Viva la France - at the expense of others

[Ninurta]

JFK'S Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60's when DeGaulle decided to pull out of NATO. DeGaulle said he wanted all US military out of France as soon as possible. Rusk responded, "Does that include those who are buried here?"

DeGaulle did not respond. You could have heard a pin drop.

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 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 intend 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 when 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 Brit's, Canadians, Aussie's 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 their 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.




.

[BIAD]

(Insert a big grin here.)

Isn't it strange that mouth-pieces in the media like to spout that the main reason the EU was formed
was to prevent war in Europe again and yet the largest factor for keeping France and England as separate,
free countries was a nation not in that union?

The slur from some Limeys during the Second World War regarding the American military was 'Over-sexed,
over-paid and over-here'... and it's ironic that we can still say it in English due to the last part of that comment.

Thank you US and thank you to those who never made it home.

[Wallfire]

Sometimes a generation is called on to do great things, the only thing our gen can do is cry about there hair style, moan about the mascara and shout about the nail varnish been the wrong shade, and thats just the "men"

[Ninurta]

(Insert a big grin here.)

Isn't it strange that mouth-pieces in the media like to spout that the main reason the EU was formed
was to prevent war in Europe again and yet the largest factor for keeping France and England as separate,
free countries was a nation not in that union?

The slur from some Limeys during the Second World War regarding the American military was 'Over-sexed,
over-paid and over-here'... and it's ironic that we can still say it in English due to the last part of that comment.

Thank you US and thank you to those who never made it home.

We're still over-sexed and over-paid, although in a few days I'm slated to be unemployed and therefore under-paid...

... whatever WILL I do with all that time on my hands?

The old guy down the street said "you're welcome" and would like to know if anyone has found his secret trading stash of nylons and chocolate bars.

.

[BIAD]

We're still over-sexed and over-paid, although in a few days I'm slated to be unemployed and therefore under-paid...

... whatever WILL I do with all that time on my hands?

The old guy down the street said "you're welcome" and would like to know if anyone has found his secret trading  stash of nylons and chocolate bars.

Sorry again to hear about the latter part of your first sentence, but I'm confident you'll be back in the saddle very soon.


You can tell the older gent that there was a young man who was born not long after the American troops visited our
small town who did recently discover a large cache of leggings and confectionery.

Even though he was born and raised here, he had a strange accent, smoked large cigars, enjoyed gas-guzzling cars and
constantly hissed that the Lord should put barriers across waterways in order to stop the flow.

He told me his father left during the war and he told me his mother had informed him that his 'Pa' was heavily involved in
improving and increasing the assistance from his country.