Let's drop the big one...

Just discovered this Randy Newman song from 1972! This is political satire at its best... and still so topical! Who would have thunk that this person who I only knew as the music composer from some of my favorite animated movies (Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Cars, Monsters,Inc.) had this in him... hehe :)

Very rarely have I seen the irony of the U.S. foreign policy put so beautifully in words... Read on!

No one likes us-I don't know why
We may not be perfect, but heaven knows we try
But all around, even our old friends put us down
Let's drop the big one and see what happens

We give them money-but are they grateful?
No, they're spiteful and they're hateful
They don't respect us-so let's surprise them
We'll drop the big one and pulverize them

Asia's crowded and Europe's too old
Africa is far too hot
And Canada's too cold
And South America stole our name
Let's drop the big one
There'll be no one left to blame us

We'll save Australia
Don't wanna hurt no kangaroo
We'll build an All American amusement park there
They got surfin', too

Boom goes London and boom Paris
More room for you and more room for me
And every city the whole world round
Will just be another American town
Oh, how peaceful it will be
We'll set everybody free
You'll wear a Japanese kimono
And there'll be Italian shoes for me

They all hate us anyhow
So let's drop the big one now
Let's drop the big one now

Six degrees of honorary degrees

This is my post #1 - I am going to make a special effort to not talk about why I am here, why this is new for me, and why I want you to comment/not comment...hehe :)

Let's just get down to blogging...

I read this really nice magazine every couple of months - it's called Foreign Policy, and as the wise and brave of heart might glean from its name, it deals with foreign policy issues. What I really like about the magazine is that it doesn't have a 'voice' of its own. I am not fed some mousey editor's propaganda... and more often than not, I get to hear someone smart and unique express a surprisingly fresh viewpoint about an issue that I had not really thought about before!

The current May/June issue has a hilarious graphic to celebrate the graduation season in the U.S., and mock the shockingly rampant 'honorary degree' racket! In homage to the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game, they created this fun chart to reveal how many 'degrees' (pun intended...hehe) separate U.S. President, GWB, from some of the world's most unsavory leaders! Some other day, I will vent my frustration on the practice of awarding honorary degrees - for now, let's just take a moment to giggle and snicker! :)