Thanks, Tony,

Your mammoth post....

Yeah, I'm angling at getting some writing work on a piece-rate basis!

and I share many of your fears about the future, and how we'll look back on this war. I just don't see the point of wallowing in a fatalist view of things to come. With so much on the line right now, I am doing my best to see ways to turn this into a net gain.

Much of my mammoth posting is just "thinking out load" -- trying to figure out what I think. I don't want to wallow, really, but this situation is, IMO, about as big a clusterf*ck as I can imagine, so I feel the need to thrash around a bit, see if I can pop any wishful-thinking balloons I have left.

Net gain? I don't see that happening. What I am wondering a lot about - wallowing over a bit - is how we as a country can manage some serious damage mitigation. I have the feeling that will have to involve 2 things: 1) Europe and 2) a (US) regime change (like some new President drop-kicks the Rumsfelds, then flies around on Air Force One in 2005 and says "Hey, that last guy was nuts. Can't we all just get along?")

The chances of this last happening? Not very good, I'm afraid, but I'm going to think a bit about what Democrat (Ewwww!) I could vote for.