No one cares this is the anniversary?

Life Margazine article (1946): We may have won the war but we are losing the peace in Germany. The German people, who at first regarded us with acceptance, are now downright hostile and hate filled. Some of our soldiers have behaved atrociously toward German citizens and toward some German prisoners of war. We need to know what our exit strategy is now because not only Germans have begun to hate us but many other Europeans are heading down this same road. We need to start doing what is necessary to get out of Europe now and let the international community take over. (Paraphrased)

Also, same crap from some articles in The New York Times in 1945 and 46. Thank God no one in the military listened to them - our presence in Europe stopped the Soviets from turning the entire continent into a cesspool. And the Nazi party has remained irrelevant since. (Unfortunately, their attitude toward Jews has remained well rooted throughout much of Europe, France included as one of the worst offenders.)

Oh yeah, the point? Substitute Iraq for Germany and Iraqi for Germans.

And since the Soviets murdered tens of millions of people throughout their empire, our people had the right idea. Remember, it was Roosevelt who decided this would become a war to the bitter end resulting in the deaths of millions and a conquered Germany. The British wanted to drive the Nazis out of France, N. Africa, Italy but were willing to concede some lands to them (I think Poland was one). But Rossevelt said no, we will pursue the Germans to Berlin and dismantle their government. The Brits warned the Nazis would fight to the end and millions would die, Roosevelt prevailed.

Interesting aside, it seems Roosevelt and "Uncle" Joe Stalin were friends and old Franklin didn't see much wrong with the red butcher's handling of Russia's "enemies", both external and internal.

The pre-Islmaic government of Iran was brutal toward disenters and anti-government activists. The post (and current) Islamic government is the same, most likely even more so, but has the added benefit of spreading their vision of revolution around the world. Let's not forget the hundreds and probably thousands of women who were slashed and hatcheted to death in the streets of Tehran in the early days of the revolution. This was for the unforgivable crime of protesting in the streets. Why were they protecting? The complete loss of freedoms suffered by all women under the new regime. Islamic men took to the streets and made sure that sort of behavior did not occur again. As we speak there are a large number of terrorist training camps operating in complete freedom in Iran.

Remember the "open" elections Iran promised to hold a year or so ago? Dozens of candidates filed for the ballot, the mullahs reviewed lists, removed anyone they didn't like (not Muslim enough), and the election was between 2-3 hard line Islamists. Just like our Revolution, eh? Oh, by the way, slavery is still being practiced openly throughout much of the Middle East. For decades after we (and other evil Western countries especially Great Britain) had fought many bloody battles to end slavery, the Middle East was still openly and legally practicing this barbaric horror. Went on well into the 1920s.

A co-worker of mine married an Iranian women in 1985. She had escaped the terror that is Iran, however, her brother remained behind and was actually a member of the "Revolutionary Islamic Party". As such, he was duty bound to avenge his sister's "dishonor" and sent sister letter demanding her return. When she refused, he attempted to come to America to do the right thing, which was to kill sister and her new husband, my friend. The feds came to out office, arranged for my friend to get a concealed weapons carry permit and finally stopped this terrorist at the Canadian border. He was sent back to Iran where he vowed to come back as soon as possible to finish the job. My friend and wife had to move out of state for protection where she soon divorced him to save his life.

Avguygeorge, the time for self hatred is long past. There are enough terrorists in the world who hate us for simply being alive. The main mosque in England (as reported in the Detroit Free Press) has a sign up that says, "Islam and the word of Allah will one day rule the world".

"Man is the worst of the animals"? As a 33 year vegatarian (and one who believes that if any human has a soul, then animals do, too) I find that more than a bit odd and dripping with self loathing. We live surrounded by 15 acres of treed ravine with a stream. We have deer, possums, raccoons, groundhogs, foxes, rabbits, three species of squirrel, owls, hawks, crows, woodpeckers, and even a coyote, although we've never seen him. Neighbor got 'em on video in their backyard 1/2 block from us. We throw all our old food out the back door and watch everyone jockey for position.

We've seen mother groundhogs knock their own cubs down trying to get to a piece of bread. Have seen crows tormenting one of their own into terrified submission. Have seen hawks and owls rip baby rabbits apart and leave only the tails and feet. Have seen various birds attack squirrels (who are vegetarian!?!)and small red squirrels viciously attack the bigger gray and black ones. All in the pursuit of resources.

A baby raccoon got separated from his family and stuck in the middle of busy road not far from us about a month ago. He was crying pitifully and you know who came to his rescue? Not a rabbit...not a deer...not a hawk. It was two men and one woman from two different cars. They stopped traffic which was about 25-30 cars in both directions of the two lane road. Finally they had the baby safely to the side and the stopped drivers could go. My wife and I heard two passersby yell, "God bless you!"

My aunt, age 80, took in an abondoned kitten (abandoned by the mother cat who had three and then 2 weeks later left one behind). She nursed the kitten and found it a good home. About that time the mother came back with two 2 month old kits. My aunt found homes for both and the mother now lives indoors - safe, sound, and well fed, with Auntie Chris.

Once human needs are easily taken care of (like us rich Americans) we do pretty good. Poor people in this country suffer most from over eating and almost all have TVs, VCRs, and cars.

Oh, and Avguy, we "un-brainwashed" the Nazis and imperialist Japanese, didn't we? It would be hard today to enjoy fine Japanese cuisine and audio arts if they were still in China, the Philipines, etc, butchering millions.

Amen, Albertporter. I used to think (back in my hippie days) that we were bad creatures, now know we are just creatures. Actually, I think I would die of a heart attack if waking up to find myself president. What an unimaginable responsibility.

By the way, love your photos!