Looks pretty hard to be a neo-con these days, especially one with a probable price on his head. Be kind of hard for the prez to pardon him for crimes he hasn't been indicted for yet.

But Dick's a smart guy. Will he hang out for his own denoument or hightail outta here?

I used to work at Gallup Poll in Austin Texas. One day they had one of the corporate heads (I think it might have been the main guy actually) come and discuss "Gallup's Future" with us. This was 1997 and the corp guy gleefully regaled us with the fact that Gallup had moved their headquarters to a boat three miles (the point where American jurisdiction stops) offshore. They were accountable to no one.

Now take that little fact to heart and take a look at the current polls per McCain and Obama. Add that to the fact Gallup bases their responses on landlines ONLY. Now who has cell phones? Yes, likely Obama voters. Add a ten percent margin FOR Republican voters and viola, you have a tie.

The polls are baloney.

Scoring a yes on this topic actually makes me want to puke. But, from my ill-educated vantage point, it looks as if the reprehensible thieves who run things are so embedded that shock removal, even violent removal, would crush the system itself. What's needed is Obama and the re-imposition of strong regulatory oversight to avoid this kind of greed fest in the future.

Sure, the system needs crushing. But I don't want to be crushed along with it.

See www.opednews.com -- Death of Democracy and Birth of The Corporate Hydra. 8/29/08

I'm beginning to think the "Angry White Man" is a myth propagated by the likes of Limbaugh and the rest.

What better way to justify electronically altered votes than to have yet another "constituency" who can be "blamed" for the alledged choices?

Granted, there are plenty of "Angry White Men" to go around. But their numbers are diminishing as the country fills out as a multi-ethnic, multi-gender nation, whether it likes it or not.

Obama, love him or hate him, represents a landmark event in United States history -- a black man who, with the support of literally his entire party (Denver, The Clintons) and a seething multi-cultural base, is finally challenging (or pretending to challenge) what has become status quo in this country.

Maybe that's what The Klan is so alarmed about.

This is hardly in favor of current "moshing". In fact, due to my advanced age I'd look more like I was searching for my nasty teen daughter than a careening fan at such an event.

But, back in my youth I saw Bad Brains at CBGBs. I was a neo-rockabilly fashion boy at the time -- you know, AREA, Danceteria, Veselka (sp.?) -- and had to be dragged to the show.

Well, Lord Almighty, what a performance. The band was great and the punks or moshers or whatever they're called these days were absolutelu primal -- swatiska tats and black leather, buzzcuts and baldies, f------- anarchy. I loved it.

Okay, so I hardly turned into wild boy in its' wake and eventually ended up getting married and moving on to real life (bills, bills, bills). But, for one night back in the early 80s I got on board for a night of nihilism.

And I loved every second of it.

In light of the Siegelman affair I can't see how anyone with even the semblance of a conscience could ever vote for an Alabama Republican.

I work with a lot of African American men who are convinced White America will never tolerate a black president. I've heard everything from "M------ gonna get his ass whacked. You just wait," to "Change threatens the existing power elite and Obama represents change. It's just a matter of time."

Now it can be argued such sentiments are nothing more than the cynicism of the disinfranchised, but in view of other American assassinations (JFK, RFK, MLK) the contention does have a certain validity to it.

I hate BushCo. Still, I can't help but feel Obama's trip to Europe was exactly that -- a ploy.

What we seem to forget about American (I'll spare y'all the "k") political life is that it's really nothing more than one big ploy to begin with. Every move is calculated, calibrated and analyzed ad infinitum. It's a super-sized game somewhere between Risk and Hollywood Squares. They all play. They always have. They always will -- until we do something about it.

You bet they do. Just look at Obama's reception in Berlin (Do I hear JFK anyone?). The world is watching our political demo derby with great interest. There's a lot riding on it.

Think Georgia.

Think Cold War.

Think Nuclear Arms.

Think GM foods.

Think corporate corruption (an oxymoron).

We Americans like to think we're so "exceptional" that we, and we alone, "run" the planet. Be that the case it's no wonder the rest of the world wants a new boss.

I know I do.