americans

[Nike]

Originally Posted by ArtificialOne

And, I actually didn't realize Cirac was a conservative, he acted so much like a socialist it was hard to tell.

errr.... so the student revolts 2005 were a result of Chirac's socialist policy? ;-)

[Vako]

Originally Posted by mrs.wes straker

Hey! What was starred out; or censored?

A derogatory term for a male gay that starts with a f and ends with a t.

[badteccy]

That's a lot of words.

[Vako]

Originally Posted by badteccy

That's a lot of words.

The word of the day is f*a*g*g*o*t.

Rainbow flag / pink upside-down triangle territory.

[raggedyanne]

Ever been to Santa Cruz? My friends drag me every summer. There's this amazing coldstone cremery that has a great view of the parade every year. The rest of the country doesn't like the way california rolls, screw their conservative, christian-republican, bush worshiping, asses

[Vako]

Originally Posted by raggedyanne

Ever been to Santa Cruz? My friends drag me every summer. There's this amazing coldstone cremery that has a great view of the parade every year. The rest of the country doesn't like the way california rolls, screw their conservative, christian-republican, bush worshiping, asses

I don't recall having spent time in Santa Cruz, and I just looked it up, it seems like a gorgeous place. I have passed through it several times though. As I look at the map, I see it is above Monterey. It would be great to be apart that parade. Maybe I'll give it a go one of these days.

[raggedyanne]

Santa Cruz is what America should be. Accepting, diverse, beautiful, great book stores, surfing, amazingly hot people with interesting hobbys, and ice cream. Not to mention the great conversations you get into with the locals: politics, music, civil rights, whether or not we should allow hippys to camp out at the boardwalk. Those stuffed suits in Washington don't know what they're missing. Speaking of that, would you vote for a politition who was not pro-choice? I personally would not.

[Vako]

Originally Posted by raggedyanne

Santa Cruz is what America should be. Accepting, diverse, beautiful, great book stores, surfing, amazingly hot people with interesting hobbys, and ice cream. Not to mention the great conversations you get into with the locals: politics, music, civil rights, whether or not we should allow hippys to camp out at the boardwalk. Those stuffed suits in Washington don't know what they're missing. Speaking of that, would you vote for a politition who was not pro-choice? I personally would not.

I most likely would not vote for a politician that was not pro-choice, as I am pro-choice, which is unusual for my crowd.

[Drake Dun]

I would not vote for a politician who was not pro-choice. Nor for one who was. Hah. I crack me up.

Drake

[Vako]

Originally Posted by Drake Dun

I would not vote for a politician who was not pro-choice. Nor for one who was. Hah. I crack me up.

Drake

Well, which is it. Are you for or against abortion? It's one heck of a deal.

[Drake Dun]

Originally Posted by Vako

Well, which is it. Are you for or against abortion? It's one heck of a deal.

I'm against violence, and especially organized violence. That principle turns out to be genuinely tricky to apply in the case of abortion, but the short version: pro-choice, not without sympathies for the other side.

Therefore, I would think about voting for a bill to repeal an abortion ban, although I am wary of voting.

There's a difference between that, however, and voting for a candidate for political office. That is giving a nod of approval and substantive support to organized violence in its highest form - government.

Drake

[ArtificialOne]

I think the abortion thing is such a load of bs that distracts from real problems. Same thing as Gay marriage. Not to belittle those who are whole heartedly into those topics, but..... There are more important subjects like border security <see "tb" guy who got past on the canadian border>, Illegal immigration. Reforming govt and the tax system. We should focus on the majority of the problems and not a single topic.

Yes, I agree with Raggedy. Santa Cruz f'n rocks. Although you should travel around the country as there are many places that have loads of culture. Key west is awesome, so is nor cal around crescent city. Hell, even a few places north of Daluth, MN. Don't believe the media bs that the US has no culture and other such bs. You only see what you want to see and if you have blinders on you'll only see nothing. I just drove cross country...<yes again! I know!!!> I took the northern route and was surprised about some of the neat small towns I drove through. <Lovelock, NV mainstreet was neat>

Beauty, Culture, etc. is all in the eye of the beholder. If you don't want to see it, you won't.

And yes, I've been overseas and believe it or not there's boring butt hole towns over there too!!!! Imagine that!

Anyways, I've lost 21lbs now and bought a small suv that gets 30mpg! Oh and I'm a Republican.... so : P <pleh!>

LOL

[CptSternn]

Originally Posted by ArtificialOne

I think the abortion thing is such a load of bs that distracts from real problems. Same thing as Gay marriage. Not to belittle those who are whole heartedly into those topics, but..... There are more important subjects like border security <see "tb" guy who got past on the canadian border>, Illegal immigration. Reforming govt and the tax system. We should focus on the majority of the problems and not a single topic.

Once again (oddly enough) I agree with you in this statement. However, aren't you missing something here? WHY are those issues coming up for debate? WHY is same sex marriages and abortion becoming hot topics? Same sex marriage was thrown out there by the bush regime during the last campaign to detract attention from the war.

Same with abortion, same with stem cell research. Every time bad news or issues that make the white house look bad emerge, they bring an inflammatory issue up and press the media to cover it instead of whatever the bad news is.

But I agree 100% - those topics take back seat to tax reform and the like, problem is when you have an administration who has no desire, or dare I say ability, to fix such topics, its much easier for them to deflect criticism and dodge the issue by bringing up issues that get certain groups aruging and not paying attention to whats really happening.

When I lived in Richmond, this happened all the time on a local level. It was very sad. I worked with the governor there (actually two), and watched everytime certain local officials got caught out on certain issues, they would 'stir the pot' and bring up some really inflammatory topics to keep the media off their backs.

Case in point - two members of city council flew to Jamaica for two weeks and put the bill on the cities tab. They then tried to hide the fact since one of the three was head of finance for the state. When busted, one of the politicians (all three were African-American) started a campaign to have Jefferson Davis Highway renamed to Martin Luther King Highway, claiming JD highway was a racist name and that the governor should back him else, he be labeled a racist. Well, after a few weeks the three men were on their rename the highway campaign, people were all worked up about how the governor was obviously racist because he never thought to rename the highway, and the whole area had forgotten about the fact this all started because three men embezzled over a million dollars for a holiday in Jamaica.

Two years later after getting backers in the local house and senate the bill died and nothing was every done. Also, those men were never arrested or tried, even though there was an investigation and the DA claimed to have found enough evidence for trial, it was never pursued. Why? The men claimed they were victims of a racism administration trying to stop them from their cause they were championing - ending racism, be renaming a road.

This is exactly what we see today in the bush administration. Every time something comes out that can hurt them, they come out saying they are trying to protect the family/unborn children/fill-in-the-blank and throw that cause out there and claim that those persons trying to focus on other issues are trying to kill children/destroy the family/whatever-else-they-can-think-of.

It's sad actually.

[ArtificialOne]

All pretty much true.

Jeff Davis Highway? Sounds like Virginia. Unfortunately thats a local thing for them wether to prosocute or not.

I'm also against polies having public spending acounts or cars paid for by the tax payer.

It seems the Dems in congress are getting a worse rating now than the reps did before they lost... imagine that...

I'm to tired to go into details now.. but, I told you so, to those who know what I'm talkin about....

Damn I need some sleep...

[raggedyanne]

Sleep is good. That's another thing americans don't get enough of. We have a high rate of insomnia, randomness. I think it's wrong that politicians have forgotten that they were elected to promote the concerns of the people. Our representatives spend more time planning their re-election campaigns then working these days. I just got back from Washington D.C. and wondered what the founding fathers would have thought of all this. Sternn brings up a good point, we are easily distracted by controversy. Good for them, bad for us.

[ArtificialOne]

Totally agree with you raggedy.

I was quite sickened to see pres elections basically starting 2yrs before the actual ones... stupid pollies... And why can't they enforce the present laws and stop making new ones?...Guess they might go out of business or something.. sigh.......

[Aaroneet]

Enforcing the present laws? We have a hard enough time enforcing our original laws...

[raggedyanne]

thou shalt not kill - "BANG! Oops, was that me? You can't arrest me for that! We're in America! Right to bear arms and shit akin to that!"

[bleedingheart344]

Why not just scrap the constitution? It's not like the government gives us the rights we were given in it. But then again, as soon as you give Americans more freedoms, we abuse them. That's why we can't have freedom of speech and press and such. Oh well, I suppose that is just life in America. As for raising topics like abortion and such to divert our focus, it makes sense. The government does this so they can make any decision they want to. Imagine, the government reaches a decision that is very drastic, but may help us win this war. If they announce it, then it is guaranteed that some citizens will protest about it. That just gives the government more people to worry about, with the diversion of focus, people still argue, but it's not like it's getting out of hand.

[CptSternn]

Originally Posted by bleedingheart344

But then again, as soon as you give Americans more freedoms, we abuse them. That's why we can't have freedom of speech and press and such. Oh well, I suppose that is just life in America.

This is an inherent falsehood. Much like government sponsored health care and the dole welfare system, Americans are taught that when given freedom, its abused. If you look at countries that have free health care and ones that offer rent allowance and the dole, you see very low percentages of abuse.

This is true of most socialist ideals. Thing is, in a capitalist society, those things don't pay. So the idea that abuse is rampant in those other systems is continually perpetuated until the masses believe they can't have such things as they would abuse them.

Once again, this is a mass conditioning and brain washing of the highest order. Much like those in the slave owning states during the civil war aruging that slaves were better off with them as they couldn't adapt nor could they support themselves, and many slaves believing this because they had never had freedom nor been offered the opportunity to support themselves.

Just because someone tells you that your not capable doesn't mean you aren't. The trick is to look at what that person has to gain, or lose, if you do achieve your goals.

In this case, arguing Americans need to be restrained to protect them from themselves seems farcical. The whole idea of freedom is not to be lead around by the nose. I personally would rather live in a society where people have the opportunity to make a mistake that might effect our lives adversely, but hey, at least its OUR mistake, OUR choice, and as a society we grow.

[bleedingheart344]

Wow, never thought of it that way. Though, it's hard to say that the government is teaching America to think they would abuse such things. If it is so, then basically you're saying that the government is just doing that to get more money through the systems we are taught that we would abuse? And, what is your stance on my other points?

[BLEED REBELION!!!]

This thread is 15 pages thick so I only read the first 2 pages……..

http://www.citymayors.com/features/quality_survey.html

That link is the list of the best places to live on the globe.

I was born in America Oahu, Hawaii to be exact. And I guess I am an American but I do feel ticked off because Hawaii should be independent …But that’s for another thread.
I am not a “fat American”. I am actually athletic I Dance and I do Brazilian martial arts I weigh 128 and I’m about 5 feet 3 inches. I will be one of the fist to say America sucks major ass. The schools suck the government is crap and pretty much all the kiddies are brain washed from a very young age. I like language I might even become a linguist I think English is kind of boring so I want to learn other languages Im already working on Japanese and when I was little I spoke Spanish but lost it as I got older because im not in contact with the Spanish side of my family.
I guess Im somewhat glad to be born in America as opposed to being born somewhere where I would be forced to work in a sweat shop making Nike shoes. The amount of money my family makes a month is under the us poverty line but I always have most of what I need thanks to my mom. I don’t plan on staying in America simply because I like to travel. But you cant just judge that I would be automatically fat ugly lazy and stupid simply because I was born on a island which America has taken over. Allot of Americans bitch about how much America sucks. Some one else on this thread said that americans have allot of pride and think they are the greatest thing ever I would disagree. Most of the ppl I know don’t like the America we are living in. Most of the ppl I know are poor. We get crap education crappy food teriable air , acid rain etc etc….. So fuck America …Or really fuck our stupid government fuck big business fuck the system ect etc etc.

In the end America’s gonna be even stupider and fuck with the wrong person then America will be blown to shit and that’s that. I don’t plan on staying in the Us long enough to see it.


Honolulu I believe got 27 on the list of places to live……. 27 was the highest America got on that list. I can think of at least 6 places in Hawaii that kick Honolulu’s as. In my opinion I would say there is no where else on earth that could be much better that living in Hawaii. The People are awesome the pollution is low everything there is great. But pretty soon Hawaii will just be another polluted shit hole because every thing is being “developed” and all the tourists and people with money are buying everything cost of living has gone up so much that if you’re a local and not some rich guy your screwed.

[heretoday_gonetomorrow]

I've only read some of this post (don't have the time to read all 15 pages of it), but I'd like to say this. I'm a 16-year-old American, I'm 5 foot 1 and weigh 103 lb! I'm a vegetarian, I HATE fast food, I go on 30 mile hikes, I love to stay fit and active! By the way CptSternn, I looked at some of your pictures, and you resemble a whale. Oh, and I love to learn. I'm sorry you like to sit back and get spoon fed all the crap you hear about how "bad" America is, but you really need to stop believing the stereotypes.

[CptSternn]

Originally Posted by bleedingheart344

Wow, never thought of it that way. Though, it's hard to say that the government is teaching America to think they would abuse such things. If it is so, then basically you're saying that the government is just doing that to get more money through the systems we are taught that we would abuse? And, what is your stance on my other points?

Well, sorta. They teach Americans that socialism and state sponsored health care is bad. Have you seen Sicko yet? It's a great example of this. In numerous speeches various republican leaders always make snide comments about 'the Canadian health care system' like its the plague. In reality, the blows the doors off the U.S. system. Same with most of Europe. With insurance companies in America now opting to send patients to Europe for procedure to save money, this alone speaks volumes.

But to address your other two points, scrapping the constitution merely because on current administration has made it a primary goal to take away your constitutional rights is no solution. Just because the bush admin has tried to get rid of it, and in many cases has, its only a matter of time before the pendulum swings the other way. So is politics in America. If one group starts pushing to hard in one direction, the masses usually push back the other way. I'd say wait for the next administration to take office to see this happening. But in no way should you help along the right wing nuts and get rid of your own constitutional protections.

As far as allowing the government to deceive the people if it draws attention to atrocities that 'might' end the war, well thats also a bad idea. You advocating illegal activity in hopes it might bring about some positive change. Never in history when a government acted outside the law did the people benefit. In fact, when a government is allowed to act outside the law, the people ALWAYS lose. Also, once a government starts operating in the manner, they don't look out for the people, most of the time the just look out for themselves. If they can get away with bending a few rules and the people let it slide in hopes of anything, the government then knows if it dangles that carrot in front of the people enough it can do whatever it wants.

Ironically enough, its already happening. Everytime the bush admin wants to do something like take away your constitutional rights, they claim terrorism is somehow linked.

[CptSternn]

Originally Posted by heretoday_gonetomorrow

I've only read some of this post (don't have the time to read all 15 pages of it), but I'd like to say this. I'm a 16-year-old American, I'm 5 foot 1 and weigh 103 lb! I'm a vegetarian, I HATE fast food, I go on 30 mile hikes, I love to stay fit and active! By the way CptSternn, I looked at some of your pictures, and you resemble a whale. Oh, and I love to learn. I'm sorry you like to sit back and get spoon fed all the crap you hear about how "bad" America is, but you really need to stop believing the stereotypes.

I'll translate this...

Hi, I'm a teenage American who is too lazy to actually read this whole post, so I'll just jump into the conversation wherever the hell I want because thats what Americans do.

Also I'll post personal attacks because I have no real content to write about because my lack of a proper education leaves me constantly lacking the needed skills to post appropriate responses to most arguments.

Thanks for going ahead there and becoming the stereotype you claim to be rallying against.