So what I'm getting from all of this is that being Australian would be a massive upgrade, except for everything that lives there trying to kill you except the people.
Dear Great-Grandfather,
You got on the wrong damned boat, you dumb Polish peasant.
Love,
Samnell
So what I'm getting from all of this is that being Australian would be a massive upgrade, except for everything that lives there trying to kill you except the people.
Dear Great-Grandfather,
You got on the wrong damned boat, you dumb Polish peasant.
Love,
Samnell
That seems about right! But to be honest, I'd rather our nasty flora and fauna than religious wackos ;P
That seems about right! But to be honest, I'd rather our nasty flora and fauna than religious wackos ;PSo what I'm getting from all of this is that being Australian would be a massive upgrade, except for everything that lives there trying to kill you except the people.
Dear Great-Grandfather,
You got on the wrong damned boat, you dumb Polish peasant.
Love,
Samnell
I am absolutely, pants-s~#&tingly terrified of snakes, even the harmless ones. The fact that there are so many poisonous creepy-crawling things would probably make me incredibly paranoid.
...so yeah, I'd take the flora and fauna too. Huge improvement, honestly.
Indeed. I'm not looking forward to being an indentured servant of the corporations. :(
*sigh*
Indeed. I'm not looking forward to being an indentured servant of the corporations. :(
I'd invite you to the UK, but we are going the same way :(
Indeed. I'm not looking forward to being an indentured servant of the corporations. :(I'd invite you to the UK, but we are going the same way :(
Ditto with Australia.
There's alway Nepal. I hear internet access may be something of an issue there though...
Indeed. I'm not looking forward to being an indentured servant of the corporations. :(I'd invite you to the UK, but we are going the same way :(
That's rather depressing. I've always been such an anglophile.
Didn't know you were British even! Very cool.
Indeed. I'm not looking forward to being an indentured servant of the corporations. :(I'd invite you to the UK, but we are going the same way :(That's rather depressing. I've always been such an anglophile.
Didn't know you were British even! Very cool.
Don't get me wrong. I suspect the UK is still a better place to live than america on the vast majority of measures, but it is getting worse and it is becoming more "the incorperated kingdom" every day.
Don't get me wrong. I suspect the UK is still a better place to live than america on the vast majority of measures, but it is getting worse and it is becoming more "the incorperated kingdom" every day.
Well UK has always been a very commercial, advert, TV oriented society. Well by always I mean post WWII :)
Are your elections being blatantly bought by transnational corporations? How would you rate UK on regulatory capture, specifically of financial and environmental regulators?
Don't get me wrong. I suspect the UK is still a better place to live than america on the vast majority of measures, but it is getting worse and it is becoming more "the incorperated kingdom" every day.Well UK has always been a very commercial, advert, TV oriented society. Well by always I mean post WWII :)
Are your elections being blatantly bought by transnational corporations? How would you rate UK on regulatory capture, specifically of financial and environmental regulators?
Does this answer your question? possibly nsfw
More examples to come ;)
Don't get me wrong. I suspect the UK is still a better place to live than america on the vast majority of measures, but it is getting worse and it is becoming more "the incorperated kingdom" every day.Well UK has always been a very commercial, advert, TV oriented society. Well by always I mean post WWII :)
Are your elections being blatantly bought by transnational corporations? How would you rate UK on regulatory capture, specifically of financial and environmental regulators?
Does this answer your question? possibly nsfw
More examples to come ;)
On regulatory capture, I don't really know enough about our financial regulatory framework to comment. But I suspect it is like other areas of regulatory apparatus, with the largest companies effectively writing policy. This have been the case with food, drink and gambling on a number of occasions.
Don't get me wrong. I suspect the UK is still a better place to live than america on the vast majority of measures, but it is getting worse and it is becoming more "the incorperated kingdom" every day.Well UK has always been a very commercial, advert, TV oriented society. Well by always I mean post WWII :)
Are your elections being blatantly bought by transnational corporations? How would you rate UK on regulatory capture, specifically of financial and environmental regulators?
Does this answer your question? possibly nsfw
More examples to come ;)
Yuck. What's your view on the NHS.
*woop woop OT alert!*
Don't get me wrong. I suspect the UK is still a better place to live than america on the vast majority of measures, but it is getting worse and it is becoming more "the incorperated kingdom" every day.Well UK has always been a very commercial, advert, TV oriented society. Well by always I mean post WWII :)
Are your elections being blatantly bought by transnational corporations? How would you rate UK on regulatory capture, specifically of financial and environmental regulators?
Does this answer your question? possibly nsfw
More examples to come ;)
Yuck. What's your view on the NHS.
*woop woop OT alert!*
The NHS was far from perfect, but it it was still pretty good. In 2000, we ranked 18th in the world, while america ranked 37th. At the same time the U.S. was the highest spender on healthcare in the world, and we where 26th highest spender.
On top of that, the NHS was free at point of use and acted as a wide reaching and effective public health body, that meant we had an infrastructure in place to fight pandemic and deal with issues such as obesity.
Now I say was, because the legislation that the track is talking about passed, despite massive public opposition. Many of us believe that it was the effective end of the NHS. While the NHS is still free at the point of use, its services with increasingly be farmed out to for profit organisations. Costs are likely to rise, and we are likely to loose our benifits with regards to public health and joined up treatment as no longer will you be able to get all your services within the NHS, but will instead be passed from private company to private company. I suspect things are about to get rather messy.
So what I'm getting from all of this is that being Australian would be a massive upgrade, except for everything that lives there trying to kill you except the people.
Dear Great-Grandfather,
You got on the wrong damned boat, you dumb Polish peasant.
Love,
Samnell
He should have just jumped off the boat somewhere along the route through Scandinavian waters. ;-)
No seriously poisonous snakes around here, pride parades (if that's your thing) and here in Denmark we the parliament just voted to institute same-sex marriage (we were the first to introduce registered partnerships in the world, all of which will now be converted to marriages too).
Don't get me wrong. I suspect the UK is still a better place to live than america on the vast majority of measures, but it is getting worse and it is becoming more "the incorperated kingdom" every day.Well UK has always been a very commercial, advert, TV oriented society. Well by always I mean post WWII :)
Are your elections being blatantly bought by transnational corporations? How would you rate UK on regulatory capture, specifically of financial and environmental regulators?
Does this answer your question? possibly nsfw
More examples to come ;)
He should have just jumped off the boat somewhere along the route through Scandinavian waters. ;-)So what I'm getting from all of this is that being Australian would be a massive upgrade, except for everything that lives there trying to kill you except the people.
Dear Great-Grandfather,
You got on the wrong damned boat, you dumb Polish peasant.
Love,
Samnell
That's the truth. I hate winter but there's little else about Scandinavian living that seems at all objectionable to me.
At least we'd have Doctor Who?Indeed. I'm not looking forward to being an indentured servant of the corporations. :(I'd invite you to the UK, but we are going the same way :(
Not if the right wing rags get their way with the BBC.
So what I'm getting from all of this is that being Australian would be a massive upgrade, except for everything that lives there trying to kill you except the people.
Dear Great-Grandfather,
You got on the wrong damned boat, you dumb Polish peasant.
Love,
SamnellHe should have just jumped off the boat somewhere along the route through Scandinavian waters. ;-)
No seriously poisonous snakes around here, pride parades (if that's your thing) and here in Denmark we the parliament just voted to institute same-sex marriage (we were the first to introduce registered partnerships in the world, all of which will now be converted to marriages too).
Has Denmark managed to avoid tyhe lurch to the right that the other scandinavian countries have been going through just lately?
Not if the right wing rags get their way with the BBC.I thought that the Controller of the BBC responsible for the cancellation of Dr. Who the first time around had the dubious distinction of being the only person to hold that position to NOT be knighted?
I don't know of the top of my head. However that has very little to do with it. If there is no licence fee then the BBC as a funder of awesome documentary, drama and news effectively ceases to be.
There are a number of right wing interest groups who are very much interested in destroying the existence/funding of the BBC.
And without the BBC in its current form, you almost certainly wouldn't have Doctor Who as we know it, you almost certainly wouldn't have Luthor, you almost certainly would have Sherlock. They would be replaced by "Britain's Got the Pop Factor... and Possibly a New Celebrity Jesus Christ Soapstar Superstar Strictly on Ice"(no I don't mean the Peter Kay satire on reality tv either).
Has Denmark managed to avoid tyhe lurch to the right that the other scandinavian countries have been going through just lately?So what I'm getting from all of this is that being Australian would be a massive upgrade, except for everything that lives there trying to kill you except the people.
Dear Great-Grandfather,
You got on the wrong damned boat, you dumb Polish peasant.
Love,
SamnellHe should have just jumped off the boat somewhere along the route through Scandinavian waters. ;-)
No seriously poisonous snakes around here, pride parades (if that's your thing) and here in Denmark we the parliament just voted to institute same-sex marriage (we were the first to introduce registered partnerships in the world, all of which will now be converted to marriages too).
Not as much as I personally had hoped. In the election last Fall an ultra-Liberal (classic Liberal i.e. akin to the Libertarians in the US) party got enough votes to become the third largest party on the right side of the aisle.
Even our new government, which is supposed to be a center-left government, is following the general European austerity policies. They're making new laws which they claim to be socially balanced, but funnily enough they benefit the elite more than the bottom. Basically anyone outside the job market is paying for tax reliefs for the wealthiest... sound familiar?
Sweden looks promising. If I'm going to be foreced to swallow socialism, might as well go where they got it correct.
Sweden looks promising. If I'm going to be foreced to swallow socialism, might as well go where they got it correct.
Such statements always confuse me. Sweden is pretty much the best place in the world to live. It has a strong economy, one of the highest median incomes in the world, and scores amazingly on indexs of social ills.
Why is that something you have to "swallow"?
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I don't think Citizen Kryzbyn's comments are motivated by anti-Swedish feeling. It doesn't matter, though, because we're not going to force him to swallow socialism until he graduates from a Fun-Timey Reeducation Through Labor Supercenter.
Vive le Galt!
I don't think Citizen Kryzbyn's comments are motivated by anti-Swedish feeling. It doesn't matter, though, because we're not going to force him to swallow socialism until he graduates from a Fun-Timey Reeducation Through Labor Supercenter.
Vive le Galt!
oh comrade, how you raise the level of discord, ... sorry I mean discourse, in any thread you join.
Don't worry, Citizen Kryzbyn and I go way back.
^.^
We share an interest in Soviet pop music.
Indeed!
<weep>
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I rededicate myself to the cause of international proletarian socialist revolution in the memory of Eduard Khill.
Sweden looks promising. If I'm going to be foreced to swallow socialism, might as well go where they got it correct.Such statements always confuse me. Sweden is pretty much the best place in the world to live. It has a strong economy, one of the highest median incomes in the world, and scores amazingly on indexs of social ills.
Why is that something you have to "swallow"?
When someone asks me for a short description of what I want out of a government and politics, my answer is "Sweden".
When someone asks me for a short description of what I want out of a government and politics, my answer is "Sweden".Sweden looks promising. If I'm going to be foreced to swallow socialism, might as well go where they got it correct.Such statements always confuse me. Sweden is pretty much the best place in the world to live. It has a strong economy, one of the highest median incomes in the world, and scores amazingly on indexs of social ills.
Why is that something you have to "swallow"?
Norway is pretty sweet as well, from what I gather.
Norway is pretty sweet as well, from what I gather.When someone asks me for a short description of what I want out of a government and politics, my answer is "Sweden".Sweden looks promising. If I'm going to be foreced to swallow socialism, might as well go where they got it correct.Such statements always confuse me. Sweden is pretty much the best place in the world to live. It has a strong economy, one of the highest median incomes in the world, and scores amazingly on indexs of social ills.
Why is that something you have to "swallow"?
I had the sometimes pleasant experience of posting on a board with a proud Norwegian who had lived much of his life in the US (moved out to avoid the Nazis, as it happens) before moving back. Once you got him off the good old days kick, he could be incredible about how different daily life played out even for an affluent business executive type who retired well.
I didn't mean Sweden is teh ebil!
I just meant, if America is going to 100% turn from capitalism to socialism, I think I'd rather go to where its working than be part of the turmoil here.
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I didn't mean Sweden is teh ebil!
I just meant, if America is going to 100% turn from capitalism to socialism, I think I'd rather go to where its working than be part of the turmoil here.
Oh relax, we've always had a mixture of the two. Turning the dial a little more one way or the other is not the sky falling chicken little.
I'm expatriating to Mars.
I hope you're right.
If anything, we're moving away from socialism as a country.
If anything, we're moving away from socialism as a country.
It's certainly how it feels this week :(
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I didn't mean Sweden is teh ebil!
I just meant, if America is going to 100% turn from capitalism to socialism, I think I'd rather go to where its working than be part of the turmoil here.
I didn't think you did. I am just get the feeling your a little confused about a, what socialism actually is which gives leads to the appearent 'socialism is bad, mkay' attitude, and B, how much of it there is in Sweden.
Statements such as the one I have quoted above makes little sense, because Sweden is not 100% socialistic. It isn't even close. In fact, the vast majority of industries in Sweden are predominantly or entirely privately owned.
And that is all socialism is. The social ownership of the means of production.
But I am pretty sure that isn't what you mean by socialism. I am guessing you mean is having a strong welfare state, and high levels of taxation.
So let me re-phrase the question.
If having a strong welfare state, and high levels of taxation result having higher life expectancy, better maths and literacy scores, lower levels of infant mortality, lower murder rates, lower rates of imprisonment, lower rates of teen pregnancy, more trust for your fellow citizens, lower levels of obesity, fewer mental health issues and more social mobility, what is so hard to swallow about it.
This last one alone should be attractive to you. Shouldn't people be able to work hard and improve their life? Is that not the american dream? In america your chances of doing so are far worse than in Sweden and similar nations.
Working class whites without a college education broke for McCain by 17 points.
Whites with a college education broke for Obama by 9 points.
Potentially gives a sinister motive for why Republicans don't care about encouraging people to go to college.
Sweden is far from socialistic. Understand this well. What we do have is a high taxation level, a population almost entirely without private savings (the house/apartment is literally all people own, and it's all borrowed for), with even the middle class so poor that pizza consumption rises after every month's wages for that weekend. People can't afford even pizza except right after salary. We also have health care that everyone is entitled to... but you REALLY need to get into the habit of WAITING for it. Not even serious cancer diagnostics and treatments are necessarily done on time... and if you have the money to go private, you're still out of luck. We have a system for higher education where people used to come here because it was FREE. Now, they don't anymore, because foreign students had to pay a pretty low fee for it. Our education level has steadily dropped year by year for ages.
We are no longer where we used to be in the early 80s. If you come here to live, our early 80s isn't what you'll get. You'll get service comparable to most other european countries or slightly above... but you pay through the nose for it too.
There are still things that are brilliant about Sweden. Early and good sex ed, preventatives and abortions. A high level of atheism. About obesity, we are some years behind the US, though getting there. About mental health problems, I seriously doubt there is a significant difference. Social mobility is virtually non-existent.
Thanks Sissyl. Might as well stay here then...