trinacriabob

hot springs

Disagree. Times have changed. A polished black guy with a wedding band and a set of golf clubs is more likely to ascend in a prestigious law firm armed with a J.D. from Virginia or some Ivy League School BEFORE a polished white guy with a comparably ranked law degree, say Michigan or Stanford, but NO wedding band and NO set of golf clubs ever will. I'm just tossing that out as an example. What I'm saying is that "meritocracy" works here and in Canada more so than it does in a lot of places. For those who want to assimilate, and acquire a requisite amount of polish, the opportunities are there. Kudos to Obama for a Harvard education. And kudos to our Hispanic next door neighbors growing up in LA whose daughter got a 3.9 in biochemistry and was admitted to NINE medical schools, making affirmative action superfluous in her case.

Cobalt

AMC (American Motors)

Open 24 hours

I'm not afraid of change. Right now, we need change. I'm just not fond of the fact that some people don't try...or won't try. I learned Spanish in college and retained it...to make my travel experiences easier. You'd think someone would try to learn English to make EVERYDAY LIVING easier. I resent that HALF my ballot was in Spanish. But, evidently it's a much more researched policy call by various states that encompasses more viewpoints than mine, so I guess I'm "outnumbered." Still, I don't like it.

Slurpee (do you have those on the other coast?)

No, no, I hear what you're saying. And that's why I regard Canada as very similar...a previous entity of the British crown that now takes in people from all over the world...What does the inscription on the Peace Arch at Blaine WA/Surrey BC say? "Children of a Common Mother." That being said, a lot of people still view their place of birth as home. My father wanted to live out his last years and be put into the ground in Italy. It didn't happen as planned. He never made it back. And then you know what happens when they do get back to the motherland? They experience huge cognitive dissonance. For my father, it was "sheez, these damn Italians are bureaucratic pompous messes" counterbalanced by "sheez, the people here are REAL...I can relate to them." When in America, it was "well everything runs well here and is so organized," but "damn, '(Nordic/Aryan)' types are so sterile," so they mostly associated with other "high-drama" immigrants, unless they knew the parents of other nationalities via us kids in school. Let the successful architect go back to Cuba. He'll be doing "Toronto-Havana-Toronto" on the plane a lot. Not being immigrants, I don't think we can fully relate. However, if I don't like a country, I don't go there. And if I like it enough to go there, I try to immerse myself in their ways. It's funny how easily I've made friends, or just found people who have treated me extremely well, in the places I've enjoyed traveling to.

Think hirsute like a gorilla.

How do you expect to be supported when you can't spell LEFTIST and GUERILLA? Can you feel the love?

All right, Nick, where've you been? I knew you'd process this as such. +1 My problem is that some of them don't even try. And with bilingual EVERYTHING, there's no need to. As the old adage goes, "Give an inch, take a mile." Anybody over 20 years of age has seen MANY examples of this in various aspects of their lives...or they're living in a vacuum. I'm not from Utah. I was born and raised in LA. My best grammar school friends were Cuban. My (4) best high school friends were Cuban, Italian, Irish and Japanese. My best college friend was Mexican-American. The parents of the Hispanic ones spoke with an accent but managed to learn English, though it was comical - "eschool," "eskiing" and "Esteve McQueen." But they could read, write and speak basic English. I think that those of us who have this so called "entitlement" issue have roots in places in the globe for which NO concessions were granted to our ancestors who crossed the ocean to get here.

Yes, Dodgefan, everybody has been preoccupied with the general craziness going on around us. I hope it gets better for you...and for all of us in general.

ZL, exactly what my relatives in Europe thought...Exactly that. That she was a joke! Now, Sarah and her "lixo branco" husband won't have to move to Washington.

You bet, S.H., for minorities, it was THE reason. Look how many people in the media and sports "waltz" into office and then learn "on the job." Look, how, in mundane jobs, people don't get hired because they "dont' have experience." This year, California's capital city elected a black ex-NBA basketball player as mayor over an incumbent with a much lengthier and supposedly competent political career. And, then, these ex-jocks and ex-movie stars learn "on the job". All it says is how stupid the people voting can be...it appears to be only marginally better than voting for class president in high school based on popularity. You can bet that I was quite pissed when I was walking into church a couple of Sundays ago and heard some Hispanics in front of me yacking in Spanish and for which the words "Obama and amnestia" came on the heels of each other. Color and gender are one thing. Experience and a track record of equitable and intelligent public policy are another. Somehow, I think voting rights should be based on some combo of IQ, psychological testing, and a current events quiz.

Dicyclomine (or bentyl)

IBS irritable bowel syndrome

I've seen other examples of it in my work life, but I get the drift.

Biz, I already speak it fluently. I took it in college (univ. in Canadian talk). I took it for an easy "A" and so I could use it on vacation in Spain and Argentina, not to have a discussion over a fender-bender with an illegal alien or order a BK Veggie without onions....this one squatty Mexican chick kept screwing up my order so I finally raised my voice and said "Sin cibolla, entiende?" She got it...ON HER TERMS.

Like wanting to reach for a razor blade and rolling up your sleeves?

Yes, it's contrary to our collective deeply ingrained work ethic and concept of "meritocracy."

Nothing is wrong with Rockland County! You want me on your team for the geography category for Trivial Pursuit. When I was in Catholic grammar school, people tried to cheat off of me in geography! It was one of my favorite subjects. Rockland County....you go through it across the Tappan Zee Bridge from White Plains en route to Highland Falls NY to see West Point, right?

As I may have posted before, I was happy with neither party's candidate. Unbelievable that this is the best our country could offer. I thought the speech had too much focus on the "look where we've come" factor. Instead, he could have neutralized it by talking about opportunity for and contributions by ALL. Since this is a touchy issue, it should have been downplayed. His plate ought to be full with the economy, international conditons and environmental concerns. Race issues take a back seat, BIG TIME, to all of the above. The outcome was a non-event in my mind. It was to be expected. I was actually expecting a 54% or 53% popular vote, but it was closer than that. That surprised me.

The O.C. composes a new song: "I left my heart...in Orange County."

Texas

Tu eres muy comico, tipo peludo.