RIP USPS

The United States Post Office is going to ask to increase the cost of a regular stamp from $.37 to $.41 next year.

I don't know about you, but I very rarely send anything via the USPS. More often than a single stamp item would be a small package. I'd venture to say that other than 2 monthly bills, I use maybe 3 stamps per year. Unless, of course, I actually get to sending out Christmas cards this year.

There once was a time when sending a letter was the norm. Now, people send e-mails and instant message. Instant communication. You don't have to wait a week to get a response. With the increase in allowable attachment size in many free e-mail providers, people cans end their digital pictures to anyone with e-mail, where they can print them out for a fraction of the cost.

I see the USPS going to way of the dodo bird sometime in the next 30 years, unless they change their processes. If people want to send a package nowadays, they send it UPS or FedEx more ofte than they do the USPS. Why? Because these other carriers do it more quickly, more reliably for relatively the same cost.

So the USPS can't deliver packages like the other companies, and fewer people are sending fewer letters these days. I have nephews and nieces who have never sent a letter USPS, but they have sent out hundreds of e-mails. I think that when "the greatest generation" is laid to rest, the number of snail mail pieces will decrease to a point of iminent closure for the USPS.

So, when people are using you less, and you aren'y evolving to keep up with the demands and desires of the majority of your customers, simply attempt to stick them with a double digit price increase.

Yeah, that will save you...

Thoughtful Driving

This morning, on the way into work, the following thought occurred to me:

People who drive their vehicles in this type of foggy, rainy, dark weather without their headlights on are complete idiots and are are hazard to everyone else on the road.

Seriously! As if attempting to stay between the lines you can hardly see, making sure you don't slam on the breaks and slide, and all the while trying to get around someone going 30mph is not enough, I have to double and triple check to see where your gray Suburban is. Geesh!

Do these people want to get hit?

It's easy people, turn on your lights!

I Resign...

Okay, so in the last week it seems that everybody in Bush country is resigning their position. To recap, here's the resignations and their possible successors:
US Attorney General John Ashcroft - Alberto Gonzales
US Secretary of State Colin Powell - Condoleeza Rice
Education Secretary Rod Paige - Margaret Spellings
Commerce Secretary Don Evans - ???
Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman - ???
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham - ???
Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge - ???

Who's next?

Seems like everyone is jumping ship for one reason or another. It makes me wonder what the White House has in the works. I mean, what would cause all of these people to bail out at the same time, with several speaking about the future direction or path of the White House?

Note to One in My Past

The following note is written with all of the heart-felt emotion I can muster.
It is intended to be a source of encouragement to one still trapped in the past.
It is hoped that these words will allow you to move on to the present and help you focus more on the future than you do on the past.

Dear #########,
For a while we were close. Now we are not at all.
For a time we did a lot of things together. Now we don't (and we won't).
It's well past time for you to let it all go.
You are beginning to turn into the psycho I always saw glimpses of in your personality.
And that is part of why I am not in your life anymore.
Don't contact me in any way shape or form.
Thanks.
RG

PS - Your attitude and outlook on life is incredibly toxic and detrimental to the sanity of all those around you. A visit to a well-trained therapist might be in order.

Who I Am

Perhaps the most distressing part of this election to me is the fallout, with regards to how people are approaching one another. While emotions are expected to be an ever-present part of politics and the discussion thereof, I do not think it is either appropriate or healthy to allow emotions to overwhelm and eliminate mature, reasonable, non-attacking conversation. It is my opinion that the latter is the case amongst many people browsing the blogs that I read with regularity.

This election has polarized people like never before. It all started quite a while ago, but it reached a critical point in 2000. With an election being so terribly close, the public immediately began to take an interest in the following election season. The Democratic Party's 2004 primary campaign was wild enough and so unpredictable that it further focussed people on that upcoming election day. As the focussed shifted almost overnight from Howard Dean to John Kerry, people began to immediately hop onto the anyone-but-Bush campaign.

With money pouring in from all sides, this election had nowhere to go but to an all-out, knock-down-drag-out slugfest. This fact was known and realized by most Americans, and it fueled not only the financial coffers of both bparties but also the emotional attachment to the cause and the passion to defeat the opposition. This is typical in any election, but this year it was much more focussed, much more pointed and much more personal.

As Americans, we are used to politicians attacking one another in public. We have grown accustomed to the endless negative add campaigns, even though most people despise them. We choose sides and quickly learn the "dirt" on the other side and spread that oftentimes more effectively than we actually spread factual information about our candidate or cause. So we spend a ton of time, and possibly money, throwing around negativity and putting down anything and everything the other side says or does.

However, I believe that this year this election turned the finger pointing from the supporter to the opposing politican and made it one supporter pointing at the other supporter. In that situation, the party lines disappear quickly and people take attacks very personally. It's no longer a private citizen criticizing and denigrating a public, political figure or party, but it has become one citizen attacking another.

Is it wrong to be emotionally tied to a campaign?
Absolutely not, that is a large part of what drives the political process.

Is it wrong that we accept the negative campaigns without much public outcry?
I think so, but others may disagree.

Is it wrong to make generalizations that attack the citizens on the opposing side?
I would humbly submit that, yes, I believe this is wrong.

Do not question the patriotism of the person voting opposite of you.
Do not question the national pride of the person on the other side.
The fact that they voted more than proves how much they love this country.

Don't assume that the other people voted in complete ignorance.
While it is true that some people do vote completely blindly, it is not right to categorize someone with a different view of things as being less intelligent or less motivated by events in the past. Just because they voted differently doesn't make them a moron, imbecile, nerd, pansy, mentally retarded or any other derogatory comment you might be able to come up with.

When it all is said and done, we have more in common than we have in differences.
Even though that may be hard to see in an election year.

Who Am I?
I'm the same as you - I'm an American.

I'm proud to live in a nation where we can express ourselves through voting, and through our words and actions freely. However, I ask you to keep in mind that the person on the other side of the party line is still very much a human being like you, and they don't deserve to be either kicked while they are down, or punched while they are celebrating.

World Leaders Respond

I find that the response of some of the world leaders regarding the election outcome does not necessarily match the gloom and doom response that some people might believe would exist. Now I know they are all politicians and they are making nice little speeches, but the responses are still favorable none-the-less.

My National Election Results

While the networks and candidates are still dancing around the final tally and outcome of yesterday's elections, I am not.

Bush scored 58,296,120 general votes versus Kerry's 54,778,898.
That's 51% to 48%.

Bush won Florida 52% to 47% with a difference of 376,923 votes.
There aren't enough provisional or absentee ballots to change that.
It wasn't as close as in 2000, by any strech of the imagination.

I'm calling Ohio Bush country, with a 51% to 49% split.
Again, I don't think there are enough ballots floating around to change that.

I think Bush will hold on in Iowa with a 50% to 49% victory.

New Mexico is really tight, but I think it will remain for Bush.

So, to recap how I see it falling at this point:
Iowa - 7
New Mexico - 5
Ohio - 20

This would bring the electoral votes to a total of:
Bush 290
Kerry 248

So Bush wins by popular vote, unlike in 2000.
Bush wins several news states and thus by more electoral votes than in 2000.
Similar to 2000 though, will be the Democrats challenging everything tooth-and-nail, which is understandable. (I think the outcome of all that will still be the same as 2000 as well.)

The Republican party gained even more seats in the Senate, with the suprise of the night having to be Senate Minority Leader Dashle losing his re-election bid in South Dakota. The Republican party also retained majority of the House seats.

Same sex marriage bans in 11 states have been approved, most by huge margins.

Let the mass suicides, expatrioting and migrations to other countries begin.

Want Results?

Here's the only site you need for Missouri specific results from today's election:
Missouri Secretary of State Election Website

If your in Illinois, you are a bit screwed. Evidently, they do not have a statewide system in place to show results as they come in. Here's the best you can do:
Illinois State Board of Elections

For national results, turn on the radio, TV or click onto any website that might even think of providing news. You already have your sources for that...

It's Go Time!

Today is the day... Finally!
After today we won't have to endure any more political ads.
There will be no more jockeying for position for every position imaginable.
The votes are cast today.

Will your voice be among the millions heard?

Throughout my life I have always maintained the position that if you don't vote then your grumbling about political issues is mute. Some people disagree with that philosophy, but who cares? After all, the government will never be effected by their non-vote. Will the country be effect though?

You see, by not voting, you are giving your strength to another. By not voting, you are allowing one politician to obtain either a larger or smaller margin of victory. By not voting, you are telling everyone around you that you don't care enough about the way our government works to speak your mind. It's not enough to grumble against the policies. It's not enough to write a letter to the paper denouncing the current administration. It's not enough to hang a spray-painted bed sheet on an overpass announcing to the world your view of the political system. None of it matters unless you vote.

Today is the day.
Take a stand.
Choose a side.
Let your voice be heard.

* Please use caution when approaching your polling place. There have been numerous reports of massive armies of Poll Trolls lurking near the entrances. *