First of all, to follow up on the previous post.

So you thought I was crazy with that fan-breeze-connection hypothesis. So...you were right. I thought I was on to something, but hey, even Einstein didn't get e=mc2 on the first try. Starting yesterday evening I felt one of those breezes, I was enjoying it, and then I thought. Hey, I'm near a fan! What if I moved away? So I did...and the breeze continued, in fact, it's still going nicely as I type. Even when I went outside, where there are absolutely none of those weird blowing things, breeze heaven. So I still have no idea what those weird machines are for, but there are a lot of human inventions (clothes, toilet, war) I don't get. Thanks for the suggestions though, all who wrote in.

But what I really wanted to write about today is foreign policy. I've been reading the newspaper this past few days and everything is about the current conflict in the Middle East. I know I'm no diplomat or policy wonk or anything, but I feel that my own experiences might be helpful here, and since nobody else's ideas seem to be doing much good, I'm going to put my two paws in.

I'm sympathetic to territorial conflicts. I too often get irrational and agressive when other dogs get on my turf. In fact, I have gotten into quite a few scrapes over land to which I felt historically entitled. I'm not proud of it, but yes, innocent fur flew, puppies and bitches were harmed. I feel bad in retrospect, but at the time, I just couldn't control myself.

I have gotten over this, though. The key is: take off your leash. For some reason, the pulling and the yanking just makes everyone well...hot under the collar, and diplomacy doesn't have a chance. But take it off, give yourself a little room to romp around collarfree, and soon you won't even mind that a Dachsund/Wolfound/Jew/Arab is sniffing your crotch or peeing on your patch of grass. Not that you even feel like growling or launching an ICBM, but if you did, you'd think twice anyway because nude romping is so much fun that you wouldn't want to lose the privilege.

So: Middle East. Take off the leash. It's simple, free, and if it can reconcile an 18 lb. Mexican-Welsh pound mutt with a 150 lb.  purebred Rottweiler, it can definitely bring together a couple of monotheistic Semitic distant cousins.