ChetOS.net

I was reading the Wikipedia entry for Paul Harvey.  If you have never heard of him don't feel bad; I stumbled across his radio "show" on accident.  His "Rest of the Story" segment lasts about 5 minutes and it comes on at 6:03 on AM580 WDBO.  It is usually very good (he is old, and he is catering to older audiences so I often don't know the famous person he is talking about).

Anyway, towards the bottom is a section titled "Controversial Quotes".  It contains one of the most thoughtful quotes I have ever read, it is in response to our response to the World Trade Center attacks:

"Winston Churchill was not here to remind us that we didn't come this far because we're made of sugar candy. So, following the New York disaster, we mustered our humanity. We gave old pals a pass, even though men and money from Saudi Arabia were largely responsible for the devastation of New York and Pennsylvania and our Pentagon. We called Saudi Arabians our partners against terrorism and we sent men with rifles into Afghanistan and Iraq, and we kept our best weapons in our silos. Even now we're standing there dying, daring to do nothing decisive, because we've declared ourselves to be better than our terrorist enemies -- more moral, more civilized. Our image is at stake, we insist. But we didn't come this far because we're made of sugar candy. Once upon a time, we elbowed our way onto and into this continent by giving smallpox infected blankets to native Americans. Yes, that was biological warfare! And we used every other weapon we could get our hands on to grab this land from whomever. And we grew prosperous. And, yes, we greased the skids with the sweat of slaves. So it goes with most great nation-states, which--feeling guilty about their savage pasts--eventually civilize themselves out of business and wind up invaded and ultimately dominated by the lean, hungry up-and-coming who are not made of sugar candy."

Wow.

Remember, before the Romans fell to the attacks of oursiders, they fell to the attacks of insiders.