I agree, it is no safer now than 9/10/01. it is hard to make a free society a secure one. I never feel good when our soldiers are in action. I did not feel good about 1991. -----Original Message----- From: Cleveland, Kyle E. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2002 11:34 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Can't stand it anymore.... Things are definitely slow. I think there might be a flurry of vacations going on before cold weather returns. BTW, my Dad called and said that the 28th Marines are headed to the Gulf this morning. One of his buddies from Camp Lejune called and said they were already loading up at dawn. With what Cheney said about the "U.S. going it alone" against Iraq yesterday, looks like we might start target practice on Sadaam again. Definitely makes me anxious. If we were going to take him out, Dubya's old man should have done it while we already had the resources in "Indian Country". Funny how every time we get in the financial doldrums (ever since FDR) we start snapping caps. I got a ba-a-a-a-d feeling about this one. I didn't feel that way until I started this new job. Did you know the U.S. only has a couple days' blood supply--and that's just for normal stuff? We're almost a year out from 9/11, and we're not a whole lot better prepared than before 9/11/2001. Sure, there have been a lot of "looks good" things happening, but no real "meat". For example, when we came back from Canada it took about three hours to cross the border. The Border Patrol was stopping folks who must've fit some sort of profile, because there were many vehicles (lots of R.V.s) pulled over for inspection. When we got to the gate, though, the guard asked a few questions, looked in the car and saw a stereotypical American family and flagged us on our way. Now if I was a "smart" terrorist, I wouldn't try to cross the border myself--that would be too obvious. What would prevent me, though, from looking for a car, with U.S. plates, driven by a "whitebread" guy like Kyle and family. I put a "device" in Kyle's rental car while he and his family are shopping, etc., and away he goes across the border without so much as a second glance by the Customs folks. Lot's of people asked me if my "bags were ever out of my sight" at the airport, but nobody asked me the same thing about my car. Point being that if someone was determined to create "terror" on the U.S. mainland, it could still be done with ease. Spooky stuff. -Kyle -----Original Message----- From: Barber, Kenneth L. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2002 11:08 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Can't stand it anymore.... Definitely funny, kyle. I hope bobby is receiving. I am waiting for him to tell me he is getting mail. I had to post something to know. Up till then nobody was posting.