Bits and pieces

On the bus ride home the other day, I saw something startling. First, background: there are two gas station on Divisidero and Fell, one is an ARCO that is always cheaper than most other Ess Eff gas stations because the use cash prices and charge a fee for using a credit or debit card, and across the street from the ARCO is a 76 station that is at least 40 cents more. So, on my bus ride down Fell, I noticed that the gas station across the street from the ARCO is no longer a 76, but is now an independent gas station called Spirit, based on the new logo that is now in front of the old gas station logo. With the change comes a change in price- it's now 2 cents more than the ARCO, making it extremely competitive, if not cheaper (unless you pay cash at the ARCO). This is quite a welcome change in gas price for that neighborhood, not to mention traffic- there were often lines of cars up Fell waiting to get to the cheaper gas. Not to mention that the gas station owner was probably tired of paying 76 high amounts of money for licensing and figured he could make more money without the name branding and buying his own gas- good for him.

Just one or two things on the election: not too bad with the election picks, only missed on Ess Eff Prop A, but I fully expected that to happen (and don't expect me to start supporting bonds, Ess Eff is planning a lot of them in the years ahead, and I plan to be very suspicious of them).

What I find amusing about the discussion about states from last Tuesday is that on the Republican side John McCain wins in traditional Democratic states and it's a sign of weakness (the base doesn't like him and won't vote for him), but Barack Obama wins in traditional Republican states and it's a sign of strength (look at his ability to cross party lines). Maybe it's a sign of each party, and goes along with my view that maybe it's time for the grand alliance to re-think itself. The Republican "base" doesn't like John McCain for a number of reason, including ability to work with Democrats. The Democratic base appears more aligned with Hillary Clinton, but new Democrat voters are coming out to support Obama. So, in states that are traditionally held by the other party, means that there is more ground for new voters to have an impact- which results in base candidates winning base states and non-base candidates winning non-base states.

Finally, with Mitt Romney dropping out of the Republican race to be the nominee for President, basically means that John McCain will be the Republican nominee, which automatically leads to discussions on Vice President nominees. First, we're dealing with the opposite of 2000: George W. Bush being relatively young, chose someone with no desire to run for President on his own, Dick Cheney. This time, we have a relatively old person running for President, so his pick for VP will be under much more scrutiny since they would be put in place to run for President in 2012 (presuming McCain wins, or even loses), or earlier. Which means. . .I hope it's not Mike Huckabee. I really won't get into prospective VP nominees, I have people I'd like to see, and people I'd rather not see. But I don't really want to get into it right now.