islander wrote: 
yes.........sorry if I'm a bit grouchy everyone- I'll come back after I've had something to eat!!

 MrsHobieJoe wrote: 
Not to mention the deplorable way you treated the colonists back in the 1700s....

Oh grief, two world powers navel gazing... this could get depressing.

Anyone know any jokes?

 cc_rider wrote:
Maybe I was a bit shoot from the hip there. I was actually thinking largely about South and central America amongst others where I don't think "right in the end" is really plausible.  I speak from the country that invented the concentration camp in SOuth Africa and spent decades and centuries messing up other countries.

 MrsHobieJoe wrote:
 
Note my reference below to some other US military involvements that, uh, did not go so well.

 cc_rider wrote: 

Made me a feel a bit uncomfortable (and not in a complementary way about the US).  Think about some of your ill-founded military expeditions in other parts of the world.  We have plenty of examples of when we got it wrong too.

Humility is what I reckon most large and wealthy countries could do with a dose of.  Looking externally as well- being aware of what other people are doing beyond your borders and learning from the ways in which others have done things well and badly.

 oldviolin wrote: 
and not just the USA, the whole world is kind of stuffed at the moment.

 cc_rider wrote: 

All true, but don't forget there have been several occasions where the French (and many others as well) have put a lot on the table to save our bacon as well. All in all, it's been a pretty good relationship for everyone.

what he said.

Independent thinking, collective impetus,
freedom from corrupt and/or incompetent government meddling and endless waste of money and resources in every area of life..
Fair international trade policies.
Reinstate U.S. Manufacturing .
 Conscious efforts in ignoring salacious media saturation and celebrity preoccupation.
Social policies that actually help those in chronic need w/o enabling the further perpetuation of a welfare state.
Accountability on every level of governmental and civic responsibility. 
Individual accountibility left up to individuals, thereby spreading to previous suggestion
Honesty
Quality
Music
Anti-materialistic motives
Balanced budgets
Retail in black before Christmas morass
Balloons
Free nut assortments to the first 100 callers ...
Tip of the iceberg... 

Education, employment, empowerment

 lunar1963 wrote: 
Quite true, but maybe the point is, Americans WILL ultimately do the right thing. I think Iraq was a HUGE mistake from the git-go, but I also think we will find the right way, eventually.

Sadly, the proud legacy of WW II gave way to the debacles of Korea and Vietnam, among others.

Yes, beautiful stories, and we have every reason to be thankful to those who liberated Europe in WW2. However, Iraq and Afghanistan have a slightly different background I would think.

 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote:
 
Outstanding. I'm saving those. Thanks.

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

 kurtster wrote: 
From everything I've ever seen him post, Lazy8 is clearly in favor of free enterprise!  But adding regulations capping salaries is just the opposite.  

You can't blame a company for taking free money.  But you can blame the government for taking it from its citizens and picking and choosing where to reallocate it. 

And don't confuse malinvestment of resources (something the government is pretty much uniquely suited for) with large differences in salary between employees.  The latter is a matter between the governance of a company and its shareholders.  The most egregious recent cases involve seriously mismanaged companies paying huge bonuses to executive management, but this is possible only because these companies successfully lobbied for federal bailouts.  One could even argue that these executives earned their bonuses by tapping into billions of free money!  If there were no bailouts, these companies would be forced to reorganize and the management would likely be out on their ear.

 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote: 
I'm not small enough to swim in my toilet bowl. Wouldn't it be fun if I was, though?

 KurtfromLaQuinta wrote: 
Aim for the bowl

 AliGator wrote: 
Just don't swim in it.