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I couldn't agree more. The U.S. defense umbrella gives Europe the ability to self-righteously criticize us. Time for them to get to work.
On another note, Europe has energetically shed its best and brightest people over the centuries. The U.S. only benefits while the freeloaders stay behind and those with initiative and drive come here. One of history's great brain drains.
I couldn't rep this post but I did try.
For once, we agree.
The number of European countries capable of defending themselves against a well armed adversary - say Russia - is preciously small. UK, France, I am not even sure about Germany as they've been seriously under-funding Bundeswehr for a couple decades now and just recently found out (rather, officially admitted to) that more than half of their arsenal is not in working order. For God sake, they weren't even able to defeat Lybia after weeks of bombing, ran out of ammunition (literally !)and had to run to Obama for help - mere years after self-righteously criticizing Bush for doing exactly the same thing in Iraq ! (someone other than Barak would've reminded them that).
In the meantime, we have tons of problems at home. Our bridges and roads are falling apart. We should not be spending many tens of billions of dollars plugging the holes in NATO budget that our "allies" were responsible for while they spend that money on subsidizing month long vacations and 35 hrs work week for their electorate.
American slavery is by far the ugliest stain on this country's history. There isn't even a close second. It was so bad that the ramifications of it are still felt to this day.
The American Civil War, by far. We lost 620,000 Union/Confederate servicemen, and untold numbers of civilians, and destroyed a good portion of the country. By far the largest number of Americans ever killed due to one event. All due to the arrogance of the President and congressional leadership, and the desires of their cronies to extort unearned profit from the southern states.
American slavery is by far the ugliest stain on this country's history. There isn't even a close second. It was so bad that the ramifications of it are still felt to this day.
I would be interested in your line of reasoning as to why the treatment of the Indians is not "even a close second". The ramifications of that are also still being felt to this day.
I would be interested in your line of reasoning as to why the treatment of the Indians is not "even a close second". The ramifications of that are also still being felt to this day.
What you're saying is that it's a stain if a more primitive culture yields to an advanced one. If it is, why is it a uniquely American "stain" rather than one universal to history since the Great Rift Valley days? And is it a stain that after the departure from the Great Rift Valley primitive cultures always lost out to advanced ones?
I will STILL stand by my argument that dropping both of those bombs-especially Nagasaki is an ugly stain on U.S. history. One that we are still paying for.
Since it can't possibly be conducted within the framework of the U.S.Constitution and wholesale violation of the rights of legitimate, U. S citizens, I can't imagine how this could ever be construed as the "right thing" to do?
How does enforcing immigration law violate the rights of legitimate US citizens, and why is it unconstitutional?
What you're saying is that it's a stain if a more primitive culture yields to an advanced one. If it is, why is it a uniquely American "stain" rather than one universal to history since the Great Rift Valley days? And is it a stain that after the departure from the Great Rift Valley primitive cultures always lost out to advanced ones?
I agree that a primitive culture yielding to a more advanced one is pretty universal in history - it is not uniquely American at all. I was attempting only to compare it with slavery (in response to another poster), which is certainly not uniquely American either. As for the Indians, it was not so much the fact of their displacement but also the manner of it which is morally objectionable. They were treated as less than human (as were the slaves) which is what I object to.
I agree that a primitive culture yielding to a more advanced one is pretty universal in history - it is not uniquely American at all. I was attempting only to compare it with slavery (in response to another poster), which is certainly not uniquely American either. As for the Indians, it was not so much the fact of their displacement but also the manner of it which is morally objectionable. They were treated as less than human (as were the slaves) which is what I object to.
The smallpox virus is particularly inhuman. My point is that the Indians were left demoralized and disorganized since smallpox leveled leaders as well as more ordinary Indians. What was left behind was more or less a random mess rather than organized Indian society. It was pporly positioned to either negotiate effectively with nor fight the oncoming Europeans.
The fact is whether the Europeans did it nicely or meanly, the Indians were going to be displaced regardless.
You do know America is a multiethnic country right? Of course you don't
A top Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) official took time out of her Memorial Day weekend to stand by her opposition to honoring fallen U.S. soldiers on the holiday and specifically took aim at Muslim-Americans who serve in the U.S. military.
For the third year in a row, the executive director of CAIR’s San Francisco Bay Area chapter, Zahra Billoo, bashed the U.S. military on the holiday in which we are supposed to thank them for their sacrifices.
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