[WOODPIE]

I think it's funny that I can't find duct tape and 5 mil plastic at the hardware store. That's the 1950's bomb shelter, upgraded for these modern times.

I, too, am not comfortable with the situation. I think oil is a bigger part of this equation than the American public wants to accept. Without the unlikely event of some divine intervention, this war will start, and many good people on both sides will die. For their sacrifice, I'll be able to buy cheap gas from wealthy men who want to be wealthier, and generation after generation of middle-eastern people will hate the country I live in.

A war is not the best solution to this problem, but I sure don't know what is. Yet, I resent France, Germany, and Belgium declining to, at least, appear to be in lock-step with the U.S. I don't think Saddam will be receptive to a diplomatic solution if he sees other fissures through which he can escape.

You know, Isabo, this country is now standing at a heightened state of alert for more terrorist attacks (thus the aforementioned duct tape and so on, what a joke). Would world opinion warm to our side if, oh, say a half-million of us died from some bio-toxin? I'll bet someone somewhere is calculating the spin on that even now.

Happy Thoughts,

Ed