I find it strange that Hitchens would try to morph "western civilization" au current into the sole, one and only worthwhile one in all of human history?

The evolutionary position of capitalism, and apparently of imperialism, cannot be denied as existing, but whether it is the height of "civlization", much less "good", is yet to be determined, it being only a few hundred years old, and fuedalism having lasted 2,000 years at least, longer in China, apparently.

Hell, currently we in the USA have more people in prison in absolute numbers than the Soviet Union ever did, and more per capita than anyone ever did, in the whole wide world, yet two US congressmen can go to Peking demanding China free political prisoners and make international US MEDIA headlines this week, today, as if there were no real world at all! I find it HILARIOUS! This has all got to be a terrible joke, eh?

But its downright laughable he would ask us to send our English books to Iraq, to rich kids who will very likely leave the place if they can in the next decades anyway...or does Hitchens still believe the USA will get out and the oil will be turned over to US Companies and all will be nicey nicey after Bush has stolen the wealth of an historic elite that has massive wealth and several thousand years of international connections?

Hmm.

Bush's Con dingbatism is rubbing off on Hitchens, I guess.

I hope you don't mind my borrowing the word "dingbatism" to describe the following, one of the best examples I've ever seen:

Hell, currently we in the USA have more people in prison in absolute numbers than the Soviet Union ever did, and more per capita than anyone ever did, in the whole wide world, yet two US congressmen can go to Peking demanding China free political prisoners and make international US MEDIA headlines this week, today, as if there were no real world at all! I find it HILARIOUS! This has all got to be a terrible joke, eh?

The above is stupid and inaccurate on so many levels that it's hard to know where to begin. Maybe we should start by recognizing that the Soviet Union murdered and worked to death (can you spell "gulag") more people than we have in prison. Comparing our convicted criminals to China's political prisoners is just the kind of exercise in moral equivalance that left-wing cretins have made famous going back to their days as Lenin's "useful idiots." Most of the hapless victims of the Soviet gulags were never convicted of, or charged with, anything, political or otherwise.

Of course you're confused about the use of the word "civilization": it's a wonder that anyone still trying to compare America unfavorably to the Soviet Union or to China can even spell the word--or any word.

I take it Varian that you are proud of the fact that the US has the highest prison population in the world?

And while it may be true we have no reached the depths of Soviet gulags, explain how one keeps a straight face while criticising the Soviets for keeping prisoners who "were never convicted of, or charged with, anything, political or otherwise" while defending the very same policies in Gitmo? Even the Soviets started small.

The fact is Varian, that it is indeed hillarious (and very sad) when US representatives lecture to the rest of the world about human rights, when it's own reputation is in the gutter.