So the Twilight Zone is actually in England.

Something funny's going on in northern England. According to the BBC, people in Norfolk have been driving by the Royal Air Force Trimingham base and had things like car electrical failures and spinning speedometers. It's like something straight out of the Twilight Zone.

Now most of the time, when things like this happen, they end up being wild rumors that result in stories of hauntings, ghosts, weird extraterrestrial experiments, and just generally Things Humans Were Not Meant to Know. Sorry, dear readers, but it turns out it's nothing that cool.

The British Ministry of Defence has admitted that "a fault at a radar dome was responsible for causing electrical problems with dozens of cars" and it "will consider claims for compensation after an inquiry found the radar was 'out of alignment.'" So yeah, all of these problems people had were caused by radiation of one sort or another. It sort of makes you wonder what the radar is capable of doing if it is properly aligned...

Exercising Your Rights, Part 2

Well, elections are over, and some of the people I wanted to see in office made it, and some didn't. I wanted to do a rundown of some election issues I've been following, though, because they were of interest to me:

Washington and California had ballot initiatives that would require the states' largest electric companies to increase their use of renewable resources like wind, solar, biomass, geothermal and small hydro from less than 2 percent today to 15 to 25 percent in the coming years. California's Proposition 87 didn't pass, 45%-55%. Washington's Initiative Measure 937 did pass, though, 52%-47%.

In Missouri, Amendment 2 would allow stem cell research to be conducted. It passed, by a narrow margin of 51%-49%.

Colorado had a couple of interesting ones. They had Amendment 43, which bans same-sex marriage under Colorado law. That, unfortunately, passed. At the same time, Referendum I also didn't pass, which would have granted same-sex domestic partners spousal benefits. Amendment 44, which would have legalized the possession of up to an ounce of marijuana by adults 21 and over, lost by a 60%-40% margin, an impressive showing for an initiative of its nature.

Nevada had an even more sweeping marijuana initiative. Question 7 would have not only legalized possession of up to an ounce of marijuana for adults 21 and older, but it would have created a system for cultivation, taxation and regulation that would have permitted it to be sold under certain conditions. That one also failed, 56%-44%.

A bunch of states banned same-sex marriage along with Colorado: Wisconsin (Referendum 1, 59%-41%), Virginia (Question 1, 57%-43%), Tennessee (Amendment 1, 81%-19%!), South Carolina (Amendment 1, 78%-22%), Idaho (Amendment 2, 63%-37%), and the results are still out for Arizona, because it's a pretty even split right now.

South Dakota also banned same-sex marriage (Amendment C, 52%-48%), as well as shot down a medical marijuana initiative (52%-48%). They did, however, fail to pass Referendum 6, which would have banned abortion (44%-56%).

Arizona also made English its official language (Proposition 103, 74%-26%).

I wonder about the banning same-sex marriage bills, since the Democratic party seems to have made a better-than average showing this election. Maybe the public is tired of Republicans running things, but you'd think with the Democrats gaining power a liberal idea would be more likely to stay...I dunno.

I never thought stem-cell research would fly in Missouri, but here we are. I also thought California would go for the energy bill, but at least Washington's did. Somebody is thinking a little more about the planet.

Pro drug-reform readers, take note, because here comes my disclaimer: while I really hoped the marijuana initiatives would all pass, I thought South Dakota's was the only one with a true chance...this time. The fact that the Colorado and Nevada initiatives garnered 40+ percent of the vote with really not much financial support, not to mention semi-legal (at best) moves by local, state and federal offices to halt them, says wonders for the people in those states. The tide is turning, my friends. Soon drug problems will really be a health issue, instead of a criminal one, and these might be the first places to leave responsible users alone instead of sending them to prison.

Exercising your rights

First off, I want to apologize because it's been so long, and the three of you who read this are probably wondering if I've abandoned the blog altogether. Well, no, but time has not been on my side lately to write in it. That, and some heavy personal things have been going on that have kept me from it. Well, I hope to write in it some more from now on.

I wanted to say a little something about all of the candidates in the voting race. To those of you who have focused on the issues instead of your opponents: thank you. You are unfortunately few.

To those of you who don't really have a platform except to tell us all the bad things your opponent did: shame on you. You're not telling us anything we didn't already know, or weren't able to find out. When intelligent people vote, we vote because we think that the candidate we choose will accurately represent our interests in public office. I know I didn't vote for one candidate for state senate in particular because I think he's a schmuck. Our house received two or three calls a week with a recorded message saying, "Hi. I'm calling with information about [name deleted, the other candidate]." Yeah, right. This candidate also spent most of his campaign money slandering his opponent, instead of really telling us what he was going to do. If you've got nothing better to get you into office than duping people into voting against the other guy, you're definitely not for me. I have yet to see a campaign where there wasn't at least one candidate who doesn't seem to have a position, except to bash the other guy. I think because we're non-affiliated, independent voters at our house (read free thinkers; wow!) we were inundated with political flyers. I guess in a way, it was a relief not to see as many bills, but it kind of sucks when most of your mail goes in the trash because it's all political flyers.

That's another thing: don't think a flashy flyer and campaign is going to win over intelligent voters. Some of us actually pay attention to the news, and listen to you when you make speeches. Still, some people think that getting their grandkid on the radio to talk about them will win via the cuteness factor, or that they can appear on a flyer with a nice suit and somebody will vote for them based on that. The sad thing is it really does work for average America. So figure out what you want in the tough issues. Watch the news. Listen to the radio and go to speeches. Think. Then vote.