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The war continues. I can't imagine that the terrorists are anything but gleeful over what is going on. They have certainly made it clear that they have little concern for their own personal safety. The war is destabilizing the Muslim world. It is turning moderates against the West. It is helping militants to demonize the United States. At its most effective it might take out a relatively meaningless government and force the terrorists to shift their operations. Unfortunately, if we don't capture or kill bin Laden, the war is going to end up a public-relations nightmare. Since public relations, rather than long-term strategic goals, is the reason the war is being fought, this would be very bad. Remember, I say this not as a peacenik but as an American who wants to win the war on terrorism and thinks we're going about it in a terribly wrong way. You don't go after a mosquito with a war plane.

Preparing for the terrorists is equally uneven. Everything is a potential target, almost anyone a potential terrorist. How do you cope?

The nightmare at home continues. The economy falters, the populace is terrified. The terrorists must be very happy.

They are also very wrong. They don't get the American people. They think the dissent is a sign of our weakness. It is a sign of our strength. They think our freedom makes us vulnerable. Our freedom is at our core. We are not a geographical location or a common people; our nation comes from an idea of liberty. Dissent is our life blood. Rather than cripple us, it is how we will defeat them.

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Last night we got the news that Dan Del Santo had died. Dan, as Paul Ray once observed, came to Austin as a cowboy and metamorphosed into an African chieftain. Along the way he helped coin the term "World Music" and explored any number of musical turfs. He was an innovative presence on the scene for a decade and a half. For much of that he was also a great guy, very entertaining. Toward the end he changed. He was on the run from a drug charge, living in Mexico when he died -- another victim of the War on Drugs, our war on our own people.

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In the past we've always printed the top five winners from the Short Story contest, but our editorial hole has shrunk. Now only the top story is in the issue and the rest are online, though you can hear them all read at BookPeople on Thursday, Oct. 25 at 7pm. Toward that end, more kudos to the Statesman, not only for their superb extensive coverage of what is going on but that, in a dramatically slowing economy, they have resisted massive layoffs as an economy remedy. No one knows what is coming next or where we will end up, but the Statesman's priorities, informing the public and taking care of their employees, have been admirable.

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Eat Drink Watch Movies. This is the incredible pairing of film with restaurants planned by Virginia Wood with the Alamo Drafthouse and restaurant folks. The event is in November, but early ticket purchase is suggested. Tickets available online at www.drafthouse.com/north/north.html.

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We have received so many letters about recent events that we have created a special home for them on our Web site (austinchronicle.com). Any and all letters and comments we receive on these events will be posted to the site.