[mamaduck]

what I hear blaster saying isn't that he (?) isn't willing to defend, but that the country is not. Not individuals but the government, the bigs guy, We are playing at a war, making a lot of noise, but the citizens are being terrorized by the new government employees running the security at the airports, while the guys we really should be watching, walk on through.

Or maybe it's just a deep, deep game, and they're really working miracles behind the scenes and we'll all see someday. . . and they are really on the side of the little guys (those willing to defend, but powerless), rather than on the side of their fellow Big Guys (international powerbrokers).

and if we think the current rash of politicians are *anyting* like the statesman who formed this country (and wished us luck), we need to read more history.

[mamaduck]

Hope you don't mind that I chimed in, but all this huffy naive "patriotism", is too much! I love what this country was *supposed* to be, the values on which it was *formed*, and although I still believe our system of government is better than any, it has become degraded to the point of unrecognizability, and those who stick their head in the sand of patriotism, instead of standing on that beach-head (as it were), are only bringing us down further

[Stentor]

those willing to defend, but powerless

Lame thinking.