dkp Posted December 6, 2004 Share Posted December 6, 2004 ---------------- On 12/6/2004 11:02:19 PM Allan Songer wrote: Charlie Wilson's War ---------------- Allan-Is that the same Wilson who was in the CIA and now imprisoned (or at least was until recently) who was working out illegal arms deals in Libya? (I can't remember his first name, but that sounds right.) David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomski Posted December 6, 2004 Share Posted December 6, 2004 Exxon Valdez oil spill What about American Companies overseas-Union Carbide Bhopal,India Now do some homework! Tomski Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBrennan Posted December 6, 2004 Share Posted December 6, 2004 The defeats of Harmar and St. Clair in our war against the Indians of The Old Northwest back in the 1790s. The entire fiasco that was The War of 1812. The Yellowstone Campaign of 1876 The end of Reconstruction and the selling-out of the Freedmen and the turning over of the South to the ex-Rebels and Jim Crow. Spanish-American War Phillipine Insurrection Getting involved in The Great War Not getting involved in The League of Nations Loss of the Phillipines 1941-1942 Battle of The Savo Sea The Vietnam War Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssh Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 The Trail of Tears. SSH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomac Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Letting people preach, or is it teach, on the Forum! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j-malotky Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Hey, I liked the Gremlin and Pepsi One! I think reality TV ranks up there. How boring is that. JM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneleggedbob Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Packers v's Eagles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomac Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 ---------------- On 12/7/2004 12:45:04 AM oneleggedbob wrote: Packers v's Eagles ---------------- You're right on there! That bone head coach has made enough blunders in the last two Eagle's games to teach a class on how not to win a critical football game. The Pack will never win the big one with that guy leading the way. Last year in the playoff game he should have taken the 3 points at the end of the first half. It would have put them up by more than two scores and they were getting the second half kick off. That was one of the biggest blunders in football history. Ah, what's it matter, the "cheeseheads" still love the guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Worst US blunders? Well, there is a long history: 1. Trying to invade Canada 2. Trying to invade Mexico 3. NOT letting the south separate from the Union 4. Extending the Civil War across all oceans 5. Confiscating and selling Indian land without honoring the treaties 6. Trying to outlaw alcohol instead of regulating it 7. Thinking that the Titanic was unsinkable 8. NOT having the financial controls to recognize a stock market boom 9. NOT having the financial controls to prevent a stock market crash 10. NOT having food assistance & supplies to resist the Depression drought 11. Refusing German & Russian Jews refugees before WWII 12. Cutting off Japanese oil supply while they had a fleet as large as ours 13. Keeping our Pacific fleet all in one place 14. Smearing Hollywood as Communist during the forties 15. Allowing Kruschev to maneuver Cuba into an allied state 16. Ignoring civil rights until the 1960s 17. Trying to rule French colonial south-east Asia 18. Trading drugs for guns with the Hmung in So. Vietnam 19. Staying on the gold standard so long 20. Meddling in middle-eastern politics 21. NOT diversifying our energy sources 22. NOT encouraging energy conversation after two oil crises 23. Taking generations to impose money controls on all banks 24. Trading drugs for guns with rebels in So. America and supporting dictatorships 25. Meddling with Latin American economies and politics, including supporting dictatorships and assignations 26. Supporting Noriega while he laundered money for the Cali and Medin drug cartel 27. Having only one Coast Guard plane on patrol in South Florida during the 80s 28. Allowing Russian mob to dominate Cuban tourist trade and commerce 29. Supporting one fascist regime after another in the Middle East 30. Selling weapons to all sides in the Middle East 31. Switching US economic aid to Israel to military aid 32. Giving Israel so much aid 33. Arming al Qaeda to fight Soviet Union without encouraging great American progressive social experiment reforms 34. NOT providing another crop for Afghan poppy farmers 35. Invading Iraq with the large military force instead of chasing al Qaeda to the ends of the earth 36. NOT finding Osma bin Laden 37. Allowing massive pollution of the coral reefs, the source of all higher forms of aquatic life, e.g. fish 38. Ignoring the fall of imperialistic colonial empires 39. Spreading American corporatism, NOT our great American progressive social experiment 40. Failing to invest in Mexican, Siberian, Norwegian & Canadian oil fields 41. Withdrawal of most international treaties 42. Imposition of trade restraints that protect corporations, but not jobs 43. Restricting imports on Japanese autos, so they build their better cars here, further reducing US market share 44. Letting politicians and church decide medical policies on drugs and sex 45. Encouraging trade with China while they peg their currency to our dollar so their exports have strong buying power 46. NOT seeing the EU as the greatest economic competition of the next century 47. Underestimating the economic growth of India 48. Failing to intervene in Arab backed genocide in the Sudan, while securing oil in Iraq 49. Having a military budget ten times the size of the next largest nation 50. Having the worst high school science and math scores of the industrialized democracies 51. Practicing politics of exclusion and repression 52. Not setting the best global example Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meuge Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Wow - while I may disagree with some of those, I am totally intimidated by the size of that post : ) Very well thought out - it must have taken a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Oh yeah, and NOT outlawing international oligarchies and cartels in the world courts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomac Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Good Lord! Is anyone else thinking of sour grapes? Nothing else like dwelling in the negaitve! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBrennan Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Colin---I respectfully submit that invading Mexico and taking the Indian's lands were things that worked out very well for The United States and hardly blunders. The Titanic was an English ship. Well yes, White Star had American ownership but the ship was built and the line run by the Brits. Otherwise not much for me to argue with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oscarsear Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Not stopping smoking as a matter of national public health policy. It's my pet peeve because I've just seen way too many really wonderful people die very ugly deaths from tobacco. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 What a crock! After all that election year crap do we really STILL have to come up with more reasons to BASH the USA? I suppose a discussion of all the GOOD America has done would be pretty short in academic circles. Either way I sure don't see how this topic is appropriate here. I could start a thread on how much of the world is a bunch of EVIL,backstabbing,on the take,cowardly sponges and all they have done to bring down humanity,but why here? There are many resources to research American history.I submit if you really want 25 good screw ups by the USA it will require more than a few paragraphs by an audio community.Of course in academia I understand that prolly would be sufficient,but here in the REAL world...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 yeah, you are right Tom, just look at the hour of my late night rant, in fact many of the awful things we are "good" for the empire good one on the smoking; we subsidize cigeretttes in WWII, collect taxes off them for decades, protect with Congressional legislation and then turn around sue the companies for misleading us! Any thing not allowed in food should be allowed in cigerettes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
007 Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 ---------------- On 12/6/2004 4:56:03 PM skonopa wrote: Bose? ---------------- haha quoted for truth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckears Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 I'm going to go with: Presuming to think that every other nation or culture in the world wants to have our system of government and our economy, then further presuming to think that we can force it upon them instead of letting it happen from within, as it did with us. As a corollary to that, the mistaken idea that we can successfully win out over entrenched insurgents in their own country, while still retaining the same ideals we are so eager to espouse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 Oh no, another one: failure to replace the dominant political party and its leaders when they commit us to a ground war in the Middle East and THERE ARE NO WMD! By the way, lest anyone think otherwise, this is a wonderfully rich and free country! There are no modern industrialized democracies with such a high quality of life in a temperate climate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 WOW, Colin, that should just about cover it. I can imagine our young friend's mind just spinning on that one. Only 17, probably heard of 10% of those in history class to date. Browsed the 'where do you work' thread in hopes of a hint, but Colin, where DO you work? Captial building, tenured professor, historian, angry young man? I'll absolutely echo Colin's list and just toss in my own meager offerings in case you're taking a tally. Vietnam- getting involved then not kicking their a$$es Energy- becoming dependent on foreign sources, then not changing our ways Environment- see energy above, raping the landscape to make up for gas-guzzlers Religion- allowing more than one of these per country, including ours-kidding- you awake Civil war- getting involved in anyones that doesn't directly affect our security Family- dissolution of 'normal' nuclear family thru too many divorces, too little help Education- not making a real top priority, tommy can't read a job appl. today Transportation-lack of mass transit in major Am. cities is a crime Health- food pyramid all wrong, youngsters in front of videos, obesity of America Welfare-social security was a short term solution that got out of hand Labor- unions- see welfare. there was a time and a place, not good in modern times. Some will disagree, we've just been asked to post our own views here. Good luck with the project, let us know how it turns out. Due to the depth of this material, I might stick with the top 10, otherwise you'll be researching and writing until you're 82. Thank God for the internet. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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