Buttons, mugs, bumper stickers and free downloadable mini-posters at the HalfTheCountry website

1. The war in Iraq
Begun by George Bush, based on lies and continued on lies.

It's NOT about September 11th. It's NOT about WMD, and it's costing not only precious lives, but billions and billions of dollars that should be spent elsewhere.

Bush's single-minded pursuit of this war that didn't have to happen has cost our country friends and allies all over the world. The death toll has passed 1000, and no end is in sight.

2. The economy
Corporate profits are skyrocketing, but wages for average Americans aren't.
We're losing jobs. Healthcare costs are rising.
Medicare costs are rising.
The minimum wage isn't.

The economic numbers are grim, and Bush and Cheney don't see any problem with this.

3. The environment
From denying the existence of global climate change to refusing to focus on energy conservation as a way to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, Bush/Cheney have undone much of the work done to help preserve the environment.

Who's benefited, you might ask? Oil companies, among others. Is it surprising that Bush and Cheney both have extensive and continuing ties to the oil industry?

IT TOOK A ROCK & ROLLER TO REMIND ME
It's my country too. Bruce Springsteen stood at the edge of the stage playing a 12-string guitar like Leo Kottke channeling Jimi Hendrix. The first few bars didn't register with me, but before long I heard it, and by the end I, and people all around me, were singing the national anthem. Loudly. Proudly.

I'm not the flag-waving type, but when Springsteen and the band ripped into Born in the USA it had more meaning than ever before. Some of the 19,000 people at the Vote for Change concert (Oct. 2, Cleveland, Ohio) just came for the music, and got their money's worth. The rest of us got even more. We got a civics lesson from musicians who came to play, but also to rally us in an effort to fight for a government that is "open, rational, just and progressive." Their goal was to "help inspire our fellow citizens to take a hard look at what is at stake in this election... and to get involved in trying to move our country in a truly compassionate and humane direction."

It worked for me. That's why you're reading this now, and I hope you'll take a moment to read why I'm voting for John Kerry in the sidebar at right.

Here's what Bruce said that really struck home.

Read the Vote For Change Artists' Declaration.

And if this is all getting a little too serious, take a look at JibJab's Good to Be in DC. You'll laugh regardless of your politics.

WHY NO MORE UPDATES

It's almost like the end of a friendship, deciding to put this website on hold (or as they say in TVland, on permanent hiatus). Beginning in August 1999 I used to make the regular updating of Interactive Design Forum my top priority at the end of each month. It took the better part of an 8-hour day. Before too long, updates began happening on the first week of the month, then the second, and soon enough a month got skipped.

If you've been a regular visitor, you know that recently I've had a hard time updating it more than every 4-6 months. Not surprisingly the number of regular visitors has dropped as updates got to be fewer and farther between. In 2001 the site was getting about 900 visitors/month, in 2003 about 700, and recently about 600.

So clearly my priorities have changed, and I don't have a good explanation of why or exactly in what direction they've moved. I'm proud of what the site used to represent, but am embarrassed by how out-of-date much of the information has become. That's a disaster in the web world. So it's time to move on.

It's been a great experience making Interactive Design Forum at least moderately successful... even as late as September 2004 when you googled "interactive design" this site came up ranked 2nd.

Thanks for visiting: I've enjoyed your support and comments over the years. I'll keep the existing info online for the foreseeable future, so you can still search for previous articles. I'm trying out some new ideas here, and as always I welcome your comments.

The way we were

Here, courtesy of the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, is how we used to look:

Oct. 2000  |  Oct. 2001  |  Sept. 2002  |  Sept. 2003

-Al Wasco, Oct. 8, 2004