It's been a little while and the posts are piling up. Time to reply.
It seems to me that some of you America-bashers are saying, "We like Americans. Many of our friends are Americans. We live or visit in the United States. We really enjoy it." However, the final conclusion always is, 'WE HATE AMERICA!'"
Don't you realize that these so-called friends of yours elected the government of the U.S.
There are a lot of things I don't like about America, most probably the xenophobic attitutes. It's a big country and the person living smack dab in the middle of Kansas has probably a hard time understanding where or what's going on in Holland.
The Dutchman, however, living in a country the size of Delaware, is forced to learn languages and learn to know who his neighbors are just to eeke out a living.
Now, down to specifics.
PorcoRosso,
Loved the little tiff. I hope we're straightened out now. Sorry about the spelling of that Vichy port city down there in the south of France. Had to get that one in.
Bottoms Up!
I'm not going to let you off that easy. I can't see how you can call me a jingoist? Take a look at yourself. At least I admit that there are faults in the American way of life. Your own hated journalists have asked some serious questions whether American society is cracking.
As far as having been a member of the journalism profession -- quit in 1981 -- I have nothing but praise for the organization I worked for, UPI. I didn't work for the National Enquirer, nor the Sun, nor The Globe. But, I guess to you, one sort of reporting and writing is the same as another. Check my posts again. I'm very critical of improper reporting.
That's why I personally resent you calling me a "lowlife."
I admit I got the IL76 and the AN124 confused, but if you read my posts, you will also see that I posted a correction. I'm also not afraid to give out my E-mail address, nor my web site information which also has my phone number.
This is regarding your statement that a majority of the world disagree with what the United States thinks and says. What would happen in the world if the United States had, or one day would, suddenly decide to just to go away?
In that case, if past history has anything to say, something like this might have happened:
-- Adolf Hitler Jr. (if the old man was capable) would now be Ceasar of the world.
-- Josef Stalin (or little Joe) would be the loving uncle of the world.
-- Mao Tse Tung and his follower(s) would be supreme ruler of the world.
-- Africa would be a place for hard-time prisoners and outcasts tightly controlled by any of those mentioned above.
-- Switzerland, which would be left out of the global takeover, would be the most populous country percentage-wise, because it would cost you $500 million plus just to get a residency permit.
-- Slobodan Milosevich and his followers would be very well known guns for hire by those mentioned above to put down any and all so-called "civil unrest" anywhere in the world empire.
-- There would be no Middle East countries, per se. It would be bunched into a region and the "supreme owner/ruler" would reap the benefits of desert sand and oil. There would be no Israeli-Palestinian conflict, because one step out of line and you'd all be dead.
-- The Americans, being completely isolationist, but still a province of one of the above, would erect machine gun and electric wire border posts on the Mexican border to prevent anyone from the other side coming in and taking over their MacDonald jobs. Hitler, especially, wouldn't want to mix that pure blood with Hispanics, would he?
And, by the way, Bottoms Up!, have you ever flown? Like really, flown? I started my ground training in a "Link Trainer" and I actually did my first four hours towards my license in a "Piper Cub." Have you heard of either of these old-fangled things?