Do you have any good reason why I should not be cynical and contemptuous of governments in general, Bill? ;-) Virtually every person I talk to or hear talking to someone else around me is cynical and contemptuous of present day governments, and I live in one of the most benign and pleasant countries in the world.

I also see loads of conspiracy theories I don't place any credence in, but I don't bother posting about them on Mudcat. I only post about the ones I'm interested in. One conspiracy theory I place little credence in is the one advanced by the 911 Commission, for example.

Bluerabbit10, you are just repeating the gospel as it was told to you from the time you were in First Grade. It may surprise you that I lived in the USA for 10 years, then I returned to Canada (my original place of birth) and I would rather live in Canada by a factor of 10 to 1. I know a lot of Americans who have moved here because they feel the same way about that as I do. Funny how you never hear about that, isn't it?

You are not the most generous country in the world, and there's really no way of even determining who that would be. There are too many factors involved to make such a statement. What you are is the most heavily armed and aggressive country in the world, and your nation is spending more money on the military than all the other nations in the world put together. It's also consuming more resources than the rest of the world is. I don't call that "generous", I call it wasteful and irresponsible.

Yes, you do live in a great land. So do I. It's called "North America". I'm in the Canadian section, you're in the USA section. It's unquestionably a great land, and it's inhabited by fine people whom I am glad to call my friends, but your government is not a great government.