Oh boy.

Okay. I can see your side...sort of. I do think it is a bit close minded though. The reason that I think it is close minded is that I don't really think that you put yourself in his shoes.

Hold on. Let me back up and give some background here about what I think. I too think it is a bit ridiculous that it took something like 9/11 to bring back patriotism the way it was back in the World Wars. I don't really know if I like the way this country is going (from a moral stand point). I don't like what I see on TV anymore (Janet sound familiar?). You can see that most of the flags on cars are gone now or they are so ragged that I am discusted to see it there flapping pathetically in the wind. For the record...the flag that is flying at my home is still there. It is there 24 hours a day. It will ALWAYS be there UNTIL THE DAY THAT I DIE.

Step back a second and think about where Toby is coming from. The first couple of lines in that song are a true story. His Dad did serve in the army and he did fly a flag in the yard. His Dad also lost that eye. I see that Toby grew up a VERY patriotic American from day one and NOT because of 9/11. Don't get angry yet...listen. Are you angry and pissed off at the thousands of artists (painters or otherwise) that were inspired by the events of 9/11 because they painted patriotic paintings? Are the authors who wrote all the books about America because they too were inspired by those dreadful attacks sell outs? I think that Toby Keith was a patriotic American before the attacks and was inspired by what happend. He just happened to be a popular country singer and his song took off. I feel it came from his heart. We don't know how much he donates to charity or other causes. I bet he does a lot of good with that money he makes.

Looking back at history I am 100% sure you can find that with EVERY major historical event there were songs, paintings, books, etc that came from those events. Ummm....do you know a little diddy called the Star Spangled Banner? Am I comparing a Toby Keith song to the national anthem? No. Merely making the point that people are inspired by world events and often express that through theit art.

I feel that the attacks were a sucker punch. A sucker punch is merely a cowardly way of attacking someone that you don't want (or aren't able) to face one on one. Pearl Harbor was a sucker punch as well. The United States warned Afganastan what was going to happen if they did not give up Bin Laden. Hey, we warned ya! Back in WWII we also told Japan that if they did not surrender we would unleash weapons like the earth had never seen. We did. This leads me to putting a boot in someone's ass.

Historically from what I have gathered and learned. Everytime someone has attacked the United States we have come back and overwhelmed our opponents with force. We have historically dominated the battlefield. I beleive that is the reason we are the only surviving super power in the world. Are we bullies? It can be seen that way if you want to SEE it that way. Or you can choose to see it another way that I can sum up with one simple example.

This past Dec when that terrible earthquake hit Iran (a member of the axis of evil) I was listening to a radio show. The guy on this show was going off about how Americans don't care about anything unless it happens in their own back yard. He was steamed that America was ignoring this catasrophe. Now, I have no proof at all but I would be willing to bet that the United States of America gave more money, humanitarian aid and sent more people to Iran than ANY OTHER FUCKING COUNTRY IN THE WORLD! The guy on the radio can go fuck himself right in the ass. Have you ever noticed that all these nations say how bad we are while taking the money and aid we give them?

Yes, America makes mistakes. ALL countries do. ALL. We just have a bigger target becasue we are the most powerful.

Back to the discussion. America has alway's put the perverbial boot in the ass when we have had to defend ourselves. As it should be. I for one would be proud to stand up and shoot the bird to any country that dares to attack us. Death wishes (I think you mean death warrants. If not correct me). When the Taliban helped Bin Laden they signed their own death warrants. They flew planes into our buildings. Their is proof the Taliban helped Al Quedisdrliaufa or however you spell it.

Mungo, in any battle you are going to want your side to win, you know that. That is just human nature. Yes, I got excited as hell when those missles were shot in to the caves and those caves collapsed. Run and hide like the rats you are and we will hunt you down. That has been going on since the beginning of time. Now, if you ask most people I am sure they will state that the loss of human life is never good but sometimes when other avenues have failed or you just have no choice. The Taliban weren't coming to the table to negotiate unless they could bring their own jet.

One other thing to point out. If you look at what the 4th of July really is down at it's core...it kind of is a kill everyone day. We claimed our independence from England. They sent Armies over and we killed them all. They sent more and we killed them too. They finally figured that we had killed enough of their people so they left us alone. I think that Toby was just taking artistic liberites with the way the bombs expoded. There is a song about "bombs bursting in air" that we sing at every sporting event in the U.S.

Your comment about Toby being uneducated in the American way. What is the American way? I am not trying to be mean but I do want to know what you think about it. I think the American way is to avoid trouble but if that doesn't work...see my statement about the boot in the ass. I am willing to bet that it would be hard to find a conflict where we haven't tried to settle things by other means first before using force. Look at Iraq as a modern example. The UN gave so many damn resolutions and threats but were never willing to back them up. We backed them up and now the country of Iraq is free from a terrorist named Sadam...who hid in a hole like the Taliban.

The comment about hit lists. I guess you can put it that way. Hell, we are at the top of plenty of people's/nation's lists. Every country has a list of enemies. We have since the first 4th of July. Some enemies become allies (England, Germany, Japan...) and some allies or nations become enemies (Iran, Iraq...). It is the way the world works. Always has and always will. Sad fact, unfortunately.

I honestly think that some nations are jealous as hell of us. One of the youngest nations in the world is the most powerful. I can just hear their minds going, "Where do they get off?"

Now, I whole hearted believe that the U.S. screws up from time to time. All countries do. But with us being the most powerful we can't blow our nose without it making headlines around the world. And what do we know about headlines? 99.999% of them are only about the negative and NOT the positive. Very sad.

Dixie Chicks. Idiots! Because of what they said? No. They have the right to free speech. But if you are going to disrespect your own country by going to England and complaining then don't expect my support for your next album. That is what got me and most other Americans. Look at all the famous movie stars shooting off their mouths. At least they are doing it here. Take a look at all the supporters of moveon.org. (the website run by famous stars who want Bush out of office). They had an ad on the site of Bush morphing into Hitler. What kind of crap is that? It doesn't matter if you support Bush or not but you can't honestly think that Bush is comparable to Hitler! Well, the supporters of moveon.org couldn't argue that comparison so they took the ad down. Talk about embarassing to the U.S. Oh yeah, and the people who support moveon.org? Susan Serandon, Moby and many many other famous people. I think that stuff like the Hitler video, which made world news) is much more disgusting than a patriotic song that was not done purely for economic gain (and I think some proceeds went to good causes, no facts about that though).

Mungo, I love you man but you have to admit that you have always been "against" the grain so to speak. I am not saying that you don't have good points, though. You are a very NON-mainstream type of person when it comes to your personality. I whole heartedly agree with you about the surge of patriotism that has now begun to fade. That sickens me. Although, it woke me up and I now fly a flag 24/7 (with it lit up at night). My patriotism will NOT wan again, EVER. I can promise that my next home will have an American flag flying in the front yard before their is a direct tv dish in the back yard. Hopefully there are many people with my same attitude. I hope that one day Ashlee can say with pride that "My Daddy flew a flag in the yard until the day that he died." as her flag is fluttering in her yard.

I can only hope.

ST

On a quick side note. Kid Rock is a patriotic fool and I like his music for the most part. I saw him wearing an American flag like a poncho with hole cut in the middle for his head during the super bowl and I about fell out of my chair with disgust. I walked down stairs and said in front of about 6 people, (paraphrasing) "That is one of the most disrespectful things that I have ever seen!" Not one person seemed to know why I was saying this. You don't wear an American flag as clothing! Sure enough, amid Janet's headlines the next day, there was an article about how vets were pissed off to no end about ole Kid. I am sure that he was meaning no disrespect but it was bad. To me it was worse than Janet's stupid tit!


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