Three men got under my skin this week.

Mike Norman, down in Marietta Georgia, decides to sell a shirt with a cartoon monkey and "Obama ‘08" under it. He claims he isn’t racist, he just thought it was funny. But we all know that he’s a racist, right? I mean, we aren’t fools here, are we? That’s a pretty obvious example in this day and age.

More locally, Tunkhannock Borough Mayor Norm Ball spread the racist and untrue allegations against Obama that everyone by now has seen in their email box or heard in whispers from coworkers who are either liars or easily duped.

Is Norm Ball racist? That’s a bit more difficult, because he could just be a buffoon that actually thinks it helps Hillary Clinton to push this erroneous information. Perhaps he thinks that getting people to believe a litany of lies is worth it if it gets them to vote for "his" candidate. Or maybe it’s even worse – perhaps he is actually so incurious and gullible as to just believe whatever anyone tells him. If this is true, Norm should know that if he gets a phone call that asks him for his credit card number and/or social security number he should not give it to them. That’s a scam, sir. Kind of like the Obama smear.

Then there’s columnist/radio host Steve Corbett, who insists that if Hillary isn’t the Democratic candidate, then he isn’t going to vote for anyone. His reasoning is that (a) he believes Hillary is a stronger candidate, (b) he doesn’t like that his personal feelings aren’t being taken into consideration by the DNC. On his show, he is attempting to drum up the support of having Hillary Democrats not vote en masse to show their displeasure.

Barack Obama has won more pledged delegates, more states, and will probably win the popular vote by the time this is done. Obama is not asking Hillary to exit the race. Most of the folks demanding Hillary step down are media pundits. Even if Corbett believes that Hillary is a stronger candidate, the truth is that the American Democratic voters will have chosen Obama by any measure of the statistic. I have not heard Corbett claim that McCain is a stronger candidate than Obama, only that he prefers Hillary. If Hillary isn’t an option come election day, what’s his point in not voting?

The other thing is Corbett’s problem with the DNC. The first thing I wonder is where was he when these rules were created decades ago? What complaints did he have with these rules when Bill Clinton got the nomination twice? Superdelegates have been around for a long time.

Or maybe it’s the Michigan/Florida debate. Hillary – who originally agreed not to campaign in either state and also agreed that their votes would not count – now wants all of her delegates seated. This despite Obama’s name not being on the Michigan ballot (40% voted for "someone else") and despite the fact that many democrats didn’t vote in these primaries because they were told it wouldn’t matter.

But honestly, Obama can win even if Hillary gets her delegates from Michigan and Florida – so what will Corbett’s reason be then? Ultimately, it would end up, I hope, being "I don’t like him enough to vote for him."

That’s a fair stance. Though as I mentioned before Obama’s position on most of the issues isn’t much different than Hillary’s…and Corbett is concerned about the issues, right?

If not, the alternative is that Corbett is not voting for someone either because the DNC did things that made him mad, or because he only votes for candidates that fit 100% into his world view. It seems to me that that couldn’t be the reason, as Corbett usually seems to understand that we are living in the real world, where bureaucratic systems don’t work exactly as we wish, and where no one presidential candidate could possibly embody everything every individual desires.

(As someone who’s preferred candidate is almost always voted out fairly early, I understand that we have to go with the best choice available, and not stamp my feet and whine until the entire system is destroyed so that I can get what I want.)

I imagine these three men – the racist, the partisan politician and the whiner – are just espousing old ideologies.

Back when skin color was considered more important than the content of one’s character, Mike Norman could probably have been governor of Georgia. The fact that people are still proud to walk into his bar should be enough to give us pause.

If we continue with the old view that it’s more important to attack an opponent than it is to represent your constituency with dignity and honesty, Norm Ball need never worry about losing his mayoral seat.

If there can be no change in the United States without obeying completely the demands of the Baby Boomers – who have dominated the political landscape for decades - then Steve Corbett and the rest of his inflexible peers will – either purposely or tacitly – bring about more needless wars, more horrible economic decisions and more disastrous environmental policies. Because their need to be obeyed outweigh the needs of the country.

We started coloring the comic pages of "Consequences" about a third of the way into the story. Our intention is to eventually color the first third as well.

This leads to interesting trouble when it comes to printing. I've printed some really sharp paperbacks with nice b&w interiors for the past 4 books, but what do I do now?

I can print them in b&w, essentially making people pay for something they think is less worthwhile than the online color pages.

I can put thousands of dollars into a color print run, and hope desperately to make some of the money back.

I can hope a publisher wanders by someday and offers me some manageable deal.

I can go through the POD printers, and hope people don't mind waiting months for something to be printed up and sent to them.

I can find a cheap foreign printer that will hopefully not screw up the order because they know they have my money and there isn't a lot I can do to them.

*sigh* I hate the business end of this stuff.

So, the media seems to be harping occasionally on Barack Obama's difficulty in attracting the over 40 white male with a high school education or less - also known as "the blue collar workers", though manufacturing jobs aren't as plentiful these days and that term means less and less every day.

The reason the media thinks that Barack Obama has this problem is because these over 40 white males with a high school education or less view Obama as an "elitist." This is apparently not a problem for the old white guy, John McCain - who has 9 homes and is married to a woman worth an estimated $110 million. This isn't a problem for the getting old white woman, Hillary Clinton, who has spent the past several decades in the Governor's mansion, then the White House, and then her fairly sizable New York Estate.

Well, I can certainly see where the media would get their impression that Obama is the one that's out of touch. I mean, he has almost a third of the wealth of Clinton, who has nearly half the wealth of McCain.

Yeah, let's face it, when the media says "elitist", they aren't talking money or being out of touch with the common people. They are, sadly, talking about how intelligent someone sounds. Since Obama has a habit of making very intelligent speeches, he must be - horror of horrors - smarter than a blue collar worker. Wouldn't want that in a president, would we?

Unless ... could the media not be getting something?

Hmmm...let's see that demographic again...

White. Well, many of us are. That certainly doesn't mean anything.

Over 40. Now, that doesn't mean much. I mean, older people sometimes have some very old fashioned ideas about people. But I know as life presents more and more experiences and as people mix with different cultures and lifestyles that they become more open to different ideas.

High school education or less. Uh, well, certainly some of these folks still got to ... uh ...

Yeah, you couldn't get a better definition of the demographic that often becomes an entrenched racist.  The low paid worker that lives in fear that someone they believe should be lower on the social ladder than them is going to sweep in and take their job and destroy their life. Add to that a lack of education that would show them who they should be getting mad at when they lose their job, and you have the perfect racist.

Sure, not all of these guys are racists. But a lot of them are. More of them are, I would say, than any other demographic. Add "rural" to the description and the statistic liklihood that they're racists goes up.

The simple fact is that age and education levels are very likely indications of racism. The younger you are, or the more educated you are, the less likely you are to be racist.

...but, of course, then you'll be an elitist.

Yesterday, my wife and I went to the BAMBOOZLE MUSIC FESTIVAL. I like the open air concerts, and the variety it offers. We went to see Anti-Flag, Bouncing Souls and Street dogs - but it was, as always, THE MIGHTY MIGHTY BOSSTONES that blew me away.

Back (possibly only temporarily) from a very long hiatus, the Bosstones delivered a great performance and energized the crowd.

If you aren't a fan of the Bosstones, I don't hate you. I don't understand you, or the thing you laughably call your opinion, but I don't hate you.

Much.