The week before an election is always a good time for political polls, and 2006 is proving to be no exception. A new day means new poll data to digest and comment on.

News:

Current polls are essentially dead-locked in the Senate, with the totals looking like 50-49 in favor of the Democrats, with one seat sitting out there in the wonderful ‘tie’ zone. This comes on the heels yesterday’s 51-49 prediction and may come as a slight relief to the Republicans.

The House, on the other hand, has shifted even further into likely Democratic control, with the total predicted to be 241-193 with a single tied seat. These numbers are a slight shift from yesterday’s 239-195 prediction.

Views:

To be quite honest, I’d love to see the Republicans maintain control, but I really don’t see that happening (at least in the House). Although I’d hate to see total Democratic control, I would not mind a split Congress. It is my belief that the partisan bickering and in-fighting could make for a interesting fun session and a treasure trove of blog fodder.

Thanks again to electoral-vote.com for the poll data.

My first time? I’m ashamed to admit that I still haven’t gotten around to it. I’ve been dreaming about it for years, and I’m finally old enough. I guess I’ve just been busy recently.

I’ve thought about it, considered exactly how I want to do everything and I am truly looking forward to it. Heck, who cares if it’s supposed to be a private thing - I’ll even post pictures on this site.

This weekend, I’ll do it then. Or at least sometime before next Tuesday. And I’ll make sure its something I’ll never forget. I’ll make it the start of a beautiful tradition.

Thanks to WVWV.org for the video.

In case you didn’t realize, both myself and the video are referring to VOTING. Not anything else that you dirty-minded folks may be thinking of.

I am again indebted to HotAir.com for finding this great video.

I know that four posts in a single day is entirely unprecedented on my part, but I guess I’m trying to make up for a lack of posts over the last week. None the less, this time I’m offering a simple and kind of quirky link for your enjoyment.

I’m sure many of you have seen the previous NASA offers to send your name to Mars or into space and yes, this is essentially another one of those. I know that these things are really very silly and pointless, but somehow the idea of having my name sent into space is at least a bit appealing.

On that note, why not join me in sending our names to space aboard MIT’s research spacecraft, set to launch in 2010!

Heck, with Christmas less than two months away, why not send your son or daughter, niece or nephew’s name into space and print them out the certificate as a quick, easy, and cheap stocking stuffer?

Link:
YourNameInSpace.com

In the interest of accountability, this post has been retained. Please note that as of February 7th, 2007, News. Views. Common Sense. no longer accepts sponsored posts or advertising. Thank you.

As you may well remember from my experiment with PayPerPost a few weeks ago, I was more than a little apprehensive at the idea of allowing outside companies to in any way influence the content of my blog. As a result, I have been very weary.

I have felt all along that honesty of opinion is what has allowed the Blogosphere to grow and evolve as it has over the past few years. On that note, it is simply impossible for such a trust to develop if bloggers are failing to disclose their association with a particular advertiser, employer, or other entity.

As a result, I have implemented a strict Disclosure Policy for News. Views. Common Sense. Although I have always promised (and followed through) to disclose any factors that may influence a post, I have yet to develop a true policy regarding it. Starting today, with the help of the Disclosure Policy Generator at DisclosurePolicy.org, I have such a policy.

If you wish, feel free to check out my disclosure policy here or click the link in the ‘Pages’ section of the navigation bar (on the left of the site).

I truly did find the site useful in generating a policy of my own, but it goes deeper than that. With a proper Disclosure Policy I know that my readers can rest easily with the knowledge that I will never lie to them or disguise the real meaning of a post. This has really helped with the ethical debate I have been having with myself as of late.

My Disclosure Policy follows:

I would like to remind you that this has been a sponsored post. I received $10.00 from http://www.disclosurepolicy.org to post about the ‘Disclosure Policy Generator’ site.

As I mentioned on Monday, electoral-vote.com is one of my favorite sites to visit in during election season, and this year has been no exception. A large round of new polls have come out, however, and I’m not exactly happy with the way things seem to be turning.

News:
On Monday, the prediction was 51 to 49 in the Senate with Republicans in the lead. Today, the polls seem to be showing a dead split, 50 to 50. I am fully aware that the margin of error alone can swing these numbers in either direction, as can any major developments over the coming days. I guess it would be best to simply keep our fingers crossed.

The House, however, is really looking very disappointing at the moment. On Monday, it was looking like the Democrats would win, but with a margin of only 225 to 208 and two ties. Yes, that is a lot, but small enough that margin of error might have been able to swing it. Today’s numbers still show the Democrats in the lead, but with 239 to 195 and one tie. While many of these are likely close, election night is looking more and more like a democratic victory.

Views:
Needless to say, I’m not exactly excited about the potential outcome. Although it would be nice to get some new faces in Congress, I’m not sure democrats are the way to go. I am positive that there are some strong Republican candidates out there, the problem is finding them and running them. Many of the current leaders in congress are too into appeasing Bush and big business, both of which seem obsessed with allowing illegal aliens to stay in this country. I don’t know about you, but I think that illegal immigration is going to be the hot button issue for this election.

Common Sense:
Depending on the outcome of this election, the Republicans may need to reconsider their strategy and tackle the issue of illegal immigration hands on and do it quite bluntly. I feel that a tough immigration reform bill would be able to keep Washington in Republican hands for a long time.

(Thanks to HotAir.com)

News:
It was more than a year ago that the controversial Mohamed Cartoons ran in the Danish Jyllands-Posten newspaper, and the Muslims can’t seem to let it die.

The winner of an Iranian contest sparked by the incident was announced today, a Moroccan man by the name of Abdellah Derkaoui. For purely educational purposes, the winning cartoon is reproduced below:

The winning Iranian Holocaust Cartoon

As you may well know, the Iranians launched a cartoon contest of their own in response. According to Wikipedia, the contest was launched on February 7th of this year and came to a close today. As announced by the Iran Cartoon Organization, first prize was $12,000, a trophy, and an ‘honorable mention’.

Views:
I’d love to offer protests of my own, but I’m not exactly in a position to protest at the Iranian or Moroccan embassies. For those of you in Ottawa, please protect in front of the Iranian Embassy. For my fellow Americans, you’re mostly out of luck, although there is a Moroccan embassy located in Washington, D.C. If you really want to, it seems that the Pakistani embassy also handles some business for Iran.

Beyond that, I’d like to see some sort of condemnation of the cartoons by the international community. I understand the Mohamed cartoons were upsetting, but the offensive rating is on a whole other level for the Holocaust cartoons. Think about it, over six million people were killed in death camps, with many survivors still around today. Making fun of Mohamed is against a tradition, but making fun of the Holocaust is so much worse - it truly tugs on the heartstrings of millions and millions of people around the world.

Common Sense:
Not much, but I can assure you that no Jewish people are going to go around and burn mosques or kill clerics in response to these cartoons. Jews (and Christians) are civilized, as for Muslims, I’m not entirely sure.