"I'm pretty sure there will be duck-hunting in heaven and I can't wait!"

- Mike Huckabee

Hopefully Huck won't be met at the Pearly Gate by Dick Cheney.

Mary and I were quite involved with the Iowa Caucus last evening, but really for very different reasons. Mary, ever the Political Science major was into it for its historic positioning in the Electoral Process. I on the other hand expressed a feeling that the Caucus process may have seen its day, and that it does not translate well into the modern system where results are calculated moment by moment. We got into a rather lively debate on this topic, neither of us getting a good deal of satisfaction since we both left it pretty much as we had entered. Nevertheless, there was real joy in our ability to tear into the process from different aspects; after all these years together we still do not always agree. I think we are very lucky for that; it must be very boring to spend your life with someone with whom you have everything in common. Healthy debate is the foundation of Democracy - and I think too many people in recent years have forgotten that principle. To stand up and say something is wrong, whether it is the outcome of a pie-eating contest that looked rigged to you, or the nation's export of hundreds of thousands of our youths to land on foreign soil for the sole purpose of forcing principles that are neither understood nor desired, to speak up about that is the very essence of the Constitution.

Debate, even if it involves name-calling and foot stomping, is good. It means we are thinking. And for all that I personally think the Caucus system is outdated, I am quietly glad it remains as a tie to a time before the news media took it over. It gives us something to discuss, and it doesn't have to mean that we will all agree.