Pat,

By no means am I a historian, however, Franklin went to France and was able to enlist the French in the Revolutionary War against the British. France's navy pulled our bacon out of the fire, as did their troops. France also allowed us use of their ports. If not for the French, this probably would not be the America as we now know it. France also assisted us in other military excursions in our young history.

I find it quite sad that we allowed our differences to grow into the dispute it has and frankly, believe the US has acted like an ungrateful spoiled child towards France over its reluctance to give us all we wanted when it came to Iraq.

One local letter to the editor writer made a good point the other day. She correctly pointed out that the majority of the 9/11 terrorists came from Saudia Arabia, as did much of their funding, but never did you see Americans pouring gasoline down the sewers or protest the oil we receive from SA.

As for the Olympics....recall how our athletes acted when winning events. I can recall an event where three athletes posed for the cameras while draped in US flags. I remember at the time the other participants were offended at our arrogance and lack of humility. It was quite different than someone winning a foot race and taking a lap around the track while carrying a small flag of one's nation.

As for Reagan and AIDS....I do not know who you saw interviewed, however, if they were those on the right, of course they were not going to say anything negative about Reagan and AIDS. But I remember back then. Reagan would not talk about AIDS and it is well documented. And Edmund Morris, who wrote "Dutch" - a favorable biography of Reagan and one that was supported by the Reagan's and their crowd - writes about Reagan wondering if AIDS was brought down upon us because of illicit sex (though Reagan does not say the line attributed to the CBS Miniseries and his quote does not just single out gays, Morris did say the quote was "illicit sex").

Back to the flag and the bald eagle.....my point was that here we have an actual living and breathing symbol of America and until recently in our history, farmers were allowed to poision for this symbol and hunters allowed to shoot it. So here we have an almost rabid response to the burning of an inantimate object, but people weren't as upset over the almost extinction of the American Bald Eagle. How strange...