I know, everyone and their brother is either going to write about September 11 tomorrow or studiously avoid doing so altogether. I'm going to split the difference and write a little bit about it today. Tomorrow I'll write something completely unrelated.

I had started to write on the topic, but didn't like what I came up with. Sounded a lot like news analysis by someone only half paying attention, which isn't that far from the truth. Instead, here are some basic conclusions I've made a year out:

Your life probably hasn't changed forever At least not in the way you think it would. We all remember what happened, and we all have our own private set of feelings about it. But given all the "our lives have changes irrevocably and forever" rhetoric in the aftermath, life today is strikingly similar to life on September 10, 2001. I know that's not true for those who lost loved ones, or for military personnel who are roaming around the deserts of Afghanistan as I type this. But for the rank and file American, those without direct loss or sacrifice, outside of travel delays you'd be hard pressed to say how life has changed in an physical or administrative sense rather than an emotional one.

Homeland Defense is a nice idea but almost impossible to implement With calls to federalize airport security, arm pilots, and guard anything that may be a vector of civilian death, at this point it seems like the greatest achievement to date from Tom Ridge's boys is a color-coded threat system. Pilots have a tentative OK to get guns, and moves to improve airport security are halting and of mixed success if the continued smuggling of weapons on to planes by journalists are any indication.

Matt Bruce pointed this out early on after the attacks. We may say we want layer upon layer of security, but when the bill gets passed along to you and me, we're going to be less quick to reach for our wallets. Some people would pay anything for a 24 hour watch on every power plant, reservoir, weigh station, and pipeline in the US. Most wouldn't.

And that's what makes homeland defense such a problem. Real solutions are going to have a huge price tag. We either raise taxes or cut existing programs to cover the cost, neither option being one usually taken with logical understanding by the American electorate.

We've seen the dawning of the infotainment-industrial complex It was coming anyway, but the attacks hastened the blurring of the line between news, entertainment, and how Americans think about and understand critical issues. And now with all the anniversary coverage, we can expect a renewed sense of whatever the networks want us to have a renewed sense about. As trifling as it is, the idea that the winner of American Idol will sing at the DC observances says something about the influence of media and entertainment.

Vague warnings are often worse than no warning at all They've slackened, but vague threat warnings only serve to freak people out again. Then again, if you're the government, keeping people panicked may lead them to support your programs if it means they'll be less freaked out in the future. Reminds me of the X Files episode where Mulder learns that a drug that keeps Americans mildly paranoid is being administered through asthma inhalers.

We'd rather fight an old war than continue a new one I have no doubt that Sadaam Hussein is a nasty piece of work who needs to go. I do doubt that taking up arms against him is the logical next step in fighting terrorism. I would prefer that we work with European and Middle Eastern allies to fight continued support and training of terrorists. Not to mention actually finding out if the Taliban and al Qaeda leadership that we've not caught is actually still alive, or finding out who is running the show if they aren't.

The Boston Globe had an interesting article today about how the Iraq thing is part of a larger policy towards reshaping the Middle East. Creating a more democratic, US-friendly Iraq is supposed to give support to reformers in Iran, get Syria to stop backing Hezbullah, push the Saudis to stop playing both ends towards their own survival, and lead to a resolution of the Palestinian question.

All of this seems incredibly bright eyed and wishful. It reminds me of the glorious, clean future we were all supposed to share thanks to the benefits of nuclear power. As in that case, reality is much less rosy. Simply consider the idea that a pro-US regime in Baghdad may be seen as less of a benign influence but rather the largest example of what's percieved as US bullying in the region. Our already low favorability rating takes a lethal hit.

The best revenge really is living well Bob Simon mused this during a bit on CBS Sunday Morning, and I think I agree. It's not necessarily the same thing, but I think these words from Tennyson sum up where I'd like to think we are collectively:

We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are ---
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.