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You kind of a moron. Don't you know girl-friend is a just friend who happen to be a woman.Quote:
Originally Posted by VendingMachine
Can't you just correct me about the damn spelling. What's your point about patronizing me on this?
Dumped me? LOL there is nothing to dump. :P
lviv lviv lviv happy my boy?
ah yea also why do you think I "общаюсь" with an ukrainian girl? To practice Chineese?
So...I'm getting some mixed messages here. Do you all think that it is wrong for America to be a supporter of democratic values worldwide? Or do you take issue more with the method in which this is done?
I think that the problem is that America is its half-a** approach in its efforts to spread democracy. I think we should apply this mission more consistently, and stop giving special treatment to countries which supply us with resources or army bases.
I'll just come out and say that the idea that "nations know what is best for themselves, we should always respect that" does not apply with brutal regimes where what the "nation needs" is decided by a handful of criminals at the top. In the 1930s in America, we sat back and watched Hitler take power because we thought that the German people knew best.
We have to have the courage to fix problems that exist in the world. I would say, however, that this needs to be done with a very flexible idea of democracy to suit the customs of other peoples. It also needs to be done with a clear conscience that economic factors aren't the leading reason we are involved.
The first step is easy:
Cut millitary budget by %70, divert money to international aid.
U crazy? cut the military budget and China will attack us. They are our new Canada!
Actually, it's Львiв L'viv (in Ukrainian) or Львов L'vov (in Russian)Quote:
Originally Posted by Mordan
Well, the idea is that if we cut our military budget and spend more on aid, then we won't ever need to fight a war alone. If other nations feel less threatened by us, they would be more likely to help us in the event of a war.Quote:
Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie
Yes. Besides. It sounds more like Europes problem than America's in any case. We (In America-pardon my unexcusable ethnocentrism) should be waaaaaaaaaaay over here minding our own shores and borders and attempting to fix Mexico if anything. And maybe learning a spot or two from Canada?Quote:
Originally Posted by Geoduck
And what would US learn from Canada? How to divide the country by endorsing two languages. Now the east threatens to secede and west threatens to let them. Or how to have insanely high taxes because politicians in Canada are just as inept bunglers as politicians anywhere else. Quit dreaming Canada has their own brand of big brother.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rosa Anna
Somebody here wrote that he or she had a happy childhood in the USSR. You know what, me too. Perhaps if I was older, I would not say so. But I was just a child and my childhood was perfect. My parents were just ordinary soviet people, but I had lots of toys, books, and clothes. I had never felt hunger. When I was sick, doctors took care of me. What else do you need for a happy childhood? Then when I was ten, the USSR fell apart and my happy childhood was over.
As for America, I don’t remember being taught “that people here were evil, uneducated, lazy, drug-users, with a government hell-bent on taking-over the world.” But I do remember being told that many capitalists in America exploit own countrymen, that ordinary Americans work hard and have really bad lives, that rich people own everything (land, resources, etc) and poor people have nothing. I felt so sorry for Americans, and I was so happy and proud to live in the USSR where “everything belonged to people and everybody was equal.”
Well, being equal is good if you are less than "equal", and bad if you are greater than "equal". It was called "уравниловка" (which means equalization) and I must say, not everyone liked it.
As far as medicine is concerned, yes, it was free, but low quality. When I had the appendectomy (it was in 1985, I was 4 y.o.), doctor did an injection with a dirty syringe and I had a large abscess on the place of the injection. Luckily there was no AIDS in USSR those days. Disposable syringes came into Russia after the collapse of USSR.
The dentistry was also low quality (low quality equipment and materials, no adhesive technology, no good anaesthesia). In fact, many people now have to pay a pretty penny to correct the consequences of "free" soviet dentistry. The positive thing is that now high quality dentistry in Russia is still much less expensive than in Western countries.
Regardless of political regime, health is not a thing on which one can ever save money. In USSR, government did try to save money on the health of the citizens. Nowadays, people have to pay for it (those who can afford it).
What do you call an unjust friend who happens to be a man? :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by Mordan
Let me teach you your first lesson of manhood, son. Women cannot be your friends. You can either be in a sexual relationship with a woman or just know her to speak to. :P
I durst not.Quote:
Can't you just correct me about the damn spelling.
P.S. OK, peace, man.
I salute you, sir.Quote:
Originally Posted by VendingMachine
Similar things happen all over the world. A friend of mine got operated on in Rome and the surgeon basically botched it up. He had to undergo two more operations - one to do the job properly and a plastic surgery to mop it up.Quote:
Originally Posted by pisces
I have relatives running a dental clinic in Holland and Belgium. They can tell you a lot about the level of dentistry there. Long story short - stone age.Quote:
The dentistry was also low quality (low quality equipment and materials, no adhesive technology, no good anaesthesia).
I have a filling that is 27 years old. How about that?Quote:
In fact, many people now have to pay a pretty penny to correct the consequences of "free" soviet dentistry. ...
You need to consult your dentist to see if you need to replace it. Fillings (even the best modern ones) are not designed to serve such a long time. There is a high risk of pulpitis under the filling (which can be asymptomatic). All pulpitises I had were due to fillings which were not replaced in time (of course it was my fault).Quote:
Originally Posted by VendingMachine
Anyway, durability and quality are not the same thing.
(sorry for offtopic)
:wink: quite a few of these posts have been off topic! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by pisces
I told ya I had relatives who were dentists, didn't I? Do you think I don't get regular checkups? Man, you are naive. And please, pisces, do not talk about things you know little about. Good fillings can potentially last a lifetime - says my cousin and her dad, both practicing dentists, and another cousin who is a well-known dental surgeon and his wife who is an implantologist (well known and highly respected in the scientific world). You're talking to someone from a dental science clan here, matey.Quote:
Originally Posted by pisces
P.S. Just like a cabbie will take you round the 'ouses to increase your fare, a dishonest dentist will tell you there's a problem under your filling and will replace it just to get to some of your cash. The trick is as old as the hills and few dentists can say they've never resorted to it. There's a high chance that you've been had in the most classical of ways.
When I read posts like this I feel so lucky to live in the country that boasts the best quality medical care in the world. Of course, I haven't been able to afford going to the dentist since 1991 and I am reluctant to go now since I know for a fact I have several cavities, cracks, and chips, and don't want to be paying a collection agency for the dental work for the next 3 lifetimes. The last time I went in August 91; I was young enough to have baby teeth still, and the dentist tried to convince me to have a $900 gold filling put into a cavity in a baby tooth that he said himself would fall out in six months. I said no, and instead he put in some ceramic for $200 and it crumbled apart two months before the tooth even fell out.Quote:
I have relatives running a dental clinic in Holland and Belgium. They can tell you a lot about the level of dentistry there. Long story short - stone age.
The less said about what's transpired since my most recent visit to the county clinic in 1996, the better. Let's just say you don't want to see my feet without shoes on. The smell of the infection is even worse than the sight.
The moral of this story: 90% of the posts in this thread, regardless of what topic they are discussing, are based completely on whiny anecdotal evidence or partially-blinded-by-childhood-nostalgia anecdotal evidence. You can find somebody living anywhere who has a terrible story to tell and his neighbor probably thinks he lives in Shangri-La. Drawing a general conclusion from these kinds of stories is, to put it bluntly, fucking retarded.
Well said.Quote:
The moral of this story: 90% of the posts in this thread, regardless of what topic they are discussing, are based completely on whiny anecdotal evidence or partially-blinded-by-childhood-nostalgia anecdotal evidence. You can find somebody living anywhere who has a terrible story to tell and his neighbor probably thinks he lives in Shangri-La. Drawing a general conclusion from these kinds of stories is, to put it bluntly, @@@@ retarded.
Let's not argue about the semantics of "friend". It has so many shades of meaning, and we are not english natives.Quote:
Originally Posted by VendingMachine
Which means I agree with you on that matter, while still disagreeing at the same time. :)
Peace? You mean the peace your glorious Stalin gave eastern Europe? :wink: (back on the thread subject ;))
Have you seen the movie "Titus"? Awesome. :idea: Okay peace.
Thx I will try to remember that.Quote:
Actually, it's Львiв L'viv (in Ukrainian) or Львов L'vov (in Russian)
First of all, the word "sect" basically means that a religion is established by breaking away from another church. But the world is filled with so many religions. So, why do you believe that only some religions can be labeled as "sects" and others are not. The entire Christian religion is based on the fact that Christ broke away from the Hebrew/Jewish religion, so then the entire religion of Christianity should, then be labeled a sect? Furthermore, I personally have encountered Moscow Baptists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Pentecostals and also Mormons, and I have never noticed anything hostile about their behavior, on the contrary they have always been kind and very fair in treatment towards other human beings. But several of these forementioned groups have not only been persecuted in USSR, they have also been ridiculed in USA as well and many other countries.Quote:
Originally Posted by VendingMachine
BTW, all of these "so-called" sects have their own Bibles which are very comparable to any other bible which contain old and new testaments, except the mormon bible which has several books added in accordance to their religion.
It is hard to take some of the "oppression" stuff seriously from religious organizations. It seems rather mandatory that if you are an organized religion you must suffer from a mostly imagined persecution complex. Take for example someone like David Limbaugh who draws a parallel between the absence of the ten commandments from the post office and teaching evolution in school with being fed to the lions in ancient Rome.
Note that I said "mostly imagined." I actively persecute religious people on a daily basis. I had a gulag built out of chicken wire in the backyard of my co-op, but since the land is communally owned by all of the units and permanent fixtures are prohibited I had to move them into the basement (note to lawyers: I keep them "free range" in accordance with FDA laws on proper care of livestock). Yeah, I know I'm supposed to sit here and be diplomatic and not use profane language and all that BS, but come on: if you give any more credibility to Abraham and Isaac than you do to something out of The Odyssey, you're a fucking idiot.