Never forget, my friends, that a common street synonym for professional (pro) is whore. Having just run through this little spate of political streetfighting and come out the other side more or less whole as a human being -- still even believing in the cause on a good day -- it's tough to see the democrats come out like whipped dogs afraid of Tom Delay's spritz bottle, and it's a kick it the teeth to realize that movement conservatives havn't a shred of intellectual honesty about them. Bunch of fuckers, really. I like to think at the end of the day that most of us could kick back and have a beer. Harder to hold onto that idea with the crap you see these days.

Instances: lavish and unqualified praise for the Swift Boat Liars; this "The American People Spoke Loud And Clear" business; the purging of people who think the truth and the president occasionally disagree; the tightening of the cabenet.

Oh, it's the ugly season, when dark meetings behind closed doors decide fates and futures. The circle will constrict, and it's only a matter of time before perverse eminations -- the smells that typically accompany the decomposition of a corrupted and hermetic power stucture -- begin wafting forth. The creepy crawlies have come out to play. Four more years. Four more years. Who will rise to lead the counterrevolution?