You may be on to something here. Is 2012 the year when people who still have a reputation to protect start moving to protect it? Put another way, is the system so far gone that it's finally dawned on the apparatchiks that it's no longer supportable? If so, will we start to see signiificant "defections" in the coming year? That could make for some interesting TV viewing, especially in the context of a presidential election. Now, where's that popcorn@!

ebear