[mburbank]

As negative as I've been of late, I do not think we're doomed. I think we are in serious danger, I think there's some very bad stuff on the horizon, but there are ways out.

I think a bucketload of folks in Iraq ARE doomed, and this is beyond tragic. But I think there are two serious possabilities to avert doom here. One is that Bush doesn't get a second term. If the economoy stays in the crapper, If we grab the oil, if the war is not quick and easy for us, if Afganistan is still a shambles... Plus, the anti-war movement is already underway and could grow dramatically if America suffers on the battlefield. A second Bush administration is not a foregone conclusion, as the HUGE # of democratic Presidential contenders shows. Most of those guys wouldn't put their money out there if they thought they had only a snowballs chance in hell.

I also think the more we flex our muscles, the more Europe will turn against us and the balance of power will normalize. The European leaders who supprot our olicy toward Iraq may wel find themselves out of office in the next elections.

On the other hand, I sometimes have nightmares about a tow term W. followed by a tow term Jeb followed by their Hispanic cousin and by then our brains will be so softened and our civil rights rights so eroded they'll be able to crown Jenna an her twin co-empress.