Just read a very nice post by Chris Bowers about the new emerging progressive political culture that rings very true to me. He's got a neat video at the end which I'll stick down at the bottom here too. Anyway, it's election day on Tuesday. Go vote, sucka.

I cracked the election book tonight to start sorting out ballot measures, etc. On candidates I'll probably vote the D-line. After my experience in 2000, I don't support third-parties as a gesture, only when there's a real chance for something to happen, though your mileage may vary.

Nationally it's looking like the Democrats will take the House, which would be an important and good (if not foolproof) check on the GOP/Bush power. That's exciting, most of all because it will mean a change in the atmosphere and a lot of new energy to mix it up. We need that.

Locally we don't have much. I live in an unincorporated community (just a water district) so pressing issues like potholes are solved ad-hoc by people getting fed up enough and buying some gravel. County elections are in an off year, and the state scene is pretty dull.

However, down in town there are a few zingers. My favorite is Measure W, which seeks to remove Fluoride from the drinking water. There's a pretty decent round-up of the issue in the North Coast Journal that sums it up in reality, but I just love the whacky symbolism of protecting our Precious Bodily Fluids.

In reality, Fluoridated drinking water is important for the dental health of low-income families who (because we have no health-care system to speak of) cannot afford regular dental check-ups. More on that here. I would vote against the measure if I could, but I also sort of want to blow up that photo of Gen. Ripper and make some guerilla signs to hang around town.

A pet theory is that the people backing this know it's unlikely to pass, but are backing it as a sort of marketing effort for their water purification businesses. That's completely speculative, but it would be a savvy move if true.

Ok, enough jibber-jabber. Here's that video: