They learn so quickly

There are moments where you have to stop and take pride in your sccomplishments. Especially when you see the fruits of your labor with those you have mentored. You take them from a life of hardship and show them a new way, you bring them up and teach them the way you know best, and when they take those first steps out into the world it just wells you up with so much joy. Our babies are all growed up!

Lawless Somalia remained the world's most corrupt country, followed by Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sudan and Iraq, Transparency International said in its annual Corruption Perceptions Index.
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Afghanistan, which slipped to 179th place from 176th, has been dogged by corruption for years.
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Karzai's inability or unwillingness to tackle cronyism and bribery the past five years has given Taliban insurgents another argument with which to win support from the Afghan people. Nations supplying troops and aid are running out of patience with his government.

Transparency said public-sector corruption is rampant in Afghanistan.

Our eldest child, Iraq, was all the way down at 176. Us? We're slipping. Only 19th this year. It's unfair really, most of our corruption is institutional, whereupon lawmakers are just expected to do what corporations want in return for relatively small political donations and favors. Frankly that's a flaw that needs to be rectified, so we can at least get credit for the immense systemic corruption that essentially neuters and ruins anything that goes through it. I demand a corruption ranking system that takes into account all the high tech and invisible ways in which we are damaging the well being of our own country in exchange for money! A corruption BCS. We're like Boise State over here; not getting the credit we deserve.

I mean look at those Iraq and Afghanistan rankings. I'm not saying they aren't corrupt, Lord knows that they are barely functioning states consumed by drugs and violence, propped up by us. But that corruption? It's mostly us. Things we allow, things we encourage, things we let go. Hell, we're the ones probably buying off most of the government to do things we want, getting people we want installed into different government positions, getting trade, land, and resource rights that we want. I mean they count that shit for Iraq and Afghanistan, but it really should be a part of our ranking. 19th? I mean our corruption affects things on a global scale. The financial crisis, climate change inaction, energy....hello, remember them much? What's Iraq's corruption effecting? Somalia? Do they even have a government?

Bah! This corruption list is corrupt. Get it fixed. I'll make it worth it. *wink* Brown paper bag, underneath the park bench, 5 o'clock. We'll see if we can't come to an "understanding".