The reluctant tourist: Is going to Iraq the only way I can find out what's happening there?

I want to rent an RV and tour Iraq. That appears to be the only way I'll ever find out what is really going on over there.

How do we know what really goes on in Washington DC? Do American tourists have to be the world's eyes and ears?

And what about Paris? What the freak is going on there? And what's happening to Brazil's rain forests and was there really a terrorist attack planned for Australia or was that only made up?

Let's send little old ladies from Des Moines Iowa out into the Niger Delta and Yucca Mountain and Lhasa, Tibet. Is it true that the capital of Tibet has been completely taken over by Chinese settlers? And what's happening here at home in the ghettos of New Orleans, Detroit and Chicago? And why do we still have ghettos? And why is 12% of America now below the poverty level? And why are there homeless people on every corner of my hometown?

Who is honest and who is not?

And what, if any, is the good news?

What ideas work and what ideas do not?

Let's send our tourist spies to report back on Finland's full-disclosure, honesty-in-government open-access laws. Let's check on Cuba's fabulous healthcare and education where practically everyone on the island has a university degree. Let's check on solar power in Mexico and Arizona.

And let's resume our White House tours.

"Everyone should spend a few days in jail, just to see what it's like," said a friend who works at the local hoosegow.

Israelis and Palestinians should have mandatory lunch dates together once a month. Christian, Islamic, Hindu, Buddhist and Hebraic scholars should be forced read each others' holy books and compare notes.

How does one get to Iraq? I want to go. I want to see if they are still pumping oil there. I want to see who gets the money from it. As my friend Les said, "They'll never leave Iraq. It's still about the oil."

I want to tour Wall Street. Is the world economy collapsing? The nightly news tells me nothing useful to ME. I want to know. What the freak is going on in my world?