Excellent chap. Quite thought provoking, though not exactly motivational. I was unprepared to take notes, but let me see if I can�t give you a little idea of what he talked about. His thesis was mainly this: There is a crisis in leadership among in the left (and in Democrat, Republican, Green, etc., parties), and there is no point in marching.

Leaders are out-of-touch. Among prominent African Americans, they�re all holdovers from the civil rights era; most of them have become short of jokes. Think of it. Say Jesse Jackson�s name out loud, and someone will snicker. And nobody could possibly take Al Sharpton seriously with that ridiculous perm (his comment, and we agree). They�re far too busy getting bogged down in superfluous crap like speaking out against a supposedly racist film, rather than creating uproar when thousands of black voters were categorically disenfranchised in Florida at the presidential election. Not to mention how their infidelities and the like further deteriorate public trust.

Democrats? We have nothing. We know this. Green party? Well, McGruder said they called and asked him to run. He�s 28. Smart move.

Then there�s this Iraq/North Korea debacle. The U.S. is up in arms about Iraq maybe possibly having �weapons of mass destruction.� We�re demanding reports and sending in inspectors to seek out any sign of such weapons; we�re threatening war if anything�s found. Yet North Korea, who Bush�s named in his �axis of evil,� pipes up to voluntarily admit that hey, they�ve got weapons of mass destruction, and they�re gonna get a specific nuclear reactor back up and running. If this war on Iraq�s about what the administration claims, we would�ve dropped everything right there and focused on North Korea. But alas, it�s not the case. We want cheap oil. Our government is trying to push that under the rug, even though North Korea could potentially hit the western coast of the U.S. Uh huh. They made Bush look like a fool. We don�t seem to care.

Okay, I�m with him. He had harsh words for all of the African American representatives, as well as Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell. It�s legit. He points out that we�ve basically rolled over and given the government everything they want�from money to, well, they don�t need anything more than money.

But where�s the solution? Well, McGruder pointed out that for 50 years, we�ve marched to voice our opposition to various policies, but to no avail. Affirmative action is essentially gone, our government no longer even feels the need to hide its horrible deeds, we had that voting fiasco in FL, and we allowed a man who did not win to take the presidential office. No amount of marching has or will stop anything. He didn�t really have a solution, though, and that�s the part that was hardest to swallow. No inspiration, nothing.

Thing is, he did say we have to think like the people in power. That it�s the only way to get power, too, and use it for good, knowing that we�re gonna have to lie, steal, cheat and kill our way into power. Period. Or else wait for the government to self-destruct. And at the rate they�re spending money on those Navy ships that are already headed to the Gulf, financial destruction might not be so far away.

Lots to think about. I had a great conversation with an older coworker who was there. She felt energized and challenged by his speech. I�m glad she did, but some of us weren�t. Hearing it said that the present forms of activism are a tremendous waste of time was just a bit too harsh. We don�t want to be mean. Yes, he�s right�liberals get their feelings hurt easily.

So then I gave some nice kids a ride home and made my merry way home to eat pea soup and watch Two Towns of Jasper.

Somehow I still managed to sleep fitfully.

I�ll go give blood. Small, but not insignificant.