I see this differently

[Casandra]

Get your flame throwers ready...

Looking back at the Clinton years, even the Reagan years, the Carter years etc..I don't remember this country being hated so much; literally despised and disrepected throughout the entire world. (less our coerts in crime) I felt SAFER then than I do now; that's for sure! I think without '*" at the helm right now, this country wouldn't be dealing with all these 'threats'..

Yes, they hate us and yes, they want to hurt us. The question is 'why now'. I realize we've always been under some form of threat, but to this level and to this frequency, no! Perhaps (duuuh) it has something to do with our foreign policy eh???!!

Not sure how this kind of thing can actually improve '*' ratings. I think it should plummet them to the basement toilet!! Every threat, every attack, every muttering of an attack should be pointing arrows at our fearless leader...(NOT!!). Are we feeling safer with him in office, I don't THINK so!!!!

Personally I'm getting sick and tired of all these wars, death and destruction,lives ripped apart and shredded, incompetence in all directions, POSTURING, SABRE RATTLING and chest pounding. And of course the blame belongs to everyone else..everyone and anyone!!

Yes, this includes Israel...manifesting and creating even more hate...tied directly to the U.S. while we stall the peace proposals to give them more time for more destruction.

I yearn for a kinder, gentler nation. One that I can live in WITHOUT having to make a decision between fear and freedom! I long for some 'adults' to take charge of this country and bring us back to the once great nation we were.

Enough already!!!!

[Sydnie]

1. Kick for kinder and gentler

Heck, I'd settle for "a thousand points of light" right about now. :shrug:

[hlthe2b]

2. See this differently from WHOM?

You think you are so different from other DUers, so as to warn us to get our flame throwers ready? Perhaps you thought you had posted another (non-progressive) website? :shrug:

[mike_c]

3. no flames from me-- K&R-- 100% agreement....

People need to start understanding that terror threats are not the CAUSE of our problems, they're the RESULT of American foreign policy-- and not just under Bush, although the Bush administration has certainly made the situation exponentially worse. Yes the world is a dangerous place, and yes there are LOTS of people who want to hurt America-- we have created that situation, and we refuse to face that.

[Mandate My Ass]

4. The adults are long gone

There's a neocon's neocon by the name of Edward Luttwak who wrote an interesting book entitled "Coup D'Etat, a Practical Handbook." The step-by-step guide to conducting a bloodless coup was carried out to a "T" in 2000. He has authored other books as well, ones describing fighting resource wars under the guise of fighting terrorism and national security.

Some of his more obscure books deal with ruling the ideal country, one in which the populace is frightened to submission of enemies outside of its country. There is no social safety net or social programs or even reasonably maintained infrastructure. There would be two classes, very rich and very poor. Of course they are dumbed down, fed propaganda and forced to practice the national religion. All tax revenue would go to the military to fight outside enemies and internally to police and militias to keep the populace in line if they should decide that the government is not the friend they pretend to be. Of course this country would have no need of allies, particularly democratic ones, and would actively shun them.

[Nikki Stone 1]

9. How would this book of his be translated?

La renaissance de la puissance aérienne stratégique (Paperback)
by Edward Luttwak

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/271783754X/sr=1-12/qid=1155278100/ref=sr_1_12/104-9297616-8445567?ie=UTF8&s=books

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. peace is here now

it starts with you. and me. and everyone we meet. it is happening right now. laugh at those who wish to scare, and know that people tend to judge others for themselves, not their nationalities, when they are with you face to face.

[EstimatedProphet]

6. I agree that it should

But unfortunately it doesn't work that way. There's too many people that fall for this stuff here.

[GeorgeGist]

7. Choose Freedom for now...

you can always fear later.

[OneBlueSky]

8. the myth of the American dream . . .

has been cultivated among the world population for decades . . . the fact that it IS a myth never seemed to matter . . .

now that the American dream has become the planet's nightmare, the chickens are coming home to roost . . . and it's going to get worse unless and until someone (hello, Congress?) does something pretty dramatic to mitigate Bush's disastrous policies . . . like charging the BushCo board of directors with the crimes they've committed, in an international court . . .

what BushCo is doing is INTENTIONAL . . . they WANT a war between the West and Islam -- which they fully expect to win and which they believe will facilitate American hegemony in the Middle East . . .

they're dead wrong, of course . . . because the people who live there, and whose lives and homes they are destroying, is generating a hatred of the US that will take generations to mitigate . . . if it CAN be mitigated . . . and if we don't all get blown up in the meantime . . .

[Rosemary2205]

10. Tommy Lee Jones knew the secret.

Remember Men in Black -- there's always some alien spacecraft hovering over the US threatening to blow the planet out of the universe. Men in Black's job is to take care of it so that the average citizen never knows about it. The secret to feeling safe is not knowing about the threats.

There aren't 3 channels with only a 1/2hr of news each anymore. We have 4 or 5 full time news channels -- all of which have decided fear mongering gets ratings. We have the internet, which enables us to watch the trainwrecks of the world over and over and over again close up and personal.

Threats are so much easier to know about. Fear is easier to come by. It doesn't help that Bushco sees an "upside" to terrorism. (We hit the trifecta)

[Bluebear]

11. Differently from DU?

Why would you think we would throw flames at you darlin'?

[Festivito]

12. Our media doesn't tell US what theirs does.

We have big guns with little media-brain activity.

That's a recipe for hating US.

I'd love it to be enough already.

[Skidmore]

13. k&r for a peaceful world.