What party does this douchebag belong to.

[CQ]

Why were my comments removed?

Didn't see them? What did you say? I'm surprised you seem like you would not post anything nasty or anything...

[Deicide]

(In memory of George Carlin.)

It’s July 4th again, a day of near-compulsory flag-waving and nation-worshipping. Count me out.

Spare me the puerile parades.

Don’t play that martial music, white boy.

And don’t befoul nature’s sky with your F-16s.

You see, I don’t believe in patriotism.

It’s not that I’m anti-American, but I am anti-patriotic.

Love of country isn’t natural. It’s not something you’re born with. It’s an inculcated kind of love, something that is foisted upon you in the home, in the school, on TV, at church, during the football game.

Yet most people accept it without inspection.

Why?

For when you stop to think about it, patriotism (especially in its malignant morph, nationalism) has done more to stack the corpses millions high in the last 300 years than any other factor, including the prodigious slayer, religion.

The victims of colonialism, from the Congo to the Philippines, fell at nationalism’s bayonet point.

World War I filled the graves with the most foolish nationalism. And Hitler and Mussolini and Imperial Japan brought nationalism to new nadirs. The flags next to the tombstones are but signed confessions—notes left by the killer after the fact.

The millions of victims of Stalin and Mao and Pol Pot have on their death certificates a dual diagnosis: yes communism, but also that other ism, nationalism.

The whole world almost got destroyed because of nationalism during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The bloody battles in Serbia and Bosnia and Croatia in the 1990s fed off the injured pride of competing patriotisms and all their nourished grievances.

In the last five years in Iraq, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians have died because the United States, the patriarch of patriotism, saw fit to impose itself, without just cause, on another country. But the excuse was patriotism, wrapped in Bush’s brand of messianic militarism: that we, the great Americans, have a duty to deliver “God’s gift of freedom” to every corner of the world.

And the Congress swallowed it, and much of the American public swallowed it, because they’ve been fed a steady diet of this swill.

What is patriotism but “the narcissism of petty differences”? That’s Freud’s term, describing the disorder that compels one group to feel superior to another.

Then there’s a little multiplication problem: Can every country be the greatest country in the world?

This belief system magically transforms an accident of birth into some kind of blue ribbon.

“It’s a great country,” said the old Quaker essayist Milton Mayer. “They’re all great countries.”

At times, the appeal to patriotism may be necessary, as when harnessing the group to protect against a larger threat (Hitler) or to overthrow an oppressor (as in the anti-colonial struggles in the Third World).

But it is always a dangerous toxin to play with, and it ought to be shelved with cross and bones on the label except in these most extreme circumstances.

In an article called “Patriot Games” in the current issue of Time magazine (July 7), Peter Beinart, late of The New Republic, inspects his navel for seven pages and then throws the lint all around.

“Conservatives are right,” he says. “To some degree, patriotism must mean loving your country for the same reason you love your family: simply because it is yours.”

And then he criticizes, incoherently, the conservative love-it-or-leave-it types.

The moral folly of his argument he himself exposes: “If liberals love America purely because it embodies ideals like liberty, justice, and equality, why shouldn’t they love Canada—which from a liberal perspective often goes further toward realizing those principles—even more? And what do liberals do,” he asks, “when those universal ideals collide with America’s self-interest? Giving away the federal budget to Africa would probably increase the net sum of justice and equality on the planet, after all. But it would harm Americans and thus be unpatriotic.”

This is a straw man if I ever I saw one, but if the United States gave a lot more of its budget to eradicating poverty and disease in Africa and other parts of the developing world, it might actually make us all safer.

At bottom, note how readily Beinart disposes of “liberty, justice, and equality.”

He has stripped patriotism to its vacuous essence: Love your country because it’s yours.

If we stopped that arm from reflexively saluting and concerned ourselves more with “universal ideals” than with parochial ones, we’d be a lot better off.

We wouldn’t be in Iraq, we wouldn’t have besmirched ourselves at Guantanamo, we wouldn’t be acting like some Argentinean junta that wages illegal wars and tortures people and disappears them into secret dungeons.

Love of country is a form of idolatry.

Listen, if you would, to the wisdom of Milton Mayer, writing back in 1962 a rebuke to JFK for his much-celebrated line: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

Mayer would have none of it. “When Mr. Kennedy spoke those words at his inaugural, I knew that I was at odds with a society which did not immediately rebel against them,” he wrote. “They are the words of totalitarianism pure; no Jefferson could have spoken them, and no Khrushchev could have spoken them better. Could a man say what Mr. Kennedy said and also say that the difference between us and them is that they believe that man exists for the State and we believe that the State exists for man? He couldn’t, but he did. And in doing so, he read me out of society.”

When Americans retort that this is still the greatest country in the world, I have to ask why.

Are we the greatest country because we have 10,000 nuclear weapons?

No, that just makes us enormously powerful, with the capacity to destroy the Earth itself.

Are we the greatest country because we have soldiers stationed in more than 120 countries?

No, that just makes us an empire, like the empires of old, only more so.

Are we the greatest country because we are one-twentieth of the world’s population but we consume one-quarter of its resources?

No, that just must makes us a greedy and wasteful nation.

Are we the greatest country because the top 1 percent of Americans hoards 34 percent of the nation’s wealth, more than everyone in the bottom 90 percent combined?

No, that just makes us a vastly unequal nation.

Are we the greatest country because corporations are treated as real, live human beings with rights?

No, that just enshrines a plutocracy in this country.

Are we the greatest country because we take the best care of our people’s basic needs?

No, actually we don’t. We’re far down the list on health care and infant mortality and parental leave and sick leave and quality of life.

So what exactly are we talking about here?

To the extent that we’re a great (not the greatest, mind you: that’s a fool’s game) country, we’re less of a great country today.

Because those things that truly made us great—the system of checks and balances, the enshrinement of our individual rights and liberties—have all been systematically assaulted by Bush and Cheney.

From the Patriot Act to the Military Commissions Act to the new FISA Act, and all the signing statements in between, we are less great today.

From Abu Ghraib and Bagram Air Force Base and Guantanamo, we are less great today.

From National Security Presidential Directive 51 (giving the Executive responsibility for ensuring constitutional government in an emergency) to National Security Presidential Directive 59 (expanding the collection of our biometric data), we are less great today.

From the Joint Terrorism Task Forces to InfraGard and the Terrorist Liaison Officers, we are less great today.

Admit it. We don’t have a lot to brag about today.

It is time, it is long past time, to get over the American superiority complex.

It is time, it is long past time, to put patriotism back on the shelf—out of the reach of children and madmen.

100% agree. Truly awesome post. Yes, patriotism and nationalism are arbitrary in nature, foisted upon you; no one chooses where he is born; put in context; 'I am proud that I have brown hair', utterly silly; we are told to be proud of the doings of men long dead and wholly unrelated to us. We should be proud only of our individual accomplishments and what we do with our DNA and in the world with the time given to us.

[Deicide]

I should add that patriotism is no different from massively scaled tribalism; just a bunch of spear carriers in vast numbers screaming to their gods and raising their adrenalin levels.

[Arnold jr]

Didn't see them? What did you say? I'm surprised you seem like you would not post anything nasty or anything...

I just commented on the original post in this thread...had a lot to say about that. No, I didn't get "nasty" so I'm not sure why it was deleted. It was a rather long post but I'm not going to post it again since it seems it will get removed....kind of irritating IMO.

[CQ]

I just commented on the original post in this thread...had a lot to say about that. No, I didn't get "nasty" so I'm not sure why it was deleted. It was a rather long post but I'm not going to post it again since it seems it will get removed....kind of irritating IMO.

Weird. The mods here are all good, I only can think maybe it was a board error, mistake or something?

I am sure it was irritating, so sorry about that.

[Hugo Chavez]

I don't believe in the kind of patriotism that's meant to have you blindly line up either.  I am proud of America when it deserves it and I am disappointed when it doesn't.  Lining up behind a word and swearing your blind faith to obtain the label is anti to the health of the country as a free society. 

Look, guys, listen up please.  There is nothing wrong with not being proud of something when the opposite is earned.  It does not mean you don't love it.  When little Jeffy does something really bad, the parent may not be proud of little Jeffy but will still love him and when Jeffy does something good, he is rewarded with people/parents being proud of him.

Little Jeffy = America Love little Jeffy, but don't swear blind allegiance to always being proud of him or you'll raise a terror.

[Nordic Superman]

Sure....hey CQ sorry I'm glad u love ur Island....it could not have liberated Europe.

You do a great disservice to the British and Soviets (the Soviets especially).

[Hugo Chavez]

I just commented on the original post in this thread...had a lot to say about that. No, I didn't get "nasty" so I'm not sure why it was deleted. It was a rather long post but I'm not going to post it again since it seems it will get removed....kind of irritating IMO.

I just got here so it wasn't me.  I can't fathom anyone deleting your posts.   We delete things like porn, racism, extreme personal attacks or attacks that don't have any political point or value to the thread.  It may have been an accident.  If you have it saved, please repost.  I don't believe it will be deleted.

[Deicide]

First Amendment rules...

[CQ]

You do a great disservice to the British and Soviets (the Soviets especially).

I thought that too, but figured I would let it go.

[Deicide]

USA #1!!!!!!!!!!!!

[headhuntersix]

Sure, thanks Soviet Union....the Brits would be speaking German right now without us.

[CQ]

Ones thing about HH6 he measures everything by military barely mentions any other aspects, forget economy, tax, crime, education, health...which is ok as thats his job so obviously more part of his life so hence why he is so focused on that. It's natural.

I prefer my cheesy military that has to attach to other forces and is trained abroad as well.....rather than pay income tax. I'm a chick, I'll take extra clothes shopping money over armoured tanks anyday. It's my genetics

[Deicide]

Ones thing about HH6 he measures everything by military barely mentions any other aspects, forget economy, tax, crime, education, health...which is ok as thats his job so obviously more part of his life so hence why he is so focused on that. It's natural.

I prefer my cheesy military that has to attach to other forces and is trained abroad as well.....rather than pay income tax. I'm a chick, I'll take extra clothes shopping money over armoured tanks anyday. It's my genetics

HH6 lives in concert with the American mantra of 'we got the guns'. It is quite factually the best thing about the USA and he knows it.

[Nordic Superman]

Sure, thanks Soviet Union....the Brits would be speaking German right now without us.

Let's assume Germany took over Britain (which is a fairy tale in itself) and the rest of Europe and defeated the Soviets.

At the rate of technical advances (a Germany made nuke was in development) the Germans were making, how would the USA have combated the Germans then?

I'd have a guess that you yourself would be speaking German right now.

[headhuntersix]

I do...poorly but I do. Well one thing would be for certain...most of the idots on this board would'nt be running their yap....Nordic U know as well as I do that I love England.

Ones thing about HH6 he measures everything by military barely mentions any other aspects, forget economy, tax, crime, education, health

U live on an island, we have 300 million people. Its hard to compare good or bad.

[Dos Equis]

I just got here so it wasn't me.  I can't fathom anyone deleting your posts.   We delete things like porn, racism, extreme personal attacks or attacks that don't have any political point or value to the thread.  It may have been an accident.  If you have it saved, please repost.  I don't believe it will be deleted.

I agree. 

Wasn't me either.  Didn't see it. 

[CQ]

I do...poorly but I do. Well one thing would be for certain...most of the idots on this board would'nt be running their yap....Nordic U know as well as I do that I love England.

Ones thing about HH6 he measures everything by military barely mentions any other aspects, forget economy, tax, crime, education, health

U live on an island, we have 300 million people. Its hard to compare good or bad.

I constantly say all 1st world nations are great, equal yet different, lose and win some, its all preference so agree with you.

Seriously, I notice this no flame. Fact - I get told the US is better than my country, US is best in world even total insults to my nation [not from you, in general]. Yet once I point out we are tax free and other things, people whip out the 'we cant compare' when they were so pleased to do it prior. Every single time this has happened. Not directed at you per se, just an irony I've noticed.

[Fury]

I constantly say all 1st world nations are great, equal yet different, lose and win some, its all preference so agree with you.

Seriously, I notice this no flame. Fact - I get told the US is better than my country, US is best in world even total insults to my nation [not from you, in general]. Yet once I point out we are tax free and other things, people whip out the 'we cant compare' when they were so pleased to do it prior. Every single time this has happened. Not directed at you per se, just an irony I've noticed.

Can you go from rags to riches on your island? I don't hear of too many billionaires coming from the Caribbean. Fact of the matter is that the USA is probably one of a small handful of places on the planet where anyone can come into the country and earn the living they want with enough hard work and some brains.

There's a story of an illegal immigrant who's crossed the boarder as a child and is now one of the four of five best brain surgeons in the country/planet and a member of the Hopkins staff. Chances are he would never have accomplished such a rise anywhere else. That is why America is better than everywhere else. Can't really do that in Europe or Asia or South America or Africa. Well, not without coming from money or a family with power or something along those lines.

No offense to your island or anywhere else, but that's just the way it is. It's the land of opportunity. I'd rather deal with taxes if it allowed me the opportunity to do what I want and have the possibility of rising to the upper echelons of whatever it is I do. 

There's a reason so many people immigrate here to chase their dreams. Again, I'm not being insulting, but just calling it like I see it. 

Most of Europe's tax rates blow ours out of the water. I couldn't think about what it would be like to sign over almost 1/2 my earnings to the British government or where ever it was I lived.

And that's just the career aspect. I could go into the freedoms this country grants us but that's another story.


Unless of course you're an idiot like Deicide who couldn't hack it so he had to cut and run to Korea to save $20k. 

[Deicide]

Can you go from rags to riches on your island? I don't hear of too many billionaires coming from the Caribbean. Fact of the matter is that the USA is probably one of a small handful of places on the planet where anyone can come into the country and earn the living they want with enough hard work and some brains.

There's a story of an illegal immigrant who's crossed the boarder as a child and is now one of the four of five best brain surgeons in the country/planet and a member of the Hopkins staff. Chances are he would never have accomplished such a rise anywhere else. That is why America is better than everywhere else. Can't really do that in Europe or Asia or South America or Africa. Well, not without coming from money or a family with power or something along those lines.

No offense to your island or anywhere else, but that's just the way it is. It's the land of opportunity. I'd rather deal with taxes if it allowed me the opportunity to do what I want and have the possibility of rising to the upper echelons of whatever it is I do. 

There's a reason so many people immigrate here to chase their dreams. Again, I'm not being insulting, but just calling it like I see it. 

Most of Europe's tax rates blow ours out of the water. I couldn't think about what it would be like to sign over almost 1/2 my earnings to the British government or where ever it was I lived.

And that's just the career aspect. I could go into the freedoms this country grants us but that's another story.


Unless of course you're an idiot like Deicide who couldn't hack it so he had to cut and run to Korea to save $20k. 

You are a delusional moron.

I come from NYC; you come from white trashville (most everything outside of NYC), how many people who don't put in 80 hours there save 20k a year(or more)? I work less than 30 a week.

But the bigger issue is the fact that you have never lived anywhere else and have no empirical evidence to back up any of your idiotic claims; repeating old wives tales about Ellis Island immigrants and propagandistic 'wisdom' you have heard since infancy hardly qualifies your statements as being empirically true. CQ has a balanced perspective; she has lived abroad and seen many different places; I have my preferences and so does she and though I have a special love for Northern Europe (Scandinavia) I agree with her that each country is different. I can say this because I have lived in 6 different countries and seen many, many more. Your rant is nothing but ill informed silliness; I won't stoop to calling it an opinion as the formulation of an opinion requires thought, analysis and experience, none of which you possess.

[Fury]

You are a delusional moron.

I come from NYC; you come from white trashville (most everything outside of NYC), how many people who don't put in 80 hours there save 20k a year(or more)? I work less than 30 a week.

But the bigger issue is the fact that you have never lived anywhere else and have no empirical evidence to back up any of your idiotic claims; repeating old wives tales about Ellis Island immigrants and propagandistic 'wisdom' you have heard since infancy hardly qualifies your statements as being empirically true. CQ has a balanced perspective; she has lived abroad and seen many different places; I have my preferences and so does she and though I have a special love for Northern Europe (Scandinavia) I agree with her that each country is different. I can say this because I have lived in 6 different countries and seen many, many more. Your rant is nothing but ill informed silliness; I won't stoop to calling it an opinion as the formulation of an opinion requires thought, analysis and experience, none of which you possess.

Hahaha, I live in Fairfield County in southwestern Connecticut. One of the nicest parts of the country. Right in a nice upper-middle class predominantly white suburb you crybaby fag. You couldn't cut it in America. I know plenty of people working 40 hours or so a week that are able to save $20k or so a year WHILE putting kids through college and other things.

You're bitter at this country because you couldn't hack it as an "academic" (you teach English, you're not an academic). It's funny watching you rage about the USA because you think it fucked you over.  Just because you couldn't doesn't mean no one else can.

Nevermind the fact that you would be hard pressed to find an illegal immigrant in Britain or anywhere in Scandinavia who was able to rise to the top of his field in brain surgery. We get it, the big bad USA screwed you over.

You couldn't hack it, Mr. "academic".  Nothing else to it. You're a failure of a person and you've been reduced to airing your contempt for this country on a bodybuilding forum's political board from your shithole "villa" in Korea. 

Congrats on running 15,000 miles away to save $20,000. You're the poster boy for involuntary euthanasia.

[Deicide]

Hahaha, I live in Fairfield County in southwestern Connecticut. One of the nicest parts of the country. Right in a nice upper-middle class predominantly white suburb you crybaby fag. You couldn't cut it in America. I know plenty of people working 40 hours or so a week that are able to save $20k or so a year WHILE putting kids through college and other things.

You're bitter at this country because you couldn't hack it as an "academic" (you teach English, you're not an academic). It's funny watching you rage about the USA because you think it fucked you over. Fact of the matter is that you're just a sorry sack of shit who couldn't make it here. Just because you couldn't doesn't mean no one else can.

Nevermind the fact that you would be hard pressed to find an illegal immigrant in Britain or anywhere in Scandinavia who was able to rise to the top of his field. We get it, the big bad USA screwed you over.

You couldn't hack it, Mr. "academic".  Nothing else to it. You're a failure of a person and you've been reduced to airing your contempt for this country on a bodybuilding forum's political board from your shithole "villa" in Korea. 



Congrats on running 15,000 miles away to save $20,000. You're the poster boy for involuntary euthanasia.

The USA didn't fuck me over; I could't perfect my language skills in a country that only speaks English? How many languages do you speak? If all you can boast of is your material wealth, that is pretty sad. What knowledge do you possess? Of science? Of History? Of Anthropology? What countries have you seen and visited? Have you been to Rome to pay homage to its ghost for the inspiration it gave to those wrought our country from the ashes of the War of Independence? I don't brag about my wealth; I have none to brag about. For me 20k is a lot. For someone in my area of interest, that is a lot of money.

I have issues with American foreign policy, run away spending; my parents' saving for example are being destroyed by the people you think are so great (Bush, the Fed) and the things you love (endless war, theft and destruction of other nations' property and rights).

Instead of paying attention to my points about failed American foreign policy, blowback, debt, run away inflation, you merely resort to ad hominems.

Now guy, why are we in Iraq? I asked you this before and no answer was forthcoming. Why are we in Iraq? Why are we in Iraq? Three times...if you can't answer the question, then you truly are full of shit.

[Deicide]

Hahaha, I live in Fairfield County in southwestern Connecticut. One of the nicest parts of the country. Right in a nice upper-middle class predominantly white suburb you crybaby fag. You couldn't cut it in America. I know plenty of people working 40 hours or so a week that are able to save $20k or so a year WHILE putting kids through college and other things.

You're bitter at this country because you couldn't hack it as an "academic" (you teach English, you're not an academic). It's funny watching you rage about the USA because you think it fucked you over.  Just because you couldn't doesn't mean no one else can.

Nevermind the fact that you would be hard pressed to find an illegal immigrant in Britain or anywhere in Scandinavia who was able to rise to the top of his field in brain surgery. We get it, the big bad USA screwed you over.

You couldn't hack it, Mr. "academic".  Nothing else to it. You're a failure of a person and you've been reduced to airing your contempt for this country on a bodybuilding forum's political board from your shithole "villa" in Korea. 

Congrats on running 15,000 miles away to save $20,000. You're the poster boy for involuntary euthanasia.

Oh, and once again, no empirical evidence to back up any of those claims. I CHOSE and CHOOSE not to work in the USA. I have worked in the USA before. I could easily get a educational position in NYC if I wanted to but I have no desire.

How will you feel when the dollar crashes? Got an opinion on that?

[Fury]

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/hmn/W07/feature1.cfm

21 year old illegal immigrant working as a welder ends up giving the commencement speech for his Harvard Med School class and is now the director of the brain tumor program at Hopkins Bayview. This guy is 100x the academic you are and didn't need to run away to Korea to cut his losses. He's too modest to even think of "referring" to himself as an academic, though. Could that guy have managed that in Britain, Scandinavia or Korea? I seriously doubt that.

You're not even an academic. You're an English teaching douche bag who failed to become a contributing member of society. Nothing more and nothing less.

You blame everyone but yourself. It's sad but true. Everyone's at fault, including the entire country in your opinion, but you're completely innocent and amazing because you can save $20k a year in Korea!

By your logic, every teacher in this country and anyone speaking a few languages is an academic.

You know the only other douche bag I've heard refer to himself as an academic when trying to brag about himself? The True Adonis. Congrats on keeping company with him. Truly an honor. 

And seeing as you claim to know things about science and what not, care to detail every step of the Krebs cycle for me? Or maybe glycogen degradation or gluconeogenesis. What role does the debranching enzyme serve in glycogen degradation? Does it cleave the 1,4- or 1,6- bonds?





Academic is another word for "Liberal Arts degree." 





Anyway, it's the fourth and my food is settled. I've got more Landsharks to kill. Happy fourth, hahahaha!

[Deicide]

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/hmn/W07/feature1.cfm

21 year old illegal immigrant working as a welder ends up giving the commencement speech for his Harvard Med School class and is now the director of the brain tumor program at Hopkins Bayview. This guy is 100x the academic you are and didn't need to run away to Korea to cut his losses. He's too modest to even think of "referring" to himself as an academic, though. Could that guy have managed that in Britain, Scandinavia or Korea? I seriously doubt that.

You're not even an academic. You're an English teaching douche bag who failed to become a contributing member of society. Nothing more and nothing less.

You blame everyone but yourself. It's sad but true. Everyone's at fault, including the entire country in your opinion, but you're completely innocent and amazing because you can save $20k a year in Korea!

By your logic, every teacher in this country and anyone speaking a few languages is an academic.

You know the only other douche bag I've heard refer to himself as an academic when trying to brag about himself? The True Adonis. Congrats on keeping company with him. Truly an honor. 

And seeing as you claim to know things about science and what not, care to detail every step of the Krebs cycle for me? Or maybe glycogen degradation or gluconeogenesis. What role does the debranching enzyme serve in glycogen degradation? Does it cleave the 1,4- or 1,6- bonds?





Academic is another word for "Liberal Arts degree." 

You clearly have distain for the humanities; why is that? Many of the Founding Fathers were classicists, historians, writers. Yes, my degrees are in Classics, German and Linguistics. 'Worthless' subjects in the eyes of many but I enjoyed them greatly. Unfortunately there are not many all too varied employment opportunities for people with this background. I teach English in order to save money for more advanced degrees; EFL is a means to an end and a way to see the world and experience different places (something you have no desire to do). Yes, liberal arts...so what?