The biggest lesson from Africa was that life's joys come mostly from relationships and friendships not from material things. I saw time and again how much fun Africans had with their families and friends and on the sports fields they laughed all the time.

Americans' addiction to sports with the NFL at the top is based on the excitement generated by the potential for the unexpected great play which can only happen with honest competition from great athletes.

There's a whole lot more to the African-American community than entertainment and sports.

The American people are sheep. They're comfortable rich working. It's like the Romans they're happy with bread and their spectator sports. The Super Bowl means more to them than any right.

Golf is played by twenty million mature American men whose wives think they are out having fun.

Well you got to remember bin Laden killed 3 000 Americans and in some ways he and his ideology killed tens of thousands of his fellow Muslims including Pakistanis. I understand that that was provocative and complicated for Pakistan but only if you accept the idea that he was an acceptable member of Pakistani society.

America must be the teacher of democracy not the advertiser of the consumer society. It is unrealistic for the rest of the world to reach the American living standard.

The Constitution as originally drawn made no reference to the fact that all Americans wre considered equal members of society.

Then I realized that there is an indigenous presence in the Solar System. It's us. So then I got to wondering what would happen if a more technologically advanced society moved next door to us the way we moved next door to the American Indians.

I understand why society especially American society is gravitating toward fairy tales given our economy. We've been exploring the world of witches and wizards for years. We've been exploring the world of vampires for years. Clearly the public - I mean I feel like all of this was ushered in by 'Harry Potter' - in my own fannish beliefs.