Plenty more lazy, entitled, self-satisfied rich kids who reach positions of national prominence due to nepotism. Our government has become a hereditary aristocracy.

Plenty more rightwingers being sent to school to become media personalities (I will not use the word "journalists", since it doesn't apply). And rightwing religious groups and "think tanks" are bankrolling the college education of pharmacists, doctors and nurses. Why? So they can refuse contraceptive prescriptions, contraceptive care and abortions. The law profession is another target for rightwing religious groups, as they bankroll the education of like-minded young people, looking to get those judgeships at the local, state and federal level. Recently, rightwingers have concentrated on the entertainment industry. With hundreds of millions of dollars from rightwing owners of nationwide franchises and from inherited wealth, the rightwing is looking to move into movie and television production, and are even looking into financing their own studios. Why not? It worked in the "news" media and in radio ownership.

It's not going to get better after Bush. The cacaphony of rightwing noise we heard when Clinton was president was only the beginning. That was more than a decade ago, and they have made great strides in infiltration during that time. Grover Norquist has had a great deal of success in reducing the government so he can drown it in the bathtub. Government agencies have been defunded, government science grants have been cut and federal regulatory agencies have been gutted of laws that once held greed and destructive policies in check. The military has been outsourced to megacorporations that heavily fund rightwing candidates and causes.

And there are plenty more moronic citizens out there who can be frightened into rash stupidity by even the vaguest threat of terrorism. America the brave? Don't make me laugh. I've never seen a more lily-livered bunch in my life. They talk a good swagger but scatter like cockroaches whenever a whiff of danger is in the air.

America is forever changed. It has been frightened into the servitude of not just weapons manufacturers, but to any corporation which now stands to make money off the outsourced military, from companies which provide telecommunications down to those who provide catering. And there will be plenty more troops, too, as decent jobs disappear to foreign shores and the pay for at-home jobs is undermined by a much-larger immigrant workforce than is necessary. Supporting a family on part-time pay from Sam's Club isn't very realistic, so more and more Americans will join the military and the reserves to make ends meet.

So it's pretty much gonna be meet the new boss, same as the old boss. And meet the new American people who will be poorer and less educated... and they are a more frightened, blame-seeking bunch than any generation before them.

If you're a stupid douchebag.

Apparently yes, because nobody in this country has an ounce of common sense these days. Sometimes you just have to MAKE people do the right thing under threat of legal action (or physical ass-beating) or the common sense thing to do will not get done.

No kidding, really?

Why would Al Gore want to inherit the blood-soaked garbage dump that the Bush administration is leaving behind when he is winning Oscars, getting nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, being seen worldwide as a credible spokesman for the dangers of global warming and generally having a great time?