I resist posting things that people email to me, mostly because they're typically some kind of conspiracy theory BS, or simply irrelevant. But I thought this was a good read even though it may be a little dated.

At a time when our president and other politicians tend to apologize for our country`s prior actions, here`s a refresher on how some of our former patriots handled negative comments about our country.

JFK'S Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60's when DeGaule decided to pull out of NATO. DeGaule said he wanted all US military out of France as soon as possible.

Rusk responded "does that include those who are buried here?

DeGuale did not respond.

You could have heard a pin drop.

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 intend 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 Brit's, Canadians, Aussie's 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.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Crimson Aces,

Excellent!

I'll bet you'll be able to "hear a pin drop" on this forum, also.

quote:

Originally posted by mhward518:
I'll bet you'll be able to "hear a pin drop" on this forum, also.

Most likely...

lmao ... you guys are SO cool ...

you post something about american sacrifice and pat yourself on the back because you think anyone who disagrees with you politically couldn't possibly appreciate or know anything about american sacrifice ... then brag about silencing a forum that might have 3 posters on it at any given time ...

here's some more 'cool' glasses ... ... and don't forget the winks ...

quote:

Originally posted by texastider:
lmao ... you guys are SO cool ...

you post something about american sacrifice and pat yourself on the back because you think anyone who disagrees with you politically couldn't possibly appreciate or know anything about american sacrifice ... then brag about silencing a forum that might have 3 posters on it at any given time ...

here's some more 'cool' glasses ... ... and don't forget the winks ...

I would like to think you would understand and appreciate these statements in defense of your country, but if not, that's OK... we understand and yet we will still put our lives and our families lives at risk to protect you... sleep well and be at peace my friend.

quote:

Originally posted by Crimson Aces:

quote:

Originally posted by texastider:
lmao ... you guys are SO cool ...

you post something about american sacrifice and pat yourself on the back because you think anyone who disagrees with you politically couldn't possibly appreciate or know anything about american sacrifice ... then brag about silencing a forum that might have 3 posters on it at any given time ...

here's some more 'cool' glasses ... ... and don't forget the winks ...

I would like to think you would understand and appreciate these statements in defense of your country, but if not, that's OK... we understand and yet we will still put our lives and our families lives at risk to protect you... sleep well and be at peace my friend.

so will plenty of people who voted for obama, clinton, abortion rights, national healthcare, etc ... the right doesn't have a monopoly on service to country ... but sleep peacefully while you think that ...

quote:

Originally posted by Alabama Fan:
UrbanLegends.about.com

i was pretty sure it was fake ...

quote:

Originally posted by Alabama Fan:
UrbanLegends.about.com

Actually the Urban Legends quote in context is even better.

quote:

In a question-and-answer session afterwards (during which the phrase "empire building" was never mentioned, incidentally), the secretary of state was asked by former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey if he felt the U.S and its allies had given due consideration to the use of "soft power" -- promulgating moral and democratic values as a means of achieving progress towards international peace and stability, basically -- versus the "hard power" of military force.

Here, in part, is how Colin Powell actually responded to Carey's question:

There is nothing in American experience or in American political life or in our culture that suggests we want to use hard power. But what we have found over the decades is that unless you do have hard power -- and here I think you're referring to military power -- then sometimes you are faced with situations that you can't deal with.

I mean, it was not soft power that freed Europe. It was hard power. And what followed immediately after hard power? Did the United States ask for dominion over a single nation in Europe? No. Soft power came in the Marshall Plan. Soft power came with American GIs who put their weapons down once the war was over and helped all those nations rebuild. We did the same thing in Japan.

So our record of living our values and letting our values be an inspiration to others I think is clear. And I don't think I have anything to be ashamed of or apologize for with respect to what America has done for the world. [Applause.]

We have gone forth from our shores repeatedly over the last hundred years and we've done this as recently as the last year in Afghanistan and put wonderful young men and women at risk, many of whom have lost their lives, and we have asked for nothing except enough ground to bury them in, and otherwise we have returned home to seek our own, you know, to seek our own lives in peace, to live our own lives in peace. But there comes a time when soft power or talking with evil will not work where, unfortunately, hard power is the only thing that works.

quote:

Originally posted by texastider:

quote:

Originally posted by Crimson Aces:

quote:

Originally posted by texastider:
lmao ... you guys are SO cool ...

you post something about american sacrifice and pat yourself on the back because you think anyone who disagrees with you politically couldn't possibly appreciate or know anything about american sacrifice ... then brag about silencing a forum that might have 3 posters on it at any given time ...

here's some more 'cool' glasses ... ... and don't forget the winks ...

I would like to think you would understand and appreciate these statements in defense of your country, but if not, that's OK... we understand and yet we will still put our lives and our families lives at risk to protect you... sleep well and be at peace my friend.

so will plenty of people who voted for obama, clinton, abortion rights, national healthcare, etc ... the right doesn't have a monopoly on service to country ...

Absolutely, I agree 100%. This post was simply pointing out that America should be proud for what it has done for the world, not ashamed, and its only those who think that we should be apologizing to the world that need to be embarrassed.

I believe that the vast majority of Americans Democrats and Republicans recognize that ultimately America stands for whats good and right in this world, its only the radical left that has this twisted view of reality.

Why are some of you so sensitive about this thread? Nobody brought y'all up! I hope these "guilty dogs" are house-broken!