<"I don't believe pleading not guilty to the innumerable and contradictory charges brought against the U.S. will be effective," Lewis Manilow, a panel member, wrote in a dissenting note. "The rich hegemon will usually be unpopular, deservedly or not."

He is, of course, absolutely correct, although his contention that it is only our wealth that creates hatred from the collectivists around the world is not.

Kissing the asses of those who want us dead has never really gotten us anywhere throughout our history. If we need to learn how to advertise anything, it is the core principles of individual rights that are the real source of our greatness. This is a tough job, considering there are many in our own country with contempt for these principles. I for one am sick to death of apologizing for our existence to every flea-ridden nation who demands it.

Every last person I have seen who brings up the concept of "cross cultural understanding" is operating from the assumption that American culture is bad, vile, or in some way inferior, and it is we who need to learn "culture" from the Third World medieval torturers with their stones for executions, sticks for beating women, and swords for beheading.