h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Re the grauniad thingy;


My dear, beloved Brits,
I understand the Guardian is sponsoring a service where British citizens write to Americans to advise them on how to vote. Thank heavens! I was adrift in a sea of confusion and you are my beacon of hope!

Feel free to respond to this email with your advice. Please keep in mind that I am something of an anglophile, so this is not confrontational. Please remember, too, that I am merely an American. That means I am not very bright. It means I have no culture or sense of history. It also means that I am barely literate, so please don't use big, fancy words.

Set me straight, folks!
Dayton, Ohio

I loved that one!

Just to make it fair, here's one of those letters from John Le Carre

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1326066,00.html

Gotta love that Ogden Nash! He's a brillaint guy.

Getting back to that 'moral vote'

The lowest ignorance takes charge

Having helped Bush to office, the religious right is exerting its power.

"The 2004 election marks the rise of a quasi-clerical party for the first time in the United States. Ecclesiastical organisation has become the sinew and muscle of the Republican party, essential in George Bush's re-election. His narrow margins in the key states of Florida, Iowa and Ohio, and elsewhere, were dependent on the direct imposition of the churches. None of this occurred suddenly or by happenstance. For years, Bush has schooled himself in the machinations of the religious right. "
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/comment/story/0,14259,1348262,00.html

On June 4, Bush travelled to see the Pope. In another meeting that day, with Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Angelo Sodano, according to a Vatican official, Bush "complained that the US bishops were not being vocal enough in supporting [Bush] on social issues like gay marriage, and abortion," and remonstrated with Sodano that the Vatican "push the bishops.
And.
The American church is in crisis, as Catholic opinion on abortion and stem cell research is no different than that of the general public. And the exposure of rampant paedophilia among priests has undermined traditional belief in the church's sanctity. Electing a liberal Catholic as president would have been a severe blow. So conservative bishops denounced Kerry, spoke of denying him communion, and even talked of ex-communication.

The Catholic Kerry received 5% less of the Catholic vote than the Southern Baptist Gore four years earlier. In the crucial state of Ohio, where an anti-gay marriage initiative was on the ballot, Bush won two-thirds of the "faithful" Catholic vote and 55% of the Catholic total. Combined with 79% of white evangelicals, this gave him his critical margin nationally and in the swing states.

I hope some Americans realise that Tony Blair is visiting at present and he's trying to get Bush to concentrate on the Palestinian thing. Today when Arafat is being buried I hope something of hope might get going. C'mon America, pressurise the Israelis....Pleeeeeeeeease

Blair says he wanst the US to make serious efforts in Palastine.

As we all know politicians always do behind closed doors what they say they will in public.

Oops thought I was posting to the sacasm thread then.

one love

Grrrr. Red, do you want them to be placed in a container and have the air pressure increased?

Moth, one religious fanatic visits another......iiiiiinteresting!


Pedro, I like it too but it seems to underline the inherent dislike of USians to accept any kind of advice or criticism from outside their borders. Believe me, living next door to them I've experienced this time and again.

cl

But they are right surely? I mean, why would a people as mighty and proud as the Americans listen to advice from outsiders, or obey to the same laws and aggreements? They have a fantastic president, their economy is booming, and every foreign affair issue they taccle is a succes. And to be frank, Europeans are a sorry divided lot compared to them, not to speak of the rest of the world. Who would want to live in a country a tiny fraction of the size of the US? Especially if it's filled with 'liberal' people who think they can do what they want without regard of what the bible says. Let's face it, American are better humans then the rest of us, they are gods chosen people after all.

Oh, you said this WASN'T the sarcasm thread, my bad.

I just hope not taking the criticism (and many do) doiesn't mean not learning from others mistakes. The British Empire mk2 was a lot more successful because of the lessons we'd learned when faced with revolting North Americans and the issues surrounding it.
America could learn a lot from the European Empires that have been and gone.
But we all have our lost causes. I guess it is part of socially growing up as a nation. By that theory one day we will have a nation that achieves a sort of social adulthood and does grow up/mature. Not in my days tho' !

*Grrrr. Red, do you want them to be placed in a container and have the air pressure increased? *

What's your beef zoomer? What so wrong with a bit of pressure on Israel?

Sorry, just a pedantic point. I always take issue with those who use *pressurised* when they mean *pressured*. I agree with what you say, just not the way you say it. Forgive me for being such an ass.

As to the USian to believe in their way or the highway....well...they invented that term, didn't they?

I know there's a shortage of troops, but this is pythonesque.

WASHINGTON, DC—Pressed for additional troops to police the Iraqi general elections scheduled for January, the Pentagon announced Monday that it will dispatch 30,000 U.S. shopping-mall security guards to the troubled Sunni Triangle region.


Look out for conscription

Breaking with the flow of the converstaion I suggest that America replace its National Bird immediately with the Osterich - pictured in its comical pose with its head in the sand and really! - lets just make the national flag a large printed dollar-bill - that would be more in the way of truth than the whole stars and stipes thing anyway.

In my heart of hearts, after hearing some feedback on Americans here and noting that Oprah was flighting spots on "whats happening out there in the world" - I was beginning to nurture a kernel of hope that Americans would maybe get a clue . . . but after these elecetions that kernel is crisped and I'm now choosing to completely ignor all things American.

A so-called "democracy", ruled by a ruling class more obvious than in Brittain (where at least they're honest about it) and steered by propaganda and dishonesty is so out of step with where the rest of the world is heading. From here its clear, the only horizon for the American Nation has gotto be rock bottom - only then will there be a change that they'll rejoin the rest of the planet.


Kosh

~*~I like it too but it seems to underline the inherent dislike of USians to accept any kind of advice or criticism from outside their borders.~*~

What do you expect when so much of it is so arrogant?

This evening there was a news item about Americans unhappy with the outcome of the elections. There are people leaving for Canada and Europe, apparently. One Canadian official said it would probably be wrong to give Americans refugee status.

They also showed the now-famous map of the red and blue states. They also hypothesized about uniting the blue states with Canada to form the United States of Canada. The red states got the name Jesusland. Wouldn't that be something!

<< will dispatch 30,000 U.S. shopping-mall security guards to the troubled Sunni Triangle region.>>

Un-be-flipping-lievable!

It's from the onion, so it shouldn't be believed. Hopefully...

Oh - it's from the Onion, I should have known...

United States of Canada? Why not Canuda? Or Canusa? Or True North, Strong and Free (Mostly)?