Really? I’m also “near Boston” and the Stah Mahket around the corner sells liquor all day on Sunday! The law changed just before the Super Bowl. Or was that just in Cambridge?
Read this:
Read it again:
Here again we have someone asking you to actually back up your fucking statements with a real opinion! What freedoms? As many have pointed out as well, as a citizen of this country my freedoms (whatever those may be) are certainly not being abridged by an added form of documentation/identification required by foreign visitors.
So,
[ul]
[li]Treatment of foreigners generally does not reflect on the level of ‘freedom’ enjoyed by citizens of a nation.[/li][li]You still haven’t mentioned one freedom that has been denied citizens of the US (and remember, even restrictions on behavior, ie, laws, are enacted by elected officials) that the rest of the modern world enjoys.[/li][/ul]
For the 999th time…you can have as much lube, sex toys, dildos and vibrators in Alabama as you want. You can’t be a store owner and sell them here. You can order whatever under God’s green earth you want via the internet or mail order places and have them sent it you.
Well, if you want to get technical about it, Isabella was of Portuguese-Spanish descent and was very nearly the Queen of Portugal rather than of Spain. Columbus was commissioned by her, not the king.
As for your comments on America…big yawn. Everyone hates the rich kid, boo-hoo. Your envy and apparent fondness for whiskey are tedious, to say the least.
Hey prick, would you care to offer some comparative statistics? What’s the population of Ireland and how many immigrants are admitted in a year? What about illegal immigration?
America may be a lot bigger, but a lot of the land is much less hospitable (i.e. dryer). The explosive growth in the West means that houses and roads have to be built, and most importantly, water must be found. Sadly for us, one rarely hears “emerald” used to describe the near desert region in which we live. Many people here believe we are at full carrying capacity with regard to immigration and population.
And you still haven’t addressed your hysterical, foaming-at-the-mouth screed against the Spanish!
Wait a minute. Who was this directed to?
Hysterical foaming-at-the-mouth Spanish scrod would be like the ‘la vaca loca del mar’?
Nothing substantive to add here (but that would put me in the majority on this thread, seems like). Just had to weigh in to say how much I’m enjoying this thread. Special recnition goes to Achilles, for lurching from argument to argument as each previously well-honed point gets shot down. Sounds kind of like my kids when someone lets loose with gas:
Kid 1: Whoo-hoo! Who cut the cheese?
Kid 2: He who smelt it, dealt it.
Kid 1: Yeah, well . . . if you denied it, you supplied it!
Kid 2: Yeah, well, well . . . you farted!
Kudos also to:
El-Kabong, for the solicitude you’ve shown to Achilles’ sister (“and may I suggest that next time she plan for self-pleasuring ahead of time?”) . I nearly choked on my Cranberry Juice Cocktail.
CK Dexter Haven, for throwing a big ol’ wet blanket over things with your pesky facts and reasoned discourse. Shame, shame on you! Fortunately, it didn’t seem to take.
lno, for keeping us focused on the real issue. The World Demands the Truth, dammit! I’m behind you, 110%!
And all the rest of you crazy whacky guys - I love ya! Really!
Nope, they are open in Boston on Sunday, too!
By the older laws, liquor stores could be open on Sundays between Thanksgiving and New Years, but closed the rest of the year. The law changed this year, and now they have the option of staying open on Sundays. Some don’t, but most of the ones I’ve been to are open on Sundays now.
Which country would that be, exactly?
Inigo Montoya killed my father, and I wasn’t expecting the Spanish Inquisition, either.
Starbuck’s. That’s really about it.
Yes, but aggregate number is the right statistic for determining how “popular” our various countries are. For example, if ten million people decide they’re switching countries, and 1 million of them decide to go to the US, but seventeen of them decide they’re going to Vatican City, the percentage would make it appear that Vatican City is wildly popular with immigrants, which I can assure you is not the case.
Better hope he was able to purches some lube…
Well there’s the host country’s ability to absorb potential migrants/refugees. The ability of Canada and Australia to welcome 3 million immigrants a year is unlikely while 300,000 is doable.
But other than that I agree with you and believe the whacked out Irish heel’s viking affinity is due to over comsumption of SPAM! Wonderful SPAM!
I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnish`d rows of steel,
“As ye deal with my contemners, So with you my grace shall deal;”
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel
Since God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.
One person’s “you’re losing all your personal freedoms because you can’t smoke wherever and whenever you want!!” is another person’s “I now have the freedom to go about my daily life without strangers blowing tobacco smoke in my face!”
The fallacy there is that the migrants aren’t getting together to decide how they’ll all fit. The host country’s population is basically irrelevant to their decision.
Each of them is making an individual choice to head for a country, regardless of whether that country has room for them. The host country’s (in)ability or (un)willingness to take them doesn’t have much effect – or at least it doesn’t deter them here in the States!
…although we do seem to have fewer Norse raiders washing ashore than we used to.
I think the real prick here is that Francis Scott Key character. Who the fuck gave him poetic license to use such a silly phrase as “Land of the Free” anyhow? Let’s gang up on him and kick his ass. Oh, wait, the dude’s been dead for, like 160 years. Never mind. 
What the fuck are you talking about?
Could you describe this mechanism of income redistribution, in the light of the following economic data: Ireland has the fastest growing economy in Europe, a GDP of $113.3 billion (the 51st highest in the world, despite only being the 122nd most populous country on earth) for a population of 3.9 million (that’s $28,872 per capita, vs the US’s $33,108 GDP per capita).
Not bad considering this alleged ‘socialism’.
What’s your objection here - that Ireland doesn’t concentrate enough of our wealth in the richest people’s pockets? That we have some semblance of a national health service?
Or could it be that you don’t have the slightest fucking idea what you’re talking about?
(This is not to bash the US nor support the OP, just to try to cram some actual facts through the reinforced carapace of Muad’Dick’s stupidity.)
American checking in here to say HEAR! HEAR! to the OP! I agree fully.
It’s funny, because I was just discussing this issue last night with an Irish chap in a bar, then today saw several examples of these anti-freedoms in the newspaper. Just today, we have:
Woman handcuffed and jailed for chewing and swallowing the last bite of a candy bar as she prepared to enter the Metro station. Eating is illegal on the Metro, but she was merely chewing the last bite. However, according to a Metro official, “Chewing is eating,” and therefore worthy of arrest and jail. Story here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22456-2004Jul28.html
Struggling family gets lucky and lands a spot on one of those home improvement shows, where they redo your house for free. The film crews arrive and the construction begins, and the homeowner’s association shows up threatening court action if they don’t stop. Family’s hopes are trashed. Story here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22812-2004Jul28.html
13-year-old mentally handicapped boy from Guinea arrives in the US after his brother went missing and his father was imprisoned and killed by government forces, and his relatives, not wating to raise a retarded kid, puts him on a plane with a fake passport. Kid has been held for 3 years, much of that time in an ADULT prison, as US officials ignore his pleas for asylum and work to get him deported. Story here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22816-2004Jul28.html
Woman, who rarely drinks, has one mixed drink at a birthday dinner, gets pulled over, arrested for drunk driving, and thrown in jail. She loses her license for a year and spends thousands of dollars in legal fees. ONE drink. That is how low the legal limit is now. Her life is in turmoil over one single drink.
Story here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12126-2004Jul24_2.html
This leads to what I was talking about with the Irish guy last night. He was saying how often, he will walk home from bars to avoid driving. Good move right? WRONG. He was walking home one evening, alone, along a path, and a cop stops him, asks him if he has been drinking, to which he says yes, and he is promptly handcuffed, arrested, and thrown in jail and charged with drunk in public.
While I’m at it, one other tale. My mother works for the state government and they do random drug testing. One of her best employees was recently tested and came up positive for pot. He just came back from a vacation in the Carribean, and this is one of the only times he has ever smoked pot. He is not a regular pot user. Well, this 30-year-employee, an educated profession, is fired immediately, will never work in his field again, and will be lucky to land a job at Wal-Mart. The man’s entire life is ruined for getting high once.
And of course there is the biggest anti-freedom of all: THE FACT THAT GAYS CANNOT MARRY. It’s all enough to make you want to start another revolution!!
The OP hit the nail on the head. This is NOT the land of the free. Not by a longshot.
The thread started out pretty dumb, but it’s quite entertaining now.
Achilles, why won’t those fascist Irish bastards let me smoke my weed like the laid-back Clog Administrators in the Cheese Land of The Free do? I’m being repressed!