Love it or Loathe it

[NineOneFour]

I don't know if this goes into Politics or Culture.

Hell, maybe both.

Both I and my fiancee have health insurance. Which is supposed to be a good thing, and I suppose it is.

But the health insurance dickheads want to cut out the pharmacy and make you buy drugs by mail-order from them. And that would be okay if it wasn't a bureaucratic nightmare.

My fiancee's prescription is held up because they need authorization from her doctor. Which is stupid.

The pharmacy here billed my insurance company for the first two fillings of my meds, even though I had a card from the manufacturer to get it all put on this card. Since the health insurance company has been billed twice, now to get a third refill, I have to go mail-order.

Which is insane, because my doctor is still adjusting the dosage - the entire point of the fucking cards was to NOT bill the insurance company and we'd not found out about this until we went to buy the meds last night and found that we were both basically fucked.

And it's bad enough that we have to go through shit like this and be treated like this, but we're the ones who have good health insurance!.

So, this prompted me to make a list. I'm slightly OCD, so me like lists.

THINGS I LIKE ABOUT LIVING IN AMERICA

1. Separation of church and state. As far as I know, no one else has it, and it's quite a comfort, believe you me.

2. Disposable income. You can make an assload of money here and pay little in the way of taxes.

3. Rock and roll. It was invented here, enough said.

4. Barbecue and mexican food. Can't find it anywhere else.

5. Housing prices. Although not found everywhere even in America, our house is 1700 square feet, was purchased for less than $100,000 (significantly less), and is on about a third of an acre. Can't beat that unless you live in rural BFE.

6. Creature comforts. Wide screen TV for the win.

7. American television. This is the golden age of television and make no mistake: House, Bones, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, CSI, Law and Order, Battlestar Galactica, Family Guy, the Simpsons, South Park - these are shows that are fascinating, poignant, dramatic, and damn well acted and produced. I'm a fan of British television too, but American television shows kick ass as well and get damn little recognition of how far they've come in the past 15 years or so.

8. Sales year round: My fiancee came up with this one. No matter what you're looking for, you can find it on sale at any given time of the year.

9. Space in general: See under cheap housing prices.




THINGS I LOATHE ABOUT LIVING IN AMERICA

American Exceptionalism: dude, seriously, other than incarcerating the most people and having the most rampant teenage pregnancies in the world, what the fuck do you think we're #1 in? Not health care, not civil rights, not labor laws, not incomes, not participation in government, not free speech, certainly not equality. Heard not too long ago was a statement "Well, here in America, we are lucky to have freedoms that other countries don't." Really? Could you name one? Unless your comparison is with Myanmar, and that's a really low standard, dude.

Religious assholes: Despite, or perhaps because of, the separation of church and state, there's a very high quotient of fundamentalist retards here who vote against gay marriage, try to outlaw abortions, hate on anyone not Christian, and have the worst persecution complex since the Prussians after WW1. There's a crapload of them in Congress, and don't even get me started about State Legislatures. My current state rep is a fundie parasite who thinks all non-Christians are second-class citizens.

The "I've Got Mine So Fuck You and Die" Attitude: Literally, they're okay with it if you die. I have never seen so many people deny others what they themselves take for granted, be it gay marriage or health care. Self-centered libertarians, raging teabagger racist tools, NIMBY dickweeds, and what Richard Florida calls "squelchers" might just take over this country and run it into the fucking ground (Florida moved to Canada anyway). Hell, they're already on their way. The attitude that it would be a national disaster of epic proportions if we taxed the rich 3% more but 44,000 dead Americans per year is absolutely fine.

Fascist hate radio and television: Really, does any other country have a Glenn Beck, a Rush Limbaugh, a Michael Savage, or a Sean Hannity? In most of the OECD, I think they'd be taken off the air for inciting hatred. But here they're lauded and given multimillion-dollar contracts.

Insurmountable epic stupidity: This kind of goes along with all of the above, but there's also a special and distinct level of stupid and sheer ignorance about not only the rest of the world but about America itself. People who don't think Hungary is a country, can't name their own representative much less the vice-president, or think that Iran is an island, or can't think of a country that begins with the letter "u"....I mean, for fuck's sake, how did they make it out of puberty? Are they just fucking retarded, do they watch reality television so much that they're now in a vegetative state? Have they done so many drugs that they've killed too many brain cells?


Health care: I mean, do I have to even talk about this? It's a fucking disaster.

Lack of public transportation:

No labor laws:

Income inequality: Which leads to crime, drugs, etc.

Two-party system from hell:

Too many fat people: Seriously, I get on a place at Schipol and get off at Gatwick and think "Damn, when did some English people get so fat?" and then get off at my next connection at Newark and "Go, fuckin A, there's a buttload of fat people in New Jersey." and then when I arrive back in Houston: "Jesus H. Goddamn Christ, what the fuck is with all the 300 pound freaks?"

Who do I have to kill to get a decent curry around here?: The vindaloo sauce is so weak you can eat it out of the jar. I wish I were kidding.


SUVs and pickup trucks/Hummers: Some people DO need pickup trucks if they live off-road, deal with snow, work on a ranch, or work construction. For the rest of you people, you're overcompensating for your microphallus or your husband's microphallus.

Voting on workdays; lack of public involvement:

I'll probably go back and add to this later, but for now, I'm done.

Your comments and/or flames are welcome.













Damn, there are some rocking smilies on this site!

[Mysturji]

I think you still have more nukes than anyone else.

[Valden]

If it makes you feel any better, I lost my HC coverage on my 21st birthday. Which was back on the 24th.

[Julia]

Agree with most of your list, except for the good curry and vindaloo. You can get it lots of places, and around here for sure (I LOVE Indian food) but man, you've just got to get out of Texas! :twisted:

[Martok]

If it makes you feel any better, I lost my HC coverage on the 21st birthday. Which was back on the 24th.

I'm about to lose mine next week. :pissed:

[NineOneFour]

I forgot to add:


Stupid de-tuned American versions of cars: Fuck me sideways.

American Ford Focus:


European Ford Focus:


American Honda Civic:


European Honda Civic:

[NineOneFour]

If it makes you feel any better, I lost my HC coverage on my 21st birthday. Which was back on the 24th.

Sorry.

[NineOneFour]

If it makes you feel any better, I lost my HC coverage on the 21st birthday. Which was back on the 24th.

I'm about to lose mine next week. :pissed:

[blackarmada]

I think you still have more nukes than anyone else.

Oh Oh don't forget carriers too.

[MrJonno]

Separation of church and state

I really do think that is meaningless what is important is the seperation of politics and religion. If all the elected politicans are religious nuts elected by religious voters then you effectively have a theocracy regardless of any constitution.

State religion generally means shit weak religion, which is way better than free market run everything religion

[mark1961]

I forgot to add:


Stupid de-tuned American versions of cars: Fuck me sideways.

None of which comes close to our own dearly beloved 3 wheeled, fibreglass bodied Reliant Robin. Thought you might want to see it's finest hour again. After it was modified for the American market.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b4WzWFKQ20

[NineOneFour]

I forgot to add:


Stupid de-tuned American versions of cars: Fuck me sideways.

None of which comes close to our own dearly beloved 3 wheeled, fibreglass bodied Reliant Robin. Thought you might want to see it's finest hour again. After it was modified for the American market.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b4WzWFKQ20

I saw that episode!!!

[Fact-Man]

I don't know if this goes into Politics or Culture.

Hell, maybe both.

Both I and my fiancee have health insurance. Which is supposed to be a good thing, and I suppose it is.

But the health insurance dickheads want to cut out the pharmacy and make you buy drugs by mail-order from them. And that would be okay if it wasn't a bureaucratic nightmare.

My fiancee's prescription is held up because they need authorization from her doctor. Which is stupid.

The pharmacy here billed my insurance company for the first two fillings of my meds, even though I had a card from the manufacturer to get it all put on this card. Since the health insurance company has been billed twice, now to get a third refill, I have to go mail-order.

Which is insane, because my doctor is still adjusting the dosage - the entire point of the fucking cards was to NOT bill the insurance company and we'd not found out about this until we went to buy the meds last night and found that we were both basically fucked.

And it's bad enough that we have to go through shit like this and be treated like this, but we're the ones who have good health insurance!.

So, this prompted me to make a list. I'm slightly OCD, so me like lists.

THINGS I LIKE ABOUT LIVING IN AMERICA

1. Separation of church and state. As far as I know, no one else has it, and it's quite a comfort, believe you me.

2. Disposable income. You can make an assload of money here and pay little in the way of taxes.

3. Rock and roll. It was invented here, enough said.

4. Barbecue and mexican food. Can't find it anywhere else.

5. Housing prices. Although not found everywhere even in America, our house is 1700 square feet, was purchased for less than $100,000 (significantly less), and is on about a third of an acre. Can't beat that unless you live in rural BFE.

6. Creature comforts. Wide screen TV for the win.

7. American television. This is the golden age of television and make no mistake: House, Bones, Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, CSI, Law and Order, Battlestar Galactica, Family Guy, the Simpsons, South Park - these are shows that are fascinating, poignant, dramatic, and damn well acted and produced. I'm a fan of British television too, but American television shows kick ass as well and get damn little recognition of how far they've come in the past 15 years or so.

8. Sales year round: My fiancee came up with this one. No matter what you're looking for, you can find it on sale at any given time of the year.

9. Space in general: See under cheap housing prices.

Canada enjoys separation of church and state.

I'd have to strongly disagree with your comments regarding American television.

As a screenwriter with some experience in both big and small screen entertainment in America, it's my view that nearly all the shows you mention are hackneyed dramas with little more than propaganda value. Law and Order (and its myriad takeoffs) is the worst of the lot because it espouses the purity of the American system of justice whilst hammering away on the message that crime doesn't pay and if you are a perp you are less than dirt. The show exhibits zero empathy and covers the abysmal sham that passes for justice in America, which is about as fair as a fight in some alley betwen sixteen COPS and one poor slob who smoked a few reefers. The shows are agonizingly repetitive in plot and structure and characterization. Nothing new is ever brought to the table.

CSI is similarly flawed but adds a great deal of discombooberated exhibition of forensic science, procedures, and possibilities.

House is badly flawed by presenting unreal medical situations, procedures, and methods of examining, identifying and evaluating psysiological and neurological issues.

The shows are, as you note, well produced and acted, which means a lot of production money is spent on them, but you can't make a great show from hack cookie cutter scripts. Production funding is of course paid for by advertisers, who in turn pass the costs on to their customers. In effect, then, American consumers are paying or the crap television they are presented with and watch,

With the exception of South Park, the other shows you mention are lowest common denominator humour or soap opera drama. The worst thing about them all is they are hardly more than dumb vehicles to bridge the gap between long commercial breaks, which have become longer as time has passed and now consume about 18 minutes of every broadcast hour.

In Hollywood, among its cadre of some six or seven thousand active screenwriters, it is understood that these shows are written by hacks, not writers.

American television is truly a wasteland. PBS offers some safe haven from the droll.

Canadian television is even worse.

Number 5 is misleading because affordable housing for lower middle and poor classes in America is generally non-existent.

Number 8 merely reflects the fact than half or more of the US economy is driven by consumer spending and so of course consumer products have to be flogged 24/7, with "sales" being the leading way to get customers into stores and shops.

THINGS I LOATHE ABOUT LIVING IN AMERICA

American Exceptionalism: dude, seriously, other than incarcerating the most people and having the most rampant teenage pregnancies in the world, what the fuck do you think we're #1 in? Not health care, not civil rights, not labor laws, not incomes, not participation in government, not free speech, certainly not equality. Heard not too long ago was a statement "Well, here in America, we are lucky to have freedoms that other countries don't." Really? Could you name one? Unless your comparison is with Myanmar, and that's a really low standard, dude.

Religious assholes: Despite, or perhaps because of, the separation of church and state, there's a very high quotient of fundamentalist retards here who vote against gay marriage, try to outlaw abortions, hate on anyone not Christian, and have the worst persecution complex since the Prussians after WW1. There's a crapload of them in Congress, and don't even get me started about State Legislatures. My current state rep is a fundie parasite who thinks all non-Christians are second-class citizens.

The "I've Got Mine So Fuck You and Die" Attitude: Literally, they're okay with it if you die. I have never seen so many people deny others what they themselves take for granted, be it gay marriage or health care. Self-centered libertarians, raging teabagger racist tools, NIMBY dickweeds, and what Richard Florida calls "squelchers" might just take over this country and run it into the fucking ground (Florida moved to Canada anyway). Hell, they're already on their way. The attitude that it would be a national disaster of epic proportions if we taxed the rich 3% more but 44,000 dead Americans per year is absolutely fine.

Fascist hate radio and television: Really, does any other country have a Glenn Beck, a Rush Limbaugh, a Michael Savage, or a Sean Hannity? In most of the OECD, I think they'd be taken off the air for inciting hatred. But here they're lauded and given multimillion-dollar contracts.

Insurmountable epic stupidity: This kind of goes along with all of the above, but there's also a special and distinct level of stupid and sheer ignorance about not only the rest of the world but about America itself. People who don't think Hungary is a country, can't name their own representative much less the vice-president, or think that Iran is an island, or can't think of a country that begins with the letter "u"....I mean, for fuck's sake, how did they make it out of puberty? Are they just fucking retarded, do they watch reality television so much that they're now in a vegetative state? Have they done so many drugs that they've killed too many brain cells?


Health care: I mean, do I have to even talk about this? It's a fucking disaster.

Lack of public transportation:

No labor laws:

Income inequality: Which leads to crime, drugs, etc.

Two-party system from hell:

Too many fat people: Seriously, I get on a place at Schipol and get off at Gatwick and think "Damn, when did some English people get so fat?" and then get off at my next connection at Newark and "Go, fuckin A, there's a buttload of fat people in New Jersey." and then when I arrive back in Houston: "Jesus H. Goddamn Christ, what the fuck is with all the 300 pound freaks?"

Who do I have to kill to get a decent curry around here?: The vindaloo sauce is so weak you can eat it out of the jar. I wish I were kidding.


SUVs and pickup trucks/Hummers: Some people DO need pickup trucks if they live off-road, deal with snow, work on a ranch, or work construction. For the rest of you people, you're overcompensating for your microphallus or your husband's microphallus.

Voting on workdays; lack of public involvement:

I'll probably go back and add to this later, but for now, I'm done.

Your comments and/or flames are welcome.

I would add the horrific system of justice that's operative in the country, in which, for example, a man was executed in Texas for a crime it was later shown he did not commit and there are some 5,000 inmates of death rows around the country, of which a goodly percentage are most likely innocent persons ... as has been demonstrated by Barry Sheck's Innocense project.

Add draconian drug law enforcement.

I would also add the badly degraded state of civility that's extant across America and the ongoing decline of mental acuity among its 30 and under population.

Lastly, I'd add the scammer problem, in which it has become virtually impossible to trust any salesman or retail counter clerk one might happen to encounter.

[Nickel]

As an Englishman who has travelled to the 'States, and loves the 'States, and sees the lot of you as our crazy and wild kids, I get really sad when I hear about all these bad things in America. I wish you could have nice things ;_;

[Horwood Beer-Master]

...2. Disposable income. You can make an assload of money here and pay little in the way of taxes. ...

Uhh, isn't this bit on your "Things I like" list, kinda connected to many of the things on your "Things I loathe" list?