Yassar Arafat's death was marked today at the UN where the flag flew at half mast in honor of Arafat. It did not fly at half mast when Reagan died. The press in America is exhalting him as the "George Washington" of the mideast.

Is he a hero or a terrorist? We know that Jimmy Carter idolizes Arafat what about you?

Terrorist who could play politics.

Grandpa, it is clear that he is/was a hero to the Palestenian people. To me, he has heroic qualities and despicable qualities. What an enigma.

Obviously Ed you are up early and probably saw the "funeral" . He obviously is an icon to his people. What I took away from the mob scene was that these people are not like us and will never be. Our way of life may never take hold with this 14th century culture. Just picture the funeral of Ronald Reagan with a million people screaming and shooting machine guns into the air..then swarming the casket.

Grandpa, I take a more optimistic viewpoint. I believe that people everywhere are more alike than not on the important stuff. What we want for our children, the thirst for learning, etc. I pray that is true as it is the only hope that we have for long-term peace.

If the Palestenians saw the scene outside a Wal-Mart at 6:00 AM on the day after Thanksgiving, do you think they would have an accurate picture of who we are as a people?

Except no one outside the WalMart is shooting an AK-47 into the air while chanting praise to Allah and death to the infidels.!!!

Flag staffs on land, except naval flag standards are called staffs. Flags flown on vessels and naval bases are mats.....just wanted to throw that in there.

Improper use and nomanclature of flags is a pet peeve of mine so I have to appologize for cutting in here.

Okay, flags flown on land are called staffs while flags flown on naval installations and all vessels are masts.

My last post was kind funky so i thought i would try to make it a bit more clear.

Tight lines and lets go fishin!!!!!

Upon hearing of the death of Yasser Arafat who was a documented terrorist and murderer of innocent women and children--The Secretary General of the U.N. Kofi Annan ordred the flags at the United Nations to be flown at half-staff.

When Ronald Reagan died earlier this year--SG of the UN Kofi Annan allowed the flags at the United Nations fly normally.

Guys, you need to chill out about the UN. Yasser Arafat was a current leader of the Palestenians, Ronald Reagan was a former President. I'm sure if GW died in office, the flags at the UN would fly at half staff.

Ya see?! There's another example of those phookin radical left wing liberal whinin' democrats takin' away my 2nd Amendment rights. I should be able to pop off a case or two of ammo if I wanna. It's my God-given right (not to mention my inbred machismo) to fire off as many rounds as I like, where ever I like. I'm an American, Guldarnit, and if I wanna blow off some brass, I should be able to do it! That's why there's mob scenes at Wallmart; no one's packin'. Next thing you know it'll be just like Canada with complete anarchy at Kmart.

And rant and whine and cry and on and on and on...

Goharley,

I know old habbits die hard, but it's still not too late to try and learn how to urinate while you're standing up....give it a try sometime. :p

Sadly for you, Krusty, it is too late. I believe you're destined to be an idiot the rest of your life.

SAY WHAT???

Grandpa,

Arafat is both a hero to Palestinians and a terrorist to Israelis.

I have no reason whatever to idolize Arafat or any Arab, but I respect him for earning the respect and admiration of so many Palestinians, whose cause he championed for nearly four decades.

So Palestinians are not like us and never will be. What’s wrong with that? Should every culture around the world aspire to American culture? If so, why? I take it you’re not into valuing diversity?

So some of them shoot off guns in celebration. I don’t approve of it personally because it’s not safe. But things we don’t commonly do nowadays once were common. Americans used to shoot guns in celebration also, but fortunately we’ve evolved past that as a culture.

As for Arafat being honored with the UN flag at half staff, while Reagan didn’t receive the same honor, that’s understandable from a global scale, if not with a provincial U.S. view. Arafat was the current leader of his people, and he was a hero to them for fighting (literally and figuratively) to build his nation from the ground up. Reagan was a former U.S. leader who is credited with winning the cold war by outspending the Soviets. If he had brought freedom to an oppressed U.S., or died trying to, or had even won a fighting war, then I think the world view of him at his passing would be very different.

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

So do you have the same respect for guys like Hitler and\or OBL?? To their own people, they are\were considered heroes...

Don't forget the Khmer Rouge they had millions of followers Idid Amin Dada was loved by millions as well. Stalin, Jim Jones the list goes on and on.

Salmo...are you sure you don't have respect for Arafat by default because you harbor so much disdain for Israel? Chosing sides as it were.

Objectivity while studying history. Some of the christian zealots should give it a try.

"Objectivity while studying history"

LOL. Objectivity is one thing - claiming you have respect for a known terrorist is another...