$10 a Gallon for Gas

[JagFarlane]

Ami -

Woodstock generation???

(I had barely been born, okay?)

People fighting for left causes are not necessarily hippies. (To quote a line from Heartbreak Ridge, "There ain't been any hippies around for centuries!" )

You need to update your insults.

Woodstock, hmmmm. Mom was 12, Dad was 15. Ayup they weren't even dating yet.

 

[amicus]

Ami -

Woodstock generation???

(I had barely been born, okay?)

People fighting for left causes are not necessarily hippies. (To quote a line from Heartbreak Ridge, "There ain't been any hippies around for centuries!" )

You need to update your insults.

~~~

Ah, sweets, I did update the insults and clarify the collapse of the left on another thread to Dr. Mab, but I do get stuck in a rut here, geez, goil, you be a 'youngin' barely dry behind the ears then...grins...thought you were an old twat....



ami

 

[freshface]

They want you incapacitated on a two wheeler or confined by the gendarmes of trains and bus's where they can count and manage your peasant asses.

Don't you get it even yet? It isn't fossil fuels, it isn't the environment, it is that the 'elite' don't like all the herd types having the freedom to travel and even settle where they choose, spoiling all that pristine swamp land, gotta protect them fucking mosquito's!

If there was a scientific breakthrough on Monday morning following the celebration of American Independence (which will only be mentioned by a few here), it wouldn't make a smidgen of belly button lint's difference, the hippies would still find a way to tax and limit free movement of peeps.

I have absolutely no idea where your rant came from or what it has to do with the topic of this thread, but you've got to stop watching so many old movies. Have you ridden the trains of Europe recently? The days of the Gestapo checking identity papers are long gone. These days, you buy a ticket from a vending machine at the train station. It accepts cash and does not require any ID. Once on the train, a conductor might come by at some point to make sure you purchased a ticket, but they don't check IDs either. There are no turnstiles at train stations. It's assumed that if you get on a train, you have a ticket. Now that the borders of the EU are open, it's quite possible to travel from the Netherlands to the border of Ukraine without ever showing your passport.

Public transportation in Europe is really more about increasing freedom of movement for "the peeps." The cities here are compact with large populations and land is expensive. The tourist areas of cities tend to be downtown, where parking is both difficult and expensive. It's often less expensive and more convenient for me to take the train than it is to drive when I go sightseeing. Why are you so against public transportation?

 

[freshface]

Since ami regards sunrises and sunsets as signs of the spread of Communism because the sky is red at those times, I don't take him seriously.

Good point. I keep swearing I'm going to stop responding to his rants, but sometimes they're so far out in left field I can't help myself. I shall remember your sage advice and try to restrain myself.

 

[neonlyte]

Ami -

Woodstock generation???

(I had barely been born, okay?)

People fighting for left causes are not necessarily hippies. (To quote a line from Heartbreak Ridge, "There ain't been any hippies around for centuries!" )

You need to update your insults.

He's only sore 'cos his mum wouldn't let him go to Woodstock.

 

[Guest]

~~~

Ah, sweets, I did update the insults and clarify the collapse of the left on another thread to Dr. Mab, but I do get stuck in a rut here, geez, goil, you be a 'youngin' barely dry behind the ears then...grins...thought you were an old twat....



ami

'Er, thanks.

I think.

 

[amicus]

Well, hello Freshface, you sure come with an attitude and a feisty defense of Europe, not a bad thing, just grant me the right to defend my stomping grounds against the continual assault from youse guys.

And yeah, it has been over thirty years since I rode a motorcycle across Germany, the parts not under Soviet control at the time, and the rest of Europe and there were certainly border checks then.

But, I am aware of high speed rail, even Mag Lev trains and tunnel construction and am greatly impressed by the automated port facilities in Rotterdam and Hamburg, I think, so I am not a complete novice at Euro politics and changes.

I do have some lingering questions about the 'homogenization' of the differing culture in Europe, seeing as how a generation ago youse folks were slinging bombs at each other...time will tell, I guess...

And then Germany and France have tacked a tad right in the last elections there and we seem to be friends with the French again, go figure.

But...there are some problems there, so the wind blows...of Muslim unrest and imported labor that doesn't want to go back to Africa, whoda thunk it?

My critique of the ways of the Euro, your tiny little cars and flats and high taxation, is mainly in defense as many express that European culture is still superior,(reminiscent of the royals), to any thing America can create and we are a little miffed at being continually referred to as shallow and profligate, greedy and avaricious, even if it is mostly true.

But as you said, you don't comprehend the root of my opinions and seldom read or comment.

Works for me.

Ami

 

[freshface]

Umm...As I've told you before, living in Germany doesn't make me German, or even European. Not one of "youse folks" and I don't pay many of the taxes here. I don't think that European culture is superior to ours. I do find them to be more open minded and accepting than Americans in some areas.

I've toured the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp. They are amazing and they're run by corporations. Europe has changed a lot in the last thirty years, much of it for the better.

I do comprehend the root of your opinions. I have a brother and a father who sound just like you. It's just that you never seem to let facts get in the way of your opinions.

 

[amicus]

Erm...as Sweetsubsarahh said, thanks,...I think....

"...It's just that you never seem to let facts get in the way of your opinions...."

I challenge you to discover a single post of mine that did not include a dependence on objective facts, almost always documented by research.

There have been a couple in which I depended on memory and was quickly and harshly reminded of my error, but in general, any conclusion I present here is based on fact and I have no undocumented opinions about anything.

I don't know your politics, but most who reside under the wide umbrella of some variety of socialism are quite like Christians upon being told their God does not exist, they remain forever in complete denial.

And so it is with collectivists in general...when the fruits of their philosophy are tasted, such as the anti industrial, environmental activist regimen, and found to be sour, they simply swallow and smile.

The same holds true of the abject failure of socialized medicine in Great Britain and Canada...will they admit the failure? Not on your life, they continue to believe as they pay huge taxes for free medicine and then pay a private doctor for the actual treatment.

The path is well worn between Canada and the US, no idea where the poor Euro's go.

Amicus...(get em down, never let em up; no quarter asked, none given)

 

[freshface]

It just bothers me when the facts you present have nothing to do with the point you're responding to. Also, your conclusions are often based on some facts, not all of the relevant facts.

As for socialized medicine, when my mother cracked open her head in London, the ambulance ride, ER visit, radiograph, and sutures were all free.

Not socialist or collectivist, but certainly don't share you belief in Utopia either.

 

[amicus]

You just don't see the connections, Freshface, I assure you they are there.

There is nothing 'for free', in this world and I have never even remotely suggested that a free society is an utopia.

But the concept of 'drafting' conscripting, forcing, young men and women to donate their services in the medical profession with the state determining both the treatment and the compensation, is obscene to me and any freedom loving person, regardless of your anecdotal benefit for your mother.

Like always, whatever the form of oppressive totalitarianism, be it in the guise of a social democracy, will reach a point where they must enslave others to meet their needs as the best and brightest will flee to freedom.

I understand that you 'don't get it...', JBJ says I waste my time even trying to explain what should be innate to all humans, that intrinsic desire to decide how one lives one's own life, without coercion or force.

The entire history of mankind has been an ongoing effort to get out from under the rule of gods, kings and tyrants. It happened in America, where free men, of, by and for the people, determine their own future.

As I state in my analogy of religion, your god is dead and you are in denial.

amicus...

 

[McKenna]

Wow, this thread has taken an odd turn.

So my sis-in-law will loan us her car, if we want, that's an option. Eurail Passes are more expensive now than they were six years ago (naturally, but jeeez!). This may be a case of six one way, half a dozen the other.

On the flip side, we'll be there in September, which is the month in which we married, in a tiny little village called Jisp. It will be nice to visit the site, eat Dutch cheese and chocolate, visit with family, and soak in the things I miss and love.

 

[SlickTony]

Wow, this thread has taken an odd turn.

So my sis-in-law will loan us her car, if we want, that's an option. Eurail Passes are more expensive now than they were six years ago (naturally, but jeeez!). This may be a case of six one way, half a dozen the other.

On the flip side, we'll be there in September, which is the month in which we married, in a tiny little village called Jisp. It will be nice to visit the site, eat Dutch cheese and chocolate, visit with family, and soak in the things I miss and love.

Cheese and chocolate, mmmmm....

 

[trysail]

A little perspective never hurts:

Vicks NyQuil--------------------------$98.13/gallon
Gillette Right Guard----------------$57.22/gallon
Pert Plus--------------------------------$35.93/gallon
Shout (liquid cleaner)--------------$14.04/gallon
Budweiser------------------------------$13.03/gallon
Coca-Cola-------------------------------$8.00/gallon
Evian (water)--------------------------$7.45/gallon
Milk (2% Vitamin D)-----------------$3.99/gallon