I am in a sense of highest alert---living my life normally.

Well, that's what the government said to do this weekend...to "be at our highest alert for a possible attack" but to "live our lives normally..."

Don't get me wrong, I think we're definitely in the right in this fight, I think the terrorists must be run to ground, I think that Cheney, Powell, Rice, Rumsfield are doing a superlative job building a coalition. (I sort of regard Bush as the equivelent of Ted Knight on the Mary Tyler Moore show, the anchorman whom the rest make look good.)

There is a good chance that we might be able to---finally!---broker an Israeli-Palestinian solution out of this, out of pure necessity. Perhaps even a bridge to make India and Pakistan friendlier...

Yet, I don't trust a government that doesn't admit to making blunders and errors. I especially don't trust Republican administrations in that regard. So...

A lot of things have changed since Sept. 11th, but I hope I can mention a few things---without being accused of disloyalty--- to assure you that the same bozos are in charge of the bus.

The food drops that we are doing into Afghanistan---a good idea in principle---may be working against us in the long run. Peanut butter, a fruit bar, baked beans---many of them have never even see that type of food before. Those that do eat it---doubtful about whether it has been prepared by strict Islamic food standards---often end up with their stomach in knots, due to their malnourishment.

Worse yet, some are landing on mine fields. Remember those mine fields that Princess Diana used to urge the nations to do something about? Guess where a good number of them are? Right. Some may go for the food and get blown up.

It's a good idea; I can't agree with the French AID leader that it is purely propaganda. We mean well...but we may be doing more harm than good...

The truth is, perhaps nothing will save many of the Afghans from starving to death this winter. Even if all the AID workers got in right now, they wouldn't be able to move that much in before the winter sets in.

Evidently we had the head of the Taliban in our sights on the first day of bombing...and for various bureaucratic reasons, didn't do anything.

Wonderful. Incompetence at its finest.

I'm not for assasination per se, but the quicker we got this thing over with, the better.

As it is, between Ramadan (Oct. 17th) and the Afghan winter, we will probably get in a few more days of bombing, and then hunker down for a long propaganda war, until the spring thaw.

We only allow one---repeat, one---company to make the Anthrax vaccine.

Say what? Monopolies are always bad ideas...this company can jack up the price as much as they want to.

Who makes the smallpox vaccine? Do we have to go to only one company for that?

I know, I know---we weren't prepared for this kind of war, we're just learning, we'll get better....

But still...

I was going to write more about bureaucratic blunders, but there are plenty closer to home. (Hence the reversed and upside-down image from the other night. Seems to fit.) Brian suddenly had to go see where some friends of his were playing tonight, and support them.

On the other side of town.

In the dark.

Every fibre in my being went no!! but he's a good kid, and he got an excellent report card, and he doesn't ask for much...

Barb's not the best night driver as it is, so Eric and I went with her. Somehow, we managed to pass it, but Barb thought we hadn't passed it, so we kept on going, and went all the way out to another mall, before we turned around and backtracked and finally found it...

Only for Brian to see some of his friends leaving...

Because the "battle of the bands" was cancelled, because not enough people showed up.

This after we had been driving around roughly an hour, in the dark, and at least a half hour away from home.

Brian said to me, as he got in the car,

"Dad. Dude. You really should stop that creepy, demonic laughter...."