generated in the primaries, the process will make him a stronger candidate in the fall. For all the talk that X% of Hillary’s supporters will never support Barack in the fall, I think the overwhelming majority of them will come back to his camp between now and November. Sure, her Appalachian voters, who apparently are the least comfortable people in America with having a person of color represent them, will never come around. And there may be some super bitter folks who decide to stay home. But, again, Clinton and Obama were extremely close on most policy issues. I don’t think you’re going to see him losing large blocks of the Democratic base in the fall.

So obviously I’m very pleased with the result. I’ve said all year that John McCain has a Bob Dole 1996 tinge to him. He’s not a bad man, in fact by many measures he’s an extraordinary man. But I think he’s beyond the window in which he would have been a good president. Especially given his closeness to President Bush. Despite those flaws, and a wealth of factors that seem to point towards an excellent year for Democrats, I believe Barack still has a lot of hard work to do. McCain’s experience argument is compelling. I think it can be countered, but it must be done in an equally compelling and forceful manner. Plus, I believe in our current political environment, voters tend to give the more conservative candidate more leeway. Change is scary, even in an age when the current administration can do little right in the eyes of most Americans. It will take hard work to connect with those voters who may not believe now, and may not be disposed to believing based just on lofty talk and promise for a better future.

I think Barack is up to it, though. Certainly more up to it than John Kerry was. And more up to it than candidate Al Gore was (Of course, regular guy Al Gore would be one of the great presidents ever. Unfortunately, Al Gore is genetically incapable of not tightening up and sabotaging himself as a candidate).

Election Day Wrap Up

May 7, 2008 / DB

Please note a more important post will be coming later today. Remember, we’re making a trip to the doctor this morning.

I did not stay up late enough to catch all the drama last night, but I followed some of it. Ironically I was thinking, before results began coming in, that there aren’t any surprises in politics anymore since 800 different polling groups are constantly surveying voters before each election. But last night was a surprise, and perhaps the effective end of the Democratic nomination race. Putting my political science degree to work, and stealing from other people on the ‘nets, I’ll say we’ve got two more weeks of going through the motions and this thing is put to bed after a big Obama win in Oregon on the 20th.

Even though Barack wasn’t able to pull off the win here in Indiana, I feel like my vote mattered. For the record, he did win Hamilton County. I thought the Rush Limbaugh factor might be especially important here. Have I mentioned that my podiatrist plays Rush loud enough for everyone through his entire office to hear? I always wonder how people, even those who agree with his politics, listen to Rush. What’s fun about listening to someone yell that much?

M. actually voted for me. I made all the selections and she pushed the big red button to register the votes. And she got a sticker.

As I stepped into the booth, I realized I had made a critical error. I had not spent enough time examining the two Democratic candidates in the governor race. I frantically tried to remember if either of them had any important endorsements or had made any especially interesting policy statements. I came up blank. So I ended up voting for the candidate who lost by 5000 votes. I guess now I can figure out if I like the woman who won or not.

Speaking of that race, the incumbent Guv wasted no time. I saw a commercial for him at 6:30 this morning. So much for a respite. Sigh.

Big Day

May 6, 2008 / DB

First off, happy belated Cinco de Mayo to you all. I hope you enjoyed a bag of Doritos or perhaps had some Cinnamon Twists to celebrate the occasion.

Oh, and happy birthday to the iMac, which was announced ten years ago today.

Well, the big day is finally here. Indiana, for the first time in 20 years, gets a real say in who our next president may be. While it appears Indiana is about as muddled as the rest of the country is and neither Barack or Hillary will end the day with a commanding victory in this state, it has been an interesting six weeks or so as the candidates have showered our fair state with attention and ad dollars. I don’t watch much regular TV, but when I do, there’s not much else other than ads for those two, for the Democratic US House primary in Marion County, the Democratic primary in the Governor’s race, and then a few for the Republican primary here in Hamilton County in which Dan “Two Handicap” Burton is being challenged. And the radio is ridiculous. Anytime I leave the house, I’m guaranteed to hear at least five political commercials. This must be what it feels like to live in Iowa.

And then there’s the phone. I’m getting at least five calls a day between my cell phone and the house phone. I assume they’re all political in nature, either campaigns or pollsters, but since I don’t answer and they rarely leave messages, I can’t be sure. Barack has left me a couple messages, or at least people speaking on his behalf have. The guy running against Burton left me a message, too. I’m waiting to get texts and IMs from them as well. Maybe they’ll get that element together for the general election.

The final indication that this is a crazy year in Indiana came Sunday when someone actually came to my house from the Obama campaign to see if I was A) voting today and B) voting for Barack. I’m surprised the police weren’t called out. Democrats roaming the streets in Hamilton County?!?!

After I talked to him, M. asked who he was. I explained that he was talking to me about voting. “What’s voting?” I said it is how we pick the president, mayor, and stuff like that, which I knew was a horrible answer for a three-year-old. Her response was a long pause, then “What?” I rephrased saying the people who make the rules. Not sure if that helped or not.

Anyway, it ends today. My polling place just happens to be at our church/M.’s preschool, so when I pick her up this afternoon, we’ll walk over to the main building and she’ll help me vote for the change America needs. Afterwards, we’ll go put on some Italian loafers, get a latte, and maybe test drive a Prius.

The pre-election polls are all over the place, but I would expect Hillary to win Indiana by a narrow margin. I mean, she’s going to end the gas tax! But, amazingly, my vote for a Democratic candidate in Hamilton County Indiana might make a difference this year.