[OT] [PW] [Long] America Bashing

Howard Berkowitz wrote:

snippage

Sometimes it's not superiority as much as familiarity. When I had to
drive for about 10 days in England, the staff at the Avis car return
lot at Heathrow were very nice. I don't know if they were just saving
my feeling or being accurate, but they reassured me that they were
used to seeing Americans passionately kissing the pavement, once they
were aware they did not have to drive on what felt like the wrong
side, often in narrow lanes.

And roundabouts...

And roundabouts...

And roundabouts...

When my DH was sent by his (now former) employer to Manchester, England, he
got a rental car - people at the rental place asked him if he wanted a
"people mover". His reply was "huh-wha???". They went back and forth over
it a few minutes, then come to figure out that what they were calling a
"people mover" over there, we call a "mini-van" over here in the US. Tall
like a regular va, but a bit smaller - like a car. Also, petrol (gas to us
USAn's) computed to about $9US per gallon (and we b!tch when it gets to
$2US)....ouch - no wonder Land Rovers & other SUV's are few & far between
over there!

--?
The ONE and ONLY
lefthanded-pathetic-paranoid-psychotic-sarcastic-wiseass-ditzy
former-blonde in Bloomington! (And proud of it, too)© email me at
nalee1964 (at) insightbb (dot) com
http://community.webshots.com/user/mgcmdjeep

In article , wrote:

CatNipped wrote:

"Bob M" wrote in message
...


I have no problem with the people that voted for The Shrub. They
obviously thought they were doing what was best for this country. I
strongly disagree but I won't stop being friends with them.


Yeah, they probably think I'm just as wrong for voting for the other
party.
I don't think anyone in America thought, "Hey, let's see if we can
derail
this government and ruin our country." They weren't being treasonous,
they
were just doing what they thought was best when they voted.

THEY weren't being "treasonous" - I wish one could say the
same for Bush and his cronies! Many Americans believe he
should be IMPEACHED, not allowed to continue in power.
Unfortunately, we're in the minority (so far). One can only
hope America wakes up before it's too late!


I don't feel very asleep -- and I didn't ever vote for Bush 43. In the
perspective of history, I think he will turn out to be one of the lesser
presidents.

Nevertheless, I become concerned when I hear Americans start talking
about treason, which is the ONLY specific crime defined in the
Constitution. The framers defined it very, very narrowly, because they
had seen the damage the Crown had inflicted with liberal accusations of
treason.

In like manner, impeachment is rightly called the thermonuclear weapon
of American politics. It paralyzes government and builds hatred, and had
serious repercussions both times it was used against Presidents -- and
failed.

In article , wrote:

Howard Berkowitz wrote:



Not without good reason, attempts to impeach the President have been
called the thermonuclear weapon of American politics. We saw the impact
on governing that the Clinton impeachment caused, and the Andrew
Johnson
affair was worse. I'm of the general opinion that the risks of such
would only be warranted in cases of major treason or an attempt to
usurp
power. Lying to the Congress is reprehensible, but the cure may be
worse
than the disease.

Bingo! "or an attempt to usurp power" covers it very nicely
- especially if you question the reliability of "paper-free"
electronic voting.


I follow electronic voting technology very closely, mostly from the
Information Security Committee of the American Bar Association forum,
but also other computer professional responsibiity lists. I'm not happy
with Diebold's implementation or appearance of conflict of interest, but
I have yet to see any serious allegations of flaws, including
statistical analysis of anomalous voting in normally close voting.

An "attempt to usurp power" is rather more blatant - more on the level
of imposing martial law for unjustifiable reasons. Nixon's Plumbers and
the Huston Plan came dangerously close, but the system self-corrected.

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On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 23:07:44 GMT, "Yoj"
wrote:

"Adrian" wrote in message
...
Howard Berkowitz wrote:
OTOH, most cats probably like herring.

I'm glad you didn't say *all* cats. ;-)
--
Adrian (Owned by Snoopy & Bagheera)
A house is not a home, without a cat.

Only a non-catperson would say *all* cats like or dislike anything.
;-)


I bought Cinders a small can of salmon-based cat food as a Christmas
treat. When I opened the can, it smelled pretty good to me (although
I didn't go so far as to taste it). Cinders smelled it a couple of
times, but declined to eat any. Apparently, only kibble counts as
food, as far as she is concerned. I ended up having to throw the
food away.

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--
John F. Eldredge --
PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better
than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria

"Magic Mood Jeep©" wrote in message
news:WQJAd.282060$V41.40785@attbi_s52...
Howard Berkowitz wrote:

snippage

Sometimes it's not superiority as much as familiarity. When I had to
drive for about 10 days in England, the staff at the Avis car return
lot at Heathrow were very nice. I don't know if they were just saving
my feeling or being accurate, but they reassured me that they were
used to seeing Americans passionately kissing the pavement, once they
were aware they did not have to drive on what felt like the wrong
side, often in narrow lanes.

And roundabouts...

And roundabouts...

And roundabouts...

When my DH was sent by his (now former) employer to Manchester, England,
he
got a rental car - people at the rental place asked him if he wanted a
"people mover". His reply was "huh-wha???". They went back and forth over
it a few minutes, then come to figure out that what they were calling a
"people mover" over there, we call a "mini-van" over here in the US. Tall
like a regular va, but a bit smaller - like a car. Also, petrol (gas to
us
USAn's) computed to about $9US per gallon (and we b!tch when it gets to
$2US)....ouch - no wonder Land Rovers & other SUV's are few & far between
over there!

Yes, from what I've heard, we pay less for petrol (or gas) than just about
anybody in any other country.

Joy

"Yowie" wrote in message
...
"Yoj" wrote in message
...
"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
...


Howard Berkowitz wrote:


Sometimes it's not superiority as much as familiarity. When I had
to
drive for about 10 days in England, the staff at the Avis car return
lot
at Heathrow were very nice. I don't know if they were just saving my
feeling or being accurate, but they reassured me that they were used
to
seeing Americans passionately kissing the pavement, once they were
aware
they did not have to drive on what felt like the wrong side, often
in
narrow lanes.

And roundabouts...

And roundabouts...

And roundabouts...

Oh well, THOSE come in for their share of "abuse" from UK
posters to my travel group, too! Myself, I would never
drive ANYWHERE in Europe, even though the rest of them drive
on the right side of the road. I'm timid about driving a
rental car in other places (even here in the U.S., where I
know the traffic laws and have no language difficulty).

I have driven a rental car in other states, but I was very relieved when
they gave me a Toyota (which is what I drive). Driving a strange car is
difficult. I can get lost within 30 miles of my own home. When I first
talked about going to Australia, a woman on one of my newsgroups offered
to
lend me a car while I was there. I thought about it for about 5
seconds.
I
thought about trying to find my way around in a strange country, driving
a
strange car with the steering wheel on the wrong side, and driving on
the
wrong side of the road. I said no thank you. ;-)

I have an Aussie friend who is braver than I am, though. When she
visited
the U.S., she rented a car and drove around by herself for four weeks,
visiting several states in the process.

It sbad enough when I went to Queensland because of work and rented a car
there. Even though everythign else is exactly the same, driving wise, as
it
is down here where I live, the car I rented had the indicator stick on the
left, and the wiper stick on the right (rather than the other way around,
which is the usual way in Australia). I had to drive that car all the way
through Brisbane, and although the traffic wasn't half as bad as it was in
Sydney, I nearly caused a few accidents by putting my wipers on to turn
the
corner rather and hten getting all bumfuzzled and flustered. It was just
as
bad getting back into my car after a week and making the very same errors
again, as I had gotten used to the controls on the rental car!

Yowie

I can imagine! It's really hard driving a car you aren't used to. The last
time I visited my mother, my sister let me drive her car. Actually, it's a
Toyota mini-van. The first time I parked it, I couldn't find the parking
brake. Luckily we were meeting some people at a restaurant, and one of them
helped me find it. Instead of being in the center of the front seat, it was
by the door!

Joy

John F. Eldredge wrote:
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On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 23:07:44 GMT, "Yoj"
wrote:

"Adrian" wrote in message
...
Howard Berkowitz wrote:
OTOH, most cats probably like herring.

I'm glad you didn't say *all* cats. ;-)
--
Adrian (Owned by Snoopy & Bagheera)
A house is not a home, without a cat.

Only a non-catperson would say *all* cats like or dislike anything.
;-)


I bought Cinders a small can of salmon-based cat food as a Christmas
treat. When I opened the can, it smelled pretty good to me (although
I didn't go so far as to taste it). Cinders smelled it a couple of
times, but declined to eat any. Apparently, only kibble counts as
food, as far as she is concerned. I ended up having to throw the
food away.

When I was first adopted by Persia and took her to the vet, he gave me worm
pills just in case she had some. He suggested I tuck them into a bit of
water packed tuna. Turned out Persia does *not* like tuna at all. But she
didn't have worms, either!

Jill

Christina Websell wrote:
"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in
message ...


To save this
wonderful group from degenerating into flames, I could e-mail you
(or anyone
else) examples if when I come across them (if I remember)
explaining why they are irksome.

They're irksome to a lot of Americans, too, Yowie - which is why I
jump into discussions like this! Sure, in many ways the U.S. is a
good place to live - but I can point out a lot of ways in which
other places are, too. (I, for one, would move to Europe tomorrow
if there were any way I could live on my unaugmented "retirement"
income in anyplace I'd WANT to live.)


Where would you choose to live in Europe if you could, and why? Just
curious.

Tweed

Liecester? ;-)
--
Adrian (Owned by Snoopy & Bagheera)
A house is not a home, without a cat.

On Mon, 27 Dec 2004 18:50:24 GMT, "Yoj"
wrote:

The whole opposition to gay marriage is
hypocritical at best. I feel like throwing up when someone says that would
cheapen marriage.

Amen, Joy!! I agree it's hypocritical if not downright vicious.
Here they're saying that gay marriage would *destroy* traditional
marriage. Hooey!!! With the high divorce rate, unwed
"relationships", domestic violence, child abuse, and rampant adultery
going on, it seems to me the "straights" are doing a good job of it on
their own!!

Jeanne

(snip)
So, while the USA has a lot going for it, it also has some problems in
its attitude. I do not think people should seriously criticise the USA,
but I do also think that Americans should accept mild criticism in the
same way as others do, and realise that other countries have done and
still do a lot for everyone else.

As a loyal AND self-critical American, I'd just like to mention here
that the thing that irritates me most is the constant characterization
of the USA or Americans in broad, sweeping terms. I know it must be
difficult for a lot of people around the world to understand how huge
the US is, but there are just too many of us, and too many different
kinds of us, to safely generalize about us. For every true thing you
can say about us, it is safe to assume the opposite also holds true.


Theresa
Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh
My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com