Posted on 06/05/2004 10:23:11 AM PDT by CTGOPPER
The elderly American gentleman arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he fumbled for his passport.
"You 'ave been to France before, monsieur?" the customs officer asked sarcastically.
The old gent admitted that he had been to France previously.
"Zen, you should know enough to 'ave your passport ready for inspection." The American said, "The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it."
"Impossible. You Americans alwayz 'ave 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, I couldn't find any Frenchmen to show it to."
7 posted on 06/05/2004 10:57:54 AM PDT by woofer
Yep, so the Germans can march in the shade.
What really gets me is that the Parisians and city-dwellers have already forgotten something which only happened 60 years ago..
However, I would like to point out that, believe it or not, not all of the French are completely...hmm...mentally defunct (?) in that respect. I was in Normandy a few years ago with my folks, and at a restaurant, an older woman came up to us, saying, "Thank you, Americans..thank you...we thank you so much!"
Of course, she was slightly drunk, but in vino veritas! Anyway, I suspect that the anti-American sentiment is highly concentrated in the cities, and among the youth, but many of them still remember and appreciate the sacrifice we made for their *insert random epithet* little country, especially those who are still living in the area.
That aside...I can't believe the way the majority of French people are reacting to our liberation of another extremely oppressed and globally important country, even though it's not even quite as pathetic as France. France was strategically important; so is Iraq. But there's more than global strategy involved in liberating a people, and then returning power to them, and the French should realize this - as well as identify with it.
Great thread by the way!!!
I have only posted one thread and have been a Freeper for about four years. I found that the format here makes it easy to post correctly, although I was a bit nervous myself. Way to go and congrats on a great post!
Pompah: Watching various groups fighting for burial spots has probably been great sport for the America-haters. It’s just flat wrong that the situation has been left to linger.
Sawmill: I like your idea but, as you intimate, the size would be very limited. Perhaps a combined monument and cemetery to honor service people and civil servants of other countries who died for our interests. It would also stand as a mute rebuke to the United Nations (redirect all mail to Belgium) for conspiring against us on our own soil for half a century.
Psycho_Bunny: I have read increasing reports about vandalism in French Jewish cemeteries. With their still-increasing immigration from radical Islamic countries I don’t want to wait for the inevitable. Sixty years is long enough. We’d leave a monument specifically thanking the French people who resisted during the war and those who devoted care to the cemetery's upkeep. Feelings assuaged, the haters can play pigeon on that monument while our men are conveyed home out of their reach.
Why I Hate the French
(1) They are nothing but a bevy of whores.
(2) French food is highly overrated and expensive. All they did was steal the Italian cuisine and add rich fatty sauces.
(3) They allow a young "Arafat" look-alike, with wires protruding from his shoes, a one-way ticket and no luggage, to board a plane bound to Miami from Paris.
(4) Their women need to get up close and personal with a "Lady Norelco and some Nair." Sadly, they also stole this from the Italians.
(5) The "Concord" - It gets you to France too quick and out of France too slow. I spent a year in France one week. "Ba Da Bing." These are the jokes, folks, I know you're out there. I can hear you breathing.
(6) The French language. I got a "D" in high school French and a sore throat to boot. I should have taken Spanish. Even a Frenchman can get a "C."
(7) French Architecture. Highly overrated. Stole it from the Romans and fagged it up.
(8) When staying at a French hotel, never use the hotel safe. Hide your valuables under a big bar of soap in the shower.
(9) WWII. Could have stopped Hitler early on. Why didn't they? See (1) above.
(10) Napoleon. Stole this crazy little bastard from the Italians, made him more crazy and, well, the rest is history. The song is true, in this case, "Short people have no reason to live."
(11) They have a pro golfer that took a 3 or 4 stroke lead, into the final hole of the final round of the British Open and lost.
(12) They have a winning black figure skater who should be playing ice hockey with Tonya "I'll break your knee caps" Harding. They both have about as much grace as a "fire plug."
(13) Ira ("since you do not love me anymore, I'll beat you to death, put your battered body in a truck, flee to Europe, say the CIA set me up and the French will fight my extradition for years") Einhorn.
(14) Jerry Lewis. If not for the French, his career would have been over a long time ago.
Stay safe !
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