Like a moth beating against the glass

So I read this today in the Baltimore Sun:

The American public is being lulled into a false sense of insecurity. And insecurity, constructed or real, is what gives those in power - our purported protectors - their self-righteous aura of indispensability.

President Bush; Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld; the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace; the head of the U.S. Central Command, Gen. John P. Abizaid; and the recently released Quadrennial Defense Review, among other authoritative purveyors of received wisdom, all warn us that we're embroiled in - and destined to be further subjected to - what is to be known as a Long War.

So I'm reminded again of the Cold War. And I wonder how the Long War might differ from the Cold War. What lessons are there in our history? And this is where I once again regret not getting more of an education. I can formulate the question, but I don't have enough knowledge to generate even a cursory answer.

The Cold War eventually ground to a halt, but the USSR was unmade. Who will be the winners and losers of the Long War?

I fear that W knows no more of history than I do, despite his college career.

Yummy!

After getting off the train yesterday evening, I stopped by the neighborhood grocery store for a green pepper so I could make spaghetti for dinner. On an impulse, I also picked up some mild pork sausage for the sauce. Wow! What a great sauce! I was very, very pleased with how it turned out.

Russell was planning to have dinner with me, but canceled because he was going to meet his friend Paulie, who would be visiting the club for the first time. However, Russell stopped by my apartment with an umbrella I loaned him and some picture hanging hooks, so he caught the scent of my sauce as it was cooking. He explained that he wasn't going to have dinner with me after all, then tentatively asked if there was enough for three. It smelled that good. :-)

However, I'm not keen on inviting strangers into my cluttered apartment, so I declined to offer an invitation to Paulie. Besides, I had planned to pack leftovers for lunch today.

As I was cooking, I realized that I didn't know how much I had spent on the sausage. It turns out that it was $2.09. I used about an eighth of it in the sauce last night, and I got three meals from it. Once again, I'm surprised at how inexpensive home cooking can be.

Since I have leftover sausage, mushroom and green pepper and I have a frozen boboli and some cheese in the fridge, tonight will be pizza with sausage, pepperoni, onion, green pepper and mushrooms! Russell is again planning to come to dinner. :-)