Line of fire, world's ills

Yo Reinhard...you know, I'm not sure what you meant when you asked if
I would feel different if my neighborhood was phase II...you must have
misinterpreted something I said, cause I feel the Trade Center deaths
were horror of the first order; if it appeared different in print, I am
sorry, to be sure. I have spent much time and energy concentrating and
praying for and about what happened. Yes, those folks WERE in the line
of fire, and a mighty tragedy it was. And, how much of the world's ills
are the result of US policy? Well, for sure the Native populations of
this hemisphere owe much of the loss of their culture and way of life to
the US govt; and I imagine, from what I have read and studied over the
years, that we have had our fingers in a lot of pies around the globe,
especially Central America, a la United Fruit. I don't think it's any
great shock or surprise to say this, is it? Of course, how about the
Belgians in the Congo, Dutch in South Africa, French in Algeria, and the
British just about everywhere? The Europeans, as a whole, seemed to
think that they could take whatever they wanted, and those who dared to
fight back paid a heavy price. This is not exactly anything new I'm
saying; it's pretty well documented. But, unfortunately, it doesn't seem
to be very kosher to point this stuff out. Unfortunately, the events of
9-11 have made a lot of folks more aware of world affairs; there are,
indeed, issues that need to be addressed as far as the colonial style
behavior of the Europeans in the last few hundred years. Again, nothing
new, is it? Listen, dishonorable behavior should not be excused, on a
personal level, or on a governmental one. I love this land dearly, and
believe in the principles that the USA was founded on. I think it would
be nice to see the US live by those principles more often. And, yes, of
course all nations operate on self interest (as far as I know, anyway).
If the self interest also corresponds with deep, spiritual, and
honorable Universal laws and concepts, then I'm all for it. Judging by
the precarious state of the world, however, it looks like somebody has
been fucking up, bigtime, and a lot of innocents, around the globe, are
now paying the price. I hope it stops soon, but judging, for example, by
what's happening in Columbia, as we speak, where we have given about a
billion $$$ in military aid to spray the poor farmers, it doesn't look
like it...Hstick