That really tripped my triggers when you mentioned the signs went up without your permission. Where on earth do people get off? We have given a friend with a business permission to keep a sign on our property. It was like it opened a floodgate, however. This summer it was joined by two real estate signs (one homemade and one from an agency), and a fishing worm sign. When I removed the one real estate sign, then the other sign we had given permission to be there, was vandalised and stolen. I still suspect vindictiveness and retaliation by another one of the sign owners who didn't ask permission to put up their sign there. I'm sure it cost our friend hundreds of dollars to replace his. Why is it that people think if property is in the country, then it's public to use? Belongs to nobody? That things like the grapes and berries are wild? I think they think that since it's in the utility easement that anyone is free to use it. I got news. We own to the middle of the road. That's how our deeds read. Easements for public domain work like electric and gas, don't imply we have no control over every inch of the property in every other respect.

I'm a little surprised this thread hasn't been "disappeared", but... pineviewplanter, I'm sure you see your view of the world as The Only Way. However, in most of this world your worldview is considered "incorrect" and "unenlightened". The fighting in Iraq (and the fighting in scores of locales throughout the world now and earlier) is being perpetuated by at least two groups who each believe their version of "the truth" is the only version of the truth. (Why God would sanction anyone to kill another of His creation to succeed in making that point escapes me totally.) The U.S. was founded by people who were escaping a religion (King George's version of Christianity) which did not fit the way they saw God. The Founding Fathers took some pains to make sure that this fledgling democracy did not favor any particular religion, remembering that this country was founded by people seeking such freedom; people who were not willing to trash what they believed for the sake of what someone else declared was correct and true. Though the U.S. is largely Christian (in the broader Judeo-Christian tradition rather than the narrow definitions that keep Protestant sects squabbling among themselves; no offense, OJ), and despite what those hooyocks in Washington are trying to perpetuate, the U.S. remains a country in which one is free to practice any tradition one believes in as long as it does not run afoul of the law (which is agreed to by the majority, not by any religious group that sets itself up as the arbiters). Courtesy of U.S. law, you certainly are free to hold your belief that those who do not believe in your particular flavor of religion are "doomed". Expressing that thought in a public arena, however (and especially toward specific individuals) is offensive and -- frankly -- off-putting. Instead of divisively assigning people into "us" and "them," how about expressing some of that love and joy that God supposedly has given you? Whether U.S. currency has "In God We Trust" engraved on it is not a big thing for me, though I certainly can see the point of those who object to it. It should not be there. But I'll settle for more currency floating around even if it has Ronald McDonald's face on it if it gives people a decent standard of living.

tish - I am not in an open primary state. Just a state that is assumed to go Democrat so no point in anyone spending money here. I do get calls for non-presidential campaigns. We got a ridiculous number of calls a few years ago when we had a high profile congressional election. It was truly annoying so I understand how those of you in first primary/swing states must feel. My experiences with campaigning and where the information comes from. I worked for the Ramsey Clark senatorial campaign (yes, I'm pretty old) when I was in college. I had a copy of the voter registration roles for my area and I sent literature to everyone registered as a Democrat or independent. (How old school and small budget does that sound? lol) I did one session of calling for candidate Obama. We called registered Democrats. The point of it was more to get out the vote rather than change minds. I didn't do it again because the campaign office didn't have enough phones so I had to use my mobile phone. I got calls afterwards from people who hadn't answered their phones. "Saw you on caller ID, what did you call about?" calls. We had been advised not to leave messages but in retrospect maybe we should have. Hang in there everyone!

I'm so with you, TG! Vote and make your voice heard. It's not about winning--it's about showing up and being counted. Years ago, during some kind of tumult, the TV news interviewed a well spoken, nicely put together young man, who was identified as a leader in the community that was outraged in that crisis. I stopped what I was doing to listen to him because I thought he'd have something informative to say. Instead, he was mostly angry (fair, given the situation) and was saying that his community weren't going to vote so long as whatever they were protesting continued. I don't remember the cause, but I do remember him. And I remember feeling so disappointed that a leader, and a seemingly intelligent and educated leader, would say something so ignorant and dangerous. It's true that smaller communities, voting groups, ethnic blocks, etc., don't always see themselves in the winners of elections, but putting aside the importance of voting on the laws that make it to the ballot, it's the strength of the voting block, and the numbers of count-on-'em-to-show-up voters, that gets the attention from those who are elected, and from the party stalwarts of all parties. If you have voters in numbers, the bigwigs will come knocking and offering you a piece of the pie! The reason why so many cater to old white guys is that old white guys vote! OTOH, I also agree with you on the informed electorate. In Australia, you're required to vote. I don't think you actually have to fill in the ballot, but you do have to put it in the box, or whatever they do. That means that the apathetic, who are forced to vote despite their druthers, are voting for the one with a pretty name or good hair or who has the voter's lucky number on the ballot. Gyr_Falcon, there are places where the sample ballot was traditionally printed in the newspaper (so you'd have to pay for it, though it's probably also online now where you'd only have to pay for the paper and ink--though you might have to go to a library and ask the librarian to print it for you if you were a senior with no computer knowledge and failing eyesight, and that could in itself be onerous). These sample ballots don't look like the actual election materials, like ours do; they're formatted however the publisher feels like doing it. A couple of decades ago, parties and interest groups started mailing their own sample ballots that looked more like the election materials as part of their campaigning, though they often filled them out with the choices they were promoting. There are also probably third party analyses of the laws, and I think some places have far fewer referenda (if any) than we do, and, maybe they print the text in the newspaper too. But you have to work at it much harder if you have to chase all that down, that's for sure!