.......that we as a nation, and a people, do incur the wrath of and are regarded with such disdain by most of the people on this planet?

I'm going to do this one without the help of the commander-in chimp(who alone is reason enough for them to hate us).

The following statement is verbatim, from a program on PBS - probably out of context, but none the less, a stand alone sentence. "To most people, the King James Bible is the voice of God". That said, the "freedom of religion" portion of our "freedoms" as Americans, originally was intended only as a means of allowing our citizens to interpret said bible as they saw fit. Too bad the founding fathers didn't have the ability to predict jet airplanes, our imminent addiction to Muslim oil, and the fact that unbeknownst to them, there were many more cultures inhabiting this planet who actually preceeded us by centuries, and who would have the gall to actually have had their own ideas on creation and religion, and not just up and ditch their own teachings and buy right into the Christmas and Easter story that our miniscule clergy(by world population), teaches. There have been a few wars over this. There will be more.

Here's the deal.........the edge in technology and the biggest cannons are no longer ours alone. The economic balance is not far behind. Might be time to sit around the campfire and listen to what the other guys have to say and at least, give up on trying to convert them. It might mean the difference down the road, whether we are still enjoying our own "freedoms". In the grand scheme of this world, we are but a blemish on world history, and shrinking, due to our self centered and imperialistic notions. Our short time in existence as a culture and world power, pales by comparison to many great civilizations that fell before us, eaten alive by their own wretched excesses and their hunger for power and wealth. It would be nice to be the ones who broke the cycle and finally found the way to peacefully co-exist with the rest, wouldn't it?

Oh, and this was anything but a knock at PBS. They are truly a bright light in a really dark, big brother media culture in our land!