Re: Your song America —- Hamburgers don’t win wars, run satellites, don’t navigate aircraft, don’t explore the deep ocean — and they certainly don’t save lives!
I’m happy to give Britain full credit where it’s due — there’s a long and serious history of discovery, courage, and endurance. But the claim that the United States has contributed nothing to the world beyond fast food doesn’t survive even light contact with history, science, or modern infrastructure.
World War I
Britain and France bore the overwhelming human cost of World War I from 1914 to 1917, and that sacrifice matters. But by the time the United States entered the war, the Allies were exhausted economically and militarily, and Germany was gambling on one final offensive. The arrival of millions of American troops — backed by U.S. industry, money, and logistics — changed the math completely. The war didn’t end because the Allies were merely holding on; it ended because American involvement made a German victory no longer plausible.
World War II
Britain stood alone in 1940 and prevented Hitler from winning the war outright, and that deserves real respect. But survival is not the same thing as victory. Defeating Nazi Germany required industrial output, global logistics, financial support, and manpower on a scale no other country could provide. From keeping Britain supplied through Lend-Lease to opening multiple fronts and sustaining a total war economy, the United States made it possible not just to resist Nazi domination, but to end it.
**So sure — America gave the world the hamburger but you are not being honest when you ignore that it also gave the world:
Medicine & Public Health
• Mass production of penicillin (discovered in the UK, industrialized by the U.S.)
• Polio vaccines (Salk & Sabin), leading to near-global eradication
• Modern surgical anesthesia
• Open-heart surgery and heart–lung bypass
• Organ transplantation protocols
• Emergency medicine as a formal specialty
• Modern trauma and triage systems
Computing, Information & Networks
• The Internet (ARPANET)
• TCP/IP networking protocols
• Personal computing
• Semiconductors and microchips
• Modern software platforms and operating systems
• Satellites, Space & Navigation
• GPS (freely provided to the world)
• Communications satellites
• Satellite television
• Weather satellites
• Human spaceflight and the Moon landing
Aviation & Transportation
• Powered flight (practical airplanes)
• Commercial aviation systems and air-traffic infrastructure
• Imaging, Cameras & Extreme Environments
• Digital imaging at scale (medical, satellite, scientific)
• Deep-sea submersibles and remotely operated vehicles
• Titanic deep-sea imaging using U.S.-developed camera systems
Systems, Scale & Infrastructure
• The assembly line and modern mass production
• Global logistics and supply-chain systems
• The research-university and grant-funding model
• Technical standards and interoperability frameworks
So tell me — do you want fries with that?
Christy's reply
When I heard Steven sing it years back I thought I’d give it a go….its a great old song…seems to have perked you up no end…I’d love to have written it myself…I have neither the knowledge ,time or education to anal eyes your list of achievements …you remind me of a great song, you might give it a listen..”The Crow in The Cradle” by Sidney Carter….I used to sing it in “The Early Grave Band” which toured Ireland in 1978 in opposition to Westinghouse…
Might you be a Kerry or a Kildare Kenneally …..poets,footballers and station masters…the best of people
it must acknowledged…..ye have made great progress since we all gathered there a few centuries back….shame about the (ongoing) genocide
Re: Your song America —- Hamburgers don’t win wars, run satellites, don’t navigate aircraft, don’t explore the deep ocean — and they certainly don’t save lives!
I’m happy to give Britain full credit where it’s due — there’s a long and serious history of discovery, courage, and endurance. But the claim that the United States has contributed nothing to the world beyond fast food doesn’t survive even light contact with history, science, or modern infrastructure.
World War I
Britain and France bore the overwhelming human cost of World War I from 1914 to 1917, and that sacrifice matters. But by the time the United States entered the war, the Allies were exhausted economically and militarily, and Germany was gambling on one final offensive. The arrival of millions of American troops — backed by U.S. industry, money, and logistics — changed the math completely. The war didn’t end because the Allies were merely holding on; it ended because American involvement made a German victory no longer plausible.
World War II
Britain stood alone in 1940 and prevented Hitler from winning the war outright, and that deserves real respect. But survival is not the same thing as victory. Defeating Nazi Germany required industrial output, global logistics, financial support, and manpower on a scale no other country could provide. From keeping Britain supplied through Lend-Lease to opening multiple fronts and sustaining a total war economy, the United States made it possible not just to resist Nazi domination, but to end it.
**So sure — America gave the world the hamburger but you are not being honest when you ignore that it also gave the world:
Medicine & Public Health
• Mass production of penicillin (discovered in the UK, industrialized by the U.S.)
• Polio vaccines (Salk & Sabin), leading to near-global eradication
• Modern surgical anesthesia
• Open-heart surgery and heart–lung bypass
• Organ transplantation protocols
• Emergency medicine as a formal specialty
• Modern trauma and triage systems
Computing, Information & Networks
• The Internet (ARPANET)
• TCP/IP networking protocols
• Personal computing
• Semiconductors and microchips
• Modern software platforms and operating systems
• Satellites, Space & Navigation
• GPS (freely provided to the world)
• Communications satellites
• Satellite television
• Weather satellites
• Human spaceflight and the Moon landing
Aviation & Transportation
• Powered flight (practical airplanes)
• Commercial aviation systems and air-traffic infrastructure
• Imaging, Cameras & Extreme Environments
• Digital imaging at scale (medical, satellite, scientific)
• Deep-sea submersibles and remotely operated vehicles
• Titanic deep-sea imaging using U.S.-developed camera systems
Systems, Scale & Infrastructure
• The assembly line and modern mass production
• Global logistics and supply-chain systems
• The research-university and grant-funding model
• Technical standards and interoperability frameworks
So tell me — do you want fries with that?
When I heard Steven sing it years back I thought I’d give it a go….its a great old song…seems to have perked you up no end…I’d love to have written it myself…I have neither the knowledge ,time or education to anal eyes your list of achievements …you remind me of a great song, you might give it a listen..”The Crow in The Cradle” by Sidney Carter….I used to sing it in “The Early Grave Band” which toured Ireland in 1978 in opposition to Westinghouse…
Might you be a Kerry or a Kildare Kenneally …..poets,footballers and station masters…the best of people
it must acknowledged…..ye have made great progress since we all gathered there a few centuries back….shame about the (ongoing) genocide