The best time to live in the US

[ryoder 1,382]

That just reminds me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuEN5TjYRCE

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[freethefly 6]

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At least in hell I will have some company.

You'll enjoy Hell. I've been there several times. Very cool place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there. The winters are Hell. Summer is the best time to go to Hell. Plenty of lakes around Hell if you enjoy fishing or swimming as it does get hot as Hell in Hell. The local people are very friendly and want you to have a Hell of a great time, when in Hell. Hell is very family friendly and they do not care if you're Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Atheist, or even Agnostic! Hell is like Heaven on earth! Hell, Michigan, that is. They even have a great sense of humor. You'd have to , if you lived in Hell. http://www.hell2u.com/
It really is a cool town to visit.

"...And once you're gone, you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black."
Neil Young

[aphid 0]

Wendy,

At the risk of turning this amusing repartee serious, I’d like to add my thoughts. And remember, this is just my opinion and no offense is intended.

I wish the poll had a break at 2002. So many things about the USA have changed since then, I’m at a loss to enumerate them.

Disclaimer: I do not live in the USA. Nor do I work in the USA. I have been married to and financially supported an American spouse for the past 34 years. She (we) live in Canada. And with the exception of our child, all her relatives still live in the States. As such, I have traveled extensively throughout your fine nation for familial obligations, from FL to WA, CA to VT and many points between. I have also skydived in at least 18 of your states recreationally. For 16 years in a row, I spent many consecutive winter months annually team-training at Skydive AZ, Elsinore and Perris. When I checked last, I have traveled throughout your fair country 37 times in the last 12 years. On average, the last 10 years, I was in your country at least 5 months of the 12 annually. Until 18 months ago. But that’s an entirely different story that is currently sitting in front of a Federal District Court justice as he ponders my ability to sue your Customs and Immigration Department.

Since 2001, what I’ve noticed from the outside-looking-in is an ever-increasing schism in your country.

I see such vitriol expressed in this forum and others towards those who just simply have opposing political or religious affiliations.

I have been the recipient of email “jokes” from American friends denigrating your duly elected President simply because of the colour of his skin.

I have watched as some politicians have used their position to foment discord among the national constituency.

I have watched various liberties cast aside by the Patriot Act in the interest of homeland “security” and a good sound-bite.

I have sat aside (as polite foreigners do) and watched as your media and some politicians publicly vilify some of your remaining international allies and democratic friends to further their own agenda(s).

There are so many more, I often fear for your country.

So I can’t answer the poll regarding the time-line when it was best to live in the USA due to my foreign disqualification. But if the question was, when was it best to visit/vacation the USA… I think I’d choose the 90’s.

John

(Edited to add: Lord knows my country is far from perfect. Sadly, as the quiet sister though, we do tend to follow the path of our American neighbours politically and socially, about 8 years behind)

(Edited a second time to add: In the late 90's our dollar sucked chunks compared to yours. Financially, NOW would be a very good time 'cause our dollar is kicking yours)

[yourmomma 0]

That may be the best response a troll like me has ever received. Again, i will have to agree with Rushmc ...etc(as much as it hurts); your just daft. We agree, but your panties are so bunched you cunt get a joke. I'm afraid your humor gene trickled down the same part of the thigh as the above mentioneds critical thinking.

[Meso 38]

As much as I love a good trolling, this isn't the site for it.

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Personal attacks and hate posts will not be tolerated in any forum. Personal attacks on another user are a great way to earn some time off, as is posting inflammatory material specifically to provoke a negative response from someone (aka trolling)

Oh wait, look at that - you went for a straight personal attack too.

Consider this your first and last warning.

Edited to add: And no I'm not issuing the warning on his original post, the post with the personal attack and admitted pleasures of trolling are now hidden.

[wmw999 2,121]

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Psssst. I think he was being ironic.

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I think you might be right, but why spoil 'Zon's pleasure of getting wound up about trlckle-down theory

But it was a nice troll; it had lazy typos and incomplete sentences, and everything!

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[RonD1120 58]

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Discuss

Wendy P.

My grandpa had the best stories for the first 1/2 of 1900 compared to other relatives for later times. He was an American adventurer and later retired as Cincinnati firefighter.

Progressivism was held in check, bootlegging and making home brew were hobbies, families ate and lived together. As bad as WWII was, it unified the U.S.A. into one mind.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[wmw999 2,121]

That wasn't a bad time if you were white and not in the dust bowl, was it.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[GeorgiaDon 340]

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My grandpa had the best stories for the first 1/2 of 1900 ...
Progressivism was held in check...

It probably was a pretty good time to be be a straight white male. Damn those progressivists, they sure went a screwed up a good thing (for the straight white males).

Don

_____________________________________
Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996)
“Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

[RonD1120 58]

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That wasn't a bad time if you were white and not in the dust bowl, was it.

Wendy P.

I guess so. My roots are rural PA, WV, KY and OH. My grandpa lived in the western U.S. until WWI.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[RonD1120 58]

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My grandpa had the best stories for the first 1/2 of 1900 ...
Progressivism was held in check...

It probably was a pretty good time to be be a straight white male. Damn those progressivists, they sure went a screwed up a good thing (for the straight white males).

Don

I don't know abut that. My grandpa didn't talk about fancy boys. My dad was aware of them though from playing professional baseball and travelling around the country. They would hang out in the hotels.

I guess there were plenty of queers around that time as now. We just didn't have to listen to'um whine so dang much.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[RonD1120 58]

I didn't even consider the racial and sexual orientation aspects of your OP and Poll. As a true believer conservative, those issues do not enter my mind unless a liberal throws them in my face.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[DaVinci 0]

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I'm very confused by the people that picked the 2000 and beyond answer, unless they happen to be the very lucky ones living at the millionaire and beyond level.

Smart investing means I am making more than ever before. I am not a millionaire, but I live beneath my means and that allows me to do pretty much whatever I want.... For example I just dropped over 10K on a new toy.. Paid cash. Just put over 25k in improvements into my house... Paid cash. I make 200-300 jumps a year, both my wife's and my cars are 2006's and paid off.... The only debt I have is on my house, and it was a house that was priced at MUCH less than we could afford.

Through all of this, I was laid off, got a new job, sold my old house, moved 1200 miles for a new job, lived in a condo on the beach, bought a new house... Etc.

Since 2000 I have gone back to school and gotten a degree, made 3k jumps, traveled to the Bahamas a bunch and a bit to Central America, and some to Canada. Bought a second skydiving rig and I am looking to buy a plane or small helicopter. I work mainly from home.

Specific to the time:

I have a computer that fits into my pocket that holds over 1500 songs and lets me surf the internet from just about anywhere in the US.

My car has airbags everywhere anti skid everything and still has 300HP and gets 23 MPG... It is expected to last close to 200k miles.

My portfolio is doing better than before the crash, smart investing means I have twice as much today than I had before the crash.... Based mainly on picked undervalued stocks and buying at a discount during the crash.

I didn't vote, but I can easily see why some people would pick 2000+ as the best time to live. Smart choices can make ANY time great and dumb choices could make any time suck ass.

[DanG 1]

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As a true believer conservative, those issues do not enter my mind unless a liberal throws them in my face.

Yeah, why worry about the rights of people who aren't like you?

Your attitude is why I stopped voting Republican.

- Dan G

[billvon 2,396]

>I guess there were plenty of queers around that time as now. We just didn't have to
>listen to'um whine so dang much.

Yep. And them blacks knew their place.

[GeorgiaDon 340]

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I didn't even consider the racial and sexual orientation aspects of your OP and Poll. As a true believer conservative, those issues do not enter my mind unless a liberal throws them in my face.

So what you're saying is that you are unable to see (or have no interest in seeing) injustices committed against those who are different from you. However, let anyone point to the 1st Amendment and question the use of taxpayer-funded resources to impose Christian beliefs/practices on the public, and then it's "Help! Help! I'm being oppressed!"

Don

_____________________________________
Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996)
“Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

[RonD1120 58]

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I didn't even consider the racial and sexual orientation aspects of your OP and Poll. As a true believer conservative, those issues do not enter my mind unless a liberal throws them in my face.

So what you're saying is that you are unable to see (or have no interest in seeing) injustices committed against those who are different from you. However, let anyone point to the 1st Amendment and question the use of taxpayer-funded resources to impose Christian beliefs/practices on the public, and then it's "Help! Help! I'm being oppressed!"

Don

No, the question had to do with the best time to live in the U.S.A. You, wmw999 and billvon are introducing the social issues. I just heard a lot of stories regarding freedom, adventure and fun. That is all I said. You guys are twisting it.

Oh, and I am not a Republican either.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[GeorgiaDon 340]

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No, the question had to do with the best time to live in the U.S.A. You, wmw999 and billvon are introducing the social issues. I just heard a lot of stories regarding freedom, adventure and fun. That is all I said. You guys are twisting it.

OK, I can see that you're answering the question from the perspective of personal experience, and perhaps it's natural to think of the question just in terms of your personal experience, slightly expanded in your case to include the experience of close relatives who happen to be engaging story tellers. In that case, though, there's no point in including anything other than the 20th/21st centuries in the poll, as none of us (I'm guessing a bit here) has personal experience of living in the pre-1900 US. I'm guessing that Wendy's post was inspired by other recent threads that seem to indicate a longing for the "old days" in some of our conservative fellow SC inmates.

I still think it's interesting that, when presented with a question like this, some people seem to respond as if the question was specifically in reference to themselves, and others seem to go right to the perspective of what was "best" for the largest number of people.

Don

_____________________________________
Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996)
“Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

[wmw999 2,121]

I'll admit I didn't make that clear in the OP. But it's interesting what's come out of it. I had thought about putting the same post into Bonfire to see what it ended up like there .

My thoughts were about the best time to live in general, not my favorite time. After all, most people, though not all, look fondly back on whenever they were children. It's normal.

And if Ron's post had made it clear that he was looking back at his own life, I doubt anyone would have said a thing.

But all that "feminine and racial and homosexuality" stuff reflects people who didn't have nearly as many choices in those days as they do now. People who did have the "other" choices have a smaller percentage of the pot devoted to them now; they have a much larger pond to be fish in.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[DaVinci 0]

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I have been the recipient of email “jokes” from American friends denigrating your duly elected President simply because of the colour of his skin.

And different jokes were made of Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter........

[kelpdiver 2]

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OK, I can see that you're answering the question from the perspective of personal experience, and perhaps it's natural to think of the question just in terms of your personal experience, slightly expanded in your case to include the experience of close relatives who happen to be engaging story tellers. In that case, though, there's no point in including anything other than the 20th/21st centuries in the poll, as none of us (I'm guessing a bit here) has personal experience of living in the pre-1900 US.

You don't have to have lived in the other eras to pick it. I talked with Chuck about the 60s period sans Vietnam. I think it would have been a very exciting time to live in this country, this world. Very dynamic times, with better music than we get now.

I think the logical response to her question was personal. Some insisted on trying to make it into a social question...guess that's in their nature, pissing in the corn flakes.

[RonD1120 58]

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OK, I can see that you're answering the question from the perspective of personal experience, and perhaps it's natural to think of the question just in terms of your personal experience, slightly expanded in your case to include the experience of close relatives who happen to be engaging story tellers. In that case, though, there's no point in including anything other than the 20th/21st centuries in the poll, as none of us (I'm guessing a bit here) has personal experience of living in the pre-1900 US. I'm guessing that Wendy's post was inspired by other recent threads that seem to indicate a longing for the "old days" in some of our conservative fellow SC inmates.

I still think it's interesting that, when presented with a question like this, some people seem to respond as if the question was specifically in reference to themselves, and others seem to go right to the perspective of what was "best" for the largest number of people.

Don

That is my point. Well stated analysis there. Thank you.

Look for the shiny things of God revealed by the Holy Spirit. They only last for an instant but it is a Holy Instant. Let your soul absorb them.

[billvon 2,396]

>And different jokes were made of Bush . . .

Of course. But most people see a joke calling someone a stupid "decider" differently than a joke calling someone a stupid nigger.

[aphid 0]

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I have been the recipient of email “jokes” from American friends denigrating your duly elected President simply because of the colour of his skin.

And different jokes were made of Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter........

Absolutely. But finding room for political jokes about behaviour, education, intelligence, policies etc, is a far cry from skin colour. That's the one type of commentary I personally find offensive. Again. It's just my opinion.

[DaVinci 0]

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>And different jokes were made of Bush . . .

Of course. But most people see a joke calling someone a stupid "decider" differently than a joke calling someone a stupid nigger.

And photo shopping a picture of Bush eating a kitten would be?

Telling a joke about Bush being from TX would be?