Aren't we Smart?

Aren't we a smart country? The Norwegians think so. If we get the Nobel prize for literature (Cormac McCarthy or Dellilo could do it, and there's a number of others) and then the Nobel Peace Prize... we'd sweep the awards. That's bigger than Romania winning the most Olympic medals per capita! (not to mention the most Olympic Medals per pound too... all those little gymnists.)

But who's going to win the Peace Prize? What if the Norwegians give us all the awards except the Peace Prize. Is it a form of protest? Does it say, "How does a coutnry so smart mess up the Mesopotamia so badly?" Does it say, "Even though we have a lot of peaceful people here, Cheney out weighs them all."

But what if we don't win the Nobel Prize for Literature? Have you considered what this will mean? It might say, "You are really good at all those practical sciences, all those highly technical pursuits (even though your kids don't do well at them in school, and most young Americans would rather be a rapper than a Chemist, a football player than an economist, a UPS driver than a physicist), but maybe you should stop, relax a minute, read a book, take a break, get some soft science done, think about life... not how it began... you Americans proved that the big Bang took Place, we Norwegians gave you the Prize for that, and for that we commend you, but maybe you should think about why so many Americans think the world started even after the first Chinese civilization/dynasty began recording history."