Hmmm, can I chime in as one of those that thinks America is the best place to live, based on its economic model, average standard of living, and unemployment numbers? I'd actually like it more if it were more libertarian and free market, but I'll take care of that when I run things. :)

Bill Maher is entertaining and, while I often disagree with him, he seems intelligent enough and gives his guest more time to debate than, say, Bill O'Reilly.

Ted Rall is a bitter-tongued idiot of the highest order who believes Democrats can only do good and Republicans want to put baby's heads on stakes in the public square (he also wrote that the capture of Khalid, the 9/11 planner, is a faked event - of course, he has no evidence to support such a claim).

Can't say I know much about Monica though. One thing to remember is that the Patriot Act was passed by both parties, quite happily, to the detriment of us all - here's hoping our more civil-liberty minded legislators will stop Patriot II in its tracks.

Additionally, it is true that many Americans are under-educated about the world outside our borders; however, the same can be said for many other countries. When I travel abroad, I'm always met with interest in that I'm from Alabama but like black people, that I'm American but don't own 42 guns, etc.

Andy, I'm sure you spotted this, but I never said the US was a bad place, just that I'm sick to death of hearing people chanting how it's the best place in the world. Especially when such a microscopic proportion of them have ever ventured to any foreign country.

Bill's point, and mine too, is how can all these people so sure of themselves saying how it's the best country in the world, when they've not sampled any other country.

Also, my point was, that the US is one of several countries that are rather nice to live in. Britain, Canada, Australia and Ireland are all nice places to live. Then again, so is Italy, France and the Czech Republic.

But a people who are so fucking insular, and so resistant to ANY OTHER CULTURE, are never going to even consider another country's point of view.

Andy said:

"America is the best place to live, based on its economic model, average standard of living, and unemployment number"

Economic model? Oh yeah, it's the best democracy money can buy.

Average standard of living? Yeah the average standard might be quite nice, but there's this whole "fuck the poor" culture, that means you had better have a good job if you want to be treated with any level of respect or friendliness. This is something that you don't get in a lot of other countries.

Unemployment numbers? Since Bush took power? Hello? Things are worse than in Europe, especially in Denver.

We don't get HBO in France, but we do see some HBO's series (Oz, Sex and the City...). They seem to specialize in quality adult programs (by "adult" I mean basicaly intelligent, not X-rated), don't they ? What I don't know it's their audience. I mean, does such shows attract a lot of viewers here ?

I've only had HBO a couple of months (it's on three months free trial, but I think I might keep it), so I'm relatively new to its programming.

So far it does seem to produce higher-quality output than the terrestrial networks, and the "basic cable" channels.

Andy, I wasn't meaning you weren't travelled. I know you well enough not to apply that to you.

As for the "fuck the poor" culture, whether or not you personally give to charities, the whole culture in the States seems to be one of "I'm alright Jack". There's very little sense of social responsibility beyond the few that feel it enough to donate.

I'm not a proponent of handouts for layabouts, but some sections of society can't help the cards life has dealt them, and it is the duty of the rest of society to help out.

There was a guy on TV (I forget who) who was talking about Canadians, and their welfare system. He'd been talking to a rich Canadian, who had no problem with supporting a good welfare system, because at the end of the day it meant that he knew that his fellow citizens were as well cared for as possible, and much less likely to need to rob or kill him.

Man, I'm just a comment whore today.

"Bill: Isn't that a bit like FDR turning around after the Japanese attacked us, and saying, "Right... Let's bomb the Spanish"?"

Replace Spanish with German and you have World War II. In fact, if you want to get even more granular, replace Spanish with Moroccan, as we bombed and invaded Morocco first.

Ted Rall? Yikes. I think this is the first time that I've seen him used to shore up a point. Have you actually read his writing/drawing?

Ah, the Canadian welfare/health system. Such a shining beacon to the world. You really should talk to Alison about that. We went to Vancouver on vacation, and the first thing we were told was to park our car in the parking garage at all times. Evidently, something like 60%(no cite, the travel agent told me this) of the cars parked along the street are broken in to. Then we noticed the panhandlers that are everywhere. You wouldn't believe how many there were. Much worse than any American city I've been to, and I've been to most of the major ones.

The next day, we got to experience Canada's socialized health care first hand. Ali got a kidney infection (ouch) and we went to the hospital. No waiting rooms, no triage, some poor kid having what looked like a bad acid trip tied to the chair next to us with bedsheets, and incredibly inattentive personnel. Add to that the filthy floors, antiquated equipment, obviously mentally ill patients wandering about freely, and I was about ready to put her in the car and take the ferry to Seattle. Fortunately, all we needed was a scrip for antibiotics, so it could have been worse. If they'd tried to keep her there overnight, we would have gone to Seattle.

Well cared for? Go spend a week in a Canadian city, then come back and talk to me.

RE: Fuck the poor. Give me a break. Just because we don't have cradle to grave welfare doesn't mean we don't have mechanisms in place to help poor people. In fact, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a country where the "poor" have a higher standard of living.

One of the reasons that I approve of limiting welfare is not, as you might think, because I'm an ogre with no heart. I look at France, Germany, and to a lesser extent Britain, with their large unemployed (and unemployable) unassimilated immigrant populations living off the state, and I cringe. That is not something I want to happen here. Could you imagine large portions of Denver being government housing, so dangerous to live in that the police won't visit? That's exactly what Paris is dealing with. No thank you.

Well, I think I'm done. Sorry about writing a book.