off topic: YOU COULD HAVE HEARD A PIN DROP

[dustyr]

This was forwarded to me today. My apologies to all, but as one who has served, I thought it somewhat appropriate. On reflection, the stories below give pause to who and what we are, and the freedoms that we have.

You could have heard a pin drop"¦

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 OmahaBeach 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.

[johnny2]

I support you and all my fellow VETERANS.......

[dustyr]

Thank you

[coupe101]

RIGHT ON, I used a line close to that on the french when they bought into American Motors Corp. In a meeting a couple of the supervisors started that s**t and got it back in short time. It didn't help my standing with them but made us feel better.

[dustyr]

While on active duty, we made a port call in Rouen, France in support of their "Bastille Day". Sitting at a table with some other tall ship sailors, a crewmember from one of the other ships attempted to order some munchies from the barmaid. Not sure if she was having a bad night or something, but objected to this sailor ordering in English. His simple reply was would she prefer he order in German? To the best of my knowledge, no other vessel of the U.S. Coast Guard has ever made another port call in France. Too bad - it's a beautiful country.

[Colorado Cajun]

Those sound good but you may want to Snoop them. I've heard the first one in the list with other people used in it.