Americaca: what's great about us

In one person, our president smoothly personifies what's lousy about America -- being a bullshitting, arrogant, strutting bully. But here's a story that reveals what's great about America. Few of us realize how droll we are as a nation, and that it's one of our greatest qualities.
"Suppose it is the future - maybe a thousand years from now. There is no static cling, diapers change themselves, and everyone who is anyone summers on Mars. What's more, it is possible to travel back in time, to any place, any era. Where would people go? Would they zoom to a 2005 Saturday night for chips and burgers in a college courtyard, eager to schmooze with computer science majors possessing way too many brain cells? Why not, say some students at MIT, who have organized what they call the first convention for time travelers.
Actually, they contend that theirs is the only time traveler convention the world needs, because people from the future can travel to it anytime they want. 'I would hope they would come with the idea of showing us that time travel is possible,' said Amal Dorai, 22, the graduate student who thought up the convention, which is to be this Saturday on the MIT campus. The event is potluck and alcohol-free - present-day humans are bringing things like brownies. But Mr. Dorai's Web site asks that future-folk bring something to prove they are really ahead of our time: 'Things like a cure for AIDS or cancer, a solution for global poverty or a cold fusion reactor would be particularly convincing as well as greatly appreciated.'" More here.