Mars Man: “Good morning dear audience. We’re back on the air with the Mother Earth’s Weekly Squirms show and our full team is present to discuss the latest on Planet Earth as we see it from Mars. Kathryn O’Sullivan and her panel of Omaha TV on Planet Earth is connected and will participate.”

“Well, you keep busy over there, Kathryn. The Middle East in turmoil, the USA in uproar, Old Europe’s multiculturalism is dead, Japan’s disastrous earthquake of nuclear proportions, while we on Mars can only complain about those nasty sunspots with resulting sandstorms, but otherwise all is quiet over here. All compared, living on Mars is good. Let’s start with Planet Earth’s Middle East. Kathryn, you chime in when you want. Elmer, your take.”

Elmer: “You may call it the belated birth of the Middle East’s Renaissance. The European Renaissance started in Earth’s fourteenth century. Islam began in the seventh century, seven centuries after Christ. Planet Earth is now in its twenty first century, some seven centuries after its European Renaisssance. So, if you do the math, the Middle East is sort of right on target. They do everything seven hundred years later. Just a matter of intellectual evolution.”

Mars Man: “Tamil?”

“Don’t forget that besides art and science, Europe’s Renaissance also began its religious wars, witch hunts and inquisition, and led to Protestantism and the cruel French Revolution. It began at the same time as the Muslim Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople. This backward looking regime stuck to the religion’s origins of the seventh century and that’s why the Middle East stayed behind. Europe catapulted to prosperity and got democracy in the end. The Middle Eastern youth, mostly unemployed and suppressed, and seeing on the Internet and Facebook what they missed, finally took to the streets. It took a few centuries to happen.”

Huda: “I even saw women in scarves, black robes and burkas protesting. I can’t imagine wearing such clothes in modern times.”

Pasha: “Yves Givenchy in Europe and Calvin Klein in the USA are dressing their models with see-through robes and burkas and they look surprisingly sexy. Men imagine what they don’t see and that makes them hungry and women adventurous. We are witnessing a sea-change in Earth’s fashion.”

Pasha: “This must be great news for the Mullahs and Imams. All western women will turn Islamic and with them their men will too. That’s winning a religious war without firing a shot.”

Shamus: “Nothing good has ever come from revolutions, except the USA’s Declaration of Independence, though that turned into their Civil War, and I bet your money that those Brotherhood snooks will hijack the rebels’ uprising and pull those countries back to the Middle Ages again followed by more religious wars, suppression and economic decline. See-through burkas won’t be of much help.”

Mars Man: “Kathryn, any comments on this?”

Kathryn: “See-through veils are back in fashion here. It’s definitely coming. Fred Garfinkel, you want to comment?”

Fred: “I still remember Elisabeth Taylor as Cleopatra gazing at me through her veil when I was a young boy. She got me very excited. But burkas would be a problem for the traffic police. What if the wearer does not see his signs and she walks into a lamp post? Who pays the hospital bill?”

Bob Foolsman: “This is exactly why Obamacare is so important. An uninsured Islamic immigrant would get immediate treatment at a first rate hospital and wouldn’t have to linger dying in a crowded emergency room.”

Charles Hammerschmidt: “Come on, Bob, if that’s the case, wearing a burka should be a traffic violation subject to a hefty fine. Get modern.”

Kathryn: “You heard some of our heated views on the subject, Mars. Back to you.”

Mars Man: “What about the rough and tumble USA? Shamus, you’re the economist.”

Shamus: “As I see it, one side wants budgetary spending, the other side wants budgetary sanity and nobody wants austerity, even though the USA is broke. They must even borrow to pay the interest on their debt. With spend-thrift socialists in the White House and the Senate majority, the budgetary hawks in the House of Representatives will have a hard time keeping those spenders under control. No wonder Big Spender Obama wants to stay out of the fray and make one platitude after another trying to look as if he is deeply involved which he is obviously not.”

Mars Man: “Who’s going to win this battle? For any normal person, the path they’re on is unsustainable.”

Shamus: “Economics is not relevant, if it has ever been in politics, that’s the silliness of it. Earth’s socialists want big government to keep everyone dependent on them, regardless of declining economic prosperity. Anyone with a reasonable mind knows you can’t spend more than you earn, and borrow beyond the interest you can pay. You and I and most sensible people know that. Not the socialists, despite what’s happened to Europe. You can’t teach them. They want central planning and your dependence, like Marx, Lenin and Mao, just to stay in power.”

Elmer: “So true. Look at Europe’s PIGS countries. Look at Europe’s inability to start and maintain a no-fly zone over that rebellious Libya because they neglected their defenses. Only the USA can do that and to do it they have to borrow from China that voted against that war because they want Libya’s oil. What a bunch.”

Pasha: “If I were in their shoes, I would’ve liked them to shut down the government and get some free leave to beautify my yard and get a new hairdo.”

Tamil: “The same hairdo as billionaire Donald Trump?”

Pasha: “You’ll see it’ll become fashion. I think he would be a great president. The last thing they need there is to keep a socialist politician on the throne, who didn’t even write his best-selling books himself and lacks a birth certificate. All show and no doing.”

Huda: “Agree. Trump calls a spade a spade, wouldn’t take fools lightly and say “you’re fired”. Do away with those spend-thrift politicians that only look two years ahead using other people’s money to get reelected. And Earth’s women adore him, look how many he married. Even Whoopee Goldberg didn’t walk out on him during The View show. I wouldn’t mind having a boat ride with him myself.”

Tamil: “To answer your question, Mars Man, the battle can only be won by a Republican majority and Donald Trump in the White House. He knows his business. That means after the 2012 elections. I usually don’t like absolute majorities but in this lethal debt crisis it’s their only way to get out of trouble. It will depend on what they call their independent swing voters. If they choose Obama again, voters will have elected their own downfall. China will take over. You said the other day they were buying the Empire State building already to move part of their government to the USA.”

Mars Man: “The USA’s situation looks dim. Today’s generation, in particular their politicians, does not care about what’s happening after they’re gone and keeps kicking the can down the road. Pure irresponsible egoism. After us the tsunami. Those poor kids and grand kids. Kathryn, surely your panel wants to come in?

Bob Foolsman: “Your team has it completely wrong. America needs this debt so that it can raise taxes on the rich. This is why we have this problem. Bush tax cuts for the rich and fighting two unnecessary wars got us in trouble and caused the financial crisis.”

Charles Hammerschmidt: “What nonsense, Bob. How dare you misleading our friends on Mars? It was your irresponsible fiscal policy and housing finance debacle that caused the financial crisis. And do you think Libya is Obama’s necessary war?”

Bob: “the UN ordered it….

Fred Garfinkel: “We have some 310 million people in the USA. How many of them are what you call rich, Bob? And when do you call someone “rich” or “wealthy”? A millionaire?

Bob:”Anyone who earns more than 250 thousand dollars per household, as Obama said.”

Tony: “You call earning 250 K rich? Are you kidding? And how many millionaires do we have anyway? One percent? That would only be 3 million. You want them to pay all the taxes in the USA? You see how ridiculous your people are? Full of slogans and empty rethoric for the evening news. How long do you think the American public is going to swallow that crap?”

Mars Man: “We get the message, Kathryn, no agreement in the USA. Lucky your shut down was avoided, but next time you may not be so lucky. Let’s turn to Europe, Elmer, what about their multiculturalism?”

Elmer: “They deserve what they got. No wonder it didn’t work. I said many years ago on this show that Earth’s Islamic cultures do not assimilate because of their strong and different social framework that enforces outdated customs. Nationals don’t let them in their homes because they insist on being different, and when they then find they are left out in the cold, they turn violent and want their guest countries to turn Islamic. Out of fear for reprisals, Europeans have continued to accommodate them with political correctness, till finally their patience broke with fanatic murders on the street and car burnings in their cities. Now Islamic immigrants want to overtake their governments. It’s insane.”

Tamil: Since we are a very homogeneous society, we probably don’t fully understand this predicament. It’s strange to see Europe’s Christian churches empty while mosques are full, with Imams preaching radical sermons and inciting their youth to violence against Christendom and Western society.”

Elmer: “As said before, Islam is seven centuries behind, so give and take a few centuries and their mosques will be empty as well. By that time Christians may be fanatic again.”

Bob Foolsman’s voice cracked in the microphone. “You don’t want to get into a situation where people who lived in your country for years are suddenly thrown out, including their kids, just because they are Islamic or Hispanic and have no legal identity card.”

Tony Blanket: “No problem if they came in legally, but if they sneaked in over the border, either with kids or got the kids once in the USA, they have to take the consequences. Too bad. You have to draw the line somewhere. We can’t pay for all the free services they claim.”

Bob: “But what if a kid has lived here all his life and is westernized and fears he or she’ll be persecuted and tortured when back home? Who’s to blame?”

Fred: “There’re thousands of kids like that in the USA and I admit it’s a problem. Europe has that problem too. Previous administrations are to blame because they didn’t take immediate action on border control. Mostly to blame are the Democrats because they want their illegal votes to beat the Republicans and what we get is more drugs and more crime. You must draw the line otherwise it becomes an untenable situation with more and more illegal immigrants doing the same.”

Bob: “Even on humanitarian grounds? Send a westernized girl back to the Taliban to dress in a burka and stay holed up the whole day in a hut being raped by these bullying men?”

Kathryn: “I don’t think Fred wants to do that either. We should treat those cases as refugees. Mars, you see we have some insoluble problems here on Planet Earth. Back to you.”

Mars Man: “Thanks Kathryn and panel. We’re running out of time here. See you at the next round of America’s budget fight. Good bye.”

“Well, dear viewers, aren’t we lucky we live on Mars?”

Pasha: “But Planet Earth has all this diversity, we’re all the same.”

Huda: “Diversity is nice if you can keep it apart. It becomes messy when you let it melt into your society. That’s what’s happening on Planet Earth and it’s getting worse. I prefer homogeneous Mars.”

Mars Man: ”That’s great, Huda, we drink to that. That’s all the time we have, dear viewers, see you next time.”

 Mars Man was absent from TV because of universe assignments and family events but had a few interesting interviews with some brilliant people on Planet Earth.

The first one was a well-known environmentalist. Mars Man met him at the gasoline pump filling up his three dimensional SUV. He was smiling broadly.

“Hi,” I said, “Aren’t you Mr. Reid? “

“Yes, how do you know!” he said, relishing in his fame.

“Your face is all over the papers, inescapable. Why are you looking so happy?”

“I’m paying five dollars per gallon for my gas. We made it! Shows our policies work. Obama is great!”

“You know that everything else that uses oil, chemicals, fertilizer, tractors cutting grain, plastics, you name it will be more expensive too? What about the little guys Obama is so fond of? How are they going to work and buy their groceries?”

“Public transport, don’t you know? High speed rail, all that’s in his budget.”

“What about industries that must pay higher fuel prices; they won’t have money to hire more people, crushing your economic recovery.”

“Obama has roads to build, bridges to repair, kids to educate, he’ll hire them, all in the budget.”

“Who’s going to pay for all that?”

“You, of course, your patriotic duty.”

“You got the money for all that gas?”

The price tag showed seventy five dollars. The Shell voice was saying “thank  you, please come again”.

“My stellar salary is paid by Obama, my stellar pension is paid by Obama, my stellar healthcare is paid by Obama, Obama is great.”

“Does he pay that himself?”

“No of course not, bum, it’s you. You pay for the government. Your patriotic duty. I work for the government, my patriotic duty. Yes we can! Excuse me, my tank’s full, good day.”

* * *

Turning the corner on a New York street, I bumped into a man with a bushy black beard, a multi-colored woolen cap on his head and dressed in a long wobbly white robe. From what I observed, this was clearly a man wanting to publicly express his Islamic culture.

“Sorry,” I said, “didn’t see you coming.”

“Salam aleikum, Allahu Akbar,” he said.

“What’s that?” I asked in plain American.

“Allah is great!”

“I thought Obama was great.”

“Obama is our brother, he bows to Islam.”

“Does he? I thought he said he was Christian.”

“That’s for politics only, my friend, to fool the infidels. Have you ever seen him going to your church? Soon our Islamic flag will fly on top of the White House. We’ve already offered him the pole . We’re working on the flag.”

“Why do you think Americans would like that?”

“Americans would love our fashion, especially women. We have beautiful burkas and stylish black robes. They’ll love to be hulled in mystery. Besides, they are great against the cold. Wouldn’t you be excited at night to take all that stuff off and discover her beauty that only you can see? Just wait!”

“What else enticing do you have to offer?”

“Our sharia law. It’s wonderful, just how the prophet Mohammed lived. May peace be upon him.”

“But Americans have their bible, just how their prophet Jesus lived.”

“Mohammed is the last prophet, all before’s superseded.”

“But your law dictates stoning for adultery, cutting off hands for thievery, beheading of infidels, don’t you think that’s overdoing it a bit?”

“Wouldn’t you think that would be a good clean-up of all the mess your liberal society has created? Just look at your dismal TV.”

“Oh well, I remember your friends from a Middle Eastern country I won’t name rented the top floor of the hotel where I stayed and had ladies of pleasure bussed in for the night.”

“That’s allowed because they were abroad.”

“So the Koran only applies to the national soil? Our bible’s ten commandments apply world-wide.”

“We want to broaden that national soil to the whole world, so that won’t happen anywhere. The international caliphate. That’s the purpose of our Middle East revolution, don’t be fooled. Back to the future.”

“It sounds more like back to the past.”

“You don’t understand. Cordoba is the way to go. It was the jewel of the world in the tenth century before the infidels destroyed it. It had a library with a million books, three thousand mosques, and three hundred public baths. It will be restored. America was not even on the map then. Even the Chinese will find out.”

“They’ll want to sell you their plumbing ware and try to buy you out. You’ll have your work cut out for you.”

“Allah is with us, sir. Yes we can! Salam.” And he dissapeared into the crowd.

* * *

I sat in a barbershop in Washington D.C., the most democratic city in the USA. They don’t even need voting rights in Congress. But they display the largest number of crack potholes and are proud of it.

“What do you think of Wisconsin?” my barber asked.

“You mean those riots in their State building?”

“Yes, of course, do you think that could happen here?”

“Just wait till they shut down the Government, and those pimps will be all over the floor,” I opined.

“I employ six people here, pay their health care, pay into their 401 K, and more, have to pay rent and utilities, and those public sector nitwits want us to pay even more for their f…. benefits. Crazy.”

“That’s our rights, we fought for them,” said a black bearded client sitting on my right, overhearing our conversation.

“You mean you paid for those guys you elected, and then those guys voted for all your benefits in return,” my barber said, a bit too loud, swaying his scissors in front of me giving me the jitters. “And the poor taxpayer pays.”

“The majority counts,” the client retorted.

“Hah! And when the other majority counts, you walk out. Bull…,” my barber said, bristling, resuming his job on my skull.

“You’re nothing but a bunch of rotten socialists,” the client on my left butted in. “You don’t give a damn if a State’s broke and goes belly up. You think Obama will pay anyway, with my money.”

“Yes, that’s what he said during his campaign. He’ll walk with us, not with you.”

“So what about America? Don’t you care if they go broke?” my barber asked, shaking his scissors wildly towards the Capitol.

“We’re international,” the client now identified as the socialist said. “We have brothers all over the world, Russia, Middle-East, France, you name it. We don’t need America. We don’t need countries. Workers unite the world over. We’ll create a new world order soon.”

“Of workers?” scoffed my barber. “What you work for? You teaching? My kids don’t learn anything at my public school except selling drugs. My wife does their homework and they don’t even say thanks.”

“Silly class war fare,” the fellow on my left said. “You guys don’t know you get suckered by your own bosses? You pay them your union dues and they live in palaces with hookers sliding in on the conveyor band.”

“I work for the Energy Department,” the socialist said haughtily, answering my barber. “You better respect that.”

“You must be kidding,” the barber exploded, “with 5 dollars a gallon of Middle East gas, while we have billions of barrels under the ground in the USA that your type don’t want to give permits for? Respect? Go fishing…”

“Soon we’ll have wind farms all over, even off-shore. We won’t need that stinky oil anymore.”

“Off-shore?” the fellow on my left said, laughing. “So what’s the difference between off-shore oil rigs that you are opposing, and those bulky wind farms that aren’t producing a quarter as much? Looks any better?”

“At least they don’t leak, killing the fish and spoiling my beach.”

“Wind farms kill your precious birds.”

“Thanks,” I said to the barber, “better get out of here before they start fighting with me in the middle…”

* * *

I was having a beer in a bar off Time Square when a Chinese looking man in a dark business suit climbed on a stool on my right. He ordered a beer too.

“You from China?” I asked, looking for company.

His eyes narrowed and stared at me coolly.

“You profiling me?”

“Well, you don’t quite look like a Norwegian blonde.”

“You racist, eh?” and he took a sip of his beer. “Let me tell you something. I’m here on a business trip to buy the Empire State Building.”

He spoke surprisingly good English.

“No kidding! What are you going to do with it? A lot of cleaning to do…”

“We’ll move part of our Government here. America will soon be a Chinese province. We’ve already a few Chinese towns here, as you well know. China Towns.”

“What will happen to Washington then?”

“We’ll just close the White House because they haven’t been paying their rent. People in Congress will get a choice to work for us or stay broke.”

“You mean war? Bring in an Armada all the way from China?”

“No, no fighting necessary. Our President will come here on State visit and present Obama the bill. Obama will say “I don’t have the money to pay you back unless I can borrow it from you.” Then we’ll foreclose on the White House and send Obama packing. Most Americans don’t think much of him anyway.”

“You think the American army will let that happen?”

“They’ll be glad to be under our command. Free Chinese food. They love that. And we’ve had so many comforting exchanges with them in Beijing. We’ve discussed this already. Not to worry.”

“But how can you carry that out?”

“Americans will do it for us. Close your banks, throw out your dollar and change it to the Yuan, take the gold of Fort Knox to compensate for our losses on your Treasuries. Our American collaborators will want to preserve whatever cash they can keep.”

“But Americans will be poor and can’t buy Chinese goods.”

“We don’t need the American market anymore to make money. Our own market of 2 billion people is large enough and has good per capita income now. Americans will work for us.”

“My goodness, that’s quite a change. What about their free speech?”

“We’ll curtail that. Besides, you must admit, it was getting a bit out of control anyway, don’t you think?”

“No more marches on the Mall in D.C. or on the Capitol?”

“Only in honor of our President. We’ll turn the Capitol into a Wax Museum. Actually, the current Congress could just as well stay there and be waxed for life. Wouldn’t make any difference.”

“What with the Tea Party?”

“Chinese tea will take care of them.”

“What about the American language?”

“Pigeon English would be just fine as a local dialect. Most Americans don’t speak or write any better. For those seeking careers, Mandarin Chinese is compulsory. That starts at kindergarten.”

The man from China took a second beer, so did I.

“What about their Founding Fathers?” I asked.

“Your democratic leaders tell me they never existed; it’s a fable pushed by your extreme right. Confucius will be good enough. He was there a lot earlier, even before Methusalem, and that’s old. There’s enough confusion already.”

“But Americans are a religious people; they want to keep their churches.”

“Marx said religion is opium for the people. Opium is bad. So religion is bad. Many Americans such as the ACLU agree. We don’t encourage it in China, so we won’t encourage it here. Churches will be used to preach the greatness of modern times China. ”

“The Muslims will be happy to see the infidels dismantled. But what are you going to do with them?”

“We’ll ship them back to Saudi Arabia with willing virgins, for free, using your luxury cruise ships. We bought up all their oil with gold and have good relationships. No use trying to modernize them, they’re locked up in the past. Just as well.”

“When’s all this going to start?”

“It’s already started. China owns Walmart, if you don’t know. Your main financiers own Chinese stocks and are speculating against the dollar. They know more than you do. Your National Security Advisor thinks we are your biggest nuclear threat. No worry. Tomorrow we’ll walk into the White House with a box containing a reset button. Your Hillary tried that with Russia, but ours works. If Obama doubts, we’ll tell him we’ll just hit the red button and he’ll cave. If anything, he’s good at caving. I must go know, must pack the box. You want to have the rest of my beer?”

“No, thanks…..”

I got up too. Better phone Kathryn, Pete and Sue and get the hell out of here back to Mars.

 The polycom rang and a voice cackled that Dr. KissHanger was ready in the Omaha Studio. Our Mars City Universe Broadcasting team was keen to interview him.

“Dear Mr. KissHanger,” I started, “we on Mars are curious to hear what all this trouble in the Middle-East is about. The only thing we heard are those ancient stories of Arabian nights. You have been scuttling frequently between these countries, so please enlighten us.”

“Arabian Nights were stories told by Queen Scheherazade to her Persian King Shah Ryar. The stories emanate from the eight to thirteenth centuries of Muslim caliphates. The main story is that Shah Ryar executed his wife for infidelity and then thought all women were unfaithful. So he rounded up virgins in the country, married them and executed them the next day, till there were no virgins anymore. Scheherazade, the daughter of his chief officer who collected the virgins, proposed she replace them and told him stories that never ended. As a result, the Shah was forced to listen to the next segment each night. That went on for a thousand nights. Scheherazade was pardoned and became the Shah’s wife. It’s today’s principle of each writing course. Make sure the reader turns the page. It is also the framework for the Middle East: a never ending story of religious strife.”

“Very interesting, Dr. KissHanger,” I said. “But what has this got to do with those riots in Egypt?”

“It’s part of the never ending story. The greater Middle-East that includes Iran, are millennia old civilizations. In the United States they don’t understand that because their world only started with the Mayflower landing on the shore of Massachusetts in 1620. Some tourists visiting the pyramids near Cairo may still remember how high Egyptian civilization and mathematics had risen centuries before Christ was even born. Since then, Egypt has passed through many upheavals, including invasions of the Greek and Roman Empires, and the Byzantine era during which many Christians migrated to Egypt. It became a victim of Islamic religious strife after the prophet Mohammed emerged in the early seventh century. Many Christians were persecuted, and Egypt was subsequently disrupted by Western colonial occupations starting with Napoleon from France and later by Britain. It’s a troubled country with 80 million inhabitants wounded by its past.”

“But what are the protesters so mad about?” Shamus asked.

“The same thing as in Tunisia. Massive unemployment, no job offers for many well-educated youngsters, and a repressive regime that limits freedom of speech and advocates secularism which confronts the tenet of Islamic religion which wants social justice for all.”

“Why is everybody so afraid of the Muslim Brotherhood?”

“Because the Muslim Brotherhood, which was created in Egypt just after the first World War in 1919, has become a militant Islamic force. It didn’t start that way. Its mission was to return to the origins of the prophet Mohammed’s revelations in his writings of the Quran, the teachings of the first caliphs up to the tenth century and the adherence to social justice and pious life. It derailed into extremism. Said Qutub, who had studied and worked in the United states, became adamantly opposed to its way of life and made the Brotherhood into a militant organization as of 1950. They started terrorist activities in Egypt. The Brotherhood abhors the urban secularism of Egypt’s elite leaders and adheres to the Sharia law which is based on Mohammed’s religious principles and agrarian way of life in the seventh century. Secular leaders such as Nasser, who executed Said Qutub, and Mubarak, banned the Brotherhood. Though it is reported that the Brotherhood has only twenty percent of the voters’support, other reports say that some 70 percent favors Sharia law because it protects them from the decadent western way of life. The Brotherhood has remained a vibrant part of the country’s political landscape and is, therefore, a threat to Israel and the West.”

“Is Iran getting involved to support Egypt as an Islamic state and destroy neighboring Israel?” Tamil asked.

“Iran is Shiite, while the Brotherhood is Sunni. Shiites believe that only Mohammed’s direct family members are the rightful descendents of Mohammed; Sunnis believe that the first caliphs were the rightful descendents. This is a serious political schism that occurred after the murder of Husain, the grandson of Mohammed, in the seventh century, and may not necessarily alley them together politically. Iranian Imams and Arabian Caliphs have strongly opposed views. But in Arabia, it’s me against my brother, my brother and I against my cousin, and my brother and I and my cousin against the rest. So it is likely they would join to fight Israel.”

“Why can’t Arabs live together with Israel?” Elmer asked.

“Because Israel was created on Palestinian soil, which the Arabs consider theirs. Palestine was not a country when that happened but a left over of part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire that was dissembled after World War One. It became a British protectorate and was partly linked up with Jordan, in a territory called Transjordan. As a result, Jews had been migrating into Palestine as it was an area that they had lived in since Moses’ time. They felt a cultural affiliation with Palestine as their homestead and felt safe under British regime. Many believed in Theo Hertzl’s push for an Israeli state, as Jews were persecuted the world over. After the holocaust, the United Nations created Israel in 1948 with American support. But it was never accepted in Arabia because of the diametrically opposed religious views.”

“That’s what we don’t understand here,” Pasha said. “We believe in the universe as our almighty God but you on Earth have all these fighting religions. What’s the point?”

“Misdirected human emotions. We love to write books about it but nobody knows how to solve it. Iran believes it will with their Islamic atomic bomb. They don’t mind being destroyed in the process because they don’t fear death and believe that the hidden twelfth Immam will rise up and bring them back to life.”

“What did you learn from your shuttle trips between the quarrelling nations?” Tamil asked.

“That the damn thing is insoluble, excusez le mot,” Dr. KissHanger said. “Religious strife is a favorite pastime on Earth. Islamic countries have warred through the ages, with millions dispersed and slaughtered in their empires created in the name of Allah, and so have Christians during the Crusades and after that, in the name of God. Shiites and Sunnis in Arabia, Hindus and Islamists in India and Pakistan have never given up war. Catholics and Protestants have been battling for centuries and that has only stopped with the last terror war in Northern Ireland some fifteen years ago. Since Mohammed started Islam 600 years after Christ, we still have a few hundred years to go before they give up. In short, more to come, like a popular feuilleton. Remember the Arabian Nights. A never ending story.”

“How do you see the Egypt situation evolve?”

“Nobody knows for sure and I don’t either. It’s not the same as Iran. Iranians had been ruthlessly suppressed by the regime of the Shahs, lastly Muhammed Reza Shah, who killed and tortured many who dared to protest his secularity and disrespect of Islam. That was the breeding ground for bringing back the Shiite Ayatollah Khomeini from France, who restored the country’s religious beliefs and decreed the compulsory installation of Sharia law. Egypt’s Sunni population has a different composition. It realizes that Sharia law is basically an agrarian law originating from Mohammed’s life and his writings in the Quran and would have to be modernized to make it palatable to today’s  civilization. But that does not solve the crisis with Israel. Most analysts say that the Army should decide. The Egyptian army is not the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. It has substantial American training and equipment and they are talking with the Pentagon day and night. But so had the Iranian army and they were severely purged after Khomeini came. Every revolution ends up in turmoil and so will Egypt’s and after all, it were elements of the army that killed Anwar Sadat.”

“You talk about the Quran all the time. What’s the difference with the Bible of the Christians?” Huda asked.

“First, there are many similarities. Mohammed received his visions in a cave from the angel Gabriel. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob and Jesus are mentioned in the Quran as prophets of Islam. They accept elements of the previous Scriptures, such as Moses’s Ten Commandments. But Mohammed considers Jesus just another prophet like him, not the son of god or the virgin Mary. For him, God is Allah. And he is the last Messenger after Jesus. Don’t forget that the stories about Jesus were written six centuries before. Mysticism still was a large part of life in those days. Mohammed also didn’t believe that Jesus was crucified, which is definitely true as this is historically proven. These are not insurmountable differences with Christendom but they have become so through political strife. The Jews believe in their Messiah. So do the Shiites who believe that their “hidden Imam”, the son of Hussain who was murdered, will come back as the twelfth Imam, the Mahdi. Lesson of all of the above: When you give something good to humans, they’ll find a way to screw it up.”

“Why is Islam so much against women?” Pasha asked.

“They are against liberated women. Especially fundamentalist movements, such as the Afghan Taliban and the Brotherhood or the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, not to forget the Saudi Wahabi Islamic religion, want women to be like the time of the prophet, not ostentatious like the western women on Earth who like to show their bosoms and bottoms openly on beaches and in movies, and entice man with their sexy tricks, either in public or in pornographic movies on the internet. There are Christians who do not entirely disagree with that criticism either. However, Egypt, Tunisia or Iraq have many educated women who can hold responsible jobs, so they are not likely supporters of militant Islam to limit their freedom and expression of views.”

“Will the fundamentalist threat increase in America?” Elmert asked.

“It will get worse before it gets better. The Islamic strife is contagious and encourages thus far silent elements to become more militant in the USA and Europe and possibly cause more attacks from within. Islamic militants believe that their religion is a total way of life, not something to be left for private practice, as in the West. Islam is the State. But, while there may be some 5 million Muslims in America and 10 million in Europe, they cannot change the nature of these countries. The USA is a nation of Christian immigrants, its founders were Christians, its laws, culture and political systems are based on freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Many Muslims have middle class status, earn a good living there, and don’t want to change that. Increased threat perhaps, but no fundamental change. Some liberal pundits may share the Islamist views on total control, but socialists are in a minority, even though you wouldn’t believe that if you look at their TV.”

“Do you see a wider spread of the Egyptian revolution?” Shamus asked.

“It’s not impossible. Algiers has so far stayed calm, but there is a strong fundamentalist movement against the secular regime. It has a better economy due to plenty oil and gas reserves, but you never know what a spark can put ablaze. Jordan is delicate as it is economically weak and most Jordanians align with the Palestinians. The King felt forced to change his cabinet. In Iraq, Moctar Sadr, who just came back from Immam studies in Iran, sides with the Iranian Shiites, is very anti-American and against the Government. Prime Minister Maliki, a Shiite himself, felt forced to say he wouldn’t be prime minister again. Lebanon is a lost case with three major blocs of Hezbollah Shiites, Sunni Muslims, and Maronite Christians, with Syria and Iran meddling, and their fate hangs in the air with the UN investigation report on the murder of Rafik Hariri. There is no government there. All are feeling the pinch, so are the Arabian Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Americans favor democratic rule but these countries have never experienced it. It’s not in their culture nor in their blood. I’m not sure the Egyptian revolution is a democratic one. It may be more one of hunger and hopelessness and envy of what they see is possible in the USA and not in Egypt. Requiring democratic rule may not bring stability and catapult the best-organized group to power. That could be the Brotherhood. If that happens, all bets are off.”

“How is the American Administration handling this crisis?” I asked.

“Please, let’s not go there. First, they talk too much and too soon. Second, when they talk they sound like the colonialists of Egypt, or they contradict each other. Egypt’s Mubarak was a good friend but he has to go quote now unquote. The USA knows its friends. He helped against the terrorists, was a wall against attacks on Israel, and kept Al-Qaida out of town. Don’t forget Al-Qaida’s number two, Al-Zawahiri, is an Egyptian and qualified surgeon, and running that group. He may want to go back as his uncertain life in the caves of Waziristan must be pretty dismal. The Brotherhood would welcome his advice and maybe they are already talking on closed circuits. You would wonder what other friendly dictators will think of the USA. The less Obama says, the better. He should support free speech and that’s all.”

“Dr. KissHangar, do you believe in God?”

“That’s a very personal question. Yes I do but not as a political system, as Islam has become. I think that Mohammed had good ideas and was sincere in passing on his beliefs, even when he had to defend them against the pagan forces of his time. But religion should never become a political dictum, like Islam now wants from the West. That’s where we differ. I’m rather like you, the Universe and the Ten Commandments are good enough for me.

“I’m afraid we can talk about this much more but we’re out of time,” I said. “There will be other opportunities, I’m sure. Thanks very much, Dr. KissHanger.

Dear viewers on Mars, you must be feeling lucky we only have one God and that’s the Universe and our own Ten Commandments. That’s good enough for us. Good bye for now.”

 Our TV show “Mother Earth’s Weekly Squirms” was on. Elmer, Pasha, Huda, Tamil, and Shamus were eager to quiz me on my recent visit to Earth. They had watched my last interview with Ohama TV (blog January 1, 2011)

 “What was your most striking impression in America?” Pasha began.

“I’ve never seen so many more fat people,” I said. “The Michelle Obama plea for better food discipline doesn’t stick. You can’t sit normally in an aircraft anymore without being pressed out of your seat by fat flaps blubbing underneath or over your arm seats.”

“Isn’t the US Government doing something about that?” Tamil asked.

“The US Government is too occupied with regulating the health care law.”

“But shouldn’t that be in favor of reducing the intake of fats?” Huda asked, herself a dietician at our Mars City Health Clinic.

“I’m afraid not, they are more concerned with making people pay more for health services they won’t get.”

“What are these fat foods they eat?” Huda followed up.

“Giant cheese and pepperoni pizzas almost as large as UFOs, macho cheese hamburger rolls with oil-fried onion rings in-between, large cuts of lasagnas, huge hotdogs with tomato ketchup wrapped in big slabs of dough, piles of French fries loaded with salt, you name it.”

“What are hotdogs?” Pasha wanted to know.

“Long finger-size sausages,” I explained, hoping she wouldn’t pursue the matter.

“But why are they called hotdogs?” she insisted?

“Well, it’s difficult to explain this on family TV, but they resemble a male dog’s desire in the heat time.”

“Oh,” she said, giggling, looking around embarrassed. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have asked.”

“What else struck you during your stay?” Elmer asked.

“Political discourse has gone out of hand. The left is blaring that the right is destroying America and the right is countering that that’s exactly what the left has been doing.”

“So, no progress in US politics?” Elmer concluded.

“President Obama only held a slurpee summit at the White House with the Republicans, to discuss a roadmap after his drubbing at the November elections.”

“Any results?” Shamus asked.

“I think the Slurpee meeting had more significant results than the beer summit he once had. You remember, when he had to settle that dispute between a policeman in Boston who he said had acted stupidly by correctly arresting one of his friends for disorderly behavior. This time the President got the message. He signed the continuation of the Bush tax cuts, which made good economic sense at this time of distress. I think they should have more slurpee summits.”

“Remind us, what’s slurpee again?” Huda asked.

“A type of shake with lots of calories and no protein, sold in convenience stores and made infamous by Obama’s chief veggie cook, Michelle,” I said, though I wasn’t quite sure if I got that right.

“What was all that trouble we heard about these secrets that were leaked?” Tamil asked.

“You mean that wikkyleaks thing,” I said. “A lot of diplomatic cable gossip was released on the internet by some Swedish loon. Most of it was already known and insignificant. Hillary Clinton, who is Secretary of State, was mad because it put her in the wrong spotlight. But then, diplomats send a lot of nonsense over the wire to justify their existence. The best advice someone gave was if you wikki leaks, plug it.”

“We noticed that Sarah Palin is still in the limelight,” Elmer said. “What’s she up to these days?”

“She is actually standing up quite well against the socialist onslaught and has considerable following. The left is trying to kill her off because they see her as a political threat. Since most of America’s media is left, you only hear them constantly nagging about Sarah Palin on TV or in their papers. Others like center-right bloggers, radio talk shows and Fox News are more supportive of her. But the left has successfully made her into a lightning rod which is diminishing her chances for political office.”

“I recall that happened to other American woman in politics,” Shamus said. “Remember Geraldine Ferrara when Walter Mondale chose her as VP? The American press took her to the cleaners.”

“Despite all women’s progress in the USA, women are still fodder for male journalists and even female ones, when they don’t agree with their views,” Pasha found. “Feminists are leftists too.”

“How’s TV reacting to the elections?” Tamil asked.

“The left wing of TV – that’s all the old worn out news agencies – do as if nothing has changed. For them, it’s still Pelosi who’s the head of Government, with Obama sitting in her lap admiring her newest facelift. Fox News is trying to expose their hypocrisy and the Tea Party is roaring in the back. Socialist TV is losing audience and soon they won’t have anyone looking at them anymore except liberals and illiterate sports fans who don’t give a hoot about the rest anyway.”

“What about Europe,” Shamus asked. “Last time we spoke it was in sheer shambles.”

“It still is, and it won’t be over soon,” I said. “All Governments owe too much money because of their social welfare measures, and there’s only so much borrowing they can do. The richer nations such as Germany are increasingly angry that they have to put up the bill for people like the Irish who drank too much Irish coffee without paying for it.”

“Where do they get their money from?”

“The European Central Bank is funding deficits and so is Germany but they are balking and so, more recently, the Greek, Irish, Spanish and Portuguese government leaders have been seen trying their luck at the slot machines in Monte Carlo.”

“What will happen to the Euro then?”

“The same thing as with the dollar, going down the drain.”

“Will Earth’s economic and financial management ever improve?”

“I can’t see in the future, Shamus, but in fact it’s improving already as economic growth figures are better than a year ago. This means that the business cycle is wriggling its way upward again, as it always does, but it isn’t very visible yet. This is what politicians and their constituencies refuse to understand. They always think, talk and react short term. The best action in a downturn is no action at all. Let it burn out. Granted, the financial meltdown, which could have been prevented by less risky financial policies in the US housing market years before, was severe and it occurred at the same time that the business cycle was at its periodical downside, as happens every seven or eight years. That caused a sudden collapse that needed state intervention by shoring up banking reserves to maintain liquidity. But otherwise, the down turn would correct itself normally. True, some lose their feathers at the bottom because their business acumen was overly optimistic. But many recover and get back to normal if bureaucratic obstacles are removed.”

“So, we shouldn’t be pessimistic for 2011?”

“It all depends who’s mending the store. If the socialists will govern, the private sector, which is still very weak, will be very cautious for lack of confidence. The investment climate will remain subdued. Unemployment will remain on the high side. If Obama cozies up to the right, the investment climate and the business cycle may restore faster. Obama must be thinking about re-election too.”

“How does the center right coalition of Cameron’s conservatives and Nick Clegg’s liberal democrats fare in the UK?” Elmer asked.

“They maintain a policy of strict austerity by severe spending cuts. Their philosophy is to return from spreading the wealth around as Obama said to spreading the pain around, and to improve upward mobility in a sanitized economy. I think that’s the example everyone should follow now, provided they don’t cut too much too fast which slows economic recovery. In the US, it will look more like a stalemate as the conservatives have only the majority in the House and are not in Government. However, they have the finger on the purse and one of the major objectives should remain to cut the healthcare cost and constrain harmful environmental regulations that burden the economy for no good reason. What’s needed is a growth strategy, world-wide, but it’s unlikely that a socialist regime, like the current US administration, can produce one and the UK is too small to generate much momentum.”

“We know that you attended exploratory talks between the Americans and the Russians about possible collaboration to explore Mars from the International Space Station. How did that go?” Tamil asked.

“That’s a crazy idea of some wingnut at NASA. I attended that meeting at the invitation of Omaha TV on the condition I would not have to reveal my dual identity. The Russians don’t have the creativity or innovation for such an undertaking. Besides, the Russian Government and its economic system have turned completely corrupt. A sad state of affairs that shows the deteriorated conditions of Medvedev’s and Putin’s reign. They are more interested in sucking money from their nationalized oil and gas resources. Corruption plays havoc with their economy because of the ensuing price distortions and ill-directed incentives. Don’t bet on it, it won’t happen anytime soon.”

“Is climate change still on the front burner?” Pasha asked.

“Yes, the climate freaks are still at it. They nurture the gains of their innings in the nineties and even though Kyoto, Copenhagen and Cancun didn’t achieve their dreams, they are bent on keeping their early wins. Despite growing skepticism they managed to set up carbon schemes to shuffle money from rich to poor countries. On my way back up I noticed increased sunspot activity, it almost looked like almighty sun had a speckled face. That’s were the origins are. Everybody knows carbon’s a scam but there’s too much money that drives the slot machine. That’s it, a way to control the money flow. Socialists love that and too many good willing idealists fall in their trap.”

“Strife on Mother Earth seems to continue unabated,” Elmer said. “Is there light in the tunnel?”

“I’m afraid not. In Afghanistan, it’s everybody for himself. Temporary gains are for whomever pays more or is better at cutting off limbs and heads. This country is so backward that it will take ages to develop. Waziristan that nobody had heard of ten years ago is on the front page as much as Paris Hilton’s last joint that took her to the rehab. Pakistan is on the brink of collapse because radical Islam is contaminating its political and judicial systems. Israel and the Palestinians continue their bickering while the West is getting impatient with the lack of progress. But everyone wants Israel to make the painful concessions, while Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon are quietly waiting to take over Abbas who’s week, and then drive out Israel with Iran’s help. That’s what the western pacifists forget: it’s not Abbas’s Palestinians Israel is dealing with, but Hamas and Hezbollah supported by Iran and they mean death for Israel. They got a bitter lesson when they gave up Gaza. So, don’t expect a solution there either.”

“Is there not anything Mother Earth can be optimistic about?” asked Pasha.

“America will never turn into a third world nation as the left is saying after the center-right won the last elections. It has a built-in strength to recover, as shown by the Tea Party, much different from other nations. Its technological innovation will continue to outpace other nations, replacing outdated systems that were considered revolutions as recent as five years ago. Businesses and banks, chastened after indulging themselves in reckless gambling and crony capitalism, will return to the ten commandments of financial management and that’s ten times quote “balance your books unadulterated” unquote. This will be followed world-wide. China and India will rebound as markets in America and Europe stabilize in 2011 and other emerging markets such as Brazil and Chili will continue to march forward. As long as regulation is streamlined to support good financial and economic management instead of blocking it, politicians keep their fingers off the pie, and socialist theology is replaced by the sound principles of Adam Smith, the business cycle will restore itself and put Earth back on the road. Those will be the quintessential themes for the 2012 elections in the US as well.”

“Thanks Mars Man, interesting discussion. We have to leave it at that,” Elmer said. “Till next time.”

Boy, what snow! I was invited for a TV interview on December 24 in Omaha but could not find a place to land Space Scooter One in Nebraska. Bob Falkland’s cornfields and his hangar where I normally park were fully snowed under. Elsewhere in Nebraska it wasn’t any better. On the way down it looked bad all over northern USA. Finally, I made a deal with Vanderbilt Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California, where they have a Space Port, and landed there on December 22. From there I hopped on a transport plane that happened to go to Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue near Omaha, where at least the runways were open. Kathryn picked me up in her studio limousine. Exhausted I reached her comfortable Omaha residence where Pete and Sue had also gathered for the Christmas days. What a joyful reunion.

Well, the interview took place on December 24 all right. Kathryn had assembled her “How the World Turns” panel, Fred Garfinkel, Tony Blanket, Charles Hammerschmidt and Bob Foolsman, all dressed in festive red ties and green vests. Kathryn, very attractive with her auburn hair wore a slick silvery gown and chaired.

I was a bit apprehensive about their questioning as aliens are usually viewed with suspicion in the USA, but after all I had Earthy links through Kathryn and our beautifully mixed kiddos Pete and Sue, who were sitting in the audience, so I had at least a partial immunity to illegal immigration. Kathryn opened the interview, introducing me and her panel to the audience and viewers. We had a same-time connection with my Universe Broadcasting Studio in Mars City.

“Mars Man, it’s a real pleasure to have you with us to give us your alien views. First tell us of life on Mars, as most of our viewers know so little about it.”

“Thanks, Kathryn, for this question that I shall be glad to answer. Mars is smaller than Earth and is populated by far fewer people, maybe twenty million, who live mostly in what Earth calls the large “Valles Marineris”. Contrary to what you believe on Earth, we have ample water, which we obtain from subaltern sources. Our society is different from yours in that we all look similar and have no obvious gender difference. We look, as I once said, more like those VESIcare creatures you see in that bladder health advertisement on your TV. Our procreation happens through meeting of minds and not through the sex drive that Earth is infamous for. We are technologically very advanced and explore our universe to make contact with other planets in our common solar system and have a close economic and technological relationship with Jupiter.”

“I didn’t know Jupiter had life too. How do you compare?” Bob Foolsman asked.

“Jupiter has a different constellation and its people are small and slim because of its greater gravity and hydrogenic characteristics. Their laser based society, like ours, communicates through radiation which they taught us to translate into our own laser based communication system.”

“Why haven’t  you sought more contact with Earth?” Charles Hammerschmidt asked.

“My fellow Martians have been on Earth many times, you know about those UFOs. Your military are keeping much of this secret because they perceive it as a security issue. The reason we are not exploring our relationship with Earth more actively is because Earth has many untreated diseases that could be dangerous for our society if transferred, and because of your ungrounded hostility for fear of an alien invasion. Martians are very peaceful and are not interested in invading Earth. To the contrary, your regular Rovers that you let loose on our soil tend to send unwanted signals to our community. Radio signals received from Earth also display a nature of wanting to transplant your society on ours, which we consider a threat.”

“How come you look and talk like us then?” Fred Garfinkel asked, looking sideward at Kathryn.

“I was planted on Earth with a special mission to study Earth’s knowledge of aerodynamics at MIT. For this I was given a habemus corpus injection that enables me to change my Martian body into your human body on Earth and back. It also brought with it your urge for sex in support of your need for procreation. As a result, I got attracted by Kathryn, who studied at Harvard, and we married. Our two kids, Pete and Sue, who are in the audience, have mixed bodies but cannot change back to my Martian assemblage. I understand, however, that they have problems at the TSA airport screening because they can’t see their bodies. This is because of their strong radiation they inherited from me. So, to their chagrin, they must always undergo that patting experience. ”

“Does that happen to you too?” Tony Blanket asked.

“The problem for me is that the change into the human body only completes in two days. While the outer part is almost immediate, the inner parts take longer. So, if I have to fly immediately on arrival, which I try to avoid if I can, they feel nothing when they grope me. Then they look at me, wondering where my parts are. They ask me to come to a special search room and lower my pants. When they see that my parts are still shaping up, they either faint or scream. So far they have let me go because they couldn’t  find a bomb device.”

I heard laughter in the audience.

“Let’s turn to your views on some of our main topics on Earth,” Kathryn suggested. “For example, you travel much in the universe. We have this divisive debate on Earth about global warming, or should I say climate change. Can you see that we have a pollution problem when you come down?”

“As you said, the topic became climate change before it was called global warming, as it proved to be a misnomer. Climate changes are natural and originate from the universe and affect all planets, including Mars. Global warming alarmists ignore that Earth is not the only planet. Human energy consumption may create environmental issues that can be overcome by more efficient use, and they are through simple regulations and market competition, but environmental lobbies exaggerate the impact to suit their own agenda to control the economy much like the socialists do. But the universe is a huge self correcting cosmos much greater than environmental lobbies can imagine. All what they are screaming about must be taken with a grain of salt as their conclusions are built on faulty assumptions. To answer you second question, what I see from up there is pollution spewing out of the White House when your president Obama smokes. Since the new House Speaker Boehner is a smoker too, he and the President may find common ground more easily when they sneakily take a joint together in the loo.”

“So you think that global warming, sorry, the climate change issue is overblown?” Kathryn asked.

“Sure it is. All this cap and trade stuff is just another way of plucking people’s wallets. Your United Nations group is very smart at it, but it’s just another tax gimmick to transfer payments from rich to poor. Deforestation in poor countries has a much greater impact on droughts than C02 emissions in industrial countries.”

“What  was in your view the most important event in 2010?”Fred Garfinkel asked.

“Undoubtedly  the emergence of the Tea Party in the USA that stopped the left wing Obama administration in its tracks. This can only happen in a country like the USA. European countries do not have the critical mass to raise this type of national resurgence. But even they, and maybe because of the American example, are coming to their senses rejecting the devastating spend thrift of their statist regimes.”

“On the other hand,” Bob Foolsman said, “you must admit that Obama made a substantial comeback after our November elections.”

“I think that’s grossly overstated. He had to swallow the extensions of the Bush tax cuts that he had campaigned against. Remember father Bush and his “read my lips” slogan? This was much worse. The two other bills that counted most, your trillion dollar budget bills and that nightmare of a dream act failed miserably.”

“You are an alien,” Bob followed up, “and have children on Earth. Wouldn’t you feel more sympathy for those alien children born in the USA?”

“First, I enter with visas. Second, my kids were legally born here. Third, yes I feel sympathy with those kids who were, not their fault. However, it was just another political gimmick to circumvent your border problem. Had you regulated immigration much earlier, this issue would not have arisen. Frankly, your administrations have been totally inept in dealing with this for decades now, one side because they like Hispanic votes and the other side because they like cheap labor. It’s about time you come to a comprehensive solution that benefits America as a whole, but it will only have teeth when you settle the border problem first.”

“How do you handle such problems on Mars?” Fred Garfinkel asked.

“Our society is too small to have internal border problems. We live peacefully together and have one language. When spaceships enter our stratosphere unauthorized, they are radiated back into space and never come back. Should one land and is hostile, or unwilling to identify its origin, they are forced to leave or catapulted back into space. We have only regular exchanges with Jupiter. But to draw a comparison, we are much firmer on controlling immigration because it’s the only way to preserve our identity. ”

“What’s the next most important issue we are facing in the USA?” Tony Blanket asked, changing the subject.

“That your politicians interfere far too much with the self-regulating economic forces that redress themselves automatically over time. Statist regimes like your current one steal from the kitty by promising give-aways that aren’t paid for and because they want to be re-elected and gain the upper hand. In Euro-currency Europe, where this has been going on for far too long, they now have to pay the piper and are voting conservative to contain and repair the ills of the social welfare state. If you don’t kick the statists and their leaders out, you will end up in the same boat and your and my kids will bear the brunt of it, if they do not already.”

“The new conservative majority in the House will only have partial power to do so,” Charles Hammerschmidt said, “because our Senate is still in the socialist camp and together with the statist President will make all efforts to block that attempt. Do you really think the statists will lose?”

“It depends on how much the American people are educated on the subject and are willing to take a stand,” I reasoned. “Your main media are infiltrated with socialists or left-wingers and are responsible for much of the misinformation and misinterpretation that has influenced the electorate. The ordinary citizen does not have the time to sift through all the information, or read the bills before the politicians vote, and is more interested in your Lady Gaga or MTV’s Snooki anyway. Cleverly-written and spoken speeches by the incumbent President conceal much of the disastrous effects of these bills. If the conservative block does not educate the populace adequately, and if they do not have a strong charismatic leader to articulate its views, you are right, the statists may win again.”

“And if the economy improves, as it undoubtedly will in the course of the natural eighth year business cycle,” Tony said, “they can claim that their policies worked. And if they win, don’t be surprised if they continue their strife for total control.”

“Government is good for the people, “ Bob said, “exactly because the people are unable to deal with society’s complex problems. Those who seek state control are doing so with that good objective in mind, and the people benefit.”

“Unfortunately,” I noted, “that lofty ideal has proved wrong in all cases. Replacing private initiative with group control has yielded only misery and decline. Even China recognized this and restored to some extent the incentive to produce and make money. And Americans aren’t like that, read “We the people”.

“Those days are gone, Mars Man,” Bob said, smiling contemptuously. “We live in modern times now. Government has become the people.”

“Your Tea Party that includes people from both sides of the aisle doesn’t think that and has spoken differently,” I said. “Don’t underestimate the populace. There’s more to come.“

“Thanks Mars Man and panel for an interesting conversation,” Kathryn said. “Our time is up. We wish  you well  on  your way back. Please come again.”

“Thank you all, it was a pleasure,” I ended.

PS: I had a lovely time with Kathryn and the kids at Christmas and New Year ’s Eve, lively conversations about the intriguing aspects of Earth’s cultures, civilization and its curiosity towards space. I traveled back on New Year’s day to California and mounted Space Scooter One back to Mars, this time filled with good government fuel so as to avoid another alien scare over California’s coast. Good-bye, and a happy New Year. Till next time from Mars.