I have a small amount of sympathy for Kent Conrad, even though he is one of the leading obsessed people about the phony deficit crisis. He is one of the so-called "Gang of Six" in the Senate working to come up with a "bi-partisan" solution to the phony crisis. But, things are tough:

Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat and member of the group, would sometimes bring his dog Dakota to the meetings. The pooch sat motionless on Mr. Conrad’s lap. The more stressful the talks, participants say, the more often Mr. Conrad brought his dog.

   Reminds me of that Gary Larson cartoon of the person talking to his dog. The person is ranting and raving at the dog with human words. All the dog hears is his name and "blah, blah, blah". So, I really have a lot more sympathy for Dakota–because all I hear coming from the "Gang of Six" is "blah, blah, blah…". The people probably thought Dakota was just mellowing out. I am convinced Dakota was sitting still because he could not fathom how stupid human beings can be.