On my blog on the Free lance Star I had written that I would publish here the full text of a column from a Rumania newspaper. I noticed after that was posted that they wanted me to get permission to republish the piece but in the interest of time  I'm including only the link to the site here.

Here's the text of the FLS blog:
"If you’re an American, which I assume most who
read this are,
you’ve probably had the experience of feeling a bit like a piñata when
reading
any foreign press coverage about this country. It seems sometimes that
no
matter what we do, we are condemned in foreign press outlets as the
source of
all evil. The relief missions carried out by our Navy in the wake of
the
tsunami in southeast Asia are forgotten. The humanitarian aspects of
our
foreign policy seem to be viewed as bribes for friendship and the
rescuers who
leave hearth and home for weeks at a time to search for earthquake
survivors are intruders viewed with
suspicion. How perversely satisfying might it be if we could as a
people just walk away since it's not really our problem. We could just
send these people in need a message of condolence and
our best wishes for a speedy recovery but that’s just not the way we
are.

I'm not saying that we should be fawned over for our largesse by any means but we surely deserve better than international press kicks in the family treasure chest. I would suggest that we stay home just one time but if we are so severely lambasted as we are now when we spend time and treasure in humanitarian causes, imagine the condemnation if we did stay home, if we did say, sorry folks but we are tapped out right now.

Bill Trueman (Thanks, Bill) sent me the text of a column from a Rumanian
newspaper this morning that should be heartening to those of us who have had
this feeling. I was tempted to reprint it but since I feel that’s bad form
for a blogger I’m just going to include a link  to it here.