And this rarified level of combat engages some very smart people. Educated people in crisp suits are in close attendance to the candidates, ready to whip open an aluminum briefcase and bring forth wondrous ways to deliver what is often a difficult message. Their skills are as remarkable as they seem effortless. But will they pay off? All we can do is wait and see…

For what is actually well over a year, CNN and the other news networks will doggedly report every trivial wrinkle of the entire process, inducing jaw-cracking boredom in even the most loyal viewers.

Then when the election finally arrives and voting turnout is predictably dismal they’ll spend at least another week desperately trying to define what could have made the great American public lose interest.

Well, duhhhhh?!

In Europe an election takes just eight weeks. You get to campaign your butt off for two months, but then you’re done. Why can’t we change the rules and get it done that way here??

I’m sure they think it’s escaped our attention that this protracted melodrama is being played out – in the full glare of media, of course – just months before both sides start another pubescent bun-fight to get elected.

These self-absorbed suits warn that without a solution we risk ‘a Government shut-down’ which will plunge the entire country into unimaginable atrophy and create a financial crisis that could cripple half the western world.

I say: Forget government shut-down, how about a government shut up?? Just stop talking and playing for the media so you can score infantile points and get the job done. If you don’t solve this problem thousands of jobs will vanish, with no way to regain them.

And once the elections begin we’ll start with yours….

But are they really so stable? A close look at the hours of footage we’re bound to see would probably reveal most of these folk are the kind who’d wear hypoallergenic earrings to avoid even the slightest issue of pain.

And they still think they can balance the budget.

You can bet the political pundits will dissect every word the candidates utter, but take your own study and peruse what they wear. We might not put the brightest bulb in the White House but it wouldn’t hurt to get one who’s smartly dressed.

And sad part is it still gets them elected.

Those who pursue a career in political life seem to fit the same mold – pompous, power-crazed anal-retentives whose first and last thought is how this job – which they now regard as a birth-right instead of a gift – can benefit them.

But then an election approaches and suddenly they’re slapping on make-up and swallowing slimquick to look good for the cameras so they can persuade the same people who gave them the post to extend that rather lucrative billet…then be soundly ignored until next time.

The only time a politician ever tells people the truth is when they call their opponent a liar. Watch the upcoming primaries and see just how many times that proves true….

As a result of the flooding this move will create thousands of people’s homes and their entire crop of possessions could be erased from the landscape forever. The importation of some well made metal buildings would give those affected a safe place to live, but wrangling and grandstanding among politicians could stall such construction for months.

This wonderful nation has endured its share of disasters, both natural and self-inflicted, but this latest news must be depressing beyond measure for those in the path of the fallout. It can only be hoped both the spirit and lives of the New Orleans people will endure and rebound from this act.

Slowly at first but with increasing fervor your television will become clogged with pallid-skinned politicians professing their undying love for the country they’ve ruined, and assuring us they plan to make everything rosy – As soon as you give them their jobs back.

Frankly, I’m not convinced. You’d think people who spent this time time on TV would at least learn how to remove dark circles. One politician, who shall be nameless, represents the mid-west, works in D.C….yet flaunts a year-round tan that belongs in the Caribbean.

If these people were bright enough to run this nation they‘d get employment for life. As it stands they’ll all be back on your screen soon, promising to do everything they can to fix the snags they could have fixed in their last term if they even knew how.

The guys at Netflix are going to love the next 10-12 months. Personally I rather dread it…

Based on the book ‘Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency” by Barton Gellman, the series will cover Dick’s rise from Donald Rumsfeld’s assistant during Richard Nixon’s White House tenure in 1969, to the peak of his allergic reaction to peace as the guiding hand that pushed this country into war in Iraq in March of ’03.

The HBO folks say the show will focus on Dick’s “Single-minded pursuit of enhanced power for the Presidency that was unprecedented in the nation’s history.”

‘Six Feet Under’ writer, Rick Cleveland is writing the series and Paula Weinstein – who managed HBO’s coverage of the Florida recount in 2000 that put Dick in power – will run the production.

And in case one lengthy analysis of vacant morality and dubious ethics is not scary enough, HBO has ordered another show about unbridled lust for power – ‘Game Change.’ This follows John McCain’s presidential campaign in 2008, including the selection of Sarah Palin as his VP – a decision many voters still say cost him the race.

In one piece of good news, Julianne Moore has been cast as the ex Governor.

On March 20th 2003 the White House began an unjust war against innocent people, to protect an unwilling country from mythical weapons. And Dick stood firmly behind it. Can HBO can do such a murderous legacy justice or do you think they’ll rewrite the truth and turn Cheney’s malfeasant term in the  White House into a white-wash?

Let’s hear your views…

After thirty years of unrelenting oppression and 18-days of peaceful yet irresistible struggle which cost the lives over 300 people the nightmare is over. Now Egyptians have the first chance some of them have ever known to make their own decisions and run their own country, free from the selfish decrees and delusions of a megalomanical despot.

The sense of relief in Tahrir Square must be almost so strong you can taste it. Those of us who have lived among democracy our whole lives can’t imagine the feeling but it’s to be hoped this glorious and long denied freedom can now be formed into free and unbiased elections so the Egyptian nation can finally take their place in the world and enable and unleash the full potential of a proud and remarkable people.

Photo: Tahrir Square by Nebedaay

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan [R-Wis.] presented the GOP’s latest proposals to reduce the red ink yesterday. Buried among the tortuous strata of inept supposition are $58-billion worth of proposed cuts in ‘Non-security, discretionary’ spending, which they claim can be achieved by the end of fiscal year 2011 – which is due on September 30th.

But in proud support of his new label as a “true believer,” conferred by his Tea Party supporters, Mr. Paul has his own plan to reduce spending by $500-billion this year alone.

It calls for across-the-board cuts including defunding the Department of Education by 83-percent, reducing Defense Department funding by 6-percent, and the immediate cessation of all foreign aid.

So he wants to ensure this nation has the continued capacity to kill other’s children by turning our own into illiterate dorks.

And he calls that ‘a start.’

“I go to a tea party rally and you know what they say?” Paul asks ABC News. “It’s not enough! Where’s the other trillion you need?”

Answer: Squandered in the grotesque, obscene and imbecilic pursuit of a war we didn’t need, against an enemy we didn’t have, to stop an attack that wasn’t coming, involving weapons that were never even constructed.

As for Afghanistan, Mr. Paul says troop levels are a matter for the President, but;  “I personally think you can have a much smaller presence.”

So while gutting education should ensure the ongoing provision of people intellectually malnourished enough to be Tea Party voters, if that party’s current associates would vote for a group who regard their own children’s potential to be less important than pursuing indefensible wars, they’re even more dense and dangerous than we originally thought.

Photo by Rand Paul for Congress