[quidnunc]

zacyak wrote: You think spending several hundred billion on re-building Iraq is good conservative policy?

And how much do you reckon 9/11 cost us?

How many more 9/11s are you willing to have the US absorb?

Stop talking nonsense.

[July 4th]

I think for the next 10 years, it makes sense to merge the State department into the DoD, and rename it the Department of War. At least it will keep State from actively undermining our missions abroad. As one writer aptly put it, "Over the past 30 years, State ceased to be a representative for Americans abroad, but rather the representative for foreign governments in the US."

[zacyak]

Whats Iraq got to do with 911?

[A. Pole]

How many more 9/11s are you willing to have the US absorb?

You might find it callous but a strong big nation should be able to absorb occasional terrorist attack without giving up its freedoms or being drawn into expensive and unfocused foreign adventures. I do not think that we need Patriot act I and II or war in Iraq. I shudder to think what will follow another WTC like event.

To put things in perspective, every years 500 000 of Americans die out of cancer. Such death often is much worse than from the bomb. A fraction of $87 billions spent on cancer research would do more good.