SOME INTERESTING OBSERVATIONS FROM PAUL HARVEY

Paul ("It's time for NEWS!") Harvey has been part of the American radio landscape for over seven decades. For over 50 years his morning and noon hour "news and commentary" shows were considered "must listen" for many people across the nation, and stations who held the rights to air Harvey's broadcasts (which later added "The Rest of the Story" for afternoon airing) could almost insure themselves of a money making franchise.

Of course, it was no secret that Paul Harvey was --- and remains to this day --- a stalwart conservative. But now the 86-year-old Chicago-based commentator has come under fire for what he said during one of his broadcasts a couple of weeks ago, and at least several groups are suggesting a boycott of The Walt Disney Company. Disney owns the ABC Radio Networks, which airs Harvey's programmes.

It seems that while making the case that the United States has become too passive in the war on terror, he said:

"After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Winston Churchill said that the American people…he said, the American people, he said, and this is a direct quote, “We didn’t come this far because we are made of sugar candy.

"That was his response to the attack on Pearl Harbor. That we didn’t come this far because we are made of sugar candy.

"And that reminder was taken seriously. And we proceeded to develop and deliver the bomb, even though roughly 150,000 men, women and children perished in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. With a single blow, World War II was over.

"Following New York, Sept. 11, Winston Churchill was not here to remind us that we didn’t come this far because we’re made of sugar candy.

"So, following the New York disaster, we mustered our humanity.

"We gave old pals a pass, even though men and money from Saudi Arabia were largely responsible for the devastation of New York and Pennsylvania and our Pentagon.

"We called Saudi Arabians our partners against terrorism and we sent men with rifles into Afghanistan and Iraq, and we kept our best weapons in our silos.

"Even now we’re standing there dying, daring to do nothing decisive, because we’ve declared ourselves to be better than our terrorist enemies -- more moral, more civilized.

"Our image is at stake, we insist.

"But we didn’t come this far because we’re made of sugar candy.

"Once upon a time, we elbowed our way onto and into this continent by giving small pox infected blankets to native Americans.

"Yes, that was biological warfare!

"And we used every other weapon we could get our hands on to grab this land from whomever. And we grew prosperous.

"And, yes, we greased the skids with the sweat of slaves.

"And so it goes with most nation states, which, feeling guilty about their savage pasts, eventually civilize themselves out of business and wind up invaded, and ultimately dominated by the lean, hungry and up and coming who are not made of sugar candy."

While it may not be intended to come across as such, the comments above do sound as though Harvey was "wishing for the bad old days". Maybe his age has finally caught up with him...