I try to be, but we all know that nobody is completely fair, not even the Supreme Court. First off, I'm not here to try to make someone else come off as a jerk or to present myself as some kind of sanctimonius do-gooder. I've got way too many skeletons in my own closet for that. I'm all for spirited discussions encompassing all points of view as long as they maintain at least a modicum of intellectual integrity and just not fueled by unreasonable and certainly unjustified fear and predjudice.

Let's take a look at Obama. Here's a guy who played by all the so-called 'family values' (what a load of crap) rules; educated via student loans (only recently paid off), turned down lucrative job offers to work in community service, found Jesus (his only negative, for me), married an equally accomplished woman with an equally remarkable story, after a conventional courtship (i.e. no pre-marital babies), and through will, hard work, and intellect, worked his way through the state legislature, the state senate, the U.S. senate, and now the presidency. Okay, he smoked a little weed along the way. So did Clinton, and let's not even talk about Bush's college years or McCains uh, 'active' social life. Nobody's perfect. Certainly not me, certainly not you, certainly not Obama.

But, why didn't I berate NotesNorton? Probably because I agree with most (but not all) of what he had to say, but mostly because it was, for the most part, a statement of some well-documented facts. For the record, I don't buy his 'gas price' theory, not at all. I don't believe anyone, on the right or anywhere else, has the power to manipulate international oil prices for the sole purpose of helping to elect John McCain. That's a bit of a stretch. But more importantly, I didn't detect the same kind of vitriol in his arguments; you know, the kind that shouts, "I hate the candidate, not his policies; I just USE his policies to justify my feelings".

For me, I hope that Obama's election will have far greater ramifications than just his tax policies, or social programs. I'm hoping he succeeds so that my own grandkids and the kids of their generation will, when their time comes, be judged (in EVERY corner of this country) by something other than the color of their skin, or the shape of their eyes, or the texture of their hair, or the thickness of their lips, or the.....well, you fill in the blanks.

So yes, Notes did use the magic word (Hitler), but we've gotten so used to (since this campaign) singling out single words in an entire dissertation to prove a point, that even legitimate complaints start to ring hollow, these days.

So, in conclusion, no ongoing contentious quarrel with you, Cory. We'll probably both continue to try to win points for our respective 'teams' and I will continue to admire your talent and abilities as a musician and the challenges you must have faced getting there. So let's continue to agree to disagree, but keep it on as high a level as possible when discussing politics . You're a very bright guy and I tend to like very bright guys so I know there is potential for friendship here. Gotta run. Babysitting the Grandkids, today.

chas