[UncleSamUSA]

As someone who has traveled to Italy extensively.. and who loves Italy and Italians very much.. I can tell you that the country is still riddled with Communists, marxists, and a whole bunch of left-wing "ist" parties that have a knee-jerk opposition to the West and to America. They have trade unions that are so strong and so corrupt that they can easily organize a rally of half a million or a million people on short notice to protest parking rules, or the need for more vacation time for semi-retired workers.

That is not to apologize for these misguided Italian nutcases (a lot of the Human Shields in Baghdad are Italian) but to say that demonstrations and communism are par for the course in Rome and throughout Italy.

Recall that right after 9-11, Berlusconi made a speech in which he lauded the cultural superiority of Western civilization vs Islam, for its religious tolerance, its focus on liberty and individual rights and on its scientific, technological and artistic achievements. There was such a howl of protest in Italy and throughout Europe that he was forced to apologize for his statments.

Just thought you'd like to know that the last time I was in Rome, the one language I heard being spoken more than any other (besides Italian of course) was: German.

[Ruger1099]

Let's get out of the U.N. and Nato. Bring home all our forces deployed overseas, including South Korea.

When the sh!t hits the fan somewhere on this planet and there is a war to be fought, we'll just tell the world we are peace loving people and hate war.

We will only defend the 50 states and we will do it with nuclear weapons.

We will no longer give aid to any countries also.

I wonder if that would shut them up.