SUNDAY STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Perhaps its the two Range Rovers with the "For Sale By Owner" signs on them parked at the back entrance to LOST's li'l closed society 'hood, but aren't Garage Sales the apex of the Seven Deadlies Combo Plate? After all, there's GREED (I got it first and used it when it was new, but now I wanna make a few bucks off my leftovers), PRIDE (It used to be Mine, and I took such good care of it that I know you'll want it too), SLOTH (hell, I'm not gonna truck it goodwill or the dump, I'll just slide it into my driveway, and you can buy it from there, and smattering of LUST/EXTRAVAGANCE (looky what I had, don't you wish you were me?, heck, maybe even a little ENVY (in reverse) tossed in for good measure, too. If you used it up, take it to the dump. Donate it to charity (there's probably a bigger charitable deduction available than any amount obtainable from the sale), but don't be delusional and think that everyone else will want your leftovers . . . Tuesday this little land of Cheese-Sandwich-partisan-Fundavaneglical-Christo-Bushies will decide if they can stomach another cookie cutter Republican, or if they'll go off the board and vote for Francine Busby to fill the last six months of the empty seat in Congress. The realist in LOST says Busby goes down in a close vote . . . God Bless Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for giving an air of legitimacy to the cries of people (Mrs. LOST included) that have consistently questioned the shenanigans that passed for election activity in Ohio in 2004. It ain't about seeking a do-over or a re-call at this point. Its about raising awareness that a big part of the mess - these hackable, tamperprone touch screen voting machines - are still as predominant as toadstools and roaches, and must be disposed of if we're to restore integrity to the process. Thank you, Rolling Stone magazine, too, for lending your name to this important issue . . . LOST doesn't know a single married couple whose marriage has any reason to be afraid of civil unions for same sex couples, yet all the nutballs trying to force this issue forward talk of 'defending marriage." You want to defend marriage? Create a minimum betrothment period on the front end, and eliminate no-fault divorce on the back end. If gay people want to avail themselves of community property issues, spousal support, unwinding of pension/retirement benefits and all of the other wonderful things that statistically await 50% of those who get married (at the back end of the relationship) let 'em knock themselves out . . . Attention mexi-bigots, there'll be no mass deportation by either side in this country, so stop talking about it. You want to get this issue under better control? Here's the LOST plan:

(A) 2 tracks for those already here, with an 18 month sign up period. Both tracks get a 36 month permit to work/stay. Track 1 leads to citizenship if you learn English, keep your nose clean, and pay a fine of $2,500 - 3,000 (over time if necessary). Track 2 gets to go home at the end of the 36 months, but still must keep their noses clean.

(B) Anyone not signed up for either track after 18 months is deported upon being located, and anyone employing such persons is jailed for a minimum of 12 months, with a fine no less than $10,000 for an individual, $100,000 for a business employing 1 - 20 people; $500,000 for business employing 21 - 100 people; $1,000,000 for any employer with more than 100 employees, and not less than $1,000,000, but to be determined by the Court if the employing company is publicly traded.

(C) Economic and diplomatic pressure upon Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala to house, employ, and/or humanely treat their own underprivileged populations, with graduated sanctions phased in if targeted reductions in illegal immigration from each country are not met;

(D) Build a reinforced wall along the Southern border with Mexico, and properly staff it. There has to be shared sacrifice and disincentives for some kind of workable immigration control mechanism to work, but like so many other issues in this country, the well off won't want to share the burden - - can anyone say "Ribbon Magnets saying 'Support Immigration Reforms' stuck on the back of Lexus's and Mercedes?" . . .

. . . Are we supposed to be grateful that gas prices have slid marginally toward 3 bucks a gallon the last 2 weeks? Clearly the oil companies think we're all stupid enough to react in such fashion . . . and, instead of looking for high tech solutions, GM is giving people subsidized gasoline for a year as an incentive to buy fuel guzzling SUVs? That looks ominously like amore generous version of Senator Cat-killer's hundred buck rebate. All it does is externalize the costs of the automaker's bad decision making, and does nothing to get these inefficient road-hogs off the highways.