Levels, Jerry, levels

Recently two highly charged political trials came to their conclusions.

In New Hampshire, a former GOP official was convicted of jamming Democrats' get-out-the-vote phone bank during the state's 2002 United States senate race.

In Wisconsin, four Kerry-Edwards campaign volunteers were convicted of the election eve tire slashing of 25 vans rented by Republicans to take voters to the polls.

The New Hampshire case involves shady political operatives from Virginia to Idaho. Following the flow of money would make a statue's head spin. Even disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff turns up for a cameo.

And it proves, once and for all, the Republicans are in possession of a phone jamming dohicky.

The Wisconsin case involves the mayor 0f Milwaukee's son and three of his buddies. They slash tires. Republican tires.

These two cases got me thinking: Could it be the incident in New Hampshire was a harbinger of things to come? If Republicans are capable of devising an elaborate multi-state plot involving a mysterious thing-a-ma-jig just to disenfranchise Granite State voters, one can only imagine what they would be capable of if they gained control of the entire United States government.

And no, I'm not talking about misleading the country into war just so their fat-cat cronies can feast at the trough of the American taxpayer and line their pockets with oil-coated gold cigars.

Sheesh, take the profit motive out of war and we're all still in caves rubbing sticks together.

I am talking about a plot to warm the globe. A plot to trigger a hurricane.

A category four storm that doesn't care about black people.

Try doing that with a few pocket knives.

As we all know, American politics is a cyclical thing. Elephants one day, Donkeys the next. We may wake up, sometime in January of '09, with the Democrats running the whole show.

If we do, and you look outside to find toilet paper hanging from the trees in your front yard, don't immediately assume it was the work of the neighborhood teenagers.