"Pull MY Finger!" deserves to be the next cover of National Review, Weekly Standard, or American Spectator:)
Posted on 02/24/2005 2:38:34 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
Bush is giving him the old, "The hell you say, you must take me for a fool" look.
Thanks, I did not know Gregor Mendel was from Brno.
A lot of the people I met had kin living in Texas and I carried back a lot of letters to be mailed to them.
I enjoyed the story of the Dragon of Brno. It looked like a crocodile.
This was my first trip to a communist country and the first time I met smart, well educated and hard working people that were very poor.
LOL...Memo to Chirac: "Don't mess with Texas."
":-) Reagan used to use that joke a lot"
Maybe He stole it from me.:)
Being the old veteran of show-biz and the rubber chicken circuit that he was, I'm sure he stole it from someone. :)
Kind of puts the claims Europe is dead to the test huh? I've seen a number of columns remarking that theme, pessimistic about its future. Well Europe has new blood in the mix and I, for one, think that is going to do them a world of good. They've forgotton freedom. These countries still cherish it as it is so new.
Thank you to our friends in the former Soviet Block! Thank you for the friendship, thank you for your support, and thank you for treating our President kindly.
And did you notice that Schroeder was on the last row, far left behind some tall guy, and no one talked to him? I got quite a chuckle out of that.
Of course, Chirac edged in the front row trying to be an equal to President Bush (which he isn't).
Hehe! NO problem OWF. It has ALWAYS struck me- from the very first days of the Dose- when all these leaders would have terrible things to say about W and then would practically stomp each other into mudholes to get to him first when it came time for photo ops. It's a mystery. :)
So true. The people of Eastern Europe still reverently visit the memorials to Nazi slaughters and weep. How could Germany have forgotten?
I had the same experience in Belarus. I heard GW mention today that someday the people in Belarus would have freedom or something to that effect. Well you know what? They don't need any help. They are educated, friendly and capable of making their own decisions as to democracy. It's true that Lukashenko's elections are not entirely fair, and dissenters and rivals tend to get knocked around. Also they still have a remnant of the KGB, which somewhat limits the would-be Ward Churchill types (not sure that's completely a bad thing). However they are smart, skilled and by the way, they are not disarmed. If the people felt they were living under unbearable tyranny and could not accomplish their aims at the ballot box, they'd carry Lukashenko out in a box within a week. Plus, as someone who has had Belarusian kids stay here for years, I can tell you that they basically like where they live, they want to go home, and I only wish my own kids had their schools. Democracy is something that cannot be imposed by force. Let people decide their own destiny. People might be surprised to find that someone who only makes $50 a month for an educated profession does not necessarily want to live here or become like here. If we truly believe in freedom and democracy, leave people alone and let them handle their own affairs. They certainly did in Ukraine...and nothing we did would have changed a thing.
Once again proves how East Europe is good while west/old europe just plain sucks.
He is showing the loony leaders of Old Europe how much guts he has by doing that.
"Pull MY Finger!" deserves to be the next cover of National Review, Weekly Standard, or American Spectator:)
"Democracy is something that cannot be imposed by force."
I don't disagree with your larger points. Wherever possible, we should allow for nations to move towards democracy on their on accord, however, you forget your history - Democracy was imposed on Germany, Japan, Italy, & Iraq by force. It can be done, but is a much more difficult way to go.
Iraq is...well, a unique case. As much as I support our troops and Bush, my jury is still out on whether we should have gone there at all. It's a ballsy roll of the dice, and it may pay off bigtime...or it may all subside to another Islamic hellhole. Islam is the chaos factor here that was not involved in the Axis powers. We'll try, and hope, and see what cooks out.
But ex-Soviet countries like Ukraine and Belarus and Slovakia, they are neither Islamic hellholes nor dangerous spreading powers. They differ from us mainly in income level and quality of cable TV. We shouldn't mess with them. The very best thing we can do for them is to communicate with them and be friends with them. They read Pravda, y'know? The old farts think we're the dangerous ones, and the youngsters have the internet, so they know the truth about things, and they know they have the power to change their destiny any way they want. Leave them alone, and be their friends. Don't believe everything they print in the New York Pravda (I know you don't, LOL).
"Iraq is...well, a unique case. As much as I support our troops and Bush, my jury is still out on whether we should have gone there at all."
Post WWII democracy was imposed in a very deliberate way just as communism was imposed in the east in a very deliberate way. The difference with Iraq is that the Axis countries did dabble in democracy before the war.
As to the jury being out on Iraq, the axiom holds true that if it is successful, it will be the greatest foreign policy achievement since Roosevelt. If it fails, Bush is a goat for all time. The president has guts, if anything.
Your point contrasting a spreading power and Islamic, fascist hellholes with the non-expansionist, ex-Soviet bloc nations is well taken. We stand where we need to, like in Ukraine, but for the most part, I think these nations are making their way in the right direction. Some faster than others.
In my 1992 visit, we missed our train in the little town of Levoca. When we were able to communicate to the station master that we were Americans and we had missed our train, the folks at the station brought out rum and pastry and insisted on being photographed with us before making sure we got on the right train. I thought to myself at the time that there were very few places on the planet where all anyone knew about you was that you were an American and you did not speak their language and you would get that kind of treatment!
I appreciate you comments on #38. Slovaks are great people. They do have their own minds. Believe me, my grandma did. Greatest lady I ever met.
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