The right to vote wasn't created equal. Twenty states require felons to complete both parole and probation before they can regain their right to vote, Colorado allows felons on probation to vote and Tennessee requires them to pay all restitution before voting. In Kentucky and Virginia felons are permanently banned from voting unless the governor restores that right, but in Maine and Vermont felons can vote in prison.

A wise Chinese antiques shop dealer could tell you much about Chinese Mings and things, and so much about each regime or emperor through his, or figures of Confucious. But if you were to talk about modern politics you might encounter some understandable hesitation to talk so freely. So we will. Hu Jintao was a top honor student who excelled at every task he was given.

In a world where entire stock market values can change by 2 % a day this is a very difficult question to answer. It's best that we spend some time looking at what has caused the recent decrease and then look at some trends that are starting to happen around the world.

The recent decrease in the price of oil has to do with two major factors.

The Province of Ontario, Canada, is currently studying legislation that would make it illegal to operate a hand held cell phone, Blackberry or GPS device while operating a motor vehicle. If it becomes law, Ontario would follow the provinces of Quebec and Newfoundland and over a dozen states in the USA.

Whatever your opinion on the subject of using a cell phone while driving, the fact remains that we are increasingly subjecting ourselves to 24 hour a day, 7 day a week accessibility.

Is there anything that can be done about all those "greedy" Wall Street guys, speculators, and CEOs who make off with millions in golden parachutes? After all, everyone from Chris Dodd to John McBama ... from Bill O'Reilly to "conservative" icon Ben Stein ... says they are among the major culprits responsible for the our current economic disaster.

Getting back to the point I made about investors taking responsibility for their investment decisions, there is one other big thing I learned when I tried to play the Wall Street game. The Wall Street Jungle is infested with a vicious carnivore known as Humanosaurus rex --- a ferocious humanoid with a humongous appetite. Humanosaurus rex doesn't eat your lunch; he eats you.

There's one happy outcome of soaring gas prices that Bakersfield traffic enforcement officials had not planned for a corresponding drop in auto accidents in the area.

The statistics speak for themselves. According to numbers released by the California Highway Patrol published in The Bakersfield Californian, the number of car accidents have dropped by at least 14 percent since the same period last year.

Mortgage rates for most of the major mortgage products fell again this week. Although the drop was not as substantial as last week it is still nice to see rates come down this week. The 30 year mortgage rate fell from 6.20 to 6.14. The small movement this week marked a departure from the wild swings we have been experiencing recently. In fact the drop of .

While Indian Prince Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, died in BC 486 his teachings did not reach into China until AD 286. As usual this journey was a long and difficult route. Their route was to go to the west and up over the lower shoulder of the vast Himalayan Mountains. This would be them down on the ridge of the high and barren Tibetan Platea. Moving eastward they would have made their way down into the Gobi Desert.

Some court reporters predict the future of their careers through business indicators. They might study how tort reform will change the profession or how new online technologies fuel growth or decline in employment. Few watch the nation's nuclear waste processing, yet a major change might be coming out of that arena.

The Yucca Mountain Hearings

The project to build the country's first long-term nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada has been subject to massive public interest and complex licensing requirements.