http://www.snopes.com/rumors/romania.htm




~An Ode to America~


Why are Americans so united? They would not resemble one another even if you painted them all one color! They speak all the languages of the world and form an astonishing mixture of civilizations and religious beliefs.

Still, the American tragedy turned three hundred million people into a hand put on the heart. Nobody rushed to accuse the White House, the Army, or the Secret Service that they are only a bunch of losers. Nobody rushed to empty their bank accounts. Nobody rushed out onto the streets nearby to gape about. Instead the Americans volunteered to donate blood and to give a helping hand.

After the first moments of panic, they raised their flag over the smoking ruins, putting on T-shirts, caps and ties in the colors of the national flag. They placed flags on buildings and cars as if in every place and on every car a government official or the president was passing. On every occasion, they started singing:"God Bless America!"

I watched the live broadcast and rerun after rerun for hours listening to the story of the guy who went down one hundred floors with a woman in a wheelchair without knowing who she was, or of the Californian hockey player, who gave his life fighting with the terrorists and prevented the plane from hitting a target that could have killed other hundreds or thousands of people.

How on earth were they able to respond united as one human being? Imperceptibly, with every word and musical note, the memory of some turned into a modern myth of tragic heroes. And with every phone call, millions and millions of dollars were put into a collection aimed at rewarding not a man or a family, but a spirit, which no money can buy.

What on earth can unite the Americans in such a way? Their land? Their history? Their economic Power? Money? I tried for hours to find an answer, humming songs and murmuring phrases with the risk of sounding commonplace, I thought things over, I reached but only one conclusion... Only freedom can work such miracles.

Cornel Nistorescu

I can't think of another place I would want to live.

__________________
"It's normal for these things to empty your wallet and break your heart in the process."
2012 SLK 350
1987 420 SEL

Yeah, there are other countries that have an abundance of natural resources just as we do. Other countries with smart, creative people just like America. None have done as much with what they have as we have. It's nice to stop and think about that every now and then.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

If you have to ask why Americans unite you obviously haven's spent much time overseas among other cultures. Look at Europe. Dozens of countries, scores of languages, cultures, religious preferences, governments, histories,etc., etc. Now, you say that America also has all of the above. That is right, save the part about the many countries, but what is missing in America is the 1,000 year history of conflict that Europe has.

In America we killed off or marginalized all those people who used to own the land we now occupy. So now we don't open our front door each morning, look across the street at a neighbor whose grandfather stole the land on which he now lives from our grandfather. Our land was stolen fairly and squarely from the Indians and they don't matter anymore.

Remember that the ethos of this country was established by rebels. People with a fiercely independent streak who had been persecuted at home and were now going to find another place to live. To make this place work each had to be responsible for his/her own welfare. To look out for their own families, to unite in times of trouble. They had to create an entirely new country out of a basically uninhabited (save for the original owners) land. Those who immigrated after these people came with the same attitude and goals.

This is one reason that many European countries, esp. Germany, was so happy to see many of their people immigrate to the States. By letting them go these countries were exporting their dissidents and their lower classes. This is one reason that Mexico is reluctant to stem their flow of illegals. They export any potential revolutionaries and in return get billions in hard currency back into the country. Sounds like a good deal to me.

In most countries around the world people live among their historical enemies. The animosity never dies. Look at Ireland-900 years of hating your neighbor. Belgium, a country the size of your living room, divided north and south by language. England doesn't like Scotland and Wales, and the reverse is true. North Germans think southern Germans are lazy and drink too much, plus they are Catholic. Neither likes the East Germans. Look what happened in Bosnia- Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovakia , the Czech republic, Bohemia, and Albania. Look at Spain and the Basques. And then when all has settled down here come the Hun-gars, Goths, Celts, Huns, etc.

This is why there will NEVER be peace in the Middle East. America treats Iraq as if it were a untied country. It is not, has never been and will never be. Iraq, and all the other countries between there and the Mediterranean, were created by the British and French in the '20 I believe with absolutely no regard for old tribal boundaries, family alliances, or religious leanings. For America to go in there and try to change the fabric of the area using American money and the blood of our next generation is the height of both arrogance and ignorance.

This united response to tragedy is not solely an American trait. The British worked en masse during the Blitz. Other countries have done the same. As commendable as this 'united response' may be remember that a group is far more easily led than 300 million individuals. Bush used this to lead us into Iraq. He had no proof of any of the allegations he used to start this war, yet much of the American public followed him waving flags and seeking revenge against a country that; one, had absolutely nothing to do with 9/11, two, that was basically set up and supported by the US to fight a war against Iran, whom we had also set up, and three, was never in its wildest dreams any kind of threat to the US.

What I am saying is don't be blinded by the glitz and glitter of America. It is a great place to live but believe me I lived over seas for 20 years, in many countries, and have seen that there are a number of other countries that have perfectly viable lifestyles and that are a pleasure in which to live. You would be surprise how quickly one realizes that one really doesn't need the choice of 20 kinds of toothpaste, or 40 kinds of dog food, or a fast food shop on each corner. Americans are notoriously xenophobic and very reluctant to admit that other societies might just work. But they are out there and they do work. Keep an open mind.

Gee.............thanks for that wonderful insight, Kip

Canada has lot's of room.

__________________
past MB rides:
'68 220D
'68 220D(another one)
'67 230
'84 SD
Current rides:
'06 Lexus RX330
'93 Ford F-250
'96 Corvette
'99 Polaris 700 RMK sled
2011 Polaris Assault
'86 Yamaha TT350(good 'ol thumper)

Please, let's not turn yet-another-thread into an Iraq thread.

What you say about the surveyed boundaries of present day Iraq is strictly precise, but not historically accurate.

The history of the region called Iraq was an administrative unit within the Turkish empire (a satrapy) that roughly corresponded to the division imposed by Britain. And so forth, for thousands of years back to the Persians and of course before the Persians back to the Assyrians and back to the beginning of written languages. The absolute boundaries shifted through time and circumstance but the area including the Tigris & Euphrates and the surrounding desert have been a single nation for many thousands of years -- as long or longer than there has been a Greece or Persia or Egypt.

B

I heard there was a whole mess of potamia there once. Whatever potamia is...

__________________
-livin' in the terminally flippant zone

Water.

Hail America as the greatest or get out. I think that's what the Founding Fathers wanted our national motto to be.

__________________
1984 300TD

Tankdriver,

Your sentiments are straight from the Viet Nam era. They wern't relevant then and are much less so now.

The expression should be, "America, love it, or change it".

I didn't say there was anything wrong with the US, my only comment was that because of the rather prevasive xenophobia in this country Americans think that the US is the only country in the world worth living in. I have lived and traveled in enough foreign countries to know that this is really not true.

A country with 46 million people with no medical insurance, that ranks 40th in the world (one above Mexico) in life expectency, whose high school students rank 20th in the world, whose infant death rate ranks below all European and some third world countries, seems to me to have lost the bragging rights to being the best place to live.

Certainly the US can out produce most of the rest of the world in consumer goods, but, do we really need all the crap that we produce. Is this life style really something we should be proud of? Instead of concentrating on national health care, education, infant care, the environment, staying out of other countries affairs, etc. we direct our efforts on the short term gain. With more than 25% of our kids, and upwards of 60% of our adults classified as over weight we seem to spend more time building new Starbucks and Jack in the Boxs than worrying about the health, education and the longevity of our population.

With the amount of money this country has spent of the Iraq fiasco we could have easily solved all of the above problems and made the US an enviable place to live.

I'd prefer not to live in an enviable place. I'd rather other places do better by their citizens.

For such a gawd-awful hell hole, we sure have a mess of benighted folks trying to sneak-in, and once here, trying to stay and on deportation, sneaking back for more of this hellish nightmare. What is wrong with those knuckleheads?

B

I have lived overseas also and I have observed (and experienced) that in general, my experience as a foreigner in europe was not met with open arms and opportunity as what I have observed in this country with foreigners trying to make it.

I really believe that, on the average, this country and society accepts foreigners more thoughfully and the opportunities are present for success.
Never easy but the potential is present.

anecdote: the guy who started SAP software had to go abroad and get famous before returning to the homeland's acceptance.
This equation seems common in europe.

__________________
1979 300D 220 K miles
1995 C280 109 K miles
1992 Cadillac Eldorado Touring Coupe 57K miles SOLD
********************
1979 240D 140Kmiles (bought for parents) *SOLD.
SAN FRANCISCO/(*San Diego)
1989 300SE 148 K miles *SOLD

I was being sarcastic, rewording rickg's 'go to Canada' comment. Which was funny considering how anti-American it is.





America is a lot of things, a lot of good and some bad. It's not perfect and doesn't have a monopoly on rightness. People who think so are simple minded.
On the whole, I like America's good more than the good in other places, but I know other places have some.

__________________
1984 300TD

This all seems so familiar. The word "rut" comes to mind. Can't quite place it. Hmmm........

__________________
past MB rides:
'68 220D
'68 220D(another one)
'67 230
'84 SD
Current rides:
'06 Lexus RX330
'93 Ford F-250
'96 Corvette
'99 Polaris 700 RMK sled
2011 Polaris Assault
'86 Yamaha TT350(good 'ol thumper)

Feeling reproductive? Estrus got you perky? Get into rut!

Signed,

A. Horne Buck