Topic: Things you've heard about living in the U.S. and wonder if they're true.

[Mr Grumpyface]

Ask me, I'll tell you true.

[cat-dog]

do all you guys live in igloos?

[tan]

i dunno if this is concidered a living in US ?? but i always wnated to know why americans even concidered re-electing bush....

[RumNCoke]

do all you guys live in igloos?

Do you guys think Canada is just the 51st state?

Is lawn bowling more popular than hockey?

[Mr Grumpyface]

do all you guys live in igloos?

No because bullets pierce the walls far too easily.

[tellkyle]

I've heard America is filled with inane egotisical assholes who can't read very well.  Is that true?

[Fishyneil]

No...Anne Coulter has a place in France.
I hate stereotyping things, people and societies. Can we turn this into a "fuck the stereotypes" thread? or would that be gay?
Fishy

[Mr Grumpyface]

i dunno if this is concidered a living in US ?? but i always wnated to know why americans even concidered re-electing bush....

Good Question!!   I think things are rigged in the respect that 'they' put up an even bigger buffoon to run against him and folks got worried that Kerrey was too much of a pussy. There is a saying here, 'If you don't vote then you have no right to complain.'  My feeling is, 'If you DO vote, you have no right to complain.' I refuse to vote and therefore you cannot accuse me of endorsing a criminal. IE; Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush. I also feel that voting in the 21st century is an admission that you believe votes make a difference one way or another and I would be ashamed to admit that I fell for that bullshit. What happened was this, We've got a million or so Mexicans running across our southern border every year and Bush was the one who hinted that he might do something to stem the tide. Of course he lied about this and many other things. We are not racist, in fact I would argue that nobody in the world is less racist than the citizenry of the U.S. but here in San Diego I don't even have one friend who has not been burglarized or been assaulted or had their car stolen by an immigrant. It would be easy to judge me for saying that but it feels a little different when it actually happens to you. When it comes to politics I prefer a man who says up front that he is my ideological adversary to a man that claims to agree with me and sticks it up my ass. I'm sure things are not dissimilar in the great white north. I also find it amusing that some people feel that our two countries are governed by different sources. You may think me to be a 'right winger' but if I did endorse a politician I would probably endorse a 'Democrat' for the simple reason that at least a democrat is honest about wanting to hand my beloved homeland to immigrants. If you doubt me and believe that your votes matter I would point to the fact that we Californians voted to legalize herb and an activist judge struck it down. We also voted to set some reasonable limit on illegal immigration and an activist judge slapped us in the face again. I may be against illegal immigration but I swear on the Holy King James Bible that I would never claim to have these poor third world peoples back only to use them as wage slaves and union busters. I believe in treating people with respect and dignity whether I agree with their legal status or not and George Bush and I differ greatly on this issue as we do on many others. Please never get it twisted, American polititicians do not, not, not, NOT reflect the values of the decent folk here in the U.S. We are as sick about this shit as you are but resistance here is met with brutal force on certain limited issues and we've got mouths to feed.

[cat-dog]

When it comes to politics I prefer a man who says up front that he is my ideological adversary to a man that claims to agree with me and sticks it up my ass.

AMEN

[Mr Grumpyface]

do all you guys live in igloos?

Do you guys think Canada is just the 51st state?

Is lawn bowling more popular than hockey?

No we respect and love Canada as a sovereign nation, In fact those of us who value freedom of speech and brotherhood hope to God that Canada will let a few of us find sanctuary there when things finally spin out of control here. During Vietnam you hooked us up bigtime and we LOVE you for it.

As for hockey, some people in our border states are into it but most of us including myself could not name 3 NHL players to save our lives. Sorry, I love you but I speak truth.
Posted on: Aug 31, 2006, 09:00 PM

I've heard America is filled with inane egotisical assholes who can't read very well.  Is that true?

This is true of probably 70%  To answer you honestly. I would also say that there are not two countries on Earth more similar than The U.S. and Canada.

[SgtMeowsteen]

Hey NOW !!!!!

I can fuckin' read !

[shake]

I also feel that voting in the 21st century is an admission that you believe votes make a difference one way or another and I would be ashamed to admit that I fell for that bullshit.

Voting does make a difference.  It is important to keep radical fundamentalist Christians like the Bush/Harper regimes out of power.  They believe that they will be "saved" when WW III starts so they look forward to it, they welcome it.  They read their bibles and welcome/ nay encourage conflict in the Middle East because it fits in with the Bible's prophecies of Armageddon.  That is the difference between the Republicans/Conservatives and the Democrats/Liberals, and it is the single most important difference in the world.  Too bad though, it may already be too late, we are on the eve of destruction.

Let me end this by inserting a smiley

[tan]

i got another one why is everything so fucken cheap there compared to us....i have a pal on messenger that keeps telling how much he pays for shit and i swear at times if i could just seep through the monitor and strangle him i would 

[trailerchick]

i dunno if this is concidered a living in US ?? but i always wnated to know why americans even concidered re-electing bush....

Good Question!!   I think things are rigged in the respect that 'they' put up an even bigger buffoon to run against him and folks got worried that Kerrey was too much of a pussy. There is a saying here, 'If you don't vote then you have no right to complain.'  My feeling is, 'If you DO vote, you have no right to complain.' I refuse to vote and therefore you cannot accuse me of endorsing a criminal. IE; Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush. I also feel that voting in the 21st century is an admission that you believe votes make a difference one way or another and I would be ashamed to admit that I fell for that bullshit. What happened was this, We've got a million or so Mexicans running across our southern border every year and Bush was the one who hinted that he might do something to stem the tide. Of course he lied about this and many other things. We are not racist, in fact I would argue that nobody in the world is less racist than the citizenry of the U.S. but here in San Diego I don't even have one friend who has not been burglarized or been assaulted or had their car stolen by an immigrant. It would be easy to judge me for saying that but it feels a little different when it actually happens to you. When it comes to politics I prefer a man who says up front that he is my ideological adversary to a man that claims to agree with me and sticks it up my ass. I'm sure things are not dissimilar in the great white north. I also find it amusing that some people feel that our two countries are governed by different sources. You may think me to be a 'right winger' but if I did endorse a politician I would probably endorse a 'Democrat' for the simple reason that at least a democrat is honest about wanting to hand my beloved homeland to immigrants. If you doubt me and believe that your votes matter I would point to the fact that we Californians voted to legalize herb and an activist judge struck it down. We also voted to set some reasonable limit on illegal immigration and an activist judge slapped us in the face again. I may be against illegal immigration but I swear on the Holy King James Bible that I would never claim to have these poor third world peoples back only to use them as wage slaves and union busters. I believe in treating people with respect and dignity whether I agree with their legal status or not and George Bush and I differ greatly on this issue as we do on many others. Please never get it twisted, American polititicians do not, not, not, NOT reflect the values of the decent folk here in the U.S. We are as sick about this shit as you are but resistance here is met with brutal force on certain limited issues and we've got mouths to feed.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/06/04/BAGJ370QUG1.DTL

Just watched this movie the other day:

Food for thought.

Tyche Hendricks, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, June 4, 2004
 
Sergio Arau and Yareli Arizmendi were inspired by New Yor... The film's ad campaign, like the movie, plays to common s...

You wake up one morning and the world is devoid of Carlos Santana, Felipe Alou, Cheech Marin and Dolores Huerta. Gone are California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno, actress Salma Hayek, San Francisco Supervisor Matt Gonzalez and Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante -- not to mention the dishwashers at your local restaurants, 20 percent of California's schoolteachers and just about all the farmworkers who pick your fruits and vegetables.

That's the premise of the controversial new film, "A Day Without a Mexican," which opens today in the Bay Area. By imagining a California without the 11 million Latinos who make up a third of the population, the satirical "mockumentary" aims to point out how much the state depends on this often- maligned segment of the community.

The film, written by Sergio Arau and Yareli Arizmendi and directed by Arau, plays with the common California stereotypes that cast all Latinos as "Mexicans," and assume they are all illegal immigrants, though three-quarters of the state's Latinos are U.S. citizens or legal residents.

"We want to make the point that Latinos, documented or undocumented, are contributing to the society," said Arizmendi, on a visit to San Francisco this week. "With the undocumented specifically, you can't just throw them out if you're not willing to completely change your lifestyle and the whole economic system."

Asked Arau rhetorically, "Is the one who comes here illegally more guilty than the one who hires him or the one who consumes the things he produces?"

The film envisions a mysterious cloud that envelops California and magically removes all the Latinos. The results are comical -- as in the case of the state senator's wife who must tackle the laundry without domestic help and the Border Patrol agents who fear for their jobs after all the migrants vanish. They are also pointed -- as schools and day cares shut down and panicked shoppers mob supermarkets for the last fresh fruits and vegetables.

Newscasters speculate that the disappearance is the result of a terrorist attack. Others call it The Big One.

The disappearance leads Californians who once were dismissive or contemptuous of Latinos to hold candlelight vigils, where they sing "De Colores" with bad Spanish accents and march around with placards reading "Come back, amigos."

The couple got the idea for the film when they visited New York and found the city observing a "Day Without Art," on which museums and galleries closed down to draw attention to the devastating effect of the AIDS epidemic on the art world.

"I said, 'Maybe what California needs is a day without Mexicans,' to revalue the role we play," said actress Arizmendi, who stars in the film and who was born in Mexico and raised in the United States.

Arau, who had had critical acclaim as a rock musician and political cartoonist in his native Mexico, said he felt suddenly invisible when he moved to this country 12 years ago.

"I became a minority for the first time in my life, and I felt discrimination for the first time," said Arau, whose father, Alfonso Arau, made the film "Like Water for Chocolate."

Rather than preach about the problem, however, Arau and Arizmendi began playing around with "Saturday Night Live"-style humor.

"The film for me is like a political cartoon," said Arau. "It makes you laugh, but it gets you talking about deep issues."

Publicity for the film has generated buzz and a bit of controversy, as people across the state struggle to make sense of the promotional slogan, "On June 4 there will be no more Mexicans in California."

In Hollywood, a billboard on a drugstore was taken down just hours after it went up when a customer complained that the ad was offensive. In San Francisco, The Chronicle received a call from an alarmed schoolteacher who saw the billboard and thought someone was plotting violence against Latinos.

It has also caused Californians to speculate on the effect that the absence of Latinos would actually have.

"We'd be kind of crippled," said John Robie, the concierge at the Prescott Hotel in San Francisco, where Arau and Arizmendi were staying. "Our Latino workforce is a pretty integral part of the hotel. Let's just say we'd have a lot of 'Help Wanted' signs up."

In the Central Valley, Cliff Sadoian, who runs a Dinuba (Tulare County) fruit packing house, said it would wipe out his entire workforce.

"It would be economic disaster -- that's the simple truth," he said. "It would create a heck of a food shortage, I'll tell you that."

The premise of "A Day Without A Mexican" reminded Mark Coplan of a disturbing sight he found recently in some old Berkeley High School yearbooks.

"In the class of 1942, there was a proliferation of Japanese faces in the photographs. By 1944, there are none," said Coplan, who is the spokesman for the Berkeley Unified School District. "It was very stark. All the 100 or so Japanese students and teachers were taken out and sent to an internment camp in Utah."

For a school district that values diversity, said Coplan, it would be -- and in the 1940s it was -- a loss for those who were left behind.

[tellkyle]

Hey NOW !!!!!

I can fuckin' read !

I can fuckin' read too, thats why I would never start a thread about "things you've heard about the US" on a board that has a major minority stalwart contingent of Americans.  I for one am glad we finally got an official fucking American though.  A man man's man with some deity like qualities; to lead us through the wilderness, across the fruited plain, and pulling our heads out of our collective asses.  Someone sticky this thread for god sakes.  AMERICA has arrived to the trailer park boys dot org message board, folks. 

Jesus Christ Almighty are you kidding me...

[tan]

  as long as i get to know why ya guyss shit costs less 

[cat-dog]

as long as i get to know why ya guyss shit costs less 

darn economy.. it's because our dollar is worth less than the american dollar. ie: what they pay 75c for - we pay $1 kinda deal.. you also have to consider the differences in minimum wage too.. if people get paid less on a standard ($5.15/h USD vs $7-9+/h CAD ), things have to cost less for them to be able to afford it (i think.. i'm no schooler!)

[Mr Grumpyface]

Kind Sir, I sincerely hope you are right about voting and some of the decisions still being left to the good people.  Question for you; Is Bush a Christian fundamentalist or does he pander to that demographic for his survival?  A man who lies and cheats in the name of God is, if anything an agnostic. How can a 'Fundamentalist' feel good about that?  Does Mr Bush represent we so- called 'Christian fundamentalists' or do he and his opponents claim he does?  Is he not the ultimate socialist?  If not then how exactly do their goals differ? I feel that 'the revolution' if there is to be one, is not a matter of politics but takes place within the mind of individuals and the labeling of people is an undertaking best left to people with a vested interest in doing so.

[shake]

[Mr Grumpyface]

Hey NOW !!!!!

I can fuckin' read !

I can fuckin' read too, thats why I would never start a thread about "things you've heard about the US" on a board that has a major minority stalwart contingent of Americans.  I for one am glad we finally got an official fucking American though.  A man man's man with some deity like qualities; to lead us through the wilderness, across the fruited plain, and pulling our heads out of our collective asses.  Someone sticky this thread for god sakes.  AMERICA has arrived to the trailer park boys dot org message board, folks.

Jesus Christ Almighty are you kidding me...

Please don't blame me for your personal inferiority complex. 
Please don't pin shit on me that I never claimed.
I give my opinion like you do.
If the good people of the ORG feel that I have gone too far then I will go where Free speech is welcome.
I have shown you respect and maybe you should show me the same.
Dude, how many Americans does the org have?
I only offered you what I seek from you.
I am interested in how Canadians feel and I thought maybe you might be interested in a point of view about us that has not been offered you by your media.
I never insulted you. Loosen up!
Hey moderator, Cancel me if you feel threatened.

[Mr Grumpyface]

i got another one why is everything so fucken cheap there compared to us....i have a pal on messenger that keeps telling how much he pays for shit and i swear at times if i could just seep through the monitor and strangle him i would 

A 3 bedroom house in my neighborhood costs $600,000 how bout you?

[tellkyle]

dude please stick around another hour or so.  i'm sort of distracted at the moment but i really really want to respond to your post full of retarded rhetoric about three or so back.  also i'm quite sure none of the mods feel threatened by you.  by the way, i am an american; you jackass.

[Mr Grumpyface]

How in the world did I become a defender of George Bush?

[shake]

[Mr Grumpyface]

dude please stick around another hour or so.  i'm sort of distracted at the moment but i really really want to respond to your post full of retarded rhetoric about three or so back.  also i'm quite sure none of the mods feel threatened by you.  by the way, i am an american; you jackass.

I'm right here.