What do you think is the most pressing American issue right now?

[GabrielsThoughts]

Unfortunately Americans have gotten the reputation of being ignorant. Apparently people aren't even taught about the neighboring counties like Canada and Mexico.

True, I'm pretty much ignorant of anything that happens outside of Nevada [or more specifically southern Nevada], all I know about Canadians, Californians, and states housing cities named Portland is the people who live there are crazy.

I know what Hollywood wants me to think,  and I know what  the newspapers, magazines, and broadcast news wants me to think, and in all honesty There isn't much difference. All the terrorists from 9/11 except one were from Saudi Arabia, but we [or rather Bush, and I use the term we because as our leader he represents the United States as whole] chose to attack Iraq... so that we would be strategically located next to Iran, unfortunately we didn't do it fast enough. The Iraqies aren't taking up for themselves and our soldiers are paying the price.

[Aridas]

Whatever happened to the time exams used to be the majority of our marks so we couldn't just do one-shot tests and still pass

[Reese Tora]

I think that, in the long run, the most pressing matter in America is education.  The system has lots of flaws, and it isn't even being maintained at what would be an acceptable level if the flaws were gone.

In the short run, the major problem with America is the politicians.  They aren't worried, the majority of them, about guiding the country or giving people what they need; they're worried about getting in to and staying in office.  They pass personal legislation to get what they want in thier own world view, or popular elgislation because they think that it will help reelection, or to boost thier party.  Most of the nations problems stem from this chaotic, self serving mass.

What America needs, short term, is for someone to come to office who wants to give America what it needs, not what it wants.

[King Of Hearts]

I find it interesting that a lot of people chose education...

I'd say its about right. My old teacher working in the US whom I still correspond with used to tell me that her best students in the US were the same level as the class clowns back here in the Philippines.

We discussed about it and she belives its that because Education is compulsary so the students really dont really see the knowledge they learn as a privellege.

of course this is true in any country... when I was doing volunteer work teaching reading and writing to indigenous peoples, I was surprised on how intent they were to learn, even the adults as opposed to people in the cities.

[Jim Halisstrad]

Screw Education.
Screw Gay marriage.
Screw Immigration
Screw Julian Tavarez


The most pressing issue that is facing the American people today is a lack of free Blow-Jobs.
Shame on you America.

The terrorists have won because of you.

[King Of Hearts]

The most pressing issue that is facing the American people today is a lack of free Blow-Jobs.
Shame on you America.

The terrorists have won because of you.

http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070519/NEWS10/705190342/1016/NEWS

You just arent looking hard enough!

[Jim Halisstrad]

....


MOM?!

[Cogidubnus]

The most pressing issue in america...

Where to start, really. The government is always easy to snipe.

Our ruling body is made up of one party that believes that it is the voice of God on earth, chosen by divine will that can do no wrong, and the other believes itself to be the infallible leaders of truth, justice, fairness, and equality, staunch defenders of American freedoms, and heroes in their own time. Neither admit fault to anything, and believe the other to by wrong on principle.
I of course speak in generalization, and but neither do I think I exaggerate, or if I do, do no great degree. There are people with minds on both ends, but to a large degree both sides are unwilling to compromise about anything. Instead of loyalty to higher office, they are loyal to the party - I am sure that some have more or less choice than others, and yet, American government is split into two giants who won't, or who can't, blink or compromise. We can't get shit done without it being lauded by one side and denounced by the other.
If we could at least stop letting petty, piddling and paltry issues become mountains, or at least realize that before donkeys and elephants we live in the same damn country, we might find most people really do have reasons for the way they think, and aren't demons who want to kill babies or brainwash young children.

In conclusion, vote libertarian. Or green. Or move to Canada. Or something.

I hear New Zealand is nice this time of year.

[superluser]

Seriously, do you feel the need to be a pompous ass every time you post?

Was I?  I try to be enlightening every time I post.

I always see the internet as a vehicle for advancing the general level of knowledge of humanity, and I try to move towards that goal.

I'm sorry if I come off as a pompous ass.  I'm working on it.

PS.  Enlightenment:

The most pressing issue that is facing the American people today is a lack of free Blow-Jobs.

There's actually a candidate for Belgian senate (Tania Derveaux) who is touring the world offering 40,000 free blow jobs as part of her campaign.

[RJ]

I was watching Survivor: Fiji today and one of the guys didn't know what 'askew' meant. He didn't know 'orthogonal' either.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070519/NEWS10/705190342/1016/NEWS

You just arent looking hard enough!

If I was looking at her, I'd move on and keep looking. Eurgh. Looking at that, I'd say she's assaulting 13yo boys because nobody with the choice would touch her with a barge pole...

I hear New Zealand is nice this time of year.

New Zealand is nice any time of year. The south Island is scenic, the North Island is pretty, as long as you avoid going north of the Bombay Hills you can avoid most of the unpleasant people completely...

There's actually a candidate for Belgian senate (Tania Derveaux) who is touring the world offering 40,000 free blow jobs as part of her campaign.

... where does one sign up? :-] And does she swallow or spit?

[RJ]

I hear New Zealand is nice this time of year.

New Zealand is nice any time of year. The south Island is scenic, the North Island is pretty, as long as you avoid going north of the Bombay Hills you can avoid most of the unpleasant people completely...

And they named a hill with a garbage dump on top of it after John Cleese! 

[bill]

Screw Tim Wakefield too.

[superluser]

... where does one sign up? :-] And does she swallow or spit?

http://www.nee-antwerpen.be/index-eng.htm (NSFW, obviously)

It says that you have to bring your own condoms, so I'm assuming neither swallow nor spit.

[Knight]

I enjoyed the dee dee dee video, though I think Carlos Mencia may need to change his underpants.

One of the things I think screwing this country up in a big way are "those people" that are consistently prone to that line of thinking that causes them to CONSTANTLY make HUGE deals out of what common sense would dictate as no big deal. (I'm as guilty of this at times as others - see Atheism rants)  In short I suppose you could say habitually forceful people.

For example, the type of person that goes, "You think Clinton's personal life doesn't have anything to do with his job?  OH YES IT DOES!  RANT RANT RANT."

"You don't think gays are a problem in America?  OH YES THEY ARE!  RANT RANT RANT!"

"My kid is NOT dumb!  This test score SAYS HE'S DUMB!  DO YOU KNOW HOW POOR WE ARE!?  CHANGE THE TESTS SO THEY'RE EASIER!  RANT RANT RANT!"  (You see the error in thinking in that one that lead to the dangerous proposition?)

It's hard to explain that "certain quality" that I see so much in so many people these days, but I hope you can at least glimpse what I'm talking about.  It's forcefullness with a dose of militaristic and close minded dogma.  Emotional reasoning.  Lack of critical thinking.  Either/or thinking.  It's fine when it's your own viewpoint, and helps you through life, and it's great to be social with it to people who are open minded about it and think like you do, if it fosters healthy and harmless personal and social growth.  But when you start forcing it on other people, and people aren't wary enough or courageous enough to say "You're making a big deal out of nothing, and are going to screw all the important stuff over because of it.  And I don't like that.", we become a type of country that you see today.  Most would rather just agree with them than listen to more of it even if they don't believe it.  Others would rather exile them, attack them mercilessly (which makes them martyr themselves), or put them away.  We need to ignore this kind of emotional pressure, yet encourage the ones spewing it to sit down and really truly think it through.  Let them know that YES, they are the minority, and YES, that does matter some.  We certainly can't foster the few leading the masses.

I suspect a lot of it has to do with what we allow on television and other media.  Now, I know this is controversial, but if we are a television addicted nation, and put nothing but crap and violence and forcefullness on television, it's going to have some effect on those that don't already have an immunity to it, and maybe those that do.  I'm not talking DOOM caused Virginia Tech line of thinking, I'm talking Jerry Springer caused a new pool of Jerry Springer guests line of thinking.  It's why themes like the ones embraced by Carlos Mencia do gain a cult following, yet Jerry Springer is a multi million dollar enterprise.  Maybe in fact, we could gain more insight not from what we allow on televison, but observing what becomes POPULAR and WHY.

/end ramble
/DEE DEE DEE

[Ryudo Lee]

While he does take the whole dee dee dee thing to an extreme of sorts, the message is pretty clear.  We have a problem where people are doing their best (or worst, depending on your point of view) to make sure that no one falls behind, whether or not they're actually doing anything.  And that hurts more people than it helps.  They just want to get that piece of paper with the word "diploma" written on it into the hands of kids as quickly as possible and shove them out to the real world.

And you are right about the whole television thing.  In fact, media as a whole is probably one of the biggest problems with kids.  That's right, elderly rantings have some merit (the problem with kids these days is television, video games, and the tuba).  Massive amounts of entertainment is at your fingertips and it's much easier to flip on the tv than it is to, y'know, do homework.  Some of the problem can actually be attributed to this kind of laziness.

Some of it can also be attributed to parental inattentiveness.  I don't know how many times I've said on many related topics that parents need to be involved with their kids' lives.  Unfortunately it gets difficult when the majority of families have both parents working nine to five.  The problem is everywhere, really.

[Knight]

I don't think it's laziness.  I really honestly think attributing "lazy" to it may cause a backlash that keeps it in place.  For instance, watching TV and reading are both nonphysical activities.  I think the problem is that people deem TV more enjoyable than reading.  Why is this?  It's certainly not a fact that TV is more enjoyable than reading a book.  It's a matter of personal preference.  But it's almost certainly provable (if it hasn't been proven) that reading encourages more thinking and fosters more useful skills than watching the boob tube.  But why aren't more people keen on reading a book?  There's a theory that if you read to your kids when they are very young, and buy them whatever books they want as they grow with it, they're more likely to enjoy reading.  Why is it then, that we see so many "save the whales" and "vote for Bush!" type group efforts than we do "READ TO YOUR KIDS ASSHOLE!".  It's certainly more important than picking one party or another or animal rights I think, though no doubt PETA would massacre me for saying so.  Again with the emotional and forceful reasoning.

[GabrielsThoughts]

I read in a newspaper just three weeks ago that more than 54% of Americans are  employed by a government agency including local, state, or nationwide, and the number is expected to be 60% by 2011.

[Blazehawk]

But why aren't more people keen on reading a book?  There's a theory that if you read to your kids when they are very young, and buy them whatever books they want as they grow with it, they're more likely to enjoy reading.  Why is it then, that we see so many "save the whales" and "vote for Bush!" type group efforts than we do "READ TO YOUR KIDS ASSHOLE!".  It's certainly more important than picking one party or another or animal rights I think, though no doubt PETA would massacre me for saying so.  Again with the emotional and forceful reasoning.

Just wanted to express my opinion on the love of reading issue...

I just don't understand why more effort, time, and money isn't put into literacy programs, especially where I come from...it's really depressing when you discover that, even though you live in a county with a university, good public libraries, and all that stuff, about 40% of the adult residents can barely read at a 5th grade level. I suspect it is worse in the rural area I am originally from, which have such poor scores on state tests and the like in reading comprehension, etc., that the vast majority of high school graduates have to take remedial english courses, if not remedial everything.  I was one of the lucky ones because my parents read to me, I guess. 

Part of me still wants to be a english teacher, to help the kids back home.

[Knight]

That's a hard figure to believe, but I can't say it would surprise me.  I wonder how they came up with that.  Is that among only Americans currently employed, or all Americans?  By employed, what exactly do they mean?  Etc.

Also, thinking upon my last post, I think another huge problem with America is bad parenting.

[GabrielsThoughts]

when I went to college I was forced to take a remedial English class based on a free writing essay, we were told we couldn't use  spell check, or edit our work, and we had less than 20 minutes. While in the remedial English class I learned nothing I hadn't learned before, and much more effectively, and the  English 101, and 102  instructors weren't nearly as difficult.  Also, I've met High School students who were in pre-calculus, placed into classes for beginning and intermediate algebra. In all Honesty, I don't think we' are that bad, I believe it's a scam so that the college can get extra money or discourage students who aren't serious.

[Ryudo Lee]

Granted there are some very smart kids out there.  Back in high school I dated a girl who had half of all of her classes as honors classes.  There's no question that there are very smart kids out there who will go on to great things, but there are a lot of kids out there who aren't going to be as successful, and a lot who are just going to fail completely.  And Richter is right, bad parenting is a huge problem.  Not just for education, but for just about everything else that kids experience.

[superluser]

For example, the type of person that goes, "You think Clinton's personal life doesn't have anything to do with his job?  OH YES IT DOES!  RANT RANT RANT."

I think Winston Churchill described this best when he said, ``A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.''

If you're finding these people online, I find that the internet actually discourages agreement, which is seen as wasted bandwidth, and you'll get mocked for agreeing too much.

They just want to get that piece of paper with the word "diploma" written on it into the hands of kids as quickly as possible and shove them out to the real world.

Indeed.  They don't even want to have the education associated with that degree--just the increased salary that might allow them to actually make enough money to survive.

But it's almost certainly provable (if it hasn't been proven) that reading encourages more thinking and fosters more useful skills than watching the boob tube.

I had a teacher that tried to drill into us that this is in fact not true.  It all depends on what you're reading and what you're watching.  Does the latest book with Fabio on the cover really encourage more thinking and foster more useful skills than a Ken Burns documentary (or even an episode of Law and Order)?

Of course, a passable book is usually far better than great TV, but just because something's written down doesn't mean that it's quality.

[Knight]

Oh, I didn't say it's necessarily quality, just that it possibly encourages thinking a bit more and stimulates more brain activity.  I'm sure if pressed, I could find some credible research to back up that argument, but I could be wrong.

Unfortunately Americans have gotten the reputation of being ignorant. Apparently people aren't even taught about the neighboring counties like Canada and Mexico.

Ah, I just saw this.  While working at a call center one time, I had a male customer in about his thirties, from NC I believe, when referring to his long distance girlfriend supposedly in Canada say, "That's like a whole 'nother country, isn't it?"   He was serious. 

[Netami]

I don't know what kind of retarded, backwards-ass schools all of the "supposed" people are going to, but I have yet to meet someone on the internet that doesn't know the difference between the USA and Canada. Or the USA and Cuba. Or the USA and Bali. The internet isn't for nerds anymore, either, there are perfectly normal people using it nowadays... The idea that americans are uneducated is a sad stereotype that people from other countries like to make jokes about, in my opinion. Maybe not. Maybe I was just lucky to hit the school districts that I hit and got the education that I got.

So yeah, you go fix your education issues. I'll be busy learning spanish. Porrrrr queeeee?!

[GabrielsThoughts]

do you mean porque as in because?

[Knight]

Netami:

Nothing to see here people, move along!