America Is Becoming Ungovernable.

The picture he paints isn't a good one, and I wonder if anyone would care to comment as to whether he has actually put it across accurately.

The ‘madness’ is, of course, the insistence of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives that they will vote to enable the federal government to pay its bills only if the White House agrees to suspend or scrap its national health scheme, which they loathe to the point of obsession.

They could defy the intentions of the Founding Fathers of the constitution as flagrantly as the gun nuts who exploit the 1776 provision for militias to bear arms, to enable modern mass murderers to equip themselves with machine-guns. But the Republicans are seized with a self-righteousness which is impervious to reason.

Yet it is still an extraordinary step to attempt to blackmail the Democratic administration into dropping a measure that became law in 2010.
As a host of commentators point out, if Obama gave way on this issue — as assuredly he will not — the road would be open for his congressional enemies to pull the same stunt about any other law they dislike.

You really are a libling.

Despite your endless denials Ceili, you are clearly anti-American. That's fine by me. I much prefer your raw contempt to obsequious expressions of concern, and particularly when a more polished contempt underlies the concern.

America the Half Beautiful


Carl Reiner on Twitter last week, worried about the current government shutdown, said this was cause for great concern in the world's leading democracy. And I thought, leading? Who's following? The answer would appear to be no one.

After one of the recent school shootings, a young mother said to me, "What must you think of us? You must think we're all mad." Mad certainly, but not all of you.

Half of America seems to be entirely enviable: movies, books, TV, arts, liberal democratic institutions, great centers of learning and research, gay marriage, social freedoms, etc., etc.

The other half does seem to be, well, nuts.

Currently you appear to be almost in a state of civil war. If one party can shut down the government, then the social compact to rule is broken. In most other democracies this simply could not happen. In the UK, for example, the government would dissolve and the prime minister would call for an immediate general election, which would be held within three weeks. (Yes, that quickly.) With your fixed terms you do not have this benefit. You must limp on to the next overlong election cycle and then waste a whole year of execrable television and billions of dollars on it. This is a very expensive and not very flexible system of democracy that no one else wants to follow.

The Mad Hater's Tea Party throws everything overboard, not just the tea. The captain, the crew, the ships dog... Pirates could hardly do worse.

It seems especially perverse that people purporting to be Christian, a religion that vows to help the poor and heal the sick, should be so violently against helping the poor and healing the sick. Followers of a religion that preaches forgiveness and turning the other cheek, demand the right for the outright insane to own more and more weapons. Nuts, I'm afraid.

Now some people get very angry when a non-American like me dares to talk about America. "Well, piss off then, go somewhere else," they say. Forgetting that we who live amongst you are the ones who like you the most, and if you don't listen to what we think, then the ostrichisation of America will continue. Bend over, head in sand, hand on heart, salute flag.

The great thing about America has always been your ability to rally round in difficult times, especially under attack and create new solutions to modern problems. Of your current state the Founding Fathers would be horrified and terrified. Nobody asked the Mothers. You may need to re-evaluate. The Constitution may need updating. It's not the Bible. Then, neither is the Bible.

We need you to prosper. You can rule the world, or you can ruin it. Time to wake up. We really need you.

Pretty please.

You really are a libling.

Foofie wrote:

So, regardless of how intertwined the global economy is, I believe one should not interfere with the U.S

They cannot, and that is what infuriates them.

Being relegated, in The Great Game, to owning Baltic Avenue without even a motel surely grates on those who once had the Monopoly.

San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has never been shy about giving his opinion. He doesn't like giving his opinion very often, but he's not shy about it. In the past, the Air Force Academy graduate and four-time NBA champion has said he's spoken with his team about the 2012 election and that he tries to discuss things that are outside of basketball with them.

The latest non-basketball topic? The shutdown of the United States government, which has gone on for two weeks with Republicans and Democrats divided on several fiscal issues, and which has forced thousands of workers to be furloughed due to Congress' inability to reach a compromise. When asked whether he had discussed the shutdown with his team, Popovich said no, in part because the team's international players, "think (the United States is) pretty silly."

"We talk about a lot of things with the team," Popovich said. "We haven't gotten really specific with the shutdown... Most foreigners think we're pretty silly... and they're correct. It's children fighting over their toys, so to speak. It's got nothing to do with the public or what's good for the country. It's about winning and losing, and that doesn't do any of us much good. Hopefully they're going to get to some sort of agreement in the next couple of days that might be good for the American people.



http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/24083384/spurs-coach-gregg-popovich-blasts-government-leaders-over-shutdown

They cannot, and that is what infuriates them.

Being relegated, in The Great Game, to owning Baltic Avenue without even a motel surely grates on those who once had the Monopoly.

My only question, at this point, is why do you inhabit this forum, since you are so above many/most of the other posters intellectually? Are you just using the forum to practice English, as you might be building cognitive reserve in your older years? If yes, I won't reply to your posts, since I do not want to be "used" by someone that has a self-serving reason to post, other than the intellectual repartee.

Foofie wrote:

My only question, at this point, is why do you inhabit this forum, since you are so above many/most of the other posters intellectually? Are you just using the forum to practice English, as you might be building cognitive reserve in your older years? If yes, I won't reply to your posts, since I do not want to be "used" by someone that has a self-serving reason to post, other than the intellectual repartee.

I'm a member here since October 18, 2002. I don't need this forum to practise English.
Mais, je ne voudrais pas plaindre, si tu repartirais ...

I do not understand

a) I do not understand French. Speak in Spanish, if you like.

b) Who did I libel, and how?

c) The U.S. is an economic superpower by default, having been unscathed in WWII; therefore, the U.S. could make consumer goods before Europe/Japan/China could. So, the U.S. only became an economic superpower SERENDIPITOUSLY, and can ethically act self-serving in a global economy, in my opinion, where other countries get into high debt, and then bellyache over austerity measures. Why should the U.S. be the only adult in the room, so to speak?[

You and Foofie think the U.S. should tell the world to **** off. Go back to your pre-WWII isolationists ways.
Good luck telling that to Apple, Microsoft, Ford, and on and on and on. And before you think you're the biggest kid on the block,
think about your debt and the competition. Think of your Walmart's, who would they get to sew your cheap clothing. Or the Samsung's who are champing at the bit for world domination rendering it's high priced opposition to an expensive homegrown niche market. Like it or not, you are citizens of the world, not the rulers.

Foofie wrote:

b) Who did I libel, and how?

As far as I remember (and additionally, I looked it up) I didn't assume such.
You should direct that question to the person, who did so.

Foofie wrote:

a) I do not understand French. Speak in Spanish, if you like.

Well, since you used a French word, I thought, you would.

Foofie wrote:

c) The U.S. is an economic superpower by default, having been unscathed in WWII; therefore, the U.S. could make consumer goods before Europe/Japan/China could. So, the U.S. only became an economic superpower SERENDIPITOUSLY, and can ethically act self-serving in a global economy, in my opinion, where other countries get into high debt, and then bellyache over austerity measures. Why should the U.S. be the only adult in the room, so to speak?[

Interesting, as already Pasteur said, La chance ne sourit qu'aux esprits bien préparés.

I thought you were claiming that I was libeling? Can you be more specific, since you had a comment about libeling. Making oblique comments adds little to the discourse.

Why should the U.S. be the only adult in the room, so to speak?

Since I stated I know no French, you then reply with a French thought from Pasteur. So, I cannot gain anything from your French quotations.