Needs to wake up. If he and his are tired of the "gotcha" politics practiced in this nation, all they have to do is call off Rove, Rubaugh and his Rubes, and all the others who have specialized in the worst sleazy, destructive "gotcha" political games ever since Clinton was elected. Then they should appoint Rep. Vetter on their behalf to make a speech publicly appologizing to Bill, Hillary and Monica for dragging an unfortunate-but-private affair into the public eye (something Rep. Vetter has a great deal of experience with). When Rove has become persona non grata, even in the backrooms of the Republican party and Rubaugh has been canceled because the Republicans, themselves, started calling him on his B.S. and pointing out to the public what a compulsive liar he is, then they can offer a legitimate appeal for the end of "gotcha" politics.

Recently the cable companies have been finding that more and more people are canceling even basic cable. I suspect this is because people are having financial issues, but even moreso, it's because, when folks turn on the TV, they find programming that insults their intelligence, and news programs that, despite the last election and the fact that the people watching are facing financial ruin or know someone else who is, still trot out the Republicans and their "economist" supporters arguing that we really need to do more of what we've done for the past eight years.

As these Republicans ridicule any attempts to help those in need and argue in favor of continuing to give all the proceeds of massive gains in worker productivity to those at the top of the system; as they argue for the justice of allowing those actually doing the work to fall farther and farther behind, all the while allowing financial institutions to prey upon the poor and middle class as if they were financial tapeworms, many people can't help but ask themselves, WHY AM I WATCHING THIS GARBAGE?

Wise people are turning to the internet for news (where they can get more accurate information), and renting, downloading or otherwise finding movies which match their own tastes for entertainment, all without dishonest and misleading commercials from pharmaceutical companies, financial ripoff artists, and for gas-guzzling, overpriced cars from American car companies (whose executives are paid under the table by American oil companies to keep that gas consumption as high as possible).

It's a hopeful thought that, if "Hairy and Louise" get trotted out in a massive ad campaign against whatever changes the Obama administration wants to make in national health care, very few people will actually see the ads. Of those who do, many will destroy their TVs by throwing things at them, since they will remember the old ads and recall where the cost and availability of health care has gone as the result of the fact they fell for them before.

When the same big money, Republicans and Rubaugh start screaming against national health care on TV and talk radio, the general populace will now realize that Harry and Louise were only shills for executives of health care and insurance companies making millions of dollars by making it impossible for real people to get needed medical care.

But despite his political, personal, moral and spiritual gifts, Obama still must work within the political system as it currently stands. The only other option is to dissolve congress and declare a dictatorship (which our previous vice president would have done if he thought he could get away with it). I'm sorry for all those who are running out of time, but these things take time, under the most urgent circumstances.

Personally, I'm keeping my eye out for those who might need a place to sleep for a few weeks. I've taken in four different needy people at various times for periods of weeks or months over the past ten years, until they could get back on their feet. I suspect many of us may need to do the same in the coming days until the stimulus has a chance to kick in.

These obstructionist Blue Dog Democrats and Republicans sound like my son (and a whole lot of others at 12 years old). They're locked into the age when they first attempted to stand up for themselves and argue for what they want, but they never moved past the reasoning abilities or emotional maturity of the typical 12-year-old who wants what he wants so badly there's no reasoning with him.

He'll argue for what he has in mind in the most earnestly simplistic terms. Then when you, as the parent, explain the pitfalls, the holes in his logic, and why it's not reasonable, likely even dangerous at this point for him to get what he wants, he'll just repeat all the same arguments again.

Then, when you finally lay down the law and say, "No!" he responds, "You never listen to me!"

Like Rubaugh seems increasingly to be, my son was a dedicated anarchist at 12 years old (or at least he thought he was). Luckily he has long since grown up to be an amazing, thoughtful, well-reasoned adult.

So why are these obstructioninsts still trapped in adolescent wonderland (where it's clear they are)! Just like my 12 year old son, the only way they'd feel as if they had been "listened to" would be if they got their way.

Next thing you know, they'll be accusing the Democrats and Obama for being paternalistic because they've said no to more tax cuts.