What's so great about America

ci-- You are onto something.
A snootful makes me nicer.
I'm going to pour a glass.
This is actually Saturday night.

sour mash...Rebel Yell or Makers Mark prefered

I like vodka, but gotta watch myself. It's too easy to have more than one. c.i.

Here's one for all you drinkers. c.i.
******************************
This story concerns three elderly ladies, a large bottle of Crown Royal, and a baseball game. In addition, you get to be a detective.
Our three protagonists went to their first Mariner game; something that was an occasion of great excitement to them.

To add to the excitement, they smuggled a bottle of booze into the game, and started immediately to enhance the soft
drinks they bought.

It was a good game. There was a lot of action on the field and a lot of action in the stands.

All too soon, long before the game was over, the bottle was nearly empty.

By now, I have given you enough information for you to be able to tell us how far along we are in the game, and what
the status of the game is, i.e., Inning? & how many runners on base?

Have you figured it out yet? Downscreen, please.

















It's the bottom of the fifth, and the bags are loaded.

Yes, today is indeed Saturday in the US. That was very confusing and very funny BTW. On a Wednesday was it?

Yup.
My last snootful: Last Wednesday night, which seemed much like a Saturday night by my alcohol content standards. (Perhaps, my log in difficulties are in question...?)

CI--good one!

Well, there was really no log in impediment on the site's server end. I checked. Maybe there was connectivity issues on your end but heck when in doubt blame alcohol.

Poe's friends blamed the alcohol for his madness while Poe wished they would blame the madness for his alcohol.

LOVE the new avatar, Sofia! It's you!

Thank you, Rae, but I do have a substantially more bodacious rack than the little girl. :wink:

You go, girl!

um a balcony you could do shakespiere off of?

whistle; .......^^^^^...........vvvvvvv^^^^vvvvv

Rack of lamb?

Just trying to add a bit of balance to the debate, is all.

I guess I am late in posting for the original topic. I look at the States from afar and see a land still full of opportunity but also a restricted place due to focussing on its own importance. I believe that US education is very insular. I have not met many Americans who know much of the world outside US borders. And perhaps that contributes to parts of the world misunderstanding US intentions/behaviour. How does the US know its place in the world if it does not attempt to understand that which it is not? According to US citizens, the States is the alpha and the omega? Well, actually, no. There is literally a world of knowledge and experience outside of the States. And so there should be, if for no other reason than to show diversity.<br>
I am sounding harsh, I know, and I apologise for that. I do see what has made and continues to make the States great. I also see what the States should not not want to be recognised for - extreme poverty next door to affluence, racism, shooting tragedies in schools, KKK, medical assistance given only after finances assured, inane sitcoms etc. And yes, we can say that similar afflictions are outside the States, but somehow we expect better of you. Perhaps because of your ideals?<br>
The States has given the world as much heroics as histrionics. And that contributes to its vibrancy and humanity. But if you want global acknowledgement, then acknowledge you are part of the global village, not that the village belongs to you. If you want international respect, then respect other nations. Not all of us want to be assimilated into the American culture even if we appreciate what makes America great.<br>
There is a huge amount of respect given the States and rightly so, both from inside and outside your borders. But dont turn that self-respect into blind evangelism at the cost of appreciating that which is not American.<br>
America may not have split the atom (New Zealander Rutherford in Scotland) but look what you did with it from ending a war to supplying energy etc. Look at what your nation's founders, statesmen, inventors, entrepreneurs, businesspeople, writers and artists have given the world. Absolutely great reasons to be proud of America's contribution to the tapestry that makes up the world.

Libratrue,

American schools, IMO, do indeed focus too much on American history. But the lack of knowlege of other nations in the Us as compared to what other nations know about the US has very little to do with American education.

Even if most nations know much about America most of their citizens know precious little about, say, Mongolia. Mongolia rarely makes news and does not disseminate popular culture widely.

America exports lots of culture, and it shares few borders. It's not so much an effort to export so much as a willingness of the other nations to import, and not export their own pop culture.

To keep this short what I'm saying is that the arguments that the Us does not know the world are valid, IMO, but do not take into account that no nation's populace generally knows much about nations that create few ripples and export little in way of pop culture. Not necessarily something the Us can change. Improve? sure, But the status quo is to be expected under thse circumstances.

In respect to knowlege about teh world Americans are not so self-important as they are simply part of the spotlight. With most of the world knowing little outside of the spotlight.

Human nature being what it is, Craven's words ring true to this ole Texas boy.

Craven


Than why bring it up on this thread. This is probably the third or forth time we have gone thru this little tirade of yours. It is always the same and based on your perception. It is time to get off the soap box.

An example which struck me:

If you go on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California (I assume it is still there, I did this in 1977) nowhere will you see, in all the information given to the visitor, that it was built on the Clyde in Scotland, and during its working life was owned by a British company, P&O.

Its whole past history, a remarkable story, has been obliterated, written out and Americanised.
What is the use of that? What is the reason for that? That seems to me not only insular, but perverse.

McTag, Here's some history on the Queen Mary. c.i. http://www.queenmary.com/html/factsandhistory.php4?section=qmstats