60 years ago today....

[Shep151]

. . .another dumb, fat, lazy, inbred, American who's better than anyone and everything else carrying my gun in one hand and a beer in the other . . .

:grin01:
Bwaaaaahahahahaha!
That one got me rollin, D!

 

[Drizzt80]

. . . I forgot to list the porn mag in my back pocket . . . :shrugs:

D80

 

[Joejr14]

What a post. I knew what I saw Drizzt80 had responded it was going to be good---and I was not let down.

Nice to see you chime in, D!

 

[Serpwidgets]

Stirring the pot

Ya, but if you're going to divide up the population by who they voted for, grouping everything by state is not a very good way to do so. Especially when the states being called "red" states are like 45-50% blue, and vice versa. I would think a much more accurate way would be by population density. Urban areas more often swing left and rural areas are more often to the right. Illinois is a good example, where it's politically divided into Chicago and "the rest of the state." This is probably one of the reasons why a lot of people seem to think the electoral college system is not the best way to elect a president.

 

[larryg]

Or ask any of the thousands of South east Asians floating on a decrepit boats/rafts from Indonesia to Australia, or the Ex-Soviet girls who will give up their life and end up being sold at a sex-slave in order to be smuggled into Europe for a new chance. -or the countless Turks, Syrians, North Africans flooding into Southern Europe...

Susan, It's a global phenomenon that occurs in any industrialised/western nation.

The USA is the world leader/pioneer in the computer 'revolution' and indeed the Information Age - via the Space Age. People come here from all over the world to attend our universities. It's not a bad place to live. If some poor little Ukranian girl with alchoholic parents wants to beat her head against the wall and scream "I hate America!" while listening to German dance music, it doesn't make her any less ignorant or America any less than what it is. Frankly, I find it appalling the Europeans I have spoken with watch Jerry Springer regularly and believe it is a real talk show and representative of Americans as a whole.

As far as whether Americans are 'stupid', the average IQ for the USA is 98. Sweden is 101, which is not much different. South Africa has an average IQ of 72. India and China are in the 80s.

Sure, America has its share of fat, stupid people. I can go down to Walmart and see overweight people staggering around (or riding around on motorized carts) who are obviously too stupid to know they are eating themselves to death, and way too stupid to consider the fact that they are sending money to China and the Chinese military when they buy imported goods. I consider them to be a national disgrace, just as I consider Jerry Springer (the man) to be a national disgrace. Intelligence is normally distributed in most every country. For every stupid person, there is probably one smart person. Who do you think will go to Mars first? One argument against India or China ever gaining much real superiority is that the average IQ is so low. Sure, it's much easier for the troubled Euro-teen to beat her head against the wall while dancing to the "America is stupid!" song, but it's not really accurate, now is it?

Obviously Germany was working on the A-bomb at the same time as the USA. Thankfully we finished ours first (yet another trimuph of American superiority and ingenuity and hard work ethic :sobstory: ).

 

[Shep151]

Just to preclude another one-sided retort:
Now why do you suppose those European scientists immigrated to America??????? :shrugs:

 

[Joejr14]

Just to preclude another one-sided retort:
Now why do you suppose those European scientists immigrated to America??????? :shrugs:

Because Europe sucks.

 

[Mitch]

Okay let me start by saying that Truman made the right decision and saved Millions.
Now i will admit that i haven't read every post on this string...it was 7 pages when i looked first. Mainly because i got a bit hot under the collar.
I am currently on active duty and have been for 18 years.
The hate America attitude around the world is based on a very simple thing, "Jealousy". We are the freeest, richest, and most powerful country on the planet.
For some Euro-trash to look down their noses at us makes me ill...after all the Billions upon Billions of dollars we send to other nations all over the world to feed, house and employ their citizens. Some time i wish we would remove all troops from ALL countries....close our borders and our WALLETS. and watch Europe try to deal with the word on their own....my guess is that within the first week France would be surrendering to Cuba.
And as far as Fatness...has anyone looked at Germany? Brats and beer dint do much for your figure

Mitch

 

[larryg]

Why? Better facilities/institutions here, less negativity/beaurocracy/complacency here, not to mention the threat of death under a fascist military dictatorship engaged in a death campaign. J. Robert Oppenheimer was born in NYC in 1904, and he is considered 'the father of the atomic bomb.'

 

[jazzgeek]

Ya, but if you're going to divide up the population by who they voted for, grouping everything by state is not a very good way to do so. Especially when the states being called "red" states are like 45-50% blue, and vice versa. I would think a much more accurate way would be by population density. Urban areas more often swing left and rural areas are more often to the right. Illinois is a good example, where it's politically divided into Chicago and "the rest of the state." This is probably one of the reasons why a lot of people seem to think the electoral college system is not the best way to elect a president.

I couldn't agree more. All it takes is 50% plus one to make a majority, true? Yet those who love to "lie with statistics" are exactly the same ones to publish that red/blue map by county and proclaim a "landslide". Or as the Veep said two days after the election, a "mandate".

I would LOVE to find a map that shows a gradation of "red and blue" - yeah, purples and pinks, as it were - showing the breakdown by margin of victory, e.g., county X was between 51-60% for Kerry, county Y was between 81-90% for Bush, etc. It'd certainly be a more accurate way of rendering the results for interpretation.

As it is in Ill-Annoy, most any state with one or a few dense metropolitan areas and large areas of rural lands (less densely populated, by definition) will show the same tendencies. New York, California, hell, even "red" states like Colorado and Missouri would show this to be true.

As for the electoral college? IMHO, this country has progressed beyond the original purpose the electoral college was meant to serve. Get rid of it, sez I. (And before anyone labels me as a "typical X".....I don't vote straight ticket - I vote for the person whose political ideology and proposed agenda best matches mine, not a party line. Well, I guess that would make me a "typical GDI". )

regards,
jazz

 

[jazzgeek]

First....

I believe it was you who started the name calling when you felt the need to call my President an 'idiot'.

Then....

Because Europe sucks.

Trying to have it both ways there, Sparky?

regards,
jazz

 

[Serpwidgets]

I would LOVE to find a map that shows a gradation of "red and blue" - yeah, purples and pinks, as it were - showing the breakdown by margin of victory, e.g., county X was between 51-60% for Kerry, county Y was between 81-90% for Bush, etc. It'd certainly be a more accurate way of rendering the results for interpretation.

CNN.com has one like you describe, although you have to click on each state individually to see it.

As for the electoral college? IMHO, this country has progressed beyond the original purpose the electoral college was meant to serve. Get rid of it, sez I.

Agreed.

(And before anyone labels me as a "typical X".....I don't vote straight ticket - I vote for the person whose political ideology and proposed agenda best matches mine, not a party line. Well, I guess that would make me a "typical GDI". )

Heh, I've never voted for any republican or democrat, nor will I ever. (Although if McCain had been on the ticket in 2000 I would've been tempted.) I think a two party system is the worst way to concentrate power in a republic that is supposed to be about NOT concentrating power into the hands of a select few, so I continue to vote against it every time.

 

[jazzgeek]

Why? Better facilities/institutions here, less negativity/beaurocracy/complacency here, not to mention the threat of death under a fascist military dictatorship engaged in a death campaign. J. Robert Oppenheimer was born in NYC in 1904, and he is considered 'the father of the atomic bomb.'

And was falsely accused of being a Communist sympathizer during the McCarthy witch hunts.

By far, the majority of the physicists working on the Manhattan Project were American born. Does it matter that they used the theories initially proposed by European born physicists?

That's the cool part about science and the advancement of knowledge. It doesn't have a political ideology.

regards,
jazz

 

[Joejr14]

First....
Then....
Trying to have it both ways there, Sparky?

regards,
jazz

No, I was actually poking fun at the anti-american sentiment with a 'Europe sucks' line.

 

[sojkas]

The hate America attitude around the world is based on a very simple thing, "Jealousy". We are the freeest, richest, and most powerful country on the planet.
Mitch

Well, I think you are exaggerating.

 

[sojkas]

Doh. I managed to cut my post
I wanted to add ,that IMHO more important reason is USA's foreign policy.

 

[Joejr14]

Well, I think you are exaggerating.

I don't. What other country can compare with the US on those levels?

 

[Joejr14]

Doh. I managed to cut my post
I wanted to add ,that IMHO more important reason is USA's foreign policy.

Yeah, we really need to stop giving billions in aid to other countries around the world and we definitely need to stop going on the offensive in terms of terrorists.

Especially since the UN didn't tell us it was okay to go there.

Where the hell is Cav? I figured I'd see a post already...

 

[sojkas]

Well, don't get me wrong, but how many of those billions go to future terrorists?
Check pls who armed back in eighties islamic terrorists in Afghanistan?
Middle and South America -> nothing to tell about too.
Please do not get me wrong, I'm far from being one of those crazy idiots saying, that USA "deserved" anything. It's just cause-result.
It happened many times back in history.

 

[Jynx]

Wow. How could I have missed this thread?

I only have one thing to add, and its just an observation, not an argument. I don't belittle people based on their political beliefs. I happen to be a democrat, but I also didn't vote for the last 2 terms, so I can't bitch. Here is my observation:

Democrat goes into office, and rebuilds the economy. Republican goes into office, and we go to war. Notice a pattern?

Now some wars are worth fighting over, and some aren't. Some things we should go to war over, but we don't. Like them or not, whoever is elected as our president is still our country's #1 representative, and how good can they represent our country if the people of the country don't represent them? Yeah, I don't agree with Bush half the time, and I'd rather see someone else in office. In my opinion, Clinton was a GREAT president. But I still support Bush, its just more of a "general" support. Hey I live here... how many people do and don't contribute anything, even just some support, to this country? Kind of sad when you think about it...

Dad used to tell me "There are 2 things you never discuss... religion and politics, because no one will ever agree with you, and you'll piss off the entire world trying to make them agree with you."

I have a feeling this thread will last a very very long time....