Posted on 05/14/2008 1:38:22 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Surprise, surprise. The first relief planes which flew into Burma, or Myanmar, as its military junta, much cared for by our Department of Foreign Affairs, calls that godforsaken place, were American military planes carrying precious bottled water, food, medicines and mosquito nets, all paid for by American taxpayers and given willingly with no strings attached.
As is well known, Burma has been ruled by a brutal and murderous military junta since 1988, and is now suffering not only the yoke of collectivist brutality but also the fierce lash of nature, which renders puny all of man’s works.
Aren’t they irritating, those Americans? They just won’t mind their own business.
Remember early last century when they went to Europe to rescue the Allies from those rampaging Germans?
And they did it again when the Japanese attacked them at Pearl Harbour in 1941.
No, it wasn’t enough for them to supply the Allies with arms, ammunition, aircraft and so on. Oh no, they had to be clever and go and send a couple of million of their young men to the fighting fields as well.
Just think, if they hadn’t been so impulsive (very shallow people, you know) we could all be living under a fascist regime, probably something like that of Burma or, at the very least, Zimbabwe.
However, we would have the protection, like Burma and Zimbabwe, of those intellectual, all-knowing ANC geniuses running the United Nations Security Council who have protected the little angel regime at all costs.
However, come to think of it, if those interfering Yanks hadn’t stepped in during the Second World War (remember it?) then we wouldn’t have had the UN anyway.
And if they hadn’t insisted on shelling out billions for decades, the UN would not have survived and we would all have been spared the torture of listening to those idiots who chatter away there at taxpayers’ expense.
They just don’t think, these Americans.
As the US Agency for International Development gets stuck into the problems of Burma, let us cast our minds back to events in another Far Eastern country, South Korea.
Once again, it was those interfering Americans (with, let it be said, the approval of the UN) who denied the communist north, aided by China, from crossing the 38th parallel and installing yet another noxious collective.
Thus, thanks to those blasted Americans, and after a few decades of scrapping between various despots, democracy came to South Korea, and with it, prosperity and stability.
South Koreans earn an average of R200000 a year, the women live to 81, Aids is less than 0.1 percent and literacy 98 percent.
But there’s no stopping those Yanks.
In selfish pursuit of domestic security and the spread of democracy, they mired themselves in Vietnam, to the delight of such intellectual powerhouses as “Hanoi” Jane Fonda.
So they left Vietnam to the tender mercies of the collective. Decades of oppression, poverty and misery ensued, although this was not, for once, the fault of the Yanks who had all buggered off.
One sure way of getting people to hate you is to help them...
South Koreans earn an average of R200000 a year, the women live to 81, Aids is less than 0.1 percent and literacy 98 percent.
And should also be noted that those are better stats than here in america...
Nice.
It would also be nice to have the humanitarian aspect of our liberations of Iraq and Iran spotlighted similarly. GWB has brought freedom to more Muslims than any man in history and deposed two horrifically repressive regimes. History owes him a debt of thanks.
This actually came out of South Africa?
Amazing.
ping
We poor Americans can count among our friends in the world community only those who can see and think with clarity and speak with courage; this is why we have so few. But the quality of those individuals more than compensates for their scant numerosity.
There’s a saying that goes:
“No good deed goes unpunished”
There’s a saying that goes:
“No good deed goes unpunished”
Helping the world and asking nothing in return. What were we thinking???
YCSTA!
I’ve had the privilege of spending a great deal of time overseas. Certainly we’re not universally loved, but don’t think for a minute everyone hates us. There is a great deal more good will towards America than our press would like for us to believe. Oh, I can also say after seeing a number of other countries that America certainly isn’t perfect. We’re just really good.
Living in a clean country with homes of all stripes, clean water, electricity, medical help, stores with plenty of food to buy, not thrown off the back of a truck somewhere, where a private fire arm is de rigueur…in some towns by law, where you can worship as you please…within reason…no torture etc., America is the greatest country in the world and I am proud to be a citizen of this nation. If we're not wanted, it's their loss not mine!
We really really really try hard.
Okay, what does it mean?
Now, if we were raised by the Government, we probably would have less compassion for others.
Maybe your mom. Mine runs a tight ship. Although generous and helpful, she’ll put a person on her blacklist in a New York minute if that person doesn’t show gratitude or behaves disrespectfully.
obviously not an ANC South African paper...
Volk.
bump
BTTT and a ping.
Thank you Mr. Mulholland. We do what we can.
I am reminded of that great Canadian broadcaster Gordon Sinclair, and his excellent broadcast “The Americans”. Indeed, I am listening to a audio clip of it right now.
I first listened to “The Americans” when I was a young boy growing up in Canada, when it was first broadcast in the early 1970’s. It was one of the formative Ideas that resonated with me, and set attitudes that I have carried into my adult life, and that have lastingly remained.
Every word of what Gordon Sinclair had to say was 100% true.
From my viewpoint, it is foolish for anyone to expect Perfection from the Americans. Indeed, it is foolish for you Americans to expect Perfection from yourselves. There are even a few raggedy holes in America’s social fabric that one can poke fingers thru if really necessary, and there may even be a few “American” traits that one can criticize if there’s nothing better to do.
But on balance, if one is to be fair, there is a dam’n sight more Perfection to be found in America than in any of her vocal critics’ nations. America has, on balance, very little to be ashamed of, and much less than most countries. I would not voluntarily live in a world that did not have America.
By accident of birth, I was born elsewhere, and I can never be American without relinquishing my Citizenship loyalties to my three mother countries — American Citizenship comes at a very high price that should never be calculated in dollars, and appropriately so. And one of the prices is the requirement for undivided loyalty: a price I cannot pay.
So the next best thing I can do is be one of America’s foreign friends. Which is what I try to do.
you can say taht again!
Enjoyed reading your profile page, when do you usually read FR in your local TZ? I know Aukland is US East Coast +16 hours so your sunrise is our sunset pretty consistently. I have every intention to visit your country someday (Without expecting to see Frodo or Gandalf!).
> Enjoyed reading your profile page, when do you usually read FR in your local TZ?
Thanks for your kind words. My posting times vary. As a Guardian Angel I keep odd hours!
> I know Aukland is US East Coast +16 hours so your sunrise is our sunset pretty consistently.
Pretty much. We are GMT +12, so half a day ahead of London.
> I have every intention to visit your country someday (Without expecting to see Frodo or Gandalf!).
If your travels find you in Auckland do look me up. I’m always good for a coffee and a chat, and a quick tour of the city sights. You might even enjoy coming along on a Patrol one night.
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