November 03, 2004

• New York and San Francisco.
• "We have endured worse"...America hasn't endured anything of any significance since WW2...so probably not in your lifetime. What I like about america? The fact that there are hopefuls like you.
• I love Russ Feingold! Hooray Wisconsin! I love the spirit of resistance in the US. I love Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman and William Lloyd Garrison and bell hooks and Cornel West and Cesar Chavez and the American Indian Movement and countless others who have waged peace in the name of democracy and justice. I'd say more (of course) but I have to get back to work.
• I like the fact that they haven't bombed my home... yet.
• ...we will take it, and we will accept it... No
• you know what? i love Fes. the pair of comments really sums up a lot of what inspired me to stick this thread here in the first place. although, Fes, sorry - both you and i are already married, we're both male anyway, and i'm in michigan - so i can't really legally love you. but i think it's ok for me to punch you on the arm in a macho way and say "dude" though. so, i'll do that. *punch* dude.
• and on preview, mr. knickerbocker - note i never said we'd accept it willingly. it sticks in my craw too, but i'll choke it down before i let it choke me to death.
• Idealism. Extreme variety of people, even though people don't appreciate that as much as I think I do. But while we bitch a lot at each other and have this tendency to be closed-minded and bigoted lately, we don't kill each other over ideology very often. But an extreme variety of people. That whole melting-pot thing, ethnically and ideologically. I felt like even more of a mutant freak while on a short vacation to Europe; I just was not the same creature as everyone else, and that seemed important. And we aren't technically a, what's the word, religiousfreakocracy. Yet. I don't know. I think it's having hope for the country that makes people this angry.
• ...yeah, it's right on the front page now. Theocracy. Ah...heheh. oops.
• Ella Fitzgerald. Frank Sinatra. Every good American musician that ever was, and some of the bad ones too. Ed Bradley on 60 Minutes. Jon Stewart. Bagels and lox. Green chili pistachios. Green chili anything. Paul Wellstone. Barack Obamba. And I really love caution live frogs for starting this thread.
• I'm having a really hard time loving America just now ... even if four years is a relatively short period of time.
• It's shit like this that murders idealism. What's the point? God, I hope I cheer up in a few weeks. Otherwise I'm going to need medication. And I won't be able to afford it. But I do love America. I love our history. I love what we used to be. But I'm finding a hard time finding things to love in the present tense. I'll be watching this thread with interest. Maybe something will leap out at me, and rekindle my lost idealism. Maybe. Fuck.
• A stadium full of people singing the national anthem never fails to get me all teared up and extremely proud.
• What do I love about America? Ask later, when my bitterness and angst-induced hangover have subsided.
• I love Native Americans.
• I'll second people like Fes. Bluegrass. Rock & Roll. The Blues. Woody Guthrie. The Ozark Mountains, after it snows. Mark Twain. Tom Waits. MLK. Courage. Hope. Optimism. Hermann, MO (if you haven't been, you should go). Amendment 1 to the Constitution. Fried catfish, barbecue, and hush puppies. Boulevard Pale Ale. Knob Creek bourbon. Major League Baseball. My family.
• I like the fact that about half the country doesn't see enough differences to bother to vote. I like the fact that if you pander to your base you piss off the middle and if you pander to the middle you piss off your base. I like the fact that while we have no sense of history whatsoever.
• I love our boundless spirit and determinism. I love the fact that, through my American upbringing, the election results, while disheartening, have just made me think of ways to work that to my advantage, both on a personal and a social level. There are many things that went wrong on this past election cycle, and the democrats started working towards improving, though not quickly enough, and we now have new media outlets like Air America Radio trying to counterbalance the strides that the republicans made in controlling the American mind-share. America really is the Land of Opportunity. People come here because of that opportunity, and it's ingrained in us that we do have the ability to make a difference, especially in the face of adversity. We showed it briefly after 9/11, and we'll show it again. I don't agree with what the general populace apparently believes, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to sit around and just let it happen around me. That's the difference between a true fascist state and ours. While we are on a definite trend towards a lack of personal freedoms, which is likely to increase for the near- to mid-future, we don't sit there and let it happen. Oh, sure, some people do, but the mindset of the population is to make their voice be heard. I intend to make my voice very loud, indeed.
• Yeah, I agree with caution - Fes is definitely where it's at. I was hoping for something comforting before I left today, and those two posts hit the spot. Thanks for the perspective, Fes.
• The people here.
• Also...what Fes said.
• I love my fellow Texas liberals and progressives, like Molly Ivins and Jim Hightower. I love that they have a sense of humor and can get mad at injustice and neither rules out the other. I love that they have the strength and the compassion to keep fighting rearguard when it looks like all is lost. I love a lot of other stuff, including many things others have mentioned in this thread, but right this minute, that's who I have the love-on for. *offers bananas to caution live frogs for this post, to Fes for inspiring it, and to everyone who loves the US today*
• What I like about America, as a gay man, is that we're right next to Canada. (Does that count?)
• Wait, I've got one: I love American Horror Movies, which have seen a resurgence thanks to all the uncertainty and fear of the future the last four years have wrought. So I've got more good horror flicks to look forward to, like it was in the 80s, and the 30s/40s. So that's nice. I love blues music. I love heavy metal (which is really british, but Americans have made some good albums). I love Sam Adams beer and microbreweries. I love my family, even (especially) the gay ones. I love mct and his wife. I love the fact that my 5 year old son was interested in the election. I love the way my four month old daughter smiles at me. I love my wife. And they're all Americans. Urm...I love New England...
• I don't know anymore.
• *tips hat, raises imaginary glass of beer he wishes he could drink right now*
• flag cakes at summer picnics
• While I love America, with the apparent results of the election and all the new hate laws written into so many state constitutions, I find it difficult to think of much that I like about Americans.
• Maglite torches (even if they can't spell)
• (the people, not the torches, obviously, although a torch that could spell - I'd buy that for a dollar!)
• I love Jon Stewart's line from last night, "Next, we'll tell you how to prepare for the upcoming civil war!" I can't actually remember the line, but I have it TiVo'd ... unfortunately TiVo is at home. But seriously, what do I love? With quirky exceptions (*freespeechzones*) I love that I can say whatever the fuck I want, wherever the fuck I want to say it. I can even talk like this at work, really. I also personally enjoy freedom from oppression, though I'm a total wasp so I'm sure I enjoy it more than some others. But I am also female, and I don't let the man keep me down. Unless I want him to. Uh, I digress. Really, I love the diversity in this country and the fact that it's so large that I can get the hell away from anybody or anything that irks me if I so choose.
• My dad was born in a small New England town. My mom came to the US at age 5 when her family fled the Nazis. They didn't have much money when they were first married; my dad worked his way through college by waiting tables, and in exchange for his acting as caretaker in a local apartment building, they got to live in a tiny apartment where they couldn't sit up too quickly in bed without banging their head on exposed pipes. By the time I was born, my parents had established comfortable middle class lives for themselves (and me and my siblings) with nothing more going for them than hard work, honesty, and intelligence. It would have been enough, frankly, if America had just offered my mom a place to go in 1939 where she wouldn't get murdered by the Nazis. The fact that America gave them the opportunity to not just survive but to thrive is a pretty damn good reason for me to love it. By the way, my parents voted for Bush, and I voted for Kerry. They are exceptionally honest and intelligent people, and they genuinely believe that voting for Bush was the best way to make sure that other people will have the same opportunities they had. I disagree--but I really, really, really hope that they're right, and I'm wrong.
• My image of it that's been proven wrong.
• The Blue States.
• I love that people are so pissed off about this, and hope that maybe, next time, that'll make a difference. I love that, in spite of myself, because of my American upbringing, I can still hope that.
• I love that you can leave whenever the hell you want. Except you can't go to Cuba.
• I love the fact that no one religion rules the land and America will never become a secular state. Until today. /I'm dead inside
• I love that I can go online and visit with kindly Monkeys from all over the country and all over the world. And I love that we can all look at fisheye puppies together.
• Sorry, Antique shows Flea markets Outsider art White trash El Caminos Diners Taverns without windows Lounge singers Bowling alley vending machines
• I second MCT's love of Hermann, MO. Also on the list of what I love about America; The many caves of Missouri The Cascade Mountains Montana's wide open space The Drive through Lolo pass into Idaho, the scenic route The Black Hills of S. Dakota The Washington and Oregon coast The diversity of our population and culture I can go where I please, say what I want, believe as I believe. (I hope it remains that way)
• Pac-Man. Classic muscle cars. French fries. Frito pie. Springsteen.
• Dude, Pac-Man's a furriner.
• imlass -- I love Texas liberals, too! Being raised as one myself, it really gives you perspective. Good old TX liberals almost never win the big victories, but they get the small ones. They never stop laughing at the absurdity of their fellow humans, and they never stop loving them.
• Harley Davidson motorcycles The motorcycle museum in Sturgis S.D. backyard baseball Old Chevys The 4th of July
• I love the fact that the USA is so vast, I couldn't imagine living in a country that you could drive across in less than, say four days.
• Well actually I could imagine that, sorry I ramble. Thanks for starting this thread caution live frogs, it is helping me focus on something besides the anger and disbelief I have felt sense early this morning.
• I love the fact that, even in the Republican party, there are people like John McCain.
• I love the fact that I just emailed the Kerry campaign to ask them what the fuck they're doing conceding before the last bloody vote has been counted. Shame on them.
• Sorry, Smo, but John McCain sold out before the Republican convention. Frankly, he can go to hell. The only thing I love about this country is that in four years, we may have a small chance to fix the crap that Bush will have f***ed up by then.
• R.E.M. (though not the latest album) The Pixies John Sayles Apple Macs er ... that's about it
• shinything: I can't find a email address at their website. I want to do the same, and ask them wtf. Did you use webmaster@johnkerry.com?
• my 0,02 euro: (the idea of) meritocracy the bill of rights the dream of a better life that still draws thousands of immigrants a year
• McCain may be misguided in his support of Bush. But, you know, I watched an interview with him yesterday, and he expressed his belief that Bush will want to leave a legacy in his second term and so will govern a little closer to the center. I think he believes that. It's that hope for a better America that I love and respect. It's the wanting to make America better. Plus, well, if support for Bush today makes it possible for him to run in 2008 as the Republican nominee instead of someone even worse than Bush, maybe the ends justify the means. Maybe.
• For better or worse, America's still the place where crazy dreams come true, more than anywhere else. Like Jody Williams and Bert Rutan.
• I love the theory of the United States, though not the practice. I love the Oregon Coast Cornucopia, Wisconsin and the Superior shore The Bill of Rights the San Juan Islands the Chrysler building the snail darter the energy and the desire to be good, or Good
• Wild apple trees that drop a dead limb or two every winter. By fall the wood has seasoned to perfection and makes a lovely hot fire in my woodstove, which has a glass door. I sit and drink a mug of coffee, stare at the fire and contemplate the wisdom and love I am finding here today. The stove was made in Vermont (so was the wood). The coffee is Jamaican. The mug was made in China. The milk in the coffee was made by the cow that lives just down the road. The computer was made in Eastasia and the web board is hosted in New Zealand. This is a nice planet and I'm very glad I get to live on it. and bless Fes
• Mr. Knickerbocker, here you be. DNC contact for good measure. I sent a rant to each of 'em.
• ...And I forgot to say I love the fact that, with the help of mail order, I won't have to leave this homestead until 2008.
• I love the mountains. All of them. I hereby secede from this country and humanity as a whole and offer my affiliation to the Great League Of Mountains. Today I stuff dirt in my ears and plant an aspen on my forehead. I give my toes to moss and my belly to the wild deer. May eagles build their aeries in my nostrils. Get that pick out of my ass.
• hey HEY HEY! shinything! you promised fisheye PUPPIES. this is clearly NOT a fisheye puppy. (but ain't it cute?) i love that jon stewart can make me laugh at news that would otherwise make me cry. i love that we have a holiday devoted to nothing other than eating and watching football with our families. i love that i live in a country that cares so much about its children (even if we do go overboard / overprotective about it way too often). i love that my friends have begun talking about using our disappointment in the election as a reason to get involved and start making our communities better. i love that we can always find a reason to keep trying, and i love that all of you are willing to share your reasons with the rest of us. ...and i really, really love the idea that some day one of us might be the one making the acceptance speech.
• What has nostril got to do with this? Isn't he Austrailian?
• Thanks shinything. I emailed both.
• I love California, the pure geography. There may be prettier beaches, more majestic mountains, more dynamic cities elsewhere, but no region of the world has more of all kinds of places that are quite above the average. I'm quite happy with the fact that, after 25 years in the soul-crushing work environment that is this nation's so-called free enterprise system, my personal total collapse has earned me a permanent disability stipend (supplimented by an occasional check from an Evil Corporation, just for writing stuff I enjoy writing) and now feel more free than any time in my life (and it'll take a while before the government's bankruptonomics can take it away from me). And it is still possible in this country (if more difficult with the burgeoning theocracy) to live your life so that the government doesn't matter that much (another advantage of California over some other parts of the country... including the overrated New York City), and one can still live in a community (physical or *Filter) with people you can like. And being a spectator of the Decline of the American Empire is gonna very entertaining. Nope, I'm not going to be in the front of the line to move to Canada (although I implore those of you who are to become naturalized Canadians and work for improved immigrant rights).
• I love America because Americans say things like this: "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal." (Martin Luther King) "The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart." (Robert Green Ingersoll) "I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks." (Harper Lee) "I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver." (Maya Angelou) "I imagine that yes is the only living thing" (e.e. cummings) "America is a nation with many flaws, but hopes so vast that only the cowardly would refuse to acknowledge them." (James Michener) "This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it." (Ralph Waldo Emerson) ... and that gives me hope.
• I love bling, and booty, and McMansions, and lower capital gains taxes, and the fact that there are still so many natural resources waiting to be extracted from national parkland, and IQ tests for nursery school applicants, and the 20-foot-long SUV I use to pick up the groceries and drive the kids to soccer practice, and reality-show chicks in Playboy, and guns (godDAMN do I love guns), and Wal-Mart, and chrome 18-inch wheels, and how clever some of those TV ads are, and cheap Mexican labor, and the American god, which is greater than all the other gods COMBINED; our god KICKS FUCKING ASS. (Sorry. I'm not ready for this thread yet. Though I will say that it's because I love this country so much that this election outcome hurts so much.) On preview: Wendell, you sound like such a nice guy. That's what I like about the U.S. I like Wendell.
• I love the fact that once gas gets up to $3 a gallon, even the most hardline car manufacturers will have to start looking into fuel efficiency and alternative energies. Of course by then it'll be too late, but still...
• Gee, this might be the right time to revive the Cult of Wendell and start a commune in Central California (near the coast, not the valley). I personally promise: I will never serve Kool-Aid.
• Our ample supply of porno Liberal oasises (oases?), especially those geographically cut off Some of the Internets The Pixies
• I love Belize's monologue.
• Our ample supply of porno Most of this is offshore too. Thought of a few more though: I love most of the Great American Literature: Faulkner, Whitman, Steinbeck, Twain, etc., etc. I love eBay. God help me, but I do. I love the alternative press. I love the fact that the suspense will soon be over, and the GOP will start actually showing the REAL stuff that it's been wanting to do, and I love the fact that Americans will be able to squawk about it, even if they can't change it. I love public libraries.
• IANAA. I love it for its great literature, great music, great movies. I love it for having brought forth and nurtured great men and women who have my admiration and are my sources of inspiration. I love it for the dreams that it has, and for its dreamers. So much of what I am today is a result of what came from the US of A. What happened to the America I love and what have those bastards done with it???
• What happened to the America I love and what have those bastards done with it??? Don't ask me, I'm a mountain.
• What I used to love about America; "History I believe furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance, of which their political as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purpose."--Thomas Jefferson
• That I can drink good Italian espresso and study Chinese medicine.
• Some people go for flowers and puppies, some people go for power and influence. :::looks around:::
• I love our national parks and wilderness areas. I love road trips, and little towns in the mountains with cool bookstores and bars. I love it that we are a land of second and third chances, where a smart but fucked-up young man who barely graduated high school and flunked out of college can get his shit together, work hard, and up with a PhD and a job as a professor. I love the revival of good beer in this country, and the ethnic and regional cusines.
• I love the fat people who will drive a humongous truck a block to buy Fritos and cigarettes.
• I love that our Constitution has the following, "We hold these Truths to be self-evident,that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness-That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government..." Of course trying to alter or abolish it will cause you to run afoul of the Patriot Act, but still...
• I love the fact that you Monkeys are optimistic. I love this post. I love that we have, and can listen to, alternate opinion posters like Fes. I love the fact that there is still some chance of turning this election fiasco around to the point there might be good things come out of the next four years. I love you Monkeys, and I'm happy there is a Monkeyfilter.
• I love her people. Her lazy, crazy, stupid, goofy, fucked-up poo-butt, hypocritical, funny, scary, fearful, cheerful, baseball-loving, garage-sale-having, Doritos-eating, TiVo-watching, SUV-driving, Oprah-sized, Hog-riding, shit-kicking, country, rap and rock loving, people. Right now, however, I can't stand 'em.
• I love my soon-to-be wife. I love her family (that which I have met). I love my family. I love her best friend. And all of her other friends. And all of you, especially Fes. I love that we drove to San Francisco to witness the marriage of two people who are in love with each other, even if the marriage was ruled null and void. I love Jimi Hendrix. (I listened to his Woodstock rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner" this morning and it made me misty-eyed as always). I love the perception that "it's better to die young, and leave a good-looking corpse". I love Iron Chef. And Godzilla movies. (Except for the crappy American version that came out a few years back.) And poorly dubbed Hong Kong films. I love the little blue-haired great-grandmother who can barely see over the steering wheel who refuses to see the speed limit as more of a guide line, instead of a rule. I love the people who give more than they can, and never think twice. I love the fact that someone pays me to sit on my ass and surf the intarweb all day long. I love people who get their high school diplomas in their 30's. Or college degrees in their 40's. I love that illicit drugs are typically no more than a phone call away. I love people who leave things better than they find them. I love looking out my office window and seeing mountains. Especially when they are covered in snow. I love that no matter how bad it seems now, it will be better tomorrow.
• Have you ever had two friends, two guys (I mean that in the non-gender-specific sense) who always go round together, even though you can't quite see what they have in common, or what they could like about each other? And, they have this sort of double act thing going. One of them'll always make some dumb comment, or act like an idiot, or say something totally offensive. And then the other will just shake their head, and say "Dude, I can't believe you just said that," and then make a joke about it or say something really nice. And it's all okay, and they still hang around together even if they piss each other off sometimes. And somehow you don't think, "well, that one guy's really nice, but the other's just a total dick." You love them both, the double-act; and you really enjoy being around them, and you can't help but look forward to seeing them again. That's sort of how I feel about America. Also, you have just about the best comedy writers anywhere on Earth. And if you weren't such a crazy, fucked-up, daft country, most of them wouldn't have anything to write about. That little Jon Stewart guy's great (I loved him in The Faculty). You do good music. You make some really good films . You do lots of shit music and film too, but hey - at least you're trying. I like the fact that nobody's managed to write the Great American Novel yet - when it comes, it's going to be great. You invented the word "dude", and have come up with a glorious variety of uses for it. You were pretty good once you actually got round to joining in with World War II - thanks for popping by to help clear up! That Bill of Rights thing is pretty sweet. You haven't drowned Ann Coulter as a witch yet - how tolerant is that? Your gay people look at Jerry Springer and Britney and J Lo and your soaring divorce rates, and they still want to get married. I love the fact that I still have no idea what the hell 'grits' are. Oh, and about half the things in HawthorneWingo's list? I thought they were actually kind of cool.
• come for the illusion of freedom stay for the right to comedy i did now---
• Isn't Stewart Canadian? All teh funE is from Canada. :) I'm feeling a little better now, having got over the shock. I DO think things are going to get worse...a whole lot worse...in the next four years, but I have a sneaking suspicion now that I'll survive. Plus, I've got three very good reasons to do my damnedest to make things better. So I'm going to pick myself up, wipe the blood from my face, dust off my pants, and do just that.
• Direct link to the three good reasons.
• I love America very much. I don't like the things its politicians do (and by proxy, its military and corporate welfare queens etc.) but... I always know that I can be my own person, improve my living situation (or not) and hold my own opinions, without fear of violent reprisal (for the most part). There was always the sense that there was due process, for the most part, and that the system wasn't entirely gamed. A sense of fair play. I decided to become a citizen last October, after fourteen years of holding a Green Card. My hope in becoming a citizen was to have some effect on this election, especially after seeing the election stolen in 2000. My vote did give Kerry some electoral votes. I played my part; I'm not entirely bitter. I now worry for my country and I worry for my fellow Americans. I still love this place enough to stay and fight for it, and not cut and run to Europe, which I could do easily enough. I plan to fight back against the religious nuts who have taken over my country. I'm not going any-damn-where.
• I [club] America.
• I love small-town America, New England-style with town commons and parades and fireworks. I love the highways and byways. I love the warm and fuzzy patriotic feeling that I get on the Fourth of July. And apple pie. I really, really love apple pie. Pumpkin, too.
• I [spade] America. if only; some of the whackos here need to be spayed... On preview: Yeah, pumpkin pie is the shit. The shizzle, even.
• bone, come on, do it properly. It's : I ♣ America I ♠ America
• And...*drumroll* it's: I ♦ America! *pumps fist*
• Excuse me, I'm on a roll here: ◊ if you like, instead of ♦
• While reading this, was anyone else reminded of Woody Allen's "Why is life worth living?" speech from Manhattan? "Why is life worth living? It's a very good question. Um...Well, There are certain things I guess that make it worthwhile. uh...Like what... okay...um...For me, uh... ooh... I would say ... what, Groucho Marx, to name one thing... uh...um... and Wilie Mays... and um ... the 2nd movement of the Jupiter Symphony ... and um... Louis Armstrong, recording of Potato Head Blues ... um ... Swedish movies, naturally ... Sentimental Education by Flaubert ... uh... Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra ... um ... those incredible Apples and Pears by Cezanne... uh...the crabs at Sam Wo's... uh... Tracy's face ... "
• I love my husband and our families and friends. I love that my Rent-A-Cat spent the morning snoozing in a pool of sunshine in the house that we were finally able to buy last summer. Although if the economy tanks... I love that even if the economy does tank I'll most likely be able to pay my bills by going back to work as a legal secretary if absolutely bloody necessary. Bleh. I love The Simpsons. I love Office Space. I love that Bigger, Longer, Uncut won an Oscar.
• Some good advice for Dogs and Cats that may apply elsewhere. Not sure what happens if you throw a monkey into the mix.
• The only thing I love about America now is that selfishness is not a vice. I plan to be unrepentantly selfish from now on. Everybody else can go fuck themselves.
• I can't yet, but I love the fact that we have some optimistic monkeys. *returns to vat of vodka tonic*
• Dear Americans Some years ago, my Hungarian friend and I were a bit squinty eyed and famished. We decided to drive on up to The Red Apple (a fine Polish buffet). On the drive up, he was telling me how beautiful Europe was. I told him I had no desire to go to Europe. My Hungarian friend was upset. He said, "How can you not want to go to the most best of places? The garden of the world, Europe".(Actually, I'd go in a heartbeat..I was just pulling his leg).He kept going on and on about how amazing everything was in "beautiful Europe". Just then, we happened to be driving by Superdawg. Pointing to the sign, I asked him if there was anything in Europe that looked like that. He looked at me all funny and stuttered "no no, of course not". That my friend, I told him, is why I need not go to Europe. He rode the rest of the way in stunned silence. There is hope in the smallest of things.
• Monkeyfilter: A list and then sighing. <3's Argh
• i love that some of the people proudest to be americans are the ones who were not born here, but the ones who came here and went through all the hassles and shit to become citizens, the stuff that i avoided by just being born here. i love that even after everything, people still want to come here and go through the hassle - because they still see this country as a place of opportunity. thanks, all you green-card holders and border crossers and first-generation american families and naturalized citizens. thanks for adding to the weird melting pot that makes this country interesting.
• Argh - nothing like Superdawg in Europe? Hah! That, my friend, is a perfect representation of what we like to call "a Scotsman who got trapped in a sunbed". They are a common sight, roaming around the Gorbals in agony and ululating furiously. :-)
• Fair enough, CLF; my dad's a Swiss national, making me a first-generation citizen. If it hadn't been for America, he and my mom never would have met. OK, that's one. I'll come up with more when my second hangover in as many days subsides.
• (yeah, I'm taking all of this really hard)
• I love all the people in the red states who voted for Kerry....thank you...
• One of the things I love most about the United States is its marvelous systems of national and state parks. The park rangers are almost always interesting folk to talk to. The landscapes -- physically beautiful, extremely varied. Bring your cameras, drive the pacific Coast Highway north and south, the light hits the sea differently. Never the same twice, like the desert. I love being able to see twenty or thirty miles of landscape. Especially with a lack of fences. The elbow room. Used to love driving east to west, and watching how, once ye crossed the Mississippi, the sky became higher. (Yes, it really does, but have to be on ground level for the full effect to hit ye, flying's just not the same.) I love taking the back roads, the old highways. The hidden falls, the gravelled roads, the old ponds green with duckweed, and one-lane bridges hardly anyone drives over any more. The old split rail fences. The public libraries, and most of the librarians in 'em, too.
• A German perspective, with a translation. [via MeFi]