Back in 2004, my state was at last a player! Instead of waiting until the totally irrelevant, regularly scheduled June primary, the Democratic Party, under the leadership of the Governor (who ran for President this cycle, too) held a "caucus" in the first week of February.

And it was great! We got the political ads on the radio and the TV, several visits by candidates, the robo and human phone calls - we were part of the political process. Not so much as the spoiled and coddled New Hampshirites or Iowahoovians, who expect candidates to stop by with coffee and doughnuts at their homes every morning and kiss their butts, but at least we were involved. Our local newspeople attended and wrote articles on candidate rallies, radio and TV stations covered them, and they were unfettered by the k00l-kidz ethos of DC. There was information other than the horse race.

Every state ought to have this opportunity, on a regular basis. Every state. It's time to dump NH and IA, and move to a rotating series of REGIONAL primaries (to make travel costs more reasonable and group similar interests). NH and IA would be forced to take their turns, or get ZERO DELEGATES at the National Democratic Convention. Maybe they could be squeezed out on Congressional earmarks, too.

The time to start is NOW.

We also need to work on the bucks-biased media.

Okay, first it was Sen. Obama and his campaign, talking about Social Security like a Republican, using old debunked Republican smears against Senator Clinton, and insisting he's going to make nice with the other side of the aisle - the Republicans. Now Sen. Clinton, via surrogates -just like the Republicans - is going full speed ahead with Richard Nixon's Southern Strategy.

At this point, John Edwards is looking better and better. I'd say it's time to start sending this guy money, writing letters to the editor in his favor, going down to his local campaign HQ and begging to help out, and reminding all my friends and acquaintances what he stands for and how, with Edwards, you don't get the sleaze or conservatism that the "major" candidates have devolved into.

The carts can't just have a video display, can they? You can hardly focus on a tiny screen while pushing your shopping cart through the aisles. Plus, you could block it out with a large selection - toilet paper would be appropriate. So the carts have to have audio, too.

So, just envision cruising the aisles in your super-duper commercialized, CUSTOMIZED shopping cart. You can't shield your children from the constant squeal of cookie ads, deep-fat-fried chip ads, sugar-in-a-box "cereal" ads and exhortations from the store's small toy aisle - the cart knows they're there and adjusts accordingly. Their howls almost drown out the audio, but that's why it's set to LOUD, with no volume controls that you can access.

You have just as little luck blocking out the ads of passing carts:

The senior citizens with their ads for rectal suppositories and other digestive ailments, Viagra specials, and the benefits of fiber, fiber and MORE fiber,

The young bucks with their beer ads, sexy massage lotion ads, deep-fat-fried-chip ads, and yes, that special on Viagra

The young women being hyped for every cosmetic under the sun, ultra-convenience foods, sanitary napkins and tampons, and yes - 'get that special someone in your life' some Viagra

Now, imagine yourself pushing one of these carts, as a tinny commercial voice trumpets what it believes to be YOUR most secret joys and vices to the world. Buy a single ho-ho and suddenly, your cart believes you're Junk Food Joyce for all eternity; select some organic apples on sale one day, and you're Hippie Herbert and the cart will drag you through all the hemp cookies and macrobiotic frozen burger substitutes for the next year. And don't even think of stopping by the liquor aisle.

And every passing shopper in the store gets to hear it, too.

Convenience? In what way? I'd go out of my way to avoid one of these Microsoft-enabled stores. Wouldn't you?

I recall hearing on NPR one of the Saudis stating that, of course, they would base their price of oil upon economic considerations. And (by implication) not on Mr. Bush's desperate pleas.

Seriously - how can Bush ask for oil price decreases with a straight face? His US constituency of oil-producing corporations, never mind his oil-producing friends in the Middle East, all benefit from high prices.

The horror™ of 9-11! the horror of 9-11™! Oh, the horror!!!

I, for one, hope to live long enough to see a frank, flat out comedy made of "9/11." I mean, even funnier than Fahrenheit 911.

Face it, if this were a healthy society, we'd have gotten over it long ago.

And, to the Anonymous Coward at 7:14:

You make good points, but there's a difference between someone who has actually experienced horrific events and is postly-traumatized by them, and with the rest of us who are little more than voyeurs.

We voyeurs shouldn't claim to still be "traumatized." You, however, may.

You missed my follow-up. If you were there, you may be still traumatized, and nobody would deny you the horror of your experiences.

It's folks like me, at "the intersection of Old Rt 66" (yada) who have little reason to keep carrying on about it. I.e., the vast majority of Americans.

We don't have any compelling reason to avoid seeing a scary movie, or voting for the latest right-wing totalitarian, out of fear of re-living that experience, because we never lived it. Regardless of all the bloviating that was done about "9-11"™ for more than a full year thereafter, and to this very day.