MichaelR,

No, it is not nice to shout. Sometimes, though, nice gets you nowhere and the older I get the angrier I get when it appears that "freedom of speech" applys only to those who want to trash the government or any of its associated agents.

And so, occasionally, I will shout, just to be heard.

I wonder which of America's freedoms you refer to as "so called."

Walk among the graves at Arlington or Normandy and tell the ghosts they died for "so-called" freedoms. Look over the field where Pickett led his charge and tell the "honored dead" they died for "so-called" freedoms. Look at your reflection in the Vietnam memorial and speak to the memory of the more than 55,000 names inscribed there that they died for "so-called" freedoms.

You see, "Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers" were produced to tell you exactly what you do not want to hear. It is obvious that you have avoided the message completely.

And yes, for the record, I am proud of Pres. Bush. He acted to take out bin Laden and Hussein. He acted to remove the seeds of terrorism before another 9/11 could happen. He did more in 18 months in office than Pres. Clinton did in 8 years, despite all the attacks against the U.S. that Clinton could have and should have answered.

And don't whine about the course of this new war. I will admit that mistakes have been made, lives lost that should have been protected. If any of us were perfect this whole thing never would have happened to begin with. But I will stand shoulder to shoulder with any president, Democrat or Republican, that puts the safety and security of the U.S. over any political risk he might face in calling for a military action. That includes, by the way, Pres. Kennedy in his sending troops to Vietnam. That war was bungled too, to be sure. But Kennedy was President of the United States, not one party or the other.

From "Schindler's List" to "Saving Private Ryan" to "Band of Brothers", Spielberg and/or Hanks are trying to get us to own up to and to be a part of our past. Only by owning our past can we intelligently alter our future. I thank them for at least making the effort.

By the way, if you watched the final dvd in the boxed set of "Band of Brothers" you might understand a little bit more of what I and others in this thread are talking about.

Freightdawg