You Could Have Heard a Pin Drop

[Natiam]

I got this e-mail today. Has anyone heard these before or know if they're true?


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 come home.

You could have heard a pin drop.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then 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...

A group of Americans, retired teachers, recently went to France on a tour. 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 '44 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find any damn Frenchmen to show it to.'

You could have heard a pin drop.

[Yleemjseg]

I doubt it.

It just looks to me like an example of the French bashing that became so en vogue after France voted against invading Iraq.

It still amazes me how you can get a huge part of a population to hate another group just by telling them to do so. And within that "French boycott" thing that followed with the rejection of all things French, why didn't they send back the Statue of Liberty?

Now I'm gonna go have some freedom fries before i go to school.

[Richard W]

Coincidentally I just finished watching a World At War interview with historian Stephen Ambrose, in which he argued that the USA was easily the biggest winner with the smallest costs from the second world war - there was no damage to the US infrastructure or resources, which grew hugely as a result of the war, a lot of people made fortunes, the degree of mobilization was the least of all major participants, they gained entry to and control of the Japanese economy and put half of Europe into their debt. And yet despite that, the prevailing US attitude after the war was to moan that the Soviets had "won" and that the USA had been suckered into selflessly making sacrifices for nothing. The long-haired liberal communist-sympathizing America-hating hippy!

[BringTheNoise]

Originally Posted by Natiam

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.'

"And they also arranged it so that the native peoples of Canada, Australia and America would have to speak English. It was 60 years ago, get over it" The French admiral replied

BTW, isn't it funny how Quebec never seems to exist in these emails?

[AnglRdr]

Originally Posted by Natiam

Then 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.

This is my favorite, because obviously the only way tsunami victims could have been helped is by aircraft carrier. Also, the galleys actually serve 4 meals per day, due to having three shifts working. So, there.

Oh, and you cannot hear a pin drop on an aircraft carrier.

[Avril]

Originally Posted by Natiam

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 come home.

You could have heard a pin drop.

First of all, the dead are typically shipped back to the U.S. for burial. Second of all, if Powell did say this, he was wrong. The U.S. has gained territory through war. In the Spanish-American War, for example, the U.S. gained Puerto Rico, Guam, and various islands in the Philippines.

Avril

[Dr. Winston O'Boogie]

Originally Posted by Natiam

Then 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.

OK, ignoring the obvious French-bashing, I kind of liked this one. I am a bleeding-heart liberal (at least compared to the rest of the people where I live). I admit - I never thought of hospital space, emergency power, or fresh water as coming from an aircraft carier. My thoughts were that the carier was there mostly for transportation and manpower.

The rest of it was crap.

[Four Kitties]

Powell-a-chow, at least in part.

Four Kitties

[RichardM]

Originally Posted by Natiam

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then 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.

France has at least one. It was in the Carriabean after Katrina. The French volunteered to sail into New Orleans to provide relief using the hospitals, water production, etc. The US refused the help.

[ToadMagnet]

Originally Posted by Natiam

I got this e-mail today. Has anyone heard these before or know if they're true?

I just got it today, and I felt kinda sorry for the 80-something year old businessman who hasn't risen high enough in his company in 60-something years to be able to avoid having to travel for business or even maybe retire.

First of all, the dead are typically shipped back to the U.S. for burial.

Prior to the Vietnam War, weren't most soldiers buried in the country where they fell? Hence Flanders Fields and all that?

I'm voting for French-bashing, too.

Toad"Moi aussi"Magnet

Originally Posted by ToadMagnet

I just got it today, and I felt kinda sorry for the 80-something year old businessman who hasn't risen high enough in his company in 60-something years to be able to avoid having to travel for business or even maybe retire.

Which part are you talking about? The only 80-something I see was traveling with a group of retired teachers.

[BamaRainbow]

Originally Posted by Avril

First of all, the dead are typically shipped back to the U.S. for burial. Second of all, if Powell did say this, he was wrong. The U.S. has gained territory through war. In the Spanish-American War, for example, the U.S. gained Puerto Rico, Guam, and various islands in the Philippines.

Avril

Actually, the US gained ALL the islands in the Philippines. (As a pure technicality, one might argue that the US gained all the islands that make up the present day nation known as the Philippines and that there are some smaller islands lying between that nation and Indonesia which could geographically--and, perhaps historically--be considered a part of the Philippines or the archipelago, but the result of the Spanish-American War saw the Spanish turning over their entire colony/territory known as the Philippines.)
The US does not now (nor has it since 1946) controlled ANY island in the Philippines Archipelago. We do maintain military bases within the country (I believe they're all located the island of Luzon, and I think they're all pretty much contiguous) but we do NOT control any island in the archipelago.
The US did gain temporary control over Cuba, and gained a permanent base at Guantánamo Bay before granting the island its full independence.
Even more to the point, all one has to do is go back a half-century earlier to the Mexican-American War. We got a sizable chunk of land as an outcome of that war (all or parts of 6 of our largest states are the result of that declared war).

[Natalie]

Originally Posted by BamaRainbow

Even more to the point, all one has to do is go back a half-century earlier to the Mexican-American War. We got a sizable chunk of land as an outcome of that war (all or parts of 6 of our largest states are the result of that declared war).

Don't forget our various and sundry Indian Wars, most of which happened after the United States gained its independence. Oh, and the Revolutionary War.

[Mouse]

Y'know Germany also voted against the war in Iraq yet no one bashes Germany. Wonder why.

[DawnStorm]

Originally Posted by AnglRdr

Oh, and you cannot hear a pin drop on an aircraft carrier.

I don't imagine you could hear anything drop on an aircraft carrier!



What a lot this missives seem to miss is that in many wars, we were fighting side by side with the English, the French, et al.

[gopher]

Originally Posted by DawnStorm

I don't imagine you could hear anything drop on an aircraft carrier!



What a lot this missives seem to miss is that in many wars, we were fighting side by side with the English, the French, et al.

and the Scots, Welsh, Irish, Fijians, Jamaicans, Ghanaians, Australians. If there is one think that I admire about the British army is it's international components, people from 42 commonwealth countries choose to serve in it.

[Cyrano]

Originally Posted by Wild1_74

Which part are you talking about? The only 80-something I see was traveling with a group of retired teachers.

14 years ago, I had a holiday in Normandy, and had the opportunity to meet an 80-something veteran of the 101st Airborne in Sainte-Mère-Eglise, where he had come back to jump from a C-130 with a number of his old comrades as a part of the 50th D-Day anniversary.

I can tell you the guy was so pleased to be in France, treated like the hero he was and offered drinks by everyone that he hardly wanted to go back to the US.

And in every village, every street, you saw flags of the Allied nations and banners saying : "WELCOME TO OUR LIBERATORS".

And the cheers were so loud that you couldn't have heard NFBSKing BOMB drop.

I'm sick and tired of that French-bashing bullshit just because the French were wise enough not to follow Bush on his own private Crusade. It's funny to see how the French, who had been an important part of the Coalition during Desert Storm and currently have a few thousand soldiers in Afghanistan suddenly fell from "Valiant Allies" to "Surrender Monkeys"-status as soon as they stopped doing what GWB told them.

[Arriah]

Well said Cyrano. I hope you won't mind if I paraphrase your post the next time I hear 'stories' like the OP.

[hijack]"Surrender Monkeys" would be a great band name [/hijack]

[Tarquin Farquart]

Originally Posted by Cyrano

I'm sick and tired of that French-bashing bullshit just because the French were wise enough not to follow Bush on his own private Crusade. It's funny to see how the French, who had been an important part of the Coalition during Desert Storm and currently have a few thousand soldiers in Afghanistan suddenly fell from "Valiant Allies" to "Surrender Monkeys"-status as soon as they stopped doing what GWB told them.

Agreed. Nice one.

[Banrion]

Originally Posted by ToadMagnet

I just got it today, and I felt kinda sorry for the 80-something year old businessman who hasn't risen high enough in his company in 60-something years to be able to avoid having to travel for business or even maybe retire.

Not only did you misread the OP, but the higher you are in a company, the MORE you travel for business, not less. Yes there are low level sales jobs that may require travel, but I guarantee you there are no CEO's sitting around in their corporate office 365 days a year. They are travelling, making the big deals, speaking to shareholders, researching new ventures. Some people actually enjoy travelling for work, others do it because some thing are just done better face to face. But business travel is not some low class signifier that you seem to believe it to be.