Since were on civics and such.

One of the better things I had sent to me this week.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0rQzUVQjd8

wrote in message
...
One of the better things I had sent to me this week.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0rQzUVQjd8

Nice sentiments, but a bit too simplistic and ethnocentric, IMMHO. He posits
that the only reason he is free is the sacrifice soldiers past and present.
He does not cover the democratic principles and institutions that drive our
great nation and protect us as Americans. Nor does he note that the
sacrifice of soldiers might be avoided, if only our so-called leaders were
wiser geo-political decisionmakers and less capitalistically oriented.

Baxter Black is a wonderful poet. However, I don't know that I would accept
all of his socio-economic or political viewpoints.

To assume that someone--anyone--*has* to die to ensure my way of life is a
proposition for which I do not adhere, and reeks of jingoism, YMMV.

Op

On Dec 23, 10:22*am, "Mark H. Bowen" wrote:
Nice sentiments, but a bit too simplistic and ethnocentric, IMMHO. He posits
that the only reason he is free is the sacrifice soldiers past and present.

"rb608" wrote in message
...
On Dec 23, 10:22 am, "Mark H. Bowen" wrote:
Nice sentiments, but a bit too simplistic and ethnocentric, IMMHO. He
posits
that the only reason he is free is the sacrifice soldiers past and
present.
He does not cover the democratic principles and institutions that drive
our
great nation and protect us as Americans.

Can't do YouTube here at work; but I'll comment on your comment.

The sacrifice of our military in times of war and peace alike is
undeniable; but when we celebrate those contributions to our freedom
as its only protection, it does a great disservice to everyone else
who puts their lives, families, or careers on the line for this
nation's freedom.

Journalists and whistleblowers who dare attack the status quo or
expose corruption; attornies who protect the rights and freedoms of we
the people against unjust laws or government actions; ordinary people
who organize, march, and protest to ensure that our freedoms aren't
conquered by our very own government or its institutions. These
people protect and defend our freedoms every bit as much as the
soldier, often in similar peril to their lives.

It can and probably will be argued that the sacrifice of the soldiers
makes possible the freedom of the activist or the lawyer; but I
disagree that either takes precedence. If social, political, and
judical activists cannot guarantee our freedoms through Constitutional
means, the role of the military in preserving our geographic borders
is meaningless to the freedom of the people within.

I used to like Baxter Black's NPR commentaries, and his "down home"
wisdom isn't without it's charm and validity; but if I'm looking for a
lecture on what makes this country great, his opinion means less to me
than, say, a community organizer or public defender.

Joe F.

Agreed.

Op

In article
,
writes
One of the better things I had sent to me this week.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0rQzUVQjd8

Time he got up off his arse and trimmed his moustache
--
Bill Grey

In article
,
wrote:

One of the better things I had sent to me this week.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0rQzUVQjd8

Chills the soul, the way those propaganda films from Germany in the 30s
do.

Those films, on the other hand, were often very beautiful, and Germany
had the advantage then of being arguably the most civilized country on
earth. The best music, much of the best writing, much of the best
philosophy.

One of the reasons I live in Europe is that I've never seen a
Frenchman, Italian, Irishman or Spaniard praise his/her flag, or argue
that his/her country was the best on earth (even though they probably
are).

This video displays floridly the overweening, priggish, ignorant
complacency that inspired those evil *******s to do what they did on
9/11. What they did was utterly wrong, but this video explains why it
was reasonable to want to do it.

L

On Wed, 24 Dec 2008 23:07:55 +0000, Lazarus Cooke
wrote:

this video explains why it
was reasonable to want to do it.

And what of your Jolly Old England? Seems you have had more terrorist
attack than we. They must really "love" you.

On Dec 24, 4:07 pm, Lazarus Cooke
wrote:

What they did was utterly wrong, but this video explains why it
was reasonable to want to do it.

We ain't perfect, but it was _not_ reasonable to want to do it.

Jon.
PS: I suspect most followups are going to be harsher, so done your
asbestos...

In article
,
wrote:



We ain't perfect, but it was _not_ reasonable to want to do it.

Wake up.

It was perfectly reasonable to want to do it.

It was wicked and unforgivable to do it.


Jon.
PS: I suspect most followups are going to be harsher, so done your
asbestos...

I know. Just like criticizing the German government in the 30s, or the
Israeli one now.

L

Dave La course wrote

And what of your Jolly Old England? Seems you have had more terrorist
attack than we. They must really "love" you.

I'm not English, nor never have been so they're not mine, and I didn't
refer to them in my post.

But yes, the English have been attacked a bit, inevitably. Given what
they've done in Iraq it's not surprising.

But, just as 9/11 didn't create even a ripple on the graph of violent
deaths in America, fundamentalist islamic terrorism has killed few
Brits.

Unlike America, though, the deaths have done little to alter the way of
life in Britain. And the Brits are used to it - they had to put up with
the (US funded) IRA for thirty years, so there haven't been trash-cans
for terrorists to put bombs in in the subway for yonks, if not longer.

The US is weird, in that it's never been attacked from outside for the
last hundred years, so the population flap around like headless
chickens at the tiniest suggestion of a hint of a threat.

I know of no country whose population would react/ has reacted in such
a cravenly panic-stricken way as the US; but I realize that this is
partly due to its unique geographic and political isolation.

(Which, oddly enough, is also the reason why its people, in many ways
as sweet as they come, frequently behave so viciously when they come in
contact with foreigners, whom they see, as explained in the video which
began all this, as being other-wordly beings who suffer from the
terrible fate of being non-American.)

L