Recently I expressed my frustration with the situation in Iraq and quipped that there is only one solution to the continued violence and that is to nuke the country. I certainly did not mean that and it was only meant as an expression of my impatience with the fundamentalists who continue to disrupt the process of nation building. A friend of mine, who is from Iran, expressed concern about my remark and I certainly agree with his concern. I apologize to him and all people from that part of the world for making such a remark. I should not have made such a remark about a very serious problem. Unfortunately, unless the new government can pull the proverbial rabbit out of the hat, I do not see any solution for a long, long time which makes me glad that I am not 20-something.

Sometimes too, I think that only outside intervention of a global nature will solve that and other problems around the world. Please note too, that I am not a religious person so that outside intervention could be anything from an earth destroying asteroid to the arrival of the first aliens from another galaxy to whatever. What I am saying is that something needs to occur that will make all of our current problems fade into insignificance and which would unite the entire world in a common goal.