Too Much To Dream

Well, it's possible she means that she likes squirrels. See, in Sydney they don't have any fuzzy cute wildlife playfully gamboling among the gum trees. What they have instead is:

Many birds including:
Ibises
The occasional kookaburra (neat to listen to, unless you're trying to sleep)
The even more occasional cockatoo

Also:
Bats the size of Cessnas
Rats
"Possums", which are nocturnal and shy and I personally did not see one in three years

After I got back I went with Niles to his workplace, which is squirrel-intensive, and was delighted by the cute little critters that I had hardly noticed in the 38 years before I went to Australia.

And to think that I actually wasted thousands of dollars I struggled to get together in order to send my 14 year old daughter to Australia and New Zealand.

And that I've been married for what seems to be forever to a Glaswegian. (That's a person from Glasgow, Scotland to all those other ignorant 'Murcans out there).

And to think that I've been a student of history all my life, just so I could be an ugly, ignorant American.

Do YOU know where Stalin was born you ignorant asshat?

MonkeyPants
Imperial Falconer (With Panache™)

Squirrels? You can tell she's Australian, not British! Our native red squirrels have been driven virtually to extinction by those evil American imports!

This is personal! A squirrel found it's way into the attic and destoyed my Dream Theater T-shirt! All of them have to die! Their 'cuteness' is just a front; a squirrel is just a rat with good PR...

Seinfeld sucks though, its the worst of American TV not the best.

The squirrel thing is odd, I happen to know a Kiwi now in Oz who was fascinated by the NYC squirrels. It was a tad odd.

Andrew, I too have met a few folks from Oz and NZ, they have all been just amazed with the squirrels. I am still not sure why. Surely they'd have seen a picture or something of them??

(When we were kids we used to love the squirrels in D.C. because they were so tame. You could actually pet them and hand feed them. You just had to make sure they didn't bite you and give you rabies or something.. LoL)

Maybe it's the idea of nondeadly wildlife. In Terry Pratchett's The Last Continent (which is really Australia), Death asks his library for a list of the harmless fauna/flora of the place. Eventually a single scrap of paper floats in. "Some of the sheep," it says.

Well, I agree that squirrels are cute and fuzzy, though I would think that citizens of a country which contains the über-cute fuzzy animals, koalas, wouldn't even give squirrels a second thought. Though squirrels aren't rare as I believe koalas are.

On the other hand, Australia sounds a lot like Florida, except for the fact that we don't have kookaburras (we do, however, have turkey vultures, which don't seem to make a lot of noise, but nevertheless...), and we do have a zillion squirrels. We also have our own possum species, which are also nocturnal, but they are not particularly shy. I once forgot I had left a bag of garbage on my front steps and went to bed. As I was dropping off, I heard a ripping, tearing sound from beyond the front door. I opened it to see a possum happily ripping its way into the trashbag. It noticed me opening the door, and my cat behind me glaring and hissing. It looked us over, and with a contemptuous air went back to tearing at the garbage. Having been so dissed, I just shut the door and went back to bed.

3. Yeah, right. Squirrels. Wit 'till she sees one eating a robin chick. (Sigh.)

4. The "ideas behind their Bill of Rights". Obviously, she hasn't read and understood Cato or Tacitus or Locke, Jefferson, Adams... If she ever bothers to do a simple google and pull up their stuff and effing sit down and READ it...

5. The Grand Canyon ... One of Momma Natures' grandest pudendoid marvels. As Freud would say, "Er, Don't go there."

6. Friendliness? We can afford to be friendly: We're confident, and we're armed. No reason to be fearful, no need to be rude. Need help with that, Ma'am?

Australian possums are kind of like squirrels with skinny tails, although as I said shy and nocturnal. You don't find possums playing in the park on a sunny day.

Actually, when I had to go work out in the countryside, I was quite pleased that the worst I could run into at night was a kangaroo. In the US, I'd had to watch out for pumas and bears. As long as I didn't start wandering in the woods at night, I wouldn't be running into anything deadly in Australia.

Have you ever noticed that most people who castigate Americans for their lack of knowledge about the world, form their impressions of America from (A) television, and (B) half-truths or mistruths about our country? Isn't it ironic, don't you think?

Anyway, not to troll for hits, but I gave Ms. Jackson a mini-fisking of my own.

Let's trade - who wouldn't want Koalas running all over the place.
On the possum subject, a friend of mine was deep frying turkeys this Thanksgiving. He did one for a work party several days before, and left the cover off the deep-fryer. You can probably guess the end of this story...

You know, Americans make "The Simpsons" by using cheap Korean labor. Even our harmless diversions conceal the machinations of Empire! Muahahahaha!

Hi y'all.
Nice to see my little angry webdiary post has pissed so many people off - and got you to think a bit about your country, and how others see it.

Yes, I was angry when I wrote "Ten reasons to be anti-American" and I got a little extreme in my comments. I'm just sick of the term being used to deride others who dare to question the way the world is.

I still think they cover the basics of why the rest of the world doesn't trust the American government. Is it so important that I said "dozens"?

And I like squirrels - so??? They're funny. They've got bushy tails. And the grand canyon is cool. Thanks for telling me that means I'm extremely proud of my enormous vulva. I thought I just liked the scenery. Now I'm thinking I should be charging entry fees.

I know a number of American people, and they're all very friendly. My little list at the end was an - admittedly small - attempt to not be so angry. I guess I should have left it out, if that's the best you can come up with.

It's hard not to feel angry when your prime minister is sending Australian troops off to an American war that won't be legal. I thought we'd learned our lesson about other people's wars at Gallipoli in 1914.

Nothing deadly in Australia? Hah! You should meet the brown snake that lives in our garden. And if you run into Steve Irwin on a bad day, ooh, crikey :D

I never said I didn't believe in the right not to vote - just that it's shocking that the US people don't vote in such droves - and then this is the government you get. I'll bet the number of Americans who oppose this war is greater than the number that actually voted in the recent Congressional elections.

Would you prefer it if I just said "I don't believe in the ideas behind the bill of rights?"
We don't have a bill of rights in Australia, so it's one of those nice things we can dream about.

So, by all means, continue to flame. Feel free to streak if you're in the mood, it's very refreshing. And be nice to the squirrels.

Now that I've gone to read Tex's lovely comments, I had to come back and thank all of you for not using the terms "arseclown", "assfuck" and so on. My opinion of you as thinking people who can debate a topic reasonably is so much improved by it.

But, should you feel the need to lower yourself to Tex's level, let me respond in kind: fuck you.

See, that cleared EVERYTHING up, didn't it?

Have a nice day.

Wow! How mature! Fuck you very much, "Karen," you saggy-assed, ugly cow. There. Is that better?

Karen,

Can you not see that your 'reasons' are flawed in their entire premise?

Your statement about voting DOES ignore the importance of the freedom to abstain--and your supporting statements show that you don't comprehend the fact that the governments structure is decided by the people who care enough to voice their opinion by voting.

It's one thing to scram about what the governments doing--it's quite another to do so after you declined to take part in that government. And, if you check, you'll find that a good chunk of the 'peace' movement doesn't vote.

You say we're losing rights--which ones? I've not lost any rights. And your concern for lost rights includes a desire to relieve me of the right to bear arms. How can you fault anyone for taking rights away when you want to do the same thing?

You don't like our foreign policy. Okay. But what was the alternative to what we did? Since it's in the past the overall picture can be looked at. And what do we see...millions of people freed from communist totalitarianism. Gee, was that worth it? To me, yes, to you....?

And then there was the oft repeated charge that we live in ignorance of the rest of the world. That our media keeps news of the world from us. Do you know what our media is like? First, it's a free press. Most nations outside the US have no clue what that means. In a nutshell, it means that the press prints everything it can--from top secret documents and war plans to every trivial scandal the market will bear. Everything. And there are blogs to print the stuff the markets' WON'T bear. AND they comb the entire world to do this.

And that's just the beginning. We also are privileged to get other countries channels. This allows us to see what they've got to say first hand. It's one thing to bitch about al-Jazeera, it's quite another to be an informed viewer.

Ignorant of the rest of the world? No. Try the exact opposite. We know when you eat, when you sleep and who you're sleeping with. We even know WHY you're so tired. I think the myth of the ugly, ignorant American allows many people to maintain their illusion of cultural superiority.

And Bali? Bali was all over our media--but I don't expect you to believe that.

I've gone on way too long. Look, you've looked at our country thru a small peephole and made sweeping generalizations based on limited and biased information. People are using your article as an example of the 'Ugly Australian'. Was that your intent?

I didn't think so...

Yes, it's a pity that some Americans take their right to vote for granted and don't exercise it. On the other hand, we have the freedom to NOT vote as well. Unlike in Saddam Hussein's Iraq, for instance, where he got a 100% turnout and 100% of the vote.

As for squirrels... Let's not go there! I'm still having flashbacks of trying for two days to get one out of the engine compartment of my car a couple of months back.

On voting, it's the sign of a healthy country that many Americans don't vote. They are happy with the way things are and are spending their time working hard and enjoying liberty and free speech in the world's greatest democracy.

It's the crappy countries in need of major changes that have voters lining up to cast their ballots.

Remember the TV shots of enormous lines at the polls when black South Africans first got to vote? Remember the peasants who lined up for hours to throw out the Sandinistas? They all voted because it meant they could change their lives for the better.

America is not Baywatch. America is not George Bush. America is not McDonald's.

Karen Jackson, you odiforous skank, you rotting pustule on the butt of a rhino, you don't even have a clue what we are. Shut your enormous pie hole and worry about your own country for a change.

HEY SEPPOS! We're a democracy you know - how DARE you criticise one of our politicians. You must all therefore be communist democracy-hating anti-Australians.

Andrea, well done for completely missing the point behind the "fuck you" comment. Want me to spell it out for you? Here it is:
Resorting to abuse is no way to conduct a reasoned argument. I might have taken Tex's comments on board if he hadn't been so nasty. But what's the point - it was a hate filled rant with little to offer.

Thus, Albo and Andrea, I have nothing further to say to you, since you have gone down that path. People who resort to pathetic personal comments and abuse do not deserve any further attention from me. Indeed, I'm spreading my saggy arse cheeks and mooning you as we speak.

Jack, Barcodeking, thank you for pointing out your views in a polite manner. You make some excellent points.

I want to say this in defence of the article: it presents - in an admittedly simplistic and emotional way - how a lot of people feel about the US. Whether the facts or premises are wrong or not doesn't impact on the prevalence of what you might describe as anti-American prejudice. It's what I was feeling when I wrote it.

I've spoken to lots of people both here and online and these are the things they say. If you think it's wrong - please, do your best to refute it (as opposed to studying my saggy arse... although, if that's what makes you happy...)

I'm happy to stand here and say that the piece was hastily written, could have done with some concrete examples, and was strongly opinionated. It also should have been called "10 reasons why people feel anti-American"

I also want to say this: I am completely aware that I was the pot calling the kettle black; to quote from my piece: "Interestingly, Australia is also guilty of many of these transgressions."

For example:
Our system of government and voting has its flaws e.g. above the line voting, and ignorance about the electoral process. It is compulsory for Australians to turn up and have their name ticked off the roll on election day, but they are not compelled to vote. I don't doubt that in other countries where elections are rigged, complusory voting is bad. And, maybe you're right, maybe all those people who don't vote in the US are happy with what they get. If we assume that they make the reasoned and educated choice to abstain.

I still think it is unfortunate that US governments gain power with so little mandate. I still think this doesn't embody democracy in terms of "government of the people".

Australia has also not signed the Kyoto agreement. We too are not doing our duty by the environment. We too consume more than our fair share of resources.

Australia has it's own abuses of human rights within the refugee system. We too have refused entry to UN inspectors.

Australian governments are also trying to remove civil rights in the name of fighting terrorism, such as the right to a legal representation if you are arrested by ASIO.

The Australian government is creating less equitable systems of healthcare, and education, and spending more on defence.

I also don't doubt that the Indonesians think that we are arrogant and ignorant, and we probably are.

The thing is, I'm willing to take criticism, and I'm trying to do something about all this by writing and stirring up debate. So, what are some of you guys doing? Calling me names.

For Christ sake! Prove me wrong on my other prejudices:
Americans can't hack criticism or analyse their faults.
Americans have no sense of humour.

Come on! Do it now!

And my god, Barcodeking... You have squirrels that can fix engines???? WOW :D No wonder I like the little buggers

C'mon, Karen, we want the Full Monty: Where was Stalin born?

Well, Frank, I'll show you mine if you show me yours.

"Stalin (an adopted name meaning 'man of steel') was born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili at Gori, Georgia, the son of a cobbler..."
- Cambridge Biographical Encyclopaedia.

Now, did this prove that I'm just a good librarian or does it really reveal my true red-under-the-bed nature? Oooh, spooky.

What is it with this deranged deductive reasoning?
I criticise the US therefore I must be a communist?
I quote a phrase from the King of Bhutan therefore I support human rights abuses in that country?
If I say I like Volkswagens does it mean I'm a Nazi?

'Mao Tse Tung said "Change must come through the barrell of a gun"'. I'm actually quoting the band Alabama 3 there... I really like the song so that must mean I think Mao was a genius, right?

But wait... George W. Bush is advocating change in Iraq through the use of force... this must mean that George W. is a devoted fan of Mao!!!

My god, this is fun, really. You can go anywhere with this kind of logic. :D

Karen's right, us Americans ain't got no sense of humor. I mean, Squirrels beat Gerbils...

On her first point; everybody overseas forgets we're a Republic, not a Democracy (thank God -- Canada's a Democracy and
thus, a one party state. They also forget there is NO perfect voting system. Check this out:
http://www.1freespace.com/ziggyzap/voting.htm. The 'Strynes may need a little help. Here, those who care vote, those who wish not to, don't.

Works for us.

Her second point is multifaceted but "Americans love trumpeting on about their love of freedom. However,
they are currently dismantling a great many civil rights laws in their attempts to rid themselves of terrorism."

As is every other nation, including australia. Fortunately,, Democracy or Republic, the system will preclude
most excesse and fix the few that scrape through. She further states "... At the same time, hundreds of
prisoners of war remain in Cuba without legal representation, and with no hope of a trial."

The operative phrase is "Prisoner of War." Just so. Prisoners of War do not get legal representation unless they
are treid for war crimes. Her statement does not pass the "So What?" test.

With respect to " More murders occur in the US than any other Western country because of their freedom to own guns."
There's been more than enoughvcomment on this. Karen may not like Tex's language but his comments on this topic were appropos,

She says " The Bush government is keen to crack down on freedom of speech when it comes to sexually
explicit material, something the vast majority of Americans indulge in. And sodomy is still illegal in dozens of US states. Is that freedom?

When you consider that, while there are random arrests for pornography and for sodomy, across the board, no more Americans who indulge in those
things get busted than do Australians for not voting, I guess it's a wash.

Karen states " The Americans are supposed to be the good guys. Yet they have, over the last 50 years, engaged in numerous dodgy interventions in other
countries, including Vietnam. On many occasions, this has involved supporting despots, and being accessories to mass murder. We have no
proof that will allow us to believe they have learned from their mistakes." We must be good guys -- we got Squirrels. Fifty years is a little short; try 200.
Our first intervention (accompanied by much screaming, wailing and gnashing of teeth from Britain and France -- sound familiar) was against the
Barbary Pirates / Shore of Tripoli et. al. and we've been doing it with great regularity since then -- always to much screaming -- and we'll continue to do so.

Nowadays it just gets more coverage. Oh, and on propping up despots; the Brits taight us everything we know...

Re: the trade barriers, I agree with Karen assessments but would suggest let's wait and see what W. does in his second term...

Her fifth item; "They have consistently undermined the UN for the last 10 years at least, and then have the gall to say it is a spent force and impotent."
is sorta true but was / is engendered by neat little things like Libya chairing the Human Rights commission and Iraq chairing the WMD board.
American non-support of the U.N. dates from the start of tha tkind of assininity, much of it fomented by the then Soviets, in the late 1950s.

" Their unswerving support of Israel is part of this, to the point of defending Israel when it defies UN resolutions." True and engendered in its turn by the same phenomonen
that causes us to look skeptically at the U.N. anyway. There's a lot of hypocrisy there; prpbably more than we've ever showed.

"When other countries defy or ignore international treaties, they should be bombed. When the US ignores or abandons international treaties, they
are asserting their rights as a sovereign nation." That's so wrong and so simplistic there's not much chance of a coherent response, though I'd point out that
we didn't even want to get involved in Kosovo and got drug into because Europe insisted we be there and could not or would not sort out their own problem.
Unlike Australia who neatly sorted out Timor. good job. (We don't want to talk about the australia and the Indonesian takeover. Nah, we don't want to go there...).

"The US public has an incredible ignorance of the outside world, thanks to their media, and an accompanying arrogance. When Bali was bombed,
we didnt hear a peep out of them. Australia was mentioned in passing as being south of Indonesia. Chances are that most Americans won't know
that Australia is about to be one of their few allies in the coming war. The less you know about the rest of the world, the more mistakes you can
make."

The U'S' media does an absolutely pathetic job of covering the world for us. They are entertainment companies, not news organs and the vast majority of
their folks are overpaid mediocrities. There are some good journalists in the U.S. but they're the exception. Other than that, the entire statement is way off base.
Regardless of poor media coverage, we are really better informed than most people oversea think. Part of the problems is that, as one of my favorite Canadians
once said "Americans just don;t give a rats a** what the rest of the world thinks. Guilty. And, as being personally one of the thousands of Americans who sent money to the
Australian Red Cross after Bali and knowing that coverage of Australian support is in my little local Florida newspaper frequently -- Well, you're just wrong.

Your last few items are sorta out of it as you acknowledged afew posts ago but I'd suggest you really look at at you first "Things I like" item.

You can do better'n that.

Sorry, guys -- I was using Netscape and Andrea's site response apparently doesn't like it. Could not edit and it got sent three times.

Switched to I.E for this apologia.

KW

Wow Ken was it necessary to post your long-winded waffle three times? Americans might have no sense of humour (some of them don't have much especially those from fly-over country) but Aussies are even worse. Aussies in my experience (with very few exceptions) are like rednecks with less sense of rythmn, humour and style.

Tim Blair is the exception and people like Karen are the rule alas.

Nah, Andy, it wasn't ncessary. I'll speak to Steve Case about it.

Uhhh; what waffle?

KW

A few short points....

1) There are no squirrels here.

2) Gallipoli was in 1915.

3) Porkys was made in Florida.

Not only that, but Porky's was filmed in my former high school. But I had graduated some years before then, so I missed my brush with greatness.

Andrew, for some bizarre reason I feel compelled to defend Australians. Nearly every one I met was very nice, and they most certainly do have a sense of humor. Some of them have no sense of humor about their sense of humor, though. They're always on about it.

As for Ms. Jackson, I find it interesting that she believes that what she feels is more important than what is. Facts? Logic? Who needs those?

If she wishes to be treated fairly despite her apparent unfamiliarity with the concept, perhaps she'd be more comfortable in some other venue. Petulance, dear, is so unbecoming in a leader. (cf R.M. Nixon.)

How fucking lame is Andrew Dodge? Talk about vomit...and don't return to it dog!

We left imperious creeps like you behind..and by the way..Fuck you!

Mr. Shaw? Please don't pick an unrelated fight with someone on my blog. If you don't like what Andrew has to say, take it up with him personally. I'm not interested in fielding a personal war. Any more comments in this vein will be deleted.

Karen asks ‘For Christ sake! Prove me wrong on my other prejudices:’

That’s the problem – she’s not really discussing any issues here, she’s just spewing prejudices. If a KKK member published a diatribe about “10 reasons why I hate anyone who didn’t have the good graces to be born white”, if a Saudi diplomat published "10 reasons to be anti-Jew" – it would be the same kind of thing.

Prejudice=ignorance. Like the average Klansman, ignorant Karen makes baseless, blanket assumptions, puts it into a list and then brays it all over the internet. Now she visits this website to bray some more. She doesn’t like the way we vote, our sense of humor or Jerry Springer - but she likes squirrels and streaking. Huh?

She's like a guy who claims that all Chinese restaurants put cats in their Moo Goo Gai Pan - who then says 'prove me wrong'

It's just prejudice - so why bother?

Yes maam. Mr Dodge started the 'personal war'. I was just responding to his racist comments. Mildly interesting that you didn't scold Mr Dodge for fowling your page. Different rules for club members?

Why yes, Mr. Shaw, they are my rules, come to mention it. My blog, my entirely arbitary and unfair rules. You don't like it, you can get your own blog or go straight to hell for all I care.

But I see what sort of person you are by your classification of Andrew's comment as "racist." 1) Australians are not a "race"; they are a nationality, since citizenship of that country is open to people of any race or ethnicity. 2) His remarks may have been an unfair generalization, but he was only remarking upon an aspect of culture ("humor"), which everyone has different perceptions of. Personally most of the Australians I have met have been very funny, and that goes for most of the Australians whose sites I have gone onto; it is the leftist ones that are for the most part lacking in humor, but that may be a sign of the times. In any case, my experience may not match Andrew's, and he is entitled to an opinion. Your reaction certainly doesn't prove him wrong.

JB, how can I be racist? Australians aren't a race, they are a nation. Unless you are of course of "native" descent. I bet our "racial" stock is just about the same. Well except the fact I am not descended from convicts. That is not based on race either. but moral outlook.

As far as my comments, I base them on experience. Nice to see I can find some dupe to walk right in and confirm my assertion.

BTW do you realise that swearing a lot is a sign of being of little intellect?

My only only response to Karen's misinformed diatribe would be if she could kindly account for some significant differences I've experienced as an American living in Australia.

Let's see...back home in Minnesota, USA we have world class medical care, top-notch public schools (most students go on to uni), an effective police force and quality, well-structured road systems. Over here, hospitals are falling apart at the seams so we're all being forced to get private insurance, public schools are so neglected that everyone is steadily being forced to send their kids to private schools, half of the police force is on stress leave with stations closing right and left, and roads are pathetic with city planning in Sydney for example having obviously been carried out by an orangutan. (But long live the cricket!)

We have all of this over you with a pittance of the tax rate you have here. Not to mention that your complete neglect of basic public services smacks of eliticism, something Aussies love to charge the U.S. with time and again. At least we aren't so blatant as to put our middle income families in the highest possible tax bracket, then slam them with a GST. Not to mention taxing them to the hilt on a second job - heaven forbid they take the initiative to work hard. Don't bother giving them a set rate on a basic mortgage or the ability to deduct mortgage points on tax. And don't forget to throw in that hideously expensive car rego fee every year. I could go on and on... Long live the excessively wealthy class in Australia!

Here, the welfare-dependent system you've created is in stark contrast to the hard-working, productive work environment I'm from. An Australian unemployment rate of 6% is considered excellent - that same rate in Minnesota would be a tragedy.

Come visit my hometown of Minneapolis and you will see a clean, friendly place: you will not see the litter, graffiti, vandalism and crime that you witness here. People still leave their doors unlocked and know all their neighbors. You don't need a car security system to get vehicle insurance and you can leave your canoe by the lake and no one will steal or vandalize it. You can find any place easily when driving around, and get there within minutes. Volunteerism is still alive and well, and most major companies require it of their employees. They also offer maternity leave, job sharing and childcare arrangements.

Compare this to "the Lucky Country", where vandalism, graffiti and stealing seem to be a national heritage, and are rampant in even the nicest suburbs and towns. Three of my neighbors on one block in a nice Sydney suburb have been robbed in the past year alone. Give me this supposed "gun culture" any day - I know where I feel safer. Here there is a sad neglect of children: no availability of childcare, no maternity leave, job sharing is unheard of and public schools get no funding. For shame.

The difference is that where I come from people have infinitely more respect for other people and property, and the environment. Unlike here, our bush areas, beaches and cities are free of garbage and crime is rare. In most places in the U.S., forest fires from arson is almost unheard of. Our playgrounds aren't being closed due to everyone suing each other, and doctors in all areas of speciality are still on the job (oh, but isn't the U.S. supposed to be the most litigatious society in the world? Sorry Australia, you just took that honour.)

In the Midwest, we have few laws but everyone obeys them. Over here, you have squillions of laws and no one obeys them. What a system.

Even our major banks are still friendly, accessible and charge reasonable rates. But here, like with most things, the rich fat cats in banking and other industries are given free rein to do whatever they want. I guess the "fair go for all" went down the Aussie toilet years ago. I got a Telstra telephone bill the other day for $250 - something like that would cause anarchy where I'm from in the U.S. But not here.

And lastly, Americans may be more ignorant of the outer world but they are infinitely friendly and would give someone the shirt off their back in a time of need. They also do not tend to bury their heads in the sand when issues need addressing. I know what country I'd rather live in.

It seems Karen's advice for the U.S. "to clean up it's own backyard' would equally apply, if not more so, to Australia. Maybe you could some visit the Midwest, U.S.A sometime Karen and get some ideas on how to do this.

Just talked to a mate of mine who lives and works in Oz. He tells me the denizens are notoriously thin-skinned. Our foul mouthed oik in this chat does not seem to be convincing us otherwise.

Shanna what do you expect from a nation that prides itself on being descended from convicts?

A true work of genius Mr Dodge. I bow down before your greatness. You get justly whacked for saying something stupid and that confirms your assertion? I think it confirms that you say stupid things. You also tell me that swearing a lot is a "sign of being of little intellect." Learn how to spell rhythm Mr Intellect.

Mr. Shaw, I already told you to quit it. Andrew: don't put the pointy stick through the bars of the rabid monkey cage. Guys, I am not running a kindergarten here. Last warning.

Shanna B. - wow. As an Arizona native who lives in St. Paul (which makes me about the only person to move TO Minn FROM Arizona), I'm pretty amazed to see a description of Minnesota as a tax haven. :)

Hey, but does the weather make it worth it?

Is JB pissed about the Australia comments or Midwest comments? If it's the Midwest you're talking about, then you can just go -, uh, oh, whatever.

I like all the Aussies that I've met here; but they've all been filtered through Quantas, so that may skew my sample population. Hell, I like almost 30% of the French I've met - such is the screening power of international travel to off-coast destinations.

I am so embarrassed for my country right now. I can only assume that this wretched creature has devoted a lot more time to waving her syphilitic fanny in the air than fine tuning her political theories.

...and we have cuckoos.

Shanna what do you expect from a nation that prides itself on being descended from convicts?

Bah, you're just jealous cos our beer is colder and better than yours. And Australia may have been settled by convicts, but at least we're not descended from hordes of people invading us from Europe... actually hang on, most of us are. Excuse me while I have my physician attend to the foot I just shot myself in.

It could be worse, you could be partly Quebecouis (of which I am 1/4). While in Quebec City they are very nice and polite, kind and welcoming, as a diaspora they are some of nastiest people you could ever encounter. Especially tribal amoungst their own, its both amusing and annoying to watch. Let's put it this way the French think they are obnoxious and crude.

And there is always Celine Dion...shudder. Why Quebec allowed her into the big world we will never know. Her music in French is actually not that bad, the language seems to lends itself to her overwrought torch-singer style.

Oz beer better than American? Come on James, that really isn't saying much now is it?

Dearest Karen,

Your 10 reasons to be anti-American was so very well thought out and makes perfect sense to all bubbering idiots in the world. I have only a couple of questions to help me understand why you would write such jiberish. Have you attempted to write the top ten reasons to be anti-Cuban, anti-North Korean or anti-Saddam? Actually, if you really did your research, you would probably find it more justifiable to be anti-Virtually Every Other Fucking Country in the World. But nooooo, it is America that is the root of all problems in the world and everyone knows it. This damn Democracy and free enterprise crap has surely turned out to be a failed experiment and if America had not spread it all over the world, we could all be living in death camps in North Korea or Siberia. As I sit here in Florida by the pool in winter, writing on my wireless laptop, my freedoms are slowly but surely being taken from me, one by one. You see, I used to be free to ignore misinformed people like you but your kind is beginning to multiply like an uncontrollable plague, therefore, I must waist my free time blasting your ingnorance.

P.S. I hate all type of rodents. They stink.

In answer to Dylan's question, having yearly temperature and snow fall averages on par with Siberia is a serious downside to life in Minnesota. But, it does tend to keep the yahoos out. Maybe over here in Australia they could think of something to keep the yahoos out. Oops, that would mean only about 2% of the population would remain. Hardly enough bodies to defend the place if the country was taken over. Wait a minute, there aren't enough bodies RIGHT NOW to defend the country should it be taken over. Oh, that's right, the U.S. will come to the rescue like it always does. No worries, throw me a stubby and turn on the footy...

Yes, here we go again, the americans won the war all by themselves. And of course they are defending the entire world against Evil Itself.
Go home Shanna, you're obviously homesick. And toss me a beer on the way out.

I apologise for being rude Andrea.
BTW I like Americans. Karen represents the stupid left that you can find in any country. I can understand you being annoyed by her kind. It happens when you have passion and a sense of honor.

It's funny, Marcus, how whenever I dare to put on the table the myriad of problems and hypocrisies I find in this country I get the same response: "Oh honey, you're just homesick." Or my other personal favourite: "But honey, you're living in the Lucky Country." Excuse me while I vomit. Further supports my theory that Aussies would rather bury their head in the sand – and tell people to go home when they tell them something they don’t like to hear - than actually do something about their own backyard.

If your newspapers and magazines spent just as much space addressing the prevalent and disturbing problems of this country rather than the routine trashing of the Big Bad USA perhaps your criticisms of other countries would be easier to swallow. (And, oh yes, when bagging the U.S. it would be nice if once in a while you got your facts straight and refrained from stereotyping the entire country.)

You just keep on convincing yourselves that you’ve got this little paradise in the Pacific…someday your blinkers are going to cost you, big time. And when you inevitably need our help, I hope the USA has the sense to say “piss off.”

Shanna B. - I have just returned from a visit to Sydney after an absence of nearly 10 years. It has really gone down the tubes and if it is your only exposure to Australia I can see why you have a less than positive image of the place. Get yourself over to Perth sometime and see how Australia can be. We even don't mind Americans.

Hi Richard O. I know we're gettng a bit off subject here, but I'm really curious to know what some of the specific differences are - in your view - between a town like Perth and Sydney. Please, I really want to like this country so give me some reasons to...other than the cute furry marsupials hopping around (oops, pulled a Karen there. Ignore that last remark.)

G'Day Shanna B. The main differences are:
1. Sydney has grown into a huge mess, and its systems are built for maybe 3 million people not 5 million.
2. Perth is clean. It is not covered with grime and Graffiti.
3. Perth has not broken up into areas defined by various cultural backgrounds.
4. Peoples sources of income are not so removed from the source of the country's wealth and therefore are a little more "down to earth" in their approach to life. They know that the only reason Perth does well is because of mining and oil. Whereas the average Sydneysider's knowledge of Oz ends at the Sandstone Curtain (the Blue Mountains)
5. A lot of people over here are immigrants from either the East coast or elsewhere looking for opportunity and are looking to get ahead. They seem to have a positive view on life and are a bit more "can do" in their attitude.
6. We have quokkas (mini roos)