And let's not forget the great tabla player Zakir Hussain, best known for his collaborations with Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. He also was part of Shakti, the great fusion band from the '70s. I saw him perform once with "Indian" flutist Hari Prasad Chaurasia in 1986. One wouldn't think that flute and tablas would go together, but it was the most mesmerizing concert I have ever been to. If you weren't spiritually inclined before this experience, you would be forever afterward.

Zakir Hussain was born and raised in India, the son of the great tabla player Ustad Alla Rakha, who was the longtime accompanist to Ravi Shankar. For a brief introduction to his playing you can do a search on YouTube.

It is worth mentioning that in "Indian" classical music, "Hindus" and "Muslims" play together blissfully and with great talent and skill, and before audiences worldwide.

I suspect some good will come of this. Maybe, as part of the war crimes trials that await the Bush criminal regime, the history of the relationship between Saddam Hussain (Hussein) and the CIA, Donald Rumsfeld, various "Republican" regimes, and "defense" contractors will be revealed. If Hussain is such a bad name, why was it so good for so many of our political and corporate elites for so long?

Responding to this article is proof that I need to find something better to do with my time. The likelihood, given the times we are in, is that Barack Obama will have a very difficult presidency, saddled with a collapsing economy, occupations of two very difficult countries, global warming threatening to do away with our entire species, and a thoroughly corrupt political and business class.

He still has what I believe to be the only chance to begin the rescue of the country from all these ills. I say this because of the attitude, the manner, and the approach he takes.

Hillary Clinton would be in way over her head, relying on confrontation, anger, and threats. As "Commander in Chief" she would find the military joint chiefs to be an unending challenge, having to overcome the disrespect they would heap upon her at every chance. I think Bill would find the experience life-threatening. He would be in a powerless position in the building where he once ruled, having to sit by while his wife suffers through a heartbreaking tenure as president.

McCain would actually have a more disastrous presidency, and would likely die in office. He stands for nothing, is really a weak candidate, is ethically challenged, and has neither the intellectual talent nor the force of character to get anything done that needs to be done. He also carries a boatload of post-traumatic stress.

By default and by necessity being the mother of invention, Barack Obama is our only hope for rescuing ourselves from what promises to be a very dark future. Ihope he can pull it off.

Bill Ayers is a Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Illinois Chicago. Bernardine Dohrn is an Associate Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law, and the Director of Northwestern's Children and Family Justice Center.

As citizens concerned about the nation's past, present, and future, it is natural that they would support a political candidate whom they feel best serves the advance of civilization. Especially one who lives in the same city.

I was in the Army during the "Weather Underground" days, but was at a meeting in the mid-70s of "radical" economists. I was pretty stunned at the stridency and doctinaire rigidity of the Madison-Chicago-Ann Arbor types at the meeting. I suspect they are now all safely ensconced in universities around the country, driving Volvos or Priuses, publishing articles, and planning their retirements. In a series of ironic circumstances - or simple twists of fate - I was born in Chicago, ended up living in Ann Arbor for several years, and now live in Madison, where the doctrinaire "leftists" are third-tier hangers-on, caricatures, relics of a past that was more myth and bravado than anything else.

I'm not prone to profanity on the Web, but these polls are complete bullshit. For one thing, people say a lot of things in the heat of the moment. When it comes to "election" day, which is a long way off, the likelihood of "Democratic" voters putting an X or, umm, fingertip by the name John McCain is mighty slim.

People who now support Hillary Clinton are also likely to change their view of her and of Barack Obama between now and the "election." Of course, there's no accounting for the human ego. I imagine there will be a goodly number of people who, having experienced defeat, will seek revenge by doing their part to heap defeat on the perceived cause of their humiliation: Barack Hussain Obama. "We'll show him! We'll help subject our country to the presidency of John McCain - emotionally, intellectually, and ethically challenged "Republican."

It shows that for these people, criteria other than the well-being of themselves and of the planet are secondary to cheap ego payoffs that last about thirty seconds. True "Americans," they - immediate gratification outweighs all other considerations.

It likely won't be enough. McCain will be an extension of the Bush era, except more incompetently, if that can be believed. When push comes to vote, it is extremely doubtful the country will be dumb enough to put him in office. If it is, then we were doomed anyway. Have that last glass of champagne, as Bruce Cockburn once put it.