BTW

I noticed that I hadn't gloated yet about the Renkes affair ... so, neener neener, and all that.

Of course, Renkes was just a malignant outgrowth - the cancer still rages unabated. Gov. Dorkowski fronts a group that believes that the purpose of government is to protect and aid the wealthy and connected. These croneyists have made various arrangements of convenience with idealogues of various stripes, but they are not idealogues themselves - they are power junkies. And they have been allowed to preside because they are willing to play on our divisions and prejudices, and because they have turned the media into a hazy and confusing shouting match, and we have lost the capacity to see them through that haze.