Its like the frat mentality has invaded the upper echelons of US govt.

Fuck efficiency, morals, ethics, and sound economic strategy, and fuck smart people...lets run this country by drinking as much booze as possible, and having vehicles that guzzle down 3 gallons a mile that sound like they have throat cancer.

The american way!

>> ^iloseatlife:
It's trendy right now to "dislike" America and Religion. At one time maybe it was independent thought,

Oh, really, we're just doing it to be trendy?

Ok, here are some reasons:

USA: I think what most of us can agree on is that we don't dislike the USA as such, just what the current government is doing, and the voting majority who brought the same moron back into power a second time. With some of the populous actually getting behind bullcrap like 'Freedom Fries' when the French refused to join in on the lie of a war that was/is Iraq. With the ridiculous 'you're either with us or you're against us' attitude towards your own populous by many... Your insane love of humoungous gas guzzling SUVs that has leached over to other countries (sadly Austrlaia is afflicted with this too), the general impression that you lot seem to think that the USA is the be all and end all of what a country should be. That is spends such an ungodly amount of money on war when just a fraction of that being spent on your failing education system would create a new generation of elightened kids who could help steer the US of A back on course.

These things and more are what annoys a lot of us about the US, and the fact that it is the largest, and the strongest country in the world and does these things affects ALL of us.

Religion: Oh this so isn't badnwagon jumping on the anti religion crowd, this is those of us who don't believe in religion getting to a point of deciding enough is enough and having to speak up. When religion starts forcing its way into politics, when schools start having their SCIENCE classes changed to teach 'INTELLIGENT DESIGN'... COME ON, how can we not get angry, you are creating children who think it's ok to believe in something jut because a book colaboratively written by a bunch of guys a long time ago and then altered inumerable times thereafter says so.

We have more than enough reason to be really shitty at religion and the US at present.

BUT.

I know a number of people in the states personally, and they're great people who also hate the direction the country is headed, I know there are millions more of the same mindset. If you can just get the country to start going in the right direction there is still hope and the US can become a beacon once again, rather than a demonstration of how NOT to do things.

And religion... in the right context can be great, when you don't try and force said beliefs on others, don't try to teach 'gospel' in our classrooms as scientific fact, don't persecute people because they don't believe in what you do... then it's fine. Live by those 10 commandments (actually live by them, especially 'do unto others') and we'd all be happier I think.

Don't try and belittle people who have valid concerns by trying to suggest we're just 'bandwagon' jumpers, that's just small minded and cheap.

Of course, we know this video is all about the cheap shots... doesn't mean we don't find it funny... Find me a similar one on Australia, and I'll upvote that too... we have a sense of humour about our country, we don't get all antsy at the smallest whiff on 'non patriotic' behavior.

edit: Actually, The Simpsons take on Australia I remember I got a bit shitty about this way back when, took it to heart a bit. But these days I find it piss funny. You have to know with these things that people don't think they're REAL, they know it's all a JOKE... Lighten up.

I'd jump in my gas guzzling SUV and drive to her house for a private dance.....wearing earplugs.

HAHA! How much you want to bet that guy has a confederate flag bumper sticker on his gas guzzling SUV?

choggie, I don't see hope in any of your rants.

These are the best of times because we're on a gas guzzling induced high. The one-two punch of peak oil and climate change are about to knock our socks off, but I'm not one of those Luddite-anarchists who thinks we should give up the ghost and go back to horse-and-buggy times.

"If he had never committed the crime, we would have never sent our gas-guzzling helicopters out to report it!"

I love our justice system.

I don't care if you grew up with this from day one, at one point in you're life you have to realize that you're living like an idiot.

I know. When will we in the western world realize that growing up to become consumer slaves, with our gas guzzling automobiles and endless appetites for material goods, will result in our eventual destruction. Idiots, we are.

Just a reminder to everyone. Before Bus took office in 2000 gas prices were around $1.35 in my area (upstate NY). Today they are around $3.10. American's are used to their gas guzzling vehicles and governments and industry have not developed the public transportation system due to low gas prices. We are not ready for gas price increase of more than double in 7 years. It's a major political problem. I also think that supply and demand only attributes to a small portion of the price increase.

Screw you FOX for not reporting on the obvious facts. As Jon Stewart once said, "you are hurting America". He said that in reference to CNN but it applies to FOX even more.

We should keep in mind that the end of fossil fuels doesn't necessarily mean the end of "unsustainable lifestyles" as long as we are willing to exploit our new understanding of the forces that bind atomic nuclei rather than those that bind atoms to eachother. Fission and ultimately fusion power hold literally limitless potential as an energy source. You could power the ENTIRE energy needs of your current gas guzzling, hot shower taking, fast food loving, big house living lifestyle with the fusion power derived from a bathtub full of water and a pinch of lithium no larger than that found in a cell phone battery FOR THE NEXT THIRTY YEARS OF YOUR LIFE. We are NOT at the inevitable end of a comfortable way of life because of conventional energy source shortages/climate change. Rather, we are merely at a bottleneck, a time in history where we must realize that our current sources of energy must be totally abandoned and new larger sources (atomic energy) must be invested in. The situation is precisely analogous to previous energy bottlenecks such as when entire forests were leveled to gather wood for fuel before fossil fuels were discovered.

'slapping a yellow ribbon on the back of your gas-guzzling SUV during a war for oil makes you look like an asshole' - from a great bumper sticker
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v413/gimygirl/Avatars/bumpersticker.jpg)