"AMERICANS STAY HOME TODAY"

Ok, check this out...Erin and I were driving back in the smart car from the sea and we were talking about November 17th and how all the Americans are advised to stay home. This was Nov. 16th (the day before the US Embassy was bombed). I saw the Embassy and the US flag and wanted a really good picture of it. So, I took this first one and thought I could get a better one...





Awe man! The flag is great but this guy got in the way (we were driving on the main highway in Athens).

This was almost perfect, but I wanted better...so I tried again...

"Darn iiiittttt!" (Kip in Napoleon), this guy got in the way was my first thought, but as I looked closer to his helmet...DANG! What the heck!!! What a shot!!!! Haha! I love it!!!





Well, today, our last day here, is a holiday...kind of like a celebration of Greek Independence (I think from Turkish rule). So, many of the stores and gas stations and restaurants will be closed.

In addition, every November 17th is the "i hate America day" and all the US Ambassadors and Americans are encouraged to not go downtown Athens. This is mostly the university students who want to riot.

In addition to that wonderfulness, there are enormous amounts of communist protesters who want to usurp the current government.

People are hungry for a cause and will like sheep follow whatever the crowd is doing. What this does for me is make me LOVE AMERICA all the more....it proves to me that the US is the best country in the world and truly has done many many great things! Certain groups of people do not like to believe or discuss anything positive about America. They find excuses for terroists and college rebels behaviors. They empathize and pity the terrorists.

Then there's Obama's wife, the first lady, who said this is the first time she's "proud of US history". I was thinking about her the other day as I was climbing these cool but windy staircases here in Greece that solely lead to the bathrooms. This is how people get to the bathroom in every restaurant, store, or cafe. What about the handicapped? What about the elderly? What about little children? What about pregnant women? These stairs were incredibly hard to climb and dangerous nonetheless. I thought about America, the melting pot of all cultures, the land of opportunity...to even go pee or poo is made accessible for all. But Obama's wife isn't proud. Regardless, I will pray hard for Obama as our leader and for his safety, well-being, and wise choices.

As for me, I love America and find it greatly disconcerting to listen especially to those Americans who live off of our forefathers great sufferings and sacrifices and talk ugly about our home and people. Those are the same people who will rarely lift a finger to help others and surely don't have any world vision for the needy. God help them. God help us. Today, I think I'll stay home and eat some ice cream.

ps-there's a billboard here which seems to repeatedly appear all over Athens. This is a picture of a girl with no shirt on, no shoes, but has jeans on and she's bent over on all fours lapping up water from a dirty stream like a stray dog in the appearingly dark and dangerous night. In the picture she looks haggard and roughed up. I love America!