Reality is what it is. Perceptions, however, can be varried and even be (gasp!) wrong. White people don't want to believe that racism is still alive and well. It is. Black people want to blame the (white) messenger for bad news about black people like Bonds or OJ. Tough. Don't blame conflicting realities for what are simply irrational and/or self-serving motives on the part of whites and blacks in this country. Instead of throwing up our hands about "differing realities" we have to rub people's noses in reality. That means hard-hitting reporting with no punches pulled and fact-finding over repeating (or flattering) people's opinions. Telling the truth (that Bonds is a cheater and an egomanic AND that many white people root against him out of racial spite--they are not mutually exclusive) is our only way out of this mess.

Anyone who believes in Capitalism (as I know you do) knows that almost NOBODY is judged on the content of their character--they are judged on how much money they can make for you. When Bonds and McGuire (along with Sosa) had the turnstiles swirling, all was right with the world. When the steroid issue threatened to turn the audience off, then it became a big problem. Black people very likely reject criticism of a guy like Bonds because guys like you are endlessly waiting around to wag your fingers at blacks and tell them who to follow, which of them you approve of, and why they are bad and disfunctional. You don't want to listen to Jesse Jackson complain about racism? Fine. How about contributing to the well-being of the nation and keep your disengenuous mouth shut about the issue, too?

how the dollar can be falling like a stone (the pound was up to 2 bucks and the Euro is at an all time high), gasoline prices (and therefore tranportation costs) are soaring, and yet inflation is at levels below those of the 1970s, interest rates are moderate (despite massive government borrowing), and the DOW up in the air? No economic model, Left or Right, seems to explain this crazy economic behavior. I just can't understand what's keeping this economy from total meltdown.

how do they explain that 24 nuclear explosions in the US could knock out the country? Hell, it was calculated in the devastating film "Threads" that it would take 20 one-megaton Soviet bomb blasts to knock out the UK. Since the US arsenal doesn't have bombs in it that big any more (we use 300 kiloton bombs--about 18 Hiroshimas worth of TNT) and terrorists would be lucky to build a bomb that was as bad as the one that knocked out Hiroshima, I don't get how this size strike could possible hurtle our society back to the stone age.

No need to be rude. I've watched three episodes and got no clear idea of the "big picture." I know a little about military affairs (I have a Ph.D. in Naval History) so I'm not just blowing smoke when I say that the numbers don't quite add up. One would have to know what weapons were used where to have a viable "end of society as we know it" scenario. Since I have read a fair amount of Science Fiction, usually they try to make a stab at accuracy. I'll go with the flow, just give me something I can suspend my disbelief about.

I have devoted my professional life to the study of the Royal Navy. I earned my Ph.D. at the University of Wales. But this sickening British failure to be who they are and stand up to the nuts in Washington makes me want to puke. Britain is the natural leader fo Europe. It is an important state of signifcant size in the European Union, which is now the richest and most uniformly advanced zone in the developed world. American is turning into a land of millionairs and servants indentured to thier credit card companies and home loan brokers. Thatcher and Blair are TRAITORS to their people, plain and simple, serving a foreign master. I sometimes wonder if they and their staffs weren't on the CIA payroll, although you seem to contend that they were such weaklings and syncophants that they needed no bribes to sell out their country. Distgusting. The British people better wake up, stop imagining that they are somehow "better" than their continental bretheren (they are not), and get their head out of the arse of Uncle Sam