God Damn It....

.....the killing , the maiminmg, the deception, the betrayal, the thieving, the acts against humanity, the contempt for the rule of at home!!!!!!!!

This is my country. I have served it in uniform and out. I have, I thought, always served it to its betterment; in an effort to protect liberty and self-rule for Americans, as well as the rest of the world.

I have also ventured beyond our national borders, experiencing and being charmed by so many cultures and nationalities.

In my life, I have visited, enjoyed and honored many other people in our global village. What I found, then, is that they were not so different from ordinary Americans, in any of the ways that really matter

Why the hell would they be?

They are our cousins, after all.

Many of us came from the same stock:
Italian, German, English, Irish, Dutch, Scot, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Latin American, Canadian, Spanish, Scicilian, Russian, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Thai, Egyptian, Indian, Arab, from the Arab Peninsula, Persians(Iranians),Iraqis, Swedes, Danes, Finns, Norwegians...God, the list is endless....Turks, Greeks, Africans and people from the island nations in the south. Please forgive me, if I do not name every nationality. The only reason that the U.S. is anything good is because of the diversity, not in spite of it.

I understand that there are those who think that our problems are largely due to unassimilated immigrants, be they legal or illegal. Some people are of the opinion that there IS such a thing as an American culture. Oh, Puleeze!

Other than our sea shores, mountains, deserts, high deserts, plains, meadows, forests, streams and mighty, raging rivers; our beautiful country, we do not have what any one would call a cultural oneness, here. We are diverse.

The only thing we all share is our Constitution and without it we cease to be the United States of America, the nation.

Even within the sub-scultures, we are diverse.

We are a nation of diversity, who does not see, let alone understand, our own real strength, which lies in our diversity. I am not a huge fan of big cities. I like more quiet and less distractions than city life offers. That is not to say that I do not love to visit. I have a number of favorites.

The one big city, in which I ever lived, was multi-cultural. It was wonderful or so I thought at the time. There were street fairs. We could eat foods of other cultures, dance the dances of other cultures. We could talk and laugh together; smile at each other. Everyone had fun and learned and people made a little money.

After 9/11/01, I had a rare gift and opportunity to try to find out what I desired deeply to know, for real; why do they hate us? I could not find my answers here.

I just didn't buy the official line; they hate us for our life-styles and our freedoms? They hate our SUVs? So what? So do I. An aquaintence of mine called huge SUVs, "UAVs": Urban Assault Vehicles. God, it was hystericaly the truth. I hated SUVs, but I owned a small one. For the purposes of backing out of parking places, into a narrow atreet, without getting killed. (All cars should be the same size. SMALL! Cars sould be more uniform, not people.)

I went to Egypt and stayed for a month with an Egyptian, Muslim family. Briefly, what I found out is that most Arabs, Muslims did not hate us. They were fed up with some of our government's policies that effected their lives. They knew more about some of our leaders than I did. They were, to me, more hospitable and caring than many Americans would ever think to be. They did not hate us for our freedoms or our life-styles. They liked a lot of our music and our entertainment. They liked the idea of a real Democracy, but were no longer all that convinced that we had one.

Most of my friends and family, I am sure, thought, seriously, of locking me up for my own good, when I went back again, while the bombs were falling on Iraq, to help out with a family illness. In my mind and heart, I had to go, as surely as I would have to go to to the aid of anyone of my friends and family here. I have never regretted one minute of the time I spent with those people. Rather, I cherish the memories and always will.

Americans did some really strange, bizarre things in response to 9/11. Plastic- Surgeons were over-run with patients, who wanted to look good for whatever lay ahead, aprarently.

People started buying Motorhomes by the droves. I watched in amazement and, I admit, with some clinical/research curiosity.

The president told us to shop, fly, burn as much fuel as we possibly could and be vigilant. His mouth piece told us to watch what we said. His AG called everyone who breathed a word of dissent, a treasous piece of camel poop on Osama's sandals.

I kept expecting Rod Sterling to show up, any minute, but he didn't. This was not the Twilight Zone, it was Bushworld; A NeoCon, TheoCon, Corporate Hell Realm.

It remanins so today, but as with any malignancy, unchecked, it has grown more invasive and dangerous to the life of our nation, not to mention to other people all over the world.

A cancer is not growing on the presidency any more. Now it is the presidency and it is growing on the nation.