Bush is f*cking inbelievable, vote him out!

[static]

You didn't comment my Iraq comments at all, not that surprising.

You invaded Iraq for oil. You don't give a damn about their people. "You brought democracy in". Well right. You cant' just bomb everything to atoms and then declare democracy in there.

People live in constant fear of death in Iraq right now. Saddam was a dictator but the situation was much more stabile then. It's not USAs business to decide that they much to to democratic nation.
USA has made Iraq much more dangerous and unhappy place to live in.
But hey, who cares as long as you've got your oil.

Originally Posted by justin syder

Static might say money isnt important or but Im sure he dreams of a nice car or something more than what he has. America gives ppl that opportunity. Sure we arent perfect, and we have homelessness and not everyone has healthcare but our medical care is among the best in the world. You cant go anywhere with mediocrity and having every single person on healthcare. Its just a dream. On top of that would you give a cocaine user healthcare for free? someone that abuses his/her body. That makes no sense.

It's not a dream, it's reality in some countries. Advanced countries that is.
Lines to not-so-urgent surgeries might be pretty long but everyone is entitled to healthcare and that is the only civilized way to go. I can see you've got no problem if someone recieves medical care and many others don't - as long as you are the one who gets the care.

Socialism didnt work in Russia and has kept countries at mediocrity and slow growth. It is the reason why america has been to the moon and will be on mars within the next two decades. Meanwhile, Russia is doing all it can just to stay afloat.

Communism didn't work in Soviet Union and it took down the whole region when Soviet Union collapsed in the 90s. Today Russia has huge economical growth per year and the are evolving very fast.

Im in NO WAY trying to be arrogant or making the USA out to be some supreme country but in some ways it is better than the socialist type systems in other countries.

You got high crime rate, we don't.
You pollute more than anything on this planet, we don't.
Your social networks doesn't work, our does
You've got corrupted system, our system is top3 in least corrupted nations in the world.
You police the globe and interfere ("Let's just bomb lightly" ) other nations business
You got huge difference between people. Others have everything and the rest are poor. You are like an 3rd world country actually.

I'm not going to continue this as it's getting nowhere. I'm very anti-american person and I can't stand that you close your eyes before everything that is bad in your country and refuse to believe there are better systems.

Have a nice day, please give me a PM when you're going to invade us too. I'm sure you can dig up our WMD here somewhere.

[CanadianLoonie]

America by the Numbers:
http://www.citypages.com/databank/26...ticle12985.asp

No concept lies more firmly embedded in our national character than the notion that the USA is "No. 1," "the greatest." Our broadcast media are, in essence, continuous advertisements for the brand name "America Is No. 1." Any office seeker saying otherwise would be committing political suicide. In fact, anyone saying otherwise will be labeled "un-American." We're an "empire," ain't we? Sure we are. An empire without a manufacturing base. An empire that must borrow $2 billion a day from its competitors in order to function. Yet the delusion is ineradicable. We're No. 1. Well...this is the country you really live in:

The United States is 49th in the world in literacy (the New York Times, Dec. 12, 2004).

The United States ranked 28th out of 40 countries in mathematical literacy (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).

Twenty percent of Americans think the sun orbits the earth. Seventeen percent believe the earth revolves around the sun once a day (The Week, Jan. 7, 2005).

"The International Adult Literacy Survey...found that Americans with less than nine years of education 'score worse than virtually all of the other countries'" (Jeremy Rifkin's superbly documented book The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream, p.78 ).

Our workers are so ignorant and lack so many basic skills that American businesses spend $30 billion a year on remedial training (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004). No wonder they relocate elsewhere!

"The European Union leads the U.S. in...the number of science and engineering graduates; public research and development (R&D) expenditures; and new capital raised" (The European Dream, p.70).

"Europe surpassed the United States in the mid-1990s as the largest producer of scientific literature" (The European Dream, p.70).

Nevertheless, Congress cut funds to the National Science Foundation. The agency will issue 1,000 fewer research grants this year (NYT, Dec. 21, 2004).

Foreign applications to U.S. grad schools declined 28 percent last year. Foreign student enrollment on all levels fell for the first time in three decades, but increased greatly in Europe and China. Last year Chinese grad-school graduates in the U.S. dropped 56 percent, Indians 51 percent, South Koreans 28 percent (NYT, Dec. 21, 2004). We're not the place to be anymore.

The World Health Organization "ranked the countries of the world in terms of overall health performance, and the U.S. [was]...37th." In the fairness of health care, we're 54th. "The irony is that the United States spends more per capita for health care than any other nation in the world" (The European Dream, pp.79-80 ). Pay more, get lots, lots less.

"The U.S. and South Africa are the only two developed countries in the world that do not provide health care for all their citizens" (The European Dream, p.80 ). Excuse me, but since when is South Africa a "developed" country? Anyway, that's the company we're keeping.

Lack of health insurance coverage causes 18,000 unnecessary American deaths a year. (That's six times the number of people killed on 9/11.) (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005.)

"U.S. childhood poverty now ranks 22nd, or second to last, among the developed nations. Only Mexico scores lower" (The European Dream, p.81). Been to Mexico lately? Does it look "developed" to you? Yet it's the only "developed" country to score lower in childhood poverty.
Twelve million American families--more than 10 percent of all U.S. households--"continue to struggle, and not always successfully, to feed themselves." Families that "had members who actually went hungry at some point last year" numbered 3.9 million (NYT, Nov. 22, 2004).

The United States is 41st in the world in infant mortality. Cuba scores higher (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005).

Women are 70 percent more likely to die in childbirth in America than in Europe (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005).

The leading cause of death of pregnant women in this country is murder (CNN, Dec. 14, 2004).

"Of the 20 most developed countries in the world, the U.S. was dead last in the growth rate of total compensation to its workforce in the 1980s.... In the 1990s, the U.S. average compensation growth rate grew only slightly, at an annual rate of about 0.1 percent" (The European Dream, p.39). Yet Americans work longer hours per year than any other industrialized country, and get less vacation time.

"Sixty-one of the 140 biggest companies on the Global Fortune 500 rankings are European, while only 50 are U.S. companies" (The European Dream, p.66). "In a recent survey of the world's 50 best companies, conducted by Global Finance, all but one were European" (The European Dream, p.69).

"Fourteen of the 20 largest commercial banks in the world today are European.... In the chemical industry, the European company BASF is the world's leader, and three of the top six players are European. In engineering and construction, three of the top five companies are European.... The two others are Japanese. Not a single American engineering and construction company is included among the world's top nine competitors. In food and consumer products, Nestlé and Unilever, two European giants, rank first and second, respectively, in the world. In the food and drugstore retail trade, two European companies...are first and second, and European companies make up five of the top ten. Only four U.S. companies are on the list" (The European Dream, p.68 ).
The United States has lost 1.3 million jobs to China in the last decade (CNN, Jan. 12, 2005).

U.S. employers eliminated 1 million jobs in 2004 (The Week, Jan. 14, 2005).

Three million six hundred thousand Americans ran out of unemployment insurance last year; 1.8 million--one in five--unemployed workers are jobless for more than six months (NYT, Jan. 9, 2005).

Japan, China, Taiwan, and South Korea hold 40 percent of our government debt. (That's why we talk nice to them.) "By helping keep mortgage rates from rising, China has come to play an enormous and little-noticed role in sustaining the American housing boom" (NYT, Dec. 4, 2004). Read that twice. We owe our housing boom to China, because they want us to keep buying all that stuff they manufacture.
Sometime in the next 10 years Brazil will probably pass the U.S. as the world's largest agricultural producer. Brazil is now the world's largest exporter of chickens, orange juice, sugar, coffee, and tobacco. Last year, Brazil passed the U.S. as the world's largest beef producer. (Hear that, you poor deluded cowboys?) As a result, while we bear record trade deficits, Brazil boasts a $30 billion trade surplus (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).

As of last June, the U.S. imported more food than it exported (NYT, Dec. 12, 2004).

Bush: 62,027,582 votes. Kerry: 59,026,003 votes. Number of eligible voters who didn't show up: 79,279,000 (NYT, Dec. 26, 2004). That's more than a third. Way more. If more than a third of Iraqis don't show for their election, no country in the world will think that election legitimate.

One-third of all U.S. children are born out of wedlock. One-half of all U.S. children will live in a one-parent house (CNN, Dec. 10, 2004).

"Americans are now spending more money on gambling than on movies, videos, DVDs, music, and books combined" (The European Dream, p.28 ).

"Nearly one out of four Americans [believe] that using violence to get what they want is acceptable" (The European Dream, p.32).

Forty-three percent of Americans think torture is sometimes justified, according to a PEW Poll (Associated Press, Aug. 19, 2004).

"Nearly 900,000 children were abused or neglected in 2002, the last year for which such data are available" (USA Today, Dec. 21, 2004).

"The International Association of Chiefs of Police said that cuts by the [Bush] administration in federal aid to local police agencies have left the nation more vulnerable than ever" (USA Today, Nov. 17, 2004).

No. 1? In most important categories we're not even in the Top 10 anymore. Not even close.

The USA is "No. 1" in nothing but weaponry, consumer spending, debt, and delusion.

[justin syder]

CanadianLoonie, your facts are right on but your post comes off as overly jealous and a bit obsessive with proving somehow, someway, america isnt as great as some think.

BIG SURPRISE, America isnt perfect!!! I never said we are perfect but if it makes you feel better than fine, Canada is far better than the US. The US sucks.

[CanadianLoonie]

Let's just say I want the American tax rate, but not the American passport.

[justin syder]

You make it seem like this is some horrible country though. There are somethings you might not like, sure, NO country is perfect. I truly believe though that here you have the chance to better yourself. Sure we dont have medical care for everyone but if you have a job you can have access to one of the best medical care systems in the world. Medicine can get expensive and thats another topic but the medical system here is really good. IMO of course.

I must apologize for arrogance though, its really the reason why I go off here sometimes, ill make a thread clearing the air between me and everyone...

[CanadianLoonie]

It's just that the gap between the very rich and very poor is as wide as the distance between LA and NYC. So if I was wealthy enough, I would probably perfer living in the US.

If you can afford it, the US medical system is probably the best money can buy.
But what if your health insurance runs out or doesn't cover something?

[Firecat]

I've lived in Canada, South Africa, and the United States. I have no allegiance to any country, but I like living here in the States. That's why I'm still here lol

[Firecat]

Interesting....

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/560047.html

[bellows]

Did any of u people see the story after adolf hitler's propaganda storys at the beginning of WWII?
Same goes for bush ,everything that makes u doubt about your "Leader" gets cut out.

that bush is such a retard, i'm just wondering who's hand is up his ass

without a doubt daddy and crew..

[justin syder]

I'd like to know what you base those accusations on.

Talk about propoganda...

[Jacobfox]

Syder, have you seen Jon Stewart's "September 11th" montage from the RNC. Clearly an opinion from godless sodomite land won't sink in...because you'll flame me as a brainless dem. Dude, when the speakers at the RNC mentioned september 11th every second word, there was a clear purpose in mind. They wanted to motivate a sense of fear. They were attempting to tell the public what to think, this is called propaganda. QED

[Manic Moran]

North Korea was never a threat until the Bush administration took office and immediately cut off all relations with them

!?

No, and the South Koreans and the UN force were all so happy and secure in their knowledge that the North Koreans were not a threat between 1954 and 2000 that they didn't see the need to turn the edge of the DMZ into the most heavily fortified zone in the world, with the land mine ban exemption, and waves of anti-tank fortifications that stretched the entire width of the country. (And I don't jest on that one, even the motorways and roads have massive concrete obstacles which are poised for demolition)

As to the argument that the Iraqis were better off before the invasion... I wasn't there before the invasion so don't have empirical knowledge. However, I was there after the invasion, and I'm in no doubt that they are better off now. Indeed, the Iraqis may be the only people on the planet who are better off that the Americans invaded as they did. I'm not convinced that the Americans are.

NTM