On this July 4th weekend, I did what every patriotic American should have done: I went to see Farenheit 9/11 and wore my "FUCK B*SH" T-Shirt. Yes, Moore is at times over the top and bludgeons you over the head with a very blunt instrument, but by doing this in an atmosphere that is very reactionary, he is doing a great service to this country. We live in very partisan times at the moment and the right has been winning the battle in the messaging department up until the past year or so. The tide is turning, the pendulum is about to cross the mid-point leftward. By choosing Edwards, Kerry just might cross over to disgruntled Republicans like my brother, a small businessman from the laissez faire, libertarian wing of the party who has been concerned that the Bush Administration caters to the Religious wing of the party that he can't stand. I think that Bush and company will ultimately remembered as the straw that broke the old GOP coalition's back years from now. We can't see this yet, but we are about to see evidence of it come November. I am very hopeful and optimistic right now. Had Kerry picked Gephardt, I would have declared the race over, since Gephardt represents the old Democratic party, the one that brought you Dukakis and Mondale. As I mentioned last March, my father voted for Edwards in Wisconsin, same as me for California, the only time probably that my father and I will vote for the same candidate. He voted for Edwards to "cause Kerry mischief" since the WI primaries are open, but I've gotta think that there are some doubts in the back of his mind about dubya as well, though we have not discussed this. My father voted for John Anderson in 1980 and Perot in '92, though. For whatever reason, he's morally opposed to voting Democratic even though he fared better personally during the Clinton years than any of the other presidencies while I was alive. Heck, he was voted "Boss of the year" in 1978 during the Carter Presidency, but then by the time of the Reagan recession, he lost control of his business and we had to move to the Chicago area, away from the small town our family had roots in since the 1880s. I've been trying to get him to make the connection but he won't budge. Now that Edwards is on the ticket I am going to try again.