I'm about to make a statement that will shock, dismay and perhaps bring questions as to my sanity. Another terrorist attack on the United States would be awful, but not be a total negative.

How can I make such an apparently absurd assertion? I have simply been observing the changes in this country since September 11, 2001 and I am disheartened in the extreme.

From the first flush of patriotism and anger we have disintegrated into indifference and factional sniping. In an effort to regain some semblance of order in our national lives we have descended into petty bickering, political correctness and deceitful posturing.

We have allowed the passage of time to dull our perception of the evil deeds because as a single set of events on a one horrific day they can be dismissed as an aberration. We don't fear the events of a single attack because we don't really believe that the terrorists are capable of hurting us again and so all we need to do is find Osama bin Laden and