My grandfather used to say that you shouldn't make threats. Too often, threats are just bluffs anyways, and if you really meant to do something, you'd just go ahead and do it, rather than putting in the effort to spew out some idle words that have nothing to do with action. So it is with this in mind that I wonder why in the name of the wide, wide world of sports our dumb-ass president is splashing all this contemplation about deposing Saddam Hussein all over the news.

Yes, we all know his approval rating is finally falling. We all joked about the fact that if it did fall, he'd go attack Iraq in an effort to finish what his daddy started and to distract us all from the reality of it all. But we were joking. At least I was. And if he's really going to do this, do you really think the best thing to do is tell the world the sixteen different ways we're contemplating going after Saddam?

There are a few certainties in this situation. One is that nuclear weapons have been on the market for many years and there's probably plenty of ways Saddam could get his hands on a few. Another is that I'm sure he's got some chemical and/or biological weapons aimed straight at us and our allies -- and even if he can't reach us, he can blast the hell out of Israel.

Because of all this, I really wonder why in hell our local papers are running a play-by-play update every day about all the deliberation Congress is going through about all our plans to attack Iraq again, when any diplomatic attache can pick up a New York Times or a Washington Post, throw it in a diplomatic pouch and send it back to Baghdad for Saddam to read and use to prepare his troops and weaponry.

For God's sake, this lunatic in the White House really is going to get us all killed. I believe it more firmly now than I did in the days after September 11th.