Should the World Not End . . .

. . . tomorrow (you best believe that if Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadenijad had at his disposal a tenth of Pres. George W. Bush's arsenal, or even half of Pres. Vladimir Putin's arsenal, or even what Pres. Jacques Chirac has under his control, there'd be lots of dead people and irradiated dead zones in Tel Aviv, NYC, LA, London, Paris, DC, Rome, Tokyo, Sydney, Amsterdam, Riyadh (he hates Sunni almost as much as he hates westerners, and clearly part of Mahmoud's nightly masturbatory fantasies would be Shia rule over Makkah and Medina), New Dehli, Mumbai, and dozens and dozens of other major world cities), then things are actually looking pretty good.

The US economy is an inconceivably healthy juggernaut. Energy costs are still relatively cheap, and major innovations are likely within 5-10 years. And the markets seem to be betting on the continued postponement of Armageddon.

Maybe it's a good thing that the cable news channels feel comfortable enough in the world situation to focus so much attention on creepy freaks.