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and they often mistake their own promethean presence for a charter of independence.

This is precisely what sets them apart from "us".

None of those I pictured with him (save perhaps Bush, Jiang and the strangely resistant Berlusconi) have that "charter of independence. They've always known better than that. No one who presumes a "charter of independence" lives very long on the "former Soviet" side of the fence. Putin's GRU. It's not like our boy the bureaucrat is under any illusions he's some kind of rockstar. There are no "ex-KGB", there are no "ex-terrorists". Saddam himself must put the revolution before his own family. He's certainly not the first and won't be the last "evil dictator" or "terrorist" who's had to slaughter his own family, friends and comrades. They all know the score.

Not everyone's quite as immune to genuine human emotion as a trick pony like Clinton. I'll always wonder if he ever wept about McDougal, even.

Clinton once thought he had the independence thing ... riding high well into impeachment, even, until something went wrong, they had to kick the Serbia thing into action three months early and he was white as a sheet for days ... even "dropped the ball", so to speak. I've always wondered what they did to get through to him like that. I think he aged five years in five days. It was fascinating.

I think if anyone's impatient, it's our guys. The ones who ... who ... who "won't get fooled again." They don't even take the time to learn their lines, much less dwell on the irony or what exactly is being telegraphed.

"READ MY LIPS," we didn't exactly get the impressarios or deep thinkers where the world's politicians are concerned. They'll tell you themselves they "don't like campaigning" any more than they like broccoli. They don't speak foreign languages, they aren't well-read and they are embarrassingly bereft of a true statesmen's grasp of the world's history, the mosaic of national identities, relationships and protocols (much less the heads of states).

Maybe it has something to do with the way they see us as either Useful or Unproductive consumers, Wanted or Unwanted Live. "Living" or "fit for the garbage".

So it's not just that they're champing at the bit to effect their plans ... they're bored in the process because all but the transnational Bidness of the Organization and the Political Gamesmanship of Personal Destruction means nothing to them.

Who knew it would take over 30 years to implement the recommendations of the "Earth Resources and Population" task force?

We can only hope they don't lose their cool ... at this point it's one false step and the floor falls out ... leaving us swinging on the rope we sold.

It's not going to turn out like the Pragmatists planned because it's not been the Pragmatists who've been doing the planning. It's those who set up the Circumstances on which the Pragmatists hedged the bets of their Best-Laid Plans who get the credit for that.