Last night was the second episode of the new season of Star Trek - Enterprise.

It's a thinly veiled exploration of the events of 9/11 and the Bush presidency. Basically, Earth got attacked by some meanies and lots of people died. But instead of the usual enemies, like the Klingons or Romulans, this time the enemy is secretive and hard to locate. So the Enterprise has been sent out armed to the teeth and loaded with Marines into the Delphic expanse (Afghanistan) to find the nasties and 'bring them to justice'. Archer has already told T'pol that he doesn't wasn't her giving him crap about the Prime Directive, and last night he half suffocated a prisoner in an airlock to get information out of him. The way this is going to play out is fairly obvious. At some point Archer is going to have to make a decision between protecting humanity and losing his humanity. In much the same way as the US government is making choices that restrict our freedoms in an effort to preserve our freedoms.

The day after September 11, if you'd have given me a weapon, I'd have marched into combat right then and there and killed anything that stood in my way. With time for relection, however, I've found that however terrible the horrors were that were inflicted on us, I am more concerned about the horrors we may inflict upon ourselves in the name of Vengeance.

The sun is coming up. I can see the sky turning from black to grey, and the birds are starting to sing. Waking each other up, squawking, stretching, defecating, and complaining about who the hell was that on the next branch that kept chirping in their sleep last night.

J. had an incense stick lit when I came home last night. He never lights incense sticks, and offerred no explanation when I asked. I know why I used to light incense sticks when I was 15, so I may need to do some checking into that later.

But now I guess I need to start my day, and see where it takes me.

Enjoy your Thursday.