Applying Occam's Razor to recent events. here's my take.

Dubya had a few years to build a power base in his home state, so the Texas Seven are his, and represent his "insurance policy." Nobody knows where they are, but my guess is their targets are the Clintons or the Gores. Or both, as "ransom" for Dubya's inauguration.

The abrupt departure in disgrace of Jesse Jackson from the public forum was heralded by a NY Daily News column Thursday which laid bare the lies which catapaulted Jackson over the corpse of Martin Luther King, and exposed other Jackson lies. On the WWW, Sherman Skolnick's column of 1/18 sent Jesse his walking papers.

Jackson was chief instigator of protests of the Florida election results, claiming blacks were disenfranchized. They were, accoording to Skolnick. The truth about the 2000 election is the Bush family were better thieves than the Democrats. And we shall have to live with that.

The message sent to Jackson was meant for others to hear. So we will have no Inaugural protests of any weight. The press may play them up, but it's their last gasp.

Jackson's role as a major adversary of John Ashcroft for Attorney General has been erased. Nobody can now play the race card. And that ought to secure Ashcroft as the next AG.

Ashcroft is the defining figure in this transition. And as AG he will inherit several strands of Clinton-era scandals, among them circumstances surrounding the death of Vince Foster. Linda Chavez was a pawn sacrificed to checkmate the opposition to Ashcroft. The Dems cannot oppose too many Bush nominees without violating the "bipartisanship" buzzword of the moment.

Finally, what does all this mean? The rest of Dubya's appointments mean we are going to war. Domestically, Ashcroft as AG means we will see a housecleaning. Oh, yeah. bigtime, and long overdue.

In terms of the factions, the Ashcroft selection in and of itself is a positive signal. Rayelan, you have every reason to distrust the Bush Family. But...

Oliver