The Pitfalls of Marrying an American Woman.

Not anti-Semitic. Most just Judeophobic, which reflects the musical question: what is that Jew up to possibly. Must keep an eye on him/her.

There was a time that non-Jews would not even want to talk to a Jew. Today it is more like constant intrusion for ameliorating one's belief that Jews do not like Gentiles, in my opinion. Well, not all. That makes for hurt feelings. Tough noogies.

You are an idiot. A double idiot to think DOD employment gives you bragging rights. I worked for th Government, you don't get rich. Would you be happier if I told you I was pediatric cardiologist??? And for pity's sake please tell me you are not an American. It's also hard to swallow a New Yorker spouting such ridiculous twaddle.

My four grandparents came to NYC in the late 19th century. I'm also a veteran. Have a nice Easter.

Wow, you're not an idiot, you're a pompous ass. Nice touch ass hole.

Notice I never stood in judgement of you. My opinions do though upset some people, in my opinion.

Yes, gb, both you and Foofie are idiots. That's what comes from an American "education". I've seen both of you try to give advice on the English language. It was pathetic.

Yes, you two are also both pompous asses - a dog's gift to humanity that is so much a part of your American upbringing.

My occupation offends your sensibilities? And you have the gall to say you're not standing in judgement of me. Can you really tell yourself it's alright to behave in a repulsive manner, and then excuse yourself in that fashion? Holy nut balls batman, no wonder so many people have you on ignore. I am astounded that you say you are in New York, you sir, make oafs look like gentlemen.

I do find it commendable you choose to associate with people of above average intellect, I'm betting they find you a self congratulatory blowhard. They must be too polite to tell you to get lost, or more likely, you assume it's a complement when they do.

A tad sexist there, JTT!

Mea culpa.

Holy crap Bobsal, I have never seen JTT ever respond to another poster as politely as he did to you. I'm impressed. Seriously, I'm impressed.

You've never been very observant, glitter. You get some dumb thing in your head and you grip tight until you're shown to be an idiot, which never takes long, and then you're off on a series of tangents.

I do, compared to a lot of people I'm very pro American. You can bury your head all in the sand all you want, but anti Americanism doesn't come out of nowhere. And yes, I'm sorry it's true, third year American students were put in the same class as us freshers, and they did complain that the amount of reading they had to do was a lot more than they were used to.

You may want to ask yourself why I kept this to myself for so long, and only divulged it when provoked by Foofie, before you accuse me of being anti-American.

It's people like you, people who voted for George Bush who are the main reason for anti-Americanism around the world, when a country that supposedly was the bastion of freedom and democracy began torturing prisoners and launching illegal wars don't be surprised if there's a backlash.

And the behaviour of some of your countrymen has a lot to do with it as well. The most anti American country I've ever visited was Mexico. The Mexican tour guide told me that he really liked the English, because they were all so polite. I failed to meet a single Mexican who didn't detest Americans, and it was easy to see why. With a few notable exceptions, the way the Americans spoke to the Mexicans was disgusting, I wouldn't talk to a dog like that. Even Americans I thought were quite friendly would bark orders at the Mexican waiters like they were trash. It was a real eye opener.

A friend of mine holidayed at the same resort as me, and he told me quite an interesting anecdote. They were staying at an all exclusive hotel and joking away with the Mexican barstaff one evening. They were each insulting each other's county in a very jovial manner, 'You ******* Mexicans,' 'You ******* English,' that sort of thing, but very friendly and jokey, when an American, or in his words, a 'septic,' demanded 'service' from the other side of the bar. It turns out he didn't want serving or anything, but just expected the Mexican barman to stand there attentively while he and his group sat there talking among themselves. The barman got his revenge though, when the Americans did want serving, he went round to the European side of the bar, took a straw, stuck it in a pot of salt and put a large dose into each of their beers. He didn't bother hiding what he was doing from the Mexican barstaff, or the European guests, quite the opposite, he let them know exactly what he was doing, because he knew none of them would say anything. And he did that with every drink.

Now you might want to ask yourself why he felt he could do that, and why nobody, (there were plenty of witnesses,) said anything.

My late wife told me another anecdote, about when she worked in a carpet stall at a bazaar in Istanbul. Over there they had three prices, one for Turks, another for tourists, and a third for American tourists. They always made sure the Americans paid more than anyone else.

You may also want to ask yourself why English speaking holidaymakers are always very clear to point out that they are not American, especially Canadians, who are more likely to be mistaken for Americans. Every time I asked a Canadian if he was American I felt I had to apologise for getting it wrong. We English often get mistaken for Australians, but never feel the need to make sure people know we're not.

So you can stick your head in the sand, and blame people like me for the reason Rev feels reluctant to travel outside the USA, when in reality I'm one of the most pro American Europeans you're likely to meet. I actually call you Americans for Christ's sake. I don't call you yanks, or septics, which is the norm. (In case you wondered it's rhyming slang, septic tank/yank they're both full of ****) And that's why when you were with your friends in Britain, so many of them were talking about the need to keep a cut clean in case it went septic. Remember that?

Anti-Americanism exists because of the behaviour of your (mostly Republican) governments, and because of the rude, arrogant behaviour of a significant amount of your countrymen. If you think I'm anti-American, you haven't got a clue. I actually like you guys, and I feel sorry for the decent, lovely Americans who get tarred with the same brush as those who ruin your country's reputation.

Sorry, I'm just telling you how it is. Now you can go back to burying your head in the sand and blaming it on everyone else.

A friend of mine taught in America, he said it was very different from teaching over here. We like to structure the lessons into small segments, get the kids working in small groups, working on a task, arguing amongst themselves, and coming to their own conclusions away from the teachers. He could not get the American kids to do that, it was all chalk and talk, and writing.

I would also like to apologise to any of you lovely Americans on A2K that I may have offended. (You know who you are.) Some of the nicest people here are American, your country has done a lot of good for the world, and served as a beacon of freedom in the dark days of the Cold War.

Unfortunately you seem to have more than your fair share of arseholes, Foofie being a prime example. I've put him on ignore, because he seems to bring out the worst in me, and I don't want to sink to his level any more.

So Osso, Pan, Glitter, and anyone else whose opinion I value, if I've offended you, I'm really sorry.

He was ineffective teacher could be one logical conclusion.

Ragman: He was ineffective teacher could be one logical conclusion.

In he US, weve given over "education" to professional teachers, not teaching professionals.

I can mentor Phd candidates but I cannot teach high school science because Ive got no creds in the "teaching sciences".

Professional teachers are empty suits IMHO, (with the exception of HS "Shop teachers" ,of which the last specimen probably died in the 90's)

Adults here tend to control every waking moment of kids justified by "it is good for them" or "SAFETY!" ....and we dont do education over here, our schools are all about indoctrination.

You dont understand america until you see who much paranoia and fear permeates everything we do.