"Say What?" he asked, so surprised that the slurpee forced its way up and out of his nose.

She had been drawing an elaborate diagram on a napkin. It had all begun with a discussion of John Kerry. She said she couldn't vote for Kerry, because of Ken Lay. One thing led to another, until frustrated, she took out the napkin and began to draw it out.

"I said two party system, both based in Pennsylvania," she was saying. "You see, Ken Lay was on this charitable foundation of Theresa Heinz's long after Enron collapsed. Enron owned the deregulated Pennsylvania energy scene. It still owns contractors there, Williard and Limbach. Bush personally called then Governor Ridge on behalf of Enron to make all this happen. "

He stared at the increasingly complicated lines on the napkin.

"On the other hand, there's Richard Mellon Scaife, the scion of the Mellon fortune, who gives gajillions of dollars to all kinds of right wing causes. He's in Pennsylvania, too." At this point she began wildly gesticulating. "He went after Clinton big time, while Enron was getting millions from Clinton's administration for its various projects around the world."

"So?" he asked.

"So," she answered, "This is our two party system, Scaife and Enron. Anti-Clinton and pro-Clinton."

"How about Halliburton?" he said, "Shouldn't Halliburton have it's own party, too."

"It would love to have it's own party, but since Enron's collapse, it's stuck with Scaife. No Scaife, no war in Iraq, no contracts, which means it's going to be hammered by the asbestos litigation and the accounting malfeasance. Halliburton just hasn't quite made party grade."

He sighed and sat back in his seat, the large plastic Patriot Football team cup nestled against his chest.

"You know where you can really see this two party system," she continued, leaning over the napkin, "is in environmental issues. Enron was involved in Theresa Heinz's environmental group. They supported the Kyoto Protocol. Enron, of course, wanted to trade pollution credits on the open market. On the other hand, there's the Scaife funded FREE, the pro market group based in Montana that wants nothing to do with rules and regulations of any kind. See. Two diametrically opposed views of environmental issues."

"Suddenly, you're making it seem like Enron's the good guy," he said, the straw sticking out from between his teeth.

She shrugged her shoulders, "Well, Enron's in trouble...but not too much trouble...no one's been imprisoned and it's just reconstituted itself as CrossCountry Energy. The reason they got into trouble was thanks to the Wall Street Journal, which tows the Scaife line."

"Hmmm...." he mused, "This seems a lot more complicated than just Republicans and Democrats."

"Yeah, but lots more fun," she replied. By now, she had started filling yet another napkin. This time she was drawing a diagram about Montana Power, former governor Racicot, Enron, and Pittsburgh Power and Light.