What's Good in America?

Now if this isn't proof of stox's dishonesty I don't know what is. It seems that one of the first things stOx learned when he joined his club is that reason does not matter and you must: "never ever under any circumstances admit you were wrong."

 

It's because im not wrong. america joined 3 years after the war started. yes they took part, Yes they done thier bit, but they didn't play a special role and they didn't save anyones 'ass' any more than canada (who joined the same week as Britain) or anyone else did.

 

Who paid for everything? Russians in blood, Americans in $$$

 

You gave a loan, Which we paid back with interest. Thanks "friend".

 

Anytime.

By the way...your comment re: Canadian soldiers made me curious... from some website I will guess is accurate:

"As with World War 1, Canadians were not only considered expert and professional soldiers, they were feared by the Germans as an omen of impending attack. The Canadian forces were relied upon to provide defence on the high seas and over Britain, and to spearhead assaults for major battles. Once again Canadians had proved themselves on the battlefield and fought ferociously to win every battle they were engaged in.

1.1 million Canadians served in WWII, including 106,000 in the Royal Canadian Navy and 200,000 in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
The first Canadian infantryman to die in World War II was Private John Gray. He was captured and executed by the Japanese on December 13, 1941 in Hong Kong.

Canada was the first Commonwealth country to send troops to Britain in 1939.

During 1939-45 hundreds of thousands of Canadians - more than 40 per cent of the male population between the ages of 18 and 45, and virtually all of them volunteers - enlisted.

Numbers
1,081,865 Canadians in Service
46,777 Dead
53,145 Wounded
8,271 POW's
108,193 Total Casualties"

 

Oh, Stox. Now, as you always do, you are pursuing another tack. And when this doesn't fly, you'll indicate this isn't what you actually meant, etc. I'll remind you of what you said:

Which is perhaps the most laughably ridiculous statement you've yet made on the board. You have been roundly "owned," to take your apparently favorite concept in a debate, yet this wasn't my intent.

You take such pride in attempting to "own" folks, proclaim others are idiots, and indicate that you are a true knowledge-seeker -- that what you don't know, you research and seek to learn; and yet I never see any of this to be true. I simply see a stammering, stubborn stand of refusal - refusal to countenance others and equally a refusal to admit wrong. I wholy agree with proteindude's post above in this respect.

By the way, Poland was dive-bombed on September 1, 1939, and Chamberlain was finally moved to action. Now, I actually don't blame Chamberlain, as he has been so harshly judged by history. But your statements regarding America's reluctance to dive in to the war finds its equal in the western powers refusal to do anything while Austria and the Czech "Sudetenland" were swallowed up. The point is, everyone hated the idea of another war - except Hitler.

And, oh, September 1, 1939 to December 7, 1941. Now, call me another one of your "owned idiot" debatees, but this, in my elementary school education, seems closer to two years than your proclaimed three. You may want to use an abacus next time, mate.

At the end of the day, your entire stand, really, seems ridiculous to me. We fought, we bled, we died together, to defeat a common enemy. No one is making the point of who was better, or who worse, and no one save you dares say someone's dead son meant "little." Market Garden, for instance, Monty's plan, was a disastrous failure, and there is a good deal of evidence much of the failure rests with a poor heuristic intelligence (once it began), a poor execution by officer staff, who stayed back and didn't "get dirty" in seeing what was actually taking place on the ground. But I think hindsight's a bitch, believe your Monty was a helluva General, and would rather ask we concentrate, shall we, on how many Tommys and how many GIs died together to carry it out?

Or not, as I fully expect. But the more I see, the more I believe I am correct in asserting your stands are the stands of zealotry, and not truth-seeking. It won't hurt, Stox - I promise; say it, even if only to yourself: "I was wrong."

Now, finally, this thread asked for a simple thing, just curious about what folks find that is good about America. Did you actually have a contribution to make?

 

I thinks its probably a bit less corrupt here then many countries, living is really easy here in most parts of the country even entry level jobs will afford you decent place to live. Where I live now there are many service industry positions which enable people to make 40-50k a year with really no education or training.

In most places the the police are not dangerously corrupt, they may break rules a bit, but usually not to the point where they are dangerous

Most of the country is reasonably safe, even our worst neighborhoods are pretty safe.

Food is plentiful, and life is so easy many people are fat

 

no its the truth

 

I remember perfectly well what i said, just a shame you aren't honest enough to acknowledge that it was a response to being told that America saved our "ass", Us being Britain.

In the saving of Britain's "ass" your roll was a small one, or at best equal to everyone else's roll. See, We would be far more likely to thank you and acknowledge the roll you played it we weren't constantly told that if it wasn't for you we would be speaking German.

We appreciate Canada's roll in the war and we thank them, know why? Because they aren't boorish big heads who think the world would fall apart without their assistance. They don't claim at every opportunity that they practically single handed brought down nazi Germany. You do. It's arrogant, Boorish and untrue, And pretty much the reason why people roll their eyes and say "not these people again" every time an American opens his mouth on the world stage.

Develop some humility, develop some class and sometime realize that it's probably best if you just keep your mouth shut.

 

Stox, beyond the fact you seem to have a bit of trouble discerning "3" from "2," the word would be "role," not "roll." As far as I know, the only "roll" America played in WWII was a kaiser roll - damn and blast, traitorous indeed. And I'm quite certain my roll exceeds America's. Damn ale.

One more time, since this seems difficult for you to understand. I go on what you write, as always. I don't consider it my job to help you express yourself, and if what you write isn't what you meant, perhaps you should learn to write better. You make a ridiculous statement like "America's roll [sic] was a small one" in WWII, you really should be prepared to handle a response, or, as you say, you should learn when it's best to shut your mouth. The humility part I'm quite sure is beyond you, so leave that one be.

Beyond, as this thread asked for what you or anyone else finds good about America, I'd ask you to stay on topic or leave.

 

If i was responding to the point that america saved our "ass" (Us being Britain) why would you assume my statement was referring to the entire war? (though in the entire war your efforts were no greater than anyone elses).

I used to think that you were one of the more intellectual posters in P&R, but it seems you either have trouble keeping track of what people are talking about or are more intent on intentially misconstruing what people say without reading the context to facilitate your need to fabricate strawman arguments.

Ok, Good thing about america... they are over 10 hours away.

 

the french fries.

 

Its a terrific question.

America has long been the land of opportunity. It primarily has welcomed oppressed people of all types from around the world. It is a reasonably or relatively strongly open society that primarily encourages advancement by merit, not family connections. It has tackled many inequities over time, not perfectly, but seems to weigh toward opportunity.

Its economy has been primarily focused on market conditions rather than government control. That has encouraged wealth and economic growth. Again it isn't perfect, but it emphasizes market conditions and balances that with protections for consumers, workers etc. When it is distributing wealth and opportunity amongst many it works at its best.

America is reasonably tolerant and always has been. In a world often dominated by dictators and religious intolerance over centuries America has welcomed people from all religions, sects, races, and parts of the world and generally allowed them to thrive.

None of this is perfect. The world often sees America's warts when these things don't work perfectly, but more often than not these principles dominate.

 

Just not Mexicans.

while reading your post i couldn't help but get the impression you are just parroting things that you have been conditioned to believe without questioning it. It seems to come from a pre-written rhetoric filled template that every "patriotic american" is forced to say.

 

My grandparents were oppressed Europeans who came here at a young age unable to speak English with virtually no money. They worked real hard, primarily lived amongst similar folks of ethnic background, slowly assimilated into America. Their kids did more, and their grandkids did more. They dealt with predjudice, poverty, all the stuff that most immigrants deal with.

The issues with Mexican immigrants today is that in some sense it has gotten out of hand and not been reasonably controlled. A second problem is overall border security and overall efforts to deal with terrorists crossing the borders.

I'm not of the opinion to be super hard on immigrants from Central America. On the other hand, laws to try and somewhat control this surge of immigrants were enacted in the 1980's and never enforced. If there is an excess of such immigrants now, I'd be in favor of milder efforts to control these immigrants in a way that would not be too severe.

Like I said, all these problems and issues have come up before. Most of the time Americans have worked out reasonable solutions.

 

Hahahahah - well, at least this time you didn't include numbers past 2 in your post (which seem to pose a bit of trouble for you, alas), and didn't make any egregious spelling mistakes this time around, buddy. As to the rest of your usual babble, well, nothing left to say, as it would only repeat what is known already.

 

so Russians were just dead bodies?

 

Soviet generalship was unparallelled, and the Soviet military and people suffered more than any other combatant nation. I am firmly convinced that were it not for the Soviet contribution, the war's outcome would have been irrevocably altered. I have always said and felt it - we owe a huge debt to the Soviet soldier's sacrifices.

One of the finest books on the subject that I have read is Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944-1945, by [Sir] Max Hastings. I was so impressed with it that I corresponded with the author, who very kindly wrote back.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHqUipinDyw
James Brown - Living In America

 

Our Country The United States is not ran by the Americans but the Government. Our government has caused more problems and done more harm then good in the past 8 years. I love my Country but I don't like our Government. It makes you wonder are we truly free in America? Look around ....