Americans: How Fat, Loud, and Stupid are We?

Posted by: Russ on 17 December 2013

As some have pointed out, I am often guilty of bit of centrism where America is concerned.  But you have to understand: Until I was fifty-five years old, I had never been out of good old 'Murika except for a few trips to northern Mexico.  The first time I went to Paris, knowing I would not be able to find decent American food served in large quantities, I took 20 pounds of oatmeal granola bars.  My wife said "My God, you are going to the culinary capital of the Universe, and you are taking FOOD BARS?"  I replied that as far as I was concerned there was no difference between Paris, France and rain forests of the Congo.   (And I can truthfully report that after spending a week eating in French restaurants, the next time I flew back there, I took 30 pounds of granola bars.)

 

A French waiter inquired of me: "How did you find your fillet, Monsieur?" "I just moved aside one my carrot slices, and there it was," I replied.  Another waiter brought me coffee which essentially consisted of a thimble full of motor oil.  I sent it pack (politely, I assure you) and ordered "Cafe Americain".  The waiter brought me a steaming mug of hot water, pointed at it and said: "Voici cafe Americain, Monsieur!

OK, I know I probably stand out when I am in Europe, but I do cringe a bit when my European brothers and sisters accuse us of being fat, loud, horribly dressed and abysmally ignorant.

The main problem I have with defending myself and my fellows against such accusations---is that, God help us, they are completely true!

I have to admit that Europeans are, in general, more refined, better educated, and more soft-spoken than are we Americans.  (And the good Lord only knows what the average quietly-refined Asian thinks of us--I suspect they wonder if they and we are members of the same species.)

If one ignores the fact that Brits eat pies with kidneys inside them and that the French and Italians smoke like Nineteenth Century locomotives, I have no doubt that Europeans are healthier as well.  Most Americans have either quit smoking or never started.  And we don't sit in restaurants with little dogs peering out of our overcoats and slobbering onto our 1.5-kilogram steaks.

(I used to smoke after sex, but now I use...but that's another story entirely).

I know what you are thinking: "how fat are these Americans?". Well, we are so fat that the same woman can keep a man warm in the winter and cool in the summer.  Once when I saw  an overweight woman walking down the street, I said to my grandfather: "Grandpa, look at that fat lady!" and he replied "that ain't no lady, boy--that's shade!"

If you walk into a doctor's office in the US, the chairs in the waiting area are about three feet wide.  And at the huge wholesale chains where Americans can stock up on 50-pound bags of sugar, 5-gallon tins of hog lard, and 5-pound jars of peanut butter,)  they have these electric carts large enough for Dumbo the Elephant.  Even the push carts have a capacity of a full ton!)

 

So Americans are indeed fat.  When Europeans point out how terrible our health care system is by a showing that our life-expectancy is maybe a year less than in say, Sweden, I think to myself--"In God's name, just think how GOOD our system is when you consider that millions of Americans pour 5 gallons of oil into a a cooker and fry entire turkeys in it.  Jesus!  I can't tell you how disgusting it is to see a morbidly obese couple in a super market, with two or three fat kids, running up and down the aisles eating donuts.  And most often, they are wearing short pants!  One wonders what kind of appliances they must have employed in order do what was physically required to produce their fat children.  One also wonders how they...but no, I will leave it there.

And in addition to being obese, we are also morbidly stupid.  We have fallen behind the rest of the World in education.  I can remember when Harvard, Yale, and Princeton Universities were the equivalent of Oxford, Cambridge, and Edinburgh.  Now major American Universities offer courses such as:

"GaGa for Gaga: Sex, Gender, and Identity" and:

"God, Sex, and Chocolate: Desire and the Spiritual Path"

Oh, sure, we have courses of study in Petroleum Engineering, but since we ourselves don't drill for oil any more, those courses are all reserved for students from Arab and Persian Gulf nations who charge us a hundred smackers U.S. the barrel for crude and finance attacks on us.  Similarly, although there have been no reactors constructed here since Lincoln was President, we still offer PhD programs in nuclear physics--clearly meant for students from North Korea and Iran.  Students from former Communist nations benefit from our university offerings in Business Administration and Economics.  Happily, though, very few American students would allow themselves to be exposed to such running-dog-capitalist-pig subjects such as those.

Also, whereas men and women alike from France and Italy walk the streets of Paris and Milan wearing suits and shoes to die for, we Americans are slipping into ever more ill-fitting jeans and tee-shirts.  Our women--especially the really fat ones, should be required by Federal Law to wear bras--if only that they constitute extreme safety hazards when swaying from side to side.

I think I mentioned that, as a group, we are also very loud and (I will add) vulgar in the extreme.  I Have a cousin from East Texas (which today has much in common with the Mississippi circa 1875) who is about 2 meters tall and weighs over 350 pounds.  This gentleman grew very wealthy through the sale of insurance which East Texans didn't know they didn't need.  He sent me an email the other day which read as follows:

"Dear Russ, Me and my wife just got back from Paris, France.  The people there was very rude to us.  We asked directions from some woman selling perfume and she was very snotty, so my wife told her she was a French Bitch! Then we was at the train station and I was trying to flag down a taxicab and was yelling at the cabs as loud as I could and waving hundred-dollar bills in the air, and not a a goddamn one of them would stop for me!  The waiters all say stuff like 'Chawntay, and Seevoosplait.'  And i say back: 'Chevrolet Coupe--get me some coffee damned quickay!"  I don't know why the French are so rude."

 

So yes, we stand guilty as charged of crimes against civilized society and behavior. We are inferior in almost every way--in literature, learning, science, medicine, and you-name-it.  When I search for the roots of any superiority we might claim, it always comes down to one thing: tens of thousands of thermonuclear weapons.

 

I haven't even mentioned how I feel about the superiority of our Mother Country to our own--my own ancestors came from Northumberland circa 1600--and I have no doubt they would be able to understand every single word of every single episode of the seven seasons of Foyle's War that I own--but I don't.  When you get right down to it, I think the problem with the United States is that we were the very first colony to declare our independence.  Had we stuck it out a bit longer, learning at the parental knee, we too might have achieved a degree of the sophistication and savoir-fare of say, Somalia--or at the very least, Basutoland!

 

Best regards and cheers,

 

Russ

Posted on: 19 December 2013 by totemphile
Originally Posted by Kevin Richardson:
Originally Posted by DrMark:

I worked all last year in retail pharmacy Russ - let me just add "drug addled" to your list.  And I am speaking not of drugs for cholesterol, diabetes, hypertension, etc.  (That which is another issue entirely.)

 

Imma talkin' benzos and opioids - at doses, frequencies, and durations that are just unhealthy and meant more for gettin' high than anything else.  When I started the job I used to think "How can you get anything done on 4 Xanax a day?"  Then I realized they weren't getting anything done, because they didn't have to since they were living out of my pocket. And in fact, I was paying for their Xanax and Lortabs as well.  But there were plenty of workin' folks too - and the total number was a disturbingly high percentage of the population.  (Opioid drugs are know the number one abused drug in the USA, surpassing even alcohol.)

I find this fact difficult to believe.  I am sure just about every adult has, at some point, abused alcohol (getting drunk) but I highly doubt the same can be said for prescription opiates.  Are you saying more people abuse rx opiates than abuse alcohol? Or are you saying there are more people addicted to rx opiates than alcoholics? Or the total instances of rx abuse exceeds the instances of alcohol abuse?

 

What qualifies you to determine the medications were for getting high?  Were you privy to their medical histories and diagnoses?  Are you suggesting physicians were prescribing these medications just so their patients could get high?  Perhaps you are unaware how debilitating panic disorders / chronic pain can be to those affected.  Btw, 4mg Xanax / day is within the therapeutic range.  Do you really believe an individuals so impacted as to require such high levels of medication would be leading highly productive lives in it's absence?

 

 There are probably millions of people who's lives are improved through structured use of 'benzos' and opiates.  Your anecdotal evidence is meaningless.

 

If you're really interested in the nationwide problem that opioid abuse is, make time and watch this documentary. I dare say it will change your notion of what we're talking about by as much as it can be changed. The burden this places on US society at large, and I am including the collusion between doctors and big pharma for monetary gains here, is shocking!!!

 

 

Posted on: 19 December 2013 by Kevin Richardson
Originally Posted by DrMark:

"Non-medical use" definition has everything to do with the discussion, because the discussion is about people abusing opioids and other available by prescription drugs - whether or not a MD gave them the RX or not. 

 

 if it were 1% or less, then we wouldn't be seeing it multiple times every day in every pharmacy and probably most MD clinics.  In fact, I spoke to a pharmacist friend this morning about this discussion, and that was his first comment re "medically necessary" 

 

He laughingly tells me that it's amazing how many people in pain who come in there are allegedly allergic to tramadol (which is the "opioid-oid" you give when you want to give them something but it won't give them the "kick" they want.)

 

No way it's less than 1% Kevin, no way.  I am betting more at 10 +/- 1-2%...with a good half of it in stealth mode.

If a physician prescribes a medication and the patient takes the medication as prescribed and the condition for which the medication was prescribed exists then I believe it should fall in the category of "medical use."  It does not matter if they are dependent.  It comes down to a quality of life issue that should only be made by the patient with guidance by his physician.

 

However, if a physician prescribes a medication not knowing that the patient is also receiving treatment from another physician then I suspect that physician's rx would fall under the category of "non-medical" use.

 

If no condition exists for which the medication is prescriptive then that should fall under "non-medical" use.

 

Personally, I believe the big pharm companies have a LOT to gain by vilifying C-III opiates.  [This is where I'll insert anecdotal evidence]

 

1.  I have a bona fide allergy to certain class [Z]  of drug  [Not a laughing matter BTW]

2.  I have chronic intermittent back and neck pain in part due to an injury

3.  My doc in X prescribes 60 Norco every 3-12 months to take as needed

4.  I live my life productively taking the minimum medication necessary for a decade

5.  I move from X -> Y

6.  My new doc in Y says "Its unhealthy to take opiates.  I'll give you a FREE 30 day sample of a new 'wonder drug' that you take every day and has shown to be beneficial in treating fybromaliga."

7.  I indicate that I have no diagnosis of fybromaliga and average  5mg hydrocodone / week.

8.  Doc indicates that it still might work.

9.  Doc hands me 30 Name Brand SNRI's

10.I take the medication daily experiencing a slight decrease in pain but many side-effects

11.I go back to my doctor to follow up explain the side effects he hands me a rx for 3 months of the Name Brand SNRI

12.  I go to the Pharmacy and get it filled. ~ $280.00

 

My treatment plan went from <$100 to $3,360 /year.

 

13.  I opt out of the SNRI.

14.  Two days later the withdrawal symptoms were so severe that I had no choice but pay the $280

 

It took nearly two months to finally feel unaffected by that poison.  

 

Just look at the list of side effects related to SNRIs vs. opiates.  Also, compare the prices.

 

Opiates are:  Inexpensive, safe and effective.

 

You made reference to this study as prima facie evidence.  I rebutted your assertion by a closer examination of the data.  Unless you can produce statistical evidence supporting your claims, you are simply extending a ridiculous notion that 1 in 10 Americans habitually abuses rx drugs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on: 20 December 2013 by Derek Wright

In the last few days the topic of abuse of prescription drugs has become a hot topic on the UK news, coincidence or a story hungry UK hack reading the forum? 

Posted on: 20 December 2013 by Jasonf
Originally Posted by Derek Wright:

       

In the last few days the topic of abuse of prescription drugs has become a hot topic on the UK news, coincidence or a story hungry UK hack reading the forum? 


       


Yes, just listened to Radio 4 talking about this increasing problem in the UK.

As Matt Johnston sang on Heartland.

"Beneath the old iron bridges, across the Victorian parks and all the frightened people running home before dark
Past the saturday morning cinema that lies crumbling to the ground
And the piss stinking shopping centre in the new side of town
I've come to smell the seasons change and watch the city as the sun goes down again
Here comes another winter of long shadows and high hopes
Here comes another winter, waitin' for utopia, waitin' for hell to freeze over

This is the land, where nothing changes
The land of red buses and blue blooded babies
This is the place, where pensioners are raped and the hearts are being cut from the welfare state
Let the poor drink the milk, while the rich eat the honey
Let the bums count their blessings, while they count the money

So many people, can't express what's on their minds, nobody knows them and nobody ever will
Until their backs are broken and their dreams are stolen
And they can't get what they want, then they're gonna get angry
Well it ain't written in the papers but it's written on the walls, he way this country is divided to fall
So the cranes are moving on the skyline, tryin' to knock down this town
But the stains on the heartland can never be removed from this country that's sick, sad, and confused

Here comes another winter, of long shadows and high hopes
Here comes another winter, waitin' for utopia, waitin' for hell to freeze over

The ammunition's being passed (This is the 51st state), and the lord's been praised
But the wars on the televisions will never be explained
All the bankers getting' sweaty (This is the 51st state) beneath their white collars
As the pound in our pocket turns into a dollar
This is the 51st state of the U.S.A.
This is the 51st state of the U.S.A.
This is the 51st state of the U.S.A.
This is the 51st state of the U.S.A. (U.S.A.)
This is the 51st state of the U.S.A.
This is the 51st state of the U.S.A.
This is the 51st state of the U.S.A.
This is the 51st state, state, state, state, state, state"

Jason.

Okay, a little dramatic... But a good excuse to play this excellent album (Infected) again.
Posted on: 20 December 2013 by Jasonf
Originally Posted by Char Wallah:

       
Originally Posted by Russ:
Chad Wallah: when I read the part about getting drunk, being vile, and pissing and puking all over the place, I thought of my beloved younger sister who is always looking for a warm, committed relationship.

But seriously, you have an excellent point.  And your experiencea are very similae to mine.

A person who smokes too much, or drinks too much, or pops too many pills, or eats too much is doing     it because they need to escape from their lives in one way or another.....this is just part of living in the kind of world we've built....merry christmas....My point is we are acting in a Panglossian manner when we assume the substance (i.e. alcohol) that society has sanctioned to enable its citizens to escape from their meager lives for a few hours is necessarily the best and least harmful.

Let me illustrate this point further Russ, if I may,....if I had just drank ten pints of lager, I would not be able to function this keyboard, let alone articulate anything coherently. I've just smoked a massive joint all to myself...as you can see I'm able to, in spite of being as high as kite, to type....I just seem though...to lack the motiv

       


Char, come back to us man! May I suggest a few The The tracks to get out of your slumber.
Posted on: 20 December 2013 by Jasonf
Originally Posted by totemphile:
Originally Posted by Kevin Richardson:
Originally Posted by DrMark:

I worked all last year in retail pharmacy Russ - let me just add "drug addled" to your list.  And I am speaking not of drugs for cholesterol, diabetes, hypertension, etc.  (That which is another issue entirely.)

 

Imma talkin' benzos and opioids - at doses, frequencies, and durations that are just unhealthy and meant more for gettin' high than anything else.  When I started the job I used to think "How can you get anything done on 4 Xanax a day?"  Then I realized they weren't getting anything done, because they didn't have to since they were living out of my pocket. And in fact, I was paying for their Xanax and Lortabs as well.  But there were plenty of workin' folks too - and the total number was a disturbingly high percentage of the population.  (Opioid drugs are know the number one abused drug in the USA, surpassing even alcohol.)

I find this fact difficult to believe.  I am sure just about every adult has, at some point, abused alcohol (getting drunk) but I highly doubt the same can be said for prescription opiates.  Are you saying more people abuse rx opiates than abuse alcohol? Or are you saying there are more people addicted to rx opiates than alcoholics? Or the total instances of rx abuse exceeds the instances of alcohol abuse?

 

What qualifies you to determine the medications were for getting high?  Were you privy to their medical histories and diagnoses?  Are you suggesting physicians were prescribing these medications just so their patients could get high?  Perhaps you are unaware how debilitating panic disorders / chronic pain can be to those affected.  Btw, 4mg Xanax / day is within the therapeutic range.  Do you really believe an individuals so impacted as to require such high levels of medication would be leading highly productive lives in it's absence?

 

 There are probably millions of people who's lives are improved through structured use of 'benzos' and opiates.  Your anecdotal evidence is meaningless.

 

If you're really interested in the nationwide problem that opioid abuse is, make time and watch this documentary. I dare say it will change your notion of what we're talking about by as much as it can be changed. The burden this places on US society at large, and I am including the collusion between doctors and big pharma for monetary gains here, is shocking!!!

 

 

Daniel, that is some film...I am a little bit speechless.

 

I may have missed it, but what exactly are 'Pain Management' clinics in relation to a normal doctors clinic?

 

Any qualified doctor (or physician) can open a clinic purely for the purpose of distributing legalised opiates to the general public, whilst not treating any other ailment, but also 'inventing' ailments for the sole purpose to prescribe said opiates...if that is correct?

 

Jason.

Posted on: 20 December 2013 by Jasonf

This is actually a very good title for a thread, just replace Americans with any nation.

 

British: How fat, loud and stupid are we?

 

then when we get to Scandinavia it would read:

 

Norwegians: How fit, quiet and stupid are we.

 

Lets face it 'stupid' would be the common link with all nations.

 

Jason.

Posted on: 20 December 2013 by Jasonf
Originally Posted by Char Wallah:

"there's a commonality to us all. we all suck"

Is that only on every other Tuesday?

 

Jason.

Posted on: 20 December 2013 by Jan-Erik Nordoen

Posted on: 20 December 2013 by totemphile
Originally Posted by Jasonf:
Daniel, that is some film...I am a little bit speechless.

 

I may have missed it, but what exactly are 'Pain Management' clinics in relation to a normal doctors clinic?

 

Any qualified doctor (or physician) can open a clinic purely for the purpose of distributing legalised opiates to the general public, whilst not treating any other ailment, but also 'inventing' ailments for the sole purpose to prescribe said opiates...if that is correct?

 

Jason.

Hi Jason,

 

Not sure, but the way I'd interpret it pain management is all about managing yer pain, which is pretty easy of course, it's simply a question of "how many Xanax would you like with your Oxys?" 

 

Or in other words, a perfect example of modern medicine, i.e. patching up the symptoms rather than treating the causes, keeping the customer coming back for more and those cash tills ringing.  

 

A bit like, would you like a hip replacement while we're doing your knee? Two in one, at a good discount. And by the way, we need to keep costs under control, so we had better reduce all that unnecessary physiotherapy being prescribed across the system.

 

Personal responsibility or preventive measures? No time for that, you've got an appointment with your surgeon you need to attend to!

 

 

Posted on: 20 December 2013 by totemphile

Pain management does have it's place in treating serious illnesses of course, so it's not quite as simple as I made it out to be. I think that goes without saying. 

 

Two sides of the same coin and all...

 

 

Posted on: 21 December 2013 by winkyincanada

Just flicked on the TV and US winter national swimming chamionships are on. Unbelieveably, the events they are swimming are in "Yards"! i.e. the "100 yard freestyle". How freakin' stupid is that? For the love of Odin....

Posted on: 22 December 2013 by Don Atkinson

Just because you (Canada) and we (UK) made a half-hearted attempt at mertication a few years ago, is no justification for slagging off the Yanks for sticking to their guns and the (US version of the) Imperial system.

 

We buy our fuel in litres, but all of our small training aircraft burn (say) 9 usg per hour. And Boeing provides the world with aircraft with mass declared in Kg and moment arms in inches.......................and all out roadsigns show distance to next town as furlongs miles but bridge height in meters....

 

Its a mess. thanks to Napolean

Posted on: 22 December 2013 by winkyincanada
Originally Posted by Don Atkinson:

Just because you (Canada) and we (UK) made a half-hearted attempt at mertication a few years ago, is no justification for slagging off the Yanks for sticking to their guns and the (US version of the) Imperial system.

 

We buy our fuel in litres, but all of our small training aircraft burn (say) 9 usg per hour. And Boeing provides the world with aircraft with mass declared in Kg and moment arms in inches.......................and all out roadsigns show distance to next town as furlongs miles but bridge height in meters....

 

Its a mess. thanks to Napolean

It indeed a costly mess, but almost entirely due to the US not being prepared to get in step with the rest of the world. I am perfectly entitled to view this non-decsion by the US as irrational and harmful. Ludicrous, too.

 

 

In Canada (and Australia) pretty much everything that matters is metric (SI units, to be precise). The schools have taught in metric for decades. All engineering and science is done in metric. There is admittedly still quite a bit of use of other units in casual use. This is largely an historical and cutural artefact, which I suspect endures longer than it otherwise would due to US influence. (Strangely, here in Canada cars still have hp and ft-lbs.)

 

Engineering and science in the US is increasingly (but not exclusively) done using metric units. The resulting confusion has caused a few high-profile problems over the years, but the real cost is that it is just so much harder to make sure that there is no stuff-up when working in teams using mixed units. We see that in our business whenever we collaborate with our US associates. Quite a waste of time and effort aligning measurement units for design and reporting compared to working anywhere else.

 

The US using "imperial" measurements in an otherwise metric world was at it's most riducluous for me when I read (something like) this in a US magazine about running....

 

"Take you best 10km time and use this table (printed) to convert that to seconds per mile. Then take 80% of that and divide by 4.02 to get the speed you should be targeting for these 400m intervals."

 

Running tracks are metric. All imternational events are metric. All running tracks and national events in every other country (expect Liberia and Myanmar) are in metric. Most running tracks in the US are metric. Yet the US runners still think of their times in seconds per mile.

 

"Sticking to their guns" Now that's funny.

Posted on: 22 December 2013 by Russ

Don,

 

Thanks for trying to defend us, but Winky is quite right in taking the default option of our being wrong.  After all, that is why I started this thread--out of a profound feeling of inferiority and shame.  And Winky--I knew you would pick up on Don's double entendre--whether intentionally uttered or otherwise.    Personally, having read it, I went out and purchased another thousand rounds.

 

It is part of my job as a recalcitrant, Americentric, old fart to defend the system of mensuration  that God Himself laid down when He created the universe, and I think an excellent argument can be crafted that Europe's and Asia's adoption of the Metric System has been closely paralleled throughout the years by its descent into godless secularism.  Hopefully for all concerned, the signposts and thermometers of Hell will be posted, respectively, in kilometers and degrees Celsius.  Meanwhile, we Americans--especially the Evangelicals among us--will be strolling mile after mile and basking in a constant 70 degrees fahrenheit.

 

I think it is correct that most science in the United States is conducted and documented using the Metric System--but then I have found that scientists, believing as they do that a five-thousand-year-old Earth revolves around the Sun, are the most godless of us all.

 

Russ

Posted on: 22 December 2013 by Jasonf

Lol! I do like your posts Russ.

 

I am sending you a Christmas card....Greetings from that great American 'Commy'...and certainly not stupid.  

 

All the best.

 

Jason.

 

 

Posted on: 22 December 2013 by Don Atkinson

Winky, Russ,

 

I have spent most of today teaching. Fortunately, mostly in the air.

 

We (typically) topped up the fuel with 82 lites of avgas so that we had 34 usg of fuel on board, weighing in at 204lbs. We added  a litre of oil to raise the dipstick level from 5.5 qrts to 6.5 qrts.

 

The total mass on take-off was 2,300 lbs, MTOWA is 2,550 lbs (note the differing terminology mass v weight) and the CofG was 89 inches aft of Datum. The airfield runway is 760m long and is at an elevation of 320 ft amsl.

 

The engine is 180hp with 360 cubic inch displacement. Engine oil temperature is measured as deg F

 

The Met report from Boscombe issued at 0852 UTC gave a vis 8,000 metres with a cloud base 1,800 feet and Scattered (3 to 4 Octas)

 

The wind was 250deg(M) 25 knots on take-off and at 5,000 ft altitude it was 270 Deg (T) at 45 kts

 

We climbed at 1,000 ft per minute and cruised at 120 kts Indicated airspeed with 2400 RPM. OAT was minus 5 deg Celsius. The Regional Pressure Setting was advised as 1009 Hecto Pascals but the Altimeter pressure windows displays only inHg or millibars.

 

We were initially flying at 4,500ft Altitude under Visual Flight Rules so had to have an in flight visibility of 5km, remain 1,500 meters horizontally and 1,000ft vertically clear of cloud. We later changed to Instrument Flight Rules so had to set 1013 hectoPascals and descend 120 ft to FL45

 

Our first leg took us 60 nautical miles at a ground speed of 135 Kts

 

Not an Imperial Gallon or Statute Mile in sight, never mind a Chain or a Link.............but at least when the vis is good we know we can see much of the 10,000 km from the North Pole to the equator. Well, it was 10,000 km when Napolean said it was, but I guess even that is a bit rough and ready these days.

 

Cheers

 

Don

 

Perhaps I should have mentioned that my student is one of half a dozen or so from the Royal Artillery, so i'll ask them tomorrow whether their guns are measured in inches or millimeters

Posted on: 22 December 2013 by Jasonf
Originally Posted by Jasonf:

Lol! I do like your posts Russ.

 

I am sending you a Christmas card....Greetings from that great American 'Commy'...and certainly not stupid.  

 

All the best.

 

Jason.

 

 

I should say, alleged commy (although he does have a suspicious name)...just another paranoid and shameful witch hunt from that other great American hero, J Edgar Hoover.

 

Jason.

Posted on: 22 December 2013 by Russ

Don: I have to say that I am really glad to have folks like you,President Obama, Al Gore and all those concerned Hollywood stars jetting all over the known universe, spewing God knows how many tons of carbon into the atmosphere. Hopefully, the warming that you introduce into the stratosphere will negate just a bit of the horrrible advance of the ice sheets, once climate scientists reverse themselves and go back to warning us of the terrors of global cooling.    As to the measurement of caliber, I have to say that there have been studies on that very subject in the United States.  Findings are that Democrats typically meassure their guns in millimeters, whereas Republicans--especially those of us in Texas--measure ours in inches.  But then we tend to have much bigger guns than they do. 

 

Jason: The feeling is absolutely mutual, my friend.  I enjoy conversations with you as well--when I can get my wife to explain some of the two-syllable words.  You know it's funny, but by the time I was 17, I had read everything Steinbeck ever wrote--except Travels with Charlie, which he had not yet written.  One of my many unachievable dreams was to write the definitive biography of J.S.  A lot of critics look down their noses at him, and no he was no Faulkner or Hemingway, but nobody--and I mean nobody captured the years of the Depression as he did.  Hoover was another story.  What a piece of shit.  They tell the story of a reporter asking Lyndon Johnson why he didn't fire the man.  "Because, boys," LBJ allegedly replied, "I'd rather have him inside the tent, pissing out, than outside, pissing in."

 

Cheers,

 

Russ