honestly, do you have the first clue of what you're talking about? americans take tons of vacations during the summer time...tons. my commute to work on a busy freeway is substantially quicker during the summer months because the kids are out of school and people are out of town. it's as american as apple pie and baseball...
Sorry, I got caught up in the vibefest that we associate with traiter-rimbeauxxx. I should say, though, that if you ever discern arrogance on my behalf make fun of me for basing my understanding of the world on cutesy mnemonics.
i'm a master of making fun of myself...i'm not trying to lash out at all...nothing for you to apologize for at all. you might try buying a vowel for that last word you used, though!
Coming in late to this, but rimmy, we finally agree. Let me follw that up by saying that i don't give a damn whether you ever make that sculpture of the horse or not, will never challenge you in the public square about it, and don't care how big Florence is or isn't... ( Private joke betwixt rimmy and I about egos, feeling threatened, etc.) But this leads to an interesting point, and one which is the basis for the bias behind this kind of thread: Americans are not centered. The left-right political scale, as flawed as it is, was not created as a reflection of US political climate, but was originally a European concept broadened to label global political leanings. On that scale the US falls, even when under Democratic control, fairly well to the right of center. We are the abnormal ones, not the rest of the globe. As such we tend to label everything left of us socialist despite the fact that we are closer to the extreme right, ( fascism) than they are to socialism. And yet what would be our reaction to being called fascist? All that said, the connection attempted here, between 'socialist' ideology and the heat wave deaths in Europe is extremely thinly premised. It not only avoids what rimmy pointed out, but additionally avoids such elements as : * France's ideologically reflected government is also responsible for their health care system, acknowledged by many ( BBC source) as the best in the world, and without which the death toll might have been much higher. * Any connection between global warming, a usually leftist/environmentalist rant dismissed or opposed by the pro-industrialization as priority right, and the heat wave itself. * The fact that vacations themselves in Europe are largely taken abroad...as such getting many out of France, away from the heat, and as such possibly lowering the death count. THere are other points, but the most interesting is the assumption that WE are the center around which all other political ideolgies revolve, completely not true.
That assumption was never made by me. You seem to think all Americans think that way Macbeth. But we don't all think alike. I have found that a lot of academic types stick their noses up at "average, everyday Americans" and think of them as naive, stupid, prejudiced, etc. "* France's ideologically reflected government is also responsible for their health care system, acknowledged by many ( BBC source) as the best in the world, and without which the death toll might have been much higher." The government is blaming the 35 hour work week, which caused a shortage of workers, not to mention many of the workers were off on long vacations. Both were socialist government ideas. ( JuanValdez said this was just politics however.)
I bet you drive a gas-guzzling SUV too? Huh? Damn environmental rapist capitalist pigdog. Up with peop...err...Workers of the wor...err...Age of Aquar...man I've got the munchies.
around the first of october we're moving our offices roughly one milie from my home. i will be a card-carrying member of greenpeace at that point, i think.
