No, this isn’t a “goodbye cruel world diary” or anything like that… Mrs. Dood and I are simply taking a very well-deserved two week work/vacation trip to Italy.  This will be the first time that I’ve left the country in awhile, so I guess this afternoon, I’ll find out if I’m now on the do not fly list… I’m halfway more expecting to be on the do not readmit list.

It was interesting packing for the trip this week… no more taking everything that you need on your carry-on, and not having to check any bags. It was also sad, trying to come up with clothes that you don’t normally wear, in order that you might blend in a little better, and not he singled out as an American… Gone also are the days when your dollar was fairly powerful abroad, and you could afford to occasionally splurge a little…

I really hate that I’m going to miss this gigantic confluential Orwellian eclipse of 9/11, on Sunday and Monday… my sad prediction(worth about €.02) is that ABC will indeed air their cynically calculated “mock-u-mentary”, and The FLATUS will interrupt all broadcasts to engineer, “The Perfect Smarm”.  This past week has just been the opening salvo in an all-out Rove engineered Blitzkrieg, which is cynically targeting only 2 to 5% of American voters.

I’m not blaming anyone here, but just sort of analyzing…

The parallels between Republican Terrorists ramming this hijacked abomination of a mock-u-mentary into the revered and omnipotent twin Towers of American truth and decency, as compared to the actual tragedy they are attempting to revise, are uncanny and ironic.

I find myself asking questions of the progressive community, much like America did after the original tragedy… How could we have only found out about this plot just this week? Admittedly, we have done a much better job than the Bush administration did with trying to stop the original 9/11, but sadly, we’re still relegated to helplessly watching this Republican Jingo Jet plow into the twin towers in slow motion over an entire week’s time…

I guess what I’m pointing out is that our pre-incident intelligence was good, and resources were scrambled in amazing rapidity, but it’s likely not going to be enough… maybe I’m wrong, and powers outside of my awareness have a few financial heat seekers, which could still be launched in order to bring the Jingo-Jet down… I guess time will tell…  but I find myself feeling like a New Yorker five years ago, who had to turn away in disbelief with teary eyes as the second plane plowed into the World Trade Center…

What is emerging, even with tinfoil chapeau in place, is apparently a huge, well-funded right-wing conspiracy that seemed to skirt right past our defense systems, despite everything that we’ve learned and uncovered in the past about their guerrilla tactics.  Perhaps I’m being a little overly critical and pessimistic, but maybe we should really tear apart and analyze this plot, especially as it is still under way, in order that we may be more effective in the future.

Anyhow, I hope everyone reading survives this disaster with duct tape and plastic sheeting, whatever it takes… you can count on me when I come back in two weeks to pitch in with the cleanup and recovery efforts… Buona notte e buona fortuna!”