Only Four More Days

In four days, people will finally shut up. At least about McCain and Obama. But with those two out of the picture, the yapping will be much more diffused, covering all the various topics that people yap about. About the only good thing that comes from presidential elections is the stock market bounce that nearly always precedes them. Not that it will hold, but it does give everyone a break.

The good news from October is, of course, the 55% decline in oil prices. The reason for the decline isn't good news, but the resulting drop in gas prices and the easing of upward pressure on prices certainly is. Like the stock bounce, this isn't a permanent thing, but a nice break all the same.

And guess who's coming for dinner on Monday. Mr. "I wanna be Barry Goldwater" himself will be here to camp on the courthouse steps in direct imitation of the biggest fail in American politics. Good luck with that, John Boy. The bright spot is that the cafe will probably have a busy Monday. Probably. Maybe.

The walk home was grim. I passed a full block of empty retail spaces that were businesses a mere two months ago. The last one standing was liquidating their inventory today. Since we moved here, the section of our street from our apartment to downtown has had a revival of sorts with a lot of renovation and such. The cafe was just one of many such projects along a three-block stretch that had become somewhat neglected. Now it's starting to look neglected again.

And just to make sure I jump around as much as possible in this post (as well as join the campaign yappers I was just griping about), here is a positive article for you to take to the polls with you on Tuesday about how presidents and Congress simply ignore the constitution pretty much all the time. Money quote:

In virtually every generation and during virtually every presidency (Jefferson, Jackson and Cleveland are exceptions that come to mind) the popular branches of government have expanded their power. The air you breathe, the water you drink, the size of your toilet tank, the water pressure in your shower, the words you can speak under oath and in private, how your physician treats your illness, what your children study in grade school, how fast you can drive your car, and what you can drink before you drive it are all regulated by federal law. Congress has enacted over 4,000 federal crimes and written or authorized over one million pages of laws and regulations. Worse, we are expected by law to understand all of it.

But this time we all know that we stand at the crossroads of history. Because, you know, the New York Times keeps telling us that. Just like the last presidential election. And the one before that. And the one before that, and the one before that, and....