* He's too liberal: Well, I don't mean to be, but everything else is too boring.
* He's against war: I never thought that killing people was a good way to get them to like you. When I look into the eyes of those who have returned from war, I can tell how much war they've seen. It's never the same again. If violence is natural to us, why do we have to train soldiers to kill?
* He believes gay people should be allowed to get married: Why should heterosexual couples be the only one's miserable?
* He makes fun of our leadership: Don't tell me you're going to argue with that?
* The Peever is too negative: I call this "positive doubt." I never do get too giddy over repeated failure.
* If The Peever doesn't like this country, why don't he move to a different one?: Your prayers have been answered. We bought a home in Arkansas.

WHEN YOUR HEART SPEAKS, TAKE NOTES.

BUSH'S THIRD TERM: JOHN MCCAIN

Barack Obama is the Democratic Presidential nominee. This is good for any number of reasons. He is the least experienced politician, which should help a lot. He is an African-American, which makes this a historic occasion, and tells the world that there is more to American than white, male, Republicans. You heard it here first: He will beat John McCain by a minimum of 8% points. McCain represents the old way of doing business, Obama the new. The old we know about. It is being soundly rejected by the American public. The new is something of an unknown entity, making the change scary for many Americans. Sometimes we stick with the used up and failed, even if we know it's bad for us. But the time is now, and Obama is the one. Young, energetic, and charismatic. Change is the great inevitable. We can only hope that it brings with it an end to an illegal war; universal health-care; a reconciliation among countries we have plundered and betrayed; government for the people, rather than bought by big business; a realistic facing of an impending environmental disaster; and a sigh of relief from the people of this country, and all the world, that we are rejecting the old ways of war, torture, fear, and repression, and about to let democracy shine once again. Obama will not be able to do all this on his own. He will need all of our help. We're all in this recovery together. I'm finally feeling a bit of optimism about our future. Now on with the campaign. Obama's first hard decision: A Vice-President. Who do you think?

How can we do that? Land a spacecraft on a planet, at its closest, some 35 million miles away. Think of the technology, the talent, the detail, the money, the intelligence that goes into being able to do that. Now tell me why we can't understand, what keeps us from figuring out, that killing one another in order to establish peace, or democracy, or freedom, will not work? Surely we have the capacity, the collective wisdom, to realize that bombing schools, hospitals, private homes, destroying a country's infrastructure, blowing a country into oblivion, will only make our enemies stronger and more determined to kill us. It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out.