I know that 9/11 broke our collective hearts, bent our collective spirits and generally scared the living be-jeebus out of us all. We were unified in bringing to justice the "evildoers" responsible for that horrendous crime (the ones who, in their own twisted minds, not living it up with 21 virgins as we speak, because they haven't made that ultimate sacrifice). And contrary to Karl Rove's bleating that conservatives, unlike liberals who wanted to issue warrants and understand the mindset of the murderous hijackers, began pounding the drumbeat to war, with little exception, the President had overwhelming support from liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans and everything in between. So what happened?

How did we go from everyone on the same page, with no political or partisan ideology dissuading us or clouding our ultimate goal of bringing back the thug, Osama bin Laden, responsible for master-minding the murder of 3000+ of our brothers and sisters "dead or alive"? Two words, if you're from my neck of the wood.... Eye Rack.

Somewhere between "He tried to kill my daddy" (meaning Saddam for anybody living in a cave even more remote than the one bin Laden's been holed up in since he disappeared into thin air at Tora Bora) and Condi "15 Minute" Rice's mushroom cloud looming overhead, we lost that unity that 9/11 had given us. And for those of us who believed that the whole buildup to make that pre-emptive strike, without giving UN weapons inspectors time to find and destroy WMDs or to report, "They don't have diddly squat", was just a bit fishy, things have never been the same since we felt that post 9/11 unity.

And for those who bought it hook, line and sinker? How do they get through day without thinking the moder day equivalent of of "We're at war with Eurasia nd we've always been at war with Eurasia?"