Have you tried Google News yet? It's fantastic and innovative in the way it automatically collects articles. Yet again, the eggheads at Google have developed something clean, fast-loading, and infinitely usable. No wonder they are one of the only Internet companies that is actually making a profit.

Gubernatorial races are getting interesting right now. Jeb Bush will probably win in Florida again, but not by much. Gray Davis will win California. But the big news is right here in illinois, where we are most likely going to have our first Democratic governor in 30 years. But I'm not really excited by either candidate.

Rod Blagojevich is my congressman. When he has actually shown up to vote, he mostly votes how I would, though I'm surprised he voted against foreign aid for family planning. He comes from Chicago, though, a city boy, and in a state that is so broad in its citizenry (urban, blue collar, farmers), is someone attached at the ass to Mayor Daley the best choice for a governor?

Jim Ryan, on the other hand, thinks our capital punishment system is just fine. He thinks the government can dictate family values. He opposes abortion rights. He's a very conservative, the kind of conservatism that is in the White House. He didn't investigate the licenses-for-bribes scandal and he put knowingly put innocent people in jail as Attorney General.

So I'm voting for Rod. He may not be the best guy for the state, but he at least respects freedom for those who aren't Christians.

Where is my ideal candidate? Third parties will never be viable in this country (I hope I'm wrong). Americans are pretty much idiots. Libertarians are gun-toting freaks, Greens are too stoned all the time to know what's really going on, and I can't believe I still see LaRouche folks on the street. Granted, with all of the corporate scandals, Ralph Nader could run in 2004 with the slogan, "I told you so!" However, it doesn't mean he has an antelope's chance in a lions' den. It just means fewer Democrats voting strategically to get Bush out of office.

Two weeks from today is election day. Please vote, and please vote wisely.