Alien Nation - The NYTimes suggests in this report that Californians don't seem to have much invested in our current efforts in Iraq. The priorities of California just aren't the same as those in Washington, it claims. I'm not necessarily surprised. The attacks of 9/11 never really seemed to sink in, out there on the left coast -- and believe me, this war is all about 9/11. Much like continental Europe, California doesn't seem to register the threat posed by rogue nations and the terrorist free agents they shelter. Bush and many other Americans have come to believe that deterrence and containment is no longer an effective strategy in a world where weapons of mass destruction have become low-tech and easy to build. Maybe Californians can take some comfort in the fact that they don't seem to be at the top of al Qaeda's hit-list, like we are over here on the East Coast. But even the French, who come by appeasement and accommodation to dictators naturally, are learning these strategies won't keep them safe. My West Coast brethren may not like to hear it, but the truth is this is a deadly serious fight for our civilization, and we really are all in this together.