Many people die in such forest fires. They become trapped and unable to reach safety. In the last year, more people in the United States have died in forest fires than people dying from earthquakes and/or volcanic activity. And best of all, forest fires have the potential to be man made.

In ancient times, the act of razing the crops of ones enemies was actually quite common. The Romans, Egyptians, Greeks, and Franks all did it. The idea was to turn your enemy's homeland into a wasteland so that they would all starve to death. Burning their homes was also part of this plan, as it gave people very little to start up with again and the lack of shelter also could lead to disease and death.

Fighting forest fires are expensive and usually result in the death of many civilians before they can be controlled. They are incredibly easy to light however, and tracking the pyro who lit it is almost impossible.

Typically pyros do the deed because it excites them and they enjoy the media attention it gets. The thought of using forest fires as a form of terrorism has not been thoroughly explored.

But it will undoubtably eventually happen. This form of "cowardly" terrorism is very appealing to some people, especially after the 2002 sniper incidents, because it is near impossible to catch the person who started the fire. Only the pyro bragging to others can lead to his/her capture (much like the snipers bragging in 2002 and getting caught). A pyroterrorist however would never brag. Instead, the goal of a pyroterrorist is to go on a burning spree... a cross country trip in which they stop every so often and start another fire. The closer to towns the fires are, the more media attention the fires will get.

Most rural firefighters are not equipped to fight forest fires or brushfires. Their trucks are designed to combat housefires. Combating a brushfire in a field of wheat or corn in unheard of.

So in many ways, it is only a matter of time. True, forest-fires do not have a shock effect like the sudden death of thousands of people. But the snipers incidents show it does not take a rocket scientist and two planes to cause mass terror. Start enough forest fires, leave some messages for firefighters to find, and the media will do the rest. When all is said and done, it will burden the United States with the very real danger of pyroterrorism. A cheap and highly effective way of causing mass hysteria.

To say nothing of pissing off environmentalists, like myself. Of course this is merely be speeding up the process. Professors at various U.S. universities (including Harvard) are currently predicting the bulk of the States will become desert within the next 30 years due to global warming and climate change. The United States will be more like Iraq when all is said and done.

Or maybe we should say Saudi Arabia, since their desert is bigger, they have similar economic policies and they're in bed with the Bush family (and likewise the oil industry). And since Osama bin Laden is a Saudi who was trained by the CIA during the Gulf War, and since this mistake came back to haunt America in a fiery retort, I would not be surprised if there are not many other "U.S. trained" terrorists-to-be who may attack the United States within the next 10 years. After all, attacking several countries all in a short period of time tends to make enemies. Going about and beating up smaller countries will only breed terrorism, and many of these terrorists may turn to pyroterrorism within the next few years.

Watching Jerry Springer is like watching a NAZI rally. They chant U S A and George Bush and wave their arms like they are hailing Hitler. It is a scary comparison.

Springer himself seems to be aware of the problem, and is likewise aware of the sexism and racism present in his show. He seems to be just flowing with it however, but trying to maintain some kind of semblance of morality. Jerry Springer has morals? HAHA... maybe more morals than we think. He is exposing the heart of American culture, and what we are seeing is pretty pathetic.

To give a brief overview, the United States is filled with a mix of sex-crazed, money-loving bigots, Bible-thumping grandmothers, cheating spouses/partners, nihilism, apathy, hatred, self-loathing and more than a good dose of violence.

The biggest problems in the United States are ignorance and violence. So much so that they perpetuate and amplify each other. The last time a country with that much military power had such levels of anger, frustration and ignorance, Hitler was still alive.

You get my point.

And the reporters on CNN are recognizing that foreigners are pointing this out and trying to dispute it. And why not? They get their funding from the government. A government that currently has a tough-love, schoolyard bully might-is-right approach to politics, both foreign and domestic.

The reporters on CNN are doing a bad job of it however. The existence of CNN's most popular show "Showdown Iraq" has the edge of a spaghetti western to it, wherein Iraq is pegged as guilty until proven innocent and military preparations for war suggest that the United States is willing to falsify evidence in the effort to justify war.

Are American families ready to have their sons killed for a war about misplaced vengeance (Bush can't catch Osama bin Laden, so he's trying to get Saddam Hussein instead) and of course, oil. Iraq's oil reserves, combined with a pipeline through Afghanistan would give the United States all the oil it needs for the next 50 years to make the switch to electric cars. After that, oil will be so scarce it will cost too much for the average person to afford.

Of course, the alternative is to conquer another oil-producing country in the middle-east just to lower the costs.

So it really matters which Americans want to pay? The blood of American soldiers, or an extra 20 cents per gallon of gas?

Of course, our nihilistic society is unaccustomed to horrors of war. We won't stop believing in our own invincibility until thousands of our soldiers are sent home in body bags. The propaganda on television, even on commercials for cars/etc, says nothing about the soldiers that are going to die, the women that will be raped in a ground-war, the children that will be massacred, etc. The human rights violations that take place during war are never mentioned on television commercials advertising the new Ford truck. That would not be patriotic after all.

A large factor in this alarming problem is the fact that the government does not consider itself to be on the brink of fascism, and thus is not taking any counter-measures to raise public awareness, educate people and think critically about the problems that the United States are facing. Instead, criticism is frowned upon as being 'unpatriotic' when really it is being aware of your surroundings and having the wisdom to recognize potential dangers.

Apparently it is unpatriotic to point out that the United States is speeding up a process of going to Hell in a Handbasket, and anyone who wants out of this handbasket is considered a "traitor". My advice for my fellow "traitors"...? Immigrate to Canada, Britain or Europe, where the economy is stable and we're not threatening war everytime we turn around. Even Russia is preferable right now. Communist Fascism is dead in Russia, but Capitalist Fascism is booming in the United States.