8/15/2005 8:04 PM Hi Michael,
On 8/15/2005 Michael Acklin wrote: MA> Written At Monday, August 15, 2005, 18:49:43 MA> Hello All, MA> First off, I just got this from a friend and would like to share it MA> with you all. I am an American and this particular quote made me MA> start thinking. I know we have a lot of diversity on this list, but MA> I would like just to say that I agree with this and thought it MA> would let others know, at least for me, how some of us Americans MA> feel. MA> BRITISH LION ROARS MA> Why does Tony Blairs strength make me worry about my own countrys MA> weakness? MA> Why has the vigor and courage of Englands response to terrorism given MA> me second thoughts about Americas? MA> The contrast has been stark. MA> We were hit and they were hit. We acted one way and they acted another, MA> and their way seems better. MA> Dont get me wrong, Ive been a George W. Bush supporter from the MA> beginning. I believe going into Iraq was the right thing, and I MA> support our efforts and our troops there. MA> But Im beginning to get the idea that were more talk than action, and MA> that we may lack an essential mental toughness, and that we are dangerously MA> bound by nonsensical political correctness. The cumulative impact of MA> these things is to endanger our nation and its survival. MA> As I have seen Englands leaders respond to the attacks against it, MA> Ive been embarrassed by the failure of our leaders to respond with MA> similar resolve and candor. MA> At the top, the British liberal is showing more spine than the American MA> conservative. MA> No one is more proud of being an American than I am, and no one loves MA> this country more I do. But an honest assessment shows that we are lacking, MA> in our culture and in our leadership, and have apparently grown soft in MA> our prosperity and insularity. MA> We dont know how to take a punch, and we dont know how to put up a MA> fight. MA> The characteristics that equipped us to win the Second World War seem MA> now to be in short supply. MA> We still weep over September 11, while the British jaw clenches in MA> resolve. We lost 3,000 and are patting down grandmothers at the airport; they MA> lost 56 and are getting ready to shut down militant mosques. MA> Our president says Islam is a religion of peace; their prime minister MA> says militant Islam will not be tolerated in his country. MA> Our internees get ACLU lawyers; theirs are going to be charged with MA> treason. MA> Our president gives us a diversity lecture; their prime minister says MA> immigrants have a duty to support and accept English values and learn MA> the English language. MA> It scares me. Down deep, I just have the sense that theyre doing MA> things right and were doing things wrong. I wonder if their centuries of MA> repelling invaders and having to fight for their very existence has given them a MA> certain fortitude that our comfort and security have denied us. MA> Yes, after we were attacked we put flags on our cars and our president MA> talked tough. And, yes, we did go into Afghanistan as we should have MA> and we did go into Iraq as we should have, but after we got there we never MA> quite got the job done. MA> Osama is still on the loose, in apparent command of an operational MA> terrorist organization, the Taliban is still in the field and bloodying us, we MA> are presiding over a quagmire in Iraq and we havent figured out how to MA> keep a bunch of savages with bombs from blowing up our trucks and troops. MA> Weve sent our troops out, Vietnam style, and tied their hands behind their MA> backs. MA> Weve taught our Army how to build schools, but we wont free it to MA> kill our enemies. MA> Its almost as if, at the highest levels of our government, weve MA> forgotten how to fight. We seem to be all hat and no cattle. MA> Tony Blair said that people preaching militant Islam and violence would MA> be deported, if foreigners, and locked up, if Britons. He said those found MA> praising or encouraging the terrorists would be tried for treason. MA> Tony Blair said that militant Islamic websites would be shut down, that MA> militant Islamic bookstores would be shut down, that militant Islamic MA> coffee shops would be shut down, that militant Islamic mosques would be shut MA> down. MA> Tony Blair said imams preaching jihad would be imprisoned or deported. MA> Our president is insisting that this is not about religion, it is about MA> terror. George W. Bush is asking for tolerance for Muslims; Tony Blair MA> is asking for accountability from them. One defends Muslim leaders; the MA> other insists that they stand up and denounce their violent fellow believers. MA> Theyre kicking butt, were kissing butt. MA> England is chasing down those who attacked it; were confiscating MA> fingernail files by the millions. MA> Were randomly checking bags on the subway. And ignoring our southern MA> border. And winning hearts and minds. MA> The American response has been one of weakness; the English response MA> has been one of strength. Its really that simple. MA> Theyre fighting and were pussyfooting. MA> And thats become obvious in recent days. MA> Sometimes you dont realize how short you are, until you see how tall MA> the other fellow is. MA> And Tony Blair is pretty tall. MA> - by Bob Lonsberry © 2005 I hope you posted this to this forum by mistake. Not that it is good or bad...just doesn't belong here. -- Take Care, Paul The Bat! v.3.0.2.10 on Win2k SP4-Rollup1 5.0.2195 ________________________________________________________ Current beta is 3.51.10 | 'Using TBBETA' information: http://www.silverstones.com/thebat/TBUDLInfo.html IMPORTANT: To register as a Beta tester, use this link first - http://www.ritlabs.com/en/partners/testers/
