Instead of blowing up the Casbah, let’s rock it! A trillion dollars is more than enough to buy every human being on earth an iPod. Okay, not the sexy new touch version. But a 4GB Nano with video is pretty cool. And we’d even have money left over to buy some songs.

So, what else could we do in this area? How about free music festivals, free movies for years, free vacations and an architectural wonder of the world in every American city?

We could have made America the smartest country on earth. A trillion dollars could provide a free college education for every American who’s currently in high school. What would that do for our global competitiveness? Or we could reduce class sizes in public schools, give teachers a raise, retrain industrial workers. All of which might be smarter than spending a trillion dollars on this war.

With a trillion dollars, we could produce enough ethanol and cellulosic ethanol to virtually eliminate our dependence on Middle-East oil. And what we could with solar power, mass transit and other environmentally-friendly initiatives would blow your mind.

With a trillion dollars, we could cover the cost of enough cancer screenings and vaccinations to save about 100,000 American lives per year. And just think of what prevention or early detection of diseases could save us in Medicare costs! We could also provide prescription drugs for our seniors, clean the air, build parks, launch fitness programs and more.

With a trillion dollars, we could actually take care of our veterans the way we should. (instead of reducing their benefits, like we are). We could also make air travel safer, provide cargo screening at our ports, protect power plants, railways, subways, etc., etc., etc.

A trillion dollars could make every American baby a multi-millionaire by retirement age. Or provide you with a much better tax break than the ‘stimulus’ package did. Or we could have the Mother of all lotteries, in which everybody wins.