I can call you Kirk right?

"except for the fact that they are not really known to be friends of mining or oil and gas."

I would tend to agree,, However the public perception and the reality are two entirely different animals..The established belief is that the Republicans are beholden to big business( especially oil and gas as it drive those left wing environazis crazy) and the Democrats are beholden to Unions ( which drives right wing free enterprise types crazy)..Although it is true to a certain extent BOTH parties are basically funded by the same pockets as big business and power brokers hedge their bets.

The only real difference is that when Democrats are in power they gut the military to buy peoples votes with social programs, When republicans are in power they cut social programs and spend on the military.. ( good union jobs BTW)

And don't kid yourself about Iraq,, If the Democrats had been in power for 911, they U.S still would have went in ( Bill Clinton almost did in 1998)..Only difference would be Canada would have gone in too..No way Chretien would follow a Republican to war,,a Democrat, ( read LIBERAL) is a whole different story..

RON PAUL would be the best,,but he isn't connected to those that really pull the strings of power.