[Rev_Blair]

I keep hearing that i'm anti-American, that I just hate the US. I've heard the same charge pointed at countless others.

It is, as most charges leveled by the neo-consevative right, untrue.

The thing is that I love the US. I put their constitution right up there with the Magna Carta and the miscellaneous scribbling of Plato. That's big. That's huge.

I consider democracy to be about the only thing that our species has ever accomplished of any worth. I also see a few very rich and powerful men trying to undermine that democracy for personal gain.

Today the most most powerful of those men resides in the US. In a few years those men will live elsewhere. Their allegiance is to money and power, after all. No matter what they say, they do not support their own country, just what that country can provide them in material wealth. They are rapists.

So excuse me for daring to back talk to rapists, excuse me for supporting democracy above the personal greed and lust of a few twisted bastards. Pardon me for believing that people count for a tad more than money, pardon me for insisting that killing people for a few bucks is wrong.

I dare ya.

[figfarmer]

People don't want to know the truth. Why, you might make them realise that 9/11 was an attack on big money and and not the American people, and all sorts of other nasty thoughts. You might even worry their poor empty heads over the fact that the world has reached the point where there are a few corporations that are bigger and more powerful than the biggest countries, which are weakening.

Tell them travelling saleman jokes and wish them happy holidays instead.

[Rev_Blair]

Okay...There was this travelling salesman named Bob Zoellick. He went all over the world selling things so cheaply that it became impossible for others to make a living by selling things to their own people. Bobby Zoellick is a bad joke. Happy Solstice.

How's that?

[figfarmer]

And the US cavelry came galloping over the hill to save them all.

And a happy harmonica.

And a happy quanset hut too.

[Rosco]

revblair:

Sorry but the U.S. remains a more free and democratic society than Canada, and the neo-cons have a long way to go before they become as much of a stone around the neck of that country as their leftist counterparts.

pigfarmer:

You're just delusional, a poster boy for those of your views.

[Rev_Blair]

Uh Rosco? Do you even know who Bob Zoellick is? Have you been watching what's been going on in the US? Have you been paying attention to what the US does around the world? Do you have any idea of the amount of influence money buys in Bush's Amerika? Have you noticed that the US doesn't support foreign leaders that are democratically elected nearly as often as they support dictators?

Sit there and tell us all how democratic things are in a country where soft money donations are considered more important than citizens, where trade agreements and international aid are used as weapons to keep poor people poor and make a very select few very wealthy.

Don't let being wrong stop you.

[Scarecrow]

I agree with Rev. I don't hate the US. It's ok. But still, Rev's right.

[figfarmer]

"Sorry but the U.S. remains a more free and democratic society than Canada, and the neo-cons have a long way to go before they become as much of a stone around the neck of that country as their leftist counterparts."

I guess we know now who took all the good drugs anyway.

[Hottie]

Rev is right. I don't trust the US government one bit. Funny how the US government puts people in power of countries in the middle east only to go back and create a war years later in order to remove those same people.

[Twila]

Really, Figfarmer, how dare you state the obvious about 9/11. Some people have no idea what went on in the WORLD TRADE Towers. How dare you open their eyes to the REALITY of the attacks. Shame on you. You must remember that some people choose/prefer ignorance and bliss over the truth.

[blubs]

As you guys know I aint the brightest bulb on the block when it comes to world affairs. Thanks to you guys I am learning. I do however need clarification on what Rosco said about the usa being a more freer(?) and democratic society than Canada. I dont get it. We dont have the IRS INS yada yada breathing down our throats. I think we live in a better society than that of the usa.
HERE HERE Rev I do agree. But I gotta admit man I am worried you are gonna have a heart attack. Slow down boy take a deep breath count to ten then start again.

[figfarmer]

It is right to elect officials based on their acting ability and attack everyone. Michael J. Fox for Prime Minister.

[Rosco]

figfarmer figfarmer:

"Sorry but the U.S. remains a more free and democratic society than Canada, and the neo-cons have a long way to go before they become as much of a stone around the neck of that country as their leftist counterparts."

I guess we know now who took all the good drugs anyway.

Well there's this old proverb, "the thief thinks everybody steals..."

blubs blubs:

As you guys know I aint the brightest bulb on the block when it comes to world affairs. Thanks to you guys I am learning. I do however need clarification on what Rosco said about the usa being a more freer(?) and democratic society than Canada. I dont get it. We dont have the IRS INS yada yada breathing down our throats. I think we live in a better society than that of the usa.
HERE HERE Rev I do agree. But I gotta admit man I am worried you are gonna have a heart attack. Slow down boy take a deep breath count to ten then start again.

I can only speak in very general terms here but after living in both countries I have to say the U.S. with its strong Constitution, general focus on individual rights over public order, more politically assertive populace, a far more inclusive electoral process at all levels and a million other little details that you have to experience yourself to understand, is indeed the freer country.

[Rev_Blair]

I know quite a few Canadians who have lived, or still live, in the US and quite a few Americans who live up here, Rosco. Most of them feel that the American system is falling apart one piece at a time, that there is no really free press anymore, that voter turnout is lower in the US than in Canada because so much of the population has been alienated by the policies of the Democrats and the Republicans, and that big money decides who the next leader will be.

More than that, most of them feel that Bush and his people are severely harming the US with their economic and foreign policies, that they are predatory and dangerous.

[Rosco]

If it is actually falling apart then we're far ahead of them on that point, a good example of this would be the 1997 APEC conference in Vancouver, where a number of "troublemakers" were picked up in advance and held for the duration by the RCMP without being charged with anything and without being able to contact anyone. There was also the pepper spraying of peaceful protesters to consider, all to avoid embarrassing a dictator.

Speech and expression are far more controlled here in Canada, both in the media and by private individuals, saying the wrong thing here can get you locked up or at least see to it that you recieve a stern warning {did anybody see that footage last year of RCMP officers giving ominous warnings to native activists who were recording it all on hidden camera?, that scared me}

There's just no way that Canadians can express the level of dissent that their American counterparts can simply take for granted, even now when the U.S. *is on a war footing* and the rules have changed somewhat.