Buddy Larson, it is kind of pathetic and sad to see Putin kicking around with his last buddy, Hugo Chavez. Soon they won’t be able to cash in on Bush Derangement Syndrome and what will they have left? A sustained period of $30 oil ought to make these “strongmen” irrelevant and embolden their people to come up with retirement plans for them. Let things get a little worse and the choice will come to stepping down easy for a long term retirement, or “immediate” retirement with a bullet to the head.

(My sincere apologies to everyone who got hacked off by me goofing off around here the last couple of days. I’m not really a loony lefty lesbian Obama supporter, I’m a center-right Bob Barr voter who has been posting on the BC since 2006 when it was on the OLD old blogspot site, before Richard moved it. I’m through trolling now. Thank you.)