Painting inside?

[jfholm]

The Americans are a strange people, with some even stranger local tribal concoctions completely unavailable and unheard of, in the rest of the greater civilised world.

Yes Tony we are strange. I really feel that we have a propaganda machine over here that tells us all the time how great we are. You would not believe how many friends are shocked when the find out the rest of the world has electricity!

I once posted a picture of downtown areas of cities from around the world on facebook and asked my friends to guess where they were taken. I do not think there was one guess outside of the USA and not one picture was from the USA. Most of the people I know also think China is some back water country where 8 years are the only workers and they all live in cardboard huts. I looked on Google Maps at pictures of numerous cities in China and around the world and they are very modern.

But then again there is Australia where only lizards and kangaroo's dwell.

[Tony]

But then again there is Australia where only lizards and kangaroo's dwell.

Yes, and we have ants.
And we have BEER.

Its funny though, but we get see a lot of America through Hollywood, the mass media, American TV programmes, and the internet.
We get to hear about whatever happens in the US just as quickly as Americans hear it, if not sooner.
Yet Americans seem to be told very little about what is going on in the rest of the world, and very few even seem interested.

The constant lies and deceptions fed to Americans by the US government and US media seem so transparently obvious to us simple minded foreigners,
and we are in absolute awe that they can get away with it.

If the Aussie Government ever even thought about trying some of the incredible stunts and bloody nonsense pulled off by Congress or the Whitehouse,
there would be a furious lynch mob of hundreds of thousands descend on Parliment House (no guns, lots of rope) and the bastards would all be strung up in a neat row to the lamp posts out front.
And the politicians here all know it !

[RACEPUMPER]

Where DID that "like" button go?

I was in the states some years ago doing some development work and was amazed by the questions from some quite intelligent people. No we don't all have pet koalas. Try to pick one up and you will know why. Yes we have colour television! Yes our cars have efi! No I didn't have to take a boat to get here! (asked by a university graduate!) and the big one - yes I have seen a kangaroo!. Oh the look of horror when they find out the roos are a major problem and and are shot for pest control in every state.
And nobody I spoke to knew that a fortnight meant two weeks.
Jim

[jfholm]

The constant lies and deceptions fed to Americans by the US government and US media seem so transparently obvious to us simple minded foreigners, and we are in absolute awe that they can get away with it.

If the Aussie Government ever even thought about trying some of the incredible stunts and bloody nonsense pulled off by Congress or the Whitehouse,
there would be a furious lynch mob of hundreds of thousands descend on Parliment House (no guns, lots of rope) and the bastards would all be strung up in a neat row to the lamp posts out front.
And the politicians here all know it !

Where DID that "like" button go?

I was in the states some years ago doing some development work and was amazed by the questions from some quite intelligent people. No we don't all have pet koalas. Try to pick one up and you will know why. Yes we have colour television! Yes our cars have efi! No I didn't have to take a boat to get here! (asked by a university graduate!) and the big one - yes I have seen a kangaroo!. Oh the look of horror when they find out the roos are a major problem and and are shot for pest control in every state.
And nobody I spoke to knew that a fortnight meant two weeks.
Jim

Yes I know why we are sometimes called the ugly Americans. It is changing I hope. I have a lot of friends that think the same way you do. Let's hope for a change come election time!

[Tony]

It is changing I hope. I have a lot of friends that think the same way you do. Let's hope for a change come election time!

Unfortunately the election process itself is now so totally corrupted and meaningless, I don't see that as being even the beginning of a solution.
Remember Ron Paul, probably Americas last real hope...

With either Jeb or Hillary as President it will be totaly corrupt business as usual, only worse.
Only thing that can possibly save America now is a military coup.
And Obummer (or whoever he really is) is busy right now cleaning out any possible opposition in the military, just to make sure.

Only thing that can even begin to heal America might be:
Total overhaul of the entire electoral process with a full paper trail.
Abolition of the Federal Reserve bank, and the IRS.
Total overhaul at every level of law enforcement and the entire Justice system.
Complete cleanout of the sixteen US intelligence agencies.
Round up all the traitors and spies working for Israel and deport them.
Clean out all the corrupt bankers and Wall Street thieves.
Cut down the military industrial complex to reasonable size, and get the US economy off a war footing.
Break up all the large multinational corporations and monopolies and force them to pay a fair level of tax.
Cut down the size of Federal Government and return power to the States.
Return to the spirit and intent of the original US constitution as the bedrock and basis of all future law.

Some of this is simply not enough. It has to be ALL of the above and much more....
And it just ain't gona happen.......

Vlad Putin started out with some similar problems of theft and corruption.
Through sheer strength of character and by placing many former KGB coleagues, whose courage, uncorruptibility, and loyalty to Russia were already well proven, into key regional political positions (there were hundreds of them spread all throughout the vast Russian nation) he set about cleaning out the filth.

Much of that same filth ended up living in London, Tel Aviv and Washington.
He cleaned out the Mafia, the international bankers, Freemasons, and Zionists, and other corrupt parasites, and the Russian economy has never looked back.
Vlad Putin also championed the Russian Orthodox Church and principles of community morality generally. The exact opposite of what is now occuring throughout America.

Maybe this could also happen in America some day, but I cannot see anyone of sufficient stature and integrity to effectively do the job surviving assasination.
JFK being the example of what would likely follow.

[storm]

Vlad Putin started out with some similar problems of theft and corruption.
Through sheer strength of character and by placing many former KGB coleagues, whose courage, uncorruptibility, and loyalty to Russia were already well proven, into key regional political positions (there were hundreds of them spread all throughout the vast Russian nation) he set about cleaning out the filth.

Much of that same filth ended up living in London, Tel Aviv and Washington.
He cleaned out the Mafia, the international bankers, Freemasons, and Zionists, and other corrupt parasites, and the Russian economy has never looked back.
Vlad Putin also championed the Russian Orthodox Church and principles of community morality generally. The exact opposite of what is now occuring throughout America.

JFK being the example of what would likely follow.

Really old thread I know but is this sarcasm? I'm having a bit of a Sheldon Cooper moment so I thought I'd better ask .

[Tony]

]Really old thread I know but is this sarcasm? I'm having a bit of a Sheldon Cooper moment so I thought I'd better ask .

Its all perfectly true.
What makes you think it is sarcasm ?

Russia has completely turned around since the cold war, or have you not noticed ?

So has America, but in the entirely opposite way.

[storm]

]Really old thread I know but is this sarcasm? I'm having a bit of a Sheldon Cooper moment so I thought I'd better ask .

Its all perfectly true.
What makes you think it is sarcasm ?

Russia has completely turned around since the cold war, or have you not noticed ?

So has America, but in the entirely opposite way.

Just thought I'd ask, I'll be careful not to pass anything on to my Ukrainian (especially Crimean) friends

[1960FL]

Just thought I'd ask, I'll be careful not to pass anything on to my Ukrainian (especially Crimean) friends

I have no nickle in this dime but i will say this, these countries are only there because of WAR and that land as is the case in major wars once belonged to someone else like Poland? Germany? and thus other countries were formed. it is all a part of political evolution stealing land and resources.

I think i can agree with Tony though Putin to some may be not all gold but I can respect the Man for being one (not that i like him), and putting his country and culture and faith first unlike here in the states we cant give it away fast enough break down religion and morals fast enough. We cant take care of our own here but we can TAX the shit out those who work to give to others and other countries as subsidies so that they say they are our allies or to buy votes.

I am Second generation American and my family came here through Ellis Island some slept on the waiting dock for two weeks to be processed, then they learned ENGLISH and got jobs and contributed to the Great Industrial Revolution...Oh and accepted being a POLOCK as being someone a categorized American, My grandfather always said he was an american and could also speak Polish.

Now we manufacture almost nothing and have millions that are unemployable or wont work in the the jobs they are qualified for.

What used to be the American dream is just a nightmare I have 35 employees and it is more like a baby setting service with a government watchdog than a Business; Oh and did i mention you cant even tell someone "they look nice today" without getting a letter from a lawyer

I will get off my box now.

As an American i hate to say it but we have to start thinking more about America and rebuilding her and less Global (think like Putin, China) and we may survive otherwise the strongest religious/political culture will make this place something else but not America our current leader is a prime example. I am all for multiculturalism but if we stay on course here it will soon be Press one for ??? two for ??? and three for English when you call your favorite place just to place an order we keep pushing ourselves further nown the list.

As you can tell I am having a *%$#y winter so far.

Rick

[storm]

Rick I genuinely thought the post I quoted was sarcasm and that is why I asked, what in hindsight was a stupid question.

I have family in the US who moved their from Scotland, my father and his family were rejected by the US (and Canada) because their were 6 of them but Australia was taking everyone we could get. I'm not nationalistic but I am a very proud Aussie. I tend to stay out of discussions about the US simply because my opinions are not popular and then someone comes back and says something like "what has Australia every done for the world?" as though we as a country of 23 million have never pulled our fair weight.

As for Putin my immense dislike for the man knows no bounds. I have lost friends (they are now dead because they defended their country against Russian or "pro-russian" aggression) and Putin blames Ukraine for this? We are not in the age of empires anymore (WW1 as well as the creation and expansion of the USSR saw to that) but Putin wants the USSR back. JFK once said a country that does not allow peaceful revolution will fall through violent revolution. The Russian Empire fell through violent revolution because Tsar Nicholas Romanov (they weren't really even Romanovs) refused to allow a peoples government and the USSR was born. the USSR fell through peaceful revolution because the Communists were not giving the people a say.

Viktor Yanukovych (former president of Ukraine) outlawed peaceful protests after the people become sick of his corruption and the corruption of his government. A move Vladimir Putin did in Russia a few eyars before. VY had his own people shot by snipers in Maiden Square, peaceful protestors who wanted a say in their own destiny but VY wanted to go the other way. He changed the constitution and outlawed dissent against his policies, a move that VP did a couple of years before in Russia. There is a pattern and it is a pattern that has its origins with VP and the Kremlin. It has been used in other countries, such as the Central Asian republics with lethal force against anyone who disagrees with the ruling regime.

Russia has banned mothers of fallen soldiers (many of whom have died in Ukraine even though Putin denies they are there yet Russian military trucks come and pick up the cadavers) from asking questions and has named an organisation of these mothers as illegal foreign intelligence organisations. Many of these same mothers are now under house arrest or in the Russian equivalent of jail just because they want to know where, why, and how their sons died.

Gays. Lesbians, etc etc etc, are now banned from driving in Russia because VP thinks they have some mental disease that makes then incapable of rational thought and therefore being able to drive a car safely. The main opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, in Russia has been under house arrest for years simply because he is calling for an end to corruption. His brother was jailed based on a flawed legal process on trumped up charges of, guess what, corruption! Russians who have fled Russia have been killed using chemicals only available to specialists organisations and they are chemicals that should never be out in public yet they are administered in public.

I'm glad I live in Australia, we might have a flipper footed, budgie smuggling, cacky laughing, fool for a Prime Minister and the rpevious 2 were equally as bad in their own pathertic ways but at least I can type that in a public place and not fear for my well being and that of my family. I seriously doubt the situation in the US is so bad that someone like Putin is a role model of manhood and moral fortitude. To me Putin is weak, just like Sadam Hussien, Gaddafi, Hitler, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, were all weak. Cowards like that rule through tyranny. No one should ever be afraid to speak their mind in their own country, It shouldn't matter if your black, white, green, gay, straight, have one arm shorter than another, have different religious beliefs. etc etc etc. A country that looks after its own looks after all of its own. A country that is a good global citizen also looks out for those who can't look out for themselves. Putin doesn't do either of these, he jails people for disagreeing with him, he invades other countries and annexes sovereign territory (ala Hitler and Sudentenland) while calling everyone else Fascists, he withholds the human rights of his own people and those in the territories he has annexed (Crimean Tatars are not allowed to assemble in their native land and many have been murdered since the annexation), he crushes (with absolute violent extremism) any group who wants more freedoms (Chechens in Chechnya are just one example) while calling for more freedoms for Russian speakers in other countries and he supports active rebellions (Georgia, Ukraine) when Russian speakers are involved yet he vetoes through the right of Veto any UN action in other countries (e.g. Syria) where he supports the tyranny of the ruling regime (also the fact he has a naval base there helps).

Please forgive me for disliking the man (and I use that word extremely lightly because he is a coward not a man) intensely and feeling the situation in the US is nothing like the situation in Russia,

I have said enough so I will bow out now except to say that one man's freedom is another man's wish. I know my freedom is coveted by many and I wish I could do more to help those many achieve the same freedoms I have.