Sunday, June 21, 2009

You could have heard a pin drop!

Thanks Richard Sutton for these interesting stories...

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 can20treat 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 Frenchman to show a passport to.'

You could have heard a pin drop.


Note From Lucy: Well, today is Father's Day and I want to wish all the Fathers out there a Happy Fathers Day.... My dad died 9 years ago and I miss him still so much... He was a good dad, a good provider and he loved his kids... He could be stern in his ways but he was gentle in how he scolded us when we needed it... He loved us unconditionally... I miss you, Dad...

Have a great week, everyone!

11 Comments:

At 4:08 PM, Anonymous Jahn said...

Why are there so many tree-line streets in France?

Germans like to march in the shade.

Ü

 
At 4:27 PM, Anonymous Jahn said...

BTW, the one about Powell is largely true, but just a tad inaccurate.

Here's the scoop.

 
At 7:28 PM, Blogger Marla said...

Those are some great stories. I still have my dad, he is 80. I met them here in Fremont on Friday and took them out for supper for Fathers day. It was nice to spend some alone time with Mom and Dad!

 
At 10:04 PM, Blogger Jim said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

 
At 10:40 PM, Blogger Diane@Diane's Place said...

I miss my Daddy too.

Happy Father's Day to T.F!

Love and hugs,

Diane

 
At 11:19 PM, Blogger Jim said...

Thank you for the Father's Day wish, Lucy.
Yes, the Jim Bunch ate pretty nice three days in a row this weekend. Saw all the kids but one and all the grandkids but two (H&W).

Did you know the Frenchy have monuments to the U.S. over in France? Just a couple of years ago they erected another 'STATUE OF LIBERTY' near Colmar.
They have dedicated to the U.S. five Statue(s) of Liberty, their locations:
New York Harbor;
Swan Island, Paris;
Paris Luxembourg Gardens;
Bordeaux, France; and
Colmar, France.

Mrs. Jim has a whole lot of French blood in her. We like to visit France quite a bit, they really are pretty appreciative of the U.S. and have always been nice to us.

My Dad died in 2007. After he died there is an empty spot someplace left in a person. My thoughts that keep coming back to me are that I don't have a dad anymore. And until he died, I always did have a dad.
..

 
At 7:01 AM, Blogger Granny Annie said...

Faith of our Father's living still -- oops, that song is changing rapidly. A lot of our fathers are rolling in their graves this Father's Day as the country they worked so hard to save is being tossed away.

 
At 12:16 PM, Blogger Oh great One said...

Wonderful stories!

 
At 8:53 PM, Blogger Renie Burghardt said...

What great stories, Lucy. Especially the last one.

I lost my Dad over 49 years ago, and I still miss him as well.

Hugs,

Renie

 
At 8:02 AM, Blogger Cliff said...

This was one of the best post I've read. Thanks Lucy.

 
At 6:29 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

In your list of movies,"Forrest Gump" is spelled incorrectly.

 

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