Sean and Zaikesman, your points are well taken. Sean, you in particular, I feel, have hit the nail on the head. For me, globalization necessarily means fewer -- not greater -- choices. Those who are in control put together bigger and bigger deals that affect more and more of us commoners, without our knowledge, desire or consent. As far as the media are concerned, go back and read about the annual Bilderberg meetings and take note of the media moguls who were in attendance. The power of the members of the financial community who are invited is also worth noting. If you annually bring together, in total secrecy, the world's most powerful politicians, the titans of the media, and those charged with controlling the money supply in various parts of the world, chances are they're not there to debate which teams will go to the Superbowl or World Cup -- or are they? Technology is responsible for our shrinking world, from electronic media to machines that can mass-produce goods on a mind-boggling scale to transportation systems that deliver those goods and those who sell them to the other side of the globe in hours instead of weeks. But everything has its price. It's been said that the technology that was to have freed us has enslaved us instead. Nothing could be more prophetic! The cellphone you carry everywhere makes it possible to determine your whereabouts within 150 feet (Communications Act of 1996, signed by Bill Clinton). It was for your own good, of course, in case you're ever missing in a snowstorm. (No need to tattoo a barcode on everyone. That's too obvious. We'll just make sure they all get a cellphone.) Tracking devices like OnStar and Lojak can determine where your car is. It's for your own good, of course, in case it's stolen (or not). Satellites can read your license plate, while also determining how much money you're carrying, thanks to our redesigned currency with that little strip inside. It's for your own good, of course, to deter counterfeiters. When the U.N. troops march down your street to confiscate your guns and your money, the final piece of the puzzle will be in place. It's a chess game, folks, and we're just a few moves away from checkmate. We pawns were sacrificed long ago. Perhaps the entire planet is being sold to some extraterrestrial high bidder. That would certainly explain why the bidders keep coming here to see how things are going, and it probably beats waiting until we all blow ourselves up. Selling it before any more rot sets in will at least leave the place more salvageable, and those individuals who appear to be worth saving will get beamed aboard. I've got it... let's call it "The Rapture." Things have gotten totally out of hand since those clones Adam and Eve crashed here. By the time they were found they had populated the place with countless inbred defectives. Let's call it "Original Sin." Kill them all, or wait a few thousand years and see what happens? That should be worth a few laughs. Just be ready to pull the plug if it looks like they're getting close to being able to escape and screw up some other planet. We'll call it "The Apocalypse."
