Subj : Pagan Bill of Rights To : Rachel L. Akers From : Sean Dennis Date : Sun Mar 18 2001 02:48 am Rachel L. Akers wrote in a message to Sean Dennis: SD> Then again, those "yank bashers" more than likely haven't lived SD> in the US. RLA> Weeelllll..... I know a number of who've emigrated who IMHO are RLA> more entitled to knock the anoying element of their home country RLA> than others. True, but many of them could be labelled as "problems"... but I digress. :) 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. RLA> Oz?? I'd love to come down to Oz one of these days. I simply don't have the cash right now; there's a few BBS friends and MOO friends that I'd like to visit. SD>...There are unique opportunities here that are available nowhere SD> else as that can be said for each other country out there too. RLA> Jeeeezzzzzeee can I keep that as a quote?? Please, please please?? Hehehe. Sure. RLA> From an outsider's POV I've ended up having drop down drag out RLA> fights 'cause some person not only hasn't groked, but completely RLA> refused to even acknowledge, that different cultures/nations have RLA> different laws & different POV's. I was involved in an RLA> international social club a while back & was forever having to RLA> explain in words of one syllable or less that Australia's land RLA> mass is the same size as mainland USA, that we had different laws, RLA> rights & responsiblities & when they conflict with Corpora (eg we RLA> have a completely different postcode setup) then the Australian RLA> membership has problems. Yeah, I knew that about the landmass thing. But, it seems that more and more, people are more narrow-minded in their points-of-view concerning the world... a bit too myoptic, unfortunately. RLA> I'm well known to congradulate some Australian, in Oz, claiming RLA> "the 5th" for acknowledging their indigenous origins grin> Heh. Now that's funny. SD> For those who rank the US as a third-world country, it's just SD> showing their very apparent ignorance. RLA> Hummm...... I'll beg to differ here. However, my _only_ "3rd RLA> world"ish comment has always involved the Health system & how RLA> resistant diseases will and have develop under medical RLA> undercircumances primarily seen in both the US (?? soon to be RLA> Italy ??) and third world countries. There are a large number of RLA> non US anthropological / sociological / medical articles that RLA> support this... Concerning the health system: it's all about money, nothing else. However, the state of Oregon DOES have a state health plan for people that make less than $12,000US a year (IIRC-been a few years since I've been back home). As far as I'm aware, it's the only state in the US that has that. Granted, there are problems with it, but at least when I lived there, I could go see a doc or a dentist when I was sick or needed a tooth pulled. As for the resistant diseases: again, MONEY. The docs prescribe medication that isn't needed (i.e. antibiotics for a viral infection) so they can get a kickback (be it free product, bonuses, whathaveyou) from the pharmacutical companies. The pharmacutical companies advertise heavily on TV saying, "Ask your doctor about to see if it's right for you." Most of the time, they don't even SAY what it's for. This is a particular subject of interest to me... I was bed-ridden for the first 10 years of my life due to severe allergies and immune system problems, so I read, read and read some more about pharmacy, pharmacology and a host of other related subjects. I must stop myself here as I've completely digressed off-topic. :> If you'd like to continue this, netmail me. :) RLA> Well Australia's just introduced a Goods & Services Tax, so I RLA> cannot really comment about grand scale screwups );-) Ahh, so taxes are an international problem. 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. RLA> Just back up here a moment Sean. I said I _know_ people who "Yank RLA> Bash" I know some people who've developed it to a fine art. BUT RLA> they are mainly aimed at those who have treated anyone not of the RLA> USofA as ignorant fools ... Hell I'm well known to even _talk_ to RLA> Yanks I'm sorry; I ment that as a generalization (not necessarily aimed at you personally). I should have worded that "Those who tend to bash the US should..."; my apologies if you took it that way. Later, Sean --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+ * Origin: Outpost BBS // Carbondale, IL // +1-618-529-3176 (1:115/776) .