I've been, in general, an admirer of the likes of the Amish, Menonites and other such groups that chose to leave aside a great many things that I generaly greatly enjoy and am thankful for. I don't see myself as willingly joining them. I would hope I could live the lifestyle if it was demanded, but I don't really want to seek it out.

I have a fascination also with the Persian's. I'm fascinated by their language, culture, etc.. The likes of my parents say it's simply because I don't have the memory many do of the Revolution and Mr. Khomeni.

My perception has been that the Persian people, on the whole, have respect for America. It seems that despite all the governmental "Great Satan" line pushing they see through enough of it to realize that they and we want, for the most part, to be left to prosper and then engage each other in endeavors of learning that don't push either sides sensibilities beyond the bounds of endurance.

But then there's the issue of the puppet democracy that is Iran. Some strings have been cut in some areas since the time of Khomeni and some new ones developed.

What I hope is that the intellegence reports are correct in saying that Nuclear weapons in the hands of the present Iranian regime, are many years off. But if intellegence proves unreliable again, or if it's latter modified to more dire predictions then I have a hard time seeing any happy way out of this.

I think what most people miss when they hear about the nuclear flavor of WMD is that all they generaly see is a mushroom cloud over one or two major US cities (or possibly over other country's cities) While that would be the most terrible thing in recent memory to occur I think, once again, many of us don't see the real potential. Just as few, if any, could see hijacking as anything beyond threatning a bomb, slicing or shooting a few people, and making demands, neither are our imaginations broad enough, nor our memory long enough, to see, and rightfully fear, the deployment of a nuke by Iran, or some aligned group, as a means of artificial famin inducement.

Do any of you remember the congressional report detailing how some in Iran would like to kill us here in "the Great Satan" the 'old natural way.' Starvation. An Electro-Magnetic Pulse attack, or EMP, could set part, or most, or all the US back a few hundred years in terms of technology. Just considering how many in our populace don't really know where most of their food comes from, and how many more are not really suited to or equiped for sustinance farming it seems, to me, to be among the greatest of threats.

The irony would be that, after all those years of slighting, jesting, and poking fun at those who follow either the amish, or similar minimalist lifestyles, would likely be the most adept at survival.

Amish Paradise anyone?