Wednesday, August 24

            In my lifetime so far I have witnessed the fall of apartheid in South Africa, the fall of the Berlin wall and communism in Russia, the fall of dictators in Iran, the Philippines, Panama, Iraq and now this summer the fall of dictators in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya with maybe another in Syria.  How democratic are the governments that replaced the more oppressive regimes has varied or remains to be seen, but there does seem to be a tide towards self-government.  Some with the help of the U.S., some without and some despite.