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Belly Tank,
I think the best response to your concerns came from a Canadian newspaper soon after September 11:
America: The Good Neighbor.
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:
"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the 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 the remaining debts to the United States.
When France 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 earthquakes hit distant cities, 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 Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? 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 moon - not once, but several times - and safely home again. You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the the 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 Americans 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 5000 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."
I have only this to add. So you see this is why America does not care what the rest of the world thinks and why we keep accomplishing the impossible day after day without regard to what the world thinks because as soon as something happens in the rest of the world, we will need our independence and resourcefulness to save the rest of the world from itself once again.
We are the leaders of the free world whether the free world chooses to recognize it or not. They sure will come crawling back to us for help when they need it. It is just a matter of time. And what will we say? "Go away you cheese eating surrender monkey" or "See if your Mercedes can out run a SAM"? No. We will be there to help regardless of how we were treated previously.
This is why I am proud to be an American and do not care if the children from England wrote letters to voters in Ohio telling American voters to vote for John Kerry. In fact, it probably helped elect GW. Thanks! The same is true about the video from Osama. We are Americans and we cannot be blackmailed. There is no way that foreign indignance can erase the American graves on the coast of France, it cannot erase the losses our families here have endured to protect those that need protecting since WWII either. I really do not need to say God Bless America because it is obvious He has.
Regards to all,
J
I think the best response to your concerns came from a Canadian newspaper soon after September 11:
America: The Good Neighbor.
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:
"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the 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 the remaining debts to the United States.
When France 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 earthquakes hit distant cities, 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 Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? 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 moon - not once, but several times - and safely home again. You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in the the 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 Americans 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 5000 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."
I have only this to add. So you see this is why America does not care what the rest of the world thinks and why we keep accomplishing the impossible day after day without regard to what the world thinks because as soon as something happens in the rest of the world, we will need our independence and resourcefulness to save the rest of the world from itself once again.
We are the leaders of the free world whether the free world chooses to recognize it or not. They sure will come crawling back to us for help when they need it. It is just a matter of time. And what will we say? "Go away you cheese eating surrender monkey" or "See if your Mercedes can out run a SAM"? No. We will be there to help regardless of how we were treated previously.
This is why I am proud to be an American and do not care if the children from England wrote letters to voters in Ohio telling American voters to vote for John Kerry. In fact, it probably helped elect GW. Thanks! The same is true about the video from Osama. We are Americans and we cannot be blackmailed. There is no way that foreign indignance can erase the American graves on the coast of France, it cannot erase the losses our families here have endured to protect those that need protecting since WWII either. I really do not need to say God Bless America because it is obvious He has.
Regards to all,
J
