Burnt Orange Report

I really don't think we have all that much to be thankful for. The troops in Iraq might be willing to fight and die for our freedom, but the fact that they're fighting to enslave another country is bitter ashes.

The violence in the streets happens every day. It's just not televised, and it's in Fallujah. Sure, we don't have full-on riots, but it's only because people are too apathetic. Besides, it's early yet. Wait for the inauguration.

And while not one of you may sleep in fear or worry about families safety, I've got a 60 year old father who I'm worried will get called up. A 60 year old diabetic father. Who had a heart bypass. And I'm seriously worried. Is this something to be thankful for? I suppose I'm thankful that he hasn't, but who would I thank? God?

In case you haven't noticed, God isn't doing a damn thing to help us, and the God of Red America is a hateful, hurtful bastard that puts anything the Devil did to shame.

It is true that this country has gone through much worse - but not much. The Alien and Sedition acts were bad, but you could still break them and not worry too much about getting caught in the days before Eschelon. The Civil War? Well, that was a mistake, we should have let the South take their redneck electoral votes and go off.

As for a land of oppertunity? Oppertunities become scarcer every day, and the class system is rigidly locking itself into a caste system. You will most likely die poor or poorer than when you are born. Generosity, decency are lost concepts on the American people.

And because of our foolishness, we've managed to throw two countries into a worse position from dictatorships.

Thanksgiving is dead.

Oh, I forgot to be thankful for something else:

Thank God Brian Boyko has said he will leave this country because of Bush's election. North Korea would love to have you.

This is another thing I don't get. Why do conservatives assume I would leave the U.S. for a country less free, instead of more free? What is this North Korea/Iran/Iraq bullshit?

To be honest, due process, right to a trial, freedom of assembly, and the right to be guarded against unlawful search and seizure matter much, much more to me than ideology. I'd move to Reagan's America or even Nixon's America from Bush's America if that was a viable option.

I actually think it's rather telling that there are no first-world countries more conservative than the United States, with the possible exception of Israel. Maybe Singapore.

Andrew D. did he just call you a 'conservative'?
He has as bad a spelling problem as i do.

When we Americans conquer a country, we set the new government up and leave. The new government governs, not us. Why didn't Germany stand by us against Saddam's Iraq? Why didn't France?

I really liked your posted comment. Thanks. Thank You very much.

And Andrew D., I'm glad my guy won, i'm staying. Promise.

Boyko, I want to know where your planning on going. I hear Canada is nice.

Right now? New Zealand is the most likely candidate. Canada is nice, and perhaps the best fit for me socially, but it's hard as hell to get there.

Specifically, you need to wait a year for your visa to be processed. The application will be rejected unless you have a certain number of points. Most people won't have the requisite number of points unless they have a job offer. You need to go to Canada, most likely, to get the firm job offer. Once you get the job offer, you have to wait up to a year for them to process the application before you begin working. So you have to find someone who will hire you sight unseen for a job 1 year in advance.

New Zealand is similar to Canada, but (because they have a low unemployment rate) wants to increase immigration. You also need a job offer to move there, but because of a back-packer tradition, they have a "Working Vacation" program where you are allowed to stay up to a year in the country, and work there during the vacation: The catch - you cannot work in any one job longer than three months.

But the bonus: If you get hired on a permanent basis, you then can apply for a work visa. (Application usually takes two months, if you're already in the country.) So, essentially, I have a year to find a job once I get to New Zealand. It's only if you don't have a job after that year that they kick you out.

New Zealand also -- oddly enough -- has a brand of conservatism that we need to adopt here in the United States. American conservatives - even before the "neoconservatives" took power, tended to take measures to benifit only big businesses at the expense of workers and small businesses.

New Zealand conservatism tends to focus on what I think are the "good" aspects of conservatism: finding government waste and eliminating it. A while back, there was going to be a fee increase for renewing driver's licences, because the cost of re-issuing licences was more than the fees recovered. Kiwicons asked: Why not eliminate renewals? They did, and now you only have to retest once you reach senior age, saving the government (and the taxpayers) money.

See, I have no problem with conservatism's nobler goals, it's just that Americons have completely abandoned the idea of small government and more efficiency in the public sector in favor of complete privitization, which is not nessessarily more efficient than public works.

Of course, I'm not a kiwicon or an Americon, so I won't be doing any voting for them. Still, it's good to know that the loyal opposition is, y'know, actually loyal.

To Brian D: Thank you for what you wrote. It's easier to become cynical than it is to be thankful. You may have waxed a little idealistic for some, but you sounded sincere, and we need that kind of hope to spread or we'll never get out of the mess we're in.

To Brian Boyko: I'm not trying to talk you out of leaving the US - in fact I've seriously considered the same and it remains a potential option. You make some valid points, but hey, let the guy (above) be grateful! It makes him feel better and it makes some of us feel a little better, too. Grousing about our current world situation and being disgusted about it is the easy part. I know, because I am one of about half of Americans who (to varying degrees) feel similarly to you.
Not trying to instruct you or piss you off: but, we all might be better served if we could find a way to channel anger into an agent for change. I know - we're in a screwed up situation, and a hell of a lot of peoples' lives suck, and American policy is a huge part of the problem. But, we can be part of the solution by expanding our world view and looking for people who inspire us, instead of disgust us. They're all around, but they're not as sexy or intellectual. You can be a realist AND optimistic simultaneously, I promise.

Hey - Thanks to ANDREW D.-apologies for any confusion.

The problem with putting anger into an agent for change is that... well, we've got the anger. This isn't a case where, if you get angry enough, the world will change.

Our last hope - emphasis on last - for change came and went.

If I seem to be "bah-humbuging" Thanksgiving, it's because I really think that the holiday is a cruel joke in poor taste this year.