…and a prerequisite for being described as ‘homelander’.
Agreed though I think you can find “homelanders” in just about any land because there will always be a greater number of citizens who follow and parrot without thought than not.
I looked up George Jean Nathan.
One quote I liked that he said and it is true.
“Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.”
@Northern star, I think that last quote is perhaps true sometimes and maybe here in Canada but, good people voted fervently for Obama…and look how that turned out. LOL!
There is a huge difference between “patriotism” and “nationalism”, whereby the latter seems to involve superiority and degrading others, and the former is simply love of country.
Perhaps “nationalism” and “blind patriotism” the same, based on the concept of US superiority over other countries and, therefore, US entitlement.
“Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.”
Well that might have been truer before black box voting machines arrived in the USA. The votes going in do not always match the tallies coming out. (Apparently there are a lack of citizens down there who are capable of manually counting ballots.) There’s also, in the USA, as in Canada, the problem that no matter who you vote for they can turn out to be a ringer for the big banks and other big corporations. What they say to get elected is not what you get after they are elected. Obama is a perfect example of that. There are still good US citizens but the voting system does not guarantee that it will give them representatives who actually represent them. Mr. Nathan did get it right about patriotism though. There are “my country right or wrong” people (not me though) and I’d dare to say more so in the USA than Canada.
On the subject of voting, there is also the problem of those who lie to get elected. Something that doesn’t seem to recognize boundaries or any sort because it can be found everywhere.
The history of popular voting is interesting though. I don’t know about here in Canada in it’s founding days but in the US, politicians would host voting day events that involved getting voters drunk. Even the venerated founding fathers of the US did this. So “influencing” and outright cheating have been part of democracy since the beginning it seems. Nothing much has changed except the amount of damage govts can do within and outside their borders.
I voted for Obama in 2008 – despite having many reservations about him that have sadly turned out to be true. I am wary of throwing my vote (or allegiance) away now that I am on the verge of Canadian citizenship. I find I am more partial to participation at the ward level because the odds of knowing (or knowing someone who does) the candidates is far greater and it becomes easier to judge character and intent.
“Every day we’re told that we live in the greatest country on earth. And it’s always stated as an undeniable fact: Leos are born between July 23 and August 22, fitted queen-size sheets measure sixty by eighty inches, and America is the greatest country on earth. Having grown up with this in our ears, it’s startling to realize that other countries have nationalistic slogans of their own, none of which are ‘We’re number two!”
― David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day
@watcher thank you for brightening up my morning!
Australians on the other hand take some sort of perverse pride in mild self-denigration on a national as well as a personal level. When I first came here I knew someone who would always answer the question “how are you?” with “not too bad.” I thought they were a pessimist until I found out it was a common reply. A similar attitude seems to hold when talking about the country.
How do Canadians approach the subject of national pride?
America is a religion and we’re apostates…
@ shunrata
“How do Canadians approach the subject of national pride?”
Not too bad if there is a puck involved. 😉
Canadian national pride is always …
Tim Horton’s
On voting, In Canada there was discrepancy and voting fraud found…PC’s were suspect…so it happens even in our greatest country in the world, Canada.
@shunrata
How do your like your new PM? The electorate got rid of some morons and elected a clown, IMHO. Murdoch sure was pushing for his election in all the papers.
Is he rushing to support America on Syria? I wondered if Gillard or Rudd would as they sure had their noses up Obama’s bum.
Wonder what he thinks of FATCA, but then like America, I can imagine that the Treasury bureaucracy works on its own agenda without much interference from Parliament. Certainly the first thing he will try to do, is reverse the carbon tax, or am I misreading from afar?
But one thing is for certain, he will love the Marines now stationed up in Darwin, so nothing will change there.
@Just Me
How do your like your new PM? The electorate got rid of some morons and elected a clown, IMHO.
That’s about the size of it. 🙁
Is he rushing to support America on Syria?
Interestingly enough, he doesn’t seem to be in any rush to get behind the US on Syria. It could be just because he doesn’t understand foreign policy.
As far as I can tell FATCA is barely noticed here (except by tax professionals). The Treasury is mulling over the idea of an IGA. I don’t see any update on the following from Nov 2012:
“In response to concerns about the impact of these obligations on Australian financial institutions and the Australian economy as a whole, the Australian Government is exploring the feasibility of an intergovernmental agreement with the US. The objective of such an agreement would be to minimise compliance costs for Australian stakeholders while enhancing the existing tax cooperation arrangements between Australia and the US.”
These people have made a list of various headaches associated with FATCA / IGA – for institutions, taking no notice of us puny individuals:
Anyway – wish us luck with “Mr Rabbit” as my son calls him.
@shunrata…
Thanks for reminding me about the Boat people. I do know that is a big issue. Paula Hanson is BACK! In the Senate, eh?
Heading that way in early November, so will get an ear full from all my in-laws about the “rabbit” but they had some other more colorful characterizations I won’t repeat here. 🙂
…and a prerequisite for being described as ‘homelander’.
Agreed though I think you can find “homelanders” in just about any land because there will always be a greater number of citizens who follow and parrot without thought than not.
I looked up George Jean Nathan.
One quote I liked that he said and it is true.
“Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.”
@Northern star, I think that last quote is perhaps true sometimes and maybe here in Canada but, good people voted fervently for Obama…and look how that turned out. LOL!
There is a huge difference between “patriotism” and “nationalism”, whereby the latter seems to involve superiority and degrading others, and the former is simply love of country.
Perhaps “nationalism” and “blind patriotism” the same, based on the concept of US superiority over other countries and, therefore, US entitlement.
“Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.”
Well that might have been truer before black box voting machines arrived in the USA. The votes going in do not always match the tallies coming out. (Apparently there are a lack of citizens down there who are capable of manually counting ballots.) There’s also, in the USA, as in Canada, the problem that no matter who you vote for they can turn out to be a ringer for the big banks and other big corporations. What they say to get elected is not what you get after they are elected. Obama is a perfect example of that. There are still good US citizens but the voting system does not guarantee that it will give them representatives who actually represent them. Mr. Nathan did get it right about patriotism though. There are “my country right or wrong” people (not me though) and I’d dare to say more so in the USA than Canada.
On the subject of voting, there is also the problem of those who lie to get elected. Something that doesn’t seem to recognize boundaries or any sort because it can be found everywhere.
The history of popular voting is interesting though. I don’t know about here in Canada in it’s founding days but in the US, politicians would host voting day events that involved getting voters drunk. Even the venerated founding fathers of the US did this. So “influencing” and outright cheating have been part of democracy since the beginning it seems. Nothing much has changed except the amount of damage govts can do within and outside their borders.
I voted for Obama in 2008 – despite having many reservations about him that have sadly turned out to be true. I am wary of throwing my vote (or allegiance) away now that I am on the verge of Canadian citizenship. I find I am more partial to participation at the ward level because the odds of knowing (or knowing someone who does) the candidates is far greater and it becomes easier to judge character and intent.
“Every day we’re told that we live in the greatest country on earth. And it’s always stated as an undeniable fact: Leos are born between July 23 and August 22, fitted queen-size sheets measure sixty by eighty inches, and America is the greatest country on earth. Having grown up with this in our ears, it’s startling to realize that other countries have nationalistic slogans of their own, none of which are ‘We’re number two!”
― David Sedaris, Me Talk Pretty One Day
@watcher thank you for brightening up my morning!
Australians on the other hand take some sort of perverse pride in mild self-denigration on a national as well as a personal level. When I first came here I knew someone who would always answer the question “how are you?” with “not too bad.” I thought they were a pessimist until I found out it was a common reply. A similar attitude seems to hold when talking about the country.
How do Canadians approach the subject of national pride?
America is a religion and we’re apostates…
@ shunrata
“How do Canadians approach the subject of national pride?”
Not too bad if there is a puck involved. 😉
Canadian national pride is always …
Tim Horton’s
On voting, In Canada there was discrepancy and voting fraud found…PC’s were suspect…so it happens even in our greatest country in the world, Canada.
@shunrata
How do your like your new PM? The electorate got rid of some morons and elected a clown, IMHO. Murdoch sure was pushing for his election in all the papers.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-03/tv-networks-refuse-to-run-getup-anti-murdoch-ad/4932542
Is he rushing to support America on Syria? I wondered if Gillard or Rudd would as they sure had their noses up Obama’s bum.
Wonder what he thinks of FATCA, but then like America, I can imagine that the Treasury bureaucracy works on its own agenda without much interference from Parliament. Certainly the first thing he will try to do, is reverse the carbon tax, or am I misreading from afar?
But one thing is for certain, he will love the Marines now stationed up in Darwin, so nothing will change there.
@Just Me
That’s about the size of it. 🙁
Interestingly enough, he doesn’t seem to be in any rush to get behind the US on Syria. It could be just because he doesn’t understand foreign policy.
He’s more interested in getting rid of the carbon tax and ‘turning back teh boats’ – you know, the ones bringing people to Australia and causing traffic jams in Sydney..
Fiona Scott’s asylum-seeker comment the ‘silliest of the campaign’
http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/federal-election-2013/fiona-scotts-asylumseeker-comment-the-silliest-of-the-campaign-20130903-2t2n9.html#ixzz2eNGQncdV
As far as I can tell FATCA is barely noticed here (except by tax professionals). The Treasury is mulling over the idea of an IGA. I don’t see any update on the following from Nov 2012:
http://www.treasury.gov.au/ConsultationsandReviews/Consultations/2012/Intergovernmental-agreement-to-implement-FATCA
“In response to concerns about the impact of these obligations on Australian financial institutions and the Australian economy as a whole, the Australian Government is exploring the feasibility of an intergovernmental agreement with the US. The objective of such an agreement would be to minimise compliance costs for Australian stakeholders while enhancing the existing tax cooperation arrangements between Australia and the US.”
These people have made a list of various headaches associated with FATCA / IGA – for institutions, taking no notice of us puny individuals:
http://www.mallesons.com/publications/marketAlerts/2013/regulator-may-2013/Pages/Offshore-presence-may-cause-FATCA-headache-for-Australian-global-financial-institutions.aspx
Anyway – wish us luck with “Mr Rabbit” as my son calls him.
@shunrata…
Thanks for reminding me about the Boat people. I do know that is a big issue. Paula Hanson is BACK! In the Senate, eh?
Heading that way in early November, so will get an ear full from all my in-laws about the “rabbit” but they had some other more colorful characterizations I won’t repeat here. 🙂