I remembered yesterday, when I was on the road and needed to know the digits of a local drug store, that there was a way to find out said info.

Instead of using the typical (and costly) information services available through land-lines and cell phones you can just dial 800-FREE-411. (This translates to 800-373-3411.) What you’ll get is this:

• A free, voice-automated directory assistance.
• No need to fear telemarketers.

Typical 411 services range from $1.49 to as much as $3.49 per phone number. So how in the name of all that is holy and sacred is this new one gratuit? The whole thing works a little like a radio station. You end up listening to two incredibly brief audio advertisements. One comes before you ask for a listing, and the second comes right before you hear the listing. That’s it.

In the words of Jingle Networks, Inc.:

Our sponsors cover the service cost by playing short advertising messages (about 15 seconds) — ads usually based on your search request. Say you’re looking for a local pizza place. We might play you a special offer from Dominos. And we’ll even connect you for free. Of course, you can always just get the original number you requested. Best part is, a typical call to us lasts about the same amount of time as a paid 411 call.

For more of the F.A.Q. about 800-FREE-411, just click this sentence. Then add the sucker to your cell phone’s contact list or speed dial, baby. (By the way, lest we forget, it’s totally legit.)

- – - – -

Editor’s Note, Part I: Just for the sake of full disclosure, we will add this: Google has launched a similar service. But we’re always trying to look out for new, privately held, start-up companies.

Editor’s Note, Part II: As with any other 800 number, your phone number is made available to the party you are trying to reach even if you have an unlisted number or even if you have a Caller ID Block on. This is just the way that toll free numbers work. FREE 411 is a legit business, and they don’t do anything that isn’t forced on them by federal law (the aforementioned is part of a governmental regulation). If you’re concerned about releasing your phone number to businesses, we recommend registering with the Do Not Call Registry. Also, keep in mind that some telemarketing is already illegal to make to a cell phone of any kind. Last thing: we’ve used FREE 411 a great deal, and we’ve never had a single problem.

As the polls closed on Election Day 2004, I watched the state-by-state results eek in from the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Columbus with a thousand other volunteers, including Jerry Springer, the former mayor of Cincinnati, and Eric, who'd road-raged his way down from Rochester, New York, in his rusty and rust-colored – ˜86 Monte Carlo, to lend a hand for the final few days. I bit my nails to the quick and pulled and twisted at my goatee. The news seemed grim.

And so, the war would rage on. And the poor would increasingly fight it. And our broken health care system would cause more bankruptcies. And monolithic business would rule instead of wise environmental stewardship. And I felt too guilty to sleep. But it was that night, and deep into the morning, that Eric and I came up with the idea of Progressive Wednesday, a new way to empower people when there weren't elections, and hell, even when there were. And it was that night we decided that helping to fix the election process would be at the top of our Wednesday list.

Two weeks later, I attended a public hearing with sworn testimony by Franklin County residents reporting voter suppression, fraud, and the inequitable distribution of voting machines in both poor and predominately African-American districts, which made 2004 Ohio seem a little too much like 1960 Mississippi.

Since I'm not a Democrat, I now deeply question why I didn't just support a so-called “third-party– candidate like Michael Badnarik, the Libertarian candidate, or David Cobb, the Green candidate. But my experience helped me question, even more, the process by which we select our elected officials and the ways we decide whom to give our vote. I imagine I'm not alone.

- – – – -

Make Progress:

We'll definitely be returning to this topic time and time again, because it's intensely complicated and similarly significant to not just our rights as Americans, but to what we value as a human right. What follows, then, is a beginning. Consider the starter's pistol fired.

• Bookmark
• Call
• Write
• Read
• Wear

Photo thanks to this voter.

Bookmark:

It's a little bit difficult to describe Project Vote Smart in 304 words, but here goes:

• This non-profit uses oodles of volunteers (from the right and the left) to examine “voting records, campaign contributions, public statements, biographical data (including their work history) and evaluations of them generated by over 100 competing special interest groups.–
• In addition, they “test each candidate’s willingness to provide citizens with their positions on the issues they will most likely face if elected through the National Political Awareness Test.– In other words, they see if candidates will openly, directly explain what they stand for — a tall order in some instances.
• You can also use Project Vote Smart to learn about judges, congressional legislation, voter registration, polling locales, ballot measures, and lots and lots of accurate et cetera.
• The Project also offers up a Voter's Self-Defense Manual, a must-read for progressives of any political ilk. The booklet can be downloaded as an Acrobat file, or you can order one by giving them a jingle: 1-888-868-3762.
• They are truly bipartisan: “No one can join the Project’s board without a political opposite.– And whose served on the board? Carter, Ford, Dukakis, McCain, McGovern, and Goldwater, to name a few.
• They don't take cash money from special interests. To quote: “We do not accept contributions from any corporations, labor unions, or other organizations that lobby, support or oppose candidates or issues.” The money comes only in the form of donations by individuals (70%) and philanthropic foundation grants (30%). Plus, 83% of their funds go directly into their programs and content.
• U.S. News and World Report has this to say: “Project Vote Smart would make the Founders weep with joy.– The New York Times pointed out that the Project kicks so much tail that “even the Federal Government recommends it.–
• This service — this wonderful, wonderful service — is completely free.

Want to read more? Go check it out for yourself. Then bookmark it. You'll want it down the road: we guarantee it.

We'd also like to ask you to give some love in the form of greenbacks to this incredibly worthy, dare we say essential (okay, we dare), this essential cause. Even if giving means three bucks. Here's the beauty of your generosity: not only do you help out this organization whose sole purpose is to help you as a voter, but your gift is tax-deductible, and you can choose how the money is spent. So give a little and have them spend it wisely.

But remember to bookmark it, baby, remember to bookmark it.

.

Call:

This sucker might come as a shock, but the Constitution does not guarantee American citizens the right to vote.

We'll give you a second to reread that sentence. Okay, now that we've got your attention we'll give you all the support we need to prove it to you. In the Supreme Court decision Bush v. Gore, the Court ruled: “The individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States.– We think, well, we think this is a load of crap, and not cute little rabbit pellets– ¦ no, we're talking a dump truck full of nasty elephant waste.

We'd like you to take five minutes right now, immediately after reading this, and call your Senators (take a peek and make sure your boss ain't lingering around). Just click this sentence to find a list of all the Senators with phone numbers for each. Here's what we'd recommend saying:

• “I'm a voter from [name your state], and I'm outraged that there's no Constitutional Amendment guaranteeing my right to vote. If Senator [last name] wants my vote the next time [he or she] is up for reelection, then [he or she] will introduce or support legislation that would guarantee this basic American right.–

Be sure to thank them for their time.

If such an Amendment existed, folks could sue states for voter fraud, suppression, a lack of equal protection, and faulty machines or a lack of functioning ones. There are 7,800 different election jurisdictions. This adds a lot of variables. If there was a Constitutional Amendment, there could be a universal voting system for all elections. Fairness. That's what we're talking about here. Accountability. Equality. A more perfect union.

.

Write:

Even though we're far, far away from the next national elections, we think it’s more apropos to deal with this topic well before November, which is, of course, National Pomegranate Month.

Okay, here's the main idea of our letter-to-the-editor campaign: Our fellow Americans, Election Day should be a national holiday.

Now, it's hard to argue with a day off (though we're sure the workaholics out there could give it a shot). But we think for the sake of the U.S. of A., voters deserve a greater opportunity to choose what goes down.

Here are some talking points for ya to use and morph and personalize and localize to your heart's content:

• Election Day is an excellent way to emphasize the importance of community.
• As a holiday, we'd be reaffirming the cultural significance of voting.
• Voting was a central catalyst behind the founding of the country.
• Voter turnout in the United State for presidential elections ranks 65th in the world. Democracy deserves better. Common sense dictates that a holiday would raise voter turnout.
• Most workers paid hourly can't afford to take time off work to vote.
• Polls in some states close as early as 7 p.m., further limiting turnout.
• Long lines wouldn't seem as daunting since folks wouldn't need to hustle back to work.
• Election Day is already a holiday in Puerto Rico.

Here's a link to the newspapers throughout the country to help you find the address and specific requirements to the daily “Extra, extra, read all about it!” in your community. You can always check out our How to Read Newspapers tool. Also, you might want to take a gander at our How to Write Letters to the Editor tool, both in brief and in full.

Photo courtesy of this literate picture-clicker.

Read:

Adopting Election Day as a national holiday and banging out a Constitutional Amendment guaranteeing the right to vote seem like two it's-about-time steps in the right direction.

There's got to be more we can do to help out so-called “third parties– and their very qualified candidates. Third parties deserve a greater voice in our country, and having more voices, more opinions, and options seems incredibly American to us. Two-party domination seems a bit archaic, a bit undemocratic.

There are several suggestions out there for ways to change the ways we vote and the ways third party candidates get treated on ballots. These ideas include:

• Fusion voting.
• Instant run-off voting.
• Popular voting.
• Range voting.

We'll be returning to the topic of election fixes in the future, and we're curious what your thoughts are about each of the various options. After you read about each, let us know what you think by leaving a comment or by contacting us. Let us know which you prefer, which you have questions about. Your comments will help us decide which ones to support down ye ole road. So, thanks in advance.

.

Wear:

Okay, this one's easy enough. We'd like to encourage you to plunk down a few bucks, snag yourself this t-shirt, and wear it around all year long (taking it off occasionally to shower, make the love, and maybe even wash it here and there). Sport it when you head to the grocery, the gym, the Grand Canyon. (Speaking of the Grand Canyon– ¦.)

This is a way to send an honest and constant message. Plus the word “vote– is bad-ass as Mr. T and drop-dead gorgeous as Rita Hayworth. Since you're reading Progressive Wednesday, we're confident you're a little bit of both, too.

Credit Cards. Credit Scores. Credit Reports. Credit. If you're reading this you've probably got them, for better or for worse. Unfortunately, if you're like most Americans (including us, until we did this research), you understand very little about them. But if you're not careful, they can sneak up from behind you and take control of your life. In fact, more often than not, they can take control of your life while staring you right in the face.

How many times this week has Capital One offered you a 0% APR with no annual fee and up to a $50,000 credit limit? Or 5% cash back on purchases and double air miles. Seriously, how many? My wife and I usually get three or four a week. Last Tuesday we got two offers each in a single day. We are not alone. Credit Card companies mail out over 6 billion offers each year. 641 million of those offers have been taken up and are responsible for $1.5 trillion (that's right, ta-ta-trillion) in consumer spending.

To pile the numbers up a little more, here they are in list form:

• 115 million Americans carry a balance on their credit cards from one month to the next, paying interest rates, in some cases, as high as 40%. The industry calls these customers “revolvers.–
• These revolvers carry an average balance of nearly $9,000, with an average interest rate of almost 18%.
• The total outstanding credit card debt in the US is more than $800 billion, equaling $128 billion in interest paid.
• The minimum payment on most of these cards in 2%. If a person pays the minimum, they are often paying little more than they are spending in interest alone.
• There is no legal limit to the interest rate credit cards can charge, nor is there a limit on late fees, returned check fees, or over-limit fees. These fees have reached as high as $40.
• If a late payment is reported on any loan, most other creditors automatically raise their interest rates.
• The Better Business Bureau receives more complaints about the credit card industry than any other.

Rather sobering statistics, eh? Here's the good news: we're here to help.

Make Progress:

• Watch
• Understand
• Request
• Call
• Get Help

Watch

A few months ago I recorded PBS' Frontline documentary, “Secret History of the Credit Card– on my DVR. When we decided to cover “credit– as this Wednesday's topic, the first thing I did to research it was sit down and watch this program. Then I sat and stared at a blank TV screen for what seemed like hours after it ended, blown away by what I had just learned.

The winner of both the 2004-2005 Emmy Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism and the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award in 2006, this documentary will likely enrage you and possibly comfort you, both at the same time. The things that credit card companies are legally allowed to get away with will flash-boil your blood, and yet it was oddly calming to learn how many people are in even worse shape with the credit card companies. Oddly calming, yet highly motivating.

“Secret History of the Credit Card– is available online in five parts in either Windows Media or RealPlayer formats. There is also a collaborative website with tons of great tools to educate yourself and fight the fe-fi-fo-fumming credit card industry. Or to help out the good people at PBS you can order a copy of the DVD here. This might be good option; there's a copiousness of mind-numbing information packed into an hour's-worth of minutes. Plus, you'll want to show everyone you know. As the show points out at the end, we'll have to fight numbers with numbers.

Understand

In 1989, Fair Isaac Corporation began using an algorithm to create a score by which lenders could judge how big of a risk it will be to loan you money or issue you a credit card. By 1991, all three major United States credit reporting agencies made these FICO scores available, and in 1995 many mortgage companies began using them for evaluating applicants. Now anyone who has opened a bank account, applied for a credit card or taken out a loan has a score.

Now that you've memorized that bit of history (there's a quiz later on), you need to know how your FICO score can affect you, because affect you it can, deeply, and for a long time. Like the time you got stood up for your high school prom. That kind of affect. When you apply for a credit card, mortgage, auto loan, debt consolidation loan, etc., potential lenders look at your credit score to determine if you qualify for the loan, how much (if any) they are willing to loan you, and what interest rate they are going to charge you for the loan.

Your score is essentially all of your credit information boiled like a frog (but without the mess) down to a three-digit number, ranging from 300-850. The higher the better: this ain't golf. Someone applying for a $200,000 mortgage with a score of 780 would qualify for the best interest rates and have a payment of less than $1,200 per month. That same loan for someone with a score of 550 has a monthly payment of over $1,700 (check your payments here). So, it's 500-bucks-a-month-important to have a good FICO score and to understand why that number is what it is. Here's the breakdown, the elucidation, the “skinny– :

• 35% – Payment history: This guy's the biggest. Collections, unpaid bills, late payments, over-limit spending, bankruptcies, foreclosures– ¦. I know it's easier said then done, but avoid these at all cost. If you need help, we'll tell you how to get it later.
• 30% – Outstanding debt: This one's tricky. It's not necessarily the amount of debt you have that negatively affects your score, but rather, how close you are to your credit limits on your unsecured debt. In other words, try your best to keep your balance lower than 30% of your credit limit. Easier said than done, I know. Believe me, I know.
• 15% – Length of your credit history: How long have your accounts been open? The longer, the better. Between this and maintaining a low credit limit percentage, you might want to think twice before closing that card that you never use.
• 10% – Recent inquiries: Whenever you apply for credit, you create an inquiry which can negatively affect your score. But don't worry about shopping for the best mortgage rate or auto-loan. Inquiries of the same variety within 14 days of each other don't have a negative impact. The exception, of course, is credit cards.
• 10% – Types of credit in use: Having installment loans, like mortgage and education will help your score, while a lot of revolving accounts (credit cards) will hurt it.

That's what you need to know about how your credit score is derived. But how do you change it? Read on, dear friends.

Request

Your credit report is a record of your borrowing and repayment history made available to any potential lender. When you apply for a loan, they'll pull up this report containing everything you've borrowed, anything in collection, how much you owe, how often you're late with a payment, etc. In other words, all the things that are used to create a credit score. So in order to improve your credit score and make it easier to get a loan or a better interest rate, you have to know what's in that report.

Fortunately, on December 4, 2003, Congress passed the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA). This law allows everyone with a credit history to access their credit report from each of the three main credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and Trans Union, once every twelve months at no charge.

There are hundreds of web sites that offer “free credit reports,– “instantly,– “hassle free,– “fast, free, and easy.– Beware of these sites. The last bit of information they ask for is a credit card number in order to enroll you in a monthly service. Don't do it, Daddy-o. The only web site that is authorized to fill orders for credit reports under FACTA is annualcreditreport.com. That's it. Fill out the information on that page and you will actually have a quick, easy, hassle-free, instant, yadda-yadda, credit report.

For you skeptics not comfortable filling in your information online, you can call 1-877-322-8228, or complete the Annual Credit Report Request Form, print it, and mail it to:

Annual Credit Report Request Service
P.O. Box 105281
Atlanta, GA 30348-5281

Once the report is in your hands, check it over. You have the right to dispute any information on your report that is not accurate and up-to-date. You should contact both the creditor that is in error and each credit bureau that has the error on file. The bureaus are required to investigate each claim and if they cannot verify the negative information within “a reasonable amount of time– (usually 30 days), the negative entry must be dropped.

Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union all have online dispute forms (click on each), or you can write an old-fashioned “snail-mail– letter to each. The FTC has a great sample letter that can be copied to increase your chances of winning your dispute as well as a very detailed description of how to go about doing it. It's hard enough to have a good credit report without having those inaccuracies on there. So get your report, then fix those errors. You work too hard for your money to have a creditor or credit bureau let bad information slip through and cost you moolah.

Oh, yeah. Looking over your credit report is also a surefire way to detect identity theft. That's a hassle you want to avoid like a wounded, hungry puma.

Call

The first act of the new Congress following the 2004 Presidential and Congressional elections was to pass the Orwellian-named Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act. This law makes it much more difficult for consumers to file for protection from creditors, increased fees associated with bankruptcy protection, and made the consumer pay more to their creditors, while doing nothing to address the legal loopholes that allow multi-millionaires to protect their assets while they file for bankruptcy. All of this happened while most major bank and credit card companies were reporting record profits.

There are no laws preventing credit card companies from raising interest rates on a whim. There are no limits to the interest rates they can charge, or the fees they can assess for going over your credit limit, making a late payment, or bouncing a check. It's time our representatives started legislating for the benefit of the middle and lower classes. So give your Senator or Representative (or both) a ring. You can find their numbers here. Need help with what to say? Try this:

“My name is (your name) and I am a voter from (your state and/or district) and I am outraged at the lack of consumer protection from credit card companies. If (your Senator or Congressperson) wants my support in their next election (he or she) will introduce legislation putting a cap on credit card interest rates, over-limit fees, and late fees. Thank you for your time.–

Get Help

Of course, you don't want to wait for politicians to solve this problem, so here I go again, sounding like a spam email or that annoying commercial that comes on at two o'clock in the morning while your blankly staring at a rerun of M.A.S.H., your credit card debt keeping you miles from sleep. But I'll say it anyway: Get some help now, before it's too late!

You may have considered using a credit-counseling agency before, but everything on “the tube– (or plasma, LCD, DLP, or projection) or online looked like a scam. Or maybe you haven't, but should. I know how confusing and difficult it is to sift through all the bogus ads to find a counselor that's too-legit-to-quit (sorry). But in my extensive, and I mean EXTENSIVE, research of this topic almost all of the reputable credit information sites point to The National Foundation for Credit Counseling.

The FTC suggests that if you can't develop a plan to rid yourself of unsecured debt in one year, you should seek credit help. The NFCC will point you to accredited and reputable services, either local or national, by phone, Internet, or in person. Some require a small fee or a monthly charge for their continued service, but they can save you a 50-gallon-drum's worth of cash in the long run.

If your debt is James-Earl-Jones’-voice deep they may suggest a Debt Management Plan (DMP). This is a way to pay down debt by making a monthly deposit to the agency, which negotiates with your creditors to reduce or eliminate fees and interest rates, and then uses the money to pay off your debt. In many cases, large debts can be paid off in as little as 36 months.

Whatever they suggest you do, it's worth a call. I recommend doing it sooner rather than later; each month that goes by that you're paying 25% interest rate buries you deeper and deeper. I speak from unfortunate experience: the smaller the debt, the less stressful it is.

As the polls closed on Election Day 2004, I watched the state-by-state results eek in from the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Columbus with a thousand other volunteers, including Jerry Springer, the former mayor of Cincinnati, and Eric, who'd road-raged his way down from Rochester, New York, in his rusty and rust-colored – ˜86 Monte Carlo, to lend a hand for the final few days. I bit my nails to the quick and pulled and twisted at my goatee. The news seemed grim.

And so, the war would rage on. And the poor would increasingly fight it. And our broken health care system would cause more bankruptcies. And monolithic business would rule instead of wise environmental stewardship. And I felt too guilty to sleep. But it was that night, and deep into the morning, that Eric and I came up with the idea of Progressive Wednesday, a new way to empower people when there weren't elections, and hell, even when there were. And it was that night we decided that helping to fix the election process would be at the top of our Wednesday list.

Two weeks later, I attended a public hearing with sworn testimony by Franklin County residents reporting voter suppression, fraud, and the inequitable distribution of voting machines in both poor and predominately African-American districts, which made 2004 Ohio seem a little too much like 1960 Mississippi.

Since I'm not a Democrat, I now deeply question why I didn't just support a so-called “third-party– candidate like Michael Badnarik, the Libertarian candidate, or David Cobb, the Green candidate. But my experience helped me question, even more, the process by which we select our elected officials and the ways we decide whom to give our vote. I imagine I'm not alone.

.

Make Progress:

We'll definitely be returning to this topic time and time again, because it's intensely complicated and similarly significant to not just our rights as Americans, but to what we value as a human right. What follows, then, is a beginning. Consider the starter's pistol fired.

• Bookmark
• Call
• Write
• Read
• Wear

Photo thanks to this voter.

- – - – -

Bookmark:

It's a little bit difficult to describe Project Vote Smart in 304 words, but here goes:

• This non-profit uses oodles of volunteers (from the right and the left) to examine “voting records, campaign contributions, public statements, biographical data (including their work history) and evaluations of them generated by over 100 competing special interest groups.–
• In addition, they “test each candidate’s willingness to provide citizens with their positions on the issues they will most likely face if elected through the National Political Awareness Test.– In other words, they see if candidates will openly, directly explain what they stand for — a tall order in some instances.
• You can also use Project Vote Smart to learn about judges, congressional legislation, voter registration, polling locales, ballot measures, and lots and lots of accurate et cetera.
• The Project also offers up a Voter's Self-Defense Manual, a must-read for progressives of any political ilk. The booklet can be downloaded as an Acrobat file, or you can order one by giving them a jingle: 1-888-868-3762.
• They are truly bipartisan: “No one can join the Project’s board without a political opposite.– And whose served on the board? Carter, Ford, Dukakis, McCain, McGovern, and Goldwater, to name a few.
• They don't take cash money from special interests. To quote: “We do not accept contributions from any corporations, labor unions, or other organizations that lobby, support or oppose candidates or issues.” The money comes only in the form of donations by individuals (70%) and philanthropic foundation grants (30%). Plus, 83% of their funds go directly into their programs and content.
• U.S. News and World Report has this to say: “Project Vote Smart would make the Founders weep with joy.– The New York Times pointed out that the Project kicks so much tail that “even the Federal Government recommends it.–
• This service — this wonderful, wonderful service — is completely free.

Want to read more? Go check it out for yourself. Then bookmark it. You'll want it down the road: we guarantee it.

We'd also like to ask you to give some love in the form of greenbacks to this incredibly worthy, dare we say essential (okay, we dare), this essential cause. Even if giving means three bucks. Here's the beauty of your generosity: not only do you help out this organization whose sole purpose is to help you as a voter, but your gift is tax-deductible, and you can choose how the money is spent. So give a little and have them spend it wisely.

But remember to bookmark it, baby, remember to bookmark it.

.

Call:

This sucker might come as a shock, but the Constitution does not guarantee American citizens the right to vote.

We'll give you a second to reread that sentence. Okay, now that we've got your attention we'll give you all the support we need to prove it to you. In the Supreme Court decision Bush v. Gore, the Court ruled: “The individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States.– We think, well, we think this is a load of crap, and not cute little rabbit pellets– ¦ no, we're talking a dump truck full of nasty elephant waste.

We'd like you to take five minutes right now, immediately after reading this, and call your Senators (take a peek and make sure your boss ain't lingering around). Just click this sentence to find a list of all the Senators with phone numbers for each. Here's what we'd recommend saying:

• “I'm a voter from [name your state], and I'm outraged that there's no Constitutional Amendment guaranteeing my right to vote. If Senator [last name] wants my vote the next time [he or she] is up for reelection, then [he or she] will introduce or support legislation that would guarantee this basic American right.–

Be sure to thank them for their time.

If such an Amendment existed, folks could sue states for voter fraud, suppression, a lack of equal protection, and faulty machines or a lack of functioning ones. There are 7,800 different election jurisdictions. This adds a lot of variables. If there was a Constitutional Amendment, there could be a universal voting system for all elections. Fairness. That's what we're talking about here. Accountability. Equality. A more perfect union.

.

Write:

Even though we're far, far away from the next national elections, we think it’s more apropos to deal with this topic well before November, which is, of course, National Pomegranate Month.

Okay, here's the main idea of our letter-to-the-editor campaign: Our fellow Americans, Election Day should be a national holiday.

Now, it's hard to argue with a day off (though we're sure the workaholics out there could give it a shot). But we think for the sake of the U.S. of A., voters deserve a greater opportunity to choose what goes down.

Here are some talking points for ya to use and morph and personalize and localize to your heart's content:

• Election Day is an excellent way to emphasize the importance of community.
• As a holiday, we'd be reaffirming the cultural significance of voting.
• Voting was a central catalyst behind the founding of the country.
• Voter turnout in the United State for presidential elections ranks 65th in the world. Democracy deserves better. Common sense dictates that a holiday would raise voter turnout.
• Most workers paid hourly can't afford to take time off work to vote.
• Polls in some states close as early as 7 p.m., further limiting turnout.
• Long lines wouldn't seem as daunting since folks wouldn't need to hustle back to work.
• Election Day is already a holiday in Puerto Rico.

Here's a link to the newspapers throughout the country to help you find the address and specific requirements to the daily “Extra, extra, read all about it!” in your community. You can always check out our How to Read Newspapers tool. Also, you might want to take a gander at our How to Write Letters to the Editor tool, both in brief and in full.

Photo courtesy of this literate picture-clicker.

.

Read:

Adopting Election Day as a national holiday and banging out a Constitutional Amendment guaranteeing the right to vote seem like two it's-about-time steps in the right direction.

There's got to be more we can do to help out so-called “third parties– and their very qualified candidates. Third parties deserve a greater voice in our country, and having more voices, more opinions, and options seems incredibly American to us. Two-party domination seems a bit archaic, a bit undemocratic.

There are several suggestions out there for ways to change the ways we vote and the ways third party candidates get treated on ballots. These ideas include:

• Fusion voting.
• Instant run-off voting.
• Popular voting.
• Range voting.

We'll be returning to the topic of election fixes in the future, and we're curious what your thoughts are about each of the various options. After you read about each, let us know what you think by leaving a comment or by contacting us. Let us know which you prefer, which you have questions about. Your comments will help us decide which ones to support down ye ole road. So, thanks in advance.

.

Wear:

Okay, this one's easy enough. We'd like to encourage you to plunk down a few bucks, snag yourself this t-shirt, and wear it around all year long (taking it off occasionally to shower, make the love, and maybe even wash it here and there). Sport it when you head to the grocery, the gym, the Grand Canyon. (Speaking of the Grand Canyon– ¦.)

This is a way to send an honest and constant message. Plus the word “vote– is bad-ass as Mr. T and drop-dead gorgeous as Rita Hayworth. Since you're reading Progressive Wednesday, we're confident you're a little bit of both, too.

So what can you do?

We'd like you to take three minutes out of your day and call your representative in Congress. They've only got a two-year shelf-life so you're guaranteed that they'll be a little more concerned about losing their sweet gig than your Senators. If you're not sure who your representative is, first go to the U.S. Postal Service to find your full 9-digit zip code, then head on over to Project Vote Smart and find out the name of your lucky representative. If you click on their name, you'll find their contact information.

And what would we like you to tell them? Here’s a little script to make your life that much easier:

I'm a registered voter in Representative [Congressperson's Last Name] district. Every day [he/she] doesn’t introduce or sign onto legislation mandating a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, Representative [Congressperson's Last Name] is telling me overtly, not tacitly, that [he/she] approves of our occupation of Iraq. This was a so-called “war– built on lies and waged without regard for innocent lives with a staggering price tag to taxpayers like me. If Representative [Congressperson's Last Name] hopes to receive my vote in two years, [he/she] will promptly propose new legislation that will de-authorize our obscene occupation of Iraq. Congress authorized the invasion under the War Powers Act and that authorization can be revoked. Representative [Congressperson's Name] should not wait and let more American soldiers and innocent Iraqis die.

That’s it. That’s one thing we can all do to try to bring our valiant and victimized troops home.