Had John Kerry managed to flip Ohio and banish [ via the hay-seed mathematics of the electoral college] from the White House the mindless, faux-cowpoke troll currently residing there I am certain there would be, at present, more media buzz about caravans of Democrats streaming across the border of our northern neighbor than the not entirely stark or compelling differences cited in the article. No. The budding catastrophe would have reached full bloom on Kerrys watch [ the mistakes made by Bush and Rummy and the CPA were of such magnitude there was no way to stall their momentum]and the off year elections would have increased the Republican majorities and made certain that a grinning corporate hologram like Romney would ascend in 2008.

Excuse the retrograde science fiction, the point I am wobbling towards is this; the scale of the disaster, the long term disaster,the Boy President and his tutors have cooked up is, to quote the Surfer, 'epic'. The middle east has never been so unstable, Iraq has never seen such ruination and never has the American brand been so despised. The fool from Crawford has unleashed all manner of radiation upon the scene and, as I remember, the half-life is unkind. So, right now it is the business of serious politicians to educate a lazy minded public about the stark realities of their inheritance and, you know, strive to make realism a popular brand.

I know this is a very terrible thing to say but I've always believed the Mayors sangfroid re the immediate aftermath of 9/11 [ I swear he seemed almost giddy at times] was entirely the function of his..... psychopathology. I swear that [ particle] mask barely obscured a beaming smile as he walked directly into the lens of history and a shot at running the Big Island not long down the road.

Equally terrible, Night Rider,is my sense that post-literate America always gets what it deserves.