NO APOLOGIES NEEDED

Y'know when you travel around the U.S. you don't see too many (any!) cemeteries of foreign war dead. Like German, Italian, Russian, or Polish cemeteries when those countries sent armies to help us in our times of trouble. Hmmmmmmmmm. Because no armies ever came. The French sent a Navy. Thanks. But travel around the world, especially Europe, and you will find numerous cemeteries of those Americans who died in foreign wars. And they were wars of liberation when humanity faced its darkest days and the expenditure of human life against perilous evil was considered blood well spent. So, to our European friends and allies and anyone else where American blood was spilled on behalf of others: No apologies for arrogance are in order. In fact, it is difficult to argue with success. In 1776 one country in the world was practicing functional democracy and respecting the individual rights of men. In 2009, three-quarters of the extant governments of the Earth are functional parliamentary democracies. It is not a perfect world and nations still act with self-interest. But it is undeniable progress when considered against most of the course of human history. So say thank you to the Founding Fathers and show a little respect.

Rick Poure
NYC Correspondent

Iran...........always Iran....

I am sure, that with the secret police beating people in the streets of Tehran, that Voltaire, Bolivar and Jefferson are all rolling over in their graves. If Sam Adams could only come back to life now. What the hell is wrong with these people? Totalitarianism IS an historical failure. Economically and politically. What are the "free" nations of the world doing to help the Iranian freedom fighters? Nothing? We should supply them with arms and safe havens. We should give them air cover and artillery support. The current Iranian regime seeks nuclear weapons to use against us!

That is not an idle threat, we are infidels and have no souls. Makes it pretty easy on the conscience when you become a mass murderer, right? Stalin had no God, he didn't care. Neither do the leaders of Iran. We should do anything in our power to change that or we will rue the day.

Notes from the Big Apple

I was in Nanuet, New York some time ago on a sunny weekend and as I drove off the Palisides Interstate highway and came down the exit ramp to a traffic light, Diane and I were confronted with a fairly large anti-War demonstration in a large clearing on the diagonal opposite side of the road.  Everybody was chill and things were calm.  I didn’t notice any police.  Then our eyes were drawn to another large group directly across the road from where we waited at the light.  This group was a little larger and had an abundance of American flags displayed.  They represented the pro-War position under the banner of supporting our troops.  Both groups together represented the pinnacle of American Democracy.  They were blatantly expressing their opposing political viewpoints directly across the street from one another and ignoring each other at the same time.  Most scenes of such political expression around the world are accompanied by a minimum of rock-throwing, flag-burning and assorted mayhem of varying degree.

 

There are significant parallels between the development of political culture in South and Central America and the development of political culture in the Balkans and the Mediterranean as well as most of the Middle East where an individuals primary political loyalty was to tribe and locality, as there are significant parallels in those second and third world countries that were culturally influenced by western European countries where primary political loyalty lay first to a Prince and then later, to the nation that succeeded the Prince, rather than to the local authority, which was regarded as an extension of the national authority.  Those succeeding nations, notably the USA, Australia and Canada, encompass a larger national identity that is inclusive of numerous cultures.  Even in nations such as South Africa and India, where the clash of cultural development is significant, the democratic political principles of western influence and the national bonding accompanied by a common defense clearly indicate that the political progression of these nations is to the type of street corner democracy I saw in Nanuet.   Such is not the case in the Middle East and large parts of Asia and Africa.

 

So the real question is how do we get the rock-throwers throughout the world to stand on opposite street corners and ignore each other?

Rick Poure

New York City Correspondent