Janet,

I agree with whoever said, "I'm neither ashamed nor proud to be an American." It's just not productive to talk about Americans feeling responsible for what their government does. What is most important -- and that "saving civilization" guy should take heed of this --is mother earth, because we belong to her, not the other way around. Ignorant, and arrogant, people like George Bush and Dick Cheney don't realize this. That's why they play on the short-sighted economic fears of the American people to justify their anti-mother nature policies. "Civilization" must take a backseat to mother nature, NOT the other way around, and this will happen the easy way, or the hard way.