In the episode of the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror VII, you can find one of the most poignant cultural references ever made by a cartoon:

Homer: America, take a good look at your beloved candidates. They're nothing but hideous space reptiles!
Kodos: It's true, we are aliens... but what are you going to do about it? It's a two-party system; you have to vote for one of us!
Man1: He's right, this is a two-party system!
Man2: Well, I believe I'll vote for a third-party candidate...
Kang: Go ahead, throw your vote away!

Of course, Ross Perot is then show punching a hole in a "Perot '96" hat.

So, let's say that you aren't completely happy with either Democratic President Barack Obama or Republican Candidate Mitt Romney. What's a budding protester to do?

Special thanks this week goes to blogress Andrea at So Over This for her assistance steering DQYDJ towards its new […]

I don't know who said it originally... but I always hated that quote. In my mind, if you win every game with a strong offense, what difference does defense make? If your defense is good enough for your offense to prevail, well, then you'll prevail.

On that note, I have more than half a million dollars in debt and I only pay the minimum payments.

Remember my fantasy squad I posted about? 1-0, baby. So far, so good!

DQYDJ's favorite links for the week.

Subtitle: Until You Read This Article.

I'm not one for hyperbole... I'm more of a "here's the data, deal with it" person, but I'll make a vast blanket statement for you today. You see, you may not care too much either way about the whole 'fiscal cliff' scenario, where an expiration of the so-called 'Bush Tax Cuts' of 2001 and 2003 would reset to their previous levels. Perhaps you make under $200,000 as a single or $250,000 as a couple, so if the cuts expire and President Obama extends them in a second term you wouldn't worry too much. Fine - I won't spend this article discussing what the appropriate level of taxation is for the many strata of incomes earned in this country. However, I do want to draw your attention to the insidious effect of rolling back the 2001/3 cuts - namely, how the code characterizes dividends.

So I drafted in the only Fantasy Football league I'm participating in. It's a 10 man, and I was the guy who went with the MJD/Rashad Jennings handcuff (risk tolerance: extreme!). Anyone want to grade my draft for a 10 person league? (I've come in second two years in a row; be harsh!)

Let's take just a moment out of our Fridays to recognize something amazing - that there is a new largest company in the history of the world, emerging during an economic climate charitably described as middling. That's right - Apple Inc (née Apple Computer), currently trading at 667, boasts the largest market capitalization of all time at $624.9 Billion. The previous leader? Microsoft, who touched $616.3 billion back in December 1999.

Setting aside my esteemed co-writer's obsession with hypermiling (not practicing, mind you, joking about), there really is no such thing as a free lunch - especially when it comes to fuel economy. The Government, however, as demonstrated by recently finalized mileage laws, wants their lunch on the house.

As the saying goes, "you can't legislate innovation", and fuel economy standards give car manufacturers very interesting incentives.

Can you believe it's already been a month since we looked into the future and told you how the S&P 500 would close (read: looked at Yahoo! and told you how contracts are trading). That means I'm back here today to act as the weather vane and show you which way the market winds are blowing. To those that have asked, I posted some methodology at the end. Peruse that and ask me any questions you have!