A little off-topic, but I think this commentary from a Canadian television commentator should be heard (or read). Please, feel free to copy the commentary and send to all the people who you think would be interested in reading this.
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> This, from a Canadian newspaper, is worth sharing.
> America: The Good Neighbor.
> 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:
>
> "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 lines 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 when the Americans raced
> to the help of other
> people in trouble. Can you name me 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 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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