2 large explosions at Boston Marathon
#451
Re: 2 large explosions at Boston Marathon
To my mind, the alternative media is the hope of the US. They don't always get it right, but they aren't afraid to ask awkward questions that the MSM generally doesn't do. Might the Twin Towers bombers have had inside help? Might the FBI have been aware of the Boston bombers ahead of time? Might the Boston extreme over-reaction have been a trial run for a Police State? Might Guantanamo be a genuine torture-chamber used for training purposes, with no public-safety justification? Going back a bit, might the CIA have facilitated the murder of JFK?
I think Europeans in general are more open to the possibility that their rulers are jerking them around. Their history is there to remind them of that. For most Americans, fervent tribal patriotism gets in the way of questioning the official version of events.
I think Europeans in general are more open to the possibility that their rulers are jerking them around. Their history is there to remind them of that. For most Americans, fervent tribal patriotism gets in the way of questioning the official version of events.
#452
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Re: 2 large explosions at Boston Marathon
The TV was on in the background last night ( I think it was baseball) and someone was praising the rescue workers - fine - then they have to add that "Only in America, the greatest doctors and nurses in the world" or similar words. WTF
#453
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Re: 2 large explosions at Boston Marathon
Of course, if they admitted that, had a debate and DID something about it, I have no doubt that America COULD have the best medical system in the world - sheer economies-of-scale would kick in.
#454
Re: 2 large explosions at Boston Marathon
Thing is, I do believe that they DO have some of the best medical staff in the world, however they are only available to the 0.01% with top-notch healthcare and gold plated insurance premiums.
#455
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Re: 2 large explosions at Boston Marathon
OMG. Do they actually believe that their awful medical system stuffed full of mediocre medics and money-grabbing nasty corporations is anything other than a National Disgrace ?
Of course, if they admitted that, had a debate and DID something about it, I have no doubt that America COULD have the best medical system in the world - sheer economies-of-scale would kick in.
Of course, if they admitted that, had a debate and DID something about it, I have no doubt that America COULD have the best medical system in the world - sheer economies-of-scale would kick in.
#456
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Re: 2 large explosions at Boston Marathon
Now, of course, if the media ever INTERVIEWED a politician and took them down a peg (KTVU has NEVER had a California rep interviewed in studio since we've been here) or stopped referring to them in quite such reverential terms, then maybe people would start to realise how shifty they are.
Another case where naive blind-faith appears to trump reason and rationality here much more than in Europe.
#457
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Re: 2 large explosions at Boston Marathon
It is a disgrace and a failure of society at all levels that the richest country in the world let's people die on a daily basis in increasing numbers.
Of all the failings in American society, this is the one I cannot excuse. In my mind, it knocks the USA out of the ability to call itself a First World country.
#458
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Re: 2 large explosions at Boston Marathon
Did anyone else find it sad that the injured people who are hospitalized are having to beg for money to pay their hospital bills? While the injured bomber will likely pay nought.
#461
Re: 2 large explosions at Boston Marathon
To any earlier Post Ref: UK Redneck:
In Scotland in the 1640s, the Covenanters rejected rule by bishops, often signing manifestos using their own blood. Some wore red cloth around their neck to signify their position, and were called rednecks by the Scottish ruling class to denote that they were the rebels in what came to be known as The Bishop's War that preceded the rise of Cromwell. Eventually, the term began to mean simply "Presbyterian", especially in communities along the Scottish border. Because of the large number of Scottish immigrants in the pre-revolutionary American south, some historians have suggested that this may be the origin of the term in the United States.
Dictionaries document the earliest American citation of the term's use for Presbyterians in 1830, as "a name bestowed upon the Presbyterians of Fayetteville [North Carolina]".
In Scotland in the 1640s, the Covenanters rejected rule by bishops, often signing manifestos using their own blood. Some wore red cloth around their neck to signify their position, and were called rednecks by the Scottish ruling class to denote that they were the rebels in what came to be known as The Bishop's War that preceded the rise of Cromwell. Eventually, the term began to mean simply "Presbyterian", especially in communities along the Scottish border. Because of the large number of Scottish immigrants in the pre-revolutionary American south, some historians have suggested that this may be the origin of the term in the United States.
Dictionaries document the earliest American citation of the term's use for Presbyterians in 1830, as "a name bestowed upon the Presbyterians of Fayetteville [North Carolina]".
#462
Re: 2 large explosions at Boston Marathon
Those hospitalised can make a claim through the Victims of Violent Crime Compensation.
http://www.mass.gov/ago/public-safet...pensation.html
http://www.mass.gov/ago/public-safet...pensation.html
#463
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Re: 2 large explosions at Boston Marathon
Because of the large number of Scottish immigrants in the pre-revolutionary American south, some historians have suggested that this may be the origin of the term in the United States.
Dictionaries document the earliest American citation of the term's use for Presbyterians in 1830, as "a name bestowed upon the Presbyterians of Fayetteville [North Carolina]".
Dictionaries document the earliest American citation of the term's use for Presbyterians in 1830, as "a name bestowed upon the Presbyterians of Fayetteville [North Carolina]".
#464
Re: 2 large explosions at Boston Marathon
You probably don't know me, since I've never chatted with you before, but I am an American, born and raised, as are all my family going back many generations. I didn't pick up on a 'letting off steam' mentality at all from the cheering. To be perfectly honest, I don't really care what the reason for that USA cheering, I can't stand the "USA" chant in any context whatsoever. I always turn the sound off or change the channel whenever I see it happen on tv, and I've certainly never participated in a "USA" chant and I never will.
#465
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Re: 2 large explosions at Boston Marathon
You probably don't know me, since I've never chatted with you before, but I am an American, born and raised, as are all my family going back many generations. I didn't pick up on a 'letting off steam' mentality at all from the cheering. To be perfectly honest, I don't really care what the reason for that USA cheering, I can't stand the "USA" chant in any context whatsoever. I always turn the sound off or change the channel whenever I see it happen on tv, and I've certainly never participated in a "USA" chant and I never will.
There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with being proud of your country, homeland, culture, family, etc.
It's ramming it down other's throats and telling us how everything is "the best" here when it patently isn't.
Admitting the problem is half-way to fixing it - that is nothing to be ashamed of.
It's the "I'm proud to be British, and I know everything in Britain is a bit sh*t" attitude. Then having a laugh about it.
But, for goodness sake, FIX THE HEALTH CARE. It's killing the country - literally.