[gstelmack]

Let me restate myself since I got sidetracked on the domestic issues. Yes, I agree that internally we need to change a lot of things. Energy use is but one small part. I'd also like to see us stop giving handouts to everyone who thinks they are entitled to all the trappings of modern life without contributing anything to it, get people to stop crying "discrimination!" every time someone of their creed / religion / whatever does something stupid and gets in trouble for it, parents to take responsibility for their children, people to take responsibility for themselves in general, major tort reform, etc. That's a whole side conversation.

What I meant by "everything changed on 9/11" is what Cheney was saying: we no longer have the time to dick around with diplomatic niceties whenever we feel threatened. We aren't going to wait to be attacked first, because the bad guys out there can hurt us bad if we do. It's that simple. Yes, I firmly believe we would not be in Iraq right now if, everything else staying the same, 9/11 had not happened.

For those who think helping the oil companies is the only reason we went in, I'd ask why are you so afraid that Iran and Syria are next? How exactly will that help big oil? Heck, we could have given them a bigger leg up if we'd thrown him out the first time...