(S)ELECTION

"Mom, how come every election comes down to me selecting between at least one third party candidate I pretty well agree with but who has no chance to win, and two major candidates I have so many hesitations about?"

Bigger Girl will be voting in a presidential election for the first time.

Sweetheart, you are asking me what i've been asking myself for years.  The fact is, there are no perfect people running.  If you want someone to run with whom you can agree 100%, then you will have to run for office yourself.

Otherwise, get well educated about the issues, make sure your head isn't so far into one party's propaganda that you haven't had a thought of your own in years, and select the person you think can do the best job.

Anyway, for those in the US, if you didn't vote early, and we have no need to as the polling place is right across the street and if we go about 20 minutes after opening time there's no wait, please go do so.

A good number of people in this world wish they could cast a free ballot that counted.  A good number of people sacrificed a great deal to make sure you can.


Today is:

Birth of Tiamat -- Ancient Babylonian Calendar (mother of gods, goddess of primeval chaos; date approximate)

Constitution Day -- Dominican Republic; Tajikistan; Tatarstan, Russian Federation

Election Day -- US

Finnish Swedish Heritage Day -- Finland

Fish Returning Days begin -- Fairy Calendar (the fairies borrow centuries old fish in sealed crystal boxes from each other, and why they prefer each others or what they do with them, they will not tell)

Green March Day -- Morocco; Western Sahara

Gustavus Adolphus Day -- Sweden

Halfway Point of Autumn

International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict -- UN

Lhabab Duechen -- Bhutan (Descending Day of Lord Buddha)

Marooned Without A Compass Day -- internet generated; how's your sense of direction?

Melbourne Cup Day -- Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, Australia (152nd running)

National Nachos Day

Saxophone Day

St. Illtyd's Day (Abbot, reputed cousin of King Arthur)

St. Leonard's Day (Patron of barrel makers/coopers, blacksmiths, captives, childbirth, coal miners, coppersmiths, greengrocers, horses, imprisoned people, locksmiths, miners, porters, P.O.W.'s, prisoners; Castelmauro, Italy; Conegliano, Italy; Kirkop, Malta; against burglaries, robberies/robbers)


Birthdays Today:

Pat Tillman, 1976
Rebecca Romijn, 1972
Ethan Hawke, 1970
Maria Shriver, 1955
Glenn Frey, 1948
Sally Field, 1946
Mike Nichols, 1931
Walter Perry Johnson, 1887
James Naismith, 1861
Ignace Paderewski, 1860
John Philip Sousa, 1854
Adolphe Sax, 1814 (yes, the musician who invented the Saxophone)


Today in History:

Shipwrecked Spanish conquistador Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca becomes the first known European to set foot in Texas, 1528
Spain grants independence to the Dominican Republic, 1844
Scenes of Clerical Life, the first work of fiction by the author later known as George Eliot, is submitted for publication, 1856
Canada celebrates its first official, national Thanksgiving Day, 1879
Mohandas Gandhi is arrested while leading a march of Indian miners in South Africa, 1913
Colonel Jacob Schick patents the first electric razor, 1928
Edwin Armstrong presents his paper "A Method of Reducing Disturbances in Radio Signaling by a System of Frequency Modulation" to the New York section of the Institute of Radio Engineers (hello, FM radio!), 1935
Parker Brothers acquires the forerunner patents for MONOPOLY from Elizabeth Magie, 1935
Plutonium is first produced at the Hanford Atomic Facility, 1944
The United Nations General Assembly passes a resolution condemning South Africa's racist apartheid policies and calls for all UN member states to cease military and economic relations with the nation, 1962
Cuba and the United States formally agree to begin an airlift for Cubans who want to go to the United States, 1965
Green March begins: 300,000 unarmed Moroccans converge on the southern city of Tarfaya and wait for a signal from King Hassan II of Morocco to cross into Western Sahara, 1975
Australians vote to keep the Head of the Commonwealth as their head of state in the Australian republic referendum, 1999