Long weekend approaches, currently suffering from "presenteeism" at work, I think I'm one of three people on this side of the wall at the office. I found a really great set of recordings on Global Groove, slowed down versions of the Robert Johnson recordings, and am taking the liberty today to play through a song-by-song playlist of the classic v. slowed down versions. So far the difference is about a 1/2 step, or 100 cents. Maybe a little less...

All the chatter aside about this week's early primary elections, it looks to me like the right's divided between GOP and Teabaggers, and I don't see a similar rift between the Dems and the Progressive caucus. Are Progressives entirely happy with Obama's centrist pragmatic approach? Well, no. But we have the 2000 election and 8 years of Bush to remind us that it's probably best to remain unified and work for change from within that framework. Ross Perot is the GOP's most recent lesson in this regard. And compared with today's teabaggers, Ross looks like a sane person from this vantage point. Will the Dems lose seats in both the House and Senate this fall? Likely. Will it be outside the usual first midterm norm? Probably not much. It's not looking like a realignment election to me.