By Susan Duclos
Michelle Obama. - Photo: Obama for America
You can see Michelle Obama's full statement , via Breitbart TV, and you can see a video of Cindy McCain's full statement, via Fox News.
I personally believe each citizen of every country has the right to be proud of their country, without exception, but since this is about American politics and Michelle Obama's statement, whether she meant it to sound that way or not, brings up a good question for Americans.
Are you proud to be an American?
When I was a child I never missed a chance to sing along with our national anthem as well as a few other songs. My singing could and still can make dogs howl and people run, but I simply could not and still cannot resist singing along. I have always been proud to be an American. I have never thought that someone from another country is any "less" than I am simply because they were from a different place, but I feel pride as an American because America has always been a nation of freedom, a nation that helped other countries in need.
I remember as a child hearing a piece from a Canadian, Gordon Sinclair, that undoubtedly affirmed for me how wonderful America is and I will explain who that Canadian is below.
A country to be proud of.
So, for our American readers, are you?
Are you proud to be an American?
It seems to be a silly question, but I find it is one that is important in today's world. Many of our own citizens show nothing but disdain for America, what it has always stood for and what it has always been. They continually wish to change our values that America was founded on.
It is a simple question......can you answer it with a yes or no, or does your answer include a "but" at the end?
Have you ever read the words of “The Star-Spangled Banner”?
On Sept. 13, 1814, Francis Scott Key visited the British fleet in Chesapeake Bay to secure the release of Dr. William Beanes, who had been captured after the burning of Washington, DC. He succeeded in getting Beanes released, but Key was detained on ship overnight during the shelling of Fort McHenry, one of the forts defending Baltimore. In the morning, he was so delighted to see the American flag still flying over the fort that he began a poem to commemorate the occasion. First published under the title “Defense of Fort M'Henry,” the poem soon gained wild popularity and was sung to the tune “To Anacreon in Heaven.”
“The Star-Spangled Banner” was officially made the national anthem by Congress in 1931, although it already had been adopted as such by the army and the navy.
--The American Flag
Do you still stand proud every time you see the American flag? Have you ever? These are questions that are easy to ask yourself, but may not be so easy for some to answer honestly.
The first inclination would be to say YES, immediately.....but given time to think before answering, would you say yes and mean it with no "buts" at the end?
You do not have to share your answer, but at least have the self honesty to answer it truthfully to YOURSELF.
How about "God Bless America", any Americans remember the words to that?
---The Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is yet another monument that always filled me with pride. I have been there many times and it never fails to make me smile.
Land of the Free.
The statue depicts a woman, standing upright, dressed in a flowing robe and a seven point spiked crown representing the Seven Seas, holding a stone tablet close to her body in her left hand and a flaming torch high in her right hand. The statue is made of pure copper on a framework of steel (originally puddled iron) with the exception of the flame of the torch, which is coated in gold leaf. It stands atop a rectangular stonework pedestal, itself on an irregular eleven-pointed star foundation. The statue is 151 feet and one inch tall, with the foundation adding another 154 feet. The tablet contains the text "JULY IV MDCCLXXVI" (July 4, 1776) commemorating the date of the United States Declaration of Independence. The interior of the pedestal contains a bronze plaque inscribed with the poem "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus. (It has never been engraved on the exterior of the pedestal, despite such depictions in editorial cartoons). (Source)
GORDON SINCLAIR.
Gordon Sinclair was a Canadian man that had a radio show called "Let's be personal" in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on Radio Station CFBR 1010.
He wrote, in 20 minutes, the words that he read, on air, on June 5, 1973. These words have come to be regarded as one of Canada's greatest public relations feats in the history of our relations with the United States of America.
You can read about Gordon Sinclair here.
No one at CFRB, including Sinclair himself, could have envisioned the reaction of the people of the United States - from presidents - state governors - Congress - the Senate - all media including TV, radio, newspapers, magazines - and from the "ordinary" American on the street.
If you have never heard "The Americans", you have indeed missed one of the best tributes to America from a non American ever written or that will ever BE written.
It stands true to this day. A different war splits the American people, a different decade, in fact, a different century and it goes to show that history repeats itself.
Gordon Sinclair
Radio Station CFBR 1010
2 St. Clair Avenue West
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
"LET'S BE PERSONAL"
Broadcast June 5, 1973
CFRB, Toronto, Ontario
Topic: "The Americans"
"The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French and British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in West Germany. It has declined there by 41% since 1971 and this Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least-appreciated people in all the world.
As long as sixty years ago, when I first started to read newspapers, I read of floods on the Yellow River and the Yangtse. Who rushed in with men and money to help? The Americans did. Thats who.
They have helped control floods on the Nile, the Amazon, the Ganges and the Niger. Today, the rich bottom land of the Misssissippi is under water and no foreign land has sent a dollar to help. 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 those countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.
When the franc 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. And I was there. I saw that.
When distant cities are hit by earthquakes, it is the United States that hurries into help... Managua Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples. So far this spring, 59 American communities have been flattened by tornadoes. Nobody has helped.
The Marshall Plan .. the Truman Policy .. all pumped billions upon billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now, newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent war-mongering Americans.
Now,I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplanes.
Come on now... you, let's hear it! Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tristar or the Douglas 10? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all international lines except Russia fly American planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or a women 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 the draft dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are right here on our streets in Toronto, most of them ... unless they are breaking Canadian laws .. are getting American dollars from Ma and Pa at home to spend up here.
When the Americans get out of this bind ... as they will... who could blame them if they said 'the hell with the rest of the world'. Let someone else buy the bonds, Let someone else build or repair foreign dams or design foreign buildings that won't shake apart in earthquakes.
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 of them are still broke. I can name to you 5,000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble.
Can you name to 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 neighbours have faced it alone and I am one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their noses at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles.
I hope Canada is not one of these. But there are many smug, self-righteous Canadians. And finally, the American Red Cross was told at its 48th Annual meeting in New Orleans this morning that it was broke.
This year's disasters .. with the year less than half-over… has taken it all and nobody...but nobody... has helped."
Listen to "The Americans" by Gordon Sinclair": Via [url=http://www.bradjones.com]www.bradjones.com.
- RealAudio, .ram, 1.30 mb
- Windows Media, .asf, 256 kb
- Windows Media, .wma, 707 kb
- MPEG Layer 3, .mp3, 811 kb
Why does it seem that it took a man from a different country to understand how great America is?
If you are one of those people he speaks about, SHAME ON YOU.... if you are sitting there after reading and/or hearing his words going "RIGHT ON"... nice to meet you friend isn't it great to be an American?
I personally believe each citizen of every country has the right to be proud of their country, without exception, but since this is about American politics and Michelle Obama's statement, whether she meant it to sound that way or not, brings up a good question for Americans.
Are you proud to be an American?
When I was a child I never missed a chance to sing along with our national anthem as well as a few other songs. My singing could and still can make dogs howl and people run, but I simply could not and still cannot resist singing along. I have always been proud to be an American. I have never thought that someone from another country is any "less" than I am simply because they were from a different place, but I feel pride as an American because America has always been a nation of freedom, a nation that helped other countries in need.
I remember as a child hearing a piece from a Canadian, Gordon Sinclair, that undoubtedly affirmed for me how wonderful America is and I will explain who that Canadian is below.
A country to be proud of.
So, for our American readers, are you?
Are you proud to be an American?
It seems to be a silly question, but I find it is one that is important in today's world. Many of our own citizens show nothing but disdain for America, what it has always stood for and what it has always been. They continually wish to change our values that America was founded on.
It is a simple question......can you answer it with a yes or no, or does your answer include a "but" at the end?
Have you ever read the words of “The Star-Spangled Banner”?
Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watch'd, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore dimly seen thro' the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O, thus be it ever when freemen shall stand,
Between their lov'd homes and the war's desolation;
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserv'd us as a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
On Sept. 13, 1814, Francis Scott Key visited the British fleet in Chesapeake Bay to secure the release of Dr. William Beanes, who had been captured after the burning of Washington, DC. He succeeded in getting Beanes released, but Key was detained on ship overnight during the shelling of Fort McHenry, one of the forts defending Baltimore. In the morning, he was so delighted to see the American flag still flying over the fort that he began a poem to commemorate the occasion. First published under the title “Defense of Fort M'Henry,” the poem soon gained wild popularity and was sung to the tune “To Anacreon in Heaven.”
“The Star-Spangled Banner” was officially made the national anthem by Congress in 1931, although it already had been adopted as such by the army and the navy.
--The American Flag
Do you still stand proud every time you see the American flag? Have you ever? These are questions that are easy to ask yourself, but may not be so easy for some to answer honestly.
The first inclination would be to say YES, immediately.....but given time to think before answering, would you say yes and mean it with no "buts" at the end?
You do not have to share your answer, but at least have the self honesty to answer it truthfully to YOURSELF.
How about "God Bless America", any Americans remember the words to that?
"While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer. "
God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.
---The Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is yet another monument that always filled me with pride. I have been there many times and it never fails to make me smile.
Land of the Free.
The statue depicts a woman, standing upright, dressed in a flowing robe and a seven point spiked crown representing the Seven Seas, holding a stone tablet close to her body in her left hand and a flaming torch high in her right hand. The statue is made of pure copper on a framework of steel (originally puddled iron) with the exception of the flame of the torch, which is coated in gold leaf. It stands atop a rectangular stonework pedestal, itself on an irregular eleven-pointed star foundation. The statue is 151 feet and one inch tall, with the foundation adding another 154 feet. The tablet contains the text "JULY IV MDCCLXXVI" (July 4, 1776) commemorating the date of the United States Declaration of Independence. The interior of the pedestal contains a bronze plaque inscribed with the poem "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus. (It has never been engraved on the exterior of the pedestal, despite such depictions in editorial cartoons). (Source)
GORDON SINCLAIR.
Gordon Sinclair was a Canadian man that had a radio show called "Let's be personal" in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on Radio Station CFBR 1010.
He wrote, in 20 minutes, the words that he read, on air, on June 5, 1973. These words have come to be regarded as one of Canada's greatest public relations feats in the history of our relations with the United States of America.
You can read about Gordon Sinclair here.
No one at CFRB, including Sinclair himself, could have envisioned the reaction of the people of the United States - from presidents - state governors - Congress - the Senate - all media including TV, radio, newspapers, magazines - and from the "ordinary" American on the street.
If you have never heard "The Americans", you have indeed missed one of the best tributes to America from a non American ever written or that will ever BE written.
It stands true to this day. A different war splits the American people, a different decade, in fact, a different century and it goes to show that history repeats itself.
Gordon Sinclair
Radio Station CFBR 1010
2 St. Clair Avenue West
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
"LET'S BE PERSONAL"
Broadcast June 5, 1973
CFRB, Toronto, Ontario
Topic: "The Americans"
"The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French and British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in West Germany. It has declined there by 41% since 1971 and this Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least-appreciated people in all the world.
As long as sixty years ago, when I first started to read newspapers, I read of floods on the Yellow River and the Yangtse. Who rushed in with men and money to help? The Americans did. Thats who.
They have helped control floods on the Nile, the Amazon, the Ganges and the Niger. Today, the rich bottom land of the Misssissippi is under water and no foreign land has sent a dollar to help. 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 those countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.
When the franc 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. And I was there. I saw that.
When distant cities are hit by earthquakes, it is the United States that hurries into help... Managua Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples. So far this spring, 59 American communities have been flattened by tornadoes. Nobody has helped.
The Marshall Plan .. the Truman Policy .. all pumped billions upon billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now, newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent war-mongering Americans.
Now,I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplanes.
Come on now... you, let's hear it! Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tristar or the Douglas 10? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all international lines except Russia fly American planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or a women 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 the draft dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are right here on our streets in Toronto, most of them ... unless they are breaking Canadian laws .. are getting American dollars from Ma and Pa at home to spend up here.
When the Americans get out of this bind ... as they will... who could blame them if they said 'the hell with the rest of the world'. Let someone else buy the bonds, Let someone else build or repair foreign dams or design foreign buildings that won't shake apart in earthquakes.
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 of them are still broke. I can name to you 5,000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble.
Can you name to 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 neighbours have faced it alone and I am one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their noses at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles.
I hope Canada is not one of these. But there are many smug, self-righteous Canadians. And finally, the American Red Cross was told at its 48th Annual meeting in New Orleans this morning that it was broke.
This year's disasters .. with the year less than half-over… has taken it all and nobody...but nobody... has helped."
Listen to "The Americans" by Gordon Sinclair": Via [url=http://www.bradjones.com]www.bradjones.com.
- RealAudio, .ram, 1.30 mb
- Windows Media, .asf, 256 kb
- Windows Media, .wma, 707 kb
- MPEG Layer 3, .mp3, 811 kb
Why does it seem that it took a man from a different country to understand how great America is?
If you are one of those people he speaks about, SHAME ON YOU.... if you are sitting there after reading and/or hearing his words going "RIGHT ON"... nice to meet you friend isn't it great to be an American?
2 comments:
I'm proud to be an American, and I have no "buts" to stick in there. If Michelle Obama is not proud of her country, she can take her Socialist husband with her and move to Cuba where most of the poor people in that country are lucky if they can eat one meal a day. When I see these Far Left Hollywood pinheads go to these countries and suck up to dictators like Hugo Chavez and "Fido" Castro, it makes me want to throw up. My question is; if these idiots think that these dictators are so great, what the heck are they doing here? Go live there! I'll help you pack your bags!
Thanks Norm for republishing this. I think it is important for people to be able to answer that question.
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