WASHINGTON -- So now security bureaucrats, my word is "securicrats," are recommending that you have three days of water, batteries for your portable radio and an x-amount of plastic and duct tape to seal off outside air for a protected room in your home.

Or, use your bomb shelter if you still have one.

The Notebook is all for reasonable precautions, but can't help wondering a few things.

Like, for example, does such security warnings mean that every business office, retail store or say, movie theater, needs to stock the same supplies, just in case? Or, are we to assume that a terrorist attack will occur while most of us are at home with our families? Or, do we assume we'll be able to rush home to put in effect our plan?

What if you're riding underground on Metro? What is Metro's plan to protect its customers?

What if you're watching the movie About Schmidt, already deeply depressing enough, and suddenly you're stuck for a few hours, a few days? Will there be a raid on the candy counter and fountain drinks? Will doors be sealed with glue-coated film?

And, what about elementary, high schools and colleges? Are schools required to stock water and duct tape, enough for everyone? How about houses of worship? And what if you're at a Saturday morning soccer game?

Should a significant dreaded attack of some type occur, the members of the President's team and the members of Congress will be whisked away to undisclosed, "secure locations." What a jumble and scramble that will be, and you'll be trying to unroll the plastic sheets and trying to keep the duct tape from tangling, if you have any.

Before you call to complain, the Notebook certainly is not trying to make light of serious terrorism concerns. But, as the government "securicrats" are warning us to prepare for something, sometime, somewhere, you might ask yourself how realistic is it that you will be at home? And if you're not at home, then where will you be? Some of us will be lucky ducks and some of us will be stuck with duct tape. Welcome to the age of pseudo-security.

Have a nice day.

You don't count. In the drumbeat of war to save the world for democracy, President Bush's press spokesman Ari Fleischer was asked recently by a journalist about the lack of Democracy in the Nation's Capital. The question came from Russell Mokhiber, White House reporter for the D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter.

Part of the exchange follows:
Russell Mokhiber: The President has repeatedly said that he wants to bring democracy to Iraq. But here in the District of Columbia, citizens have no elected representatives in Congress ... What is the President doing to bring democracy to the District of Columbia?

Fleischer: Per the Constitution, the District of Columbia is a unique entity. The President has expressed no desire to change the representation that the District of Columbia was given by the framers. And I don't really think you can equate the District of Columbia being a democracy with Iraq's failure to be a democracy, and it is in fact of course a totalitarian state.

Well, you know where we stand.

As local activist Mark David Richards likes to point out, the original U.S. Constitution also kept blacks and women from voting. Now it's just blacks and women and everyone else who live in the Nation's Capital.

Watch that security bunker.

D.C. Delegate Eleanor Homes Norton was hosting a tourism fare on Capitol Hill this week. It's a way for her and 40 tourist attractions, hotels and restaurants to appeal to Capitol Hill, its 56 new members and all the staffs.

Norton's intent was to show them the city is open for business, despite the slow, well not so slow, creep of this security measure or that security measure steadily closing off the Nation's Capital.

Water ... water ... water.

No, this is not a security item. In all the talk before the council last week on inaccurate water bills, the Notebook found it actually learned something and is pleased to pass it on. How much do residents pay for water?

Your bill describes water usage in "cubic feet" and says you pay 4.496 cents per cubic foot for water and sewage. Translated that means you pay 4.5 cents for every 7.5 gallons of water.