4th of July Thank You Letter to Europe

[Muse]

We Estado Unidense tend to spend most of the July 4th (the day we signed our Decleration of Indipendence from the British Empire) patting ourselves on the back, shooting off fireworks, and drinking watery bear. 

This 4th, I would like to thank Europe. 

I would like to first thank those who are not Brittain or the source of Hessian Mercinaries.  Here's why. 

[sarcasam, sort of]Today we remember a bunch of people who died because some white men didn't want to play their taxes. 

To justify this, they wrote down a bunch of crazy pipe dreams for a utopian nation that they themselves were not particularly intrested in abiding by, some of which my country has been fighting to live up too for the past two centuries, others we use about the same way. 

Then they made themselves a thorn inside the side of the redcoats long and hard enough for the british to comit enough troops to our soil to look weak in the eyes of the rest of europe, and you guys did the rest.  [/sarcasam, sort of]

So I thank all the people who jumped in on the war at the right time for us to build a country who'se greatest--well, only--virtue is that we chase those dreams. 

From my limited perspectie, France was especialy helpful from my ancestors perspective.  We don't say enough good thinks about France today in this country, so I'm going to go with that and give special thanks to France. 

I'd also like to thank the British for eventualy putting the past in the past and becoming our great friends.  Thank you, grudges get extra ugly when families hold onto them, especialy the human family. 

To the descendents of the Hessian mercinaries, i don't know much about what happened there, but Nitzche teaches we should value a good enemy because they force us to improve, so thanks for making it a good fight guys. 

I would also like to thank the Chinese and their sphere of cultural influence for taking something as ugly and useless as gunpowder and making something as beautiful as fireworks. 

[kylie]

I enjoyed this. 

It's pretty ironic how the French have moved from being brothers in arms important to the Revolution's end (if not more; that's the part I'm most aware of), to the icon of improperly effete Other over there deployed as would-be boogeyman by the conservative right. 

"Look, take up comprehensive health care or protect the environment or give people vacations like them, and next thing you know, why you'll be surrendering the country to Mexico and simply castrating yourselves in worship of Global Governance."

"What do you mean, 'They saved our asses?'  Oh, that was back when they had an Empire and were abusing North Africa like the Real Men (TM) you're supposed to be.  Get kicking over there in that Middle East.  Der's Olive Oil to be rescued petroleum to be had, ye matees!  Yar.  Get moving like men, or it'll be the death of US."  Offer applies only after taxes and casualties.  Capital gains exemption after $100,000 income.  Special bonuses according to military-industrial complex rules.  Offer may not be valid in states that recognize gay marriage.  European-stamped passports may result in airport searches and wiretaps.  Update: Maintenance of a democratic, two-party system requires that European documents suggesting extra-marital sex among politicians occurs "normally" and is harmlessly amusing, must now be confiscated and censored upon your return from our bases in Germany, etc. 
     

[The Overlord]

So when we move into a war of imperialist expansion into the Middle East for oil (anyone said we went into Iraq for our freedom gets hit in the head…hard) and the French happen not to agree with us. Perhaps being invaded twice in the past century makes them a bit loath to commit it on others.

And here’s the idiots post-Iraq invasion pouring their French wine into the gutter because they decide not to accompany us on our grand capitalist adventure (which they already paid for). The French have played the game of colonial domination for centuries, before the US was even a country. At the very least they finally seem to have gotten sick of it, at best they’ve evolved as a nation beyond that inflammatory point in their history.


Happy Birthday America, but if we can’t celebrate the good without acknowledging the bad, we’re doing it all wrong.





James Brown - Living In America


Rammstein-Amerika

[CWand]

More power to you Overlord.  Personally, I think we went to Iraq so W could try to 'fix' his daddy's big failure, and his reported depression post-office is because he failed.  Of course the depression story is to be taken with a grain of salt because it was from the Enquirer.

[The Overlord]

Nothing is black and white about the Iraq war, except perhaps the Bush administration’s decision to launch the war in the first place.

We went for the oil, numero uno reason why…anyone that argues that point has got their head in the sands. If you’ve watched some of the posts here in this forum by your fellow users, it’s been stated the wheels are coming off the United States of America. Actually, it’s bigger than that; the wheels are slowly coming off the world, but national populations like the US are going to be the first to discover en masse that large, wasteful lifestyles are no longer sustainable.


So in a way, we DID go into Iraq for our freedom; if you enjoy the freedom of driving wasteful SUV’s and other oversized vehicles until the ice caps melt. The freedom of the unsustainable.


The first rumblings of the coming storm are here; so we hit Iraq and look at what Russia did- Why in the world bother with a little breakaway nation like Georgia? Well, it’s got key natural gas and oil pipelines, one might tend to think someone in the Kremlin regards that as strategically valuable. The powers that be are beginning to move to secure natural resources, knowing that we are in a dire race to move to renewable energy sources before the nonrenewable sources begin to dry up.

There’s also the fact that Saddam tried to knock off Bush Sr., so Bush Jr. goes in to return the favor. Who here thinks big oil and government can’t do a Mafia style hit on their former flunkies gone bad?


Does this mean, then, that we’ve done absolutely no good in Iraq? Well, I’ve argued our motives for the war in other places, and there are vets that maintain we are helping the Iraqi people. They all don’t love us, that’s for certain, but some apparently do appreciate the fact we’ve rid them of Saddam and are getting them on their feet again as a nation.


So then one tends to ask the question- If we did the right thing for the wrong reason, where does that leave us?

[Trieste]

The topic is Muse's letter to Europe.

Iraq is not located in Europe.

Please make your own thread about Iraq if you want to talk about it, or participate in the myriad that exist already.

[The Overlord]

Chill Trieste, I’m not trying to derail the thread. I’m trying to underscore the point being made about our widening rift with France by factoring in the Iraq war, which is most certainly pertinent to our relations.


Not like I’m coming in here to bust up John’s thread…I’ve known him a hell of a lot longer than I’ve known any of you.

[SuperHans]

We Brits aren't the type to hold grudges, especially to our American cousins.

India though, it's a different matter. We still blank them in the post office because it hurts just that damn much!

[Trieste]

The Indians don't mean to break anyone's heart. Don't hate them because they are beautiful.

[HairyHeretic]

India though, it's a different matter. We still blank them in the post office because it hurts just that damn much!

Isn't that just because they keep winning the cricket matches?

[SuperHans]

Oh very much so, I was just trying to be funny  :D

[HairyHeretic]

I figured :)

[Muse]

Thank you for focusing the topic, Trieste.  I'm apreciative of your insights, Overlord, and hope a french person will chime in, but it was starting to look like we were becoming focused enouh on Iraq to loos the original train of thought. 

*  *  *
*bows to Super Hans* 

Thanks for chiming in from across the pond.  I have a tendency to get bitterly sarcastic about my ancestors.  haiving a friendly chat with a 'cousin' can be chicken soup for the soul. 

So how did that work out in the end with India, anyway? 

Did Gandi send a cricket team to challenge parliment's cricket team to a match for India's indipendence?  Did thy finaly figure out the 'clever use of flages'? 

i mean, Ghandi's hunger strike was to stop an armed revolution, did that have any influence on English pollicy? 

(Yes, i did pass high school.  Did some college too.  No, they did not teach us anything about this stuff.  It's not ethnocenric enough.  Or maybe Canada got involved, so they had to hush it up to cover whatever our educators are keeping sercret pertaining to canada.) 

[Silk]

Nah we still hold the grude!  >:( But we are just biding our time until we get to backstab all the other countries and become a empire once again! XD

Meh, all things in the part not much point holding a grude in it because its not gonna change and anyone who did have a part in it is long dead.

[The Overlord]

Meh, all things in the part not much point holding a grude in it because its not gonna change and anyone who did have a part in it is long dead.

A point of view we need to get across to some of these people in the States that are still fighting the Civil War.  :-\

[SuperHans]

Did Gandi send a cricket team to challenge parliment's cricket team to a match for India's indipendence?

That SO should have happened instead! :D

So how did that work out in the end with India, anyway?

It ended kinda sour. You had the formation of India, then massive riots, then the formation of Pakistan. It's....kinda our fault that the two countries hate each other now, because we were the ones that made sure the Muslims and Hindus stayed hating each other so they wouldn't see the British imperalists as a common enemy.