A Victory In The War (on words)

Ok, so maybe there is no correlation but last week I posted a piece that questioned the makeup of the Iraqi insurgency. No, they haven't switched from Maybelline to Max Factor. Rather, the fact that the insurgency is mostly Iraqi's trying to rid their country of unwanted occupiers and not a mythical cadre of international terrorists that Bush's propaganda machine would have us believe.

Well, coincidentally, a week following my post, the Bush administration is no longer referring to an insurgency. Below are excerpts, from a recent post by Arianna Huffington titled, Bush's New Plan for Victory: Stop Saying 'Insurgents':

So “the insurgency” really is in its “last throes”.
No, not the effort to drive U.S. forces America out of Iraq -- that continues unabated. I’m talking about the Bush administration’s decision to stop using the words "insurgency” and “insurgent” to describe the rebel forces…
Yesterday, Donald Rumsfeld said that “over the weekend” he’d had “an epiphany” that “this is a group of people who don’t merit the word ‘insurgency’”…
President Bush apparently had the same epiphany because in today’s big speech on Iraq he went to great pains to rebrand the enemy…
So “insurgents” are out and “rejectionists, Saddamists, and terrorists” are in…. While calling them “the smallest” of the enemy groups, they are still clearly Bush’s favorite: he mentioned “terrorists” 42 times in his speech

Well isn't that special. Keep tuning in people - I'm telling you, I know what I'm talking about! And maybe its even making a difference (well at least I'm going to pretend it is!)

p.s. Mark my words. Karl Rove's days are numbered.

A Manifesto For Government Reform Part 4 of 4

This is the final installment of our weeklong series on government reform.

Problem #4: Party Hack ≠ Election Commissioner

.....................The Face That Launched a Reform Movement

You may recall (no pun intended) Katherine Harris, Hanging Chad’s best friend and the other iconic symbol of Election 2000 Republican Party hackery. She infiltrated and perverted Florida’s election process in the most sublime and unscrupulous manner imaginable. She did everything possible to prevent a recount short of personally shredding the ballots herself. “Never again!” are the words that spring to mind when I think of old Wicked Witch of the South. Yet incredibly, party chairs continue to assume the roles of Election Commissioners, Secretaries of State and Certifiers of Ballots (remember Ohio ’04?). This, unlike computer voting machines IS a no brainer. Remove party hacks from the election process altogether and do it YESTERDAY. Give states leeway in how they want to conduct state and local elections but for national elections all states should maintain relative consistency of the electoral process. Although it has been the idea du jour since 9/11, a cabinet level non-partisan Department of Elections may not be such a bad idea. Something akin to the non-political Federal Reserve although without presidential appointment, having instead, perhaps a bipartisan board with equal party representation. This department would be tasked with instituting all manner of election reforms and oversight. This body would be to the election process what the SEC has so successfully been to the process of underwriting, issuing and trading securities.

Just a Couple Constitutional Amendments
So that’s my two cents on election and lobbying reform. Will it happen? I doubt it but we’ve begun the conversation and that’s a start. So with that, I will leave you with two other electoral reform ideas. Both are, I admit, pipe dreams that I never expect to come to fruition but who knows? Pipe dream number one is getting rid of the Electoral College. Everyone seems to think they know what the Founding Fathers “intended” (and I frankly cringe every time I hear it) but I truly believe that if the old dudes could witness our current election process they would agree the Electoral College has outlived its usefulness (if it ever had any) and needs to go! Sorry Sam Alito, I’m a “one person, one vote” kinda guy. It is patently unfair that urban regions, who pay far more of the tax revenues it takes to run the country, should be further abused by a vote apportioning system that is rigged against them. Under the Electoral College, rural voters get somewhere on the order of two votes to every one urban vote. It is condescending and arrogant to think that we don’t all know who benefits from this lopsided equation. Having an election process, which the majority of voters perceive as unfair, undermines the integrity of the whole system. The result is voter apathy, which compounds the problem of disproportionate representation. Those with votes that count as double will go to the polls while those with votes that count less will stay home. This will only last for so long. Sooner or later, if we don’t fix this someone smarter and decidedly less conservative than Karl Rove will find their own way to get around the Electoral College.

Finally, forget the marriage amendment, we should amend the Constitution such that U.S. citizens no longer have a right to vote but an obligation to do so. In other words, you want to live here, you have to get up off your fat ass once every two years and go vote. I see it as a small price to pay for liberty. And if you don’t meet your constitutional obligation to vote, you have to pay a fine, get deported, or listen to Celine Dion non-stop for a week. I guess the latter punishment would violate that darn “cruel and unusual” clause though wouldn’t it? Oh well, if we’re only dreaming what’s one more constitutional amendment?

A Manifesto For Government Reform Part 3 of 4

This is the third of a 4-part article being serialized over as 4 days.

Problem #3: The Hanging Chad

We all remember the hanging chads. That iconic symbol of just how archaic, unfair and broken our electoral system was (and still is). We all know most of the issues here and I won’t waste bits and bytes rehashing them all. What I will say is that electronic voting is light-years ahead of paper punch. However, as any company that has migrated from paper filing to computer systems will tell you, it ‘ain’t a no-brainer. There are a myriad of problems when a paper ballot become a series of bits on a hard drive. A couple of these problems include outsourcing the development and monitoring of electronic voting systems, or administrators who don’t understand the programs and how the systems work. The process by which contracts for computer voting systems are awarded is an area that, left unchecked, is ripe for abuse. How are recounts administered? Should we supply voters with paper printouts? Fraud is much easier when one moves from the paper world to the cyber world. Ideally, election reform should actually fix the system rather than breaking it further. People joked after the last presidential election that Diebold, longtime Bush contributors, "programmed" their electronic voting machines such that all votes were fed to Karl Rove’s laptop computer.

(By the way, did we ever figure out whether Dubya was wired for audio assistance during the second presidential debate?)

Hopefully, the Diebold joke was just that but it does, at an extreme, highlight the potential for abuse and the ease of computerized vote tampering. Regardless, I think that getting rid of hanging chads is a good start.

More importantly, we should develop a national “Voter’s Bill of Rights”. This should include better-trained and more closely monitored poll volunteers, as well as easier access for elderly, handicapped and others who need assistance getting to polling stations. And by all means, relatively short wait times for all voters. Local election commissions should be held accountable if they overly restrict the access of “certain” voters, engage in outright voter intimidation, or create unreasonably long lines at “certain” polling locations. We can pretty much all agree that these things are inexcusable but in reality there have been few negative consequences for those who undermine the election process. Now I realize many localities are financially strapped and for this reason, are not able to accommodate large numbers of voters. It is for this reason that the way we fund the voting process needs to change. I’m not sure there is an easy answer to this problem but perhaps we should take some of the obscene amounts of money currently lining the coffers of the candidates and funnel some of it to pay for the election process itself, so that ALL districts can afford to properly plan, manage, and monitor their polling places. We have to send the message that anything less than free and fair voting for all will not be tolerated. If Fedex can manage to deliver a letter anywhere in the world in less than 24 hours and do it every day of the year – than all citizen, regardless of race, locality or socioeconomic status, should be able to cast a vote within an hour, one day out of 730.

To be continued...

A Manifesto For Government Reform Part 2 of 4

This is the second of a four-part article being serialized over 4 days.

Problem #2: Good Old Influence Peddling

Money has always been the grease the moves the wheels in politics. However, the blatant corruption and level of congressional dancing on the fine line of ethical misconduct is reaching a point not achieved since the Democrats maintained majorities in both houses. Goes to show that corruption is about the only bipartisan phenomenon in Washington. What to do, what to do? Here we can take a page from the conveniently recent and numerous corporate scandals. One of the things they have reminded us is that all the laws in the world aren’t going to change things if no one follows those laws to begin with. Corruption is, by definition, a flouting of laws. It is especially unsavory when the lawbreakers are the very people who write them in the first place. The answer here is less obvious but no less simple. Clearly, corruption begets corruption. In any organization, individuals are going to take their ethical cues from everyone else around them. If you are driving on the highway and everyone is going 65 mph you are far less likely to speed than if everyone is driving 90 mph. It is for this reason that I put much of the blame on the Bush Administration and the Republican majority in congress. Now I know that Democrats have an equally pathetic ethical track record but they are not currently the party in power. Yes, Wright, Rostenkowski and their cronies were the Tom DeLays and Bill Frists of their day, but the Democrats aren’t running the show right now, the Republican’s are. If you want marquee billing you’re going to have to accept responsibility when the critics pan you in Washington Follies. Since Republicans control three houses, they are the ones who must set the tone for what is tolerated in Washington. Beginning with the obscene election of 2000 it’s been “anything goes” in the ethics department ever since. Unlike redistricting however, this is a problem that the system will most likely remedy on its own when a truly rip-roaring angry electorate throws the incumbent Congress out of office, en mass.

That being said, lobbyists are out of control and desperately need to be reigned in while still allowing constituencies to have fair and equal access to members of Congress. The concept of lobbying is a good one. However, well-heeled lobbyists shouldn’t have better access than anyone else. If anything, lobbyist access should be based on proportional representation and the size of the constituencies they represent, not the number of perks they throw at legislators. A better effort needs to be made to remove big money from the political process. When drilling in Alaska (something that polls have shown a huge majority is against) becomes a likely political outcome simply because those in favor are deep-pocketed corporations; you know the current system isn’t working. In fact, in the current money-driven system, when individual interests go up against corporate interests, big business is going to win every single time. So the simple prescription is to make tougher laws (something Congress wants us to think it’s really good at) and increase oversight of both lobbyists and legislators. The current laissez-faire or “hands off” philosophy of government clearly doesn’t work. Contrary to what conservatives would like us to think, government oversight is necessary and probably one of the only areas of government that has actually gotten smaller under George W. Bush.


So why are we electing people to write our laws who clearly have nothing but contempt for them? This is the catch-22. We are doing so because the system is broken. But we can’t fix the system until our election process better reflects the will of the people. But our election process won’t reflect the will of the people until we fix it. And that, my friends, is the lovely little quandary our democracy is in.

To be continued...

A Manifesto For Government Reform Part 1 of 4

This is the first of a four-part article to be serialized over the next 4 days.

Corruption in politics is nothing new to the United States. In fact, our country’s long and sordid history of back room, wink and nudge, quid pro quo politics has become so ubiquitous to our understanding of the political process that it has become largely cliché. From the Tammany Hall scandal in the 1800’s to the infamous presidential elections of 2000 and 2004, corruption in politics is as American as steroids in baseball. As a result, American’s have become desensitized to the buying of influence and votes in Washington while simultaneously outraged to an extent unprecedented in recent history.

Admittedly, some of you may be thinking that we’ve witnessed many political reforms in this country and you would be absolutely correct in doing so. Women’s suffrage, civil rights, better access to education, labor involvement, the grass-roots political movement, student protest and many other factors have brought previously disenfranchised groups into the political process for better or worse (depending largely on where your political allegiance lies). But once you’ve had fresh, frozen never tastes quite as good. People who finally become a part of the process only to later feel disconnected from it are going to be a lot more upset than if they never felt empowered to begin with. It is perhaps for this reason that the recent actual or perceived rise of political scandals, big money lobbying, ethical breaches and electoral problems have left a particularly sour taste in the mouths of so many Americans. So the question becomes, are we finally, like the anchor Howard Beale in Network, "Mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore"? Is this the beginning of true government reform? One can only hope. The U.S. political system is broken to the point of embarrassment. What is so remarkable, though, is how easy the system would be to fix with a little bipartisan cooperation. Are we, as a nation ready to commit to such a task?

A Few BIG Problems
There are a myriad of problems with our legislative and electoral system and some of them (like the electoral college) are unlikely to be fixed anytime soon. However, I've isolated 3 or 4 big problems that would be relatively easy to fix, moving us a long way toward taking money, fraud, voter apathy and disproportionate representation out of national politics.

Problem #1: Redistricting Redux
One of the biggest and easiest-to-fix problems in our political system is the fact that the electoral process, for reasons so obvious they don’t bear outlining, should be completely bipartisan, fair and unbiased. If you are like me, you probably naively thought it was - until the 2000 election made us all instant experts on just how partisan, party-driven and inconsistent the whole process of electing our leaders really is. A feature of many U.S. electoral maps has been the gerrymander: electoral districts drawn, sometimes ludicrously, to favor one party over another. This is a defect in the electoral system that both parties have taken advantage of. Gerrymandering is hardly new, I've included a cartoon that pokes fun of the ridiculously serpentine district map of Massachusetts in 1812.

Over the past 8-10 years, Republicans have reaped the benefits of partisan redistricting on the national level, winning consistent majorities in congress and two successive terms in the White House. On more local levels, partisan redistricting has allowed many states, counties and municipalities to keep one party in power for generations. Earlier this month both California and Ohio had hugely unsuccessful election reform initiatives to make the drawing of district maps more bipartisan. This doesn’t bode well for future reforms in this area but stay tuned. The fact that this previously obscure topic is now in the forefront of national consciousness is a very positive sign. Here the fix itself is pretty easy, its actually getting it implemented that is the real challenge.

To Be Continued...

The Terrorist Insurgency?

The following excerpts are from Vice President Cheney’s recent speech to the American Enterprise Institute:

“…and the terrorists hope to overturn Iraq’s democratic government and return that country to the rule of tyrants. The terrorists believe that by controlling an entire country, they will be able to target and overthrow other governments in the region.”

“…those who advocate a sudden withdrawal from Iraq should answer a few simple questions: Would the United States and other free nations be better off, or worse off, with Zarqawi, bin Laden, and Zawahiri in control of Iraq?”

“It is a dangerous illusion to suppose that another retreat by the civilized world would satisfy the appetite of the terrorists and get them to leave us alone. In fact such a retreat would convince the terrorists that free nations will change our policies, forsake our friends, abandon our interests whenever we are confronted with murder and blackmail. A precipitous withdrawal from Iraq would be a victory for the terrorists, an invitation to further violence against free nations, and a terrible blow to the future security of the United States of America.”

“Our forces will keep going after the terrorists, and continue training the Iraqi military, so that Iraqis can eventually take the lead in their country’s security and our men and women can come home.”

“But this nation has made a decision: We will not retreat in the face of brutality, and we will never live at the mercy of tyrants or terrorists.”

Cheney’s entire line of argument suggests that we are fighting a terrorist insurgency in Iraq. Yet the reality is entirely different. A recent report by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) concludes that 90% of the “insurgents” are Iraqi’s.

The Iraqi insurgency is, for the most part, NOT made up of terrorist. They are not foreigners infiltrating borders. They are Iraqi citizens who believe we are aggressors and occupiers and want us the hell out of their country!!

Sen. Murtha and others know that leaving Iraq now will immediately end the "insurgency" because the "insurgents" are not terrorists trying to establish a sanctuary to plot and stage terrorist attacks. That is wartime propaganda brought to you by the same people who lied in order to secure a U.S. presence in Iraq to begin with. The same people who, without a shred of remaining credibility, are lashing out at anyone who suggests a better way of dealing with this nightmare. The Iraqi people do not consider us liberators. They consider us unwelcome aggressors who are plundering their country. It is becoming increasingly apparent that they are correct.

If we do not even have the backing of the people we are supposedly "liberating", our continued presence in Iraq puts our foreign policy and national security in further and deeper jeopardy with each passing day.

Bush Now An Official Liability To His Party

Following last Tuesday's election results around the country there is, for the first time in his presidency, clear-cut electoral evidence that George Bush is officially a drag on the republican party. His last minute cameo in Virginia, followed by the decisive defeat of that state's republican gubernatorial candidate, is evidence of Bush's arrogance and obliviousness. A president with approval rating in the high 20s to low 30s has no business stumping for republicans who should have "just said no".
This is what happens when fundamentalism and greed, in the form of laissez-faire run rampant, combine with the military industrial complex. If this administration isn't a conspiracy of big money special interests, I don't know what is. It represents every failure inherent in our comendable but highly broken political system. So the fact that Fearless Puppet is officially a political liability is the best news I've heard in 5 long years.
George Bush is now "Box Office Poison". He probably already took the pruning shears to some defenseless "bush" (ironic, no?) in the Rose Garden ala Joan Crawford. For the moment at least, I'm thinking he won't recover. He will play defense as Lamo Ducko for the next 3 LONG years and we'll have blissful Washington Gridlock. A scenario that, with no pending: "American Revolution, The Sequel" on the horizon, is about the best we can hope for.
These are all positive developments for those of us addicted to reality, common sense and human decency. Bush and everything he represents is evil (in my humble opinion) and represents the epitome of everything that is antithecal to this country's values. So, either I am more out of touch than he is, in which case these scumbags really do represent this country's values (in which case I should start my holiday immigration shopping) or we are FINALLY getting some vindication that the system really does work - that a junta of well-financed special interests doesn't fly and that, in relatively short order, the current perversion of democracy will be an important and infamous historical landmark for many years to come. A political landmark of what happens when we don't properly safeguard the hard-won governmental institutions, put in place over many generations, that protect the interests of the common people. Institutions that are often the only check against the ever present threat of extremism and manipulation by the rich and powerful, whose hatred of true democracy is second only to their greed.

Bush is now an official liability to the republican party - and an embarrassment to the nation. That inescapable realization may well be the start of something better for all of us.

Fascism: Now & Then

Hey Kids!
Are you tired of rap music?
Sick of the same old reality TV?
Is huffing paint losing it's novelty?

Well, guess what?

Neo Fascism's all the rage these days!!

It's easier to learn than Disco dancing.
More fun than protesting!
And you don't have to wear tie-dye!!
Older folks can join in too!
It's the political ideology that brings the whole family together!
So dust off your monicle, iron your swastika and shine those marching boots!
You'll be goose-stepping in no time!
For your convenience and viewing pleasure we've included a handy photo montage that will help orient you to the "new" old fad that's really a hit!!

*

. NOW ........&......... THEN

Propoganda Ministers Rove and Goebbels

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NOW ......&... THEN

Masters of Torture Rumsfeld and Himmler

*

NOW ...&... THEN

Guantanamo Condi and Bergen-Belsen Bothe

*

NOW ..&0... THEN

Deputy Fuhrers Cheney and Goering

*

AND LAST BUT OF COURSE LEAST...

*

NOW .....&....... THEN

Monkey Boy and Uncle Adolf

VH1 Presents: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? ~ ~ The Founding Fathers

Benjamin Franklin

Ben's appearances have been substantially limited lately as he remains sporadically plagued with bouts of rheumatism. He turns 300 in January (making him almost as old as Joan Rivers). Health permitting, he plans to "party-downward" at the start of next year. "You only turn 300 once in your life and dammit, I'm still fond of the ladies and they are still fond of me."

Following the disasterous presidential elections of 2000 and 2004, Ben eliminated the electoral college because, as he put it, "Aside from the whoppee cushion and healthcare, it was the stupidest invention I ever had."

George Washington

Following the "Washington Scandal" in the year..well, pick any...George got fed up with politics and went back to his farm in Virginia.

George has reportedly mellowed in his old age and friends say he is much more pleasant to be around. His live-in nurse put it this way, "He says it's because he doesn't have to commute to work anymore. I think it's the fact that he finally got rid of those rotted wooden teeth and got himself some of them fancy dental implants. I mean the guy's been eating nothing but applesauce for 250 years! Wouldn't you be moody? One things for sure, his breath is a lot better."

Alexander Hamilton

Many people aren't aware that aside from being the first Treasury Secretary, Alexander (Al, by his friends) founded the Bank of New York in 1784 as America's first nationally chartered financial institution and the oldest U.S. Company still operating under its original charter.

Alexander still works as a part-time teller for the bank. "Well, it was either this or collecting shopping carts at Wal-Mart." However, his 3% annual salary increases have really added up and he is currently making $48 billion a year. "Don't you just love compound interest?"

John Hancock

"Ah, the signature." sighs John in a recent appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. "No matter what I accomplish, its what I'll always be remembered for. I guess there are worse things. I'm very lucky. I have my health, a great career and a boyfriend who really cares about me. My signature wasn't the only thing flamboyant about me Ellen and it feels so good to finally be honest about my sexuality."

Yes, not only was John Hancock once governor of Massachusetts, he was instrumental in the recent adoption of the state's same-sex marriage rights. "I am Mitt Romney's worst nightmare" he boasts. When John isn't stumping for gay-rights, he flourishes his creativity as a women's wear designer at the House of Dior.

Thomas Jefferson

A creature of habit, Tom still wears his powdered wig and has a strong disdain for today's short hairstyles.

In 1998, Tom was forced to declare personal bankruptcy after it was found that he owed child support to 67 million mixed-race American's who could genetically prove they were his direct descendants.

Never before displayed to the public, Tom wrote a very rough early draft of the Declaration of Independence. Below is an original proof, heavily edited by Ben Franklin.

That's all for this weeks episode of VH1 Presents: Where are they Now?. Join us next week when we take an inside look at the current lives of the world's most notorious Dictators.

Copyright 2005. VH1 is a production of Viacom International. All rights reserved.

The REAL War

I’ve just come back from battle. Another wounded but victorious soldier of war. No, I wasn’t in Iraq. I was blogging. And the war I was fighting in is the culture war. The “right vs. left” war to end all wars. The REAL battleground for freedom and democracy.
It has similarities to Iraq. It is a war based on lies and deception. A war whose outcome is uncertain and purpose seems hazy and constantly shifting. A war where, like Iraq, one also scratches their head wondering who the REAL enemy is?
Like Iraq, this war has also been planned and executed by the current administration. George Bush and Karl Rove have engineered a strategy of cultural sabotage so effective they still control at least the tenor of political discourse in this country. They also control a very efficient army of conservative soldiers to advance their spin through effectively state-controlled communication channels. Is this any different from the infamously effective propaganda machine designed by Joseph Goebbels 70 years ago?
I don’t know. I am but a lowly blogger. One of thousands of my ilk who have taken up arms in a cyber-revolution that I see as no less than an attempt to save the republic. I am a minuteman, a patriot, an ornery New Englander with a loaded keyboard who is fed up with Redcoats from red states trying to steal my country.
The REAL War isn’t in Iraq (and I mean that with all due respect and reverence to the countless slaughter of soldiers and civilians of every nationality). The REAL War is here at home. It is a war equally perpetrated by this government. Political discourse has been reduced to screaming matches with no hope of either side changing anyone else’s mind. But that’s not even the point. The point is that by keeping Americans engaged in a “debate” about well, everything, you effectively prevent the electorate from honing in on a real crisis of leadership in this country. It is a political version of the Romulan cloaking device in Star Trek. While we’re bickering, Cheney is dickering, undetected and unaccountable. Deception and division are the weapons used by out-of-control conservatives who will do anything to maintain power and forward an agenda that is politically extreme, an affront to liberty and finally recognized as utterly suspect. Field Marshals and Generals mired in the blog, the time has come to rally your troops.

Color Me Skeptical

October 28, 2005 - A day to remember!

• It FINALLY happened!
  
• Indictment Day = Independence Day!
  
• Joy abounds in the hearts and minds of angry, fed up liberals around the country! We are finally getting some vindication after years of jaw-dropping arrogance and division from this corrupt administration!

Think Again
What have we really gotten? More arrogance, vindictiveness and division. Karl Rove gets away with murder once again. Bush and Cheney merely praise their indicted employee. No apology, no shakeup. No recognition of any problems whatsoever. Business as usual.

I myself am guilty of the following recent fantasies:

§ It really is going to be different this time.

§ America is finally waking up.

§ I think democrats are going to win in 2006 and 2008.

§ Bush is too extreme. He’s a puppet of the religious right and it is really beginning to turn off the vast majority of Americans.

etc., etc., etc.

Am I the only one who has a hangover from last week? Cause here’s the thing. Republicans are masters at “smoke and mirror” politics. I wouldn’t be surprised if they planned at least the timing of some of the recent mishaps a solid year before elections. This way they let off steam and then start the “deception process” again, with plenty of time to pull the wool over the eyes of the American people who are proving themselves to be utterly herd-like in their collective thinking.

We all know the litany of reasons why Bush and his goon squad are toast. I will grant you, things are looking incredibly bad for conservatives. Even republican pollsters and pundits are dismayed at how far and how rapidly things have gone wrong. The same individuals admit that it will be very difficult for Bush & Co. to turn things around in time to salvage election prospects in 2006 and 2008. DON’T BE FOOLED.

There is a long 12 months until the midterm elections. As horrible as they are at running the country, republicans are masterful at deception, lies and dirty tricks, all of which will help them greatly in the upcoming elections. Besides, many things can happen between now and the next elections. I wouldn’t put anything past these guys - including a "Wag The Dog" style “staged crisis” or “homeland security incident” so President Bullhorn can look like a hero and republicans can shift the political winds back in their favor.

We are living through scary times. I would like to believe that we are finally witnessing the implosion of the neo cons and their party of the ‘born again’. I am very skeptical. As far as political gain for the democrats, “the check is in the mail” isn’t going to work for me this time. I won’t exhale until these guys really are gone. Color me skeptical but I suggest not getting overly excited about recent events. American voters have a sorrowful track record of acquiring collective amnesia every first Tuesday of every other November.