MY MIND, IT IS A'CHANGIN': Once again, to my great shock, I find myself nodding along with a sensible conservative. (In this case it's the bowtie-wearing George Will. As badly as I feel about bowties on men -- on humans -- I can't help but agree with nearly everything the guy writes in this article. His basic point is that all the latest crazed pronouncements on high oil prices, among other forecasts of economic armageddon, are mere piffle.)

Bluster and hyperbole make better copy and better newscasts, but they're bad medicine for a punch-drunk electorate that's gooped up on cynicism and conspiracy theories, IMHO.