International opinions on the USA Presidential election

[CDNinNYC]

Date: 10/8/2008 4:57:02 PM
Author: Delster

Hi Swimmer

I do agree it''s an interesting and exciting election this time round for you guys. And of course I agree PS is USA-heavy and of course it should be, it''s a US site! It''s one of the reasons I enjoy reading on here, I get a different perspective on things to what I get here at home.

I just find it a bit intriguing that basically the whole of the ''Around the World'' section of the site at the moment is dominated by American politics. How come these threads aren''t in Hangout? Is there a forum rule that these topics can only be discussed in ATW? Just seems like this section of the site, at the moment, is about anything but ''around the world''...

And don''t worry, I am hanging around, I like it here!

btw ksinger - I love reading what you write. I learn so much more about the States every time you post.

Apologies for going off-topic but what makes PS a US site? I''m curious.

And back on topic, while I agree ATW is USA heavy, it''s only because non-US members aren''t posting threads on their own countries/elections. (Note to self: Start a thread on the Canadian Federal Election scheduled for October 14th, 2008.)

 

[Delster]

Good question! For me, I suppose mainly that the vendors who advertise here are overwhelmingly US based, and that the posters are overwhelmingly US based.

The truth, I think, is that PS is actually Canadian, no? But a domain alone doesn''t make a website. The ethos and content here is, to me anyway, very much US.

I guess because I think of PS as a US site, then I think of the ATW section as ''anything but the US''. And you''re right, the international posters don''t start many threads about our domestic issues. Because, being realistic, would we get much traffic on them? If I started a thread about the tribunal of inquiry into irregular payments to politicians (the big news issue over here for the past year or so) it''d just be bee and myself yakking away happily!

 

[MoonWater]

Date: 10/8/2008 5:50:49 PM
Author: Delster
Good question! For me, I suppose mainly that the vendors who advertise here are overwhelmingly US based, and that the posters are overwhelmingly US based.

The truth, I think, is that PS is actually Canadian, no? But a domain alone doesn''t make a website. The ethos and content here is, to me anyway, very much US.

I guess because I think of PS as a US site, then I think of the ATW section as ''anything but the US''. And you''re right, the international posters don''t start many threads about our domestic issues. Because, being realistic, would we get much traffic on them? If I started a thread about the tribunal of inquiry into irregular payments to politicians (the big news issue over here for the past year or so) it''d just be bee and myself yakking away happily!

But perhaps the rest of us wouldn''t mind reading.

 

[ksinger]

Date: 10/8/2008 5:50:49 PM
Author: Delster
Good question! For me, I suppose mainly that the vendors who advertise here are overwhelmingly US based, and that the posters are overwhelmingly US based.

The truth, I think, is that PS is actually Canadian, no? But a domain alone doesn''t make a website. The ethos and content here is, to me anyway, very much US.

I guess because I think of PS as a US site, then I think of the ATW section as ''anything but the US''. And you''re right, the international posters don''t start many threads about our domestic issues. Because, being realistic, would we get much traffic on them? If I started a thread about the tribunal of inquiry into irregular payments to politicians (the big news issue over here for the past year or so) it''d just be bee and myself yakking away happily!

I''d like to hear it too. And one day I want to make it back to Ireland. I LOVED your country. The country itself was lovely, and so were the people I met. Maybe as a redhead, (although not Irish, the red hair comes from the Croatian side), the climate resonates with me or something. I had a blast there...but the beds in the bed and breakfasts...

I think I characterized them as "slabs of concrete covered in "loose chips" ("gravel" in these here parts).

But then I''m a complete baby when it comes to beds anyway - I''ve got a horrible back.

Oh, and the food was great!!! I got to be a huge fan (after an intial dislike) of bitter orange marmalade. We stayed at a great B&B where the proprietress was oh so proud of her homemade jam and heavenly brown soda bread. And rightly so... and the tea....yum! It doesn''t taste as good here, and I''ve even learned to make it the right way. Must be the water.

One day....sigh.

 

[galeteia]

Date: 10/8/2008 5:50:49 PM
Author: Delster
The truth, I think, is that PS is actually Canadian, no?

Er, wut?

Seriously? Am I ever out of the loop.

 

[CDNinNYC]

Date: 10/9/2008 12:41:49 AM
Author: Galateia

Date: 10/8/2008 5:50:49 PM
Author: Delster
The truth, I think, is that PS is actually Canadian, no?

Er, wut?

Seriously? Am I ever out of the loop.

Yes, Leonid Tcharnyi, the found of Pricescope, was born in Russia, but immigrated to Canada in 2000 or so. At least this is what Mark T. from ERD told me.

 

[CDNinNYC]

Date: 10/8/2008 5:50:49 PM
Author: Delster
Good question! For me, I suppose mainly that the vendors who advertise here are overwhelmingly US based, and that the posters are overwhelmingly US based.

The truth, I think, is that PS is actually Canadian, no? But a domain alone doesn''t make a website. The ethos and content here is, to me anyway, very much US.

I guess because I think of PS as a US site, then I think of the ATW section as ''anything but the US''. And you''re right, the international posters don''t start many threads about our domestic issues. Because, being realistic, would we get much traffic on them? If I started a thread about the tribunal of inquiry into irregular payments to politicians (the big news issue over here for the past year or so) it''d just be bee and myself yakking away happily!

Thanks Delster. I agree with your assessment.

While I may not participate, I would love to read and learn about the "tribunal of inquiry into irregular payments to politicians" and other foreign domestic issues. I always have these funny dinner conversations with FI (who''s all into The Wall Street Jouornal and The Economist) and I mention something, and he''ll be like "hmmm...., interesting..., where did you read that?" and I''ll answer "Pricescope."

 

[katebar]

I found this interesting graphic on the economist.com. If the world could vote link
I''m not sure how ''authentic'' it is but it quite mind blowing to see the support for Obama

 

[bee*]

Date: 10/8/2008 5:56:16 PM
Author: MoonWater

Date: 10/8/2008 5:50:49 PM

Author: Delster

Good question! For me, I suppose mainly that the vendors who advertise here are overwhelmingly US based, and that the posters are overwhelmingly US based.


The truth, I think, is that PS is actually Canadian, no? But a domain alone doesn't make a website. The ethos and content here is, to me anyway, very much US.


I guess because I think of PS as a US site, then I think of the ATW section as 'anything but the US'. And you're right, the international posters don't start many threads about our domestic issues. Because, being realistic, would we get much traffic on them? If I started a thread about the tribunal of inquiry into irregular payments to politicians (the big news issue over here for the past year or so) it'd just be bee and myself yakking away happily!

But perhaps the rest of us wouldn't mind reading.

lol-you'd probably be asleep after a couple of posts. Our politicians aren't that interesting

Although our financial minister is announcing the budget tomorrow so I might be on here with a new post

 

[bee*]

Date: 10/8/2008 8:38:40 PM
Author: ksinger

Date: 10/8/2008 5:50:49 PM

Author: Delster

Good question! For me, I suppose mainly that the vendors who advertise here are overwhelmingly US based, and that the posters are overwhelmingly US based.


The truth, I think, is that PS is actually Canadian, no? But a domain alone doesn''t make a website. The ethos and content here is, to me anyway, very much US.


I guess because I think of PS as a US site, then I think of the ATW section as ''anything but the US''. And you''re right, the international posters don''t start many threads about our domestic issues. Because, being realistic, would we get much traffic on them? If I started a thread about the tribunal of inquiry into irregular payments to politicians (the big news issue over here for the past year or so) it''d just be bee and myself yakking away happily!

I''d like to hear it too. And one day I want to make it back to Ireland. I LOVED your country. The country itself was lovely, and so were the people I met. Maybe as a redhead, (although not Irish, the red hair comes from the Croatian side), the climate resonates with me or something. I had a blast there...but the beds in the bed and breakfasts...

I think I characterized them as ''slabs of concrete covered in ''loose chips'' (''gravel'' in these here parts).

But then I''m a complete baby when it comes to beds anyway - I''ve got a horrible back.


Oh, and the food was great!!! I got to be a huge fan (after an intial dislike) of bitter orange marmalade. We stayed at a great B&B where the proprietress was oh so proud of her homemade jam and heavenly brown soda bread. And rightly so... and the tea....yum! It doesn''t taste as good here, and I''ve even learned to make it the right way. Must be the water.


One day....sigh.

Did you have an Irish fry for breakfast?

You''ll have to come back for another visit!

 

[bee*]

here''s a shortened version of one of our main tribunals-what a waste of money. Seriously, the tax payers paid soooooo much for this

Mahon Tribunal

 

[Delster]

On the other hand, the taxpayers were the ones who howled for the inquiries and continue to howl for an inquiry every time there''s a controversy...

OK for the curious, here are a couple of Irish media websites with extensive coverage of the US election:

Irish Times (broadsheet newspaper, considered a bit ''intelligentsia'')

Irish Independent (another broadsheet, considered less elitist, best selling newspaper in Ireland)

I would link to one of the Irish tabloids but I can''t find any of their websites with a US election section (hey, that rhymes!). So, here''s the coverage from one of the UK tabloids (this one sells an ''Irish'' version, it''s basically the same newspaper with the word ''Irish'' inserted into the masthead and a couple of extra stories focused on Irish issues):

The Sun (UK tabloid)

RTE (national TV station, lots of videos here from Irish news coverage of the US election)

Enjoy!

As a parting comment, the predominant stories today in the Irish media re the US election were:

(a) that Obama decisively won the debate last night; and

(b) that McCain has quoted the Irish corporation tax inaccurately twice now.

 

[bee*]

true! But there definitely should have been set fees for the lawyers at the beginning.

I posted in the other Obama thread but did you see that Paddy Power (the main bookmakers in Ireland) is already paying out on Obama being the next president. That definitely gives some indication on the Irish frame of mind.

 

[ksinger]

Date: 10/13/2008 6:01:58 PM
Author: bee*


Did you have an Irish fry for breakfast?

You''ll have to come back for another visit!

Wow. I just now saw this post. Sorry for the delay....

Umm.....terminology....I''m not sure? I usually had cereal (museli I think, I just know you can''t get anything so good here), with cream, brown soda bread w/marmalade, eggs, potato pancakes, bacon, and TOMATO on every plate. Always a little tomato. I thought that was so cute. Like it just wasn''t breakfast without a tomato!

But I''m thinking you may be referring to something else. That''s it. You''re right: I''ll just have to come back and see what you''re talking about!

 

[Delster]

Hmmm, but why should they be paid less for the same work (probably even harder work!) just because they''re standing in Dublin Castle, not the Four Courts?

I did see that in the other thread about the bookies! And I totally agree with you, Obama is definitely the favourite over here.

 

[bee*]

Date: 10/16/2008 3:45:23 PM
Author: ksinger

Date: 10/13/2008 6:01:58 PM

Author: bee*




Did you have an Irish fry for breakfast?

You''ll have to come back for another visit!

Wow. I just now saw this post. Sorry for the delay....


Umm.....terminology....I''m not sure? I usually had cereal (museli I think, I just know you can''t get anything so good here), with cream, brown soda bread w/marmalade, eggs, potato pancakes, bacon, and TOMATO on every plate. Always a little tomato. I thought that was so cute. Like it just wasn''t breakfast without a tomato!


But I''m thinking you may be referring to something else. That''s it. You''re right: I''ll just have to come back and see what you''re talking about!

An Irish fry would be sausages, rashers, fried egg, white/black pudding, possibly beans, hash browns and of course, the tomato!!

 

[bee*]

Date: 10/16/2008 3:45:53 PM
Author: Delster
Hmmm, but why should they be paid less for the same work (probably even harder work!) just because they''re standing in Dublin Castle, not the Four Courts?

I did see that in the other thread about the bookies! And I totally agree with you, Obama is definitely the favourite over here.

Initially though I thought that they weren''t meant to last this long. I think that there are a plenty of other things where that money should have gone. There doesn''t seem to be much support for the tribunals in Dublin at all-have not heard a good thing about them in the past year, especially from listening to NewsTalk. Sure we can agree to disagree

 

[Delster]

Well, it was public clamour that led to the tribunals being set up in the first place. The reason they''ve gone on so long is the terms of reference were set incredibly wide. That was the government''s doing, not the lawyers''. I wouldn''t agree that the lawyers shouldn''t be paid so much because it''s gone on for so long - you don''t pay someone less for the same work the longer they''ve been doing it

I think we agree on the essentials though. They certainly are unpopular, and there is certainly good reason. No disagreement there!

Anyway I''ve been threadjacking! For anyone interested in international opinions on the US election, this might be entertaining:

Irish TV Podcast on the US election

 

[bee*]

Of course it wasn''t the lawyer''s fault, I''m not getting at that-it was the government''s fault for not stating clearly at the beginning how long it was to go on for etc. They should obviously get paid for the length of work that they''re doing, just that it shouldn''t have gone on for so long in the first place.

(threadjack over..promise this time

)

 

[trillionaire]

Britain hopes for a prez who is not a warmonger...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/22/world/europe/22britain.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

 

[Ellen]

Some might find this interesting, as I did. I love some of the responses.

http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/21/why-do-citizens-in-70-countries-prefer-obama-to-mccain/

FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty:

Senator John McCain says when it comes to foreign policy he’s light years ahead of Barack Obama. Over and over again, McCain has insisted Obama lacks the necessary experience to conduct business with foreign countries on behalf of the United States.

Here’s my question to you: Why do citizens in 70 foreign countries prefer Barack Obama to John McCain by a margin of nearly 4-1?

 

[hibiscus]

Date: 10/22/2008 11:02:58 AM
Author: Ellen
Some might find this interesting, as I did. I love some of the responses.

http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/21/why-do-citizens-in-70-countries-prefer-obama-to-mccain/

FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty:

Senator John McCain says when it comes to foreign policy he’s light years ahead of Barack Obama. Over and over again, McCain has insisted Obama lacks the necessary experience to conduct business with foreign countries on behalf of the United States.

Here’s my question to you: Why do citizens in 70 foreign countries prefer Barack Obama to John McCain by a margin of nearly 4-1?

Answer to your question : IMHO, enlightenment comes to those who are awake to watch the world/news.

 

[Ellen]

hibiscus, that was Jack''s question, not mine. I totally get it.

 

[hibiscus]

Date: 10/22/2008 11:31:58 AM
Author: Ellen
hibiscus, that was Jack''s question, not mine. I totally get it.

oops, sorry Ellen, am cocked eyed today.

 

[Ellen]

So k, no biggie!

 

[HollyS]

Well, it seems not everyone else in the world is pro-Obama after all:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1084111/PETER-HITCHENS-The-night-waved-goodbye-America--best-hope-Earth.html


He can see the ridiculousness. The dumbing down of America. The cult mentality. The descent into third world problems with third world solutions. Would that we could have.

Oh well. Here''s to global mediocrity. Salude!

 

[E B]

Why, is it the same Peter Hitchens who wrote this gem about rape?

How The Left Censored The Blindingly Obvious Truth About Rape

What a winner. I, for one, would just LOVE to hear his thoughts on Obama.

 

[trillionaire]

Date: 11/10/2008 1:45:15 PM
Author: HollyS
Well, it seems not everyone else in the world is pro-Obama after all:


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1084111/PETER-HITCHENS-The-night-waved-goodbye-America--best-hope-Earth.html



He can see the ridiculousness. The dumbing down of America. The cult mentality. The descent into third world problems with third world solutions. Would that we could have.


Oh well. Here''s to global mediocrity. Salude!

LOL, one man, one voice. The rest the world cringed when Bush was elected/re-elected, and THEY WERE RIGHT, along with half the American populace. Bush (c-student) and Palin (5 colleges) represent the dumbing down of America in a way that Obama clearly does not. Only time will tell how this administration plays out, but I hardly think it could be worse than the Bush years for financial crisis, civil liberties, assults on habeas corpus, assults on science and/or the environment, the global impression of the word, governmental transparency, the failing education system in the US, etc. Pretty much everything... BUT, I am not counting my chickens before they hatch. I love chicken, but an egg is not a chicken.

 

[HollyS]

Date: 11/10/2008 3:20:29 PM
Author: EBree
Why, is it the same Peter Hitchens who wrote this gem about rape?

How The Left Censored The Blindingly Obvious Truth About Rape

What a winner. I, for one, would just LOVE to hear his thoughts on Obama.

Heck, I don''t care if he''s a legite journalist or not . . . that never stopped anybody from the other side of this fence from posting odd blogs, opinions, op-ed pieces, magazine articles, etc. Fringe journalism shouldn''t be a problem for anyone here.

I just said not everybody, internationally, is on the Obama wagon. If you need better credentials, or pedigree, or maybe a penchant by the writer for not stirring contoversy, I''ll keep looking. I just thought I''d link to someone who doesn''t write for FOX, or the National Review, or any other known bastion of conservatism. I think we all know the Daily Mail isn''t Pulitzer quality or even tacky-free.

 

[iheartscience]

Date: 11/10/2008 3:20:29 PM
Author: EBree
Why, is it the same Peter Hitchens who wrote this gem about rape?


How The Left Censored The Blindingly Obvious Truth About Rape


What a winner. I, for one, would just LOVE to hear his thoughts on Obama.

Blink. Blink. Wow-I could have gone the rest of my life without reading that ridiculous and offensive diatribe against RAPE VICTIMS. (Not blaming the messenger, though, EBree!) Note to self: never read anything Hitchens writes again.