Author Topic: How Many More Times Does It Have to Be Spelled Out To You People?  (Read 8460 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Michael Tee

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 12605
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: How Many More Times Does It Have to Be Spelled Out To You People?
« Reply #30 on: February 18, 2008, 09:45:19 PM »
<<The simple fact is that it doesn't matter if Denmark is ranked happier than America. What matters is if you are happy. And external influences like whether your neighbor is happy should have little to do with your own pursuit of happiness.>>

I think the point of the survey was that if you're a Dane, you have a much better chance statistically of being happy than if you are an American.  Their society is much better organized than your society, so more of them have a chance to be happy than you do.  sirs' attitude seems to be, "Why reorganize our society at all, it works fine for me, fuck anyone else that it DOESN'T work out so fine for."  Pure greed and pure selfishness, but at least no surprises there.  I think Danes are much more mature than Americans.

My wife and I spent a week in Copenhagen in the summer, in a small hotel across from the main train station, which is also the main bike rental.  You can bike anywhere in the city and on the main downtown thoroughfares, the bike lanes can accommodate five bicycles riding abreast.  Once there weren't any more men's bicycles and I had to take a woman's bike, which I guess made me somewhat uptight and uncomfortable.  The rental guy thought it was hilarious that we "Americans" were so  hyper-vigilant about threats to our macho image.   Very friendly people and everyone speaks English.

Plane

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 26993
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: How Many More Times Does It Have to Be Spelled Out To You People?
« Reply #31 on: February 18, 2008, 09:56:55 PM »
The rental guy thought it was hilarious that we "Americans" were so  hyper-vigilant about threats to our macho image.   Very friendly people and everyone speaks English.


Please make it clear that youare a Canadian , we have enough image problems.

I was rideing the train to Rome when I met a Belgin with his two small children , I was the first "American " they had ever met , but when their Father introduced me to them as an Ameican tey were incredulous , I wasn't any taller than a regular person.

Rich

  • Guest
Re: How Many More Times Does It Have to Be Spelled Out To You People?
« Reply #32 on: February 18, 2008, 10:17:10 PM »
>>But Rich...........it takes a village.  And we need folks like Brass, & Js, and Tee, and Lanya to tell us how we're to be, act, and be happy.  We just can't do it without them.<<

It's the classic "Communism doesn't work because the right people weren't in charge. Smart, thoughtful, caring people like us could make it work." Based on how they treat their own children, I wouldn't let them anywhere near power.

Four one way tickets to Denmark can't cost that much can they?
« Last Edit: February 18, 2008, 10:27:33 PM by Rich »

Rich

  • Guest
Re: How Many More Times Does It Have to Be Spelled Out To You People?
« Reply #33 on: February 18, 2008, 10:22:57 PM »
>>Oh, I do not hate America.<<

Oh bullshit. You piss and moan about how unfair it all is and how much better it would be if we were all nice little comrades. You've never had a positive thing to say about America in the 5 years or so you've been inflicting your delusions on the net.

To prove it, you laps into, "in a sense you are right ... " Of course I'm right, and anybody who knows you knows I'm right.

So right after times get better for you and you can make your home environmentally friendly, sell it, get a bag of good smoke, and head off into that workers paradise known as Denmark.
« Last Edit: February 18, 2008, 10:26:47 PM by Rich »

Michael Tee

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 12605
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: How Many More Times Does It Have to Be Spelled Out To You People?
« Reply #34 on: February 18, 2008, 10:27:33 PM »
<<Please make it clear that youare a Canadian , we have enough image problems.>>

I usually do, but when I see that I'm making a particularly bad impression on someone, I love that I'm really  making you guys look bad.  Canadian students, when they travel, are told to always wear Canadian flag pins so they won't be mistaken for Americans and ripped off, etc.

But you never know.  Once in Paris my wife, younger daughter and I were standing under a street lamp trying to make sense of a map, when this very well-dressed, distinguished looking older man asked in excellent English if he could help us out.  He insisted on walking us the two blocks to the restaurant we were looking for, and as we thanked him profusely, he told us that he wanted us to realize that it wasn't ALL Frenchmen who hated Americans, he himself, for example, would be grateful to them until his last breath.  Holy shit, none of us could bring ourselves to disillusion him.  For that guy, we were America.

Plane

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 26993
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: How Many More Times Does It Have to Be Spelled Out To You People?
« Reply #35 on: February 19, 2008, 12:52:25 AM »
<<Please make it clear that youare a Canadian , we have enough image problems.>>

I usually do, but when I see that I'm making a particularly bad impression on someone, I love that I'm really  making you guys look bad.  Canadian students, when they travel, are told to always wear Canadian flag pins so they won't be mistaken for Americans and ripped off, etc.

But you never know.  Once in Paris my wife, younger daughter and I were standing under a street lamp trying to make sense of a map, when this very well-dressed, distinguished looking older man asked in excellent English if he could help us out.  He insisted on walking us the two blocks to the restaurant we were looking for, and as we thanked him profusely, he told us that he wanted us to realize that it wasn't ALL Frenchmen who hated Americans, he himself, for example, would be grateful to them until his last breath.  Holy shit, none of us could bring ourselves to disillusion him.  For that guy, we were America.

Don't worry , there is a  reason for France to remember Canada with gratitude as well, though Canada had less to give , it gave the best it had.

http://members.shaw.ca/junobeach/index.htm
http://www.battlefieldsww2.50megs.com/juno_beach.htm

« Last Edit: February 19, 2008, 12:55:09 AM by Plane »

Michael Tee

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 12605
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: How Many More Times Does It Have to Be Spelled Out To You People?
« Reply #36 on: February 19, 2008, 02:05:03 AM »
We would have given a lot more if ALL the French Canadians had been on our side.

Xavier_Onassis

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 27916
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: How Many More Times Does It Have to Be Spelled Out To You People?
« Reply #37 on: February 19, 2008, 08:12:26 AM »
We would have given a lot more if ALL the French Canadians had been on our side.

===================================================================
I had never heard that French Canadians were more reluctant to liberate France than Anglophones. Is this true?


As for Denmark, one reason for their happiness seems to be that they are all Danes and think of themselves as members of the family. Americans tend to be reluctant to share their good fortune, because they dislike the idea that someone they disliker might benefit from it.

It would devastate Richiepoo to learn that a portion of his buck three ninety-eight in taxes might be spent on doo-rags for some ghetto dweller. It would also devastate the ghetto dweller to learn that some of his taxes could be spent on Richie's Grecian Formula.
'
"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana."

Brassmask

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2600
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: How Many More Times Does It Have to Be Spelled Out To You People?
« Reply #38 on: February 19, 2008, 11:53:35 AM »
So, sorry, I won't be running away like you conservative white-flighter types who simply move away from problem areas

Oh do you and your child live in the inner city slums so you can be "close to the people" where you can
try to have an impact or are you just the typical liberal that talks the shit but lives in the middle class neighborhoods
near a Best Buy and a Starbucks?
 

Rich,

Here again you ask a question when you assume you already know the answer.

Right now, I absolutely DO live in an inner city neighborhood that over the last nearly five years I have lived has indeed gotten better but I won't go so far as to say it is only because I live in it.  Though our neighborhood is not so much a slum, as you say, it is the buffer neighborhood between a sort of middle class neighborhood and, as you say, a slum.

When we moved here, there were gunshots in the neighborhood at least once a week but my mother had lived here once for several years and never had any trouble and so when she moved back and looked at houses here again, my wife and I decided it was time to become homeowners for the first time.

Two years ago, a couple of guys killed three hispanic fellas sitting in their front yard.  The neighborhood was outraged and so people came together at the funeral that a lot of us attended.  Hispanic, Black, White, Asian and though the neighborhood watch isn't run like clockwork, there is an understanding throughout that we are watching out for each other.  Since that time, I have come to know my neighbors names at least and my kid plays with the neighbors' kid all the time.

Its not like we're saving the neighborhood ourselves but we at least invest and it has gotten better since there have only been a couple of times in the last year or so that I have wondered if that popping noise was gunshots or fireworks.

There is a brand new school that has been built since we moved here as well and the wife and I have been agonizing over whether or not to send our son there.  Politically and ideologically, I want to support the school system and not be a white flighter.  As a father though, I have not turned a blind eye to the fact that there have been two high school shootings in Memphis schools in the last three months.  I have not turned a deaf ear to the former teachers I hear on the local conservative talk show who call in and tell horror stories of young kids intimidating female teachers.  I really don't want to send my son to a gladiator school where he might not get an education in the three R's.

There is a Catholic school in our neighborhood who a friend of ours (who is a teacher at another more upscale Catholic school) has said we should check out.  We probably will check it out but I'm not really that interested because I really don't want him to be indoctrinated  and then have a rift between the two of us.

Unless our scheduled visits to all of the possible school selections prove to us that he will be safe and get a basic education, my wife has almost settled on a christian school that is very popular here because the kids all go on to college for the most part.  They do teach religion (Baptist I think) and that is a real problem for me but we'll see.

But I digress.

Four new houses have been built in our neighborhood in the past two years and my understanding is three more are going to start in the next year.  We're are looking at either doing a simple renovation on our small two-bedroom and then buying another in this same neighborhood OR adding another floor (or two if that is possible) to this house and staying.  I love our little place because when we bought it, it was literally a dump.  I had to totally tear out the kitchen countertop and old cast iron sink and replace them.  The countertop that was there was literally rotten and curling.  I quite certain there is plenty of equity now and am looking to schedule an appraisal after I make a few more changes in the coming warmer days.

But lastly, you should know, the closest Starbucks to my house is 1.7 miles away and the closest Best Buy (which is very close to where I work) is 12.81 miles away.  Just FYI.

Brassmask

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2600
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: How Many More Times Does It Have to Be Spelled Out To You People?
« Reply #39 on: February 19, 2008, 11:58:07 AM »
>>Oh, I do not hate America.<<

Oh bullshit. You piss and moan about how unfair it all is and how much better it would be if we were all nice little comrades. You've never had a positive thing to say about America in the 5 years or so you've been inflicting your delusions on the net.

To prove it, you laps into, "in a sense you are right ... " Of course I'm right, and anybody who knows you knows I'm right.

So right after times get better for you and you can make your home environmentally friendly, sell it, get a bag of good smoke, and head off into that workers paradise known as Denmark.

I don't recall you ever posting anything about what's right with America.

I haven't smoked pot in like ten years.

And, yes, America is set up to keep the poor poor and the rich richer.

Rich

  • Guest
Re: How Many More Times Does It Have to Be Spelled Out To You People?
« Reply #40 on: February 19, 2008, 12:14:10 PM »
Yes, you do digress, a lot.

>>And, yes, America is set up to keep the poor poor and the rich richer.<<

Thanks for proving my point.

Now lets see ... we just got a Starbuck in town a year ago and it's 2.44 miles from my home. The nearest Best Buy is 20.31 miles away.

Now why should this matter?

Xavier_Onassis

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 27916
    • View Profile
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 0
Re: How Many More Times Does It Have to Be Spelled Out To You People?
« Reply #41 on: February 19, 2008, 03:45:19 PM »
Now lets see ... we just got a Starbuck in town a year ago and it's 2.44 miles from my home. The nearest Best Buy is 20.31 miles away.

Now why should this matter?
===========================
Find a mirror, and ask yourself. It's your question.
"Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana."

BT

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 16141
    • View Profile
    • DebateGate
  • Liked:
  • Likes Given: 3

Rich

  • Guest
Re: How Many More Times Does It Have to Be Spelled Out To You People?
« Reply #43 on: February 19, 2008, 04:32:22 PM »
BO, get a clue and read Brass's post.

But do yourself a favor and don't look in a mirror.

Rich

  • Guest
Re: How Many More Times Does It Have to Be Spelled Out To You People?
« Reply #44 on: February 19, 2008, 04:34:24 PM »
I see BT. I had no idea why such a statement was directed at me.