By now I'm sure everyone has visited or at least heard about the US
web site dedicated to apologizing to the world for the re-election of
George Bush (sorryeverybody.com ) . Everyone has likely also heard
about the counter page (apologiesaccepted.com  ) carrying messages from
people around the world accepting the apology of the 49% of Americans
who tried to remove Bush from office. Personally, I was pleased and
inspired by seeing these. As an American ex-patriot now living in
Canada it was good to be reminded that there are still very good people
living in the U.S.

Then it occurred to me that it was not really enough to say 'we're
sorry' and 'it's ok you'll get em next time. It was a good
beginning but it should not be the end. Technology has finally provided
us with the option to circumnavigate political leadership and conduct
international relations ourselves. As the old rally chant goes 'the
people, united, will never be defeated'. If we can get together and
talk, free of professional lobbyists, wealthy vested interests, and
traditional rivalries, if we can find ways among ourselves to achieve
understanding, peace, security, a healthy environment, economic
justice, and numerous other worthy goals then perhaps things can start
to get better for everyone. If we can find these solutions, keep
abreast of what is being done around the world to achieve them, and
work together nationally and internationally to help one another, then
we can begin to change the dynamic of how traditional politics works.

So, with this lofty goal in mind, I began going through, one at a time,
each of the thousands of messages posted on the two sites listed above.
Sadly, very few of them contained any contact information, but I sent
email to those who did include it (as if they were asking for someone
to reach out to them) and with those people the idea has found
resonance. After two weeks in existence the resulting listserv and
message board has members from across the US (including the founder of
Sorryeverybody.com) and Canada as well as members from the UK, Germany,
France, the Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Columbia, Brazil, Morocco, New
Zealand, Slovenia, Egypt, China and Singapore and the discussions have
begun.

I would humbly invite everyone who reads this not only to join us, but
to pass this message along to others. The group can currently be found
at  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EarthU/. or you can join by sending
an email to EarthU-subscribe@yahoogroups.com