Was there ever a better example of hubris than America in the past two decades?. Those who came to prominence in that time should be known to history as the "Humpty Dumpty Generation". Blithely they declared a "New World Order" as if this crop of "leaders" had the vision and statemanship to fashion a world immune to the errors of the past. Who the hell did these paragons think they were!?! Talk about "historical altzheimers". . .Didn't any of them realize that we live in the biggest glass house on the block?

I'm tired of playing the blame game with the shortsighted. Actions have consequences. Nixon's paranoia did him in. Clinton's libido did the same. Both had the possibility for greatness and could never rise above their shortcomings. Ford, Reagan and Bush I? Caretakers, puppets, materialists, feeders of the financial/industrial machine. So much of what is happening now has grown from the culture of superficiality and vacuousness that characterized the glory years of the New Republican Majority.

Who did I forget? Oh yeah - Jimmy Carter. A lovely man; a not so great leader.

Maybe now that we have been wrenched back into the world community we'll stop basking in the glory provided by our great wealth and start to act like the world leader that we've always maintained that we were. And, perhaps, the unfolding crisis will once again give rise to real statesmanship. We can only hope..