To those of you not in the states

It's a fucking overrated hole, that's what.

I don't see any Austrailians around here. I don't know any country called Austrailia.

Yeah, that's right, we're going to unleash King's Cross on the rest of the world. Watch out Amsterdam!

If you haven't figured it out yet, you could learn to spell the name of my country correctly.

Sleek, it's not a supposed fact, it is a fact - Foster's is considered pig swill here. Fosters used to be good...when it was local. Now it's international, and so crap that they can't sell it here, and offload it on Americans instead.

 

i read in rollingstone about a ype of coffee bean that some raccoon type animal in columbia eats, and the bean comes out in its stools all clean and still intact, but chemically altered. some genius coffee farmer started breeding these guys and selling the turd beans to american coffee freaks as a rare delicacy. people savor these beans for their syrupy texture and strong, sweet flavor...

kinda makes me proud to have been born in canada (though both of my parents were born in america, so i'm still american) but hey! lets hear it for dual citizenship!

 

Hey, Slick Shit, fucking lay off making every post an America-bashing one. This is by far not the only thread that you attempt to turn into shit by spewing your anti-Americanism's. Here's an oft heard saying for you, "If you don't like it, get the fuck out." Damn, not even the Aussies trash the U.S. this much. Jar has some shit to say about the U.S. every once in a while, BUT HE HAS THE FUCKING DAMN DECENCY TO CREATE HIS OWN THREAD ABOUT IT, NOT TURN EVERYBODY ELSE'S THREADS INTO THE EQUIVALENT OF HORSE-SHIT. Snow, will you ban this stupid mother fucker, please?

You think the American flag is not a sanctified object? The American flag, in my opinion (a word you need to look up, by the way) is second only to the Holy Bible, as far as what they represent. Newsflash, fucktard, more people think that's not bullshit propaganda.

And being of high morals and pro-family standards is bad, right? Let me tell you something. You bitch all the time about these kind of people sending the world into nuclear chaos, and you need to take a look at what you're doing. You're kind of people are what's sending this country to hell in a handbasket. God. The very idea that families should be of low/no morals. How is that better/more desirable?

You make me ashamed to call myself an American. No, scratch that. I wish your type were deported. You are the loud-mouthed, pessimistic, and ignorant voice that foreigners hear most often. No wonder they think as little as they do of America. I'm proud to be an American, Sleek. And, regardless of what you think, I'm in the silent majority. My type of Americans are of high morals/pro-family standards, and our way is not to run around, scaring up ill feelings and hate, as your way seems to be. We resolve ourselves to be silent, (sometimes to our own detriment) and hope and trust that good sense will win the day. We try to ignore the nay-sayers (you) and the blame-America first crowd (you).

You have never responded, intelligently to any of my questions. I have no doubts you will do the same to my questions here.

One last thing.



You make me sick.

 

I must admit, the whole philospophy about this the falling away from christ shall occur right before the antichrist comes annoys me. I don't buy into that crap. If anyone else is blessed enough to have faith, good for you, but I take every bit of my religion with a large grain of salt. Honestly, I think the U.S. Flag is much more sacred than the bible. IMO, the bible is a book, the entire Christian religion is a brain child. You can't prove your religion to anyone else, because it really can only be expressed by faith, not by fact. The United States though is a fact, and a very great country. I am not too fond with some of the politicians or the practices of the country, but I still love my country.

Jarinor, I like Fosters. If that is Aussie pig-swill, send me some of the home brew you go tover there, it's gotta be fucking amazing.

Sleek, Retard has a good point. Actually he has alot of them. This topic had nothing to do with criticizing America. In fact I think the word America had only been used like twice before you started shooting off your mouth. I'm not saying that calling us cofee loving freaks is some terrible insult, but you never shut the hell up. You have issues or something with America. What, none of our girls will fuck you or something? What the hell is wrong with you, do you think that in some wierd way Canada balances out to be a better country than the US?

And you have the fucking gall to say that anyone doesn't have the right to post on this forum! You fill up every fucking topic with your drivel, and now you want to act all holierthan-thou you stupid fuck! I don't agree with alot of conseratives either, but how the hell can you insult someone forrespecting America, or promoting values! I believe that values don't necessarily come from religion, but they are still very important. If ignorant mother-fuckers like you ran this country instead of Bush, we wouldn't NEED to declare war on china/iran/pakistan/mexico/north korea. They would all declare war on us!

I make it a rule, which seperates me from other democrats, that I don't criticize Bush or anyone else unless I feel I have a better alternative. Like I criticize the war, because I have a better plan of what should have been done. I think his tax plan won't work, but I don't go on about it, because I still need to do my research and formulate another solution. You could take a lesson from this. Stop bitching and whining about how you don't like how the U.S. is run until you stop being so fucking ignorant and have some semblance of a clue about how it would work better.

 

Now don't take this the wrong way 'tard but it sounds like you might be the one who needs to leave the U.S. Here is the problem, it has been fairly well established that symbolic speech e.g. burning the flag is protected speech. So needless to say (having a personal and long abiding love for the U.S. Constitution) I take offense when people say that burning the flag is un-American. It is our right and duty to express our opinion of the actions of the leaders of the country. Understand the flag represents ideals set out in the Constitution. Remember the first amendment and take substantive pride in being a U.S. citizen rather than spewing empty platitudes like "love it or leave it," and various other more vulgar expressions.

 

The state is called Czechia, formerly Czechoslovakia, with Prague as a capital city. Rings a bell?
My condolences to you for being so underpaid. I still think that "cash" sounds better than "check" in every way.

 

Whoa, peeps, y'all really exploded there.

So, before I respond to this stuff, I'll let you know a little about me, in terms of background. I live in Prague. Yeah, some people want to call it Czechia, but really it's still the Czech Republic officially. I'm a professional writer/editor/sometime journalist. I used to work for Radio Free Europe (you know, like the REM song), but now I write letters in English for Vaclav Havel, a champion of democracy. I am an American, and I love my country. I left to garner a new perspective, and am more than a little wiser for having done so, I think. I've lived in Israel, India, and here, as well various cities around the US.

So, what I have to say is pretty simple, really: love your country, but not blindly. Criticize your country, but not blindly. If your country is America, realize that, no matter what it does, it cannot be ignored by anybody. America has an effect on everybody. Everywhere. The whole world watches our elections like no other, because, in a way, he is everybody's leader. American foreign policy shapes the world. And we MUST realize that, at the moment it is doing so for the worse. It is a simple fact. Violence begets violence, and we're begetting it just about everywhere, with our president playing upon the fear of his people to exercise policies that the Neocons have had on the books since 1998. There are several declassified documents showing that the administratrion has wanted to attack Iraq as a keystone to shape Middle East econommic domination. I'm not playing liberal paranoid here. Those documents are public, and they were written between 1998 and 2000 by Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz, and gang. Iraq had nothing to do with terrorism, nothing to do with WMDs, and only to do with power (not just oil, though that plays a part). In starting upon this path, Bush has singlehandedly crippled the UN, isolated America like it has not been since 1916, pulled out of just about every international treaty, and is developing "usable" nukes among other things. He is carrying out a policy of madness, of war, of destruction, of destabilization under the mistaken belief that an empire is feasible, that America is the new Rome that can rule blindly and completely, and that it will go on forever. He is doing all this, and hiding it from his own people under a cloak of fear. Fear of terrorism, fear of foreigners, fear of change. And the EU is growing, China is democratizing, albeit slowly, and America will be left behind in its isolationism. I love America, as it has the potential to be the best nation on earth. But, as things stand, it is not. It is isolated, violent, and selfish, and if it does not change, it will fall, like all other empires-pretend. We attacked Afghanistan, which was justified, but left it in ruins. Terrorism is on the rise there, people who hated the Taliban are asking them to return. Moderates are joining Al Qaeda. They hate America like never before. Now we are doing the same in Iraq. I love America, but despise its policies. I love America, but not blindly, and if you choose to ignore these things, these FACTS, you are choosing ignorance over understanding, a flag over the nation it represents.

So I applaud a high school student who questions the cloaked falsehoods given him, who wants to see the outside world, to see a world not American. Or even better, one who wants to see America as others do. So it depends on what you want to study, and what kind of experience you want. I'd say go to England or Scotland or Ireland, since from there you can travel through Europe, gathering thousands of differing opinions, dozens of cultures in a very small area. If you're feeling adventurous, there's New Zealand. Place is a bloody paradise. Or if you're bold, there is India -- they speak English. Or if you're off your rocker, there's the American University in Cairo. So, um, how 'bout them Red Sox?

 

Oh, and Czech beer is good, much better than the Aussie stuff, but it doesn't hold a candle to the American microbrews, which in turn pale in comparison the exalted paragon of perfection that is Belgian beer. ALrlrlrglrglg.

 

Take offense, then. Take all you want. I never said anything about burning the flag, anyway. Did you read my post?

Yeah, you got rights to express your opinions. I think burning the Flag is dis-respectful, considering how many of our ancestors shed blood under it, flapping in the wind. Burning a flag because you don't like a president is actually stupid, if you ask me, and I think that people who do it are only doing it for the attention that a flag-burning brings, because they know that whatever stupid drivel they're ranting about isn't gonna draw attention.

 

I don't like Bush, I think he's a stupid moron. But that doesn't mean I would EVER burn the US flag except as a flag retiring ceremony. Bush is not America. It's like if you have a sister or brother. You might not agree with everything that your sibling does. But you still love them, because they are your family. I don't think the US should be into every other nation, trying to push everyone around. I think we are being belligerent and ethnocentric. But at the same time, if Germany or Russia or anyone tried to attack the US, I would be the first one over there beating the shit out of them with a brick.

 

the only reason i would burn a flag is to really piss someone off (like retard may be) because i dont see the flag representing america, its just a piece of colorful cloth, and i dont see bush representing america either, i see america's actions representing america. besides its not like burning flags hasnt been done to death already, its just about the most once-exciting now-boring form of protest there is. its like burning a flag doesnt mean anything anymore. besides what did the flag ever do to you? its not even a decent argument, it just makes people angry. thats why i'd only do it to piss people off, because it couldnt possibl do anything else.

not that pissing people off doesnt have its own merits. what i'd really like to do is burn a bunch of confederate flags... hehehe

 

On beer; if you ask anyone in Europe who makes the best beer, they will say "The Belgans, but MY country makes the second best. Foster's is pig swill, but most blond beer is as well IM(not very)HO. The Canidains brew some 12 % beer. If it doesn't taste good to you, at least you do not have to drink much to get plastered.

Jar, when you start sending beer to underprivliged Americans, put me down for something thick & black.

On the flag & burning it: Look in your handy boy scout handbook. Burning a flag is the only proper & LEGAL way to dispose of it when it gets worn out. If you cannot burn a flag, what are you going to do with the worn out ones? Dump them in the landfill with the disposable diapers? Now that, my friends, is desecration. What is that you say? It will be O. K. to burn them for disposal but not for political speech? Then what will it stand for? Certainly not free speech.

Bush desecrates flags for campagin dollars. Its true. He writes his name on them, & that, under current law, is illegal. But so is being AWOL, just not for him.

 

Shady, how do you do it? Maybe you should write a book: How to be Shady.

 

If it is possible, I would like to move this topic back to where it started, English-speaking Universities not in the US. I would like to know about good Colleges/Universites or good sites that list them, because I have not had much success in finding such sites.

 

labyrinthian, where in Israel did you live? I happened to be Israeli mysef, so I'm wondering...

 

Not sure about websites for universities, but, well, it kinda depends on your academic credentials. There are quite a few good universities in Canada, McGill being the best. University of Toronto is pretty good, too, and a lot easier to get into. U of British Columbia is good, and has the added benefit of being in Vancouver. Just beautiful. I don't know about Australia, but in New Zealand, there's Auckland, which is the best. There are others. Britain, of course, has a lot. As does Ireland. University of London is good, and quite a lot easier to get into than Oxbridge. Trinity in Dublin is top notch, as is Edinburgh. American University in Cairo really isn't very good unless you're an Egyptologist, and even then, you should just go to Penn. But if you aren't a perfect student, getting into the various American Universities around the wrold will be the easist thing to do. If you are good, shoot for one of the British or Canadian schools. They're cheaper than US schools, and just as good.

In Israel, I lived in Meggido, near Haifa. I was on a dig with University of Tel Aviv in 1996. I was supposed to be there just for the summer, but I stayed on almost a year to tour and talk to as many Israelis as possible about politics. Well, politics, and dodging the army. Amazing how many did that. Got to see a lot of the West Bank, Gaza, and Golan before they became, well, like now. Best toursit memory: Masada at dawn. Best nontourist memory: hanging out near the Sea of Galilee with a bunch of Tel Aviv grad students/reservists and dreaming of peace.

 

The Czechs are quite adamant that THEY make the best beer. They're wrong, of course, but it may very well be second best. They definitely drink the most beer. The average person drinks 2.5 liters of beer EVERY DAY. That's averaging in those who don't drink, so just imagine the right side of the bell curve.

 

either way mexican beer is still the best

 

Um, objectively no. That's not an opinion I am giving you. And no arguments about taste, please. No way. Uh uh. Have you ever tried Belgian beer? A 13% double abbey or brown ale? That stuff is handcrafted by monks in the open air like they've done for centuries! It's worth every one of the $20 you pay for each bottle. Mexican beer is...well...better than Coors Light. That should be Corona's ad campaign: Better than Bud, Better than Miller, and a whole lot better than Natural Ice. Dos Equis can use Better Than Milwaukee's Best.

 

labyrinthian speaks the truth. I got some Trippel Abbey (sp?) beer from Cost Plus Imports and that beer was the best I've had. For grocery store beers, I like Guinness, but for the price? C'mon. A big bottle of some imported 13% beer from some euro country at the importers cost maybe 5 or 6 bucks.