If bin Laden is the Time man of the year, will he show up in NYC to accept the award?

If Time gives a terrorist top billing as newsmaker of the year, will not incite others to do the same?

If 9/11 was Phase I of a three phase plan to destroy the USA, what is phase II (bio-letter bombs?)

If Phase II was the warm-up to the destruction of the USA, how would one bring the world's largest industrial power to its knees? Cut off the oil in a middle eastern holy war?

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QUESTIONS. After the war on terrorism was declared, what ever happened to the news stories about the federal deficit, social security collapse or the balanced budget?

Al Gore wanted to get a cushy Wall Street banker job after losing the election? He wound up in California. I guess that's as close to Nassau and Wall Streets as a man with his private banking experience could get today.

With home ownership at an all time high, and home equity at an all time low, and mounting credit card debt at 18 percent while savings rates are below 2 percent, can America afford to spend itself out of the current recession?

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CUTTING THE PIE. I believe there was a limited amount of common sense distributed throughout mankind. As the population grew and grew, the amount of common sense given to each individual grew smaller and smaller. On a daily basis, we run into more and more people who lack basic common sense, but live, work and allegedly prosper in an upwardly mobile middle class society.

CALCULATING THE PIE. Home ownership in America is at an all-time high, but home equity is at an all-time low. People have absolutely little concept on debt and its consequences, especially in a falling economy. The go-go 1990s conditioned the new generations of only skyrocketing stock markets and cheap plastic credit cards. The so-so Zero-Ones will have a very sobering effect, especially on New Year's Eve when the final 401(k) statements are calculated for the displaced corporate work force.

THROWING THE PIE. Waste not, want not. An old expression from the past US depression era. If one goes into a sit-down restaurant today, the blue plate special comes on a turkey platter. A mountain of french fries, cole slaw, pickles and garnish bury the chosen sandwich of the day. It would take a platoon to finish these monster midday platters. Fueled by competition of the diner next door, the nuclear food arms race should be disarmed before someone busts a gut at the local eatery.