[RickC]

Was listeneing to Ray Charles and reading a review of The Control Room today. It's a documentary about the news coverage of the 2nd Iraq War. According to Roger Ebert, one of the Al-Jazeera reporters expresses his desire to have his kids grow up in America -
Yet there is an extraordinary moment in the film when Samir Khader, an engaging and articulate producer for Al Jazeera, confides that if he were offered a job with Fox News, he would take it. He wants his children to seek their futures in the United States, he says, and I carefully wrote down his next words: "To exchange the Arab nightmare for the American dream."

I sit here in my office in Chicago, with Afghan President Hamid Karzai across the street at a hotel for a conference, and think about the state of much of the world, and then about America. I can only conclude that the troubles we face are still generations ahead of the troubles many other countries face - that calling many countries "backwards" is not mean but appropriate, for they simply are not keeping up with the times. I feel hopeful that in 70 years, after their own fights for women and civil rights, other non-western countries may enjoy our relative level of peace and stability, and contribute their special gifts to the Civilized world..

Think about what we were a lifetime ago:

It's highly improbable - but at least conceivable - that a dirt-poor, Edwardian Age (1911) white child like Reagan could grow up to become the President of the United States and die in Bel Air.
But it's inconceivable that a Depression-Era (1930) black child who went blind could become a great & wealthy piano player and then die next door in none-too-shabby Beverly Hills.

Plenty left for us to do, but we've come a long way, baby......

America the Beautiful indeed.