Subj : Pagan Bill of Rights To : Sean Dennis From : Rachel L. Akers Date : Sat Mar 17 2001 11:34 pm Greetings Sean, RLA>> Only happen when the people & G'ment understand that the planet RLA>> does _NOT_ revolve around them, & the USA is the "best" & "only" RLA>> place to live. I know many "Yank bashers" who actually refer to RLA>> the USA as a 3rd world country... SD> Then again, those "yank bashers" more than likely haven't lived SD> in the US. Weeelllll..... I know a number of who've emigrated who IMHO are more entitled to knock the anoying element of their home country than others. SD> I've travelled a lot: lived in West Germany, Italy, England, SD> Belgium, France and Mexico, as well as simply taking trips to SD> everywhere. Oz?? SD>...There are unique opportunities here that are available nowhere SD> else as that can be said for each other country out there too. Jeeeezzzzzeee can I keep that as a quote?? Please, please please?? From an outsider's POV I've ended up having drop down drag out fights 'cause some person not only hasn't groked, but completely refused to even acknowledge, that different cultures/nations have different laws & different POV's. I was involved in an international social club a while back & was forever having to explain in words of one syllable or less that Australia's land mass is the same size as mainland USA, that we had different laws, rights & responsiblities & when they conflict with Corpora (eg we have a completely different postcode setup) then the Australian membership has problems. OTOH I'm equally anoyed when an Australian claims rights that only exist un the USA. The 5th amendment to the _Australian_ constitution (not refered to as "the 5th" - rarely even acknowledged FWIW) gave Citizenship to Aboriginal (and Torres Straight Islander) Australians, and took control of their affairs from the States, making them a Commonwealth responsibility. I'm well known to congradulate some Australian, in Oz, claiming "the 5th" for acknowledging their indigenous origins SD> For those who rank the US as a third-world country, it's just SD> showing their very apparent ignorance. Hummm...... I'll beg to differ here. However, my _only_ "3rd world"ish comment has always involved the Health system & how resistant diseases will and have develop under medical undercircumances primarily seen in both the US (?? soon to be Italy ??) and third world countries. There are a large number of non US anthropological / sociological / medical articles that support this... SD> Yeah, we've got our problems, but so does every country. We just SD> seem to go out on a grand scale when we screw up, heh. Well Australia's just introduced a Goods & Services Tax, so I cannot really comment about grand scale screwups );-) SD> I'm proud to be an American. You should be proud to be a citizen SD> of your country too and show respect for others by not "bashing" SD> other countries. Just back up here a moment Sean. I said I _know_ people who "Yank Bash" I know some people who've developed it to a fine art. BUT they are mainly aimed at those who have treated anyone not of the USofA as ignorant fools ... Hell I'm well known to even _talk_ to Yanks OTOH I idenfity myself as "Terran" first & "Australian" second. It's difficult for a non-sporty 1st fleeter geekette to get passionate over... <"traditionaly" solo voice> Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!!! Ohy Ohy Ohy!!! [note "traditionally" means about 51% of the time] SD> However, there are a lot of moronic Americans that don't realize SD> that there's a world outside of the US (per your comments quoted SD> above). Those people deserve all the hell they can handle. ;) See above SD> I can't say anything for the government here... but, I'll keep SD> those opinions to myself. :) Well I think most G'ments need a lesson in real life );-) Rai --- Msged/2 4.00 * Origin: Elfwhere - The POINTy eared POINT (3:640/531.2379) .