Several years ago I heard a tape that was allegedly made by one of the Swiss delegates at the May 1992 Bilderberg meeting in Evian France. It sure "sounded" like Dr. K, and, no, I was not allowed to keep a copy.

Reportedly, Kissinger said, "Today Americans would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order; tomorrow they will be grateful! This is especially true if they were told there was an outside threat from beyond, whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will pledge with world leaders to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well being granted to them by their world government."

The "whether real or promulgated" line repeats like a refrain.

Regardless of the veracity of the Kissinger tape, I believe the threat is real. There is an abundance of data that demonstrates bin Dirtbag and his ilk really, really hate us. Western culture and the Judeo-Christian ethic are anathema to the Islamic fanatics. They have demonstrated by word and deed an unbridled desire to destroy the form and substance of what we are.

However, whether the threats are real or manufactured is almost immaterial. Would-be controllers can, and arguably will, exploit the threats to further "their" agenda. And their agenda is all about control.

The anthrax scare has planted the seed of doubt about the safety of the U.S. mail. As a consequence it is reasonable to anticipate that some businesses and individuals may eventually eschew the Postal Service for less presumably vulnerable vehicles, like e-mail, fax, online fax services like efax.com and jfax.com, and move toward online invoicing and bill paying.

Notwithstanding the latest Washington Post piece which headlined with "FBI and CIA Suspect Domestic Extremists: Officials Doubt Any Links to Bin Laden," I have come to the uncomfortable conclusion the anthrax attacks may in fact be a "reconnaissance in force" by evildoers to test both methods of dissemination and evaluate federal countermeasures in order to plan alternatives or mitigation. In other words, maybe the anthrax events are mere probes.

Frankly, regardless of who is responsible for the anthrax assaults, the consequences -- intended or otherwise -- have and will result in significant challenges to our liberty and freedom. That is a fact!

The Washington Post wrote, "Top FBI and CIA officials believe that the anthrax attacks on Washington, New York and Florida are likely the work of one or more extremists in the United States who are probably not connected to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist organization, government officials said." Hello?

"Everything seems to lean toward a domestic source," one senior official said. "Nothing seems to fit with an overseas terrorist type operation."

Hmmmmm. If not the most likely suspects, who then? "The FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service are considering a wide range of domestic possibilities, including associates of right-wing hate groups and U.S. residents sympathetic to the causes of Islamic extremists."

Both the FBI and CIA reportedly agree that al-Qaida cronies are planning more serious attacks. One senior official told the Post, "nobody believes the anthrax scare we are going through is the next wave of terrorism." Why? "There is no intelligence on it and it does not fit any [al-Qaida] pattern." This from the same folks who dropped the ball and soiled the sheets big time Sept. 11.

The feds note that white supremacists have been linked with anthrax in the past, but not in relation to an attack. However, one of the challenges that a would-be terrorist faces is learning how to alter the anthrax so that it will float in the air and disperse widely.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said that investigators believe a broad range of people are capable of the crime. "The quality anthrax sent to Senator Daschle's office could be produced by a Ph.D. microbiologist and a sophisticated laboratory," he told reporters.

Several years ago a friend in one of the government-initialed services told me that a ridiculously high percentage of all paper money in circulation had trace amounts of cocaine on it. Recently my bioterrorism nightmare expanded to a paranoid fear that some pathogen could be introduced onto our money.

If the inventory of currency becomes tainted how disruptive would that be?

• Recall and destroy all paper currency in circulation.
• All that black-market and criminal cash would become worthless because New money would be reissued (to those who could prove they were "entitled" to it) and only the new money would be valid.
• Despite the reissue, people would be inclined to avoid cash and adopt routine use of credit and debit cards. Cool! The government hates cash transactions anyway. Cash is so hard to track and document. If we didn't become an overnight "cashless society" it would be one giant step toward that goal.

What is the one venue in which federal authorities receive the lion's share of unconstitutional privacy-stealing, unbridled freedom to snoop, poke around and collect data? The brand-new Anti-Terrorism Bill.

On Friday, President Bush signed the sweeping legislation into law, giving police and intelligence agencies vast new powers to "counter a threat like no other our nation has ever faced.''

The slightly watered down (but not enough) legislation, "expands the FBI's wiretapping and electronic surveillance authority and imposes stronger penalties for harboring or financing terrorists. It increases the number of crimes considered terrorist acts and toughens the punishment for committing them."

It also gives police wide-ranging new anti-terrorism powers to secretly search people's homes and business records and to eavesdrop on telephone and computer conversations.

There is a new cyborg sheriff in cyberspace. And he's ready, willing and able to kick butt and take names.