America's earliest settlers brought their enthusiasm for fireworks to the United States. Fireworks and black ash were used to celebrate important events long before the American Revolutionary War. The very first celebration of Independence Day was in 1777, six years before Americans knew whether the new nation would survive the war; fireworks were a part of all festivities. In 1789, George Washington's inauguration was also accompanied by a fireworks display. This early fascination with their noise and color continues today.

A leading cyber-security expert and former adviser to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) says he has fresh evidence regarding election fraud on Diebold electronic voting machines during the 2002 Georgia gubernatorial and senatorial elections. At a little noticed press conference in Columbus, Ohio Thursday, he discussed his investigation of a computer patch that was applied to Diebold Election Systems voting machines in Georgia right before that state's November 2002 election. In 1995, Spoonamore received a civilian citation for his work with the Department of Defense. He was again recognized for his contributions in 2004 by the Department of Homeland Security. Spoonamore is also a registered Republican and until recently was advising the McCain campaign.

"The Federal Reserve Board ... recently put into effect rules barring a lender from making a loan without regard to the borrower's ability to repay it."

In the past they've selected which candidates get to attend with their own secret formula, but likely simply based on which candidates are actually viable. This year they appear to have pawned off that duty to the masses by using a voting system. This worked well in the races for Mayor and Commissioner Seat No. 2, because it's clear which candidates are actually running and which are not. (Mayor: Sam Adams and Sho Dozono, Seat #2: Nick Fish and Jim Middaugh.)

But the race for Seat No. 1 is tricky. Early on when we posted about the viable candidates and how the voting seemed to reinforce the border of legitimate candidates and the other people running. Even then Seat #1 showed a close race to make it into the top three, and now the gap between who makes it and who doesn't is just 17 votes, and the number is changing a lot.

It's not that Candidates Gone Wild is a make it or break it event (the last one I attended was made up of mostly candidate supporters and political wonks), but they have a responsibility to present all the viable options. Making an entertaining event doesn't give you a pass on your political responsibilities. And coming from a pulitzer prize winning newspaper and a political activism group they should know better.

I'd be willing to bet money they do the right thing in the end. They can clearly see the same thing I can. The votes are too close, and clearly the people want to hear from more than just three of the candidates.

But just in case I emailed The Bus Project, and I wrote to the candidates, and now I'm posting this here. Because as an undecided voter in that race, I don't want to hear from the three of the candidates with the most MySpace friends, I want to hear from all the viable candidates.

• Sam Adams 751
• Sho Dozono 626
• Beryl McNair 104
• Christopher Rich 79
• Jeff Taylor 59
• James Lee 51
• Bob Forthan 45

• Amanda Fritz 518
• Jeff Bissonnette 490
• Christopher Smith 415
• Charles Lewis 351
• John Branam 325
• Mike Fahey 253

• Jim Middaugh 675
• Nick Fish 603
• Ed Garren 243
• Fred Stewart 181
• Harold C. Williams II 149

Clearly the mayoral race is between Sam and Sho. I'm not sure what the motivations are of the other people running for that office, but they should all know they stand zero chance of winning. Seat #1 is interesting because we see early campaigner Charles Lewis (wasn't he the first to declare he was running?) out of the event by a pretty wide margin. And Seat #2 is exactly where it should be, a battle between Jim and Nick.

This event will probably greatly influence my vote. Sho Dozono only exists as an anti-Sam, and because I'm a firm Sam Adams supporter, I don't have a lot of interest in that race. But Seat #1 I'm leaning slightly towards Chris Smith, but curious about Jeff Bissonnette (I have no interest in Fritz, she scares me). Seat #2 I'm also leaning towards Nick Fish, but I find Jim Middaugh to be intriguing.

I like that my decision is based partly on a live event. It adds a compelling reason to pay attention.

Ice is the only condition that studded tires assist with. They actually reduce the stopping ability of vehicles under wet conditions, and they wear out the roads creating less traction and more danger for everyone else.

Minnesota and Michigan have completly banned studded tires. A study by Washington State Dept. of Transportation estimated that at least $18.2 million in damage has been caused by studded tires. (pdf)

I called the ODOT Citizens' Representative Office in Salem and asked if there was some way to report violations. I was told that, unfortunatley, there is no procedure for reporting violations. And people are only ticketed if they are pulled over for another offense and the officer notices the tires.

Apathy of enforcement creates apathy about government. Clearly the police and state troopers of Oregon can't vigilantly pursue violatons of traction tires, but when citizens are given the opportunity to be involved it allows government to create a legion of volunteers. For example, Portland's Transportation Bureau allows you to call in parking violations (503-823-5644) and leave a report about blocked sidewalks and other violations. (Or course it only works during business hours, after which you need to call the Portland Police non-emergency number: 503-823-3333.) There is also the Pothole Hotline, 503-823-BUMP.

Citizen involvement should be more rewarding. And nothing is more rewarding than the XBOX 360's system of achievement points. I think you can probably see where I'm headed with this. :) Yes, I'm talking about a Citizen Leaderboard that tracks how many potholes you reported, how many parking violations you called in, and how many people you've reported for studded tires after April. Imagine teams of people getting together on the weekend to search out parking violations in order to up their score!