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  • Pride in America

    I have to interject this because it's been bugging me for a very long time. Why are Americans no longer proud of their country and what they personally do?

    I remember when my Grandpa worked for the Territorial Highway Dept. as a civil engineer in the 1930s through the 1960s. He had only an 8th grade education, but he taught himself how to do drafting and ended up directing road crews all over the then-Territory of Hawai'i. He supervised the building of the current road to Haleakala, the pali road to Lahaina, the road between Paia and Haiku, some roads on Moloka'i and Lanai, too.

    Everytime we drove on one of those roads, he would proudly say that he helped build it. Lots of his friends took pride in what they did, too.

    Nowadays, how often does a carpenter drive his family past a house he built and say with pride, "THIS is what I built!" How often does an accountant tell his family, "You know, I'm proud to be employed by...because they treat me like a human being..."

    In order for America to begin to heal and rebuild itself, we all need to be proud of what we're doing and act like we mean it.

    Miulang

    P.S. Being part of the "loyal opposition" can also mean legally challenging the political system and fighting for social justice, and anyone who can withstand the harassment of the sheep deserves to feel proud of himself.
    Last edited by Miulang; June 13, 2005, 04:37 PM.
    "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

  • #2
    Re: Pride in America

    hard to be proud of an illiterate violent society that supports the worlds militaristic hegemonic bully thats hated by the whole world.
    the stereotypical international reputation of the loud rude ignorant ugly american makes any american travelling around the world have to say they're canadian and wear canadian flags on their backpacks so as not to be attacked or targetted.
    americans are this centurys jews and the whole world is nazi germany.an american citizenship is like a jewish tattoo and a american passport is like jewish papers.the terrorists are the world's brownshirts and their nukes and viruses are their ovens and concentration camps.
    get out now and get another citizenship and passport before its too late!
    free hawaii!hawaii sovereignty now!

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    • #3
      Re: Pride in America

      I am proud to be an American. I am proud to live in the land of the free. I am proud to speak what's on my mind and not have my head cut off. I am proud of my heritage of the land that let my forefathers come, so we can have a better life. I am an American, I am a mother to three United States Soldiers that would not blink an eye, run or think twice to save our country. Yes, I am an American and proud of it too!

      Pride In America? It is still going strong!

      Lynn Vasquez
      momthreesoldiers
      Be AKAMAI ~ KOKUA Hawai`i!
      Philippians 4:13 --- I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

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      • #4
        Re: Pride in America

        Just like we don't have a choice of which parents or "bloodline" we're born into, we also didn't get to choose what country either. That said... I am thankful to have been raised and remain a resident of Hawaii, U.S.A. The problems of the world and our country are caused by selfish greed. No one is truly uninfluenced by it. The United States of America was started by brave, hard-working people who wished to escape the religeous and otherwise repressive society of England at the time. America, though not perfect is still a country with opportunity for individuals. As a country we have helped many other peoples throughout the world over and over again. I know and am sorry for the mistakes made. Internally we need to be responsible citizens. Just because something is available doesn't make it good for ourselves or our society. Loss of self control through all sorts of addictions is indicative of how we as a country have pushed God aside saying "I'm gonna do what I wanna do!" I'm proud of America and pray for revival within each of us. Aloha
        Life is either an adventure... or you're not doing it right!!!

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        • #5
          Re: Pride in America

          Wow. It's hard to follow up on those posts. All of you had such great things to say.

          I admit I'm ashamed of our country's reputation, and there are many things in the news that make me feel even more ashamed of our country. But I'm still proud to be an American, proud of the good to be found in many of our citizens.

          My dad served our country for over 25 years, and he fought for our country twice. He was a staunch patriot, and he taught us--quietly, but with all conviction--to love America. So, I've always been thankful for freedom, always loved the "stars & stripes."

          I honestly wouldn't want to claim citizenship to any other country in the world. Being an American is tough in our times, and I believe it will only get tougher, but despite our glaring, collective "character flaws," I think we can learn from our mistakes.

          Great topic.
          ~'Ailina

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          • #6
            Re: Pride in America

            I am proud to be an American. If the US didn't annex us, I truly believe Japan would have.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Pride in America

              I'm proud of the American Dream, American ideals, the American form of government. People all over the world hold up the American system as the example to emulate, and millions wish they could live in America.

              I'm not so proud of how those ideals are actually lived up to, or more accurately are failed to be lived up to. The corruption, the hypocrisy, and the lack of compassion shown by our present leaders are terrifying.

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              • #8
                Re: Pride in America

                I read in the paper Sunday about a special 2-day only exhibit at the Kahala Mandarin. It was entitled "National Endowment Art Tour" and was in honor of Boy Scouts/Cub Scouts anniversaries. I decided to check it out. Gazing at all those idealistic and original Boy Scout depictions through the eyes of artists such as Norman Rockwell, Joseph Csatari, and even one sketch by Walt Disney, I couldn't help but compare those sunny images with the ones I see plastered all over the news now. Rarely do we get to witness the positive acts that Americans quietly commit all over the country these days. I'm proud and grateful to live in this country, even if I often disagree with the current political paths our leaders continue to take.

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                • #9
                  Re: Pride in America

                  I just got through watching a rerun of the Democratic forum to discuss the inquiry into the articles of impeachment against the Bush Administration.

                  Today, I started having hope again for this country. Today, a panel of 4 people (one, a former US Ambassador whose wife was outed as a CIA agent because the White House didn't like what he said, another the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, representing many other families whose kids were killed in Iraq, a former CIA analyst, and a lawyer who co-founded the umbrella organization that brought the nation's attention to the Downing Street Memo), testified before a whole bunch of Congresspeople, about how the White House fabricated evidence (or rather, forced the intelligence groups to fabricate evidence) to fit the justification for invading Iraq.

                  I have hope for this country because even with the stonewalling and obstruction of the Republican Party (turns out that a larger hearing room was available for a 2-hour slot, but the Republicans denied the Democrats access), John Conyers was able to pull together the high caliber of people who were all squashed into that tiny room for 2 hours.

                  If you have a chance to, the hearing will be reshown on C-Span 2 tomorrow night (check your local listings for the time in your area).

                  A few things have become pretty clear: Either the Bush Administration is the most traitorous administration ever in the history of the US for lying to Congress (which, by law, is the only body that has the authority to send us to war) and the people of the United States, or George Bush is the most ignorant and out-of-touch President we have ever had (in which case, he'd be even worse than Ronald Reagan). If he lied to all of us by making up facts to fit his plans for invading Iraq, then he should be impeached for High Crimes. If Bill Clinton can be impeached for committing adultery (or for having sex outside of marriage) where that "crime" really was of a personal nature between 2 consulting adults, then why shouldn't George Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld be impeached for sending 1,704+ of our citizens to their death?

                  If he was mislead by his advisors, then obviously history will tell another story. But for myself and at least 560,000 other Americans, all we want is for Congress (both the House and Senate) to conduct their own investigations to get the truth out, no matter what that truth turns out to be. The families of the 1,704+ soldiers deserve to know that when they sent their loved ones into harms' way, that the sacrifice they made was for a noble cause.

                  I personally honor each and every person in the Armed Forces who served or is currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And if the Downing Street Memo proves to be the "smoking gun" that causes the entire country to demand to know the truth, while at the same time forces the White House to announce a plan of withdrawal, that would be the highest honor we could bestow on our courageous soldiers who, for the most part, did not sign up to spread "freedom and democracy", but to defend us and our country from harm. And as the evidence that is being presented now shows, Saddam Hussein in 2003, could not harm us with WMDs because there were none.

                  Miulang
                  Last edited by Miulang; June 16, 2005, 05:34 PM.
                  "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: carp at ala moana

                    think america would be flogging itself to death...


                    U.S. is No. 1 -- in Murder, Rape, Robbery: No other nation comes close,
                    congressional report shows
                    The United States is "the most violent and self-destructive nation on
                    earth," a congressional report said Tuesday.

                    The Senate Judiciary Committee report depicted Americans killing,
                    raping and robbing one another at a furious rate, surpassing every
                    other country that keeps crime statistics.


                    The nation's citizens committed a record number of killings --at least
                    23,300, or nearly three an hour--and a record number of rapes,
                    robberies and assaults, the committee said.


                    "The United States led the world with its murder, rape and robbery
                    rates," the report said. "When viewed from the national perspective,
                    these crime rates are sobering. When viewed from the international
                    perspective, they are truly embarrassing."


                    The report noted that the murder rate in the United States was more
                    than twice that of Northern Ireland, which is torn by civil war; four
                    times that of Italy; nine times England's and 11 times Japan's.


                    Violence against women in America was even more pervasive, the
                    committee said.


                    The rape rate in the United States was eight times higher than in
                    France, 15 times higher than in England, 23 times higher than in Italy
                    and 26 times higher than in Japan, according to the report.


                    Robbery rates followed much the same pattern: six times higher than in
                    England, seven times higher than in Italy--and nearly 150 times higher
                    than in Japan.


                    The committee's report, based on raw FBI data and preliminary
                    statistics for last year, based its comparisons on Justice Department
                    statistics for industrialized nations. Crime reporting standards vary
                    in those countries, and crime rates for less-developed Third World
                    nations generally are either unavailable or unreliable.


                    But the report made clear that violence in the United States has no
                    equal among the world's developed nations.


                    More than 1.8 million victims
                    "More than 1.8 million Americans were murdered, raped, robbed or
                    assaulted"


                    Crime exists everywhere but it predominates in the United States more
                    than in any other country, especially violent crime. While there are
                    killings and other crimes of violence elsewhere in the world, their
                    depth and scope do not compare to that of the United States.


                    According to a recent international survey, among males fifteen to
                    twenty-four, the U.S. homicide rate is 21.9 per 100,000. Compare that
                    to 1.4 per 100,000 in France, or 1.2 per 100,000 in England, or 0.5 per
                    100,000 in Japan. Homicide rates among young adults in the United
                    States are twenty-nine times as high as in Japan and thirty-six times
                    as high as in Great Britain. The risk of being robbed is 208 times
                    greater in the U.S. than in Japan! More people are murdered in Los
                    Angeles in an average month than in Great Britain during the course of
                    a year. The United States far outpaces all other developed countries in
                    homicide deaths. It's ten times higher than neighboring Canada's.


                    In the past decade alone, 200,000 U.S. residents have been killed and
                    millions wounded. Overall, the United States has the highest homicide
                    rate in the industrial world. Since 1960, violent crimes increased by
                    500 percent. During the same time period, the population increased by
                    only forty-one percent. The rate of violent crime -- defined by the FBI
                    and National Institute of Justice as the reports of homicides, rapes,
                    aggravated assaults, and robberies per 100,000 of the total population
                    -- has more than tripled since 1965. And it keeps increasing! In 1960,
                    there were 160 violent crimes for every 100,000 Americans. By 1975,
                    this rate had climbed to 487 violent crimes for every 100,000
                    Americans. And by 1995, it had climbed to 684 violent crimes for every
                    100,000 American. For example, there were a reported 21,600 murders,
                    97,460 rapes, 580,550 robberies, and 1,099,180 aggravated assaults in
                    the United States in 1995. As of 1997, there were an estimated
                    thirty-nine violent victimizations per 1,000 U.S. residents twelve
                    years old and older. From 1985 to 1994, violent crimes rose 28.6
                    percent: murder, 13.9 percent; rape, 5.7 percent; robbery, fourteen
                    percent; and aggravated (serious) assault, forty-two percent. According
                    to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a crime in America occurs every
                    two seconds. One violent crime every seventeen seconds: one murder
                    every twenty-one minutes, one forcible rape every five minutes, one
                    robbery every forty-eight seconds, and an aggravated assault every
                    twenty-eight seconds.


                    Over a lifetime, the average man in American society has an eighty-nine
                    percent probability of being a victim of an attempted crime of violence
                    and the average woman has a seventy-three percent probability. Several
                    years ago the Department of Justice estimated that eighty-three percent
                    of all Americans would be victims of violent crime at least once in
                    their lives. About a quarter would be victims of three or more violent
                    crimes. "We are progressing steadily toward the fulfillment of that
                    prediction," says Adam Walinsky, a well-known expert in a field of law
                    and former legislative assistant to Robert Kennedy.


                    "Interesting enough, as a society, we treat violence as an inevitable,
                    natural problem that just happens," said Deborah Prothrow-Stith,
                    Assistant Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health. For example,
                    nearly eighteen percent of women in the United States have been raped
                    or the victim of attempted rape at some point during their lives. That
                    amounts to 17.7 million American women. More than half of the rape
                    victims said they were under seventeen when first raped, according to
                    data released in 1998 by the U.S. Justice Department. Sixteen percent
                    were under 12-years-old! There were seventy-one forcible rapes per
                    100,000 females reported to United States law enforcement agencies in
                    1996. The National Crime Victimization Survey estimates that annually
                    172,400 American women were victims of rape. On the other hand, the
                    data from the National Women's Study, a longitudinal telephone survey
                    of a national household probability sample of women at least eighteen
                    years of age, show 683,000 women forcibly raped each year and that
                    eighty-four percent of rape victims did not even report the offense to
                    the police. ...
                    free hawaii!hawaii sovereignty now!

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