[politics] How to move to a popular vote

The NYT has an interesting opinion piece about how we could practically move our national elections to a popular vote in a way that's hard for the powers that be to oppose.  Basically, pairs of non-swing states of equivalent size could sign legal agreements to have their electors computed by district instead of by state.  Any two states that do this would both benefit from the increased attention from presidential candidates, while neither political party's chance of winning is substantially affected.  Currently swing states get a disproportionately large say in who gets elected, which is why we have people like Sarah Palin getting away with saying that rural America is the real America

Read more here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/opinion/15lane.html?8dpc

Why I love San Francisco

I drove up to Twin Peaks today to look at the view.  The rain had washed out all of the particulate matter out of the air and then moved on, leaving a sunny, glistening landscape.  Up there, everything was crisp and vivid -- the Golden Gate Bridge was a bright red, the details of Berkeley and the Oakland Hills were clear, and there was a big rainbow right over Market St that landed onto the Castro in a heroic act of symbolism.  (I really wish I had brought my camera... the crappy iphone photo doesn't do it justice). 

On my way driving back down the peak, I passed a man in a neon green rain jacket coming up the hill on a unicycle.