[whitemott2004]

You can obtain some tailored weightlifting programs on http://www.fitrex.com.  You have to register but you can input your current "lifts" in relation to a program for such things as bodybuilding, general fitness, military training, and have it spit out a "customized" weight training program.  You won't get spam emails; at least I never did.

[whitemott2004]

Wow.  She's gotten a LOT bigger.

[whitemott2004]

Try looking up Hashimoto's Thyroiditis on WebMD. 

[whitemott2004]

What morphs do you have currently?

[whitemott2004]

Likewise.  Two years and I'm still not even considering myself to be knowledgable.  :-

[whitemott2004]

Indeed…

[whitemott2004]

Hey Jimmy,

You're right about some terrorists being educated.  I'll still maintain though, that the uneducated do a substantial amount of the "blowing themselves up thing."  Just in case I wasn't clear, I'm referring to the terrorists as uneducated rednecks (again, for the most part), not our troops.

I also understand your point about weeding out terrorists but… I just think the way we do it isn't going to work.  I'm not going to pretend to have a solution… other than an extraordinary amount of ordinance that the rest of the world would scream bloody murder over the use of. 

In my garden, if the weeds get too overgrown, it's time for a huge amount of Roundup followed by a complete roto-tilling.  I have a distinct impression the Europeans wouldn't like the analogy being carried out in the real world.

[whitemott2004]

Yap,

I think what you are experiencing is exactly what happens in the U.S. everytime politics comes up with respect to America and the rest of the world.  This conversation, in one form or another, has existed for over 200 years. 

I have no doubt the Europeans will see a drawback of American military, diplomatic, and trade policies in the coming decades.  Some will see it as a good thing, others won't.  Regardless, someone else is going to have to pony up the cash and dead bodies to try to make sure a few hundred thousand people aren't killed in a genocide. 

You'll also see a lot less American assistance as well. 

With respect to 9/11, I actually agree with Lingster on this one.  Most people in the days afterwards felt that a million acre parking lot needed to be placed between Iran and Pakistan.  Calmer heads (ironically viewed as being the warmongers) prevailed and we now find ourselves in a ground war with a bunch of uneducated rednecks willing to blow themselves and anyone else near them to pieces in order to kill the infidels. 

Ironically, we're compared to the Roman Empire by many historians.  If that be the case, then I'm for the decimation of any village where an American is killed.  The Romans, if you remember, traveled freely through the Empire.  If a Roman was killed in a village, they killed every 10th person in that village.  Obviously, we don't stoop to that level despite having the ability to do so.

I live in an area of the country where there are hundreds of thousands of Arabs and Muslims (no, they are not necessarily the same thing).  Great people.  Left their homes to come here because they know they have a chance here.  I just don't care personally for rallies being conducted where a crowd of thousands jeers and burns an American flag.  How revolted would the rest of the world be if Americans did that?  Hell, the British can't knight someone who wrote a book about Islam or publish cartoons without threats of violence. 

We're different than the Europeans.  Not better; not worse.  Just different. 

Are some of us arrogant?  You're darn right.  We've mashed one hell of a country together in 200 years.  Our country is built on a population that either was kicked out of their home countries or left because they couldn't stand it at home.  Why are we required to apologize about it?  We have good and we have bad but like I said, if anyone else in the world wants to stand up and lay out the cash and dead bodies… be our friggin' guest because I'm fairly tired of seeing my friends coming back in body bags.

[whitemott2004]

Yap,

I probably shouldn't discuss the dynamics of American culture late in the evening but I think that the biggest problem most Europeans and foreigners in general have in trying to understand the United States is that it is unique in many respects.

We're schizophrenic in our attitudes as a whole but the world sees one government.  When I refer to American's general lack of interest or discussion regarding world politics or foreign policy, it's not so much that we don't care as it is that it's not possible.  I'm going to upset quite a few people with this comment but it's one thing I've had some chuckles over with friends of mine.

Americans typically work extremely long hours.  A 60-75 hour work week is average for me and my college educated friends.  By the time we attend to familial affairs, we really don't care to get hot and heavy into hard issues.  If I have four hours on the weekend, friends will go golfing, discuss local politics (local as in our local state which affects approximatley 30 million people).  We know our individual state's issues but I'll be honest that I have no idea what issues Wyoming or Texas is facing at the moment.

National foreign policy is well, foreign to most Americans.  It's run out of a city that most people will at best, visit once in their life.  Foreign policy is run by the President and his various advisors.  We may agree with it on occassion but more often, the majority of people in the country don't approve of our president.  However, we operate in a republican form of government where the executive branch does not change except every 4 years (maybe).  Our last presidential election, like the one before, was almost evenly split.

Frankly, we also have a saying here in my region.  There are two things you don't discuss; politics and religion. 

I do believe that many Americans are uninformed, by choice or by accident of ignorance, of the outside world.  However, we have many, many people who are quite well informed of what is going on outside of our borders and may surprise you with the depth of their understanding.  The basis as to why this is so is still one that we don't fully comprehend.  I doubt you can find a truly accurate answer though.

[whitemott2004]

Yap,

You've raised an interesting question.  I've been fortunate enough to spend time in Europe and living in and extended stays in many areas of the United States so for what it's worth, here's my take in general.

Europeans seem to have a tendency to forget a few key things about the U.S.  First amongst those is the country doesn't have a lengthy history.  This is sometimes a boon and sometimes a bane to us.  We don't have 2000 years of cultural mindsets or traditions to fall back on.

Additionally, I think many Europeans don't realize that the U.S. is in effect 50 different "countries."  Each geographical region has a different mix of historical cultural influences, past immigrant populations, religious preferences, dialects (and sometimes languages) and overall mindsets.  Europeans often make the mistake in business dealings to assume that California is the same as Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Florida, or even Utah.

As for interventions in other countries, we've pretty much vascillated between empire building to isolationism to our current political state.  Keep in mind, foreign policy for most Americans is not a topic of dinner conversation.  We're much more concerned about jobs, family, etc. 

If you want to know why our foreign policies are so "unilateral" or don't mesh with what is perceived to be international interests is that often, international bodies and foreign countries don't have our interests at heart. 

Keep in mind that in the 200 years of modern history of the U.S., we've been invaded by the British once and had our capital burned, ended up fighting in World War I, were attacked by the Japanese Empire for our trade policies and entered World War II, allowed the Soviet Union to annex half of Europe, fought a Cold War, and most recently (after having withdrawn most of our armed forced from the rest of the world) were attacked by terrorists.

In other words, even when we are "good," it doesn't help us avoid being attacked.  I'm not a supporter of our current government's policies, but it's hard to explain to your average Joe working at the shop or plowing a field in Kansas that we should trust the world at large to look after us and work in our best interests.  In other words, European pragmatism in foreign policy differs from what could be considered American pragmatism.

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