$750 billion dollars seems like a lot because it is a lot. More than most of us can comprehend. But that's how much the financial bailout is and that's how much in the end we'll be doling out to your favorite financial institution. If you've had legitimate job the past few years and paid taxes, part of YOUR money is included in that sum.

The worst part of all of this is that even though your money is included in it, the corporations receiving that money think that you do not have the RIGHT to know what they're doing with it. As far as they're concerned, it's perfectly okay to be a black box. Money goes in and where it goes, nobody knows.

This may turn out to be the biggest disappearing act of wealth for centuries.

Read and be disgusted: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081222/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/meltdown_secrets

I'm, of course, elated that we've elected Obama. But as most of my gay(er) friends note, it came at the cost of gay marriage in California and Arizona (not that it was legal here to begin with). The irony here is that while we've made a huge step against oppression of one group, we've made a big step as well to oppressing another.

The elephant in the room as always when dealing with sexual orientation is religion. It has always been my view that marriage is a concept and an idea, not a definition. Haven't we grown out of this silliness about the Bible defining everything? If you're still clinging to the Bible saying marriage is between a man and a woman, then perhaps you shouldn't be doing things like driving a car or using that computer. A computer after all would be nothing more than voodoo and black magic if shown to the same people that wrote the Bible.

My point is that as the world changes, we have to let go of old perceptions. There is no reason to avoid change other than being afraid of it. With the rate of change in today's world, if you don't embrace it, you'll be constantly cowering in fear.

We're getting closer and closer to E-day. (That's election day.) Each day I get more and more nervous. Mostly because every day I spy some racist, redneck on the Internet falsely and stupidly claiming things like Barack Obama is a muslim or my personal favorite, a terrorist.

No, not even John McCain is a terrorist, or even Sarah Palin. When it comes down to it, it's about respecting everyone as Americans. The irony is, by making fun of the backwards, bigoted people in the more rural areas of the nation, I'm disrespecting them just as much. But am I correct? These people attack Obama, because he's different. They don't understand him or even have the faintest desire to. Why? I attack them because they attack others senselessly, without solid reason.

I don't get racism, I really don't. Hate people for their actions all you want, not because they look a little different than you. Obama has done nothing in his political career so far to warrant such malice. Granted, this is where a McCain-supporter would jump in and say he has no experience to lead which, of course, is bullshit. I think we've all had the fantasy at some point when we've been disillusioned with our government that one day we would elect a true 'man of the people', an average joe. We all brush it off because it 'could never happen' but why do we dream of such things if not to someday achieve it? Obama is much more your 'man of the people' than McCain. In my opinion, he has your best interests at heart more than McCain.

Now, I'm not saying that everybody that votes for McCain is an extremist or even a racist. My gripe is with the people I've seen vocalizing their irrational hatred of Obama. It must be a terrible thing to live in fear like these people do. Fear of others. Fear of those that are different on the outside, but just the same on the inside. Fear of those that are just as American as they are.

Go out and vote on Nov. 4. It's your country, it's your voice. Just don't cast your vote for the wrong reasons.

Some people in the media need some basic math skills. They keep spouting that the stock market today had its biggest loss ever. If you're going by some completely arbitrary scoring system like number of points, that's true. But the thing that matters isn't how many points it lost, it's how much of a percentage was lost.

The Dow dipped a little over 775 points. Which is an awful lot, but it's "only" 7%. About 20% off of what the stock market lost in the crash of '29. Sure, it's lost a massive dip but it's still above 10,000 points, which is fairly decent.

So calm down CNN, we're still okay.

I'm bemused by the fact that almost 2 years later, the Wii is still un-findable. How is this possible? The Wii isn't some hard to manufacture, cutting-edge device. It's a Gamecube in a smaller dress with a fancy (though fairly simple technically) controller. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of the -idea- of the Wii but in practice, it's been months since I've even touched it. That is part in due to lack of eye-candy but that's not what I'm writing about here.

Look at the image here on this article. Note, the underpowered, sold out Wii in the middle at the very same price point since launch. Obviously, it's an artificial shortage. It's understandable that Nintendo wants to capitalize on the popularity of the product but after almost *2 years*. That's pretty inexcusable. It's just made worse by the fact that this is now extending to accessories like the Wii Fit. How hard is it to manufacture a flippin' board?!

This is one of those things that frustrates me despite not even being that interested in the subject in question. Imagine how I get about stuff I do care about! :(