A few years ago, I read the book “The Three Trillion Dollar War” by Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz. By now, the War in Iraq has probably cost another $1 trillion. And, I heard on the radio this week that the cost of the war in Afghanistan is over $1 trillion. That is $5 trillion! That equals the cost of the entire Cold War (and counting).

What is truly ironic is that the purpose of this “resource war” is to secure fossil fuel, which is contributing to global warming, and, according to MIT, global warming will be disastrous before the end of the century, and depending on some models yet to be worked out, even sooner.

As I recently emailed Congressman Mike Thompson, with $5 trillion, we probably could have come up with a viable, cost efficient, environmentally friendly alternative to burning fossil fuel.

Meanwhile, we are discussing tax cuts. Not that a tax cut is not an important topic, but it is akin to discussing what color rug you want to install while the house is burning down.

There was a Pogo comic strip that I read, many years ago. The caption was: “We have met the enemy, and they is us.” And, we are.

Nelson Strasser lives in Kelseyville, Calif.