grateful to Colin Powell????

Pigs will fly first, I would have said.

And here we are - Salon's piece on Powell's endorsement of Obama:

I'm also troubled by, not what Sen. McCain says, but what members of the party say, and it is permitted to be said such things as: "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is: he is not a Muslim. He's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is: What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is: No, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some 7-year-old Muslim-American kid believing he or she can be president?

Whoops - low-flying pigs coming faster than I can duck 'em.