biggish data

http://www.christian.../0e9a110d-1.jpg

Oh Alan, thank you for proving once again why you will always be my No 1 Internet Boyfriend.

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-07 12:17:00

How long until you're a statutory Englishman, Alan?

I am a revelation to the right wing inhabitants of the Washington desert who think it's a sign of the second coming.
(Second comings are not that often nowadays in my house)
I have a multi coloured cloth that I use to rest my pistol on (stop it !) - and sometimes, up at the range, I wrap it round my head just to shake em (Sheik em) up a bit.

They don't believe I was in a fish and chip shop in Yorkshire last week - they reckon it was a Madrassa for my graduation ceremony - I can tell in their eyes.

I will always be Alan the Alien - even when I get my blue passport in January and my GC is pulled from my cold dead wallet

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-07 12:09:00

my grandmother actually was embarrassed to show her friends baby pictures of my cousin (who was her first grandchild) to her friends because "he was an ugly baby"

ah but grandchildren are not the same as children - Mike Tyson's mum thought he was gorgeous

so did Larry King's

Ben Stein

yasser arafat cop this >>
http://www.fansonlin...afat-1999-2.jpg

Mick Jagger (statutory Englishman)

etc etc

Edited by saywhat, 07 June 2010 - 12:01 PM.

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-07 11:56:00

Tracy - I saw the video of your baby shower on FB and I have to admit - it made me feel a bit verklempt. All the visa journey and there you are together a few years later with a bump, opening up baby presents.

Yes their mummies will love em whatever...

I remember the woman with a baby on a British Rail train. A man in the compartment stood up and said "Glad I am getting off here - that kid is SO ugly"

Off course she started to cry uncontrollably

The guard saw her and asked what was the matter.

She said "A really horrible man has just insulted me"

He said " You calm down love - I will go and get you a nice cup of tea and a banana for your monkey"

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-07 11:27:00

I never even kissed a gal til I was 21. Too busy with guns and motorbikes and model planes etc
2 months later I was a dad to be !
What a surprise ! I didn't think that would happen - even with my 'A'level pass in Biology.

Washing nappies in the sea at midnight in Cornwall - those were the days - bet the BP mess isn't half as bad
Hahah and they thought it was the Torrey Canyon disaster that caused all that.
At least you can be proud nowadays if 'IT' is gay or lesbian, or BI, or a cross dresser or is dixlectric or a vegetarian catholic like Hitler was.

I am a cross dresser sometimes - I get really cross when I can't find my other sock

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-07 11:10:00

Sorry, Tracy. I actually really do admire people who can make that kind of commitment in their lives, to take care of a child, nurture and love it, and to bring a new life into the world. It takes a kind of bravery and sacrifice that I can't muster up. You and Chaz are going to be awesome parents, and baby TN is gonna be one lucky bambino.

and 'IT' will buy you a new LEXUS when you are 60 ! Just like keith's sprog did.

It does happen

Edited by saywhat, 07 June 2010 - 10:27 AM.

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-07 10:25:00

Well having kids is great at the time and that's what's important.

It's like taking delivery of a new car - it's superb - then next week somebody scratches it in the car park and suddenly it's a source of sorrow and another mess to sort out. That's real life.

My current wife (wait let me check - yes she is still here), has never had kids. She tried to get close to mine until he came banging on the door drunk at 3am - then she got a practical lesson in all the stuff that comes with it. She now reverts to cats - much better - until they rip your new settee to shreds and start clattering the blinds at 4am and throwing up on the sunday newspaper

So the lesson to be learned (US - the take away) is to enjoy what's good while it lasts and when it goes bad - dump it if it's dumpable. Kids and cats ain't dumpable by the way. Cats can be squirted with cold water when they are bad but you get arrested for squirting kids repeatedly.

Seize the moment - and the secret of a good party is knowing when to leave.

Edited by saywhat, 07 June 2010 - 09:42 AM.

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-07 09:41:00

Incorrect. MY little ray of sunshine. Hands off, woman.

What do preggy people eat in the U.S. ?

In England they eat pieces of coal

I suppose everything is bigger in America so it will be a bite of out Mount Rushmore or something.

jeez I can remember her throwing up all over my Ford. I worked hard for that Ford. I had to grease round my rich grand aunt and watch her take an hour to poke around in her fish bones while I sat there with a bow tie on looking like I deserved a legacy. It worked and I got 250 quid inheritance - hence the three year old Ford.
People who work in factories don't know what real hard work is compared to greasing round grand aunts.

I wonder if it will be bald. I had a bald one and a hairy one . I remember saying to her "What the hell is THAT" will all its black hair looking like the exorcist. Actually she was the blond one when she grew up.

Luckily the chap didn't go to the slaughterhouse scene in those days - we all turned up next day with a bunch of flowers. I think if I had been there for all the blood and innards I would have turned gay or 'forget it' immediately. It's a silly modern fad - what next, watching em on the bog ?

Life is great coz either way, have em or don't have em, there is an up side and a down side - so we can all relax.

If I had been born even uglier, I would never have been able to get a girlfriend - but I wouldn't have had my nose punched or been two timed either - so it all evens out. Isn't that great ?

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-06 22:19:00

My 'little Blighter' (to borrow an Alan phrase!) will be here in a month. Eeek!

To the girls in YYZ (aka Toronto) - I'm jealous - sounds like WAY too much fun!!!

Oh Tracy - don't fall into the trap of saying that when they are 18 etc they will be off your hands coz it gets worse
exponentially !

My little tiny tots are 40 him and 37 her - and they are a nightmare ! Of course they just need guidance from me coz they are not old enough to know anything yet - praps when they grow up. I was planning to be an enormous burden to them in my old age and sap all their money - but here I am in the US with my own wad and a rich young chick for a wife so my plans have been foiled.

There must be some way I can pay em back for all the anxiety they have caused me. There must be some sweet revenge.

Of course your little blighter may be like my friend Keith's daughter. She has just bought him a LEXUS ! Yes you read that right - she bought HIM !

One thing I do know is that the bringing up of em guarantees nuffink ! I know families of 2 little angels and one black sheep and they were all brought up the same. jeez would you like mine while you are still keen on the idea ? Save you a sore batty next time if you adopt mine.

I will throw in a nice cot (crib)... one blonde one bald no gingers - can't say fairer than that.

Edited by saywhat, 06 June 2010 - 08:23 PM.

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-06 20:23:00

So you've met my college ex-boyfriend.

He taught me everything I know - and now I run a food porn website called 'slowly dripping jammy dodgers'

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-15 11:39:00

But what happens when someone is born with both, as many of our children will be?

By becoming a US citizen you are pledging your loyalty to Uncle Sam forever....through your IRS obligations, no matter where you live in the world.

Good point.

If I go back to the UK forever, I will renounce USC and be officially released from my oath - just like people are released from their vows on divorce.

Only losing limbs etc is forever. Some people disavow their children. President John Adams did that.

1799 John Adams renounced his second son, ceasing all correspondence with him and describing him as "a mere rake, buck, blood and beast."

It's a day out in London that's all.

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-15 11:35:00

LMAO why?!! Cos of my zest and zeal for all things immi? I admit it is a tad scary, and i was this way pre pregnancy so I really have no excuse.

Renouncing citizenship is really complicated so you can hold out hope of that - divorce from USCIS need not be permanent with the N400

Then you can start again with GC application to North Korea - I bet that is real fun and you have to learn Korean as well.

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-15 11:25:00

Clearly a sign of the so-called pregnancy brain. Just kidding! (I am a little afraid of Tracy still after all these years.)

I am not and have never been the other woman in the Gore breakup. Honest.

I like my new position and especially my new perks; ta President-in-Waiting Alan!

Owl has a much tougher job with SC there. Clearly you still love me best.

It will take me a little while to get over earlytraingate, but you are forgiven in principle.

Now let's join forces and hunt down people who skip without paying their debts to the companies who's shares I own. I think people who borrow money should be fitted with ankle transmitters and followed using predator drones.

2 months late and it's penal servitude

skipping countries and it's -- kapow ! splat !

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-15 11:02:00

Totally off topic, but I've been dorkily organizing hubby's natz paperwork in the last month or so. He can apply in mid August and I figure the Blighty bun will keep us busy enough to the point where all he'll have time to do is have passport photos done and sign the N 400. I'm a bit sad that this will be our last foray into immi though

Masochist !!!!

I got my photos 6 weeks ago hoping to cheat my new country who demand 30 days before photos (what a good start)- but Walgreen's put the date on the back - so now I have to go and get some more done in July as I am an August filer too
I looked as surprised as Saddam 10 seconds after he had been hung, so probably a good idea to get new ones anyway
Think I will get an orange face job like John Boener (It's pronounced ####### not bayner - ask any german) and a Mitt Romney hair do - when in Rome...

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-15 10:35:00

If you need a deputy, I'm ready for the call up. I'm already leading the VJ Army of the Night and I got drunk with Al Gore so I have mucho real world experience.

I knew there was a reason why he was getting divorced ! Jeez that iphone gets around...

I am thinking of appointing you big mamma hooyazya bongo in charge of oil spills and the penally high taxation of voodoo supplies as they just caused general petraeus to keel over
There is free GIN and a limo with this job and unlimited blackberry time

The owl will be Secretary to the Treasury and Special Governor of South Carolina

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-15 10:17:00

Your definition of allegiance is fine, but shouldn't non-USCs also be paying taxes, minding laws, etc?

This is where we disagree.

Yes. the formal procedure that the US has for renouncing Nationality, allows for a proper release from the oath. Once released, we can do what we want.

Of course GC holders should pay tax and uphold laws. I pay tax on my worldwide income from all sauces (I own HP Sauce shares).

Now exactly why do you disagree ? Shouldn't you really say why ? It's ok to say you don't like dark chocolate without giving a reason, but for everything else you have to have reason or otherwise we end up going into Iraq again.

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-15 10:09:00

Oh Alan. For this post alone I would love you if I didn't already. I'll be proud to be your fellow American one of these days.

It's coming to a country near you soon. January for USC (latest) then it will take me most of the spring of 2011 to get the constitution changed so I can become Prez, mystical leader and big dadda boom boom for life. Then there will be some changes around here.

Edited by saywhat, 15 June 2010 - 10:01 AM.

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-15 10:01:00

Gotta say, Bob usually grates on every nerve of mine, but in this instance, I don't see where he's saying anything out of line. Dual nationality as a technicality (oh we don't have to deal with USCIS anymore) is a great concept...truly, it is. But I do think there's a conflict of interest in being a citizen of two countries. It's an interesting topic...where does the allegiance fall? How can one really claim loyalty and the like to two different countries at the same time?

I do think Bob's going overboard with the whole 'oh it could happen tomorrow' tangent....but I do think he raises some very legitimate concerns. It is a big step to any LPR considering the option of dual. I think if I were in the UK, no matter how long I was there, I could never adopt a dual citizenship because my allegiance will always be with the US, first and always.

I reckon we have to define 'allegiance' which people don't seem to attempt

If you have allegiance to your best friend and you see them doing stupid, you have a duty to tell your friend that what they are doing can really harm them (or in other words to criticize their actions). So any USC has a duty to help the US gov back onto the right track when they go astray and that is allegiance

Paying taxes, keeping laws is also allegiance. Many illegals in the UK and the US don't keep any laws as they have no allegiance.

Of course the US is in the military phase of it's proxy Empire building and so many people only see allegiance as it relates to war making - and therein lies the problem.

There is a difference between Nationalism and Patriotism and the US has a strong streak of both. The Nationalism can get quite mystical with the personality cult of the founding fathers mixed in there. They were only politicians of the time doing their best you know and not saints or god's place men.

People get married and then break their oath - about 50% of people actually. Is it worse to break your oath to the USCIS or to your spouse ?

I agree that you shouldn't work against a country where you have taken an oath. You should pay taxes, keep laws and denounce traitors and terrorists. No Treason. However, in the case of a war between say the UK and the USA, I think it would be entirely honorable to renounce US Citizenship formally, and then go and fly a nuclear bomber for the UK

That honorable alternative allows me to become a US Citizen with no reservations.

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-15 09:15:00

for practical purposes, in real life situations and not science fiction, it means that if you become a US citizen the US will not look kindly on you joining the armed forces of your home country or engaging in treason. I imagine the times square bomber will be stripped of his acquired US citizenship

If 'their' god told you to, it would be a crime - if 'our' god told you to, it would be insanity and so a defense

I don't know if insanity is a reason to be stripped of your US Nationality ...after all glen beck is still a citizen

http://en.wikipedia....nsanity_defense

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-14 19:07:00

To me, that doesn't mean I have to give my citizenship back, it just means my loyalty must be with the US, not Canada. In this case, Cdn citizenship would simply be a document that covers me while I am in Canada. Granted, that makes me fully susceptible to Canadian laws while there. Meh. Maybe I am just splitting hairs. I figure if the USCIS site says that there is no law against having dual citizenship, even if something was signed into law to be enforced, there would be a grandfather clause.

Stop hacking me.

Yes there is a grandfather clause which says you should be willing to kill him on behalf of the US providing

A He is still alive
B some zealot tells you to

If Canadian in law is like UK law, verbal oaths such as the US one don't count and you keep your Canadian citizenship. Presumably the only oath you made when you became a Canadian Citizen was 'F me that light is bright'

Edited by saywhat, 14 June 2010 - 06:26 PM.

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-14 18:23:00

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

Where in there does it say I have to renounce my Canadian (born) citizenship?

And why can't I turn italics off?

It doesn't say it.

It says that if required to nuke Yonge Street, Toronto then you will gladly comply

and rejoice when you see the flash on CNN - I paraphrase

Course you could cross your fingers which will preserve your immortal soul intact

The italics show you are being hacked by......

Edited by saywhat, 14 June 2010 - 06:20 PM.

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-14 18:19:00

I have been eligible for citizenship for awhile now..

if and when I become a US citizen it will be only because then I wouldn't have to worry about renewing my greencard and it is so much easier to get a US passport then it is to get a Canadian passport

I know - anyone who has been marmalized by the USCIS and has then got the chance of divorcing them, has to be drooling with anticipation. It's a great prize and praps it is worth bombing my family for. See it as a test of your mental orientation.

The gov was worried about all the Wisconsin Germans getting involved in WW2, but when it came to it, they cheerfully went to Germany and killed like good 'uns when told to.

It's simply what humans do. I am looking at WW1 now and this disgraceful allegation in the UK papers this week that Woodrow Wilson almost entered on the side of Germany

I will report back if it's so

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-14 18:10:00

STOP IT ALAN

That is dirty food porn.

I have told you not to trifle with me !

Oh hey I haven't even got started. Once you have been rubbed down with a battered yorkshire
haddock with vinegar on (unmalted by the way), you will NEVER go back to mother's apple pie crushed into double cream and ooooooooooooooooozed out of a miniature BP blow out valve in authentic colours....

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-14 17:59:00

He is now.

Ooohhhh, now I want Ginger Nuts. Those look awesome!

After the introduction of ginger nuts, UK cocaine usage dropped 90%

They should be dunked in nescafe regular coffee which has some milk in it - end then slowly sucked as they distegrate and wrap themselves around your clack coating it to 2.0345 mm...

They are specifically engineered not to crumble too fast.

Those walmart gals will never make it from the car to the electric scooter if they find these.

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-14 17:49:00

Screw that. She stole my Timbits. The b1tch had to die. No court in Canada would convict me.

Timbits ?????

Is Tim missing his bits ?

Apparently these could not be sold in the US
Something to do with a threat from Conan O'Brien

http://www.britishde...om/prod_b11.htm

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-14 17:34:00

I might have one or two relatives that may need killing. Allegedly. Just sayin'.

Headline:

Predator drone kills 'fingered relative' in Yonge Street, Toronto. "I was just carrying out my oath" says woman.

VJ members applaud commitment of new citizen to her oath

Victim's neighbor says "She was such a quiet woman - kept herself to herself but everyone liked her - it's such a quiet neighborhood - nobody expected this to happen. I can't believe she ate the last jammy dodger"

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-14 17:20:00

I agree about people being more integrated in the US, and I am comparing to Canada, not the UK, since one visit my whole life to the UK does not make me anything resembling an expert. However, I don't find that people here are proud of their ethnicity - it seems to me that they hide it to 'fit in'. I guess I see it as more assimilation in the US, whereas in Canada people celebrate diversity and accept and show interest in different cultures. I find Canada more integrated, and the US more assimilated. Doesn't mean the US model is wrong, necessarily, although I do miss Caribana in Toronto and Folkfest in Saskatoon.

Perhaps it's this insistence that what matters is your willingness to go and kill people including your relatives back in the home country. 'Responsibilities' is interpreted on VJ at least as war first and oh a few other things too. Canada doesn't really have that war agenda.

I see my responsibilities as doing nothing to harm the USA, paying taxes, obeying laws and telling on my neighbors if I think they are terrorists.

It's enough to make you want to be a woman (almost). It enough to make you like being over army age (almost)

Why can't these war hawks see their responsibilities as including not doing drugs or abusing minorities or joining militias against their own government ?

Now that's citizenship

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-14 17:02:00

It's all good - we're all adults. It probably would have helped if I was a little clearer to begin with (and not so generalized).

How dare you call me an adult !

They are awful and won't let me stay up and I hate them

Edited by saywhat, 14 June 2010 - 02:29 PM.

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-14 14:29:00

Phew! Glad to see this conversation settling down -- I was a little worried there!

And Alan -- if my aim was poor, it's just because I was overcome with ardour. Now that Owl has been reunited with her One True Love, I feel some of my paranoia receding. :Wu:

Ardour ? is that a perfume or something from Pfizer ?

That owl will be back as soon as dusk falls - silent gliding wings.....

I am cool with the yanks thing now and I am going to do as you do and treat the paperwork as just that - and to hell with nationalism of anywhere - but still savor the good bits of the cultures

Take the best, forget the rest and always remain ultimately selfish

Which reminds me : brace yourself:

Mummy cockle and baby cockle on the beach at Morecambe: parents get beach chairs and lay back

Baby cockle: Can I have an ice cream
Daddy cockle - we are on a budget so no - go and have as swim

baby cockle goes swimming - spurt spurt spurt and comes back 10 minutes later and there are the 2 parents each with a massive strawberry ice cream with a 99 choccy stuck in the top

baby cockle :

YOU SHELLFISH BASTARDS !!!!!

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-14 14:09:00

No, I'm not suggesting that your husband is racist (or you for that matter), but Hayes is not the whole country, which is what you referred to in your original comment. I was beginning to think if the same UK that I live in was being discussed!

I lived in Apperley Bridge which is the posh part of Bradford if there is such a thing.

We had two big estates of mostly white drugged up dysfunctional racist national front white underclass separating us from 150,000 Pakistanis who preserved their religion and culture totally and wanted to see Sharia law etc extended to their areas and not to handle pork/alcohol if they worked in the supermarket checkouts. A fiery mix

I had no affinity to either population so Washington State feels less strange. That makes me a snob and/or a racist in the eyes of some but I don't see myself as either - and I enjoy the company of Educated liberal Asians or decent English working class people equally..

My dad was a co-op van driver and later a coal man and we unloaded coal trucks together. I was told we were better than many other white families coz we didnt do acoholism/thieving/incest/walking away from debts etc. That's snobby in some people's books but I don't care about them.

My pal lives 15 miles away in Harrogate in a different world (for now)

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-14 13:22:00

I didn't say anyone was racist, just that perhaps the reaction was exaggerated. See my previous post about not living in Hayes etc. And I also object to the reference to being a troll. Just because I do most of my posting in another sub-forum does not make me a troll!

Paranoia stalks the streets ! - I was saying the exact opposite of that !

Ok read this carefully - you were saying someone might call you a racist and i said if you are not a racist then don't let anyone call you that

I was also saying that if someone ever calls you a troll when you are not, then they are probably the same kind of accusatory person. I have no idea what you have posted anywhere else at any time

Do you get it now ? Chill pill time. I recommend a toasted bagel and nescafe

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-14 13:05:00

I'm sure everyone is keen to make my husband racist, and if that's where you want to go, so be it. He had no problem with anyone who lived there, obeyed the laws and wanted to make an honest living for themselves and their families. But I think it was the rest of them who were kind of spoiling it for him.

Don't let anyone make you a racist if you are not. Some people shout racist as soon as culture is mentioned but they are the same ones who shout troll as soon as a controversial subject is addressed

Burying these subjects is what causes all the apartheid - the stupid govts should have figured all this out before they slammed millions of people of contradictory religions and cultures together. The govts didn't - we and the others both pay the price.

Note I say 'contradictory' not different.

It's easy to have catholics living alongside protestants and Buddhists, but when one religion thinks it's ok to cut a girl's bits off and the other community say no to any girl having that done, what can one do ? Cut half her bits off ?

In Saudi Arabia, you commit adultery and you get stoned.

In the USA, you get stoned and then commit adultery

Where is the middle way ? There isn't one.

Edited by saywhat, 14 June 2010 - 12:42 PM.

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-14 12:42:00

I read this a few hours ago, and it stuck in my mind. What exactly does that mean? And where are the statistics that back that up? And it seems the message is 'I feel like I'm a minority in my own country, so I'll go and become the minority in someone else's country'

Ah but if the new country is closer to you in culture than the majority of the country that you have left, doesn't that make sense and wouldn't one feel LESS of a minority ?
I could move into North Central Milwaukee which is nearly all 100% African American, and feel less weird than in Bradford for instance. For a start, the cinema sound track wouldn't be in Punjabi and the boys and gals would be sat together and stealing a kiss
My town is 40% Mexican American or Latino generally, and I don't feel a minority at all - its more like I am on holiday in Spain - less strange than that actually as all the road signs are in English. The biggest cultural difference is that the Latinos sit in the park with an extended family of 20 people and the other Americans etc sit in couples - big deal

My OH's gf's are black and from milwaukee and a bunch of then came over to Seattle 3 weeks ago and we went over and had a hoot of a time with no cultural no-no's to look out for.
I even let the girls them walk in front of me.

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-14 11:59:00

You have been missed.

Sloppy shooting

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-14 11:41:00

Alan, I've not read the entire thread, I'll admit. And perhaps my view on this is all too simplistic - but the only view I really have of it is that of my hubby's - and his is quite simple.

He plans to naturalize this year for a few reasons. First, if he and I ever decided to go back to England, and then wanted to come here again - we can do that without any further immigration woes. Plus we'll also stop forking out $ to USCIS every 10 years to renew his green card (likely just a matter of time until those fees go up again!). It's a means to an end.

Second, he has never been overly proud to be British (ok, World Cup time is an exception ). He had grown so tired of it - of becoming a minority in his own country, watching the quality of his life and his parents go downhill, etc and so on. But I also think he is a rarity in that he doesn't see becoming a US citizen as somehow making him 'less British'. I am starting to realize this is a HUGE issue for many, though - which really I don't get. No matter what he does or where he lives, he will be British until the day he dies. Even if he were to renounce his British citizenship - sorry - he was born a Blighter, will always be one. It doesn't somehow 'wash off'.

He also doesn't see becoming a USC as somehow now 'flying the flag' and being this overly patriotic quasi Yank. It just makes things a little more secure for us and our future, which we do plan to live out in this country, and he'd also like the chance to vote as we are going to live here long term. He'll still find some things we do weird and in some sense, won't ever really 'belong'. It's really just a means to an end to him.

As an aside, I also don't understand the 'one bad apple spoiling the lot' mentality. There are idiots and crazies in every part of the world. I really don't think Yanks have the corner market on it. You just see it more because that's where you now happen to live, and we are on this constant 24 hour news cycle. What else are they going to talk about? LOL.

I agree with Elmcity that this is a great post and you put your thumb right on it and describe my position exactly. Mind reader. I am going to do this passport thing for exactly the same reasons as your hubby and not so I can become Rambo and hate who I am told to hate. I will stay English in my basic attitudes, preferring quiet speech, fairness, and no constant references to 'arses' in every sentence. Apparently that makes me a 'snotty Brit' in some circles but so be it. I will cheer England when they are good and say that the Germans are better when they are.

I see the oblique reference to hubby feeling a foreigner in England. I lived within 6 miles of 150,000 Pakistanis and their English born offspring. When Pakistan played England, the streets were thronged with cars with 6 or 7 guys in each trailing huge Pakistani flags. I didn't think about it much and I didn't resent it.

I suppose the question is this - were they supporting the team of their parents just like the Slovak player has gone to play for the Slovaks even though he is a German born USC and is that all it is ? If so then it's ok

If it reveals a resentment of England as a STATE - a hatred for the Country where they were born and where they live, then that's a problem to be solved.If I had been born in the US and I had a green skin and everyone had treated me like muck and hated the cultural values my parents had given to me since the day I was born; and if Greenland (where they have green skin ?) was playing the USA, I think I would probably cheer Greenland.

Should a US woman be allowed to emigrate to Pakistan and walk down the road in a bikini if she belongs to the bikini church ? Should a Pakistani man come to the UK and cut the throat of a sheep in the garden when the school kids are walking past ? Should a Dutch guy be allowed to smoke cannabis in Oklahoma if he belongs to the windmill rasta church ?

If there was an easy answer I think someone would have found it by now and simply saying 'When in Rome', doesn't work when religion is involved. I reckon we can put sport to one side and cheer another country if we want.

But the other stuff ? It's the question of the age.

ps religion apart, Italian Americans are proud of their roots and Polish Americans have their sausage etc etc so remaining essentially English should be acceptable as I am not requiring Americans to change and I couldn't change my English approach anyway..

Edited by saywhat, 14 June 2010 - 11:38 AM.

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-14 11:37:00

I have returned :

Some great posts over the weekend but many veered of into the naturalization debate rather than the post which asked about sports:

I was in sports bar in Lynwood, Washington to watch the match. It was not full - about 30 guys expecting to loose and therefore trying to make out they were not football fans. As soon as the USA scored they were jumping up and down and screeching like electrocuted bonobos.

Watching last night and one of the Slovak players was born in Germany of Slovak parents and was a US Citizen - he was therefore eligibility to play for 3 countries and he chose to play for Slovakia..

As far as the supporters and concerned, I think it's a red herring to say we support Countries who's football we like in preference to our own. I think people only do that when they have no 'skin in the fight'.

I sure didn't see Ghanaians supporting Slovakia.

I was pretty even handed in my applause in the sports bar - much to the surprise of of the USC who lives with me. I think I knew that England were likely to get through the group anyway and I would like to see football more popular in the US and that is why I applauded the US side. If it came to the final then it would be different.

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-14 10:51:00

Duly noted, Alan. I learned my lesson this time; I hope the Owl and the bimbo learn how quickly we can lose our positions. I bet Owl was only too happy to watch this unfold. No more early trains or young wanker bankers, I swear.

Top Queen of the cyber Totty but I always have spares within arms reach coz I remember the 7ps

http://en.wikipedia....(military_adage)

Edited by saywhat, 11 June 2010 - 08:17 PM.

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-11 20:15:00

Yay! I am top tramp again!

No more talk of early trains or I will pull your card and deport you to a forest full of owls and blond bimbos etc

Let that suspension be a lesson to you young lady - the path of righteousness is narrow and long - and so is..

er... BP's pipe line !

Captain Oates

Male

England

2010-06-11 19:54:00