Hmm... looks to me that the US is slowly going the way of Rome. It's become a hell lot more aggressive, becoming more autocratic, increasingly immoral, etc. They've already got puppets in the middle east.
So, which direction would it go? Glory or ruin? What do you think?
BTW, no offense at all to Americans. They're cool. I grew up there. Nice place. Just the government and capitalists suck..
Disclaimer: Any sarcasm in my posts will not be mentioned as that would ruin the purpose. It is assumed that the reader is intelligent enough to tell the difference between what is sarcasm and what is not.
You know, the Romans had a pretty good run even after they started pushing the limits. You don't get to be an empire at all without being aggressive.
Of course, back then you could thwomp Goths all day because nobody had ICBMs.
America likes to think of itself as invincible in a milititary sense, but in reality they're overextended as it is and the whole thing could go to shit if they manage to piss off the wrong people (moreso). If things settle down a bit they could carry on indefinitely in stasis; I don't think it's necessary to go one way or the other.
They've been doing this shit since WWII. They are worn pretty thin at the moment, I think, what with people being less than eager to get killed or maimed for Halliburton's sake, but the administration keeps pushing countries like Iran, Syria, and N. Korea with threats of invasion. It's foreseeable that they could stretch themselves too thin, but I find it hard to believe that it would get to that point. They have inventive ways of meeting their needs (backdoor drafts, bribing other countries to join the "coalition", etc.). They'll get what they want, I guess, until the rest of the world gets too fed up, but by then, they'll be more than happy with what they've plundered and probably won't mind backing off somewhat.
It's just logical that USA has the worlds most powerful army, and gets the most medals in the olympic games and all that. If europe would do the same, unite into one big nation, we'd be much more powerful. The americans are slowly provoking all the world into going to war against them, and that won't end well...
Well, we were doing just fine until the neo-conservatives took over. The balance of power in the United States works sort of like a pendelum, so hopefully it will start swinging back towards the center soon. I know I don't buy all the crap our leaders are feeding us. The country right now is being run by a bunch of weasels who prey on the fears of the elderly, and have latched onto the "Nascar Dads" with the whole gay marraige issue. Granted that has nothing to do with the military, but it's how the guys making all these stupid decisions got into office.
America - Third largest population under China and India
Purchasing Power - $10.99 trillion
Total world puchasing power - $50 trillian
Although the only thing holding up the dollar is Asia.
"Japan and China can not continue buying US dollars to prop up the value of the US currency much longer. They are accumulating dollars so quickly, that they will soon run out of viable options of investing them. Without Japan and China soaking up the surplus dollars flooding the world as a result of America's loose monetary policies, the US dollar would be in real trouble.
The time is rapidly approaching when the dollar will become worthless, bringing about the total collapse of the US economy. Yet the US administration is more worried about pumping up the US economy to create jobs, in a hope that they will win the election, rather than fiscal responsibility in maintaining the value of the dollar as the world's reserve currency."
Steve Zissou: Anne-Marie, do all the interns get Glocks?
i've been to the USA. It was 5 years ago, so i don't remember much of it though...
english women dress like whores.
i was there over easter, and i saw a 7-year old dressed like a fucking slut. i wonder what she'll be like when she grows up...
yeah, most of our young uns dress like whores. And then they have 2 or 3 kids before the age of 21. It's quite disturbing driving past grade/junior high schools these days, our schools really need uniforms for those grade levels.
AGH! shool uniforms! my mom wanted me to go school in england last year but i didn't, i think it was best that way, i'd never wear one of those things. u look so nerdy . um, we're getting a bit off topic now aren't we...
School uniforms are equalizers. Id much rather wear a school uniform than go to a school in say, America and risk the chance of getting shot by some mad pupil. Aggggge dont generalise english women its ignorant. Your right some do. Yet im sure there are women in every country that dress like whores- did you visit everywhere in the UK? dont just go on what youve seen. Im proud to be british, my country has some of the best history in the world. Shab dont encourage! Be proud! not of the whore buisness of course lol.
School shootings are extremely rare here. It's just that when they happen all 42,000 of our cable news stations insist on reporting on them 24/7 for a month and a half. On a somewhat related note, schoolgirl outfits are hot. . .
Yea i suppose but its still more common for it to happen than in the uk! Actually, im sad to say a guy was shot near me recently. Did any uk people here hear about that? It was really sad, and IMO the police were slightly trigger-happy.
Uh, JP? Those are pretty lame. Since you're the one with the statistics, go look up obesity rates in the US versus Europe. It's an entirely different culture when it comes to food and personal appearance. Aggggge's pic is an observation, yours are just stupid.
Whys my comment offensive its true. Im more likely to get shot in a school in america then i am in the Uk. I think the comment about english women dressing like whores was kinda worse. And why the hell are americans not aloud to drink until their 21 and yet theyre aloud guns. That one always has puzzled me lol.
BRUSSELS, Belgium Mar 16, 2005 — At least seven European countries now challenge the United States in size at least around the waistline. In a group of nations from Greece to Germany, the proportion of overweight or obese men is higher than in the U.S., experts said Tuesday in a major analysis of expanding girth on the European continent.
"The time when obesity was thought to be a problem on the other side of the Atlantic has gone by," said Mars Di Bartolomeo, Luxembourg's Minister of Health.
In Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Malta and Slovakia, a higher percentage of men are obese or overweight than the estimated 67 percent of men in the United States, according to a report from the International Obesity Task Force, a coalition of researchers and institutions.
Top Stories
The analysis was released as the 25-nation European Union announced an initiative to enlist the food and marketing industries in the fight against fat.
British teeth:
* Until the NHS started up, and before the availability of fluoride in toothpaste (or water), our British teeth were spectacularly ugly. Look at any film footage of average Britons before about 1945, and weep. The standard of living of the contemporary American probably afforded them better dental care; and, I suspect, a certain cultural austerity would have meant that corrective procedures such as braces would be regarded by us Brits as extravagance and vanity.
Simon Gilman, London UK
* I think Simon Gilman has put it best. Having spent my first 20 years in America and 14 years since living in the UK, I find that the average Brit is satisfied with teeth that might be crooked, stained, even slightly rotten, if they aren't causing much discomfort to their owner. Average Americans have much higher standards of expectation in the state of their dental health -- regardless of whether they have to pay for dental treatment or not, they feel very strongly that good teeth are a wise investment in looks and health. Many visits to the dentist by average Brits happen only after something has gone horribly wrong with their teeth, whilst Americans take an actively preventative approach with semi-annual dental checkups and intervention before any problems become severe. As a result of the greater amount of attention that Americans pay to their teeth, they are far more likely to notice and comment on the state of other people's teeth.
Wendy James, London UK
Hair
Greek women today (and Mediterranean women generally) do not shave their hair. The practice has been confined largely to English-speaking women of North America and Great Britain, although one hears that it's slowly spreading elsewhere.
Uncommon in most other parts of the world, the practice of leg shaving among women is common in North America, Australia, and much of Western Europe.
Aggggge's pic is an observation, yours are just stupid.
My versions were completely based on observation of EU stereotypes as Aggge's were on American stereotypes. You're changing standards because you don’t like what you see.
"Whys my comment offensive its true. Im more likely to get shot in a school in america then i am in the Uk. I think the comment about english women dressing like whores was kinda worse. And why the hell are americans not aloud to drink until their 21 and yet theyre aloud guns. That one always has puzzled me lol."
No it isnt true
Washington D.C. - School shooting deaths have not increased since 1992, and schools are still far safer places than homes. According to a Justice Policy Institute study to be released July 29, 42 'school related violent deaths' occurred between 1992 and 1995, compared to 33 per year between 1995 and 1998.
"Media coverage of these dramatic killings has created a misperception that schools are dangerous," said Vincent Schiraldi, the Director of the Justice Policy Institute. "In fact, schools are still the safest place in America for kids. If we want to reduce the overall number of childhood gun deaths we should be expanding after-school programs and restricting gun sales."
Number of school killings in 1997: 25.
in contrast
Number of people killed by lightning in 1997: 88
Of 20 million middle-school and high-school students, fewer than a dozen have killed at school this year. Of 20,000 secondary schools nationwide, only about 10 have reported a murder on campus
Steve Zissou: Anne-Marie, do all the interns get Glocks?
oh not again. This is the third time recently that you guys have started arguing about whos country is stupider. It's sad.
On the subject of school uniforms. I believe that when everyone is dressed the same, it evens everyone out. It's far harder to tell how much money people have got, or what their personal tastes are. Its one less thing for pubesent teenagers to come into conflict over, and is less of a destraction in lessons. Its also cheaper.
JP... stop being sad, zane is right, school was bad enough with its different groups of people, geeks, baby-dolls, football lads etc. Let them wear their own uniform and it would just define those groups even more. BTW JP will you please post a picture of your perfect teeth? what the hell have teeth and hair got to do with having a better country?
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Pete Nattress Cheesy Bits img src/uploads/sccheesegif
Registered 23/09/2002
Points 4811
2nd April, 2005 at 05:34:22 -
I think the problem between Agggge's and JP's pics are the level of exaggaration used. People in the UK do not have Circy's Avatar Teeth as the norm. And I beg JP find some statistics proving that it is the norm for European women to not shave their body hair. However, in America, it IS the norm, with a massive obesity rate in some places - just watch Super Size Me.
its funny i lived in the Uk for 19 years and ive never seen teeth like that. Yet i have been to america every year since i was 5 and seen obese people.
"school uniforms are equalizers".
I don't want to be equal to you! i want to be better!
and i didn't mean to offend anybody with that "british whores" thing, there are many women dressing like whores in all countries, it was just shocking to see a girl THAT young like that. No offence again, it could have happened anywhere. You know, this is stupid. As Zane said, it's very sad that we again argue about other countries being stupid. very sad. But it's pretty unavoidable when Muz posts a topic like this. Is he TRYING to split the DC into two pieces? Why don't we let our countries politicians and sports teams (including hooligans) do the arguing. They're trained for it!
These things always turn into anti USA rants. Lets face it, stereotypes are often false.
Obesity is a major problem in the UK but it is even moreso in the US, Us brits know a lot more about America than it knows about us. We KNOW that obesity is a problem in the usa but what do they know? we have bad teeth? thats a generalisation and false.
Anyway i think Americans are funny when they come here because they stand out a mile. I was at a bus stop once and a fat American lady was looking at the timetable, she shouted out asking what bus went to norwich or something. but we arent going to shout out the answer in public, we're british! dont wanna make a scene or anything. poor story but whatever.
JP - [i]"America - Third largest population under China and India"[/i]
Population has nothing to do with economy or living conditions. Look who's just below USA on the population lists - Indonesia, Brazil and Pakistan.
I think USA's power will continue to be at a par with what it is now - much to my displeasure. If wars were based on manpower alone China or Russia could easily take the USA, but because of the greater technology available to America at the moment, they would win a nuclear war as it stands now. The problem is that USA has few real allies apart from Britain, so a coalition of powerful countries could beat America easily. All it takes is one accidently fired warhead.
ALSO! when ever we go to america there always seems to be one clever devil that cant resist doing the typical 'i say old fellow' queen speech. Jeesh if only they realised that english people have so many dialects. But i love them for Disney land ill give them that.
What the hell? I didnt say anything derrogatory about any countries, nor did I say anywhere that the USA was better. I always asserted from the beginning that my pictures were based on stereotypes.
"Agggge's and JP's pics are the level of exaggaration used."
"My versions were completely based on observation of EU stereotypes as Aggge's were on American stereotypes."
I also wrote "Another stereotype" under the teeth picture.
Aggggge: That couldnt be correct: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Malta and Slovakia, a higher percentage of men are obese or overweight then men in the United States.
Noodle: It does when the GDP per capita is also $37,800, the third highest behind Luxembourg and Norway. Meaning we have one fith of the world's spending power.
Steve Zissou: Anne-Marie, do all the interns get Glocks?
ER NO! as if you just said men in turkey n greece are more overweight! Omg, i had this discussion with my family the other week! Greek people, especially those on the smaller islands, are very healthy indeed. Have you ever been to greece? Ive never, in all my trips to greece, seen a fat greek man.
All I said is I feel shamed whenever I drive by a school here, I mean these little girls are flaunting it and it's quite disturbing. I'm aware that little girls dress like whores all over the world, it just seems to be worse here. And uniforms have almost nothing to do with shootings at schools. The columbine wasn't about uniforms or how people dressed, it was about how people were treated. Now gang related, that's a bit different, that happens sometimes.
To clarify, I was talking about American girls, not english, I misread that part in my orig. post.
alot of german people are also quite healthy. My mother can back me up on that one and my uncle, both have lived there once.Actually id say theyre around the same as the uk.
Let's all making sweeping generalizations about all citizens of various countries based on the limited numbers we have actually seen in person or in movies. I, for one, firmly believe that all Somalians work at Sears when they are not trying to kill the dudes in "Blackhawk Down."
Yeah so what I made a typo, the r and the e are right next to eachother.
I'm glad your mom and your uncle can back you up, but I have the AP backing me up.
BRUSSELS, Belgium Mar 16, 2005 — At least seven European countries now challenge the United States in size at least around the waistline. In a group of nations from Greece to Germany, the proportion of overweight or obese men is higher than in the U.S., experts said Tuesday in a major analysis of expanding girth on the European continent.
"The time when obesity was thought to be a problem on the other side of the Atlantic has gone by," said Mars Di Bartolomeo, Luxembourg's Minister of Health.
In Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Malta and Slovakia, a higher percentage of men are obese or overweight than the estimated 67 percent of men in the United States, according to a report from the International Obesity Task Force, a coalition of researchers and institutions.
The analysis was released as the 25-nation European Union announced an initiative to enlist the food and marketing industries in the fight against fat.
Obesity is especially acute in Mediterranean countries, underscoring concerns that people in the southern region are turning away from the traditional diet of fish, fruits and vegetables to fast food high in fat and refined carbohydrates.
In Greece, for example, 38 percent of women are obese, compared with 34 percent in the United States, the group said.
Even in countries with low rates of obesity, troubling trends are emerging. In France, obesity in women rose from 8 percent in 1997 to 11.3 percent in 2003, and from 8.4 percent to 11.4 percent in men.
The change in diets, which the obesity task force said has occurred over the past two decades, affects children most because it is reflected in school lunches.
The task force estimated that among the EU's 103 million youngsters the number of those overweight rises by 400,000 each year. More than 30 percent of children ages 7 to 11 are overweight in Italy, Portugal, Spain and Malta, it said.
That matches estimates for American children. Among American adults, about two-thirds are overweight or obese; nearly one-third qualify as obese.
Steve Zissou: Anne-Marie, do all the interns get Glocks?
The only reasons you gave to prove your points were biased first hand accounts and the opinions of your family, such as the teeth of the British and the percentage of overweight people in European countries.
Now I post irrefutable evidence that the USA is not the fattest country, not even in the top 7.
It's only 18 lines long, you can't be bothered to read something that will prove you wrong? You had enough time on your hands to reply.
Your reply baffles me; it would take under 30-seconds to read. It's as if you wish to stay uninformed so you can keep arguing.
Steve Zissou: Anne-Marie, do all the interns get Glocks?
now Australia, thats a cool country. Damn it id love to live there. JP let it drop fool.Im not gonna read it just to annoy you, i know it probably took you half an hour to find.
It's like Stat Master just totally dominated your world and then you unsuccessfully tried to pretend like you didn't really want to live in your world anymore anyway. Therefore, you lose the conversation.
No, it's the #2 return from the query "obesity countries" in Google. You aren't going to read it because you are ignorant. I know that 67% of men in the USA are overweight; I know that 38% of women in the USA are overweight. And so what?
Somehow this country of lazy fat stupid people are the worlds only superpower, and somehow this ragtag group of fatties control one fifth of the worlds money.
The USA is the leader of innovation, a melting pot of different cultures, producing things that are uniquely American. There is no other country in the world with such a diversity, of people, culture, climates, and ideas.
I hope you feel "clevier" about not knowing the facts. But please, don’t read the article, I'd love for you to stay ignorant, it makes the USA's job of taking over the world much easier when everyone else is too dumb to know what’s happening.
Steve Zissou: Anne-Marie, do all the interns get Glocks?
why would i feel clevier? im not left handed, thats a quote from what a really dippy girl once said to me. Dont refer to my signature to have a bitch at me. Let it drop you seem to be the only one thats keeping it going. Britain has a much bigger, if not more interesting history. And please, A melting pot of different cultures? Hahaha taking over the world! lol its not James Bond now you know.
People don't say typos. Yes a melting pot of different cultures. Besides the small population of Native Americans, everyone in America immigrated here.
White 77.1%, Black 12.9%, Asian 4.2%, Amerindian and Alaska native 1.5%, native Hawaiian and other Pacific islander 0.3%, other 4% (2000)
note: a separate listing for Hispanic is not included because the US Census Bureau considers Hispanic to mean a person of Latin American descent (including persons of Cuban, Mexican, or Puerto Rican origin) living in the US who may be of any race or ethnic group (white, black, Asian, etc.)
There are 8 to 11 million illegal immigrants living in the USA, every year 50,000 green cards are given away in a lottery. I wonder why so many people want to get into the land of flab.
Your history is undoubtedly longer, but more interesting? Let’s see, our history includes the pilgrims, Native Americans, revolutionary war, civil war, slavery, Wild West, Hawaiiana's history pre and post white man, and everything from Ben Franklin to Thomas Edison.
Your history includes a bunch of moldy old kings throwing stones at each others castles.
And no, it isn’t James Bond, he's distinctly British and his last movie sucked.
Steve Zissou: Anne-Marie, do all the interns get Glocks?
"if i could be bothered to read it... i would... but im sure it only backs up the fact that im right..."
That is the best way to lose a discussion like this. At least read what your "opponent" is giving you to back up his opinion, and then come up with facts that prove them wrong.
"Somehow this country of lazy fat stupid people are the worlds only superpower, and somehow this ragtag group of fatties control one fifth of the worlds money."
Which is because the Great depression and the crisis didn't have the same impact on the USA as it had on Europe. Its NOT because Americans are BETTER. Also "a fifth of the worlds money" is not an argument, you have to look at the population number too.
"Britain has a much bigger, if not more interesting history"
The histories of Britain and the USA are both interesting.
"Your history is undoubtedly longer"
No it isn't. History starts at the point where people started "writing". Europeans did not invent writing. Almost all cultures around the world invented it on about the same time.
"Yes a melting pot of different cultures"
It's not a melting pot, it's a salad bowl. The cultures did not melt at all.
What is this? 'A who's country is better argument?'
Its nice to seem some patriotism, but don't go saying your country is better and then refusing to accept other' arguments.
hey please do call in a sub. But ill stick with what i said, our country has a more interesting history. Try having a Monarchy. Hayo, yes you are correct, that was a bit foolish. But another point i dont understand, if this is such a proffesional argument all of a sudden why the hell are people still going on about people being fat? JP try shakespeare,Winston churchill,The beatles,Charles Dickens,Agatha Christie, Jk ROWLING, im pretty sure you americans are mad on Harry Potter.
if europe would do like USA and unite into one single nation, we'd be waaaay better than you americans, it's just that we won't have to do so to win!
And, YOU take over the world...
hahahaha!, you disgust me!
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Pete Nattress Cheesy Bits img src/uploads/sccheesegif
Registered 23/09/2002
Points 4811
3rd April, 2005 at 12:00:46 -
Let's say this; drop the "my country is better than your country" bullshit and get reasonably back on topic, or this thread gets KILLED.
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BRUSSELS, Belgium Mar 16, 2005 — At least seven European countries now challenge the United States in size at least around the waistline. In a group of nations from Greece to Germany, the proportion of overweight or obese men is higher than in the U.S., experts said Tuesday in a major analysis of expanding girth on the European continent.
