Short Takes @ the Blog "A Better Nation"

Whistleblowers: Who needs them? We all do. They take career and personal risks attempting to help others, attempting to turn secret shames into public justice. They put personal honor above others' lack of principle. They risk getting beat up. They risk seeing the slimeballs trash their careers and social standing. They're willing to trade the status quo for something better.

The European Dream: Does it hang on the ratification of the current unwieldy constitution? Some American imperialists and isolationists and unilateralists would like to think so and have you think so. But no, Europe is the most vibrant collection of countries on Earth. It's been around a long time, and it, probably collectively, will figure out more than we will how the future will work.

Frinz Lite: Are the masses just "I.M.'ing" ("instant messaging") and chatting incessantly on their cell phones but getting nowhere? All that chatter sounds like we as a society are just spinning our wheels instead of really getting any closer. We're just hearing each other more, around and about, quite akilter.

Naborz Lite: I've done it, too - waved to (or walked past) neighbors I've never really met, much less sat down and talked with. Can you imagine doing that in the America of 1935 or 1955 or even '65? Or the Italy of today? i notice most people set up their little retreats in their backyards, not their front yards. Used to be, before A/C and TV, that we strolled and sat out on the front stoop or porch. We wanted to see and be seen. But now, we're inside fiddling with our appliances while our neighbors are inside fiddling with theirs, and we share a parking lot, a wall or fence - neighbors reduced to property lines, hmmm, not a better thing. Now that's 'Naborz Lite.' Gab on and channel surf, and wonder why you're lonely. And by the way, grabbing your cr keys won't build a better neighborhood.

Embrace the Darkside: Do we have to embrace the darkside (temptation, empty calories, celebrity screw ups, Law & Order reruns) to avoid boredom, to make our lives exciting? Indeed, ARE our lives exciting? Maybe we just think we're excited, but we're really just on Media Meds, running on MTV Time, about as shallow a buzz as caffeine, about as distracted as every Quik Edit and Commercial Break: THIS LIFE, brought to you by...Your Own Brain Shrapnel.