I woke up and opened my eyes. Still there. It was still there. The buildings falling. The million tales of horror, death, unfathomable. This had happened. This had actually happened.

I blinked. What time is it? It couldn't quite be morning yet, since there was no light poking between the window shades, and there was no audio to wake me up. Oh well. A little time to just think.

Think and ponder. Who could commit such an act? Images of a dark brown-skinned man with a long beard and a piece of cloth wrapped around the top of his head, speaking in a foriegn language as he brandished a machine gun in his lap came to mind. His speech was translated as short soundbite phrases expressing his wish to destroy the United States. To destroy the people in it, and bring misery to them.

Then flashed the people of Palestine, out on the streets in their parade. They were celebrating because others were hurting. What sick and demented piece of a creature that appears to live inside of human flesh could this be? What sort of a thing would celebrate with abandon as others scream in pain? One of them was a boy, perhaps ten years old. Smiling into the camera. Does he know? Can he have any comprehension? Surely, he is being simply led into this by the adults around him, who are the real scum. Still, the thought of a child being taught to revel in cold blooded slaughter is bone-chilling.

They must be bombed. It must be shown, once and for all, that such willful atrocities WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.

Then I stop and wonder. What if the media has cooked all this up so that the population will willingly go along and support what could become a horrible act of U.S. aggression? What if I am being manipulated here, as has happened countless times in the scifi and horror stories I've been watching for years. Maybe this is exactly what Noam Chomsky was talking about when he refers to "manufactured consent".

It doesn't fit. Could the topple of those buildings have been manufactured by the media? Even asking the question is rediculous. Eye witness accounts from EVERYONE who was in the city. No, that was not a special effect.

But what about the people in the streets of Palestine? Could that be manufactured consent? Could it be that someone has an interest in directing public anger at a given target, whether or not pointing at that target is actually justified? Slightly more plausible. Still, I am not enough of a conspiracy theorist to believe that the pictures of people celebrating were anything other than actual reactions, taken at the time of the event, and rebroadcasted via satellite. Yes, I buy that what purportedly happened in the middle east is as real as the towers that are no longer there.

So then what next? Bomb them.

I liked to think of myself as a peaceful, and peace-loving person. Bomb them.

I would be the last to support some numbskulled war. I didn't think sending troops to Bosnia was justified. I've always thought the U.S. should keep its troops out of other countries unless they had either directly attacked us, or explicitly requested U.S. aid. I don't advocate the idea of the U.S. trying to play policemen to the world. Bomb them. Bomb them all.

This isn't about the United States gallivanting around playing cowboy. This is about keeping our cities from being trashed. This is about personal protection against those who have no regard for human life. This is about letting them know that WE WILL NOT TAKE IT. Bomb them. Bomb every last one of them.

Then I look at the clock and realize I've only slept 3 hours, and my head hurts. Just make it go away.