@HP:

I can't speak for all of us, but I will be somewhat glad to have my life-without-constant-election-propaganda back. I don't buy the gas tax vacation anymore than I would believe either candidate if they told me they could turn lead to gold.

Most of us are very, very conservative here. I make the joke all the time that I'm one of six Indiana Dems, but that's at least a little bit hyperbole. There may be 10 now.... : ) We're tired in general. We work hard and never get anywhere. Even during the Clinton boom, Indy stagnated. We didn't get any worse, as we have under every Repub president since Nixon, but we didn't get better, either. There are no jobs for anyone, the factories all moved away and there are so few professional jobs that most of our college grads leave and never come back. We've got the whole range of poverty going on here, from urban/inner city poverty to rural. Less than half of us have a high school diploma, less than 1% have an advanced degree and the biggest employer in the state is Walmart.

"Welcome to Indiana, please leave your aspirations at the border."

I encounter a disproportionately large number of folks who still wholeheartedly support GWB and the war. We're likely where all the Obama is a Muslim/a racist/the anti-Christ emails came from. It's not personal, there are just a lot of talk radio fans here who need someone to blame for why life sucks.

As for the election tomorrow, I think it will be very, very close. HRC has been hitting the northern counties hard, but Obama has been drawing big crowds. I think it could easily go either way.

As for the lady who was going to Spite-Vote for HRC - she may have reconsidered, but many repubs I know ARE planning on doing just that. Yayz for democracy with maturity.

I've worked with kids with autism on all ends of the spectrum for 14 years. My insight here is purely anecdotal; I'm not a scientist, I'm a teacher.

Vaccines can not, in my opinion, be the sole cause of autism, I've worked with more than one child who was never vaccinated for anything and is still severely autistic. Like a previous poster mentioned, there is some speculation that the vaccine cocktail may trigger symptoms of autism in children who already have the disorder. It merits looking into, IMHO, but personally I'd rather see all the funding and research and energy that has gone into the vaccine imbroglio be devoted towards better treatment and earlier diagnosis.

I won't criticize any parent of a child with autism for seeking answers and trying to make sense of the incredible blow a family with a special needs child endures after diagnosis. Raising a child with out a disability is challenging and difficult, raising a child with autism changes your whole world. Cut parents a little slack for exploring every option they can find.

As for the increase in kids with autism, my (again anecdotal)experience tells me it's pretty dramatic. I think better diagnosis is part of it, but I do think there are more students who have all manner of learning difficulties entering the schools than when I started, a short 14 years ago. My class for kids on the spectrum grows in size every year, and the number of students with IEPs has become almost shocking. (88 of the 345 students in my K-8 school, 24 of those have an autism spectrum disorder)

I could write for weeks on this, but I'll shut up now. ; )

Educators in general are the new lepers. In my conservative little state (Indiana) we're right up there with illegal immigrants and communists on the popularity scale. When this story broke, our local newspaper's forum was rife with comments about how this woman would be the worst thing to happen to education since the teachers' union.

If I recall, though, part of the issue is that this woman shared the link to her myspace page with the high schoolers where she was doing her student teaching. I do think that crosses a line. I wouldn't for an instant consider sharing any of my online activities with my students, let alone invite them to "friend" me, or whatever terminology they use on MySpace. Having a life outside of teaching is fine, but when the teacher deliberately blurs the line between her personal and professional life, I think he/she should be responsible for what happens as a result.

Or Barbies with seeds implanted in their skulls -- sort of like Chia pets -- that you could bury in your yard.

I'm having a capitally shitty day, and that just made it so much better.