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Uriel-

Listed below are comments made by Uriel- between Sunday, 10th August 2008 and Wednesday, 5th November 2008.

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Morphing America? 10:33pm on 05 Nov 2008 "The nationalization of healthcare alone will cost $250bn and It's just not going to happen in a recession. The honeymoon will last 6 months."

I am amused. Really? Only $250 billion? Our sitting president just committed $700 billion to shore up some banks and their debts, which are really nothing more than numbers on pieces of paper. While in a recession. With two expensive wars going.

Surely flesh and blood humans and their continued health are worth, um, a third of that....
Election 2008 - Live 04:21am on 05 Nov 2008 "One of my American friends in Wisconsin just texted me to say she had voted for Nader. Do you think this going to be a big night for the third party candidates, or will they fade into obscurity once more?"

Gareth Giles,
Guildford

Well, Gareth, because most states have a winner-take-all policy in regards to their electoral votes (I think only two apportion them out proportionately), a lot of voters who know that their state is overwhelmingly bound for one candidate or the other will take the opportunity to vote for a minor party candidate that they really sympathize with. Some call this voting your conscience, and some call it throwing your vote away. If you are in a state with a close race, it's best not to do this, but in a state with a forgone conclusion, it doesn't matter much -- to the major party candidates or to the outcome of the race, that is. But minor parties do like to rack up the votes, as it allows them to show that they have SOME presence on the political scene. Usually they fare better at the local or state level than the national level, though.

In this particular race, I don't think there will be any third-party candidate that really stands out, but in some races it has been enough to split the vote and shift the balance of power between the two major parties, as Ross Perot and Ralph Nader once did. That's why I think minor parties can be a valuable barometer of public opinion.
No wiggle room 05:36am on 01 Nov 2008 For rockSimon1, who commented:

"As a Brit, the other thing I find fascinating is the use of the term "middle class" in the US which seems to be used as a term for the ordinary person in the street. In the UK middle class refers to the likes of accountants, senior managers and even bankers. I guess this is because in the UK we have an upper class which is basically the aristocracy which the US does not have.

So who are the working class in the US or does noone want to be classified as belonging to this group? And if the US is looking for an upper class they can have our aristocracy and in particular the Royals."

Americans tend to break our classes down into rich, middle class, and poor. All classes usually have to work, so the term "working class" usually sounds odd to us, and we don't automatically connect it to "poor" unless we are familiar with how you use it.

The average American usually IS middle class, or at least self-identifies as middle class. Our classes are generally based on income alone, and you may spend time in all of them in your lifetime, depending on where your financial circumstances take you -- a little different than the British class system, where behavior and attitude seem to factor in more than finances. So you just have to be above the poverty line to fall into the broad category of "middle class". The upper boundary with "rich" is a little more nebulous, but you probably hit it after 6 figures.

Few Americans like to admit to being poor, as lack of success is stigmatized as being your own fault for not working hard enough (a cultural thing). Being rich also has its stigmas, oddly enough. So most people actually prefer a middle class identity -- it's neither shameful or pretentious.

"The other thing I find really interesting is that the word "maverick" has positive conatations while in the UK it refers to someone who is totally unpredictatable, unreliable and flakey. Noone would ever get elected to power who proclaimed themself a maverick in the UK."

"Maverick" really has few negative connotations in the US. We like our iconoclasts, and people who are willing to blaze new trails or go off on their own tend to get our admiration ... although we like to wait and see how they fare before following after them. I think we like to reward people who are willing to take chances more than other cultures. Of course, our history is also littered with spectacular failures, but you have to give them credit for trying!
Last-minute changes 04:41am on 30 Oct 2008 OldSouth wrote: "If, as is alleged, Obama was born in Kenya, he cannot serve, even if elected."

Why not? Article 2 of the Constitution says you must be a natural-born American to serve as president. It doesn't say you have to actually be born IN America. Being born on US soil is an easy way to automatically be an American citizen, but it isn't the only way. Plenty of Americans are born overseas for one reason or another, and yet are "natural-born" citizens from birth -- I'm one. Born in Germany to American parents -- thus I was automatically an American citizen. John McCain is one, too. He wasn't born in the US, either, but in the Panama Canal Zone!

Let me quote what's on the back of my Department of State-issued Report of Birth Abroad of a Citizen of the United States of America --Section 301(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act --

"The following shall be nationals and citizens of the United States at birth:

(7) a person born outside the geographical limits of the United States and its outlying possessions of parents one of whom is an alien, and the other a citizen of the United States...."

Since Obama's mother was an American, it wouldn't matter what his father was or where she decided to go into labor-- she would still have been able to confer her citizenship on him, just as my parents conferred theirs on me. The only way she would not have been able to is if she herself had not met the 10-year US residency requirement prior to giving birth to him -- and she most certainly did.
Colin Powell's America 05:31am on 21 Oct 2008 Ya know, as a Democrat, I have to say that I've always respected Colin Powell as a thoughtful man who really understood the full gravity of what was going on. I respect him now for saying what I was always surprised no one else had the guts to say: And what's wrong with being a Muslim?

I know John McCain is desperate to win, and is grasping at any straw to salvage what is probably his last chance to have a shot at the presidency, which he has wanted for so long, and he has stooped to accepting and even encouraging the kind of hatefulness certain low types of people are willing to dish out. Sadly, I had hoped he would be able to turn his party around and swing them back from the crazy fringe, because I don't think he was ever a part of it in real life, but in his campaign persona he has embraced it instead. I say sad because there are a couple of truths to be uncovered in that hatred: A) they use the term "muslim" because n***** is so gosh-darn impolite these days, B) these 'supporters' are not his -- they are Winston Chuchill's third kind of friend -- the enemy of your enemy -- and not loyal to him at all (and that has to hurt), and C) this ugly, public display of bigotry and petty viciousness will probably taint the Republican party long after we have forgotten the names McCain and Obama.
Fast food nation 04:32am on 13 Oct 2008 It's linguica and chourico, TinyRI. (The final c's both have the little squiggles under them that make them into S-sounds. And chourico is pronounced as you spell it -- without the final O.) Being of Portuguese descent myself, I grew up on them. Didn't like 'em much, though. Don't tell my family, though -- I'd be out of the will!

I think the key to a good homemade burger is to mix the salt, pepper, and whatever other spices you like into the meat with your fingers, and then make a ball and flatten it out. So much more flavorful! My mom makes a killer burger with hoisin sauce in it, topped with bleu cheese. Mmmmmmm!
Run for your life 08:16am on 19 Sep 2008 "You did not say what tribe Kaitlyn was."

Aren't Tewa, Tiwa, and Towa speakers all Pueblo? Or did you want something more specific?
Annie, get your gun 7:47pm on 15 Sep 2008 I live out west, too, in New Mexico, and guns are a way of life just as these women describe. I don't see why guns and gun control can't exist -- gun control just means all good things in moderation and reasonably regulated, not banned entirely. I grew up in a Democrat household and am one myself, but my dad was a hunter, my grandfather taught me to shoot as a girl of 12, and I have also gone out into the desert to plug away at bottles with a .45. It's lots of fun. It's also a big responsibility, as they certainly are deadly weapons and you can't be an idiot around them. I don't own any myself, but I would certainly always want to have that option. The right to keep and bear arms is #2 in the Bill of Rights, so it certainly wasn't an afterthought, and is here to stay. You just need to make sure that right is exercised properly and not abused. I have no problem voting for a candidate who says that! Guns are no litmus test for weeding out the Republicans from the Democrats, as some people seem to believe -- people of both stripes own them, and I think we all see the pros and the cons about them.
Cheese and ale 8:34pm on 10 Aug 2008 ''An easy way to reduce plastic medical waste is for everyone to wash their hands for a few minutes with soap. The less infected people we have, the less people are in the medical system where gloves are needed to protect patients and staff."

No really true -- anything sterile will be packaged in paper or plastic or a combination of both, and gloves are indispensible as a means of controlling infection -- handwashing is always necessary, too, but is no substitute for an actual barrier. The medical field is just inherently wasteful due to the need to avoid cross-contamination -- there is very little anyone can do about it!

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