I think I've discovered why I don't write more often

Kid-vid.

For the last few months, the resident Princess of the homestead has demanded -- and received -- Buzz Lightyear or Chicken Run or some other such nonsense as part of her evening ritual. Last night, however, through the grace of God the DVD machine crashed and adult television reigned.

FoxNews. CNN. CNBC. Even the History Channel and Emeril were available for viewing. It made for a splendid evening of adult fare.

Brewing problems

There are a few things that make me nervous and they will need to be addressed, preferably sooner rather than later. They are, in no particular order:

Iran
The Possible collapse of The House of Saud
Al Qaeda changing tactics

With regards to the first, this link to a troops massing on the Iraq - Iranian border should scare you to death, especially if they have or get nukes. There are a few possible outcomes:

1. They stay put until the US leaves, at which point they overrun the country. A victory in November by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) would all but guarantee this.
2. They start pushing against the Iraqis after the election but before we pull out. If John Kerry wins, the Iranians fight a UN-type force. Smart money says the blue helmets get butchered in a few weeks and diplomats sue for peace as fast as they can, conceding most of Iraq to the Mullahs.
3. They push the Iraqis after an election that George Bush et al. win. We open up a can of whoop ass and get rid of the Original Sponsor of Terrorism in the Middle East. This would be a good a thing.
4. George Bush wins and the Iranians chicken out, preferring instead to continue the game they're playing now.

I'll let others comment on which is the preferable outcome, but I have my favorite.

As for the House of Saud, if they don't do something quick, they're toast. Osama Bin Ladin has always said that regime change on the Saudi Arabian peninsula was his ultimate goal. This bit from James Robbins is particularly erudite:

September 11 was a foolish move on [al Qaeda's] part, it put the United States on the warpath in ways they could not imagine or cope with. But now they are targeting the petroleum industry, one of the least-loved institutions in the U.S., and the dominant commercial sector in Saudi Arabia. Attacks on oil targets may inflate prices and inconvenience us, but in Saudi Arabia they constitute a threat to national survival. Removing American troops to Qatar had only symbolic value to the terrorists, if even that. Driving out the Western engineers and oilmen who keep the Saudi petroleum industry running could bring the whole country down.

Scary, and it segues nicely with my last concern which is al Qaeda's shifting tactics. Today, a couple of oil pipelines in southern Iraq were torched, probably by Iranians of Iranian-backed agents. And this may bring the US and Iran closer to blows than ever before. But they are the New Soviet Union, an Evil Theocracy hell-bent on power and the subjugation helpless millions and we will vanquish them.

We do indeed live in dangerous times...