– Bay Bridge cam: still standing. Ditto Golden Gate.
– Bank closes to test money for anthrax. I’ll assume it’s just a case of panic in Princeton (where money matters). But if money ever is poisoned, get your smart cards out.
– Andrew Sullivan agrees with my theory that the government is playing up this domestic nutso anthrax theory — or at least hoping that’s how it turns out — because they don’t want to face war on a second front with Iraq even as they’re fearing a muddle on the first front in Afghanistan.
– If the reports of anthrax in Pakistan turn out to be true and tied to our attacks, that pretty much kills the right-wing-nut theory, I’d say.
– Salman Rushdie: “Of course, this is about Islam…. ‘Islam has become its own enemy.’ ” A fine column.
– Why I told that Arab prince to sod off, by Rudy Guliani.
– Maureen Dowd: “The terrorists have already turned Halloween into an adult holiday and stolen Christmas. Who wants to open Christmas cards or touch catalogs or go to malls? They have debilitated our confidence, both in our economy and our freedom, and made us jittery about the very breaths we take and food we eat.”
– Kottke contributes to the language with a quote from someone saying somethings stuck in the mail because it’s “all ‘thraxed up.”