*Concept defined by the President. Not subject to Judicial Review.
Starting around 400 years ago, my ancestors left countries that now have free healthcare, strong economies with lots of jobs, still uphold the Geneva Conventions, and have ratified the Kyoto Treaty. Life is unfuckingfair. I don't want to go back from whence my late fathers and mothers came. There are no trees in Ireland. I LIKE TREES, GODDAMMIT! Sure, there are trees in other parts of Europe, but I'm not too excited about learning yet another language. I realize that many more hardships than having to learn a language were endured when those seeking freedom came to this continent; yeah, I respect that. But I'm a whiney bitch on top of everything else, and besides, immigration requirements into most countries of the EU are pretty damn strict for Americans.
If you're wondering what I'm ranting about, the House and Senate just passed a bill that allows tortures, officially. Except it's sneaky in that it SAYS it doesn't allow torture; it claims torture is illegal. What makes it different from the Geneva Conventions is that the extent of and the definition of torture are distinctions made by the president. There are other issues dealing with the concept of Habeas Corpus that are probably better explained by people more inclined to dissect legal jargon than I. Apologies for having to resort to a cliche, but our consititution is dying the death of a thousand papercuts. This bill is a few more scratches.
Have the forests been trampled to death by the sheep in New Zealand yet? I hear it's pretty there. And yes, I will admit that Ireland does have some trees, just not in the prodigous amounts that I've grown up around here in Oregon. And their concept of "mountains" is cute, at best. They even have a Mountain Rescue! I met a guy who worked for them; he even had a rope and a helmet with him! I thought it was adorable, having all the gear, just like a real mountainman. Please... Achill had some pretty impressive sea cliffs, I'll give it that, but otherwise, if I can hike (or, "have a wander," as they so kindly liked to put it)to the top of a rise with little more than sore legs then it's not a mountain - it's a fucking hill.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I think New Zealand would be great! As for that free healthcare, it's not necessarily all it's cracked up to be. What I mean is... well, we listened to the radio a lot whilst in the UK and there was a sort of talk program on one of the BBC channels. They talked about healthcare and folks were none too happy with the fact that you wait for hours and hours and hours apparently for simple stuff, and who knows how long for major stuff (surgeries, etc). I've often heard that Canadians come here for surgeries because the wait is just too long in Canada. So, there are pros and cons. I think a con might be that when it's free, people go for every little sniffle and clog up the system. And they all feel entitled to use it as much as they want because their taxes are so high to pay for it. That's not to say our insanely expensive system is better, but gosh, can't there be a happy medium? Anyway, that's all I wanted to say. Everything else, I agree with. :)
New Zealand sounds pretty damned good to me. I think they have actual elections, and it's a beautiful island. Sadly, it's small, immigration is carefully controlled, and real estate is incredibly expensive.
Still, there's got to be something else. I mean this just can't be it. Because if it is, I'm gonna have to do something radical, and it ain't gonna be pretty.
Post a Comment