Chris,

I disagree with thinking the fault in Turkey is like the SAF. Historically the fault in Turkey has broken in segments one after the other in 20 year cycles, with the exception of I believe in 1911? But the SAF is not like that. It breaks at one end, the middle and the lower end takes much longer Stateside anyway and more frequently in Baja at the top of the Gulf of California. Just being transform faults doesn't mean they are all uniform in behavior. Take a look at the fault which runs the length of the Sinai, it ruptured from end to end twice. Do we think the SAF will do that? I don't think so. Though whatever anyone learns is a good thing for sure.

As for our government it is like everything else, good, bad and otherwise. It's a mirror of our society, so just go out into a large city and take your notes and appraise them against what happens in our government. It looks exactly the same. And you know what the answer is? Don't put people in positions of power because they are rich, but because they'll do the best darn job while they are there. Today only money buys the position of the presidency and it's been that way since forever. The rest are all similar. I gave up voting years ago because you can't tell one carpetbagger from the other.

Petra