If you all are like me, you have heard about enough on terrorists and how the world has changed, and so forth and so on. I really care less about sundry pundits opinions on whether or not we need to bomb this or that country or attack so-and-so. If you want to give me something useful, tell me what's going on right now. Why do I want to hear some retired fellow spouting off about an army he is no longer a part of?

Isn't that what we elect a government for, to worry about these kinds of things? But I can't squarely lay all the blame on those who have opted to speculate on our future conflict possibilities. There are many others who have earned my ire.

For instance, I grow really sick and tired of watching people preaching love and forgiveness for all peoples and religions on one channel and watching firefighters and other rescue workers digging out bodies around the old World Trade Center site on the other. Those nice people have a culture that encourages suicide attacks, murder and a strong hatred of Western civilization. From where I am standing, I don't think they need love and forgiveness. I think they need just what the Taliban got — a good swift kick in the rear.

I am tired of hearing about the American fellow who was fighting for those folks and how he should be treated as a citizen. He is not a citizen of my country, no matter where he was born. Those who participate in actions against this nation must be held accountable. Working hand-in-hand with terrorists is a capital offense, in my opinion.

On other fronts, I am not sick of straight-talking Donald Rumsfeld, who doesn't really seem to care if media likes him or not. When he holds a press conference, there is no doubt about who is in charge. I also love to hear him give people who ask stupid questions the how-to message. "We are going to kill them, that's what we do," I heard him say one day.

Sometimes I think people want the military to go into hostile territory and play pat-a-cake to prevent ‘collateral damage' to civilians and non-military targets. I read in a daily paper Monday that some of these foreigners are worried about us ‘killing innocent people' in Afghanistan. Let's see, the Taliban held public executions at a soccer field, buried people in mass graves after ruthlessly murdering them and imposed healthcare restrictions on the citizens that led to one of the highest child death rates on earth. Who is the bad guy here?

We also have people in America supporting these terrorists with money and other assistance. Why are we just shutting down their organizations financially? We should be shutting down the Americans who funded these organizations in a permanent way. If a person is a traitor through funding groups that want to kill us or hurt our allies or interests, then they deserve punishment — or at the least to be expelled from the country. I hear there is a population shortage in Afghanistan these days and that immigration is being welcomed in Antarctica.

I really do believe that everyone has the right to follow whatever god or gods they choose, from Hindus to Muslims, Sikhs to Buddhists, worshippers of Mithra to those who bow down to ‘old scratch' himself. I don't even care if you want to believe that there isn't any higher power at all and that we evolved from little one-celled critters or that space aliens from the Planet X came here and founded humankind as an experiment. It's your thing, as long as you don't bother me and my rights to follow my own religion or have an adverse affect on my family or this society in which we live. But if you feel you must murder to go to heaven, I do have a problem with your religion.

You know, people everywhere want America, but they want it on their own terms. I say that immigrants should be forced to take it all or leave it all. I was reading today that some of the people in the Middle East decry our involvement there, all the while sipping a Coke and watching the latest movie. Well, isn't that ironic? I guess I can just offer some simple advice to folks over there in turban land: just have yourself a Coke and a McCheeseburger, there Mr. Arab, and throw in a smile, if you don't mind. Because I'm inclined to believe that all people have a right to enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Unless, of course, you get your pleasure from detonating yourself at a bus stop — we have to draw the line somewhere.

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