This was actually written awhile back, but alot of people discovered it
again around 911, read it and see why they thought it was written then.
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 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 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 10? 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 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 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 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."
Stand proud, Americans
I knew the Canadians were good for something......
I knew the Canadians were good for something......
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.....
With a quick Google search I found an unaltered version of this speech:
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/g/ ... nclair.htm
Almost all the points are no longer valid. As a fraction of our GDP we give the least aid of any developed nation, Boeing has fierce competition from Aerobus, we allowed our rail lines to die to build up our Interstate system, our education system is a shambles because of the "starve it enough to drown it in the bathtub" mentality of the Neocons leaving us with the need to import scientists from abroad, American satellites are being launched more and more overseas, and our ability to produce goods is almost extinct in our never ending pursuit of cheap crap from slave labor.
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/g/ ... nclair.htm
The differences in the forwarded version slinga posted are subtle, I admit. But they are generally jingoistic and revisionist.Original script of Gordon Sinclair's commentary:
"The Americans" The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French and British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in West Germany.
It has declined there by 41% since 1971 and this Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least-appreciated people in all the earth.
As long as sixty years ago, when I first started to read newspapers, I read of floods on the Yellow River and the Yangtse. Who rushed in with men and money to help?
The Americans did.
They have helped control floods on the Nile, the Amazon, the Ganges and the Niger. Today, the rich bottom land of the Misssissippi is under water and no foreign land has sent a dollar to help.
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 those 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 into help... Managua Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples. So far this spring, 59 American communities have been flattened by tornadoes. Nobody has helped. The Marshall Plan .. the Truman Policy .. all pumped billions upon billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now, newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent war-mongering Americans. I'd like to see one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplanes. Come on... let's hear it!
Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tristar or the Douglas 107? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all international lines except Russia fly American planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or women 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 store window for everyone to look at. Even the draft dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, most of them ... unless they are breaking Canadian laws..are getting American dollars from Ma and Pa at home to spend here. When the Americans get out of this bind ... as they will... who could blame them if they said 'the hell with the rest of the world'. Let someone else buy the Israel bonds, Let someone else build or repair foreign dams or design foreign buildings that won't shake apart in earthquakes.
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 to 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 neighbours have faced it alone and I am one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them 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 these. But there are many smug, self-righteous Canadians.
And finally, the American Red Cross was told at its 48th Annual meeting in New Orleans this morning that it was broke. This year's disasters .. with the year less than half-over… has taken it all and nobody...but nobody... has helped.
ORIGINAL SCRIPT AND AUDIO COURTESY STANDARD BROADCASTING CORPORATION LTD. (c) 1973 BY GORDON SINCLAIR
Almost all the points are no longer valid. As a fraction of our GDP we give the least aid of any developed nation, Boeing has fierce competition from Aerobus, we allowed our rail lines to die to build up our Interstate system, our education system is a shambles because of the "starve it enough to drown it in the bathtub" mentality of the Neocons leaving us with the need to import scientists from abroad, American satellites are being launched more and more overseas, and our ability to produce goods is almost extinct in our never ending pursuit of cheap crap from slave labor.
[size=75]You are as bad as Alan, and even he hits the mark sometimes. -charlie
"Not all conservatives are stupid, but most stupid people are conservative." - John Stuart Mill[/size]
"Not all conservatives are stupid, but most stupid people are conservative." - John Stuart Mill[/size]
I wish I could find a source for it, but I remember a comment from someone in the Arab world to the effect "on September 12th, we were crying for the suffering of so many Americans, but on September 13th, we stood up against such American arrogance." (I'm paraphrasing from memory, so I'm sure I've got that a bit wrong, but that was the core of the comment.)
Hmmmmm.... What could have caused such a 180? What burned up deep sympathy for the American people? That would be George W. B.ush's arrogance.
Think about all those things that Gordon Sinclair was talking about. They're basically all true, and many people around the world remember them. (Probably more than here in the US) Remember that to combat the religious militants around the world, we need cooperation from all the people whom we have helped. But this administration basically took all those IOUs, wiped their asses with them and burned them. We could have stuck with the truly global coalition and worked in Afghanistan on supressing the Taliban, building roads, hospitals and schools (oh, and supressing heroin production while we're there!). But instead, Bush arrogantly lied about our motivation, pushed aside the UN and the global community and told the world to fall in line or shut up and stumbled into Iraq. Then we re-elected the idiot!
The arrogance of this administration has been a wonderful propoganda and recruiting tool for the religious militants. If your friends or loved ones were blown up on a train in Spain (not necessarily in the rain on the plane) or in the subway in London, how would you feel about the US?
Why should these people be nice to us now?
Hmmmmm.... What could have caused such a 180? What burned up deep sympathy for the American people? That would be George W. B.ush's arrogance.
Think about all those things that Gordon Sinclair was talking about. They're basically all true, and many people around the world remember them. (Probably more than here in the US) Remember that to combat the religious militants around the world, we need cooperation from all the people whom we have helped. But this administration basically took all those IOUs, wiped their asses with them and burned them. We could have stuck with the truly global coalition and worked in Afghanistan on supressing the Taliban, building roads, hospitals and schools (oh, and supressing heroin production while we're there!). But instead, Bush arrogantly lied about our motivation, pushed aside the UN and the global community and told the world to fall in line or shut up and stumbled into Iraq. Then we re-elected the idiot!
The arrogance of this administration has been a wonderful propoganda and recruiting tool for the religious militants. If your friends or loved ones were blown up on a train in Spain (not necessarily in the rain on the plane) or in the subway in London, how would you feel about the US?
Why should these people be nice to us now?
Bacon is meat candy.
I don't know about nice, but a lot of great things have been done, since originally written, and are still being done, but as you have pointed out in the past, 10 good deeds will be forgoten in the light of one bad one. I was not making a political statement with this, but I have read it in the past and it somehow always made me walk a little taller and prouder. I don't care about how the world see's us, I will always be proud to be an American. I read something about something Daniel Pearl said before his head was cut off. Daniel pearl did'nt die a cowards death, just before they sawed his head off, they were trying to get him to break down in front of the camera. Daniel pearl was asked if he was a Jew Spy, he did not speak, they kicked and beat him, they asked him if he was a Jew, then put the knife to his throat, Daniel, knowing death was imminent, said "I am a Jew, and my father was a Jew" spat in they're face and died as a Warrior. I will never forget that as long as I live, his name will not be forgotten. He would not deny his faith or his heritage at pain of death and fought back the only way he could, by not letting them have the satisfaction of breaking him down. I could only hope to be this brave, a little off subject, but a lot of countries owe us big, and sort of like on here, say one thing people disagree with you on and bam, your an asshole, xenophobe, pigheaded, closeminded conservative or what have you.. So what do we do now, everyone has pointed out all the mistakes, but as usual no one has any answers.
And alan, I did'nt edit this, I found it this way already, I think it has been done a thousand times since the seventies, but thanks for picking it apart and updating us on your case against the government
And alan, I did'nt edit this, I found it this way already, I think it has been done a thousand times since the seventies, but thanks for picking it apart and updating us on your case against the government
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.....
yup yup love it or leave it alone. just like the Osbourne Brothers sang over thirty years ago: "speak against amerikkka and you're walking on the fighting side of me."
yup yup; get the hell out if you don't buy the party line.
open up---swallow.
now, don't we all feel better? c'mere jingoslinga--let me give you a fucking hug while draped in the damn flag.
yup yup; get the hell out if you don't buy the party line.
open up---swallow.
now, don't we all feel better? c'mere jingoslinga--let me give you a fucking hug while draped in the damn flag.
But gunslnga you have to know that this rah! rah! go USA! stuff, seems to show a significant number of people think everything is on track, and most of us think it isn't. That makes it seem to be so shallowly po litical.gunslnga wrote: So what do we do now, everyone has pointed out all the mistakes, but as usual no one has any answers.
And alan, I did'nt edit this, I found it this way already, I think it has been done a thousand times since the seventies, but thanks for picking it apart and updating us on your case against the government
My jab at this running out the flag burning issue was to point out just how ridiculous this admin. is. Brace yourself for another round of gay marriage and the church under attack.
Answers happen all the time but retroactively dealing with monstrous foul-ups is tougher than a reasoned course. They should've listened a bunch of times so when will they? Tell them to quit screwing everything up and then saying "well what's YOUR plan?" We're supposed to be beyond fighting wars of attrition. It really isn't even a war anymore, it's the most deadly police work and accidental mine sweeping. A huge majority of them want us to leave. Let's leave. Our guys are worth more than that shit. The president has already said the next administration will inherit this mess so that means he seems to be perfectly ok with this rate of damage.