Meanwhile, the United States keeps borrowing to meet its enormous consumer
and oil appetites. The Japanese and Chinese have, combined, stockpiled over
a trillion dollars from indebted Americans. One or both nations will
inevitably adopt an assertive foreign policy to reflect their financial
leverage over the U.S.
Despite politicians' rhetoric about energy independence, Americans have made
no progress in curbing our enormous oil appetite, which accounts for 25
percent of the world's daily consumption.
We incur debt to pay for imported petroleum, while ensuring astronomical
world oil prices. That hurts poor nations and translates into billions of
dollars pouring into the most unstable and hostile governments of the Middle
East - and eventually to terrorists themselves.
There are more than 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States.
Thousands took to the streets on May Day to demand new rights. While we
squabble over border defense, increased security, guest workers, verifiable
IDs, amnesty and earned citizenship, hundreds of thousands more aliens come
illegally into the United States every year.
The public and its leaders know these problems cannot continue unaddressed -
and yet we fear the bitter medicine to come far more than suffering with the
present chronic illness.
But what if al-Qaida lets off a dirty bomb or blows up an oil field, or if
Americans flee Iraq, or if Russia decides to cut off natural gas to Europe
or reabsorbs one of its bothersome former republics? We try to hear and see
no evil, but it's not far-fetched to suggest that future world events could
quickly change the lives of millions.
So why then fixate on Anna Nicole, Rosie, Imus and Alec?
Simple - they are the modern equivalents of grotesque carnival freak shows
that used to provide a perverse sense of escapism from what people dare not
face. Yet as our dependency on such tabloid distraction grows, so, too, do
the real dangers that we ignore.
The ghost of Anna Nicole, foul-mouthed Rosie and trash-talking Imus turn out
to be the best friends Ayman al-Zawahiri, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Vladimir
Putin have.