Is This A Great Country Or What?

Did anyone else read the title in the voice of Dr. Nick from the Simpsons?

Yes America is a great country. There is no other country in the world that has given more people the opportunity to get an education and achieve great success in their lives.
.
Poor immigrants come to the USA and within one generation their families have achieved middle class or higher standard of living for their families. They do this because in the USA if you’re willing to work hard and get an education you can achieve greatness.
.
There is no place on earth like America. Our one failure has been getting the poor in the USA to follow the path of the poor immigrants and do the hard work and get an education to achieve success. The poor immigrants tend to have high family values. Too often our welfare systems have discouraged family values. We need to change that.

Considering that it was our own unwelcome, ill-advised and possibly illegal meddling in the region that is at the root cause of the attrocities you’re discussing, I find your headline and propagandizing shameful.

Great story for one man, very bad for 58,000 others, mostly 18 and 19 year olds.

“Our one failure has been getting the poor in the USA to follow the path of the poor immigrants and do the hard work and get an education to achieve success.”
.
That would have worked 14 years ago, before welfare reform.
.
As far our poor being lazy, that’s something only in your head (or, Rush Limbaugh’s head–take your pick). They work far harder than you!
..
Classism, anyone?

We are a great country, indeed, and I applaud any good done in it.
.
However:
.
We are at a crossroads politically and economically. Wrong actions in the name of promoting political control over the good of our country have been implemented, and the long term consequences may spell our end as a great nation.
.
And, no, I’m not referring to Obama…

I agree with Michael, this is a great whitewash of the blood on America’s hands relating to South East Asia.

The fact that an adopted son of an Embassy official can become a Captain of a Navy ship is a good story, but to add a level of patriotism to the story that he escaped his country’s horrors only to return as an arm of a world power is stretch.

Thank you 3x! For your sage elder wisdom!
.
You are absolutely right! “Too often our welfare systems have discouraged family values. We need to change that.”
.
There are too many welfare queens driving around the urban areas of our Exceptional country with their cadillacs and loud music. I heard they have kids just to add another to the welfare roles so they can collect more of my tax money! Those people are nothing like the Real Americans who have lost their jobs because of fat cat unions and just need a little help until the plant reopens. Those are the people we should help. We need all those other people in our country who look like immigrants to start behaving like Real Americans for a change. Maybe a few weeks of being hungry and homeless will teach them a lesson, and get them off their lazy immigrant-looking butts and get a job!
.
Not that the Dimowits will ever do that! Lazy people vote Dem! That’s why the Dims keep handing out welfare checks to those people!

53,
.
As you already know, I do not blame our poor citizens for their situation. I do blame the Social Welfare System that has caused them great harm. Why is it that the poor immigrant succeeds in the USA but the 5th generation poor American does not? Simply it is our Social Welfare System that has destroyed their family values and work ethics.

Why do you Hate America?
.
You readily accept any propaganda that makes the USA look evil. You let your hatred of America and your ideology influence your views of our great country.
.
For every error ever made by the USA, there has been 100 Noble and great things it has done to help other people in other countries in the world.
.
If you are an example of what Liberals believe, it is no wonder that Liberals are so disliked by most American citizens.

For those of you who may have missed my 2 Posts from yesterday here they are again. I believe they say a lot about many on the Left in our country.
.
International Subversives
.
The Wahington Times
December 1, 2010
.
WikiLeaks leak-meister is confirmed anti-American leftist
Hardly a word has been written or spoken about the motives of the WikiLeaks’ chief leaker. Australia’s 39-year-old Julian Assange was 19 years old when the Cold War ended.
.
His parents were well-known on the left and ran a touring theater company. His mother remarried in 1979 to a man who belonged to a controversial New Age group. In the late 1980s, Mr. Assange was a member of a crack hacker team that called itself International Subversives.
.
Australian acquaintances say he was bitterly disappointed by the outcome of the Cold War with a resounding global victory for the United States and its allies. Mr. Assange then began identifying with the defeated “progressives,” from the pensioned-off millions – on starvation stipends – of the old Soviet nomenklatura to the innocent dupes who never realized that the World Peace Council was a KGB-controlled organization (documented in post-Cold War Russian files that opened briefly before the KGB’s successor organization sealed them again).
.
There are tens of millions in both the Third and First worlds (e.g., former Communist Party members and their “progressive” fans) who firmly believe the “evil empire” is the United States with what even leading Wall Streeters – e.g., Pete Peterson – call “animalistic and carnivorous capitalism.”
.
The post-Cold War generation of “progressives” – the word that once gave communists respectability the world over – likes to cite Karl Marx’s prediction that capitalism eventually would sow the seeds of its own destruction. They also welcome anything that weakens the United States. Their new hero is Mr. Assange.
.
The world’s most repressive regimes – e.g., Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, North Korea – are the least of Mr. Assange’s concerns. The fount of all evil, as he sees the world, is the United States.
.
WikiLeaks’ master leaker, who clearly relishes anything that hurts the United States, is a throwback to Vietnam-era haters who despised the U.S. government and happily smeared America’s image throughout the world.
.
Mr. Assange’s media partners in the Western world were selected with one yardstick: impeccable liberal credentials. The Washington Post wasn’t liberal enough – and got squeezed out in favor of the New York Times, along with France’s Le Monde, Britain’s Guardian, Germany’s Spiegel and Spain’s El Pais.
.
Whatever a U.S. diplomat hears or says in conversations with local government officials and colleagues from other countries now runs the risk of being published and read by thousands of people from dozens of countries. Such conversations are bound to be governed by the fear of public exposure. America’s diplomatic relations with friends and allies, Mr. Assange will be pleased to hear, have been severely damaged. Not permanently, but at least for a while.
.
Some say Mr. Assange does not seem to understand that the United States is still the behind-the-scenes catalyst for resolving tough regional and global issues. And that he has made it harder to resolve critical issues around the world by making the U.S. a less trusted interlocutor. The flip side of the coin says “International Subversives.” They seek global chaos to spawn a New World Order. It’s also called the totalitarian temptation, which has existed from time immemorial.

And the Swamp Liberals jump in to defend their new Hero “Julian Assange” as they say they love America just not in its present form.
.
A lawyer who does substantial work for George Soros’s OSI [Open Society Institute] has come forward to represent Mr. Assange.
.
Good old George, the Godfather of the Liberal Movement. Why are we not surprised that George is involved with Assange. But George loves America, just not as an independent country. George is a pure leftist and wants a new world order under Socialism and a one world government.

Oh Izzy, I love America. I have the t-shirt and everything. I also agree with you that we have done very noble things in the world.

But the framing of this particular story is ignorant of history and is really quite offensive. It is also propaganda because it whitewashes a genocide for which we share some responsibility and evokes an outdated colonialist tone.

I think its problematic when Time’s journalist covering the military presents a story like this so unskeptically and indeed with a positive comment and no caveats.

When his country plunged into turmoil

It just “plunged” all by itself?

A total shock to all involved. Completely unexpected. One day everything was fine and then… plunge.

Um, did you mean to sign in as therealestamerican, Izzy?
-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_Campaign#Conclusion

The incursion, about which the Cambodian government was not even informed until it was under way, heated up what was basically a low-key civil war and irrevocably widened the boundaries of the conflict. The withdrawal of U.S. forces, after only a 30-day campaign “left a void so great that neither the Cambodian nor the South Vietnamese armies were able to fill it.”[76] Lon Nol’s forces would then have to contend with not only PAVN and the NLF, but with an ever-growing indigenous insurgency, which was now fully supported by Hanoi and its armed forces. The Nixon administration, callous of the weakness of the Cambodian regime and its military, pushed its new ally into a conflict that it had no possibility of winning.[77] Cambodia (like neighboring Laos) would be sacrificed for the withdrawal of the Americans and the future existence of the Republic of Vietnam.[78] Millions of Cambodians would pay the ultimate price as a result of those decisions.[79]

-
Listen, there’s a reason that millions and millions of immigrants have come here over the centuries: this is a great country. But we have to admit the possibility of our errors, and be forthright about them, or our patriotism is no better than that of an acolyte of Mao or Stalin.
-
The fact is this: either you believe that we were fighting a pointless, unnecessary war in Vietnam, or you believe that communism is better than capitalism. And in the service of that pointless war, we unleashed a catastrophe in Cambodia. Just as creating chaos in Iraq in the 2000s led to hundreds of thousands of deaths, creating chaos in Cambodia led to hundreds of thousands of deaths.

————NOT GREAT FROM MY PERSPECTIVE——–

usa- the assassins’ nation seeks to divide & conquer all nations and all peoples.

Regarding the leaks,
Well, USA-if you have done nothing wrong, then you have nothing to fear from the T R U T H.

Be Set Free by admitting to ongoing & insufferable crimes against
H U M A N I T Y .

See if you can recognize some of your government leaders :

http://sosbeevfbi.com/statement.html

http://www.sosbeevfbi.com/part4-worldinabo.html

questions!GERAL SOSBEE(956)536-3103

Welfare queens with Catillacs? What an obsurd notion. I live in PA and the largest welfare population in this state is with the elderly aged 80+.

Welcome back, 3xfire, it is good to your insightful commentary once again…keep up the good work.

sorry..its good to SEE your insightful commentary.

Thank you, izzy100, the information you posted is informative and helpful. Like you, I am incredulous that ANYONE could defend the despicable acts of this criminal. His deliberate attempts to undermine the security of our nation and put innocent lives in jeopardy, is simply beyond comprehension. To defend these actions is highly indicative of those who take great joy in “blaming” America first and then excusing those who seek to discredit her.

Yes freedom is wonderful. Many people in the world wish for it. Do we still have it?
.
Are we free to travel? Not so much.
Are we free to pursue happiness? Only if it can be regulated by government and taxed or licensed.
Are we free to speak? Not really. You get fired for saying certain things. If you criticize a certain politician, you are a racist.
Are we free to protect ourselves? Not really. You have to pay to play.
Do we have economic freedom? Oh, come on. You owe, your children owe, your grandchildren. Welcome to serfdom.
Are we free to pursue our dreams on a level playing field? No. Do I need to explain?
Are we free from government intervention in our lives? Ever hear of rules and regulations, fees, licenses, surcharges, taxes, agencies, bureaucrats, IRS, State, County, Local, City, Community, Homeowner’s Associations rules regulations, fees, penalties, fines, restrictions, you must, you cannot…
.
Are we free? No.
.
I found this to be a great quote about freedom:
“Free men decide. Un-free men comply. With each passing week, Americans decide less and comply more. One of the main decisions is how to spend your money. With each passing year, the government spends a higher percentage of the money made by private sector businesses and their employees.”
.
When government forces you to comply with thousand of pages of regulations, rules, taxes, fees and exempts themselves from those very same laws, you are no longer free, but a complying drone. And most of you here like it. Drone on and comply.