How we doing?

Hey, mama:

1) I suppose Rumsfeld doesn't even speak English;

2) I feel less safe every day;

3) When I was 1 and 20, I was taller, thinner and more certain of all things; the world has been too much for me, but then again, I have met good peeps like you @ A2k, so I'm still hopeful and, as Elton John says, "I'm still standing" and that's sayin' something, right?

Do I feel safer now? No. Am I more aware of what is going on with terrorism? Absolutely! It is only in the recent past that there has been a concerted effort to contain the terrorism.

In the 1990's we ran around in blithe denial that there were people who were out to destroy Western civilization. In that decade, the government sat on its hands. Now at least there is something happening that is proactive.

I think that we all have a right to be very afraid. The terrorists, partially because of our former inaction, have had the time to build up a complicated network of alliances. At least now, there is an attempt to contain the monster!

I think the American public has its collective head in the sand, allowing the present administration the lattitude to do whatever it wants, and that they are going to pay dearly for it sometime in the next few years.

What do you mean by "they", oh, friend, EB? We will all go down together! Why can't they just let me run the GD world? It would be ever-so-much better, honest . . .

EB, the American public has already paid dearly, they just haven't been handed the bill yet.

The collective public is, unfortunately, Joe Blow, John Doe, edgarblythe, sweetcomplication, Acquiunk, Mayor Brown, GI Joe, maxdadeo, Jane Doe, and so on and so on millions of times. Some, like a bunch of liberals may struggle against getting squished by the dooty sure to come, but we are all in it together.

Are you coming across more and more people who are leaving the US to live in other countries? Seems like there's an exodus underway...

:wink: :wink: right you are, edgarblythe, sorry to say

I would move to Antarctica, but I get cold feet too easily.

I'm better off than I was 2 years ago and I'm very happy. I feel kinda bad for you guys.

We feel bad for us, too. Mainly we feel bad seeing our homeland getting tarnished and impoverished.

Brave New World? Invade China for human rights violations and I'll say brave is a good describer.

Invading Afghanistan (remember them?) and Iraq is like me bragging 'cause I kicked the **** out of my grandmas bridge club.

We are down to our last case of wine at this party they call the American experiment, and open your eyes folks GWB ain't Jesus. Better get used to drinking water.

Bear, GWB isn't Jesus and neither was Ronald Reagan or GB Sr. But in the last 20 years they have it almost 2 to 1 in terms of years in power. So it seems the public likes water.

Rummy speaks English, but with a twisted tongue. As for personal finances, we're doing quite well compared to most investors. For YTD, we're up 7.6 percent, and compared to a year ago, we're up almost 9 percent, and that's after I have withdrawn funds for my personal living expenses (for my travels and electronic toys). As for personal security from terrorism, I don't worry all that much. I fear GWBush and Ashcroft more than I do al Qaeda. I do not agree with the financial pundits that are claiming that this bull market is here to stay. I don't see anything in the economic fundamentals to show any growth for several years. I think there are many signs that shows we may have deflation in the short term. We still have 35 percent of our retirement investments in equities, and feel comfortable with that ratio. Otherwise, life is good. We just learned that our son made the rank of Major in the US Air Force Reserves. c.i.

well put acquiunk...take a pig out of the mud, clean it up and let it go...it goes straight back to the mud because at the end of the day...that's where pigs like it....

You say that like its a bad thing.

be happy McGentrix.....

A) this is most certainly not the first concerted effort to contain terrorism

B) "proactive" is a very odd euphemism. The old line about previous administrations doing nothing while this one is proactive is just a tired way of trying to justify any of this administration's military plans.

I don't feel safer, Mama, but then again, it just ain't a very safe world.

I doubt I'd feel much safer if a different administration were dealing with our problems -- but I'd certainly be a lot happier for a variety of reasons.

For a very long time, now, I have been of the opinion that we humans have not yet fought our last major war. I think we still have that one to go. The reason I don't feel particularly safe right now is that I think the administration in power has that same opinion -- and are interested in pushing the point.