Good lord, how the hell do I even start this week’s entry? All right, no catchy phrases that you can repeat at the water cooler as I’m sure so many of you do; no smart-ass comments about Britney Spears or Abercrombie and Fitch. We all know what happened last week and although I could go on for about 40 pages of what it all means and what our lives will be like from here on out, I’m not going to. Instead, I’m going to start with some personal news and then get into one aspect of the current events. Cool?

So last Wednesday, after the horror that was Tuesday, September 11, I got a phone call from George Zebrun; the man who is the prime suspect as the supplier of half my DNA. Well, he’d done some calling around and although he couldn’t find Marla Suppes (the other suspect), he did have some names for me to look up to further my quest.

Ends up ‘Suppes’ was Marla’s married name; her maiden name was ‘Emgling’. Back in ’74 when George and Marla were dating, she was divorced from her husband, Mr. Suppes. Now get this, Marla was a widow before marrying Suppes – and she had a son with this first husband! Yes, I have a half brother out there somewhere who’s about 3 or 4 years older than I am. Pretty wild, eh?

George gave me a bunch of names of Emgling’s to look up; all brothers and sisters of Marla. So I have some research to do and some more nerve-racking phone calls to make. I’ve gotten as many numbers as I could off the internet, but have yet to punch them up; Space Monkey’s been pretty busy lately.

As always, when I finally get the balls to make the calls, I will let you know the outcome. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Over the last week I’m sure we’ve all had a lot going through our minds – fear, rage, disbelief, and sadness. This kind of thing wasn’t supposed to happen in our country; it’s supposed to happen somewhere that we can’t pronounce the name of on the other side of the world. But what’s done is done. It’s now time for us to pick up, get used to some new ways of life, and keep on going. However, that might be what scares me most about this whole thing – we will keep on going.

As I write this we are putting into motion Operation:Infinite Justice. (As one of my friends asked, “Are they getting George Lucas to name these things now?”) All we really know about it until tomorrow night when Bush comes on and speaks to the nation is that an aircraft carrier is being moved into the Mediterranean. Well, we’ve been hearing all week about an eventual “war on terrorism”. Whenever I hear that phrase I think of the “war on drugs”; and we all know how well that’s progressing.

If you think the “war on drugs” is expensive and a waste of our time – what do you think the “war on terrorism” is going to be like? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for going over there and finding Bin Laden and/or Saddam and anyone else who wants to cheer in the streets when thousands of innocent people are dying and doing any number of horrible, unspeakable tortures to them; let’s start tomorrow.

So you have Bin Laden’s head on a stick; Saddam and his followers are being drug through the streets of New York chained behind a taxicab driven by Giuliani and Pataki; but now what? There’s still terrorism in the world. There are many different leagues in the Middle East that hate us. Hell, we have people here at home that hate us.

Terrorism is like the Hydra and we are Hercules. In the myth, Hercules had to kill the seven-headed Hydra. He used his sword to cut off one head and, surprisingly, two grew back in its place. We go over there, cut off Bin Laden’s head and at least two people are going to see this as injustice. Bang! - more terrorists who are going to circle around Bin Laden as a martyr.

How did Hercules defeat the Hydra? After cutting off a head, he grabbed hold of the neck and burned it with a torch, thus cauterizing the wound. We’re going to have to do the same thing here. Cut off the head of the organization and burn the country that hosted them to the ground. “Nuke the site from orbit; it’s the only way to be sure” (Aliens reference, not a suggested course of action; though I wouldn’t rule it out for ol’ Dubya) We are essentially going to have to destroy the country; there will be many instances of “collateral damage” (AKA women and children) Why? Because those little boys are not going to forget that you killed their Father, their Uncle, their Cousin, or their next-tent neighbor; you got yourself a brand new terrorist in fifteen years and then we’ll be starting this thing all over again.

Now consider the countries that are so ready and willing to help us fight this “war on terrorism”. When are they going to call in a return favor? England phones up and says, “I say, Dubya, old chap, you recall our little IRA problem don’t you? Well, since we helped you out with that Bin Laden snafu, My Dear Boy, we’d like you to come over here and help us eradicate our Irish difficulties please. Aw’right? Cheerio, then! We’ll see you next week.” Or Mudder Russia who needs help repressing some Chechen rebels who have made threats against troops stationed there. And it scares the shit out of me to think what the Pakistani’s are going to ask for; what with their desire for nuclear weapons.

The “war on terrorism” will be just like the “war on drugs”. It will be expensive, both monetarily and in casualties. It will be long, arduous, and it will be brutal. Again, I’m not saying we don’t deserve justice – the thousands who are still buried under that rubble deserve it for damn sure – but I am concerned about the extent of our actions.

When will it end? I don’t know. I just hope we can remember why it started and know when to stop it.

Space Monkey X