1. Mr. Blagoyevich is still the governator of Illinois and has the power to make the appointment.

2. In this country, you are innocent until proven guilty. It is important to always, always remember and honor that. Because this is an indictment to be brought by Mr. Fitzpatrick, I have no doubt that Mr. Blagoyevich is as guilty as sin. On the other hand, need I remind you of another black and white case involving some Duke Lacrosse players and a whore?

The cool off started 1348/1349 (see A Distant Mirror and The Little Ice Age for the effects on European agriculture and when it started.) and not in 1500. Furthermore, it was in the late 1400s through the end of the 1600s that Europe was wiping out entire forests. If you've ever been to Scotland, for example, and seen all those sere vistas of heather and bracken, you're looking at ecological disaster. The entirety of the island was heavily forested and it was stripped during that time frame (i.e. prior to the widespread use of coal which, of course, was the prime cause of the infamous London fogs). At that point, the climate was such that the Caledonian forest could not regenerate itself. The British government has started to replant trees. Bottom line: any drop in burning in the new world was certainly overbalanced by the increase brought on by the antecedents to the industrial revolution and then the revolution itself.

On the other hand archeological studies are discovering that the autochthons of Central and South America were, in fact, both ecologically sensitive and adept at tailoring their environment without the slash and burn techniques that are being used today. In fact, some of the old Incan and Mayan techniques are being brought back by their modern ancestors because they are so effective.

The Jews are a semitic tribe originally occupying land on the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean. In the centuries preceding the BC/AD divide, they sometimes had their own petty kingdom, sometimes not. Ethnically, they were no different than any of the other tribes living in the area. Religiously, they were fairly unique. In the century preceding the year 0 in our calendar the Jews had a petty kingdom and the Roman Empire came in and kicked their ass as they did with so many petty kingdoms in the lands surrounding the Mediterranean. That is the last time that the Jews had their own little theocracy until now. So when I hear people talk about the Jews returning to "their traditional home", the first thing I say is Bullshit. You might as well talk about resurrecting the petty kingdoms of the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Hittites, and others. Jewish writ hasn't run in the lands of the Levant for 2,000 years. After the incorporation of the Jewish kingdom into the Roman Empire, the Jews dispersed. Some stayed in Palestine (in a flash of insight, I was talking to an Iranian friend of mine when I lived in Iran and he used the Farsi word for Palestinian - Philistine. You biblical scholars may have heard of them), others moved on to Europe, Russia, and Africa.

So suddenly in the 20th century, a boatload of Jews from Europe, Russia, Africa and beyond whose ancestors haven't lived in Palestine for time out of mind suddenly want to reclaim their "traditional homeland". Like I said, Bullshit. Israel today is much the same as the petty kingdoms set up by Christian crusaders a thousand years ago - a grafting of foreign people into somebody else's land. It's not going to last any longer than those Christian kingdoms did. The only question is: will the United States be destroyed in the process.

Right now you have an emasculated truck. For what you're going to be doing with the vehicle all you really need is a mini-van (which will probably get better gas mileage with a 4-banger and 2WD). I know that would make you a soccer mom but if the foo shits, wear it. I doubt that your little emo-truck will haul a half ton without hurting itself or you.