Hi - thanks to all who had responded to my earlier questions about the 72(t) rules. I did some more digging and here's URL to a really useful article. It's a bit dated (january 2000), but i'm hoping that any other more recent IRS Letter rulings would be favorable (read 'progressive'), as opposed to contradicting the ones mentioned in the article.
rrspike
http://www.bpickercpa.com/articles/iraannuitize.htm
rrspike
http://www.bpickercpa.com/articles/iraannuitize.htm