Being American and being proud. May 25, 2009

I know.  I'm not supposed to.  Right now we are in the self-loathing cycle that is meant to keep us infighting and focused internally.  All the things we knew about from over three years ago, Abu Ghraib...waterboarding...are front and center on the debate stage being warmed over with spotlights like they are new and urgent things that require attention now.  I think this is a dangerous pathology.

We're supposed to HAVE this debate late and without all the evidence.  We know that after 9/11, the nation's intel was in some disarray.  There was talk of "chatter" and possible additional plots.  Those plots did not happen, but if you listen to the way some people talk, those plots against Americans should have been carried out.  There is evidence saying that interrogations led to thwarting of at least two terrorist attacks. (I mean, man-made disasters.)  One was a plan to take down the Brooklyn Bridge.  The other was the destruction of a building in LA.  9/11 style stuff.  And instead of saying, "Oh, thank you!"  People are saying, "You used waterboarding and we disapprove."  Apparently, there's more that we don't know...but people are racing to late and politically convenient judgment about something that we already knew about.

These three Al Qaeda members aren't misunderstood petty thugs.  They are Bin Laden-esque leaders of a death cult pledged to destroy America.  Most people want Bin Laden dead.  I say most, because there appear to be quite a few who think we had 9/11 coming, so Bin Laden should get a lawyer and a chance to explain why American needs to be destroyed.  He may, after all, have a point?

And it would get great ratings. *fist bump*

We're the most bizarre of cultures.  We have a guy on tape saying, "We did it and by the way, death to America!"  Eight years later Jesse Ventura's on a radio show suggesting a conspiracy.  Jesse Ventura?

Down in Tennessee they had a conference to talk about slavery and reparations a couple of months back . Now, I know about slavery in the USA.  It is indeed a dark chapter in our history.  But having a conference now is like taking a dog and sticking its nose in a poop on the carpet that it didn't make. 

We're supposed to be forgiving and "progress"... but we're talking about making people who didn't commit sins pay for people who weren't the victims of the sins?  Progressives really seem to focus on the past a great deal.

I'm a woman, and we didn't get the vote in the USA until 1920.  There has been sexism in America...but I'm not about to demand some kind of late attrition from my country. I can think of quite a few places I'm thankful that I DON'T have to live and none of them are in the USA.  In fact, I feel privileged to live in this country.  There is nothing to be gained by unceasingly flogging a nation that has self-corrected and moved itself forward and strives to be the most fair and most free nation on Earth.

Here's Iran hanging some gay people recently.

And if you snicker at that, you are dangerously jaded.  Try another country for awhile.

I am proud to be American.

In these current times, I believe more Americans need to look to the immigrants to our nation.  They come from the war-torn, poverty -stricken places and flee to our society.  They choose the USA for a reason and they do not complain when times are hard.

Let's look at the international stage and the USA's place on it now.  Some of our allies have been offended by this administration.  We've accused Canada of letting terrorists cross THEIR border, even though evidence suggests otherwise.  We've tightened THAT border.

We went behind our NATO allies' back to offer Russia the favor of not pursuing a missile shield in order to get their help with Iran.  They slapped us.

The administration reached out to Cuba and got a clenched fist in return.

Hugo Chavez stole an American factory in Venzuela and we've heard nary a peep.

Iran's pursuing nukes.  They launched a missile.  It won't be long 'till those missiles have nuclear components.

North Korea also fired a missile and now they've done their underground nuke test despite the UN.

The UN is good for nothing.  The usual suspects have decided that our government is now unresolved, crippled and broke.  I'm sure they laugh as the White House dictates a news cycle on "torture" and they get to ramp up their defenses/offenses unchecked. 

Everyone said electing Obama was going to make the world safer.  People wouldn't defy the UN because it was somehow the fault of the US that they were doing it in the first place.  This is clearly bullshit.  Tyrants can smell weakness.  Obama's powerless at negotiating with rogue nations and there's no one else willing to step up to the plate, it seems.  These are the perfect conditions for the next world conflict.

If it happens, I hope that people will finally realize that the US loathes itself while other nations laugh.  We should not be this stupid.  The generation that remembers world wars has been telling us for a long time that our naivete is dangerous.

So I call bullshit.  It's time for the media to do its job and not be a tool of the administration.  Times are too dangerous for a non-free media following a stupid agenda.

Now, I'm going to have a good Memorial Day, thinking about the USA and the soldiers who have died in various conflicts and wars.  These heroes are equal patriots and matriots, all deserving of my respect and thanks for fighting under the flag of the nation I adore.