Democracy at Work: I have been keeping an eye on the Minnesota senate race between Al Franken and Norm Coleman. It has been so interesting because the vote is so close that they are looking at individual ballots that are questionable. I have yet to see a decision on these challenged ballots that I have disagreed with. The men and women who are doing this work are really helping democracy to work the way that it should - every vote counts. There are those who will point to the people in Minnesota who can't seem to correctly complete a ballot, but when you consider how few of these that they are it is really pretty impressive. Minnesota has proven the old adage "every vote counts" probably more than any race that I can remember. I happen to live in a state where the majority overwhelmingly selected the right candidate and there was never a question about it, but in cases like Minnesota its great to see it working.

Pundits from both sides have been questioning Minnesota and probably with just cause as it is such a close race and it seems that one side has produced some mystery ballots after the vote. But watching these impartial judges rule on each and every vote it gives me pause to realize that we do indeed live in the best country in the world where my vote makes a difference.

CNN needs to rethink their policies: I just got a "Breaking News" alert on my phone. The idea of something that is "breaking news" implies that it is something that has just happened, and that it is news worthy. What was this breaking news? It was to announce that the United States is in a recession and has been for A YEAR.

I recognize that they need to feel relevant and cause their viewers to quickly come to their web site so that they can drive up advertising revenue, but how was this news? Maybe from their lofty offices they haven't seen what the rest of us have known for some time, but this is hardly something worth sending out an alert. In fact, this is hardly page 2 material.