I don't know if Rudolf Ghouliani is scarier if he believes the crap about the threat of "Islamofascism" to world civilization or not. If he does believe it, he has got to be one of the least intelligent and discriminating beings on the planet and is in no wise qualified for a position in any government office, least of all the Presidency. Under his "leadership" the country would continue to waste lives and resources fighting what can only objectively categorized as minor annoyance. If he does not believe "Islamofascism" is a threat, but is cynically using it as a tool to gain political support, then he is another lying sonofabitch that will misuse the power of the Presidency to support the wealthy elite at the expense of everyone else in the world. Either way, the country loses.

For those who wish to engage in issues that really do threaten the long term stability of our society, I modestly suggest some of the following:

1) the corrosive destruction of our political heritage of Constitutional government and its principled and moral rectitude by authoritarian hacks fronting for the corporations that call the shots in Washington, DC.

2) the imminent depletion of the petroleum resources this country has used almost exclusively as a basis for our infrastructure in housing, transportation, industry, agriculture, etc., etc.

3) the exhaustion of our fresh water resources vital to our towns, cities, and agriculture.

4) the sprawl of growing urban areas preempting productive agricultural land and wildlife habitats.

5) the loss of employment opportunities for our young people and the decline in American industrial self-sufficiency through globalist economic policies and virtually unrestricted tolerance for illegal immigration.

6) the shameless taxing of future generations by funding government by borrowing on a continuing and increasing basis.

7) the monthly export of tens of billions of dollars of our national wealth due to the balance of trade deficit and the massive debts we have incurred to foreign nations, not all friendly, in consequence.

8) the exploding cost of and restrictive access to medical insurance, which costs thousands of lives a year and tens of thousands of family bankruptcies. The present system is inhumane and destructive of "family values".

No doubt this list could receive many significant additions, the most trivial of which would far outweigh the "threat" of "Islamofascism". Let this nation never again elect a delusional paranoid or cynical slave to corporate interests to our highest office when rational and decisive leadership is needed so badly.

The attack on the World Trade Center is the major key to our understanding of how government can be redirected from dealing with the legitimate issues such as human rights, resource depletion, etc. and focused on the relatively trivial, for purposes of exploiting the strength and resources of the nation in support of economic imperialism, which is, in turn, the source of "blowback", the resentment generated in other countries by cultural insults, political intrigues, and the expropriation of resources by transnational corporations based in the United States.

I am a supporter of and donor to both the Kucinich and Paul campaigns. I believe there is a substantial body of evidence that the events of September 11 were conducted with at least the knowledge of if not the connivance with, elements in the government of the United States. These attacks were the lubricant needed to enact a whole series of changes in our government which have not been in the best interests of our citizens. Dennis Kucinich has called for a truly objective investigation of the attacks, not one with a predetermined conclusion, as in the case of the Kean Commission. Ron Paul has also indicated that the matter needs to be further investigated.

No one wants to be ridiculed as wearing a tin hat but the paper bags most politicians are wearing over their heads are hardly less useful or becoming.

The actual threat to America's culture and economy posed by radical Islamcists is minute compared with the self-inflicted threats caused by our depletion on resources and our dependence on foreign goods and investments, as well as our national addiction to deficit spending.

"Writing is the visible evidence of thought." -- The Wall Street Journal

I often use this little quote to support the necessity of clear writing to my high school level students. An idea that can be expressed in a straightforward original declarative sentence is one that can be examined, critiqued, and associated with other ideas in a rational manner. Those who must deal with large quantities of information quickly and effectively, as Mr. Bush testifies is required of a President, of necessity need a even higher order skill than writing clear prose. Any person in this position absolutely must have the ability to conceptualize and express complex ideas and associations of ideas verbally with a very high degree of fluency.

In the past I have proposed that Presidential candidates be required to take examinations on history, geography, economics, and natural sciences, and that their answers be made publicly available for assessing their fitness for office. Now I would further advocate that each candidate submit to giving a televised four minute impromptu speech, so the voters may more easily distinguish among among the mentally organized and verbally competent, the muddleheaded bumblers, and the bloviated, flatulent windbags.