It might be September 11th, but it's business as usual here at SFVLUG. We meet every two weeks or so, give or take, and today we are alfresco at the Village Coffee Roaster. They've got free bandwidth, which is sweet...that's something we usually don't get at our usual haunts at Denny's by the Van Nuys Airport.

It's sweltering out here in Calabasas...make no mistake. When Buffy The Vampire Slayer was still on TV I used to make the joke that the Hellmouth wasn't in Sunnydale, it was in Woodland Hills. But we've got some shade here and these guys supposedly have killer iced mochas (I think I'll get one later) so it's not so bad.

It's not like I haven't been thinking about what happened 3 years ago...it's inescapable. Anyone who saw it and didn't mistake it for some Jerry Bruckheimer flick has it burnt into their cerebrum. The Worst Thing In The World (tm) happened that day, and nothing can change that. People died. It sucked. I don't think that going after Saddam Hussein was the right thing to do in the wake of 9/11...we should have hunted Osama Bin Laden down like the animal he is and took him out, and we also should have held the Saudis feet to the fire until they coughed up every last supporter of Al'Qaeda in the realm. Of course, that was not the course taken. Not only is Al'Qaeda stronger than ever, but they certainly have a succession plan that will mean that if Bin Laden is finally cornered and taken out there will be any number of True Believers to succeed him.

Shed a tear for the lost. And then let's move on.