OT: Flag Waving ** Was ** From a Romanian Newspaper

[Guest guest]

Hey Kathleen,

 

> Ah yes! The rah rah side of foreign editorials... Howsome ever, there

> are 10x more to the contrary.

 

Well, since we rarely see anything positive about the USA on the lists,

especially from you and those involved with aromatherapy and natural

healing and those that lean toward the New Age crap .. I think its sort

of in order to show the rah side .. that offsets those who are hardcore

left leaners.. ;-p

 

And I don't espect much from foreign editorials since they usually don't

like us .. they just like what we are and what we have. They want all

that as long as it doesn't rub off on their siesta time.

 

> With the brave and bold act of entering Iraq to save the world from

> WMD (have they found any yet or haven't we had enough time to plant

> them?)

 

They will find them .. and Americans will NOT plant them. Are you just

flat anti-American? Does your left leaning position and anti-Bush and

hatred for Republicans make you feel a strong need to bad mouth America

or anything that happens under the present administration?

 

> we have earned ourselves in the special place of many peoples hearts.

 

Damn betcha on that .. especially those in Iraq. There are downsides to

every war .. only difference is that prior to Vietnam the war didn't

come into folks living rooms every night .. they could be content with

keeping their heads in the sand. Now they know its not a checker game.

I remember that you opposed the liberation of Afghanistan too .. bet you

would have objected to American involvement in World Wars I and II if

you had been around .. and maybe even the Revolution back in 1776.

 

> Slowly we are isolating ourselves. Oh people will still do business

> with us, and they will smile and show us their pearly teeth but behind

> those smiles will be/is an awful lot of hatred.

 

Being one who lives in a foreign country and deals with many folks from

other foreign countries .. I disagree .. and having seen Vietnam and

Somalia and Israel and Iraq and Libya and many places that would upset

you if you saw how folks live .. I know that we are not always loved but

we are often seen in awe! But then soldiers are not loved either until

they are in combat .. prior to that they are lazy losers drawing big

bucks from public funds .. in wartime they become " our boys. " I don't

look at things as you do because I don't hate everything the Bush

administration does and let it shade my opinion of what America is.

 

> A friend and I talked about this last night. She, like many, are

> unable to see what entering Iraq alone (well, we did manage to get

> Blair to follow along for the ride) is going to cost us. And like

> many, she doesn't care.

 

I don't care either .. those who opposed us .. the French, Germans and

Russians had economic interests in Iraq .. nothing so honorable about

that. And Kofi Annen is losing his prestige so he is not a happy camper

either. But then, if we study the UN we find that it had lost that

prestige long ago .. they sat on their fat butts when Saddam gassed

thousands of Iraqi Kurds .. but they were little brown folks with rags

on their heads and baggy pants .. not Christians either.

 

We weren't alone .. but to me going without the French and Germans and

Russians and Syrians and some of the other anti-American countries on

the castrated UN Security Council was certainly not a disgrace .. alone

was far better.

 

> F... them she says... " Them " is an awful lot of people in an awful lot

> of countries. That's an awful lot of hate directed against us...Fear

> and hate. Nasty combination.

 

There has been no time in history that we have been loved by all and if

its winning hearts and minds and popularity contests that count then the

bad guys in the world have free run if we don't wanna piss nobody off.

 

> My friend and I decided that perhaps we shouldn't share our opinions

> any more on this war in Iraq.

 

Not a bad idea since its all but over. Sorry that you and those who

think like you are not going to get to crow over our failure.

 

< She pointed out the statistics of 75% of the people are behind Bush

> and behind his war, interesting statistics. I know no one has ever

> asked my opinion ( I give it freely anyway ;-).

 

You have never hesitated to do that .. but understand that you are in

the minority .. probably the majority on this list but this list is not

what I would call an accurate cross section of America .. no natural

healing list is.

 

> Well, it's pretty much done now. Only history will tell us if this was

> one of the stupidest moves that the president could have taken or one

> of the most brilliant.

 

I don't think history will classify it as either .. as a student of

history and a somewhat knowledgeable dude on international politics and

other affairs I'll say that the last brilliant war was the American

Revolution.

 

> I know what I think and I know what a lot of others think...

 

Yes .. but you are in the minority .. at least off this list .. and

there is no logic behind your feelings .. only emotions.

 

> And yes, I know that this post will more than likely piss off those

> with military backgrounds, staunch defenders of the Flag, those with

> children or parents in the military and those who are overseas and

> reading this. But I figure, if we can have " Rah Rah Notes " then we

> can also point out another opinion. I mean, we STILL have that freedom

> don't we?

> Kathleen Petrides

 

What is the other side .. trash America? Do you have problems reading

something good about America. Would you have felt this great need to

express the opinion that many died to give you the right to express if I

had trashed America? We know the reason. And I have one reply to that

too .. which is below. If my flag waving bothers folks here I will be

glad to take my tired butt off the list .. but by damn I am an American

Patriot .. a retired military man who spent a few years fighting for

what I THOUGHT was right .. and still think was right .. and I have damn

sure earned the right to flag wave .. any damn place I want to. Last

time subjects like this came up Chris was swamped with off list posts

peeing and moaning .. they don't like the subject .. or maybe the one

who is writing. But I don't give a damn about all that prenatal stuff

on the list .. so I just zap it. In any case, this is it for me .. I

won't reply to ANY posts on this again!!!!!

 

By .. A PROUD AMERICAN .. Irma S. Chambers

 

The other day, my nine year old son wanted to know why we were at war.

My husband looked at our son and then looked at me. My husband and I

were in the Army during the Gulf War and we would be honored to serve

and defend our country again today. I knew that my husband would give

him a good explanation.

 

My husband thought for a few minutes and then told my son to go stand in

our front living room window. He told him: " Son, stand there and tell

me what you see? "

 

" I see trees and cars and our neighbors houses. " he replied.

 

" OK, now I want you to pretend that our house and our yard is the United

States of America and you are President Bush. "

 

Our son giggled and said " OK. "

 

" Now son, I want you to look out the window and pretend that every

house and yard on this block is a different country. " my husband said.

 

" OK Dad, I'm pretending. "

 

" Now I want you to stand there and look out the window and see that man

come out of his house with his wife and he has her by the hair and is

hitting her. You see her bleeding and crying. He hits her in the face,

he throws her on the ground, then he starts to kick her to death. Their

children run out and are afraid to stop him, they are crying, they are

watching this but do nothing because they are kids and afraid of their

father. You see all of this son....what do you do? "

 

" Dad? "

 

" What do you do son?! "

 

" I call the police, Dad. "

 

" OK. Pretend that the police are the United Nations and they take your

call, listen to what you know and saw but they refuse to help. What do

you do then son?! "

 

" Dad, but the police are supposed to help! " My son starts to whine.

 

" They don't want to son, because they say that it is not their place or

your place to get involved and that you should stay out of it, " my

husband says.

 

" But Dad .. he killed her!! " my son exclaims.

 

" I know he did.. but the police tell you to stay out of it. Now I want

you to look out that window and pretend you see our neighbor who you're

pretending is Saddam turn around and do the same thing to his children. "

 

" Daddy .. he kills them? "

 

" Yes son, he does. What do you do? "

 

" Well, if the police don't want to help, I will go and ask my next door

neighbor to help me stop him. " our son says.

 

" Son, our next door neighbor sees what is happening and refuses to get

involved as well. He refuses to open the door and help you stop him, "

my husband says.

 

" But Dad, I NEED help!!! I can't stop him by myself!! "

 

" WHAT DO YOU DO SON? "

 

Our son starts to cry.

 

" OK, no one wants to help you, the man across the street saw you ask for

help and saw that no one would help you stop him. He stands taller and

puffs out his chest. Guess what he does next son? "

 

" What Daddy? "

 

" He walks across the street to the old lady's house and breaks down her

door and drags her out, steals all her stuff and sets her house on fire

and then .. he kills her. He turns around and sees you standing in the

window and laughs at you. WHAT DO YOU DO?!!! "

 

" Daddy... "

 

" WHAT DO YOU DO?!!! "

 

Our son is crying and he looks down and he whispers, " I close the

blinds, Daddy. "

 

My husband looks at our son with tears in his eyes and asks him, " Why? "

 

" Because Daddy ... the police are supposed to help ... people who need

it ... and they won't help ... You always say that neighbors are

supposed to HELP neighbors, but they won't help either ... they won't

help me stop him ... I'm afraid ... I can't do it by myself Daddy ... I

can't look out my window and just watch him do all these terrible things

and ... and ... do nothing ... so ... I'm just going to close the blinds

so I can't see what he's doing ..... and I'm going to pretend that it is

not happening. "

 

I start to cry.

 

My husband looks at our nine year old son standing in the window,

looking pitiful and ashamed at his answers to my husbands questions and

he tells him ... " Son "

 

" Yes, Daddy. "

 

" Open the blinds because that man ... he's at your front door ... " WHAT

DO YOU DO?!!!! "

 

My son looks at his father, anger and defiance in his eyes. He balls up

his tiny fists and looks his father square in the eyes, and without

hesitation he says: " I DEFEND MY FAMILY DAD!! I'M NOT GONNA LET HIM HURT

MOMMY OR MY SISTER, DAD!!! I'M GONNA FIGHT HIM, DAD, I'M GONNA FIGHT

HIM!!!!! "

 

I see a tear roll down my husband's cheek and he grabs my son to his

chest and hugs him tight, and cries ... " It's too late to fight him, he's

too strong and he's already at YOUR front door son .... you should have

stopped him BEFORE he killed his wife. You have to do what's right, even

if you have to do it alone, before it's too late. " my husband whispers.

 

THAT scenario I just gave you is WHY we are at war with Iraq.

 

When good men stand by and let evil happen is the greatest EVIL of all.

Our President is doing what is right.

 

We, as a free nation, must understand that this war is a war of

humanity. WE must remove this evil man from power so that we can

continue to live in a free world where we are not afraid to look out our

window and see crimes on humanity. So that my nine year old son won't

grow up in a world where he feels that if he just " closes " that blinds

the atrocities in the world won't affect him.

 

Today the second day of " WAR on IRAQ " I felt compelled to write this and

pass it along.

 

Hopefully, you will understand the lesson my husband tried to teach our

son.

 

" YOU MUST NEVER BE AFRAID TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT! EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO DO IT

ALONE! "

 

BE PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!

 

BE PROUD OF OUR PRESIDENT! BE PROUD OF OUR TROOPS!! SUPPORT THEM!!!

SUPPORT AMERICA!! SO THAT IN THE FUTURE OUR CHILDREN WILL NEVER HAVE TO

CLOSE THEIR BLINDS.... "