A lot of scary things operate beneath the public scope, already dizzy and mindless from World Cup losses and Independence Day. Just to show it hasn't been a complete pride blackout, two stories from the Allied nations:

• Dialog International translates a somewhat horrific incident of book burning in Pretzien, a small town not too terribly far from Berlin. The Diary of Anne Frank and an American flag -- something of a mixed message, wouldn't you say? Another Gegen Nazi demonstration should take care of things.

• Sploid weaves a lurid tapestry which indicates, vaguely, that America is no longer interested in Osama bin Ladin. At least the special arm of the CIA that investigates him has been taken off the case -- over a year ago. Does it mean that we're concentrating on "Al Qaeda," i.e. the freelance cabals that plan and enact terrorist acts and proliferate by the day, or that bin Laden has actually been cold and in the ground for years now? I have always been surprised at how quickly and surely bin Laden's audio messages have been verified by intelligence experts.

  Much as we knew about Pearl Harbor, we knew about 9/11. The war on terrorism is going gangbusters -- even better than previous wars on drugs, poverty. Merry Independence Day!