WHY WE FIGHT – AT 9:40 A.M. ET:  As we approach Memorial Day we see the reminders of why we're lucky to be Americans.  No, our country isn't perfect.  The only perfect countries are dictatorships – you can read about their perfection in their newspapers every day.  But, with all its faults, America remains a very special place to be.   Just read this, from Bloomberg, for a contrast: 

Iranian film star Leila Hatami apologized for kissing the cheek of the president of the Cannes Film Festival, after activists called for her flogging, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

Hatami, 41, starred in the 2012 Academy Award-winning film “A Separation” and was a Cannes jury member this year. She wrote, in a letter addressed to Iran’s Cinema Organization, that she’d told festival organizers she wouldn’t be able to shake hands with or embrace any men at the event.

Gilles Jacob, the French festival’s 83-year-old president, initiated a greeting and she felt compelled to return it, she said.

“Due to his age, he had forgotten about the measures,” she wrote, according to the news service. “He is obviously elderly and I consider his status to be like that of a grandfather.”

The Sisters of Hezbollah Students Group on May 21 filed a complaint with Iran’s judiciary against Hatami’s “unacceptable” behavior, calling for her to be flogged when she returned home, according to the Yalasarat news website.

Hatami wrote that she was “ashamed.”

“I am very sorry for having hurt anyone’s feelings,” Hatami wrote, according to IRNA.

COMMENT:   Some culture.  Some country.  And they're close to getting a nuclear bomb. 

May 25, 2014