Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m still kickin’. Just a bit sore on the upswing.

Horse logging will do that to you.

Since we last had this not-so-personal one-way chat of ours, my motley team of horse loggers – men and horses, alike – have put close to 8,000 board feet of red pine on the ground, to the landing and some even off to the mill. Translation to those unaware of the lumber lingo: It’s a lot of wood.

Better yet, it’s a fine respite from the political ninniness of trying to contemplate when Obama will announce that Robert Gates will remain as the chief war pig, how the issues of the day continue to be ignored in favor of more hot-air rhetoric from people with way too much time on their hands, or – my favorite navel-gazing dilemma – how much time to give Obama before pushing him on the issues.

Issues? That’s so rude.

And then there’s Vermont politics. Ugh.

I’m just glad that Vermont’s most over-rated, over-used, overly redundant and mind-numbingly obvious political pundit, Eric Davis, is getting a breather from the airwaves. Poor guy, it must be hard to say the same stupid shit over and over and over again. Yeah, you know, things like, “Obama is going to be popular in Vermont.” Thanks, Eric. Now, please, get serious about that retirement status you keep talking about.

Sorry, but when Vermont’s favorite loser, Anthony Pollina, can claim “victory” by garnering a meager 20% of the gubernatorial vote and almost all of Vermont’s punditry and media elite (including Davis, of course) can play along, I need a break from politics.

Earth to Vermonters: Pollina only did as “well” as 20% because his Democratic opponent, Gaye Symington, was missing one key element: A pulse. Well, and also the ability to speak, be clear and/or be anything but absolutely painful to watch or listen to. You know, just the small stuff in politics….

But there’s nothing that charges up Pollina more than losing (quick, name something that he’s won? I knew you couldn’t). And Pollina even did his best to fill the Dem/center vacuum that Symington left unattended while she was apparently using all the energy she could muster just to complete one – ONE! – clear sentence or thought in the entire campaign.

At least Pollina was honest about one thing: He was, indeed, no longer a Progressive (or a progressive, for that matter). Nope, he shit-canned progressivism in favor of a whole bunch of centrist nonsense that screamed of his number one priority: Beat Symington and the Dems. It was pure Pollina-ism and no progressive-ism. Congrats, Tony, you did it. By 200 votes. But, in case you forgot, that was still tens of thousands of votes behind the winner, Republican Jim Douglas. Oops.

But now, Pollina being Pollina (read: nothing else to do now that he’s fucked up the Vermont Milk Company), he’s announced that he’s “meeting with people” about his plans for the 2010 elections. And the worst part is that I think he was serious. Some people never learn.

I think I need to bring Snarky Boy back. I’m in the mood.

Happy Friday, you fools.

Sorry, been behind a horse. Or two. Whatever.

It just seems to make sense in a weird kind of way. So basic. So simple. And yet so powerful.

It makes me smile. And sweat. And even bring in a dollar or two along the way.

Election? Yeah, I heard all about it.

Sometimes it’s best to stay off the road when you know everyone’s been drinking the delusional Kool-Aid.

Change? I’ll bet that channel will be changed faster than Obama can appoint a bunch of centrist, warmongering Dems to grab the reins of his new political team. Oops, already happened.

America, wipe that change-induced hangover grin off your face and meet Rahm Emanuel and John Podesta, the two fellas appointed to the top positions in the next phase of the great Obama hallucination.

In case you haven’t bothered to scratch below the surface of late, Emanuel is an elected Congressional Dem who runs in the conservative Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) crowd and – along with Nancy Pelosi – wrote the book on how to act “concerned” about the Iraq War but keep voting to fund it. Go figure. And now, according to this afternoon’s news reports, Emanuel has been offered the job of Obama’s Chief of Staff.

Besides being a snide conservative Dem, Emanuel is a dolt. Yeah, he was the master insider who warned all his Obama-loving colleagues to avoid the Stephen Colbert show because it was too risky during election season. Of course. The last thing any political figure would want to display during an election season would be a sense of humor or, better yet, a sense of “getting it.”

And in case you’re not connecting the dots at home and you might be tapped to be a future VP nominee, let me provide you with some crib notes: The Emanuel Doctrine is to do nothing that is bold, risky or that might be construed in any way, shape or form to actually challenge the power elite. Ah, perfect for hallucinatory change.

Change? Forgetaboutit. Because, like his hero, Bill Clinton, Emanuel will run the White House like…well…a Clintonite. More crib notes: Think bending over for the Republicans and totally and completely fearful of acting like a person with passion and/or principles. One more crib note: Think “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell” and the spineless retreat from health care reform.

To these conservative Dems, solving an issue cannot be allowed to get in the way of using an issue to get elected. Remember, they’re the same folks who jumped on the “blame the welfare recipient” crowd when one of Clinton’s first acts as the great liberal savior of his time (and, in case you forgot, the self-appointed “first black president”), was to push his “welfare reform” package through Congress. And the reform? Basically to call them all lazy and demand that they work for their government lulus. Oh, if only the same could be demanded from Blackwater. Or Exxon. Or General Dynamics. Or, or, or…you get the picture.

Joining the Emanuel dolt in the new Obama team will be another Clinton worshipper, John Podesta. Yeah, the same Podesta who served as Clinton’s Chief of Staff while navigating through what we can now affectionately call the blow-job/missile-strike final years Clinton’s second term. Yeah, you remember those days, don’t you? In case you forgot, it went like this: For every attack on his desire for more Monica, Clinton unleashed a “real” missile at some unsuspecting foreign nation – usually Iraq.

Hmm, with all these Clinton sycophants bubbling up to the top, why didn’t we just elect Hillary?

But this kind of snark isn’t what the nation is looking for now. Not. At. All.

As for the real political change that this nation deserves (you know, things like stopping the Iraq War now and providing health care for all now), it’s all at the back of this political bus.

The Obama nation is issuing one big demand to the electorate right now: Shhh, the baby is sleeping. The political baby that is. And you better not raise your voices so that the baby is awoken to realize that nothing has really changed.

Quick, get me back to the barn….