Peace Keepers

[wonka]

To Kill an American or a Canadian.

You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American or Canadian, any American or Canadian.

So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American or Canadian is, so they would know when they found one. (Good one, mate!!!! )
.................................................. ..................................

An American or a Canadian is English, French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan.

An American or Canadian may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans or Canadians. An American or Canadian is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America or Canada than in Afghanistan . The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses.

An American or Canadian is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God. An American or Canadian lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence (or in Canada, the Bill of Rights), which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.

An American or Canadian is generous. Americans or Canadians have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return. When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army
20 years ago, Americans and Canadians came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country! As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan.

Americans and Canadians welcome the best of everything, the best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best services. But they also welcome the least. The national symbol of America, the Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built America. Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, 2001 earning a better life for their families. It's been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.

So you can try to kill an American or Canadian if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself. Because Americans and Canadians are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American or a Canadian.

[wonka]

That time of year, lets remember why we have the things we do

[Loree]

what a great thread
thank you

[eccentrictinker]

Snopes.com is such a downer (sometimes)! Whenever I see essays like this I check Snopes hoping to get "the rest of the story".
http://www.snopes.com/rumors/america2.htm
The attribution isn't correct, according to Snopes, but there are two additional links that are great reading.
I'm going to print these out and look at them everytime I hear America being bashed. Yeah, we've done wrong, but we've done a hell of a lot of good all over the world.

BTW, tomorrow is Veteran's Day. Fly your flag.
The first is an essay by a Canadian broadcaster as follows:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Good reading, from a Toronto newspaper's editorial page!

Widespread, but only partial news coverage was given recently to a remarkable editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian television commentator. What follows is the full text of his trenchant remarks as printed in the Congressional Record:

<HR align=center width="75%">
This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as most generous and possibly the least appreciated people on all the earth.

Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of these countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.

When the franc was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it. When distant cities are hit by earthquakes, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped.

The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans. I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States Dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tristar, or the <NOBR>Douglas DC-10?</NOBR> If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the International lines except Russia fly American planes?

Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the <NOBR>moon — not</NOBR> once, but several <NOBR>times — and</NOBR> safely home again.

You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here.

When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the American who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke.

I can name you 5,000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.

Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those.
The second is from a Roumanian newspaper:

-----------------------------------------
Editorial from a Romanian newspaper
Why are Americans so united? They don't resemble one another even if you paint them! They speak all the languages of the world and form an astonishing mixture of civilizations. Some of them are nearly extinct, others are incompatible with one another, and in matters of religious beliefs, not even God can count how many they are. Still, the American tragedy turned three hundred million people into a hand put on the heart. Nobody rushed to accuse the White House, the army, the secret services that they are only a bunch of losers. Nobody rushed to empty their bank accounts. Nobody rushed on the streets nearby to gape about. The Americans volunteered to donate blood and to give a helping hand. After the first moments of panic, they raised the flag on the smoking ruins, putting on <NOBR>T-shirts,</NOBR> caps and ties in the colours of the national flag. They placed flags on buildings and cars as if in every place and on every car a minister or the president was passing. On every occasion they started singing their traditional song: "God Bless America!".
Silent as a rock, I watched the charity concert broadcast on Saturday once, twice, three times, on different tv channels. There were Clint Eastwood, Willie Nelson, Robert de Niro, Julia Roberts, Cassius Clay, Jack Nicholson, Bruce Springsteen, Silvester Stalone, James Wood, and many others whom no film or producers could ever bring together. The American's solidarity spirit turned them into a choir. Actually, choir is not the word. What you could hear was the heavy artillery of the American soul. What neither George W. Bush, nor Bill Clinton, nor Colin Powell could say without facing the risk of stumbling over words and sounds, was being heard in a great and unmistakable way in this charity concert. I don't know how it happened that all this obsessive singing of America didn't sound croaky, nationalist, or ostentatious! It made you green with envy because you weren't able to sing for your country without running the risk of being considered chauvinist, ridiculous, or suspected of who-knows-what mean interests. I watched the live broadcast and the rerun of its rerun for hours listening to the story of the guy who went down one hundred floors with a woman in a wheelchair without knowing who she was, or of the Californian hockey player, who fought with the terrorists and prevented the plane from hitting a target that would have killed other hundreds of thousands of people. How on earth were they able to bow before a fellow human? Imperceptibly, with every word and musical note, the memory of some turned into a modern myth of tragic heroes. And with every phone call, millions and millions of dollars were put in a collection aimed at rewarding not a man or a family, but a spirit which nothing can buy.
What on earth can unite the Americans in such a way? Their land? Their galloping history? Their economic power? Money? I tried for hours to find an answer, humming songs and murmuring phrases which risk of sounding like commonplaces. I thought things over, but I reached only one conclusion. Only freedom can work such miracles!

[TAPPY]

These are all great !! Thanks for posting them !!!

[Joana]

The editorial text in the middle was very entertaining......
So entertaining that I didn't even bother reading the third one.
Why entertaining you ask? Well, just to throw a few points out there.....

I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States Dollar build its own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tristar, or the <NOBR>Douglas DC-10?</NOBR> If so, why don't they fly them?

Uhm- ever heard of Airbus? As far as I know they are giving Boeing a rough time on some markets..........and they are being flown quite a bit.

Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the <NOBR>moon — not</NOBR> once, but several <NOBR>times — and</NOBR> safely home again.

Maybe that is not due to a lack of technology but simply due to the intelligent notion not to fly somewhere someone else has already been to, showing that there is not much there worth going for? As for technology- talk ESA and ISS f.e.. Loads of other countries involved right there.

When distant cities are hit by earthquakes, it is the United States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by tornadoes. Nobody helped.

Hm- maybe that is because the countries hit by those earthquakes were third world and needed the help as they can't help themselves- and the US with all it's development etc. should be pretty capable of helping itself?

I can name you 5,000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.

The Americans are not the only ones racing in many cases. As for Americans in trouble etc.- see point above. Plus- latest example NO. When there werent offers two seconds after desaster hit there was an outrage- when the offers came the response was "no, thanks, we can deal alone"- and in fact help did go there, an example were workers of the THW who helped with the levee probs etc.. As for the earthquake as an example- are we talking 1906 here?? Wow, an example from 100 years ago.....that's pretty recent.

The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering Americans.

As thankful as my country is and has to be for the assistance back then- I guess noone knew that accepting that help would mean we are forever not allowed to critizise US policies........or is there a hidden timeline?? Critisizm allowed again after....70 years?? Phew only a few more to go!!

Sorry but.......this guy didn't get a number of facts straight (btw.- does he really think radios are the only thing coming out of Japan and cars the only thing coming out of Germany?? He is aware I hope that f.e. the technology that built the first nuke that hit Japan came from German minds to a huge degree, right??)- and sure, others he does get straight but extend them in such a polemic way that the whole thing almost appears like a satire to me.

[Rissask]

Sorry but.......this guy didn't get a number of facts straight (btw.- does he really think radios are the only thing coming out of Japan and cars the only thing coming out of Germany?? He is aware I hope that f.e. the technology that built the first nuke that hit Japan came from German minds to a huge degree, right??)- and sure, others he does get straight but extend them in such a polemic way that the whole thing almost appears like a satire to me.

Joanna ...you have to take it with a grain of salt....Gordon Sinclair actually died in 1984, and that was written in 1973.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/sinclair.asp

[Joana]

See- I didn't go to check the source..........I was already wondering what the writer was on- or which rock he'd been hiding behind for the last x years!!

[Icon oclast]

Originally Posted by Joana

The editorial text in the middle was very entertaining......
So entertaining that I didn't even bother reading the third one.
Why entertaining you ask? Well, just to throw a few points out there.....

Uhm- ever heard of Airbus? As far as I know they are giving Boeing a rough time on some markets..........and they are being flown quite a bit.


Maybe that is not due to a lack of technology but simply due to the intelligent notion not to fly somewhere someone else has already been to, showing that there is not much there worth going for? As for technology- talk ESA and ISS f.e.. Loads of other countries involved right there.

Hm- maybe that is because the countries hit by those earthquakes were third world and needed the help as they can't help themselves- and the US with all it's development etc. should be pretty capable of helping itself?


The Americans are not the only ones racing in many cases. As for Americans in trouble etc.- see point above. Plus- latest example NO. When there werent offers two seconds after desaster hit there was an outrage- when the offers came the response was "no, thanks, we can deal alone"- and in fact help did go there, an example were workers of the THW who helped with the levee probs etc.. As for the earthquake as an example- are we talking 1906 here?? Wow, an example from 100 years ago.....that's pretty recent.


As thankful as my country is and has to be for the assistance back then- I guess noone knew that accepting that help would mean we are forever not allowed to critizise US policies........or is there a hidden timeline?? Critisizm allowed again after....70 years?? Phew only a few more to go!!

Sorry but.......this guy didn't get a number of facts straight (btw.- does he really think radios are the only thing coming out of Japan and cars the only thing coming out of Germany?? He is aware I hope that f.e. the technology that built the first nuke that hit Japan came from German minds to a huge degree, right??)- and sure, others he does get straight but extend them in such a polemic way that the whole thing almost appears like a satire to me.

I don't think we should be bragging about what came from German minds. As to the space program, anyone that thinks it is folly to explore denies history and the human spirit. you folks don't even have freedom of speech nor do you trust yourselves enough to have a viable military.

[Joana]

Originally Posted by Icon oclast

I don't think we should be bragging about what came from German minds. As to the space program, anyone that thinks it is folly to explore denies history and the human spirit. you folks don't even have freedom of speech nor do you trust yourselves enough to have a viable military.

Hm. Your post was just about as funny as the editorial .
Did you actually understand what I wrote??
Listing some things that come from Germany is not bragging but just that- listing...........and sorry, just because a country was doing many wrongs over half a decade ago doesn't mean that in general everything coming from that country was bad or can't be applauded. The article listed (or bragged) about what comes from the US - so why is it bragging to list some counterpoints as a retort??
Second- I didn't say that exploring is folly. I study a science- so that would be a contradiction in itself if I stated that. I simply replied to the part in the text where the author wondered why noone else bothered to go to the moon after the US did (hinting at noone else being able to, which is clearly not the case anymore nowadays....) that it would be of little use spending millions to explore something again that has been explored- and is something where there is not much going on except rocks. Has nothing to do with saying that exploration in the first place is bad. Hence mention of ESA and ISS.
And sorry to say it- which rock do you live under to say that there is no freedom of speech in Germany??? May sound harsh to say it that way, but if you state that Germany doesn't have it I find no other way to put it........................and I guess I should know because I live here. Sorry to burst your bubble - but the US is not the only country with freedom of speech.
Last point- our military is very well respected as far as I know. The fact that it is small has all to do with history and it being a defensive army due to it. There is nothing wrong with our military- but thanks for your concern. And if it is not viable- I wonder why the heck the US were so upset when we didn't take part in the war in Iraq????

[sctx]

Originally Posted by Joana

And if it is not viable- I wonder why the heck the US were so upset when we didn't take part in the war in Iraq????

well, that's pretty obvious Joana.......because we then had to turn to the Dutch for a good beer source

[Tony&Cheri]

Originally Posted by Icon oclast

I don't think we should be bragging about what came from German minds. As to the space program, anyone that thinks it is folly to explore denies history and the human spirit. you folks don't even have freedom of speech nor do you trust yourselves enough to have a viable military.

Where was it that Werner Von Braun came from again?

In fact, didn't the US space program begin with Scientests from Germany?

Just asking.

-Tony

[Joana]

Originally Posted by sctx

well, that's pretty obvious Joana.......because we then had to turn to the Dutch for a good beer source

So that's what the fuss was all about!!!

[Joana]

Originally Posted by Tony&Cheri

Where was it that Werner Von Braun came from again?

In fact, didn't the US space program begin with Scientests from Germany?

Just asking.

-Tony

Not to mention the fact that many other "typical" American things have German roots- "Fahrenheit" comes from the man who invented the alcohol thermometer......who's name was Farenheit.......he was German. Funnily enough we stick to Celcius in Germany.
Or Levis Jeans- the first jeans around....................Levi Strauss actually learned to be a tailor in Bavaria before moving to the States.
And as for freedom of speech- which goes hand in hand with freedom of the press I suppose...........well, the press wouldn't be what they are today hadn't there been a certain Mr.Guttenberg.
So saying that German inventions best not be mentioned actually takes a lot of typical American things away.................and those were just a few examples.

[itsmysecondtime]

Originally Posted by Tony&Cheri

Where was it that Werner Von Braun came from again?

In fact, didn't the US space program begin with Scientests from Germany?

Just asking.

-Tony

Actually the US owes significantly to Robert H. Goddard, the American father of rocketry and the first serious contender for the label of father of the space program. One can derive this conclusion from his early experiments with rockets, including his 1919 paper "A method for Reaching Extreme Altitudes," while he prepared for his doctorate at Clark University, in Worcester, MA.

The objective here is not to contest the importance of Von Braun's team in propelling America into space; but rather, to acknowledge the important influence of Goodard. In fact his discoveries are still affecting today's ultra-technical world. Some of his rocket patents still derive royalties to this day.

http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/rocket-history.txt

http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsfc/servic...rd/goddard.htm




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