Plan for Peace
 

Re: Plan for Peace
 

Sounds like a good plan to me John. I think it is all possible except maybe number 10. In the US you speak English fairly well. You just struggle a little with the spelling :)

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John, I love it. We need some of that attitude over here. Maybe you should send a copy to all the Delegates in Brighton for their perusal.

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Better not land here tinks we have enough of them already :eek:

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shame its just a plan.lol

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How can we be sure there is not a fanatic or 2 hiding amongst them waiting to get into britain. We have a few at the moment and cannot do anything about it.

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What about Fergie, the international ambassador, for that American company Weight Watchers?

Do you still need her as the biggest guzzlers of junk food in the world?


Will she still be able to enter the land of the free, under these draconian measures?

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thats true spug-we welcome them whilst gaoling poll tax pensioners. :D

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We are living in one hell of a screwed up country.:o

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at the end of the day your time will come?

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this tickled me 5) No foreign "students" over age 21. The older ones are the
bombers. If they don't attend classes, they get a "D" and it's back
home babywhat happened to london?
in my opinion they will do as they please!

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4) All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90
days unless given a special permit!!!! No one from a terrorist
nation will be allowed in. If you don't like it there, change it
yourself and don't hide here. Asylum would never be available to
anyone. We don't need any more cab drivers or 7-11 cashiers.

That means america will lose all their tourist dollars! Every country in the world has 'terrorists' so what will america do when they dont have all that money going into their country - think disneyland las vegas etc.

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that could be interesting ? why ! because they dont follow there own religion !

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They seem to be like lost sheep easily rounded up and sheared of humanity.

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Tell me if I am wrong but I think John's post was a bit of a rant at the people who, he feels, are ungrateful at Americas contribution to the world over the last 60 years?
Apart from items 1 and 2, I am fine with your suggestions. People are not ungrateful for WWII efforst of America. Just dont claim all the credit. Sadam is a different matter....
All people want is for America to help when necessary like everybody else does.
The oil suggestion is as inworkable as the author probably knows, and Alaska should be left. America uses more oil per capita than any other country in the world. And is rightly critized for this.
Yes, I know I put a 'z' in critised and I am ashamed of it.
Good thread though, we need more of em like this.

Cheers...

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Whilst we appreciate your help you didn't win it on your own. you were just the straw that broke its back. remember WW2 was going on a fair while before you joined in.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnW 2) We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany, South Korea, the Middle East, and the Philippines. They don't want us there. We would station troops at our borders. No one allowed to sneak through holes in the fence.

I can't see many people disagreeing with you here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnW 3) All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave. We'll give them a free trip home. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of whom or where they are. They're illegal!!! France may welcome them. 4) All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 days unless given a special permit!!!! No one from a terrorist nation will be allowed in. If you don't like it there, change it yourself and don't hide here. Asylum would never be available to anyone. We don't need any more cab drivers or 7-11 cashiers.

So everyone except the original Indians will be asked to leave? Your country has one major redeeming feature and that is its integrated society from all over teh world. Remember your ancestors were once foreigners in that land of yours.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnW 6) The US will make a strong effort to become self-sufficient energy wise. This will include developing nonpolluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil in the Alaskan wilderness. The caribou will have to cope for a while. 7) We'll offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel for their oil. If they don't like it, we'll go some place else. They can go somewhere else to sell their production. (About a week of the wells filling up the storage sites would be enough.)

Thats fine, China and India will happily soak up the surplus, we aren't dependant on you to use all the world production. Maybe even fuel prices in teh UK will fall a bit

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnW http://www.southportchat.com/images/.../icon_cool.gif If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will not "interfere." They can pray to Allah or whomever, for seeds, cash, cement or whatever they need. Besides, most of what we give to them is stolen or given to the army. The people who need it most get very little, if anything.

But from items 2,3 and 4 you obviously don't want to be part of a united 'world' so why should you care when it comes to disasters. per head capita your contributions are often far less than poorer developing countries.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnW 9) UN Headquarters will be shipped to an isolated island some place. We don't need the spies and fair weather friends here. Besides, the building would make a good homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens. 10) All Americans must go to charm and beauty school. That way, no one can call us "Ugly Americans" any longer. The Language we speak is ENGLISH...learn it...or LEAVE...Now, isn't that a winner of a plan?

I do like this last point. However as a flip, why do most English speaking countries fail miserably to speak other countries languages when in their homelands. If you want to make this happen you should also expect all foreign countries to ignore you when you try shouting at them for a coffee.

:)

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What about the right to free speech.


Will that right be kept?' ;)

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To George Saint

Spot on George with your first paragraph. Hell, I know America is far from perfect but whatever it does it's always wrong. Damned if they do, damned if they don't. I don't think that America has ever considered they won WW2 alone, with the exception of some of our friends in Hollywood with acute imaginations and, unfortunately, a worldwide and gullible audience. However, I cannot take credit for being the 'author' of the piece. That has to go to Robin Williams and perhaps I should have credited him in the original post. I was remiss and hope that this puts that to rights. I have not seen you post before George, welcome.


To Entwistle,

Just so you know, I'm a Brit, so I am not a 'colonial' who has never left America's shores. I agreee, WW2 was going a fair while before America (not we) joined in. However, I think without the plethora of supplies coming over the mighty pond prior to the troops arriving, we (The Brits) would have had a much harder time containing Herr H. There is more than one way to give help and they did.

European countries plundered every continent and colonised them as we all well know. It's far too late to give the land back to the Apache and the Sioux. However, you are correct, America does try really hard to integrate people from all over the world into its society. Hence the greencard lottery. It has far more than one redeeming feature as you are also well aware.

I think there would be much more of an oil surplus than India and China could take up in the short term don't you? They're not like our 'two car +' family countries.

With regard to your 'contributions per capita' paragraph, I would be interested to hear where you get your figures from. I was of the opinion that there are more dollars leaving these shores, both private and governmental, in the name of charity than any other country in the world so I'm not quite with you there. Also, there are only around 260M people in this vast country. Maybe you would care to expand on that. I stand to be corrected if I am wrong on that one.

In France, they do ignore you if you request a coffee in any other language but theirs. So both Americans and Brits are in the same boat there eh?

:) ;)

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No. So please shut up now! :)

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How are we supposed to have peace when there seems to be handbag fights in the mid atlantic. Out in the world art present is a minority of radicals that are intent on destroying our way of life yet the argument seems to be about colonial indiscretions and war. If it wasnt for the marshal plan and the Americans redistributiion of the wealth they found they had we would be in a mess. Europe would not have been rebuilt nore would we have the trade we do end result we would have proberly have had our butts kicked by the radicals.

It does not matter wether the problems we have today are the outcome of the colonial carry on though they proberly are we need to fix them. If we dont are we going to have to live like they have in Northern Ireland for the last 30 odd years? If we want peace we need to work on it and not give up trying as the more we bicker the more we play into the hands of the radicals. Should we give up on this then it would be like the middle ages again with all the misery that entails.

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Just a question, if Britain and the United States has such a special relationship, why is it that residents of the UK aren't allowed to enter the green card lottery, yet if you are Irish you can do??


By the way, I love American literature, everything from Truman Capote to Brett Easton Ellis, though the last good American main stream film, was produced in the 60's.:)

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They reckon over the years the Brits have had their share of green cards, but as there is a large Irish American population with powerful influence in the senate then they will always get first pick.:eek:

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Not the same Irish Americans that supported the freedom fighters in Ireland?

Namely the IRA.

The same freedom fighters who were committed to a sustained terrorist campaign on the mainland UK, that resulted in the deaths and maiming of innocent men, women and children?

Like nooooo way.

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Sorry G but unfortunately yes and they all had plenty of money to do it. Makes me wonder what will they do with the cash now the IRA is following peaceful means now?

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Having worked in the USA for two months of the year for a decade I really struggle ordering coffee in America.


"Gee, can you say that again you just sound like the Queen.":eek:

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Tell them bohemian rapsody and you are a staunch supporter of a british republic.:D

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Thanks for the welcome John. Like I say, interesting thread. Im currently in a muslim country and am learning that all America preaches isnt always the right way. So I was just playing devils advocate.
Im tempted to play the Kyoto card, but maybe that should be for another day!

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I asked this question of the immigration people when I was going through my application for a green card. The answer was that there is already a large British population here. I know that to be true although, I didn't consider it was a fully satisfactory answer to my question as I also know there is a large Irish population here.

I do believe that America and Britain have a special relationship and I also believe that, contrary to popular opinion in Britain, the American people cherish that relationship. The average American would be mortified to hear the amount of critisism that is directed at them from the people who, they believe, are their greatest and most loyal allies. I know that American foreign policy can often leave a lot to be desired, however, so can the foreign policies of most of the powerful countries of the world. People here are very split over the Iraq war but I often wonder how much of the critisism we hear internally is just political posturing. I really do not believe you can judge a people by their government. I myself stand a little right of the centre line, but some of my ideals cross over the line and lean a little to the left. The Democratic party make a lot of noise about what is happening but I wonder how different it would be if they were in power. It never ceases to amaze me that they go on about human rights and the killing of innocent Iraqis, at the same time condoning abortion. Please don't get me wrong, I think there are circumstances where abortion is a reasonable option. I also believe, that in the fight for democracy, innocent people will die and there are certainly innocent Iraqis dying because they wish to visit the polling booth. Of course, we all know it is not that simple and the different tribes seem to be determined to wipe each other out on good old religious grounds. Let's face it, the world is in one hell of a mess, it certainly isn't all the fault of America and Britain.

It is my considered opinion that Britain and America would do well to foster their special relationship. It has advantages for both sides and I also believe that the average American has far more love in their hearts for the average Brit than do most of our so-called, European partners.

:engsmil: :engsmil: :engsmil:

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Europe is jealouse of the relationship John hence there disire to become a federal set up so they can rival the States. At least it works 98% of the time overthere which is more than can be said for the EU who have too many national differnces for it to work.

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i know first hand that the american people have a special regard for the british,what surprised me was most of the people i came across had never left america cos its so vast i suppose everything and climate is in the continent ! but i think you are mistaken saying (the amount of critisism aimed at them) john- remember like owt in life, union meetings is one example! the active members and also the bigots always turn up- but the majority of genuine fair minded people can't be bothered to appear ! its a sad indictment of society but thats the way it is.

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An unfortunate and damning enditement of the world today cashy and it wont change in a hurry either which is very sad.

:(

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I agree with a lot of the things you say John. I know that a lot of Americans treasure the relationship with the Brits and it is something that we should all hold on to.
I still think critisism, when its due, is a healthy thing. Colonialism was a terrible thing, as was Japans and Germany's past. But all has been put right and all those countries are now the ones saying enough is enough. America is thought of as narrow minded, and although I am sure you are right that we shouldn't tar all Americans with the Bush brush, they must not think that the rest of the world is wrong and they are right.
I like your web site. I find peoples background amazing sometimes.

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Further to an earlier mail, it is indeed true that not many Americans travel abroad. The ones that do are lovely people. I was entertaining a guy from California not long ago, and over a meal he told me he had travelled extensively over the last 4 years. I asked where he had been and he just listed about 10 US states! He really thought he had seen the world. Lovely guy, but completely ignorant of the world at large.

Re: Plan for Peace
 

[QUOTE=JohnW]I asked this question of the immigration people when I was going through my application for a green card. The answer was that there is already a large British population here. I know that to be true although, I didn't consider it was a fully satisfactory answer to my question as I also know there is a large Irish population here.

John I also asked the question while going through the naturalization process and the guy told me that it is based on numbers and the US is proud to be country of immigrants. However, far more people are coming to the USA from certain countries than from others. Just those immigrating from Mexico, China and the Philippines are by far outnumbering those from most of the other countries accumulated. In order to maintain a diversity in the population, US laws regulate immigration from particular regions of the world. For this reason the USA do annually distribute 55,000 GreenCards randomly since 1994. The only prerequisite apart from the eligible native country is a certain level of education. You can find detailed information under „conditions for participation“ here. .
Excluded are only those countries with a rate of immigrants to the USA far above average over the last five years. But it is possible that these excluded countries can participate again in coming years.

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I also agree that constructive critisism is a good thing. I just feel that America comes in for an inordinate amount of it. We all have our opinions and we all generally think that opinion is right, even though we do consider other peoples views.

As you have probably gathered, I have a great love of both, my country of origin and my adopted country. I don't really like too much critisism going either way and I am inclined to get a little defensive. Because I have a foot in both camps, so to speak, it is of special interest to me that the relationship flourishes. I know that Americans have a name for being loud and brash and maybe sometimes they are. But, I have found them to be a most generous and sincere people since living amongst them and consider that they are sometimes misunderstood and unfairly condemned.

I'm glad you enjoyed the web site. It is designed and maintained by my eldest son who lives in Hesketh Bank. He is about to start another one for the band I am now rehearsing with here in America. I will let you know the site address when it gets underway if you are interested

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America- it's just like that 70's advert for coke with the sound track of 'I'd like to teach the world to sing.'


Good luck. If you can't get a green card just run the border fron Mexico to L.A.

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You could always come in via Canada. :)

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Most of my customers were American, ableit rich ones, who travelled widely between their many homes, and who were very nice people. However most Americans would be hard pressed to point to the UK on a world map, Hardly conclusive to the idea of any special relationship. Lets not forget that the city in the world with the largest black population isn't in Africa, it's New York, they're hardly going to have any strong ties to Britain.

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Can you point us in the direction of the study that provided you with this world shattering information please?

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Oh come on, that's common knowledge, and yes tests have been done asking highschool students to point to various countries on a world map, most were unable to correctly point to states they don't live in.


It was pointed out that most ordinary Americans never travel abroad, and have a very insular approach to 'their' world. That's just a fact not a criticism.

I suppose thats one of the advantages of being in the UK, is that in the time you could fly from NY to Dallas we could fly to a dozen different countries and cultures, although I wouldn't be so rude as to say this makes us more cultural.;)

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Not actually wanting to get in to whos better at educating and what the end product is, after traveling extensively around the globe I have to say the Americans do more, put more money in and are better at educating then the British.
I am currently coaching Football (soccer in America) at a high school, all the girls on the team are heading to University and are being encouraged by there parents, teachers and coaches, remembering my days at Rhyddings you were lucky to leave with a couple of GCSE's if they haden't tried to get you to leave early. If I haden't meet my wife and come to America I doubt I would have got my degree as adult ed is under funded and under advertised in the UK.

Having worked in the USA for two months of the year for a decade I really struggle ordering coffee in America.
"Gee, can you say that again you just sound like the Queen.":eek:

Shoudn't that be King?:)

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Ah, good old common knowledge. I am aware that many Americans have never felt the need to leave the shores of their own country. Of the ones who have travelled abroad, a goodly proportion would, probably, have only visited either Mexico, Canada or the Islands. I agree that this is inclined to make them somewhat insular and less knowledgeable of other world cultures than the well-travelled, average Brit who has multi-cultural continental Europe on his doorstep. But to say "Most Americans would be hard pressed to point to the UK on a world map" is total bull****. It is that kind of sweeping, unfounded and derogatory statement that really gets up my nose. If you are going to criticise, at least make it constructive and factual.

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I think that depends on who you talk too. When I worked for Michelin, some of the project engineers went over to one of the American factories in Greenville, South Carolina. I can remember them telling me how they were amazed how many of the production workers were illiterate. I don't mean poor at reading, I mean totally unable to read or write.

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www.greenteacher.com/articles/70kisbell.pdf -

Just one example of the acknowledged examples of the poor geographical knowledge of the world of American students, compared with their European counterparts. There was also a really funny article in the Times at the start of invasion of Iraq, asking Americans to point in the general area of the middle East. The results weren't not very encouraging.

Like I said I'm not being critical, just pointing out that the vast majority Americans don't have the luxury of foreign travel, and this seems to be backed up by their insularism.

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It's good isn't it?

A spent a week in France on an IT security conference a few years ago. £ of the people there were Americans. 1 of them was a very polite gentleman. The other 2 were ignorant egotistical *******. From my admittedly small survey I decided that two thirds of Americans are ignorant egotistical *******. That said I have had the pleasure to work with a couple of extremely pleasant and helpfull Americans since. They must have left the other 4 ignorant egotistical ******* back home :D

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I seem to remember the same thing with the Falklands, quite a few people thought it was just off scotland.

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Sadly the Americans knew were Grenada was though when they invaded this Commonwealth country.


That even strained the close relationship between Thatcher and Reagan.;)

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Was Grenada an American success. They needed one after there previous poor effort in Vietnam.