When in England, at a fairly large conference, Condi Rice was asked by
the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an
example of empire building' by George Bush. She 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.
