You could have heard a pin drop ...

[Blue Rat]

When in England, at a fairly large conference , Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building' by George Bush.

He answered by saying, 'Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.'

You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break, one of the French engineers came back into the room saying 'Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?'

A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: 'Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?'

You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies.

At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries.

Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English.' He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?'

Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied 'Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.'

You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...

Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on. 'You have been to France before, monsieur?' the customs officer asked sarcastically.

Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously.

Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.'

The American said, ''The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it.

'Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in France!'

The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to.'

You could have heard a pin drop.

[Kid A]

d@mn, i bet the silence was deafening

[jschwart73]

http://urbanlegends.about.com/librar...lin-powell.htm

[Blue Rat]

Originally Posted by jschwart73

http://urbanlegends.about.com/librar...lin-powell.htm

You're probably the same guy that yells out the punch line to a joke that someone else is telling.

[0gravity]

So what's all that supposed to mean? We rock because we liberated France, and defended the world from zee Germans over half a century ago. We rock because we are able to occasionally divert our military might to provide disaster relief? Whatever. Enough with the nostalgia of our past glories. Our economy and our dollar is going down the tubes because of how carelessly our foreign and fiscal affairs have been conducted over the past decade.

[Blue Rat]

Originally Posted by 0gravity

So what's all that supposed to mean? We rock because we liberated France, and defended the world from zee Germans over half a century ago. We rock because we are able to occasionally divert our military might to provide disaster relief? Whatever. Enough with the nostalgia of our past glories. Our economy and our dollar is going down the tubes because of how carelessly our foreign and fiscal affairs have been conducted over the past decade.

Just a bit of a patriotic push from a proud old military veteran ...

[ChariotsOfTires]

Originally Posted by Blue Rat

Just a bit of a patriotic push from a proud old military veteran ...

I salute you Blue Rat!!!!!!!!
Thank you for your service and thank you for sharing why the US can be proud of it's efforts around the world. There is so much our country does beyond what makes headline for the BBC.

[Big Rick]

You're right, we should be DAMN PROUD of what citizens of the good ole USA have achieved over the last 232 years. That pride should spur us to be the best citizens of our country and the world that we can be... We should celebrate our successes, but more importantly admit our failures and learn from them. If we can't do that then we've failed our forefathers and everything they stood and struggled for. I'm sorry to say that IMHO our hyper-militarized, over-incarcerated, big-industry-lead current state is failing our forefather's vision...

And to get this on an MTB topic - it's allowing open space to be gobbled up and leaving fewer options for truly local outdoor recreational opportunities.

[spookydave]

Originally Posted by 0gravity

So what's all that supposed to mean? We rock because we liberated France, and defended the world from zee Germans over half a century ago. We rock because we are able to occasionally divert our military might to provide disaster relief? Whatever. Enough with the nostalgia of our past glories. Our economy and our dollar is going down the tubes because of how carelessly our foreign and fiscal affairs have been conducted over the past decade.

other then rant online what are you doing to change things?

[lukewiens]

lions for lambs....good movie!

[jschwart73]

Originally Posted by Blue Rat

You're probably the same guy that yells out the punch line to a joke that someone else is telling.

Ha! Quite the opposite - I don't mind it when facts get in the way of a nice story!

[0gravity]

Originally Posted by spookydave

other then rant online what are you doing to change things?

First, I didn't start this flag-waving discussion.

Second, I'm the US editor for the wind energy industry's international trade magazine. In other words, I'm working to support the renewable energy sector, which holds the promise to provide badly needed domestic jobs for the manufacturing sector in the US, lesson our impact on the environment, and lesson our need for increasingly costly energy from countries and regimes that are hostile to our nation, which often requires our military interference to protect.

[spookydave]

Originally Posted by 0gravity

First, I didn't start this flag-waving discussion.

Second, I'm the US editor for the wind energy industry's international trade magazine. In other words, I'm working to support the renewable energy sector, which holds the promise to provide badly needed domestic jobs for the manufacturing sector in the US, lesson our impact on the environment, and lesson our need for increasingly costly energy from countries and regimes that are hostile to our nation, which often requires our military interference to protect.

so you write about what other guys are doing?

just kidding man, sounds very exciting/rewarding. I spent 16 years building Thermal Oxidizers myself. Feels pretty cool to give back some clean air.

Sorry again if my USA redneck slipped out a little bit. But I do ask that question often and most of the time it's notta.

[OldDogDan]

Blue Rat, I don't question your motives in posting this, and maybe you'd like us to just appreciate the motive and the sentiment, and ignore whether these stories are true or not.

Unfortunately, these kinds of endlessly forwarded stories are not even a fraction as reliable as the mainstream media (which is itself pretty darn unreliable nowadays). It's weird, but there is something in the diction, phrasing, or just-so-ness of most of these things that, if you're paying attention, just shouts out that it's an urban legend or manufactured internet story. Kinda like the old thing where you tell one person a story, pass it on etc. Maybe it's not that there's one guy or group behind most of these stories that represent events that the reader wishes had happened, but that the process of alteration makes them all eventually similar. It might even be possible for a linguist to define it exactly in terms of grammar. I'm thinking it's kind of like a stone that's been tumbled over and over, so it's all smooth and polished, and not the original truth at all. You can see that right off.

Happy trails!

[SAR_boats]

Don't care whether they were true, false or otherwise. It was entertaining, which is good enough for me.


Lets try not to over analyze it or read too much into it.