On this day...

...In 1587, it sucked to be a Spaniard. Why?
Because Sir Francis Drake gave Spain a kick square in the balls at Cadiz, beginning a chain of events that would lead to Britannia ruling the waves for the next three centuries! Ahh, yes, the good old days.
Being a Brit, I'm very proud of my birth-nation's long and storied history, the British Empire, the grit and determination of the men and women who built it, the traditions carried throughout the world. We Brits are very proud of our heritage, because it's pretty much all we have left.
I used to brag quite a bit about Britain when I first moved over here, and a coworker pretty much summed it up to me with one pungent sentence:
"Yeah, I used to drive a Beemer, but now I drive a Pinto."
Sigh. How true...
My Dad used to serve in the Royal Navy, and he would tell me how RN ships would hail their American counterparts whenever they crossed paths:
USN ship to RN ship: "How's the world's second largest navy doing today?"
RN ship to USN ship: "Fine thanks. How's the world's second best navy doing today?"
I wonder how he feels about the state of the Royal Navy today? Thank you, Mr Blair.
Britain is fast going the way of the rest of Europe, hastened by the leftist Blair administration...
The US will protect them, so why bother "wasting" money on defense, when they could put it towards social programs that will buy votes and keep them in power? For the last 50 years, American generosity has enabled the leftward slide of European policy, kind of like a spoiled college kid blowing his rent money at the local night club, because, hey, Dad'll cover it; he always does.
American defense spending has helped create the myth in Europe that we have progressed beyond war and reduced those nations to the status of client-states. Sorta like welfare on an international scale. If someone else will pay the bills, where's the motivation to pay them yourself?