Well I guess I come at this from a completely different perspective. I am have just recently returned from Quebec, where I attended the National celebrations on John the Baptist Day, Grande Fete National! I had a great time, and was inspired by all the flag waving of the french canadians there. I don't see that kind of flag waving much here at home, though 9/11 certainly increased it for obvious reasons. <BR><BR>I do not like being compared to what my govt does, or what other "ugly" americans do. I have national pride but not so much as to ignore or insult people of other countries. I am genuinely nice to any I meet in my travels, either at home, or abroad. While in Canada, I was always treated with respect and never maligned in anyway. I do the same when greeting foreign visitors to the US, or while I am traveling abroad. Though I will say I do not like the "americanization" of other parts of the world, but certainly the people embrace these changes, otherwise companies like McDonalds would not be there (they go where people buy their products). I have always found that people abroad for the most part admire the US, probably hating it at the same time. While many talk of rude french, my experience in France was that they all wanted to visit or move there. No one was rude to me in France.