LOL!!! By God, this has become one entertaining thread...

Peter - I like eating with chopsticks! After you get the hang of it, it seems to make the food taste better... :-)

Greg - Well...I think virtually everyone is bigoted about something (including me), only we usually aren't aware of it as bigotry, that's all. Being a know-all, as you suggest, certainly can exacerbate the problem.

Kissinger won't be tried for anything, because he has powerful friends in high places among the elite that rule the West at present.

Claymore - You have certainly spiced up this thread! I think I could get to like you. I tend to agree with your assessment that there is a looming possibility of confrontation at some point between America and China...in maybe 15 or 20 years from now. In the nearer future I think there is much more danger of a local war between India and Pakistan...or worse...India and China. Either could have very serious repercussions.

There is also still the danger that some unforseeen crisis could lead to a short and deadly war between America and Russia...but only if one or both of them totally loses its mind. It would be a suicidal war for the Russians and for most of us in North America as well.

I have a very, very low opinion of the ruling Chinese leadership (although I like Chinese people just fine) and I regard them as capable of just about anything, given the right circumstances.

I have a very low opinion of Henry Kissinger too (in a moral sense), although I think he's a smart cookie...and he did pull off some very canny political maneuvers, no doubt.

And hey, I'm 52, so I'm old enough to have an opinion about Henry Kissinger. I think a majority of us here at Mudcat are somewhere around that age range.

Cheers,

- LH