Nonetheless, I've been questioning why the terrorists would choose a Saturday for their Phase 2. I suggested that large stadiums full of up to 100,000 people would be a rather convenient target. Shortly after I mentioned this to my wife, she saw a scrolling news announcement on TV (during the prez's speech last night) that stated airspace will be restricted around college football stadiums tomorrow.

Now, I don't want to be an alarmist here, but I doubt that the biggest threat to these packed stadiums are more hijacked airplanes. I would guess biochem agents or large explosives would do nicely for these crazies. Then this morning, I read Kap's post about the house committee meeting on nuclear terrorism and countermeasures.

While worrying about the threat of a suitcase nuclear attack at a Saturday college football game sounds unbelievably paranoid and silly, I'd venture that prior to 9/11 so did worrying that two hijacked planes would destroy the WTC, or that a few minutes later another hijacked plane would plow into the Pentagon.

You know about syllogisms, Grandma, right? They go like this:

All birds are black. That thing over there with wings and a beak is a bird, Therefore, that bird is black.

The bird could be as white as a snowy owl, but according to Grandma's 'thinking', she will insist it is black as space.

For example, Grandma, you rail against "druggies". But you fail to have addressed by question to you: is everyone who uses drugs a "druggie"? If so, then by your 'thinking', everyone who uses tobacco or alcohol is a "druggie". Do you smoke tobacco, Grandma? Do you drink alcoholic beverages, Grandma?

As usual, of course, Grandma, you decline any rational discourse, or answering any of our questions as put to you, holding as you do that anyone disagreeing with you are themselves suffering from faulty logical processes. Or, as one person in our camp put it in a posting here a few months ago, How can you hold a debate with someone whose only reply to your invitation to do so is "Haven't you started to agree with me yet?"

Let me clue you in, Grandma: people here do not blindly follow, but they do question. This questioning results from having been lied to by our government for so long. For example, lies that cannabis causes insanity (if so, then where are the reports from insane asylums?); lies that it causes men to grow women's breasts ([looking down at pectoral regions] Nope, ain't happened); lies that it causes cancer (I'm getting tired of asking Grandma, but you've asked for it: where are the coroner's reports to back that up?)

The very same lies which you echo with your figures...which you have yet to back up. (Don't know how to establish links in a web page, dear? Just ask; we'll be happy to help you in that regard.)

In short, you pop in here, make declarative sentences as if you were Moses and bringing The Tablets, and expect everyone to be dazzled with your 'authority'. But instead you are met with questions that you refuse to answer. Perhaps because they would cause you to start questioning on your own?

Grandma, as much as I'd like to spend the time educating you further on the holes in your logic, I've found that it is a waste of time talking to "True believers" incapable of defending their positions in a rational discourse. You should find someone more capable than yourself to be your champion. Perhaps you could have your oh-so-morally perfect Billy Bennett show up here to debate us instead.

Oh, but he's had over 12 years to do so, and somehow simply hasn't discovered the intestinal fortitude (Too biga set of words, Grandma? How about just guts) to face us in an open debate. Perhaps because, unlike you, he knows that his position is inherently indefensible. And he fears being made to look a fool for thinking he can engage in an honest debate and not be cut to the bone by the same Occam's Razor I've applied today.

Man, I am watching Bill Maher's program, man, I laughed and cried at the same time.

Like I asked you in my previous comment, Just prove me that just one have died from consuming cannabis? Just one. Please?

By the way, it smells terribly here. Why don't you go to bathroom and use the Consitution as a tolietpaper? How does it feel to know that it was your taxmoney that propped the Talibans?

I knew you would say something about alcohol and tobacco. By your logic, it is like saying that because some babies die from drinking mother's milk, we ought to ban breastfeeding!

Please allow me respectfully submit,that you are a Grandmother From Hell!You seem like a fanatical Grandmother,who began with justifiable,and reasonable intentions,but you have mutated into an obsessed Grandma,filled with misdirected hate toward a bunch of other grandmas,grandpas,and grandkids.

I hope you can sucessfully scare your grandkids into living the you demand they live...

Think about it,,you could replace the words "terrorist","terrorism",,,,with "witch",,or "witchcraft".

If people dont feel that this is alarming,,then I say,"WAKE F*%CKING UP!!!"..According to the prezs speech,anyone,can be labeled as a "terrorist",,,,but he goes way beyond that,,,you dont need to be labeled a terrorist,,you can be labeled as one who associated with a terrorist ,,,you can be labeled as one who thought about terrorism!!!...This is going to lead to sheer insanity,and the only terror you will have to worry about,,,is the terror of the military/law enforcement empire,that is very close to suspending the rights of any and all citizens in the US,and the world.....

A monster has been conjured up,and blown far out of proportion,,to create an enemy that will justify firing up the Amerikan war machine,and further the goals of corporate/political domination by the mother of all Evil Empires,,who have seized upon the tragic events of 9/11,as an opportunity launch a foolish,devious,and twisted assault,and inquistional crusade,on an undefined conceptual enemy.

This is far more terrifying than any of the so called "terrorists",or "terrorist threat".This is the beginning of terrorism being used to fight "terrorists",,,and there is no terror that can match the terror of an out of control government that has stirred up hysteria to justify their dark agenda...And furthermore,these foolish actions will cause far more terror,than they prevent.This crazed jihad on "terrorism",by the US government,is at least as radical,and far more terrifying than anything in the history of the world!

An enemy who is almost perfectly camouflaged. (You think all terrorists are Hamitically featured? You think they'll all oblige US counter-terrorism operatives by wearing turbans and making muezzin calls from the roofs as identification?)

An enemy who is well funded (Remember, bin Laden was a millionaire before linking up with the Taliban. Heroin had nothing to do with his early days.)

And an enemy who may have some of the missing Russian nuclear weapons?

NUCLEAR TERRORISM AND COUNTERMEASURES http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/security/has274010.000/has274010_1.HTM

from the article:

"Just yesterday, the Center for Strategic and International Studies released a substantial report concluding that the spread of organized crime in the military raises ''the prospect of strategic nuclear armed missile systems in the hands of a disintegrating military subject to criminal control.''

Indeed, Aleksandr Lebed, the former Presidential candidate and Secretary of the Soviet Security Council, recently alleged that terrorists may already be in possession of Russian nuclear weapons. The first time we learned about these stray devices was on May 30, when Lebed made these comments to me and a congressional delegation I led to Moscow, not for the purpose, by the way, of meeting with him, but to continue our new institutional exchange program with members of the Russian Duma.

Lebed told us while still operating in his capacity as Secretary of the Russian Security Council, he had conducted a study of the Russian military accounting for its nuclear weapons, specifically suitcase-sized nuclear devices, and had found that the military had lost track of approximately 84 suitcase-sized nuclear bombs, any one of which could kill up to 100,000 people with a capacity of 1 kiloton.

In the U.S. television interview subsequent to that meeting, aired on September 7, General Lebed said he now believes the number of missing nuclear weapons to be more than 100. He said the devices were the perfect terrorist weapon, as the small nuclear bombs were made to look like suitcases and could be detonated by one person with less than 30 minutes preparation.

I repeat: It would be very wise to stay out of major metropolitan areas. Or risk the possibility of being forcibly relocated into the ionosphere, courtesy of one of those stolen nukes, bought by bin Laden's 'holding company'.

I think that from the things grandma says,it is clear that her quest against any and all who disagree with her,,is one of hateful fervor. It's obvious that grandma is far more violent in her spiteful bitterness than most....in fact,,grandma is a fanatical terrorist....Her blind zealotry suggests that if she had the means,she would kill drug users, or proponents of drug law reforms.

I would welcome a visit from the fbi or anyone else who questions my integrity,or intentions!I may disagree with many of the political items in this country,but I am an American,,and a patriot to the core! I dont believe in violence against anybody,and that includes the absurd and insane military actions that the warpigs of the corporate evil empire are foolishly pursuing.

What, you just make this up as you go along?

All Licit & Illicit Drug-Induced Deaths ... 16,926

"In 1998 a total of 16,926 persons died of drug-induced causes in the United States (Table 20). The category 'drug-induced causes' includes not only deaths from dependent and nondependent use of drugs (legal and illegal use), but also poisoning from medically prescribed. and other drugs."

Source: Murphy, Sheila L., Centers for Disease Control, "Deaths: Final Data for 1998,", National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 48, No. 11 (Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, July 24, 2000), pp. 1, 10, from the web at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvs48_11.pdf

compare: Annual tobacco deaths ... 430,700 Annual alcohol deaths ... 110,640 etc.

see: http://www.drugwarfacts.org/causes.htm

I think this is wat Grandma has been feeding on: "How to Lie With Statistics" http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0393310728/

Appreciations to tdm and freedom fighter for considering seriously Allan Barsky's silly sounding plan of peace and respect. But there's no need to be digging into our pockets. The government has already collected from us; I only suggest that different companies deliver the goods. Our enemies don't pay for our bullets or bombs, and there's no need that they pay for our charity. It sounds impractical. It's not what the bombs-and-Jesus crowd think Christian and it insults our sanguinary instincts. Our gift horses would be regarded most cautiously, but patience would be rewarded. With practice, the plan might be made to work, and why, after twenty-five-hundred bloody years since Herodotus first inquired into the origins of war, should it not be worth a few billion to try? We've nothing to lose, much respect and many friends to gain, and it might help our economy.

There is the problem of our leadership and the impossibility of their implementing anything sensible or lacking a body count - infinite justice!, they demand. They who refuse to consider that a common weed might not be a lethal narcotic, will hardly surrender their violent ambitions: "we're at war." So while the airplanes and soldiers gather, let's look the enemy in the eye and see what he's made of:

Population: 26,813,057 Life expectancy: 46.24 years Literacy: total population: 31.5% male: 47.2% female: 15% (1999 est.) Government: no functioning central government Economy: sheep and goats GDP per capita: $800 Telephones: 29,000 Radios: 167,000 Televisions: 100,000 Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 1 Internet users: NA http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/

These unfed illiterates have not the slightest idea what is happening to them, and if we anger half a continent devastating them for the sake of a few criminals, however evil, then we will be the shame of the world and rightly hated still more than we are.

I'm counting on George's reluctant and more sensible coalition to collapse before Afghanistan collapses, and if Barsky prevails it will collapse before the first spear is cast. I learned it myself in the violent streets of America: Make love not war. But if a hippy's advice must be despised, then take the same from history's greatest general:

From the heartland of Persia, Alexander in 329 B.C. marched northeastward into the trackless steppes of Bactria (modern Afghanistan). When he proved unable to subdue completely the highly mobile locals, who avoided pitched battles in favor of the guerrilla tactics of attack and retreat, Alexander settled for an alliance that he sealed by marrying the Bactrian princess Roxane in 327 B.C. An Overview of Classical Greek History from Homer to Alexander Thomas R. Martin http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0009%3Ahead%3D%23299

"Poster #10 confirms that this is a "druggie" web site. But he didn't have to tell anyone-- it's obvious. With 52,000 drug-related deaths a year (19,000 directly from overdoses) many posters want to legalize drugs "to take the profit out." Yeah, like legalizing alcohol took the profit out of the booze industry. Only the druggie mind could be so irrational."

You DEA guys are slipping. LOL How can u be so sure Poster #10 is a male? Also "he" never mentioned legalizing marijuana would necessarily remove profit. Both the pharmacological and alcohol beverage industry happen to be quite profitable enterprises.

As to your inference about my irrationality, this is now the third time you have had issue with me. All you have managed is to criticize my viewpoint about ending marijuana prohibition. You have yet to even explain your position. Where is the rationality in that grandma?

Anyway

With an understanding that, I have the same rights.

It is amazing that you would complain that one of the poster thought it was an idea who's time have come. Spray the shrub with the round up.. Can you understand what you are saying? We are doing just exactly the same thing to the Colombian people. If you did not like the idea of spraying round up on our prez, then why are we doing this to others? What gives you that right?

Let me clarify my statement on #5 since you seemed bit confused. Wither if you like it or not, our sweet government have been supporting terrorists for years. Mr. Bush gave 43 millions$ to Talibans because they wiped the poppy flowers. It is our tax money that support the terrorists who treat their dogs better than their women. Are you not surprised that the Afghans have not been producing herion? By the way, their herion heads for the Europe not in US. We get ours from the Colombians.

Of the "19000 overdoses", prove it to me that one of them have died from smoking Cannabis. To tell you the truth, I do not give a rat's ass if you took rat posion, eat ten raw potatoes or ingest 3 ounces of nutmeg. These stuff are legal and it is not because I am a mean, cruel uncaring person that I would not care if you do so. If you do put these stuff in your mouth, it will kill you and I will think you are stupid! The reason? This is America and you are a free American to put any substance in your mouth.

I will defend your rights to your thoughts. I just want you to know that you sound very spiteful person, after all, it would please you if all of us "legalizers" sitting in your prisons. I am the last person you would want to do this because I would gladly give up my life saving your family's lives if some dumb terrorists would dare try to cause harm to any one in your family.

Let's review your statements, shall we?

"FBI, please note that poster #15 has made a poorly veiled call for assassination of President Bush with his statement, "...shrub (a vegetation metaphor for President Bush) should be sprayed with RoundUp."

First off, you are assuming that the FBI, via its CARNIVORE system, is solely and monomaniacally engaged in monitoring this site. As if this site were operated by people busily cooperating with the thugs who murdered the thousands in New York and the hundred or so in Washington DC. Am I safe in assuming that you have not developed the necessary courage to contact the FBI yourself and make anonymous whisperings of your suspicion of perfidy to them?

Please, if you have not yet done so, proceed.

But many of us have suspected for a long time the presence of 'lurking' LEOs who either come here to read and laugh at supposed rantings...or the more perspicacious of them to read the 'writing on the wall'. In either event, we are hardly afraid of the implied threat that you make. We will continue to speak our not-so-addled minds as long as we are able.

Now, are you implying that spraying someone with RoundUp is tantamount to threatening their lives? If you are, then that's very interesting: Monsanto and your anti friends are so sure that it's 'safe'. (At least, the version used in the United States, not the industrial strength, additive-riddled cocktail being sprayed on many innocent farmers, their wives and children not engaged in the coca trade.) Also, are you saying that it's fine and dandy to spray Latin campesinos with this noxious brew, but not the WASP-ish Prez of the US of A? Where do you draw the line? At the color bar?

"Poster #10 confirms that this is a "druggie" web site. But he didn't have to tell anyone-- it's obvious. With 52,000 drug-related deaths a year (19,000 directly from overdoses) many posters want to legalize drugs "to take the profit out." Yeah, like legalizing alcohol took the profit out of the booze industry. Only the druggie mind could be so irrational.

"Druggies". As much as I try to avoid labeling people, I do find it inordinately easy in the case of our opponents. Those demonstrating what I believe to possess certain psychological traits. Traits which, when examined closely, seem to indicate a mindset revolving around authoritarianism. The same kind of authoritarianism endemic to Facsism, National Socialism and Communism.

Now, it is typical of such mindsets to ignore the enormous costs that the two legal drugs alcohol and tobacco cause to society. (Drugs, Grandma. Drugs Do you drink, Grandma? Do you smoke tobacco? Do your friends do either? If you do, you are a drug user. If your friends do, they are drug users. If you associate with them, you associate with drug users. In short, if you use these substances, or your friends do, you and your friends are "druggies". And those who use these substances because they are addicted to them are drug addicts. Have a care with your looking down your nose at 'druggies', as there might be a mirror hanging under it, showing your reflection.)

Half a million people die each year from alcohol poisoning and tobacco-related diseases. Just from use, alone, Grandma. Not counting vehicular manslaughter, homicides, domestic violence, etc. No one has died from cannabis use alone. None. Zero. Zip. Nada. Not a single reported case of cannabis-induced death. No overdoses from cannabis listed in coroner reports in the 100 or more years since they've been kept in this country. Your beloved Barry has been called out on his statistics of '52,000 drug deaths a year and has never had the cojones to back them up and explain how he derived them. No proof. Your continuing to use these figures calls into question your own veracity as a source of information.

Now, as to taking the profit out of alcohol, obviously it didn't. People still make money out of selling rotgut. But nowhere near as much as they did out of selling prohibited rotgut. The enormous profits that poured into la Cosa Nostra's wallets derived from sales of a prohibited substance. Just as it does today with illegal drugs. The very same mechanism at work, and I am not surprised at all with your (frankly, juvenile) attempt at conflation. You are not addressing ignorant sheeple, here, my dear.

” Poster #5 is right. Following the money will bring it right back to the U. S. This will nail the drug traffickers and their "legalization" supporters. I hope that the druggies whose illegal commerce supports the terrorists, enjoy their stay in prison because it's coming."

A pathetic attempt at scare mongering. It won’t happen. You know why? Because, in following the money, it would lead to some very interesting places. such as Langley, Virginia. And Fort Meade, Maryland. And their connections with the Bush Prime/Ollie North/Barry Seal/Mena/Iran-Contra deals your beloved Prez has first-hand knowledge of. He would have to be the first to hop in the slammer. Him and his Daddy’s CIA buddies. For retroactive nose-powdering. Which he not so adroitly dodges.

What a beautiful idea -- corporations profiting from love. If everyone was as serious about loving others as they say they are, this sounds like it could actually work.

Two problems to be addressed: 1) One of the criticisms leveled at the U.S. by the likes of the Taliban, is that our western culture is an insidious evil in their land. How do we convince them that our corporations would stop at restoring their war-ravaged lands to even footing, and wouldn't instead use our power to further infiltrate their culture with ours?

2) Paying for such an effort would have to be a voluntary effort on the part of individuals. Using taxes for even humanitarian efforts introduces back into the equation the very same government and politicians that brought us to this position in history to begin with. I'd really rather have them not involved (unless it's to donate cash out of their own pockets). Can we hope that given the current climate and attitude toward Afghanistan, the Taliban, etc., individuals will reach deep and contribute to the effort?

Poster #10 confirms that this is a "druggie" web site. But he didn't have to tell anyone-- it's obvious. With 52,000 drug-related deaths a year (19,000 directly from overdoses) many posters want to legalize drugs "to take the profit out." Yeah, like legalizing alcohol took the profit out of the booze industry. Only the druggie mind could be so irrational.

At the same time, the United Nations is investigating reports of starvation in northern Afghanistan, where there is also bitter fighting between the Taliban and other Islamic groups. Beyond that, the land in Afghanistan is strewn with mines that kill people every day.
http://www.overpopulation.com/articles/2001/000020.html

I claim that it is time to reconsider operation Trojan Dove.
There are already food relief organizations in place that have been, until recently, serving Afghanistan and parts of Africa and these could be revitalized if the United States lacks the logistic capabilities for providing relief.

The International Court of Justice is an existing body that can be used for bringing bin Laden and those he has brainwashed to justice. We should use this organization as it was intended; it makes more sense than issuing ultimatiums of 'fer us or agin us' to our best allies.

The huge profits to be made in rescuing Afghanistan from the ravages of war, extremism, famine and land mines are as great as those offered by war. Only the names of the corporations are different. Must every great enterprise be one of destruction? Would not more noble efforts be as stimulating to our economy as warfare?

E. Johnson, in speaking of the drug war, wrote that our situation could be improved only through the application of love. I hope that she will show up here to give her opinion of this plan alternative.

I hope the government monitors are listening in today. Perhaps they have the courage of their convictions to comment here and debate me. Or is it their way only to seek personal destruction for those who offer good counsel? Really, it's just a debate. Or is debate unAmerican? If the only choice you offer is 'fer ya or agin ya', and there there is to be no debate, then I am abstaining and I'll stay here shouting into the wind. But your allies, you will find, are soon to turn agin ya, beginning with Pakistan.

We can be the heroes of a golden age, or we can be the most hated people on earth.

I finally came to the point I am now at....I hope that some poor asshole is monitoring me right now,,and all I have to say to him is,,"find a different job,,you traitor of American freedom !!",,,,but to his bosses,,I have a special,different message,,,and here it is!....(pardon the profanity please,I feel that it is unfortunately appropriate)

"Fuck You,,you snoopy shithead!,,Go ahead,,Come and get my old,withering,radical ass!!I dont care anymore!..you should be ashamed of yourself!...Using the excuse that you're "just doing my job",dont cut it anymore.When you go home to your family,and you see your wife and kids,and you pretend to believe that what your are doing is for the good of your childrens future,and that your efforts are somehow making the world safer,,,then you are starring in a puppet show,,as the Grand Fool!....Wake Up my friend......

...well...I hope they got the message,,,but with my luck,,,the guy who monitors this site,called in sick today,,,or maybe I neglected to say enough key words to trip the carnavore recognizor threshold..

nice day.....dddd

Do unto others,more of what you've already done

Do unto others,whatever the government wants to do

What would it take to achieve Peace?
No more guns or bombs?

What would it take to achieve Love?
No more hate?

What would it take to achieve Unity?
All the brothers and sisters of the world who believe in Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect?

What would it take to achieve Respect?
Do to others as you would want others do to you?

P.L.U.R
Peace, Love, Unity, Respect
A Raver's Motto

Eve of Destruction is quite appropriate FoM,,

It's very fortunate for the War on Terrorism,that the
War on Drugs was already happening.It has made it very
easy to make a "war",on a thing,,seem normal,,,,and that's
the most absurd part of all this,,,,the government has successfully
declared war,on an enemy that is unspecified...From now on,,it can
be ANYONE,,who they want to bust,,all they need to say,is that
key word,"terrorist",,or "suspected terrorist",,,or a "material
witness"......
dddd
If anyone thinks that the internet is not monitored,,,,,see this..

THE EVE OF DESTRUCTION

Barry McGuire
(P.F. Sloan)
Courtesy of MCA Records, Inc.

The eastern world,
It is explodin',
Violence flarin',
Bullets loadin',
You're old enough to kill,
But not for votin',
You don't believe in war,
But what's that gun you're totin',
And even the Jordan river has bodies floatin',

But you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.

Don't you understand what I'm trying to say?
Can't you feel the fears I'm feeling today?
If the button is pushed,
There's no running away,
There'll be no one to save
With the world in a grave,
Take a look around you, boy,
It's bound to scare you, boy,

And you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.

Yeah, my blood's so mad,
Feels like coagulatin',
I'm sittin' here,
Just contemplatin',
I can't twist the truth,
It knows no regulation,
Handful of senators don't pass legislation,
And marches alone can't bring integration,
When human respect is disintegratin',
This whole crazy world is just too frustratin',

And you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction.

Think of all the hate
There is in Red China!
Then take a look around
To Selma, Alabama!
Ah, you may leave here,
For four days in space,
But when your return it's the same old place,
The poundin' of the drums,
The pride and disgrace,
You can bury your dead,
But don't leave a trace,
Hate your next-door-neighbor,
But don't forget to say grace,

As I write, people are going to use drugs as a scapegoat. Nevermind that it was the prohibition that caused this. However, if Bin Laden moves around two or three times a week, do you think he would have time to set up drug trafficking business? I do not think so. He is too busy looking out for his arse and his jihad decree.

I feel sad for my arab brothers and sisters. I am not talking about monsters who espouse hate. Bin Laden want us to get bloodthristy. 90% of americans are feeling this way right now. We are no better than the terrorists that did a "job" if we should start the war that will know no end.

It is going to be bloodly.

I would like to take a moment to comment about the recent article titled "War on Drugs a Closer Fit" by Dr. Allan Barsky.

I am quite impressed to see an article in an American paper that deals with the situation in a rational, detached manner. I have had to go mostly to the European press to find level-headed commentary about the tragedy and how we should react.

As an American, I have had quite mixed reactions to the tragedy. I am angry with whoever did this and I would like to see them pay.

Maybe we should lock Bin Laden up with Milosevic in a padded cell decorated in the height of '70s fashion. We could then pipe a specially-selected mix of songs by Kid Rock, Eminem, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna and various other artists into the cell 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We could have observation windows and sell tickets, and the revenue raised would be more than enough enough to rebuild New York.

But I also think we need to ask ourselves the questions, "Why did this happen?" "How could we have prevented it?" and "Are we always right?" In recent history, we have committed far worse atrocities than the WTC attack. We have bombed around 30 different countries since the end of World War II. We destroyed Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Dresden towards the end of that war, killing around 500,000 civilians in the process. We killed about two million Iraqis, directly and indirectly. Many tens of thousands are dead in South America because of U.S. backed regimes of terror. Let's not forget that white America practically eliminated the Indian population last century, right here at home.

In our own country, we deny clean needles to heroin addicts, encouraging the spread of AIDS to innocent victims. Collateral damage, I guess. We have more of our citizens locked up, per capita, than any country in the world. We criminalize the possession of a harmless plant because it threatens the profits of the petrochemical, tobacco, and alcohol industries, and send federal agents in to kill those who resist the State's policies.

Of course the way to end the war on drugs and all the violence and waste is to take the profit out of drugs: legalize. The way to take the profit out of terrorism is to end the hatred - feed the starving Afghanis, give them computers and make them love us.

It's Allan Barsky's idea and there's as much profit in it as there is in war. I want to encourage Dell, Intel, Microsoft not to donate any computers to the Afghans - why shouldn't altruism be profitable? - but to lobby Congress and the public with their most persuasive people to have the governemnt buy these computers so that peaceful companies can make a stupendous profit, just as the war machine makes an obscene profit selling missiles and bullets to tyrants. What would happen if we tried this? I think it would inspire epic poetry as immortal as Homer's, bring the world, in a day, a new golden age of peace and end our archaic age of war.

Really, what would happen? Our aircraft carriers roll up to the Pakistani shores, invincible and unchallenged, then a D-day armada of air power, unassailable and omnipotent, lands in a continuous day and night delivery of crates and drums and boxs to the border airstrip. In the morning we present the Afghanis with an official warrant from the International Court of Justice for the delivery of Osama bin Laden. We'll also present them with twenty-five-million enormous food baskets, more if they like, and twenty-five million computers. Later, we'll produce an army of technicians and coils of optical fiber to hook it all up. Let's make friends of the Afghanis and take the profit out of terrorism.

You might object that the Marshall Plan worked very well for rebuilding Germany and the rest of Europe - but that we had first destroyed Germany. No problem - Afghanistan has already been destroyed by Russia. The people are starving there, they have nothing. What would happen? Do you suppose that Osama and his personal army of 3,000 would mow down their own people as they hungrily gathered the gifts? We really ought to try this.

If Amerika listens to the war mongers, we will all regret the decision. A military over-reaction will lead to a galvanizing of the downtrodden in a way that even the governments of the countries that support us will be unable to quell.

The way to manage this situation militarily is quietly, and surgically with full cooperation of host governments. Pool intelligence. Be patient. Get in and get out.

Simultaneously, knowledge and its dissemination is our best defense. What if we offered computer terminals and Internet hook-ups to kids across the world? A fair percentage would prefer that to throwing rocks and sticks at a distant tormentor.

I also propose another worldwide concert event: "Musicians for World Peace." This would need to be staged in multiple venues, probably over the course of a 3 day weekend of respective Sabbaths (Muslims Friday, Jews Saturday, Christians Sunday). Artists from every nation, including like-minded Arabs, other Muslims, Indians, Pakistanis, Chinese, Russians, Africans, Europeans, North and South Americans should be invited to perform, and MTV can broadcast it over the planet with simultaneous video feeds on the World Wide Web. Ticket and merchandizing proceeds can be utilized to advance world peace, and fund scholarships to poor Third World students who wish to study in the West.