Gratitude for past American Exceptionalism ( the present WH doesn't believe in American Exceptionalism )

Old but still relevant

Subject: Fwd: 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 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.

****
One often wonders at the sensibility of the Archbishops of Canterbury, the most recent being endorsement of Sharia law in Britain.

A humorous but more excusable moment occurred at the inauguration of the Marshall Plan. The then-Archbishop gave the invocation and offered up thanks for "this Heaven-sent succour." The Americans did a double-take but smiled.