Post something interesting about the country you live in

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Nah, most of that would be reconized as a joke except for the stuff about WWII, and particulary the berlin bunker thing.

Why is it that citizens of the USA think they are American, but no one else in the Americas is. Perhaps if the country had been named properly then this confusion would not have arisen.

This was something that always bothered me, too. I asked teachers about it, and the answer I always got is that it is simply convention because the United States was the first "true" country in the Americas and as a result they were called Americans by people in Europe. It was just something that stuck the past 200 years.

I always thought "but what about the Native Americans?" And as for first country, it ignores the fact that the Aztecs and Inca both had countries before any Europeans had countries in the Americas.

Here is an interesting thought: people say that the Native Americans would have been better off if the Europeans had never come along. If the Europeans hadn't come, how long do you think it would have been before it was an Apache heart on top of the Temple to Quetzelcoatl in Tenochtitlan? I don't know, maybe that's just my Aztec ancestors talking about what could have been. Kind of a darned if you do, darned if you don't kind of situation. Anyway, that is wayyyyyy off of the subject at hand, other than being something interesting about my continent.

A joke I've heard:
Why do we have America? To keep the Americans in.

They told me about the convention too, but Mexico was established before the USA became the USA. I think that was just an easy answer.

Speaking of jokes, one Mexican chappie once told me we should never let any Americans in, they breed like rabbits. This he explained was because when Mexico allowed those from the north to settle in Texas, they allowed in 200 families, but....... Changed days, eh?

Nah. With all the geography and natural resources here, we just don't need the rest of the world the way they need us.

Hence the American "hands off" aproach to International relations?

What about oil? There is plenty of stuff the USA imports in. There arent many countries that only rely on their own resources.

Who needs oil? We've got coal! Yeah, the soot is kind of hard to breathe, but we are going to roll back all of our environmental policies, anyway.

If coal mining becomes the main fuel there and mining becomes widespread then you yanks will finally learn what a hard days work is. Probably not though as you will rely on immigrants to do all the low paid hard work as per usual

Jamestown was settled 13 years before the pilgrams landed at Plymouth.

Funny you should mention that, as all refugees or new immigrants in practically ANY country always seem to fill low paid jobs for a period of time.
People who have the equivalent of a MA, or a PHD on their native countries often can't get a job in the profession that they're trained in because their degree certification standards do not comply with those here in the US, and henceforth wind up working dead end jobs as a result. --I'm sure that the same may also apply to the EU as well.

I realise that I'm taking this extremely out of context, but the British movie entitled "Dirty Pretty Things" does point out a case where a Surgeon is reduced to working as a bellhop in a London hotel.

Sure you can make the Argument that the character in question was in the country illegally, but it still does point out the fact that illegal or not, Foreign immigrants no matter where they go usually wind up taking the shite jobs for a while. --Like Death and Taxes, it's a constant of the human condition.

Look on the bright side though, at least people that come over here and stay will be granted US Citizenship after they are here for a while, providing they don't get into trouble with the law.

What's the opposite of this? Japan.

For over a century now, People who are ethnically Korean have been denied Japanese Citzenship, even though they have been living there for SEVERAL GENERATIONS. Think about it, they can't vote, and really can't get funds for higher education from the government simply due to the fact that they're not considered Japanese!! ! --How's that for discrimination?

Meanwhile, somebody who is of Japanese descent but born in another country can immediately go back there and be recognised as a citizen, provided that their parents register the birth at their Country's Japanese Embassy, or nearest Consolate. A rather notorious case of this 'Right of Return' is the case of ex-Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, who resigned his increasingly scandal ridden presidency in 2000, after he fled to Japan. After a lengthy series of serious criminal charges were filed against him, as well as an INTERPOL arrest warrant, Japan still refuses to extridite him back to Peru to stand trial.

So now that that little tangent is over, lets move to something else concerning people who've moved here in the past. I use my family and ancestors as examples.

Several of my stepmom's uncles died of Black Lung Disease , courtesy of of the Coal mines that they worked in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Her Grandmother (Mom's side of the family) came here as a refugee from Slovakia. Which was better poverty and starvation in Postwar Central Europe , or coming to the USA?

Her grandfather on her Dad's side of the family had the glamourous job of building railroad cars, and then fighting strike busters during the 20's and 30's after he got off the boat from Italy. --It may have sucked, but the risk of getting shot by Mussolini's Fascists was the other alternative

Starvation and Persecution by rich Upper Class English Landlords or coming to America was the choice of members of my dad's side the family. Another member of the family decided that being a common footsoldier in the British Army circa 1720 or so was a lousy thing and decided that living amongst the Cherokee's was an infinately better thing, and did just that, The King's army and the rest of the conscription time be damned. --They didn't exactly fair so well either.

Consequentially, and perhaps more significantly, my Mom's side of the family was lured down to New Hampshire and eventually to Maine in the late 19th Century from Quebec with the promise of High paying jobs, and "Good living".

What they got instead was the opportunity to work from dawn to dusk six days a week in various mills and shoe shops, and then go home to crowded, unheated Triple Decker housing blocks that "The Companies" overcharged them for, as well as to pay exhorbitant prices for food and other necessary items at the "Company Store". --It beat the hell out of Poverty and subsistance farming back home.

Sure, some families got lucky, or were resourceful enough and got a piece of the "American Dream". Many others, contrary to popular belief overseas did NOT.

I strongly urge you to save up the cash to get these books to get a more balanced perspective on people in the US:

The Redneck Manifesto
by Jim Goad
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... s&n=507846

All Souls: A Family Story From Southie
by Michael Patrick MacDonald
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... s&n=507846

As for other people who come here, and get stuck working shite jobs for people who may ridicule your culture, Yeah life here isn't necessarily great, but sure beats the hell out of getting gang raped, and watching you family get killed by government sponsored Death squads in The Sudan because you're not of Arab descent and Wahhabi Islamic faith. It sure beats the F--- out of starving to death and facing political turmoil, as well as complete lawlessness in places like the Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia. It sure beats the hell out of daily routines of dodging snipers and Ethnic Cleansing in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Even though some Americans are foolish enough to ridicule or complain about the "New Arrivals", about 90% of us have either been in the same position that the newcomers are in, or have grandparents/ancestors who were. --Most of us, (I hope, at any rate) are not foolish enough to overlook this.

Also another thing that I'd like to point out is, sure our government has done some really sleazy and treacherous things to other countries, however I don't think what our government has done yet equals what was done in the name of the British Empire. --We more or less became the de facto power by happenstance, as opposed to purposefully building a globe spanning empire through armed conquest and more unconventional tactics as biological and chemical warfare going back to at least the 18th century.

I know very well some of the injustices of the British Empire as some of my relatives have fought against it in the past. The British government has done some terrible things in the past but being economically unviable i think im glad to stay here as opposed to the USA were there is no free NHS and from the very little i know about the benefit system over there it is unfair. My auntie (who is a rich yank from new york) has said that students dont get grants over there (the system has changed to mostly loans here which just means grants that you have to pay back if you can afford it) and the levels of poverty to some in the US are equivalent to a third world country. So it seems to me the rich-poor devide is even higher there and the government is harsher than here on the poor. If my view is wrong please inform me otherwise as i like to have at least a rough knowledge of world affairs.

On a side note my auntie said that diesel cars are unusual in the states and my Dad says that most people drove automatic cars when he was over there for a while. Cant you guys handle gearsticks over there? Its mostly women who drive automatic motors here.

1)I can't drive a stick because I require modified controls and I'm just happy not to be taking the bus.
2)Unlike third world countries, most people are not dirt poor.
3)America does not have a government healthcare system because the government here was never intended to provide for every last need of the people. The government was originally designed for little more than a means to facilitate an economy, the rule of law, provide defense, and let the people be independent and self-sufficient. So when the government does try to implement some sort of healthcare, the cost is appaling and very few people ever get accepted to use it, so the money would be better spent on something that would create jobs that have private healthcare benifits.
4)There are college scholarships from various private organizations that don't have to be paid back and there are programs at government funded schools that reduce the fees for low income students. To the best of my knowledge, there are no schools that are funded directly by the Federal government, so any grant program or lack thereof would vary by state. California does have a grant program.

New Zealand has the highest rate of youth suicide in the world!

And it's also cold.