I appreciated the Tom Lehrer clip, Stubbleduck. He was always hilarious and iconoclastic before it was fashionable.

I am surprised that only 22 million Americans per year apply for passports/renewals.

We are a country of almost 340 million people.

I guess a lot of us stay home.

More's the pity.

Too many Americans are so ego-ethnocentric that they think there is nothing worth seeing outside the US. Really sad….

My son got his new passport last week.

It took six weeks to the day from when he mailed it off.

My wife and I mailed our passport renewal on March 6 and received new passports today, barely 5 weeks.

I saw much of Asia when I was in the Navy and I've had my passport since I was in my mid twenties. But in reality the US is so varied that, unlike small European countries, there is a ton to do and see here without ever leaving the country. Just because someone chooses to not travel abroad does not make them "ego-ethnocentric". For many it's economics. It's not like they drive through several countries on a day trip.