I guess it was misguided to assume that the Arab world would respect us after President Obama took office. Is the problem deeper than the fact that President Bush was the problem?

That appears to be the case. It is a culture that seems to glorify violence including suicide bombers and heads of state. How many Arab countries shoot or torture their own citizens? As I write this I wonder whether I'm just prejudiced, but how can you ignore the facts?

By the way, enjoying Neal and Brad's neck of the woods right now on vacation. Hood River is great!

RJ

Care to have a visit? I would love to meet you in person.

Ya, if you need a good excuse to make it over a bit further we are in one's of the world's premier wine producing regions.

I will meet you there in Hood River for Coffee if you like.

Sure ... I didn't realize how close we are ... we are at the Best Western Plus in Hood River City ... we are leaving on Fri. morning which gives us a short window.

Would you like to have a drink this evening (say 9 pm Thu. when the kids go to sleep? -- the hotel bar looks very nice) or a coffee Fri morning (there's a Starbucks right next to the hotel). Other times may work as well, but I would have to coordinate with the family. You are both welcome.

My wife and I talked about visiting the wineries ... we were concerned that it wouldn't be much fun for the kids.

I'll PM the cell phone number to you

Ray Jay wrote:That appears to be the case. It is a culture that seems to glorify violence including suicide bombers and heads of state. How many Arab countries shoot or torture their own citizens? As I write this I wonder whether I'm just prejudiced, but how can you ignore the facts?

I'm struggling to think of many cultures that don't glorify violence in one way or another.

Certainly Western culture does.

How many non-Arab countries shoot or torture their own citizens, for example?

"How many non-Arab countries shoot or torture their own citizens, for example?"
China? North Korea? Burma? Sierra Leone? Sudan?

Your comment about glorifying violence triggered a thought or two to me...
The West (meaning US, I presume?) does not glorify violence for its own sake. We accept it within certain contexts and reject it in others. It's not an all-or-nothing proposition. Many sports are strongly physical or violent; but they are not regarded in the same as violent crimes or wars. Maybe part of it is because the physicality is usually controlled and it occurs voluntarily between equals. Well, that probably excludes soccer riots and frustrated tennis stars. And we of the West love our "good trimphing over evil" theme, however unrealistic it is. A football game, a new "Die Hard" movie, or the latest Vince Flynn thriller gives us a chance to enjoy a minor success against our enemies (real and imagined) every now and then.
It would be extremely foolish and naive (or perhaps, deceptive) to presume that we in the West love nothing better than to drive around in our SUVs shooting whatever we feel like and running over the rest. It is we in the West who are naive. We believe in playing fair, giving the other guy a chance and feeling a bit guilty for liking "Die Hard" or "Dirty Harry". We screw up a lot, but we keep trying to do better. That's that, and if you don't like it, I'll be happy to discuss it with you out in the alley.