To which I can only remind us of a previously posted quotation:
"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography".
-Ambrose Bierce, writer (1842-1914)



At 11:39 AM 2/28/2002 -0500, tom kunesh wrote:
>spent this past month studying Cuba with Spanish 102 students, with news
of Camp X-Ray all around. ... not a single student wondered why or how it
is that the USA has a military base in Cuba, or where it was located on the
island.
>
>;(
>
>
>
>HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS DEMAND WARS IN EASIER-TO-FIND COUNTRIES
>"How Come No One Fights in Big Famous Nations Anymore?"
>
>They Ask Washington, D.C. (SatireWire.com)  A delegation of American high
>school students today demanded the United States stop waging war in obscure
>nations such as Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and instead
>attack places they've actually heard of, such as France, Australia, and
>Austria, unless, they said, those last two are the same country.
>
>"Shouldn't we, as Americans, get to decide where wars are?" asked sophomore
>Kate Shermansky.
>"People claim we don't know as much geography as our parents and
>grandparents, but it's so not our fault," Josh Beldoni, a senior at Fischer
>High School in Los Angeles, told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "Back
>then they only had wars in, like, Germany and England, but we're supposed
>to know about places like Somalia and Massachusetts."
>
>"Macedonia," corrected committee Chairman Carl Levin of Michigan.
>
>"See?" said Beldoni. Beldoni's frustration was shared by nearly three dozen
>students at the hearing, who blamed the U.S. military for making them look
>bad.
>
>"I totally support our soldiers and all that, but I am seriously failing
>both geography and social studies because I keep getting asked to find
>Croatia or Yemvrekia, or whatever bizarre-o country we send troops to,"
>said Amelia Nash, a junior at Clark High School in Orlando, Fla. "Can't we
>fight in, like, Italy? It's boot-shaped."
>
>Chairman Levin however, explained that Italy was a U.S. ally, and that
>intervention is usually in response to a specific threat.
>
>"OK, what about Arulco?" interrupted Tyler Boone, a senior at Bellevue High
>School in Wisconsin. "That's a country in Jagged Alliance 2 run by the evil
>Queen Deidranna. I'm totally familiar with that place. She's a major threat."
>
>"Jagged...?" said Levin.
>
>  "Alliance. It's a computer game."
>
>"Well, no," Levin answered. "We can't attack a fictional country."
>
>"Yeah right," Boone mumbled. "Like Grenada was real."
>
>The students' testimony was supported by a cross-section of high school
>geography teachers, who urged the committee to help lay a solid foundation
>for America's young people by curtailing any intervention abroad.
>
>"Since the anti-terror war began, most of my students can now point to
>Afghanistan on a map, which is fine, but those same kids still don't know
>the capitals of Nevada and Ohio," said Richard Gerber, who teaches at
>Rhymony High School in Atlanta. "I think we need to cut back on our
>activities overseas and take care of business at home, and if that means
>invading Tallahassee (Fla.) or Trenton (N.J.) so that students learn where
>they are, so be it."
>
>"I've always wanted to stick it to Hartford (Conn.)," said Sen. Lincoln
>Chafee of Rhode Island. "Oh shit, is my microphone on?"
>
>The hearing adjourned after six hours. An estimated 2,000 more students
>were expected to hold a march in the nation's capital, but forgot which
>city it was in.
>
Dr. Yigal Levin
Dept. of Philosophy and Religion
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
615 McCallie Avenue
Chattanooga TN 37403-2598
U.S.A.