very interesting thread! There is a glimmer in the darkness of the great American "world view". Americans are a lot like puppies, good, happy, respond well to love, are puzzled when some one hits them with a newspaper but they still continue to pee on the floor! This goes back to the source of 911, American Foreign Policy. You think you are out there doing "good" in the world, but continually ignore the most basic of cultural differences. I think ignorance is a basic trait of the average American, they know little of their own country, and far less about others. That said, at least you are willing to engage in a conversation that is not draped in blind patriotism and swathed in christian pedantic drivel.

And as for socialized medicine, hell - do not knock what you have not tried. I won't lose my house over a heart attack, I can go to any doctor or hospital I like and I will never be denied care based on my bank balance. I just wish we had socialized dentistry as well.

Most enjoyable reading folks....

lizbeth

When you consider the millions of things we could disagree on the real wonder is that we disagree on so few.
I have a good deal of respect for Ekyp like yourself. Which is why I often refer to him in case studies.

You have come to a lot of conclusions from your investigations and there isn't much I can do to dissuade you from any of them. But of the positions you've taken I will only comment on one.

Your notion that the world views us as ignorant fools and that we're "occupying" 100 countries is a distortion fostered by the emotional imagination of the Left. It is absolutely true they we are disliked by many in the world but this dislike is the variety that grows from resentment. It is the same kind of resentment that is harbored against "Corporate America" by small minds like Ekyp who considers the man who feeds him to be his enemy. It is the kind of resentment that builds when people become dependent upon others for the food on their tables but doesn't like the taste it leaves in their mouths.

Any country that we now "occupy" could demand that we leave and we would do so. The fact is that the governments of those countries understand that there is something to be gained by our presence. Whether the reasons be financial aid, military protection, technological assistance or outright bribery America is not in any country against the will of its leaders (though you might argue the case that the leaders of Iraq and Afghanistan are "our" inventions.) The media, political dissidents and other malcontents within all nations are constantly stirring resentment against the US. by using just such terms as "occupiers".

No one would be happier than me to see us get out of 90% of those countries and let the world see what happens to them when we're gone. Darfur has not been the disaster it has been because of America's presence. It has been so because America was not present. Come to think of it if we had occupied Germany after the 1st WW there would surly not have been a 2nd WW. And remember what our beloved clown R.J. Daley meant to say rather than what he actually said: "The police aren't there to create disorder. They're there to preserve disorder." Our intentions around the world are pure but too often we put the power to act on our good intentions in the hands of political clowns.

Don't be influenced or disheartened by the fact that "everyone hates us". There are all sorts of forces intentionally turning our friends against us. Even within our own borders and among our own citizens we have dissidents who hate and work to destroy the foundations of American, i.e. the Revs. Wright and Sharpton, the Leftist subversives in our educational system, and even individuals holding office in our government to mention only a few.

We delude ourselves if we don't think terrorists will kill us if we don't fight back. We delude ourselves all the time.

Ok..............

I wish we could gather our selves united and bust a move. One good sway of or hips would rattle the idiots in Washington and we could get what’s ours back. I’ve often thought on how to organize and correct out State of the Union but the task is daunting. Can you help?

Vic