THEN MOVE!! / My life my choice

[Gravekeeper]

The US *is* a great country, not because of its economic power, or its food production, or its sporting success, or anything like that. It's a great country because if it's constitution and Bill of Rights.

While both were great in their own era, they've become outdated for a modern country and its the outdated bits that seem to cause the US the most trouble. Most countries look to Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms as the ideal model now. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights were a great foundation, but society has surpassed them and seems like Americans, or at least their government, are too wrapped up in claiming what they all think the Founding Fathers REALLY meant ( hint: Everyone thinks they would agree with them personally ) to modernize it in any way.

Combine that with this weird tendency to view them as holy text instead of a keystone of government that should evolve with its nation and you get, well, exactly whats happening these days.

So while Australia does have 'freedom of speech', it's only speech that doesn't offend someone, which means that it's not free at all.

Conversely, in the US, someone can stand next to your dad's funeral holding up a sign with his dick that says he's going to get assfucked by rabid alligators in Hell because God hates people with freckles.

One extreme is no better than the other.

[Andara Bledin]

No, no. If he holds it with his dick he'll get arrested and put on the sex offender's registry.

But, seriously, having the freedom to say anything is absolutely better than, well, pretty much every alternative.

Back to the funeral example, they'd have to hold their protest outside of the cemetery/mortuary, so not actually next to the service.

^-.-^

[HYHYBT]

Not a fire, exactly. Destroyed in the Northridge Earthquake. My high school's off-site records storage happened to be in Northridge.

Mine doesn't believe in off-site storage. When they moved into the new building at the end of 2010, I was temporary moving help. There was a room off the counselor's office crammed full of file cabinets of student records going back, I think, to the 50s. (In the new building, same file cabinets, but a larger room so they can add to them for years to come.)

[draco664]

Conversely, in the US, someone can stand next to your dad's funeral holding up a sign with his dick that says he's going to get assfucked by rabid alligators in Hell because God hates people with freckles.

One extreme is no better than the other.

You are 100%, completely, absolutely and undoubtedly wrong.

In your example, everyone even remotely likely to look at the speaker is going to realise he's a fucking moron and can safely be ignored.

In mine, we're pouring billions of dollars into a budgetary black hole for no gain to either the people it's supposed to help, or to society as a whole. And now, a newspaper employee is forbidden to speak on the topic.

[SongsOfDragons]

No he didn't.

This is one of the reasons I don't ever believe a thing the police say.

The initial reports (all released by the police) were that he ran from them, was wearing a bulky jacket (some even said there were wires visible), was carrying a heavy bag, he jumped the ticket barrier and raced away from police shouting for him to stop.

Turns out that he was wearing a light jacket, didn't have a bag, did not run, calmly got on the train and was then tackled, shoved down and then shot seven times in the head point blank.

All because he lived in the same block of flats as someone the police were watching. They didn't have a positive, visual ID on him, and because they were told to prevent him getting on a train, paranoia took over. Not one of the cops involved were ever even disciplined, even though they were all permitted to speak to each other before being interviewed to get their stories straight.

Hell, the coronor even instructed the jury that they were not permitted to return a verdict of 'unlawful killing', only either lawful killing or open verdict.

Sorry, I lived two tube stops away from where he was shot, and was caught up in the aftermath. It still makes me fume with anger over what the cops did to that man, and what they did to cover up their incompetence.

O.o...wow.

-_- ...

^ What he said. Scratch mine. I didn't really read too much about it at the time and I was only dredging up what I can remember and what others have told me. :bag: Thorry...

I think that might have more of a chance of making the national papers than how I'd perceived it initially...

[Gravekeeper]

You are 100%, completely, absolutely and undoubtedly wrong.

In your example, everyone even remotely likely to look at the speaker is going to realise he's a fucking moron and can safely be ignored.

100%, eh? If it was a matter of just being able to ignore someone there wouldn't be any problem at all. But people seem find it a bit hard to ignore having a 5 year old boy standing near the funeral of their dead husband with a sign saying he's a faggot that's going to Hell.

But I'm sure you'd be totally chill staring at a loved one's casket while some fuckwipe makes a child mock their death in the most vile way humanly possible short of shitting on top of it.

In mine, we're pouring billions of dollars into a budgetary black hole for no gain to either the people it's supposed to help, or to society as a whole. And now, a newspaper employee is forbidden to speak on the topic.

Citation needed. Desperately.

[Fire_on_High]

There was one upthread, iirc.

[Gravekeeper]

There was one upthread, iirc.

Where? I recall a couple links over the firearms argument, but that was it.

[kamn]

Speaking to some overseas friends, you are OK. You have your faults and some things that make me go , like no healthcare, but you have a lot of redeeming qualities. Even your "poor" can afford gaming systems, most basic needs (except the healthcare), to live comftarbly. Here, most stundents, if we maxed out their food bonuses, we eat bread and milk, thats it (though we get full course meals for free on those bonuses )

The biggest problem, Id say is the mentality. A combination of might makes right, I've got mine, and Im right your wrong. Its not often that I hear from overseas about someone taking 5 minutes to help someone lost on their way, or sick/injured, not often that I can hear "Eh, he goofed, but don't we all?", not a whole lot of willingness to help each other (without expecting something substantial in return). Except the boy-scouts and church charities, of course...

[Giggle Goose]

Hubs got his Associate's, Bachelor's, and Master's degrees in around 6 years total. He got his Bachelor's and Master's degrees fom the same Uni. They are both in Public Administration (which is the equivalent of Business Administration but for government not private). He's thinking of getting his Doctorate, but sure what he wants to get it in.

Otherwise, I'm happy in the states. Don't want to move away from the country, but I want to move to a less hectic area anywhere in the continuous 48.

I'm getting my MPA too!! Where did your hubs go, if you don't mind my asking??

[HYHYBT]

You are 100%, completely, absolutely and undoubtedly wrong.

In your example, everyone even remotely likely to look at the speaker is going to realise he's a fucking moron and can safely be ignored.

That kind of moron is too dangerous to ignore.

[dendawg]

Citation needed. Desperately.

Sorry...couldn't resist.

[MadMike]

Yesterday on CBS evening news they interviewed a young women who said she is going to graduate college with around $100,000 in student loan debt. No, that's not a misprint.

As someone who currently works in the student loan industry, I believe it. I'm in programming, and I don't regularly look at accounts, but we often pull down accounts for testing our programs, and some of these loans are almost as bad as mortgages. And now there are even repayment terms that are like mortgages. When I first started there roughly 22 years ago, most student loans had a repayment period of ten years. I was testing a new program last summer, and I kept seeing payoff dates of 2040 and later. I thought the program wasn't working right, until I checked the data, and these loans had 30-year repayment periods.

And I thought it was bad when I started paying my loan and thought to myself, "I'm going to be paying for this until I'm in my 30s!"

[draco664]

100%, eh? If it was a matter of just being able to ignore someone there wouldn't be any problem at all. But people seem find it a bit hard to ignore having a 5 year old boy standing near the funeral of their dead husband with a sign saying he's a faggot that's going to Hell.

But I'm sure you'd be totally chill staring at a loved one's casket while some fuckwipe makes a child mock their death in the most vile way humanly possible short of shitting on top of it.

Nope, I'd be pretty freaking angry. I'd probably film him doing so and then spend quite a bit of time over the next few years making the first two pages of a google search return clips of him at his most retarded.

There's a big difference between being 'totally chill' with that and accepting that people are permitted to say shit I don't like.

As for your example, it would take a short clip of someone acting like that in front of a child to have the local child services crawling up their arse with a microscope.

Citation needed. Desperately.

In Australia, we spend billions of dollars on aboriginal welfare. With all that money combined with pretty lax requirements around proof, people are coming out of the woodwork claiming to have some aboriginal blood. I personally went to Uni with a girl who looked Scandinavian - long blond hair, blue eyes, slender nose - but she got ABStudy (aboriginal welfare to study). Meanwhile, aboriginal communities far from services are rotting in a generational cycle of no education, no jobs and no prospects. They do however, have plenty of money for booze, high rates of violent crime, and teenage pregnancy.

The journalist I mentioned is called Andrew Bolt. He's a hard conservative whose views are distinctive. Personally, I disagree with him more often than not, but I respect him for his conviction and his ability to write clearly.

Nine pale skinned 'aboriginies' took him to court via the 'Racial Discrimination' act - citing that they were offended by his articles pointing out that these pale people, who were not doing it tough, were getting taxpayers money just for being aboringinal. He lost - because how to you prove someone wasn't offended? - and now cannot write on the topic.

One of the nine plaintiffs even wrote a book called "Am I black enough", and when the book was publicised, commentators would jump online and leave comments basicaly pointing out that because of her, it was illegal for someone to answer the question in the title the wrong way. It got to the point that her publisher deleted the comments and shut down the thread. Which sort of proved the point they were making.

[guywithashovel]

And I thought it was bad when I started paying my loan and thought to myself, "I'm going to be paying for this until I'm in my 30s!"

I sometimes feel like I'm boggled down with student loans, but mine are actually a credit card balance in comparison to what some other people have. I make the payments every month, so they'll go away eventually.

Sometimes I have trouble mustering up sympathy for people with student loans, though. For example, once I read an article that quoted a woman complaining about having 100K in student loans. However, she made 135K per year. If you take home that kind of salary, 100K in loans shouldn't be a problem for you.