Korean War

Yes. wayyyyyyyy offtopic.

Personally,. I'm always happy to talk politics in an adult, respectful way. As we all know by now, the problem with net political forums, blogs, is people get personal/nasty fast (see above).

I'll go with whatever the forumists want...I'm a guest in your country, I know a little aboutAmerican politics, way less about Romanian (which is one reason I'm here.)

See you there. Otherwise, look for me on the metalhead forum. http://www.metalhead.ro/index2.php?_a=st&_pi=3&_lg=lg1

(better graphics than here, lol)

Rumsfeld got screwed pretty good. not that anyone is shedding any tears for that guy.

pretty soon i expect he will be turned by the republicans into the EVIL mastermind that caused all the problems in irak

Flyboy - we still are on a good vibe.

What had slightly irked me was that you quoted Suparatu's post - in which he was talking about trailer trash baptists, etc - and said you agreed with pretty much everything in it. You did vaguely distance yourself from the language by saying that you wouldn't necessarily use those terms, but that was a weak attempt. I guess I was expecting you to discourage false stereotypes (such as Middle America being full of trailer-trash, rednecks, and baptists) more strongly.

In any case - we're ok. The vibe is still good.

Suparatu - I wasn't hating you, but well said. I like your quote.
By the way, it may surprise you to know that I agree with you more than the others on the "are nazis evil" thread. So it's not like we disagree on everything. I just don't like false stereotypes, especially on the subject of American politics.

Have a good weekend everyone!

What i posted was a cartoon-like view of the US, one we are most familiar with here in romania. Plus, i was a little irritated by a study i completed reading just a shart time before posting, in which the conclusion was that among 40 countries in which people were questioned, the US occupied the second to last position in what concerns people believing in the theory of evolution, only about 20 % of americans saying that they believe it to be true.

the last contry was turkey. firstwasfinland i think, with more than 95%.

seriously now, in what kind of a country would the theory of evolution be a politicall issue? i find that completly unbelievable.

furthermore, what kind of people would actually see this important form the political point of view. a politician is not a guy to tell me what is wrong or right in science, geez..

Flyboy - we still are on a good vibe.

What had slightly irked me was that you quoted Suparatu's post - in which he was talking about trailer trash baptists, etc - and said you agreed with pretty much everything in it. You did vaguely distance yourself from the language by saying that you wouldn't necessarily use those terms, but that was a weak attempt. I guess I was expecting you to discourage false stereotypes (such as Middle America being full of trailer-trash, rednecks, and baptists) more strongly.

In any case - we're ok. The vibe is still good.

Suparatu - I wasn't hating you, but well said. I like your quote.
By the way, it may surprise you to know that I agree with you more than the others on the "are nazis evil" thread. So it's not like we disagree on everything. I just don't like false stereotypes, especially on the subject of American politics.

Have a good weekend everyone!

O.K., fine.....no problem. I got it. I'll be more defensive, lol.

I don't think even Superatu beleives that extreme a stereotype...at least I hope he doesn't.....it would be like me saying most voters in Ro are gypsies, internet scammers, and hookers....ridiculous stereotypes.

anyway, from HIS last post..sounds like he was p.o'd about something else...maybe we all need to check our baggage at the door.

The political situation here is complex and, as we saw this week, volatile.

I like to talk about politics, and I hope we can continue this friendly conversation somewhere. These are interesting days, whatever your personal political philosophy may be.

I'm just concerned we are monopolizing this thread, with wayyy offtopic stuff.


cheers.

What i posted was a cartoon-like view of the US, one we are most familiar with here in romania. Plus, i was a little irritated by a study i completed reading just a shart time before posting, in which the conclusion was that among 40 countries in which people were questioned, the US occupied the second to last position in what concerns people believing in the theory of evolution, only about 20 % of americans saying that they believe it to be true.

the last contry was turkey. firstwasfinland i think, with more than 95%.

seriously now, in what kind of a country would the theory of evolution be a politicall issue? i find that completly unbelievable.

furthermore, what kind of people would actually see this important form the political point of view. a politician is not a guy to tell me what is wrong or right in science, geez..

O.K......got it. see above, please.


Surveys of American opinion can be misleading, poorly done, biased, or all three. However...ballot initiatives attempting to ban the teaching of evolution have not passed anywhere that I'm aware of. And in places where the "theory" of Intelligent Design has been pushed by local school boards it has rarely been adapted.

That being said, I would not want to bet the farm on the scientific literacy of Americans, in general. (Or that of the citizens of most other places I've been, for that matter.)

In general, people here apply for Law School, not post grad Science degrees. WE do have some excellent scientific research centers, universities, though.

I did not hear evolution raised as a campaign issue. (I am more upset that the pols were 100% silent on the issue of torture, btw)

It's true that Carl Rove ( the Republican political mastermind) has used issues like evolution/creationism (and others such as gay marriage, etc.) to appeal to a presumed Christian fundamentalist base. It's not clear how sucessfull/enduring that tactic is going to be, especially going forward to 2008 (Presidential election). Many see Rove as the real loser here now.

So cool your jets, please.

It shocks plenty of us too, but it's true.

American religiousity amazes Europeans when they encounter it. Something like 60% of Americans describe themselves as going to church regularly. I think the comparable figure in most European countries is about 5%. And much of it is not the kind that happily coexists with a secular world-view.

And don't make the mistake of assuming that the people who disagree with evolution are all uneducated, poor, living in shacks and so on. They're not. Many of them have scientific degrees. I'm trying to not be judgemental here, but let's just say they don't find the arguments for evolution persuasive. I would call it a blind spot, but that's just me.

When you think about it, most of us could get through our day without believing in evolution, or even understanding it. It's not like gravity, or inertia, or some other physical law, where not understanding can get you killed.

Another difference about the US... the idea of local control over schools is very strong here. It's not like some countries, where if you tell me it's Tuesday 14 November, I can say what page of the text book all the students in the country are on. People expect the public schools to teach their values, and "values" gets expanded to include many things you or I would consider facts.

It shocks plenty of us too, but it's true.

American religiousity amazes Europeans when they encounter it. Something like 60% of Americans describe themselves as going to church regularly. I think the comparable figure in most European countries is about 5%. And much of it is not the kind that happily coexists with a secular world-view.

And don't make the mistake of assuming that the people who disagree with evolution are all uneducated, poor, living in shacks and so on. They're not. Many of them have scientific degrees. I'm trying to not be judgemental here, but let's just say they don't find the arguments for evolution persuasive. I would call it a blind spot, but that's just me.

When you think about it, most of us could get through our day without believing in evolution, or even understanding it. It's not like gravity, or inertia, or some other physical law, where not understanding can get you killed.

Another difference about the US... the idea of local control over schools is very strong here. It's not like some countries, where if you tell me it's Tuesday 14 November, I can say what page of the text book all the students in the country are on. People expect the public schools to teach their values, and "values" gets expanded to include many things you or I would consider facts.