If Only ....

[stovt001]

After living in England for 3 months, I was at a loss as to explain how you people ever managed to hold on to half the world at one point in time. (I was studying British Imperialism at Oxford) That does not speak well of humanity. Sure, go ahead and try to take us back. You stick with your weapons (silly little baton things) and we'll stick with our guns. See how well that goes. Don't forget your pretty little reflective vests. Lord knows you're all afraid to go outside without them. We'll go about with our spelling. You all have so mucked up the English language with your unnecessary silent letters. We're just trying to clean up your mess and make it a sensible language.



Don't worry, this is all a bit of fun humor. I really did enjoy my time in your fine country, though not without a bit of frustration and annoyance.

[Mindz]

Bad food, worse teeth, and horrid healthcare.

How's that for resistance?

[Sterling]

I stll don't understand why the English think this stuff is funny.
I've heard some here on vacation say "We used to own the place".
I know they are jokes, but some of them really get under my skin.

Maybe it's just because I was in the US Army and still work as a contractor for the Air Force.

Most of the humor wasn't lost on me though.
If we had lost the Revolutionary war, we would all be speaking English right now.

[KILLER74Z28]

I'm sorry, did you need bailing out again... What’s it you Brits say "CHEERS"

[willisit]

Hold on... we never did own the US... did we?

In any case, YOU got Aluminum correct - we, the British, added the "i" to make it fit with the periodic table (even though that's stupid).

I love being British, but I tell you what, this country is quickly becoming a hole in the ground to live in :(

[Sterling]

It WAS an English colony until we decided to dump all of your tea into Boston Harbor. We are all coffee drinkers now.

[GTAHVIT]

To add to the military spin. I've had the chance to work with both Navies, Canadian and Royal.

And I will say as Navies go they are among the best. The one thing that I found common is that they sctratch their heads at how we are so good at what we do. They are amazed that we can pull away from the pier let alone be so effective in our missions. I can't tell you how many times I've been called a cowboy by Brits and Canadian sailors. They don't understand us at all. It's pretty funny to see them shake their heads at us.

[MTron]

Originally Posted by Mindz

Bad food, worse teeth, and horrid healthcare.

How's that for resistance?

Im not from england, but in all honesty, you might want to rethink that comment about Healthcare. You didnt place so high on the WHO rankings

well, at least you have "warm" company
35 Dominica
36 Costa Rica
37 United States of America
38 Slovenia
39 Cuba
40 Brunei


http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html

[Mindz]

did I say we were any better? I mean. come on. a majority of the US are morons, but I'm not getting political on these boards.

[Urthman]

Too bad there are actually two ways to spell and pronounce Aluminum (or Aluminium).
Aluminium
Aluminum

[stovt001]

Originally Posted by MTron

Im not from england, but in all honesty, you might want to rethink that comment about Healthcare. You didnt place so high on the WHO rankings

well, at least you have "warm" company
35 Dominica
36 Costa Rica
37 United States of America
38 Slovenia
39 Cuba
40 Brunei


http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html

No, having just gotten back from living in England, I can tell you that if I really needed medical attention, the one place I'd want to be is the U.S. While in Oxford, my friend came down with a cough so bad that if she was in the U.S. it would have landed her right in the hospital under the care of a specialist. Unfortunately since we were in England, she had to go through the NHS. Before any medical work can be done, you have to go to a general practitioner. So she scheduled an appointment, and when she got there, the doctor didn't examine her or recommend anything. She just disinterestedly asked what kind of medicine she wanted prescribed and then kicked her right out in under 5 minutes. Health care just doesn't exist there. It won't exist here either if a certain leftward leaning political party gets their way. Oh, also while we were out there two remarkable news items came out. One was a study that showed that Brits were increasingly pulling their own teeth because dentists are in very short supply under the NHS. The other was about a man dying of cancer who was denied meds by the NHS because of where he lived. Under the way the NHS operates, the cancer meds were approved for people living under certain postal codes but not others. So because of where he lived, he was denied the appropriate treatment. How is that decent healthcare. We should pull out of Iraq and bomb the Brits for atrocities just like that. God save us from liberalism.

[DGthe3]

America has some of the greatest doctors in the world and some of the best facilities in the world. But from what I have read, around 1 in 10 Americans don't have health insurance and their household income is less than 50k a year, that really sucks if you are that 1 person and require a long hospital stay. In Canada, only 1 million people (~3%) don't have access to doctors, I'm sure that there will be similar results when looking at the U.K. Of course, these numbers aren't quite apples to apples but they do illustrate the point. The wait lines are long in the private system because more people can go and use it without worring about the bill. However, doctors that would rather move to the US and make more money end up creating a brain drain that hinders our medical system. Again, I am speaking for Canada but it would apply to the Brits as well.

[stovt001]

Yes, thats about an accurate analysis. If you make something public and "free" then it will tend to be lower quality and understaffed. Its the same thing with public schools. A disturbing percentage of students drop out, and the ones that do graduate can't read a write properly. Yet private schools operate spending less per child than a public school and achieve better results. The solution is to give money back to the people so they can spend it themselves instead of the government taking our money and spending it for us, trying to control everything centrally. It didn't work for the Soviets; why would it work for us?

[GTAHVIT]

Originally Posted by stovt001

No, having just gotten back from living in England, I can tell you that if I really needed medical attention, the one place I'd want to be is the U.S. While in Oxford, my friend came down with a cough so bad that if she was in the U.S. it would have landed her right in the hospital under the care of a specialist. Unfortunately since we were in England, she had to go through the NHS. Before any medical work can be done, you have to go to a general practitioner. So she scheduled an appointment, and when she got there, the doctor didn't examine her or recommend anything. She just disinterestedly asked what kind of medicine she wanted prescribed and then kicked her right out in under 5 minutes. Health care just doesn't exist there. It won't exist here either if a certain leftward leaning political party gets their way. Oh, also while we were out there two remarkable news items came out. One was a study that showed that Brits were increasingly pulling their own teeth because dentists are in very short supply under the NHS. The other was about a man dying of cancer who was denied meds by the NHS because of where he lived. Under the way the NHS operates, the cancer meds were approved for people living under certain postal codes but not others. So because of where he lived, he was denied the appropriate treatment. How is that decent healthcare. We should pull out of Iraq and bomb the Brits for atrocities just like that. God save us from liberalism.

This has been a big topic on the democrat side. It's one of those issues I haven't really researched. I didn't know that's how it worked in England. Hmm food for thought.