[Vision2020] Another Kong for Pat to chew on

[joanopyr at earthlink.net]

More pearls from Pat:
"No, we are not perfect and sometimes BIG mistakes have been made...but you
will read about them in the news and we will do all we can to fix
them....see that anywhere else in the world??"

Yes, I do see this elsewhere in the world.  I see this in the Truth &
Reconcilation Commissions in South Africa, which have helped to ease the
transition from a violent, white minority government to non-violent black
majority rule.  I see this in the commitment of Great Britain and the
Netherlands and Germany and Sweden and Norway and Denmark and the rest of
Western Europe to global debt reduction and foreign aid -- commitments that
are, per capita, far greater than our own.  (Yeah, we spend more in total,
but we have more, and per capita, we behave internationally like Ebenezer
Scrooge in the FAO Schwartz.)  

I see bravery, hope, courage, and ongoing attempts to right wrongs, both
past and present, everywhere in the world.  There was a story on NPR not
long ago about a group of Palestinians and Israelis who have been meeting
via an informal kind of exchange program for more than two decades, doing
their damnedest to understand one another.  Perhaps that's why Congress
wants to cut funding for public radio and PBS.  Peace work is so . . .
liberal.  Ick.  Better to kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out, eh?  Or
nuke their ass and take their gas.  That's what the bumper stickers tell
me, anyway.

This is a great nation, Pat, but it's not, as you note, a perfect one.  So
why try to defend it by waving our flags and screaming "We're Number One!"
at the top of our collective lungs?  Why not grow up, suck it up, and take
our rightful place as a thoughtful and considerate citizen in an
ever-smaller world?  This planet ain't big enough for the two of us,
meaning the United States and all of them other folks who want some of that
thar oil what we're a-pumping.  Five percent of the population cannot
forever devour 25% of the world's resources.  For other countries, living
with the United States and its enormous appetites is like trying to share a
bucket of chicken wings with Rush Limbaugh.  Better grab quickly or you'll
draw back a nub.   

Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment
www.auntie-establishment.com