BS: What has the US ever done for us?

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: DougR
Date: 14 Nov 02 - 07:07 PM

Geeze, MTed, I didn't mean to offend anybody with my beans in chili is not real chili statement. I should have included a :>), I suppose, for those sensitive about the subject.

KimC: Yes, I like the Carol Shelby mix too. Another excellent one is "Hogsbreath."

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Kim C
Date: 14 Nov 02 - 04:04 PM

I wholeheartedly agree, Ted, and I do like black bean tostadas!

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: M.Ted
Date: 14 Nov 02 - 03:59 PM

I think everyone should eat what they like, the way that they like it, without having someone else telling them what it or isn't "real"--If you came to my house and didn't like chili the way I fix it(which varies from one time to the next), I would fix something that you did like, and it would be "real" enough to fill you up--since you like beans, cheese, and tortillas, it'd probably be black bean tostadas--

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Kim C
Date: 14 Nov 02 - 09:48 AM

MTed, I don't like beans in my chili. Whether that makes it "real" or not, I don't know, that's just how I like it. I don't like spaghetti in it, either. Your mileage may vary. And if I came to your house and you served me chili with beans and/or spaghetti, I'd still eat it, and be grateful.

I do, however, enjoy a nice bowl of beans and cheese with tortillas once in awhile. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 14 Nov 02 - 06:05 AM

Most of it's been good natured enough - people expressing appreciation of the good things, and a bit of joshing of the sort you get between friends; yes, and a few cases of the hard stuff. But it hasn't spiralled away into hatred the way these things sometimes do, even if it's teetered on the edge a couple of times.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Amos
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 11:01 PM

Jimmy --

There are three -- makers, takers, and fakers.

Those who can,   do. Those who can't, end up starting threads like this one! :>)

A

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 06:36 PM

There only seems to be 2 kinds of people, givers and takers.

And the takers end up with more than the givers. (If the givers earn good money it isn't so likely to stick with them through thick and thin.)

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: M.Ted
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 04:40 PM

Please spare us that"Real Chili" business--

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: jimmyt
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 04:38 PM

As an American, asking what America has ever done for us either, brings to mind what President Kennedy said, paraphrasing, "What have you done for America? (speaking to American Citizens.) I hardly expect a lot from my government other than the freedoms we all take for granted. There only seems to be 2 kinds of people, givers and takers. See where you fit in to the big picture.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Kim C
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 04:19 PM

Ask not what your country can do for you...

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: catspaw49
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 03:34 PM

Geeziz Rog, that was really awful.......Been hangin' out with Art lately or what?

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: The Shambles
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 03:19 PM

Noone's mentioned Leadbelly,so I will.

He was a Welshman too. Must have been.

'In the mines, in the mines, where the sun never shines...'

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 12:30 PM

"What has the US ever done for us?" You'd be amazed at how many Americans are asking the same question.

Stephen Lee

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 12:00 PM

The USA was kind enough to give me a draft card in the late 60's (when I lived in New York State). I eventually tore it up and flushed it down a toilet in Toronto, Canada.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: kendall
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 10:10 AM

The Marshall Plan was actually conceived by President Truman. Right, Doug?

Yes, the money had to be spent in the USA, but, that's a big improvement over the infamous Smoot-Hawley tariff act of 1930. Some countries owed the US heaps of money, and these two republican senators hatched a scheme that those countries had to pay, NOW, and they could not do it by their exports into this country. Such goodwill they generated!

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Teribus
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 09:47 AM

Thanks Guest colwyn - I stand corrected.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: GUEST,colwyn dane
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 09:15 AM

Out of the 13 billion dollars of post-war economic aid received by Europe from the USA:




UK got 3.1 billion dollars;

France 2.7 billion;

Italy 1.5 billion;

West Germany just under 1.5 billion;

Ireland received 46 million dollars.




The aid had to be spent in the US.

CD.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Teribus
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 08:20 AM

Like most above I think the list would be long, but most significantly I would select the following as being top of that list:

1. Stood by us in time of need, when freedom and the democractic system of government was in danger of being usurped.

2. Providing the best example in the world to date of how a multi-ethnic, multi-racial and multi-religious society can not only peacefully co-exist but prosper. I know it is not perfect, few things in life are, but in general they have got more things right than wrong.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: greg stephens
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 05:56 AM

Now that we (UK) are at one with Nineveh and Tyre, thanks to the USA for reminding us that nothing lasts for ever.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Teribus
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 05:45 AM

Britain's "war debt" under the Lend-Lease scheme was paid off in full 30 - 32 years ago. Britain was not a recipient of aid under the Marshall Plan.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 07:27 PM

I don't know if "generosity" is really the term for an intelligent and farsighted policy such as the Marshall Plan which was an act of enlightened self interest every bit as much as an act of altruism. The tragedy is that, when the Soviet Empire fell apart, the people in power didn't have the same kind of imagination and ability to think longterm.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: harvey andrews
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 06:36 PM

So that's why we're poorer than many other of our neighbours. Paying back our allies! So what's the payback for lending our troops and planes this time around?

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Gareth
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 06:34 PM

No Harvey - You did not imagine it. And don't forget the unbounded generosity of the Marshall Aid scheme post war.

Gareth

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: harvey andrews
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 06:25 PM

Did I imagine reading it or did Britain finish paying for lend-lease under this present govt just a couple of years ago?

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 06:14 PM

Thank God and Nye Bevan for the National Health Service, and damn the politicians who have done so much to run it down and stop it being as good as it could be, and as good as the other medical systems our neighbours in Europe have built up (largely over the Thatcher years which they were spared).

In the same tone I could of course say thanks to the USA for making sure that even the most rightwing poilitcian in this country will swear blind that they will never ever give us a health systrem remotely like yours...

But that's thread drift and grumpy stiff in a generally light-hearted and appreciative thread:

Buster Keaton; Oliver Hardy (we've had Stan Laurel already); Mash; the Simpsons.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: spidly
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 05:29 PM

I think the US potentially owes a greater debt to Europe - Displaying the grand failure of socialized medicine and how to privatize mail, rail, and social security.

Maybe well see the folly and not go down the same road but then again Oregon just voted down a state run health care measure, and I'll bet Rep. Pelosi will start pushing Hillary Care II.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Ron Olesko
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 05:26 PM

Kim, if you mention Star Trek as a positive then you have to blame the U.S. for a negative - Trekkies!!!

Sorry, I never "got it" when it comes to Star Trek. Cheap sets and silly stories in my opinion.

Ron

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Kim C
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 05:15 PM

Well, the original cowboys were the Mexican vaqueros. :-)

Personally, I like Carroll Shelby's chili kit that you can buy at the grocery. Has all the spices in it & stuff. Makes some damn good chili. Last time I made chili, though, I made it from leftover Sloppy Joe stuff. That was pretty good too.

I like my chili with Fritos. And oh yeah ---- I think the US gave the world the greatest snack food ever ----- the Potato Chip.

And I think we gave the world Dick Clark, too, but I don't know if that's good or bad.

Two more words for you: STAR TREK

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Ron Olesko
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 05:09 PM

DougR - Chili with beans is indeed chili, it is just not ORIGINAL chili.   Beans were added by boarding house cooks in the late 1800's as a way of stretching the dish.   Cowboy cooks on trail drives would not have had the time to boil beans for the dish hence it was created sans beans.   Of course this fact sort of takes the ... wind .. out of Mel Brook's scene in Blazing Saddles.

Chili has many regional variations. AUTHENTIC Texas chili would not use beans of course, but there are still hundreds of variations. It was a meal of convenience and sustenance.

Now I am hungry.

Ron

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 04:55 PM

Ah, but are you sure those cowboy cooks weren't Mexican anyway? (Or maybe Chinese - that sounds a lot like Chinese cooking to me.)

Try Czech Budweiser, boab. (It costs the same in the supermarket too, or less often enough.)

Noone's mentioned Leadbelly,so I will.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: DougR
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 04:32 PM

Kim: Chili WITH beans, is NOT chili. Accounts I have read do credit cowboy cooks on trail drives in Texas with inventing chili as we know it. They used the tougher cuts of beef and cooked the hell out of it with chilis, creating the delecible dish we know today.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: kendall
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 04:08 PM

Bert, I believe that ship was the FLYING Enterprise. Captained by Kurt Carlson

I'd like to see a little more humor in this thread. Too much sarcasm for me. Most of us are descended from the Brits and Celts, so, it's like fighting with relatives!
Yes, I'm expecting grief from some Turkish/Greek/Somalian.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: GUEST,boab d
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 04:03 PM

theres many things that you could say but even though i m scotish i feel the need to mention BIG BUDS after a few of them the world is great and its a taste to die for cheers to the yanks for that oh and for the dan reid network with the song stronger than steel the best ballad ever written if you havent heard it i suggest that you try it out.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Kim C
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 03:47 PM

Did anyone mention Jimi Hendrix?

The irony being, he had to go to England to get famous.........

Anyway.... we all borrow from each other, and that's what makes this a great big beautiful world. I sure do like it here. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Ron Olesko
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 03:15 PM

What the hell do you mean we are thin skinned??????? My skin is just as thick as yours buddy!!!!

:)

Ron

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 02:15 PM

Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel,Alfred Hitchcock,Cary Grant

I took it that was the point. They had to go to America to do the business on screen.

Are Americans really more thin-skinned than other people when it comes to any kind of joshing? Or is it just that they maybe come in for more than most other places? And there's more of them around, so the the occasional one who reacts all thin-skinned is more likely to come forth and be recognised.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: The Shambles
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 02:07 PM

Wales????*Smiles*

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Gareth
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 02:05 PM

Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel,Alfred Hitchcock,Cary Grant and etc

Eeeer Where were they born ????

Gareth

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Ron Olesko
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 01:59 PM

Little Hawk - A world without beer... shudder.   Might as well turn off the sun while you are at it!!

You are probably trying the wrong beers to have such an opinion!!

:)

Ron

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: PeteBoom
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 01:51 PM

Ummm - actually - Charlie Chaplin made movies in the US, but was born in Britain.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 01:49 PM

Don - Ha! Ha! Now what makes you think I WAS criticizing your money? I was just describing it, that's all. We also have toonies now in Canada! It was your flag I was criticizing... :-)

Ron - If all the beer in the world disappeared forever, I wouldn't even blink.

As for the French...well, they're like any other nation. They've got their good points and their bad points. Maybe we should start another thread called "What have the French ever done for us?"

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: GUEST,colwyn dane
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 01:32 PM

Put a Yank spanner in the works and prevented normal service being resumed in the 2000 year old Euro-game of mutual reciprocal destruction.



Given aid to the 'Rest of the World' that exceeds what the 'Rest of the World' has given to the 'Rest of the World' - know what I mean?



Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel,Alfred Hitchcock,Cary Grant and etc;



CD.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Naemanson
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 12:10 PM

I'm surprised none of you have come up with what the USA has really given the world, namely a place on which the rest of the world can focus frustrated anger at arrogance and greed.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Kim C
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 11:43 AM

Okay Ron. :-) I was under the impression that chile con carne, just meat with ground-up chili peppers in it, was particularly Mexican. Wouldn't be the first time I was wrong!

Anyway.... I prefer chili without beans, thank you very much.

Haha! Thomas Edison! That was a good one. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 10:36 AM

The French in France were about as interested in North America as the English in England. Which is to say, not all that interested.

The French in North America seem to have been quite interested in getting around the place and settling in. But in a rather different way, which might have been a bit more satisfactory for the people who were there first.

I sometimes speculate how thing might have worked out if the sentries had spotted General Wolfe's troops climbing the Heights of Abraham. An alternative history, with the French Revolution taking place in America, and a French/Meti Republic spreading west, and the mass immigration from Europe going in via the Saint Lawrence and New Orleans. Meanwhile the English Colonies, cut off from the interior, retain their British link, Canadian style, and develop as southerly Maritime Provinces...

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Teribus
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 07:55 AM

Left to the French "Les Etats Unis" would never have come into being - they just were not interested in the place and had neither intent nor ambition to develope it (hence their willingness to negotiate their Canadian provinces away, Louisianna purchase, etc)). The Spanish were a great deal keener. Politically North and South America would be very much alike, i.e. composed of a number of independent countries - not one nation.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 07:53 AM

The best thing was declaring independenc.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: DonMeixner
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 07:48 AM

Little Hawk, Don't go picking on our money, we aren't the ones who put oil refineries on our bills. We don't have currency called Loonies.

The Iroguois Confederacy had a Jesuit Mission built right in the middle of the nation. When invite to a dinner the French castigated the Indians ( they call themselves that, so shall I) using the wrong fork with the fooey grass. BUt when Hiawatha drank the Merlot while eating the carp the French bid them leave. The confederacy being a Matriarchal society took this insult to there manners very seriously. Futhermore, they recognized immediately what was wrong with a government run by a religion and had nothing to do with the French there after.

William Johnson came along many years later and did something no Europeans, and quite afew colonists had failed to do. Treat them fairly.

Don

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: RangerSteve
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 06:48 AM

I once saw a French recipe for "Mice in Cream". Really. Add this to snails and frogs and those little bite-size birds, and tell me about French civilization. I'll take Mcdonalds over that stuff any day.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Catarina
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 06:04 AM

The US, as most american countries did, gave space and hope to thousands of europeans. That was one good thing. They were probably the first country to try and practice modern age democracy. That's another good thing. They do tend to put their foot in their mouth, but there's always someone who acknowleges the fact and apologises for it. They actually helped us during both World Wars and they even fed us after WWII. They have wonderful writers, great poets, wonderful musicians. They sometimes seem strange to european eyes, but that's what usualy happens when children grow - the parents find them strange, but still love them. (Sorry if my english looks strange...)

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Mr Furrow
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 05:08 AM

Looking at the responses, they all seem to be things the US "SOLD" rather than "gave". Hmmmmmm who was said "the business of America is business"? :o)

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Troll
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 04:45 AM

Hrothgar, you beat me to it. I will however mention the French Revolution and the Terror. Algeria might have a thing or two to say about the civilization of the French along with the rest of the French African colonial empire.

troll

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Hrothgar
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 03:33 AM

Who says the French are civilised? Those wonderful people who gave us the Napoleonic Wars....

... and sank the Rainbow Warrior in their modern attempt to prove that they are militarily great.

And I left a space in the middle, you'll notice, for things I might think of later, like trying to take over Mexico, etc., etc.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: The Shambles
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 02:31 AM

Saved our hides in two world wars

Beyond lending most of Europe the money to defend themselves during two world wars. Money that most of Europe hasn't seen fit to repay I can't think of a thing the US has done or should have felt obligated to. Nuff said.

This thread has managed to treat the subject (this time and so far) with humour, but why oh why do we still fall for this?

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 01:17 AM

I'm daring to hope for you all! Seinfeld never got a mention!!

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: DonMeixner
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 12:50 AM

Beyond lending most of Europe the money to defend themselves during two world wars. Money that most of Europe hasn't seen fit to repay I can't think of a thing the US has done or should have felt obligated to. We didn't give anyone fast food or bad movies or hot cars or great and not so great music. That was all bought from the market place by willing consumers who never heard of or understood the meaning of "caveat emptor".

What has Europe given me, nothing, all that I have thats European I paid for. Beyond the language, some truly great music and art, and maybe Dr. Who, everything else I need exists in abundance right here in central New York

What has the US given me? Nothing but the opertunity to succeed or fail. Everything else I have worked for and earned.

Don

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Midchuck
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 10:24 PM

things I dont like
macdonalds
people telling me how religious they are
people who tell me about their feelings
.........
peter paul and mary's harmonies
...............
films with tom cruse or nicole kidman
putting the accent on the first syllable of "REsearch"
putting everything round the edges of towns instead of in the middle

I'm over here and I don't like them thangs neither....

P.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Bill D
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 10:05 PM

greg stephens---REsearch is a noun, reSEARCH is a verb...very useful! The former is what you get after you do the latter.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 08:22 PM

Oh yes - Michael Moore, Garrison Keillor, Noam Chomsky and Hunter Thompson. And a good few others (Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan, Nanci Griffiths...)

But I still think a French USA would probably have been a more civilising infuence in the world, and just as good for the music, if maybe a bit different.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Alice
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 08:02 PM

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: RangerSteve
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 07:52 PM

I once heard of a guy named Thomas Edison. I think he invented (or in some cases perfected) a few things that some people still use.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Gareth
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 07:47 PM

Upside - 50 old dstroyers, and lend lease, the mighty 8th USAAF, the Sherman Tank, Dwight D Eisenhower, Bradley and Patton - The Packard Merlin, - and the sacrifice and blood of an awful lot of your people to buy our freedom (Posted 11/11/02)

Downside - Your culture, even if we bought it.

Gareth

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: nager
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 07:38 PM

Perhaps given us the world's worst accent?
Fair dinkum fellas, it's bloody awful...

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Bert
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 07:25 PM

Gawd Kendall, someone else old enough to remember the Torrey Canyon. You'll be reminding us of The Private Enterprise next.

Steve, they borrowed most of that music from the British Isles, and improved on it.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: kendall
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 07:21 PM

You gave us Twiggy; we gave you the TORREY CANYON.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: greg stephens
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 06:52 PM

Things I like:
90% of the music I love
Marx bothers
james stewart
westerns
steinbeck
moby dick
thoreau
frankfurters(i've heard they dont come from frankfurt)
chuck yeager
some good friends
louisiana
bobert's house
helping us out in our big troubles

things I dont like
macdonalds
people telling me how religious they are
people who tell me about their feelings
people who lecture me about irish politics
computers
g bush
people who lecture me about scottish history
peter paul and mary's harmonies
root beer
that strange white gravy with bits in(not sure about this, I'm ambivalent)
films with tom cruse or nicole kidman
putting the accent on the first syllable of "REsearch"
putting everything round the edges of towns instead of in the middle

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: GUEST,Taliesn
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 06:20 PM

Allowing for the other usual things already mentioned;
Just musically?

The Les Paul electric guitar without which there would have been *no* Brtiish Pop invasion. ;-)
Yeah, right, the Beatles and the Stones could've made it as accoustic acts ;-)

For that matter I've often argued that Jimi Hendrix would *never* had made the sensastion he made had he not *first* gone to London , soaked up the culture of competitive guitar virtuosity of the time,and joined up with 2 equally talented Brit craftsman of drum and bass.

And the British virtuoso I always refer to as the Hendrix of the Keyboard, Keith Emerson had gone as far as he could've gone with the Hammond Bs organ until the american Robert Moog made the synthesizer.

And where would any of them be without Edison's phonograph?

And whilst waxing gadgety ,although I love the unique quality of the better Brit cinema ( "Man for All Seasons' one of my Top 5 all time favorites )
if there is nothing else uniquely American it's "da Movies"
(also thanks to Thomas Edison's motion picture camera ) and their various master craftsman directors/filmmakers. ( Orson Wells/John Huston , Disney, the makers of the "Wizard of Oz" etc, etc. )

One forgets that Jazz also means Gerschwin and Copeland.

Yeah ,our market is precisely "what we've ever done" for you by way of your economy. We've given plenty of other countries a lot of their GNP by them selling into our Amercian consumer culture ; good , bad and evrytthing in-between.
Ever wonder why the Beatles were knighted? Had something to do with that old joke about what the letters of the old British airlines B.O.A.C. stood for ( Bring Over Amercian Cash ) So what you Brits lost in tea you have more than made up for breaking into our markets with just da Beatles and da Stones.

So , you're all welcome ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 05:10 PM

They've given us just about all the music that I listen to.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 04:42 PM

For me, the US, rid me of the tyranny of Maggie Thatcher.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Ron Olesko
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 04:40 PM

They who?

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 04:39 PM

They haven't castigated Clinton have they? Ouch.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Ron Olesko
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 04:36 PM

Little Hawk - more wine and less beer? You consider that a good thing??????

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 04:34 PM

If the French had won, North America would be a lot less well organized, a lot more romantic, and a lot less puritan. "Free Love" would not have had to wait until the 60's. There'd be more sidewalk cafes and more wine. Less beer.

Politicians would be admired for having affairs instead of castigated for it.

I think I like the French version. God knows, the Indians liked the French a lot better (with the one exception of the Iroquois Six Nations). The British were a very tight-assed lot of people, but they were well-organized.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Kim C
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 04:32 PM

Well, the British burned down the White House in the War of 1812, so I think we're even.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Ron Olesko
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 04:31 PM

Kim, Chili IS American. The only place you can find chili south of the border is in tourist traps. There are a number of histories that can show it originated in Texas from Spanish settlers.

Ice cream cones, pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs - all American fare.   Sure elements of each came from other countries, but we put it together.


Ron

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 04:16 PM

Nah, the insurance paid for the tea that got dumped. Lloyds' picked up the tab.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 04:16 PM

"I guess we pointed out the folly of colonialism a couple of hundred years back."

And then proceeded to colonise an entire continent.

I sometimes wonder how it would have worked out if the French had won against the British, and North America had developed as a Francophone continent instead - with the Eastern Colonies maybe as a sort of French Canada equivalent, within Les Etats Unis.

I suppose the Mudcat would be in French, and my French would be a lot better than it is as a result.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Dead Horse
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 04:11 PM

Was going to add Cajun music, but we gave that to the U.S. by kicking the poor buggers out of Canada!

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Dead Horse
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 04:09 PM

Loads of shanties + variations of same.
Blackballers.
Bloody fine schooners.
But.......
..the buggers still owe us for the tea they dumped in Boston Harbour!

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Kim C
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 04:07 PM

Doug, I don't think we can lay claim to chili. I believe that came from south of the border.

Cornbread, on the other hand........................

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: alanabit
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 03:58 PM

Ron - you are rubbing it in. It's bad enough to admit to taking your dross TV but for you to rub in the fact that we gave you MONEY for it is just too hard. It's not fair when folks have to go down to the level of telling the truth... It's a hard, hard world...

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 03:52 PM

Well, I guess we pointed out the folly of colonialism a couple of hundred years back. And we supplied the Mudcat...

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Little Hawk
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 03:51 PM

Davy Crockett, Dan'l Boone, Robert E. Lee, hula hoops, constant fear of nuclear annihilation, Winona Ryder, Cher, the WWF, Buddy Holly, a flag that looks like a really wacky set of pajamas, money with secret Masonic symbols on it, bubble gum (I think...), Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, southern Baptists, Hollywood, Las Vegas, L.A., Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, Al Capone, Lucy Luciano...

The list goes on forever. It's like counting up the Angels in Heaven and the devils in Hell...

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: DougR
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 03:51 PM

Arghhhhhhh! Kim you forgot chili, and maybe even cornbread (though I'm not sure about the latter).

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 03:43 PM

It would be horribly crowded back here...

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Kim C
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 03:42 PM

Bob Dylan.

Elvis Presley.

Sweet tea.

Grits.

Cadillacs.

Teddy bears.

Stetson hats.

The Grand Ole Opry.

Macintosh computers.

Good ol' Southern barbecue.

William Faulkner.

Henry Ford.

FDR.

Harry Truman.

General MacArthur.

the 101st Airborne.

Broadway musicals.

Josephine Baker.

Stephen Foster.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Ron Olesko
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 03:08 PM

"Sent over appalling dross on television"???? It's not exactly like we gave it to you! You bought the crap! Someone at the BBC or LWT paid good money to buy those shows.

Let the buyer beware!!!!

:)

Ron

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: alanabit
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 02:51 PM

Saved our hides in two world wars. Polluted us with MacDonalds, Coca Cola and chewing gum. Given us jazz, blues, bluegrass and rock and roll. Sent over appalling dross on television. Provided expertise and capital to develop large parts of our industry (for instance North Sea Oil). Taken away a lot of our best scientific brains by the simple expedient of paying them fairly. Given us Mudcat and thousands of friends. Mixed feelings really - but the same goes for my own family.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: Ron Olesko
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 01:58 PM

Us who???    The US has done a lot for me, but then again I live here.

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: KJ
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 01:46 PM

Bugger all!!!

Subject: RE: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: RolyH
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 01:36 PM

MacDonalds?

Subject: BS: What has the US ever done for us?
From: GUEST,Soma
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 01:31 PM

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