1) Why does all of the early political action lie in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina? New Hampshire is a state with a population roughly the size of the Kansas City metropolitan area (1.3 million people), so why are they making decisions for the other 298.7 million people in the country? The largest city in New Hampshire is Manchester, a town of 100,000 people. That is about the size of Lawrence, Kansas. While the candidates go around to every barber shop and ice cream parlor in these states, Missouri will get a few fundraising events that cost hundreds of dollars a plate, just to hear the candidates give the same tired speeches they do on CNN. The presidential primary system needs to move toward a national primary, as in the general election.

2) Whoever the next President is has quite a mess on their hands in the Middle East. The war in Iraq, Israel and its neighbors in constant dispute, the Iran nuclear issue, the Pakistani situation, fighting Al-Qaeda, Turkey and the Kurds fighting on Iraq’s northern border, and the price of oil. The situation is on the verge of chaos from the Mediterranean all the way to Pakistan. If the next President is not a savvy diplomat, the Middle East could crumble into uncontrollable turmoil that the rest of the world could not fix. Regardless of what happens militarily, the price of oil is the one issue that could cripple our economy. If oil hits $200 a barrel, the price of consumer goods is expected to skyrocket nationwide, and further weaken the already stagnant dollar.

3) Both the University of Kansas and University of Missouri had extraordinary football seasons this year by recent standards. When Missouri beat Kansas in their showdown at Arrowhead Stadium, they were ranked number two and four in the nation. This goes to show how screwed up the NCAA-BCS is. Neither Missouri nor Kansas had beaten a team ranked in the top twenty-five. The only time either team even played a ranked team, Missouri lost to Oklahoma 41–31. These teams made it to the top of the rankings by playing a soft schedule and watching the big teams ahead of them lose to conference opponents. I am calling on college football to implement a playoff system to determine the national champion. In a playoff format, Kansas, or Missouri would be gone in the first round, soon as they played a team like LSU or USC.

4) Is anyone else tired of celebrities patronizing our intelligence by telling us how we should feel about certain issues? Oprah wants us to vote for Barak Obama, Chuck Norris wants us to vote for Mike Huckabee, George Clooney wants us to pay attention to the conflict in Darfur, Bono wants us to fight global poverty, Brittany Spears wants us to support our president, and Sheryl Crow wants us to use less toilet paper. Here’s what I have to say to these celebrities: F--- You. Go pretend that you have a talent that is useful in the real world and leave the rest of the global population out of your propaganda. If they want to do the world a favor, I recommend shutting up and going back to their pop music and sappy movies.

5) How many presidential debates/forums is it possible to have in one calendar year? Remember when a Presidential Debate used to mean something? Candidacies were either made or broken in those moments, because there were only two or three of them. Some of the greatest moments in American political history were crafted in the debates; Kennedy’s golden boy charm, George H. Bush looking bored and checking his watch, and who can forget Walter Mondale exclaiming, “Where’s the beef?” These election idiosyncrasies cost or gained the candidates dearly. This election cycle, the debates started in March. That is almost two years before the election. At this rate, why even have a president? Just have people constantly vying for the job. One would have to dedicate almost seventy-two hours of their life, just to see every minute of every debate. No one has time for that and the candidates know it. In order to restore credibility to the debates in 2012, there needs to be significantly less of them.

6) Have you heard that in February of 2009, television is changing its broadcast format? Say goodbye to the old standard definition and say hello to the new high definition. The picture is clearer, crisper, and won’t blur during quick action scenes, so it sounds great, right? Here’s the catch: It only works on high definition televisions. Your television that accepts SDTV signals and cable feeds will be rendered useless in a mere fourteen months. What’s that you say? You don’t have $800 to blow on a new television? Have no fear, there's a converter you can buy which will change the digital signal back into "standard def," so your TV can understand. The price tag on that isn’t out yet. We all know how corporations get laws passed through their "donations" to officials, and this sounds to me like a law passed by the technology industry. Isn’t it convenient that every American citizen will be required to buy something if they want to watch television? Well, not me. February 17, 2009 will be the last day I watch television. I encourage everybody else to do the same.

7) December 7 will mark three years since the death of “Dimebag” Darrell. He was murdered on stage during a performance in Columbus, Ohio in 2004. Dimebag was one of the most influential guitar players of the metal genre. He took what already existed and expanded the sound to new levels. He will be remembered alongside guitar heroes such as Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimmie Hendrix, and Randy Rhodes. The consolation in Dimebag’s death is that he went out how he would have wanted: guitar in hand. The world moves on, and life continues for the rest of us but I can only wonder what could have been. I miss you Dime. This Friday the party is for you, bro.

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