>-----------
>TRIBUTE TO THE UNITED STATES
>
>This, from a Canadian newspaper, no less, is worth sharing.
>
>America: The Good Neighbor.
>
>Widespread but only partial news coverage was given
>recently to a remarkable editorial broadcast from
>Toronto by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian television
>commentator. What follows is the full text of his
>trenchant remarks as printed in the Congressional
>Record:
>
>"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the
>Americans as the most generous and possibly the least
>appreciated people on all the earth.
>
>Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and
>Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the
>Americans who poured in billions of dollars and
>forgave other billions in debts. None of these
>countries is today paying even the interest on its
>remaining debts to the United States.
>
>When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it
>was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward
>was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of
>Paris. I was there. I saw it.
>
>When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United
>States that hurries in to help. This spring, 59
>American communities were flattened by tornadoes.
>Nobody helped.
>
>The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped
>billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now
>newspapers in those countries are writing about the
>decadent, warmongering Americans.
>
>I'd like to see just one of those countries that is
>gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar
>build its own airplane. Does any other country in the
>world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the
>Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas DC10? If so, why
>don't they fly them? Why do all the International
>lines except Russia fly American Planes?
>
>Why does no other land on earth even consider putting
>a man or woman on the moon? You talk about Japanese
>technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German
>technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about
>American technocracy, and you find men on the moon -
>not once, but several times and safely home again.
>
>You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs
>right in the store window for everybody to look at.
>Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded.
>They are here on our streets, and most of them, unless
>they are breaking Canadian laws, are getting American
>dollars from ma and pa at home to spend here.
>
>When the railways of France, Germany and India were
>breaking down through age, it was the Americans who
>rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the
>New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an
>old caboose. Both are still broke.
>
>I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to
>the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me
>even one time when someone else raced to the Americans
>in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even
>during the San Francisco earthquake.
>
>Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one
>Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get
>kicked around. They will come out of this thing with
>their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled
>to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating
>over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one
>of those."
>
>Stand proud, America!
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri Jun 20 2003 - 12:02:47 EDT