INTRODUCTION: a red ringing victory (hidden by stupidity)

BEFORE I BEGIN THE NEXT POST: I mean no disrespect by alluding to Sept. 11th or hurricane Katrina and using the words "mildly catastrophic" to decribe those events. To the many who lost relatives on 9/11, I literally ache for you, and I ache for my City of New York as a whole. I also feel very strongly for the people of New Orleans. My wife is from Baton Rouge, and I have many beautiful memories of the time we spent in New Orleans together, including the night we were engaged. Both New York and New Orleans are very close to my heart. It is unfortunate that our Federal Government gives little concern for every day people - the group overwhelmingly affected by these events. The reason I will use the words "mildly catastrophic" to describe the events is because, although these disasters were horrible for the many people affected by them, they pale in comparison with many other events around the world. September 11th is nothing compared to the thousands of people who die daily around the world, and particularly in the Middle East because of War and Terrorism and Terrorism by War. Hurricane Katrina, while completely devastating for so many people and families, could definitely be called "mild" in comparison to the widespread destruction from the Tsunamis that hit India, Thailand, and Indonesia, among others, in 2004. So please know I would never downgrade anybody's suffering, but an event as a whole can be guaged on how many people are affected, and when thought of in that sense, the events in the US these past five years have been miniscule. Anyhow, this has nothing to do with what this is about, but I thought it was important to get out of the way.