The November 2006 vote is fast approaching, and while I agree that the Iraq War is the number one issue in these elections, lets pretend for a minute that there are other things to consider. Here is a random list of issues which the politicians are not mentioning, or should I say neglecting. It would be nice to know what the political canidates think about:

Healthcare

No other issue effects more Americans than healthcare. The country faces a crossroads when it comes to healthcare. Regardless of your position on universal healthcare, one thing is evident is that we need to make healthcare records electronic and have them become the exclusive property of the patient. This alone would save millions of dollars and help modernize medicine in the immediate future. In the long term the federal government will have to eventually institute national healthcare. It is the only reasonable solution.

Education

For the sake of our economy and our future, we must as a nation commit ourselves to improving education. It seems that we argue constantly about religion in public schools instead of actually making education itself our focus. No Child Left Behind did not fix the problem, and it seems that Americans don’t really want to invest in their children anymore.

National Infrastructure

The concensus is that the housing market is crashing hard, and with it so will the economy go. Yet there are countless roads, bridges, and other infrastructure that needs repair. Government should invest in fixing this. Remember the powergrid needs work too. Why not make our own national infrastructure a priority and put our own people to work in their own communities. We could rebuild the nation and be more secure for it.

Corporate Greed

The corporations that have been on bad behavior of late are too many to count. It seems when any corporation gets in trouble, they go to Congress to bail them out. When is the private sector going to help government out? I’d like to see corporations invest in something more than just themselves. How about investing a national program of ideas? Let’s see the private sector come up with bold initiatives and execute them on their own. In return the patents could be shared and everyone could profit from the investment.

The Ben Wallace era for the Chicago Bulls is just getting started and by the way they have played in the preseason, things are looking up for the team. Rebounding is up and the offensive game is becoming easier because of it, however, I still think Chicago has to tighten up if they are ever going to get pass the first round of the playoffs this year. It is simply too early to tell if the changes made will be enough, but overall there appears to be a lot of positives for the Bulls. The lack of height will continue to plague the team against some teams, but when you look at how well the Suns have done with a fast running game and great passing, it is easy to see that the Bulls can be at least a second round playoff team this year.

I think I finally hit bottom this last week. Not only do I find myself checking Daily Deals every day, but my new Newegg Credit Card came in the mail today. Newegg is every tech geek’s dream store. Find thousands of items (most with real customer comments!), compare prices and features, and then wait for the delivery. It is definitely a lot easier than having to settle for scant retail selection, high prices, and unhelpful customer reps. Makes me wonder why can’t all online stores work as well as Newegg?

In the past year, I’ve bought multiple hard drives, an LCD monitor, processors, memory, and cases all from them. And this week, I got a new laser printer. It’s a good thing that they only sell electronics and not other things, or else I would be buying my next guitar from them too.

There is something to be said for driving a pickup truck, down a winding highway, listening to rock radio, with the windows down. Get the feeling of Freebird as the truck is pushing against the wind on an Indian Summer day. I look at the boys and they don’t know anything bad in this world. They are young and bold, and I wonder if they will even remember this day or feel that same sense of open road and reckless manful pride that can only be felt by driving fast and free.