[backhoe]

Thanks for looking.... whether or not we still have the Iron of the Soul that earlier generations of Americans had really is the question, isn't it?

I do see a lot of frivolity and decadence in modern culture- especially the last dozen years. And yet, people don't change a whole lot from one generation to another- the WWII-era Americans aren't far removed from this generation. It will be "interesting...."

[dennisw]

Holy cow...I posted it too. You can ask the admin to nuke mine

[thinktwice]

the WWII-era Americans aren't far removed from this generation

Many lessons from WW-II seem to be unknown to those born in later years. President Bush, for example, seems to think that Palestinian suicide bombers are "evil terrorists" while people in the Islamic world see them as heros.

President Bush wasn't around when Allied WW-II pilots killed entire city populations -- in Tokyo, Dresden, Hiroshima, Nagasaki ... -- while Japanese Kamikazi suicide pilots were killing themselves in a last ditch effort to defeat their enemy.

WW-II, in fact, is probably a prime example of civilizations clashing at what the author calls ... "The macro level."

[Jack Black]

Which civilization do the 1/2 of my office mates who have moved here from India and China in the last five years belong to? How about the fundamentalist Moslems at the mosque in Portland? What happens to them when someone follows the advice of the Indian minister of Defense "not to fight a war with the USA unless you have nuclear weapons"? Sadam looks ready to give it a go, and the the Socialists, Democrats and European appeasers want to let him.

Certainly it is already clear many of us don't have the iron for a fight. Including many notable ex generals like Scocroft, Swartzenkoff, etc. Perhaps they know something we don't?