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Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 15:53:21 EDT
Subject: Tribute to the United States
From: Eliz Plasick
Subject: FW:TRIBUTE TO THE UNITED STATES
This, from a Canadian newspaper back in the '70's no less,
and is worth sharing.
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
America: The Good Neighbor
"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
airlines 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 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 southern 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!
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