xxkayxx

"you go a way for a few months and morph into starched underwear guy!!!"

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If a million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing

debdodd

oh Blue, lets face it ... most guys, given the choice, would fight you for that job .... hell, they would do the job without getting a salary!

xxkayxx .... I like you! you get my humor!

__________________
"Ubi dubium ibi libertas."

"We are all lone souls. It pays to know humility, lest the delusion of control, of mastery, overwhelms. And indeed, we seem a species prone to that delusion, again and ever again ....."

xxkayxx

__________________
If a million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing

curious_dyords

from my perspective, i believe that every person in different country possess good and bad traits within themselves, it's just how another person perceives that trait that leads to judgment. I myself is a filipino and i have had talked to so many americans as i am connected with an outsourcing business, at any rate even if we just met or talked to via phone i can easily say who are the friendly ones, the troubled ones, the racist etc. the friendly ones-welcomes you with a smile and kindness even if you call them during bad times, they show diplomacy and i salute them, the troubled ones- irate for the bills they have to pay, the racist-oh you're so asian! (just slammed the phone on me). In this manner it is hard for us to judge a society with different upbringing, may it be family or culture. What about our latest case of a U.S. army raping a filipina in Japan? i will not blame all the americans nor U.S.A for that case as we should be responsible for our actions, but this monster must be stripped off his skin and be pushed in a pool of pure lemon juice just to pay for it...again, i will never hate the americans nor any country for such atrocious act of a single person... for the racist, think again, we will have problems

Timetraveler

Hey out there, I'm new at this but just could not help myself and had to include my two cents on the subject of America and the rest of the worlds perception of us. I watch, listen, and read everything I can. First off let me say that until two years ago I never traveled outside or engaged in conversations with anyone outside my countries borders, (except telemarketers and warranty issues etc handled from countries such as India or Philippines). In the past two years I've been to the Philippines twice (love the country and the people), Thailand once.
I meet a elderly man in the Philippines and in conversation he told me about how most of his countrymen thought very highly of America. And from the reception I recieved I would have to agree. He was glad that unlike other SUPER POWER countries in the world's past we did not try to keep or conquer them to become part of our "colony" just because we won the Spanish/American War. Instead we gave them their freedom to be a nation, educated and taught them as much as they wished to learn. He went on to tell of a time in his life when he went to work in the Middle East doing plumbing and electrical work. That the people over there asked him how he learned to do such things. But when he told them that the Americans taught him they would immediately tell him that "the Americans do not do such things; they are selfish and they find it hard to believe we would ever help anyone". This man was 88 years old and this happened between the late 50's to early 70's.
Unlike the Countries of old Europe we do not enter into a war or start a war to conquer and control another nation. I KNOW I KNOW YOU WILL DISAGREE AND IMMEDIATELY POINT AT THE PRESENT SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST. I agree that my present day President over stepped his bounds when he invaded Iraq. We are not there to conquer and make them part of a colony controlled by force. In the majority of conflicts we have been in we were attacked first or our help was sought. In NONE of these did we retain the spoils of war. I wonder where or how everyone in the world would be living if we had not been involved with WWI, WWII, COLD WAR, South Korea, even VietNam, Panama, etc.
The stodgy old countries (especially Europe) look down upon us because we have not been around as long as they have and do not have the BLUE BLOOD those years supposedly give them. They are more mature and refined; we are just young insulate curr dogs which upset's their "superior attitude". I want to know where your "superior attitude" was as your blue blood was being kicked and conquered while you asked us to save you. I as a American tax payer watch my dollars being sent to countries who will stab me in the back as soon as they possibly can no matter how much financial or military help I give them. They do not want to build up their military to defend themselves, not when they can save their money and let us spend ours keeping our solders there to protect them. The odds are that with the number of soldiers we have in the countries of the world, some military person will do something that gets them upset and they want to ostracise everyone in my country.

I do not think it appropriate to strut around with my nose in the air like the "Blue Bloods"..........but we have earned the right too, while theirs expired years ago and would probably be non-existent but for us.

FINAL NOTE: I see the fall of my country into socialism where the government will tax the workers to give that money to social programs both in the country and outside it until finally no one will want to work just to have most of their money given to others who did nothing for it.
LETS HOPE THE NEXT SUPER POWER, (IE: CHINA) TREATS AND PROTECTS THE REST OF THE WORLD AS WELL AS THESE ARROGANT, SELF RIGHTEOUS, REDNECK AMERICANS DID THESE PAST 100+ YEARS
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IT'S NOT THE SIZE OF THE GIFT YOU GIVE OR RECIEVE, BUT THE SIZE OF THE HEART BEHIND THAT GIFT. The little ordinary people of America (I don't mean the politicians) have big hearts, giving our men and money to the worlds safety. Even if it is misguided at times.

jimdene

There is little point in giving my impression of Americans that I have met, everybody is different and we each have our own likes and dislikes about individuals.
I gain my impression of Americans by TV news and have to be aware of not forming ideas watching the blatant bias of TV Stations like Fox and that obnoxious O'Reilly.
I tend to get a better overall picture with CNN.
However there is no disputing that you have too much flag waving, and for a country who would like to be world leader, how the hell do you put up with all of that religious bible thumping.

debdodd

Okay ..... I've got an idea .... you guys can come over to my house, we'll have a cook out .... the hot tub fits only 8, 10 if we squeeze them in tightly ... we'll drink some good wine .... if you want to fish, there is a pond out back .... we'll get relaxed, comfortable and talk ..... over some barbecued chicken, corn on the cob, potato salad, yummy desserts .... we'll be so full and relaxed we'll solve all the words problems and we will find out that we all have the same goals ... family, friends .... all pink on the inside ... a little different on the outside .....

__________________
"Ubi dubium ibi libertas."

"We are all lone souls. It pays to know humility, lest the delusion of control, of mastery, overwhelms. And indeed, we seem a species prone to that delusion, again and ever again ....."

AB517

Believe me, that aint even close to the worst of the BS we put up with.
In fact it goes uncheck becaused it is that unimportant.

WilliamBlue

You have to be careful of our (US)news stations as they are more about entertainment than information and a lot of it is biased towards a perceived core audience. There are very good at hyping a few bad instances, that will make you think the whole country has gone to hell in hand basket, but when you look at the numbers versus the population it just isn't so..even CNN does it. I myself don't watch much of it for this reason, but if I do watch it, it is CNN headline and no I don't work for them, but I will accept a check for advertising

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When you dance with an elephant it's up to you to not get stepped on.
How can we be so arrogant and egotistical to believe that the whole Universe was created just for us?

Timetraveler

If you form opinions mostly by the news media from my country then you should always listen to the full variety. The difference you see as blatant bias from some channels is done on purpose because the majority of the news media in this country is liberal in nature. The conservative news (Fox, & O'Reilly) perspective is deliberate because of all the liberal bias passed out by the other stations. The owner of the Fox channel bought and set it up that way because he was tired of all Liberal bias news in the country.

Funny thing is I kind of think we are world leaders, not want-to-be world leaders. But I would welcome pulling out and letting the rest of the world fight it out. I guess you could call me a isolationist.

Freedom of religion is one of the main reasons this country was founded. Some of them can have what I would call "a holy'r than thou attitude". But history will show that has been a problem way before "America" was founded. Religion has been the cause of conflict and war in history. I have no particular religion that I adhere too, but I say let them "thump" as long as thats all they are doing.