We just watch what they do, then do the opposite.

[Scuba]

[SDjack]

1. The contrarian approach is successful because USA is controlled by "morans". nt

[rhett o rick]

6. The country is controlled by oligarchs that have dozen of think tanks.

We are right where those that control the USofA want us. The morans are the tools they use to fake legitimacy.

[truebluegreen]

2. But we're exceptional

doncha know.

[MAD Dave]

3. Canada is in the same boat as the US.

Teachers are glorified babysitters, mandatory minimum sentences are overcrowding our prisons and we bailed out GM and Dodge.

Our housing bubble has not entirely burst yet so no telling how that is oing to go. But it is sufficient to say that Prime Minister Harper will pad his pockets and those of his friends and let the middle class take the brunt of the fiscal hit. Also, we are nowhere close to eliminating our budget deficit so no telling how bad it outs get.

Thank God for our nationalized healthcare system, but PM Harperbwants that gone too.

[stultusporcos]

10. Thats because you elected a moron just like we did multiple times.

America has a proud history of electing morons and idiots who well just fuck things up and the lemmings think the are a great president.

[HiPointDem]

13. nothing to do with morans; more to do with big money & big power operating behind the scenes.

they don't want the same things you do.

and they're very smart.

[stultusporcos]

25. Sure thing Sparky Dubya was a frigging Einstein

The corporations know they just have to find a halfwit to sell their nonsense to the morons who are stupid enough to fall for it.

To those who do not really pay attention they look smart and reasonable to those who do pay attention they are toadies of the corporation. Some are smart and calculating, most just do what they are told by their masters. As long as they vote the right way and don't say to many stupid things they are set for life.

[tavalon]

27. Yep, it's a shell game

We don't really have the choices we think we do.

[gateley]

40. "...they don't want the same things you do."

[tavalon]

26. I know

I've wanted to become a Canadian for nearly two decades but I look now and there's much that reminds me of my own country, minus the imperialism. And that's no longer enough. Besides, even though my profession is highly valued in Canada, my age isn't so my dream is better off fading away.

[longship]

4. As one from Scandinavian descent...

...this warms my black heart. My father's ancestors helped found Iceland. My mother's ancestors were Suomalainen (Finns, to Americans -- what Americans call Finland, Suomalainens call Suomi).

By the way, you pronounce the long 'u' in sauna. It's not "sawna" but "SAH-oo-na".

Hyvää päivää

[pangaia]

9. Right on. :>)

[WCGreen]

11. Yank yooo bery mouch

[longship]

12. I can't get my car out of the garatts.

Cuz I lost my garattski.

Saatana perkele!

[HiPointDem]

14. in finland it's sa-oo-na. not in the US. loan words are almost nowhere pronounced exactly

as they are in the land they were borrowed from.

i'm sure the finns have english loanwords they pronounce 'wrong' as well. big deal.

[longship]

16. Fine.

My mother was a Suomalainen. In my, and my relative's, households we pronounced it like in Suomi.

BTW, that's the name of the country, not Finland.

[HiPointDem]

17. as i said, finnish has borrowed lots of words from other languages, and the finns pronounce them

all 'wrong'.

It's "hot dog," not "hodari".

silly finns.

[Thor_MN]

18. Some people in the US, who have no clue, pronounce it SAWnah

and others pronounce it correctly.

[HiPointDem]

20. some people make a big deal out of nothing. language isn't a fixed thing. the finns have borrowed

lots of words, they pronounce them all wrong.

it's "flicka" not "likka".

it's 'headache,' not 'hedari'.

silly finns.

i'm quite sure you have no clue about the hundreds of loan words you personally pronounce 'wrong'.

[Thor_MN]

36. What's with the personal insult?

I grew up in an area with many Finnish immigrants. I learned to correctly pronounce sauna in one. If one chooses to mispronounce it out of ignorance, I don't care that much.

I'm not sure why you make such a big deal of defending lack of knowledge, but have a nice day anyway.

[HiPointDem]

37. you lived in an area with finnish immigrants. that's why they pronounce it in the finnish way.

you chose to call anyone who doesn't pronounce 'sauna' in the finnish way 'ignorant'. what's the point of the personal insult? there are 100s of loan words not pronounced in the original way, & i'm sure you pronounce most of them 'wrong' too.

i think you understood my point, but have a nice day.

[Thor_MN]

41. I think I understand that you have some sort of bee up your bonnet

but I don't get why you feel so strongly about the way a word is said. Do you just like to randomly pick fights with people? Does it give your life some sort of validation? I called people ignorant (there are many in the world), you choose to call me personally ignorant.

The pronunciation of sauna, by anyone whose experience includes a real Scandinavian sauna is not SAWnah. Those that have never seen anything other than a few minutes in a hot room in a hotel say SAWnah. SAWnah is not THE American pronunciation of a Finnish, just of those who don't know better.

Have a better day than you have been having, find some one else to argue with.

[HiPointDem]

43. the american pronunciation is the pronunciation of most americans. which is 'sawna'. pronouncing

a word the way most of the people around you pronounce it isn't 'ignorant,' that's what language is.

sorry you don't/can't/won't get it, & would rather feel superior because you pronounce it like finns do.

[Thor_MN]

44. Who says that most americans prounouce it SAWnah? You? Maybe around you they do.

Not where I am. Most people pronounce it SOWnah here. Sorry that you live in a place where people have mangled the name into a nasal whine. Most be pretty miserable listening to people whine all the time. Probably explains a few things. I'll leave you to anguish over defending your choice of mispronunciation.

[zeemike]

19. I can attest to the Finish love of education.

Early in the Internet days I had a pen pal relationship with a Finish student...I think she was about 8th grade level and she could write perfect English...and she was also learning Swedish....they seem very proud of being educated....and they have a lot to be proud of in their schools.

[longship]

21. Suomalainens are mostly trilingual.

Suomi has long been "divided" by language, part speak Swedish, part speak Finnish. Many Suomalainens speak both, plus English.

My mother never learned English except from her siblings. She was the youngest of twelve (born in 1913), and English was never spoken in the household, in spite of the fact that my mother was born in Wisconsin and lived her life in the USA. Her mother (who died in the 40's) never spoke English, although my mother, and her siblings, highly suspected that she understood it.

When my mother talked on the phone to her brothers and sisters it was always in Finnish. Until her dying day she was a truly bilingual person. I only wish that she would have brought me up bilingual, too.

Now, I can only say hello, merry Christmas, and some Suomalainen curses (which my mother would say often rather than the English).

Haista napa!

[JDPriestly]

35. Greeks and Hungarians also are often multilingual.

If your language is not commonly understood by others, you learn theirs. The drive to communicate is strong enough to make people who speak languages others don't know learn languages.

How many people who are not Greek or Hungarian or Finnish speak the languages of those countries?

In contrast, almost everywhere we go, someone speaks English. We have less incentive and sometimes even less opportunity to speak foreign languages.

[Squinch]

5. And note that all of those failed American strategies are cornerstones of Conservativism.

[indepat]

7. Endemically failed strategies are the prices we gladly pay for the joys of living in a right-wing-

soused society.

[pangaia]

8. with lots and lots and lots of 'weapons'

otherwise known as GUNS. GUNS GUNS....

[uponit7771]

22. +1

[BlueJazz]

15. The one that most infuriates me is the last one. We send thieves to prison unless..

...they happen to work in the investment & banking industry.

The ones that do the most damage receive the best outcome.

[woo me with science]

23. K&R

Great post. Thanks.

[KG]

24. it's almost comical the way this country choses the exactly wrong solutions to its problems

only almost.

[IDemo]

28. See my sig line

[99Forever]

29. Anyone actually know anyone in Washington DC to..

... pass this along to?

Of course none of them would listen anyway, who am I kidding?

[treestar]

30. Those countries are smaller and more cohesive

It is easier for them.

[Scuba]

31. Doing the right thing is usually more difficult than not.

[treestar]

46. It's more difficult here

With the Senate giving some state disproportionate power to their population. Supermajority requirements. And the filibuster's abuse.

The Parliamentary system lets things get done faster. If a party has power, it can't be stopped. But our system is designed that things don't change without overwhelming support. We have to factor that in.

[Fumesucker]

33. Peculiar that we find certain things far easier than some other nations

Using military force for instance seems to be something that the size and lack of cohesiveness of the USA does not appear to impede in any substantive way.

[treestar]

47. That's completely different

Because it involves different things. We don't know that Iceland or Finland or Sweden would not do the same if they could. They are not necessarily stopped due to superior morality. Maybe they just don't have enough people and resources. England ran roughshod over the rest of the world when it was able.

IMO any nation would rule the world if it could. Due to our size and natural resources we have an advantage in military conquest. In fact, why did European nations want us to come into WWI and WWII?

Internal and domestic policies however, leave us at a disadvantage in moving forward. The system we have is designed for conservatives. It makes it difficult to pass a new law. There are so many checks on it. Whereas a Parliamentary system allows for change when the party of a country's left is in power.

[CanonRay]

32. Yeah, cuz itz European Communist Socialist Nazis over there

We're number one, We're number one...

[fascisthunter]

34. Americans have become slaves to the bankers

[woo me with science]

38. Kick

[gateley]

39. We refuse to learn from others who have successfully attempted what we're facing.

It's just nuts.

America is the GREATEST -- nobody is smarter. It's about time we realized the folly of that belief.

[moondust]

42. Health care and gun control come to mind.

Both have been done about as well as can be in other places such that a wise people could learn and adapt the best of those tried and tested models. Not the U.S., no siree! Profits first forever!

[gateley]

45. And what most fries me is that the masses have been brainwashed into believing

that OUR way is the BEST way in EVERYTHING, and the entire world envies us! I sure grew up believing that! And I think most people, who aren't paying attention, still do.

To be fair, in a government for the people by the people, that's how it should be.