The Queen is Here

@hhusted is anyone really excited about the Queen in NYC? I guess if it was Prince William who was visiting it would generate a buzz but the Queen really?anyway I think New Yorkers are too busy sweltering in the record heat wave to really care about an aging British monarch.

I wouldn't follow her around to catch a glimpse or anything but it is kind of cool. Then again, I was obsessed with The Tudors and I just watched The Young Victoria so maybe I have some sort of weird anglo-obsession.

Oh yeah, I also have an insane crush on Henry Cavill, so, yeah, I guess I just confirmed my own weird anglo-obsession suspicions . . . .

@uptowngirl This topic came up at a BBQ I was attending last night - mostly people just made fun of the fact that taxpayers in the UK even bothered to support a queen and wondered why on earth we should care what she has to say. We also marveled at just how long she's been queen - she's getting up there.

I understand everyone's feelings. I just heard from some people in my building, especially those who just moved here from the UK or are visiting that they wanted to see the Queen. So I thought it would be interesting to post it, just in case there were those in this forum who might be interested in seeing her.

Golly, I'm so totally unexcited about somebody else's queen.

@BroadwayBk Yes, she is really getting on age and seems to be in no mood to abdicate in favor of her son anytime soon. However in England they seem to love the Royal family no matter that they crib about the cost of maintaining them. The Royal family is an endless source of news for the British tabloids which have strong sales as people continue to be fascinated by them. We may think they are irrelevant but the British people love them don't you remember the record crowds that turned up for Princess Diana's funeral procession ?

@uptowngirl Isn't Prince William all set to be the queen's successor? That's what I always understood. And the British must love them - they offer up millions of tax dollars every year to keep the family lookin' royal! Must be nice.

@NeverSleeps If I am not mistaken, the throne will pass on to Prince Charles first and then to Prince William..need to check some English Hello magazines :)

@Uptowngirl: So you mean if Queen Elisabeth were to die, Prince Charges, if he is still around, would take over as King? Didn't Prince Charles remarry?

Golly, and I'm so totally unexcited about the princes William, Charles, Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dumb...

@hhusted yes he did , he's currently married to Camilla Parker Bowles, the lady he was in love with even before Princess Diana came along.

@uptowngirl But you never hear anyone talk about the future king, Charles. Maybe because William is so much better looking?

So I guess I'm the only one whose eyes roll to the back of the head upon mention of this subject.

@NeverSleeps You're right and also I don't know if the British public have really forgiven Charles for having divorced their favorite Princess Diana, after all her nickname was 'the people's princess.'

@Everybody Did you know Diana's prenuptual contract included having a minimum of two children with Charles? Yeesh.

@Uraniumfish and I thought you were not interested in the British Royals?:) No I didnt know that she was required to have two children with Charles.

@uptowngirl Yeah well I caved in and couldn't resist that bit of trivia. Yeah, written into the marriage contract no less.

@Uraniumfish - you and many English people! I've found that Conservative types - and the older generation - are very pro-monarchy, but among people of my own age most people don't really care that much.

@Ajadedidealist: That is the normal pretty much wherever you go in this world. Young people have more important things to think about than politics or anything else that doesn't fit within their scheme of things. For example, yesterday I actually got out of my apartment for a while with my girlfriend and we went by this open bar. I heard conversations from one young one who said, "Hey, did you get the big score today." Another guy looked at this guy and said, "I got the big one today." I am assuming they were talking about getting clients at their place of business.

@Uraniumfish That is gross. @hhusted I wouldn't relate a defunct monarchy to politics - the queen isn't even allowed to say anything political in public! And I'm not sure how two guys talking about work at a bar automatically means they aren't interested in politics....

@hhusted - on that point, I'd say plenty of English youth are interested in politics - the election over here got massive coverage. But the Queen is seen as increasingly outmoded (or rather, she herself is respected, but the monarchy as an institution is less so. The Queen is the Queen, but Charles-as-King will have a far rougher time of it. The Queen has seen world wars, prime ministers, chaos, crisis...very few people don't at least respect her gravitas. But that doesn't necessarily mean they are fierce monarchists)

Maybe it's just because I know a lot of kids who are highly educated and all that, but I know a lot of young people who take a heavy interest in politics...

@BroadwayBK how can one not be interested in politics? we are constantly bombarded on all sides by the media and can't help but be interested. At least this is true for me personally.

Well, but politics and the circus that is the royal family are two different things.

@Everybody: I am only speaking about the number of kids I happen to speak to in the course of my work and other duties I perform on a daily and weekly basis. In fact, we live next door to a young one. He's about 23 and is here in NYC because he's an actor. We got to talking about different subjects yesterday. I asked him what does his friends talk about most when he and his friends get together. He told me he and his friends talk about the latest sports hero, or who they think will win the World Series, or the latest movie coming out, or the weather. Stuff like that. I asked him if he and his friends talk about politics. He told me they do once in a while, but that is not the most common subject that comes up. Of course, he has a large circle of friends, being he's an actor and his friends are actors, singers, songwriters, and screenwriters. So they do get around and hear a lot of stuff. It is interesting what kids talk about.

I know a lot of people who talk politics, almost to a fault. I guess in certain circles it's as avid a topic of conversation as Justin Bieber is in others.

@DBlack The only time Justin Beiber has ever come up in conversation in my off-the-internet life is during a car ride with my friend and his fourteen-year-old sister. @uptowngirl I completely agree. And I wouldn't want to be around people who aren't interested in politics! @Uraniumfish Completely agree with that statement as well. @hhusted There are always going to be some people who aren't interested in politics in every age demographic. To say that it's normal for young people not to be interested in politics sounds off to me - in my experience, it just isn't true that young people in general aren't interested in politics.

@BroadwayBK True, maybe it shows you what big geeks my friends and I were when we were younger but we always debated politics. Probably a bigger topic in those days than girls.

@DBlack When I was in ninth grade or something, there was this guy who obviously followed me around for a while - so much that my dad even noticed. And I was like, but he's a big geek, Dad! Which is when I was informed that these are the types of guys who actually end up doing something with their lives later. If only I knew then what I know now....

@Everybody: Hey folks. I found this website. You need to check it out. The survey really says a lot about what young adults think today. http://www.publicagenda.org/reports/life-after-high-school

@BroadwayBK LOL I'm glad you're so much wiser now, BroadwayBK. Clearly, after a certain age, it's the geeks who rule the world.

@BroadwayBK I am married to a self-confessed Geek who is anything but geeky right now..

@DBlack and Uptowngirl: I've been called a geek so many times.

I guess it is because I was in IT for nearly 16 years. Whatever.

@BroadwayBK I've said it before and i'll say it again. Give me a sweet geek any day over some insufferably cool hipster who hangs out in WillyB or even in SoHo.

Ha! Like I said: if only I knew then what I know now...

I said this in another post but I'll say it again. You gotta be careful with the geeks sometimes. If they suddenly get some kind of importance and attention, they turn into the worst person ever to make up for all of the years when no one paid any attention to them. I dated a total nerd who blew up and is now pretty famous. He is now one of the most horrible human beings on earth and will bed anything he can get his hands on. Guys who have always been "cool" usually already got that out of their system and behaved like kids when they were kids.

@JenMac Fair warning, I've known a couple such geeks of the male variety who started bedding the women right and left after they published a book. Yuck. Glad I stayed away from writer types altogether, they really behaved (and still behave) so whorishly.

I have a huge geek crush - but I absolutely HATE anime! Hate it - find it weird, the animation/faces creepy, and the plots boring. One of my first high-school relationships ended in part due to the fact that he was an "otaku" and I was...well, not. That said I absolutely love Buffy, Angel, Alias, Fringe, the list goes on.... so I do have geek cred, I hope! I know most of the words to most of the songs from the bufy Musical episode....

@ajadedidealist Do those qualify as geek shows? I think those have a sort of mass appeal if you are a teenage girl, haha. @JenMac Is it one of the guys who created Facebook? Or Girls Gone Wild? Those guys seem like nerds gone bad. I think massive success can sometimes have a negative effect on the ego, geek or no.

@ajadeidealist I think we're using the word geek in different ways. My kinds of geeks can't put down a book, or can hack into any computer system in the world, or know how to get amazing sound quality out of an old cheap pair of speakers, or know all of Hamlet by heart. Those are equivalent to superpowers in my world. I think if a guy watched Buffy and talked about it at length there wouldn't be a second date.

@JenMac and @NeverSleeps I too happen to know a few geeks who have achieved fame and fortune and are now insufferable.. as you know Indians are synonymous with IT ..in fact I am dealing with such a situation currently. I am a partner in a family business in Mumbai and before I left for the US, I had trained by subordinate a typical geeky guying in running the entire department. All was well for the last five years but suddenly last month he was arrested ..apparently the dude who was meek ,mild soft spoken had turned into a closet Lothario who had thrown his wife and two young kids out . Recently laws have changed in India and now a woman can go to the Police with a complaint of mental cruelty etc that's exactly what his wife has done and this guy is in the slammer now.. I am still in a state of shock and trying to help sort out the mess remotely.

@uptowngirl That's a fascinating story. It's hard to imagine a western woman getting her husband jailed because he left her and their children penniless, or even that he cheated on their marriage. But other social and economic forces shape the laws in Mumbai where that kind of a law makes sense? Really interesting.

@JenMac: Most likely the nerd you knew or dated, suffered low self-esteem at one point and when he had the chance, overcompensated for it. Now he thinks too much of himself. He sounds like an extremist.

I like Uraniumfish's definition of geek hotness. @uptowngirl That's crazy! He was thrown in jail for mental cruelty?! I wonder if that law will provide a better society? I can think of a few New York neighborhoods that would benefit from it, even if something like that would be completely out-of-left-field in the States.

@everyone: he is definitely insecure. And, he's an actor / writer / turd sandwich.

@Everyone apparently my employees father in law has important connections and has thus managed to get the guy arrested on trumped up charges. Apparently the wife now wants everything the apartment in Mumbai ( worth a tidy sum) , the ancestral lands in the village .. I know what he did is pretty common even in Indian society I am just shocked that he is facing such severe consequences. Divorce and extra-marital affairs have always existed but I think this is a case of a woman scorned who is going after him with a vengeance.

@Uptowngirl: Is it vengeance, revenge, or both? Wasn't it the Klingon on one of the last Star Trek movies, who said that revenge is "like a well-oiled dish especially served cold." Or something like that.

@hhusted I wouldn't know I don't watch Star Trek at all though my husband loves all things Star Trek..

@uraniumfish - fair enough! That definition sounds like my boyfriend - he has memorized Hamlet (and most other Shakespeare plays) and soliloquizes constantly. We read a bit of Richard III together aloud the other day - it was quite exciting! I was going with the more "stereotypical Dungeons and Dragons kid with sci-fi interest" way of things (full disclosure: I was one, my freshman year of high school)

@ajedeidealist Sounds like you weren't a geek in high school so much as...led astray by the likes of D & D.

@uptowngirl: I watched all Star Trek shows except for the last two or three. In other words, I saw all those with William Shatner and Patrick Stewart only. I did not watch Deep Space Nine or any others.

@hhusted I really dont get the appeal of Star Trek but then to each his own

I'm with you, Uptown girl. I don't get it either.

@uptowngirl, JenMac At the time it was on, Star Trek was at least a little more intelligent that the other shlock available for viewing, but what scares me is the people who dress up like Spock or whatever, or try to make jokes in Klingon. Scaaary fanatics.

When I was in college a group of kids used to play Dungeons and Dragons in full view of the student body on one of the most populated greens on campus. That took a lot of balls, I have to say. It takes courage to let your inner dork just hang out there for all the tough frat boys to see. Anyway I never got into Star Trek or Dungeons and Dragons, either. I've never even been much for Shakespeare, however awful that may be for a literary nerd such as myself. I guess I prefer Joyce.

Also, I would like to say that I totally think ajadedidealist has earned her geek title.

And on the subject of dorks, I seem to have a ken for poli-sci ones, even though ultimately they're all headed to Washington.

I went to DC on my way down to Florida last Christmas and I really enjoyed the boy population... it's just too bad they have to live there.

@BroadwayBK, Uraniumfish I know a couple of people in DC who wish they were in New York, but if you want a job with the federal government, for example, you really have to just be in DC. They both visit the city all the time and talk about how it's not DC.

@DBlack Yeah - I met a guy who hates New York because he said our city steals all the cool, creative types away from places like DC. As if it were the fault of NYC that cool, creative types don't want anything to do with serious political types.

@BroadwayBK: no Shakespeare? Oh man, I cried like a baby the first time I read R and J.

@JenMac I like a rawer language landscape. Not that I don't appreciate the brilliance of Shakespeare. It just doesn't fulfill me like a good Cormac McCarthy novel.

@Everyone isn't the DC v/s NYC as old as the hills? I remember it being briefly revived when Obama came into office for they said DC was suddenly hipper than NYC thanks to the kind of crowd he was attracting to DC.

Um, no. DC will never, ever be hip. @BroadwayBK: ok, alright, I see your point. But, I am also noting this in your personal record :)

@uptowngirl Isn't it more like NYC vs. Chicago? DC is not the first city I'd think to compare to the lovely metropolis we have here.

@NeverSleeps: I went to D.C. once. Oh, how ugly a place it is. Wow. There is the really bad side of town and the not-so bad. That is one place I would never want to live at.

I'm in Italy right now, on holiday with my mother, and apparently Prince Charles's royal steamer turned up in the harbour near our beach! (or so we're told/it is rumored.) Pretty cool, though nobody seemed fused by it.

@ajadedidealist Fused?

The only time DC was ever cool was when Clinton set up his office in Harlem. It was a big concession that NYC would accept in its midst somebody fresh from DC!

@NeverSleeps Have been trying to hunt those articles post the Obama inauguration which compared the two cities but haven't had much luck so far..and I second you, NYC is pretty special rats, bedbugs et al..now that I am away I miss it so ...people here think HK is the NYC of Asia, yes it has an extremely fast pace and it has a vibrant dining and nightlife scene but its not NYC by any long shot..

@DBlack think ajadedidealist meant fussed.

@uptowngirl I've always wanted to visit those high-tech Asian cities - isn't Hong Kong one of them? But New York does have a certain appeal, especially for romantics such as myself.

@NeverSleeps come and visit anytime...

Lately I've been going back and forth between wanting to leave NYC - I want to go on an extensive USA road trip - and wanting to stay and explore the city while it's still warm outside. Decisions, decisions.

@BroadwayBK Me too! I really want to hit the road for a good few months...I wonder why the restlessness all of a sudden. It seems like I'm hearing about people taking to the road more and more recently...

@BroadwayBK and Uraniumfish you both should go on the road trip perhaps together? NYC will always be there...

@uptowngirl That's what I tell myself - but I miss NYC so much when I'm gone. @Uraniumfish It must be a summer thing. I really want to tour the Midwest and the Northwest - I haven't done a whole lot of exploring when it comes to those parts of the country.

@BroadwayBK I haven't seen much of the country at all: Midwest, Northwest... I realized with a shock that most of what I know about the US and its landscapes comes from movies. That doesn't seem acceptable. So, yeah, I'm looking to remedy this pretty soon, and I'm not sure I even want to wait till next summer.

@BroadwayBK and @Uraniumfish: Just go. When you begin traveling, I think you will find there will be other areas that have more appeal than NYC. Try and visit other areas and see for yourself. You might just fall in love with some place else.

@BroadwayBK The Midwest? Sniff. What's even over there outside of Chicago?

@uptowngirl Only asked about fused because it could have been on of a few options: fussed? fazed? confused (as in 'fused)?

@NeverSleeps My feeling exactly--sniff--but doing a road trip is one of those classic American adventures so I guess I understand BroadwayBK and Uraniumfish that they want to take to the road.

@everyone - I have lived all over the world, but am embarrassingly un-traveled in America. Never been west of the New England area, lived in NYC, went to school on the NH Seacoast, and once went as far as Florida, but other than that have never gone south of DC. I'd love to visit New Orleans, all of Louisiana, the Grand Canyon, as well as take a proper USA roard trip.

@DBlack Yes, thank you. @NeverSleeps Hey, you never know - maybe I'll have my own spiritual awakening while driving through a corn field.

@BroadwayBK Just read an article in a recent issue of Glamour magazine about two journalists from NYC who took a road trip across America and dated their way through various states. Couldn't help but think of you BroadwayBk.

@Ajadedidealist: I went to San Francisco last June and loved it. Man I didn't want to leave. I cried the day I got out of the car and headed for the airport.

Yeah, I would do that too: date my way to the West Coast and back.

@uptowngirl That's awesome! Did they internet date their way across the nation?

I'm going to have to move back from TBilisi soon - I'll definitely cry when I have to leave...I am not looking forward to it! I love the place so much...

@BroadwayBK no I dont think they used the internet, they drove into various towns and met people at bars and elsewhere. I tried to look online for the article for you but I dont think its available.

@ajadedidealist What are you doing there, out of curiosity? Is it an inexpensive place to visit?

@uptowngirl Is this it? http://lifestyle.msn.com/relationships/articlematch.aspx?cp-documentid=25046400

Their "insights" are rather standard, but still a nice thing to do when you're young.

@NeverSleeps Yes! that's the one... c'mon girls get going will you? and report all the adventures back to us so we can live vicariously through you.

It must be so nice to date a guy in Podunk, Kansas. A guy who isn't a doucheface that doesn't even open the door for you. Ah, what that must be like . . .

Cute article, guys. I'm ready to go on my dating road trip now!

@BroadwayBK Me too. I wonder how much of a budget it would take to travel for one month, given lodging and car insurance and all that? Any thoughts?

@Uraniumfish Good question - my car gets about 30 miles to the gallon on the highway. Not bad, though it could be better. And I think I would definitely use Priceline for the lodging - I've gotten some really good deals in the past, like $25 a night at a three star hotel. I guess if you really want to do it right you should take a couple grand out on the road with you...

@BroadwayBK that seems like a fair estimate ..so are you still planning to go or is it going to be next year now?

@BroadwayBK don't forget to set up a blog and post regular updates about your escapades will you?

@uptowngirl I'm actually hoping to do a shorter trip, kind of like a trial run, this fall, and a longer trip next year. @BroadwayBK So you're figuring a couple of grand for lodging, gas and food? What about other costs like car insurance? And anything else I'm forgetting? Since I haven't had a car for years, I'm forgetting what costs are associated with it. Triple A membership? Maybe you'd want to go out and do stuff in each of the places you visit, like go see a concert or whatever, so I guess there has to be an entertainment budget as well.

Car insurance? That's something I pay monthly.... it doesn't go up for a road trip. I pay about $80. AAA is definitely a good thing to have - I've used my mom's account on the sly before, but I have no idea how much it costs.

Are you guys ready to head out then? Better hurry up and go before winter sets in... I wouldn't want to be driving around in storms like we had across the country last winter.

I don't own a car - but I've always wanted to do a transamerica trip. Do you guys think a bus or train trip would be realistically feasible, or do you need a car to make the Great American Road Trip happen?

I've taken a few long bus rides in this country and I can't say that I appreciated the experience one bit. But that's just me. If it's between a bus trip and a train, I'll take a train any day!

@ajadedidealist I don't think a bus trip aboard a Greyhound or some such service is half as much fun as a self drive car trip

@uptowngirl Right. Especially because you get to pick who you sit next to.

@NeverSleeps so true.

@Neversleeps And when and where you go to the bathroom. I can concur a bus trip would be way miserable. @BroadwayBK As I said, been a while since I had a car so I'd have to do insurance an all that especially for the trip. Somehow I'd expected it to be more, though. If I start planning now I could probably make a trip happen in the fall before the snows hit. But there are a couple of other factors influencing whether I can go or not so we'll see.

@Everyone aha bathroom breaks so important on any kind of trip

@Uptowngirl: I don't mind taking a trip in a car as long as I am not the driver. At least this way I get to see the scenery.

I always like to tell myself that I'll catch up on my reading if I have to take a long driving trip, but realistically can only focus my eyes for the first hour and then become rather a vegetable. This bothers me a lot, actually. I do so much in a day that the idea of losing chunks of time to doing absolutely nothing is hard to take.

I get carsick, but I love - LOVE- trains! I wish train tickets weren't so expensive, as it's definitely my favorite method of transportation. I'd take a 7-day train trip over a 3 hr plane ride if the prices were comparable and I had the time...

@ajadeidealist There's something romantic about traveling long stretches by train, but it is surprising expensive.

I agree about trains - I took them all over Europe, but the longest stretch I've gone by train in the US was from LA to San Diego. And the European train experience was both more affordable and pleasanter.

Yeah, I've heard some dodgy things about the timeliness, etc., of trans-US rail journeys! And I can't believe the prices! Often slower than, and four times the price of, the bus!

@Everyone It's sad the US has neglected its rail roads and we are now at the mercy of airlines who have got into the habit of nickle and diming us for every little service rendered.

Why ARE US trains so outrageously expensive? Everywhere else in Europe they're a viable form of transport, but not here.

@Uraniumfish: Simple. This country is very materialistic.

@hhusted That's not any kind of an explanation. How does that explain anything?

Possibly there's fewer nationalized subsidies going into making rail travel affordable (perhaps? I know in England, with privatized rail, it's massively more expensive than other nearby countries...then again France is pretty pricey too...)

There's no reason train fare should be more expensive than a flight. I mean, it takes a heck of a lot more to get an airplane off the ground than a train across the tracks.

@Uraniumfish I think the answer lies in your own statement, the US neglected the development of inter connectivity its rail roads as a result of which train services faced increasing competition with the bus and automobile industry. Wikipedia surprisingly has a great entry on the evolution of the US rail roads which makes for interesting reading. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_the_United_States#Economic_decline

Apparently NYC and its surrounding areas have the most extensive and well developed rail services in the country.

@Uraniumfish: If you were to look at the train's audit sheet and and looked at what they spend on parts and upgrades, you would see the reason for high prices. Everyone wants a huge chunk of the pie, and the train system is no different. They have to deal with rising parts, rising payrolls, and everything else. These parts do not have to be that high priced, but parts makers want to nickle and dime their distributors and suppliers so much.

@Uraniumfish It's partially a supply and demand thing, and partially the way things worked out historically - if there were more demand for train passage, the price would go down. Back in the day when the car was developing, GM partnered up with National City Lines to buy out street cars and railroads and shut them down so people would have no option but to get a car if they wanted to get somewhere fast (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_American_streetcar_scandal). Car companies gained such an economic hold on the American transportation industry that roads were built to cater to that demand and railroads are seriously lacking in comparison to the interstate system, obviously. You can thank capitalism for the lack of adequate public transportation in the US.

@BroadwayBK: And where there is capitalism, there sometimes is corruption. I have read articles on the subject and find it appalling that business will use money as a way of getting over on people. When power is in the hands of the wrong person it hurts people.

Can't we also thank capitalism for the sorry state of affairs in our food markets? And for so many other things.

@Everyone I am sure none of us would want to be living a communist country with curbs on freedom of speech etc but the current US ethos of no government intervention whatsoever and market forces at play at all times has created its own share of problems. Perhaps a mixed economy which has strains of socialism as well maybe the answer?

@uptowngirl No, thanks to communism. I do think that countries with socialist tendencies seem like nice places to live, however. The two are completely different boats.

I want health care for all and a functioning welfare system, and I don't care what label we give that - you can't call yourself a modern, enlightened country if any percentage of the citizens, even a small percentage, are starving or not receiving proper health care.

@Uraniumfish Unfortunately I dont think this transformation is going to happen anytime soon and moreover in the socialist economies as well they have been recent cut backs . If you have been following the news, you must know that there have been violent strikes in France over the raising of the retirement age from 60-62 and in the UK couples earning a combined wage of 44000 pounds a year are now set to lose their child tax credit. My sis in law is going to be affected by the child tax credit which until recently gave her 70-80 pounds a week and helped take care of her grocery bills at least. I am actually with you in the proposal of health care for all, I rather my tax dollars go towards health care rather than libraries and the other amenities that we get to enjoy.

@Uraniumfish I am really astounded that many Americans dont get the notion of universal health care , they seem to think that their health care would deteriorate drastically if they allowed it which is just plain ridiculous. Wouldn't you rather have some kind of health care rather than no health care at all.?

@Uraniumfish Seriously. @uptowngirl I saw that about the British child tax credit - but it was only issued after WWII to encourage child bearing. Not that I don't understand why people are sorry to see it go. Also, I think a lot of Americans who can't fathom universal health care are those who don't get out much, if you will - those who have never left the country and seen a better system at work.

When I broke my rib in Germany and had to go to the emergency room, the bill that I got a couple of months later? 70 euros. I was the only person in the emergency room and got seen within minutes. Think about how much an equivalent emergency room bill would be in NYC? And how likely are you to be out of there in less than 12 hours?

I recently was charged $200 after an ER visit in which I wasn't even seen by a doctor, and the attending nurse told me that all that was wrong with me could be cured with Gatorade and aspirin. Thanks, America!

@Everybody, I read online yesterday, that the new Speaker of the House (what is his name) said that he is going to reverse everything Obama has done so far including health care reform. He claims the health care reform bill will cause loss of jobs and ruin a really perfect health care system. When I read that I thought to myself what drug was he on.

@hhusted Indeed. The only people who don't want health care reform in the US are about 50 people sitting in Congress. I believe the drug they're on is kickbacks and campaign contributions from private insurance companies.

@NeverSleeps Sigh, yeah.

@Uraniumfish There seem to be a lot of members of the actual population who are against health care reform - those 50 people in Congress have done a fabulous job of making them believe it's some kind of horror to be provided health care.

BroadwayBK: That is because people don't want to think for themselves. They rather take someone's word for it. I don't. I investigate everything before I accept it.

@BroadwayBK , Uraniumfish that's so true!!! People in the Mid-West or wherever should realize that there is a world beyond America where there are systems as well and people are prospering. In Hong Kong there are private as well as public hospitals, yes you have to wait a while in the public hospitals but i believe the care they offer is very good. In fact whenever I tell folk here that I am from NY and I am dying to go back , they always say that I am crazy and that the US/UK are finished while the future is Asia. I get totally riled up when they talk like that as I tend to believe that the US will eventually reinvent itself but its the Mama Grizzly lot- Sarah Palin and gang which is holding it back.

The question of why we don't have something as fundamental as health care provided affordably to everyone because of about 50 very very rich people and their ability to misinform the public is... well... it never ceases to astonish me.

@Uraniumfish: I agree with you. Sometimes I think this country goes backward in thinking and acting. By the way, I saw a video recently about Obama. Do you think he is stepping on the Constitution in some way, or do you think it is just a propaganda video?

@Uraniumfish remember all that Death Panel talk? well Ms. Palin made sure she drummed it in and that scared half the population into opposing reform. Now after the mid-terms do you think they will repeal Health Care reform?

@Uptowngirl: Many people are requesting a repeal of the health care reform bill. The Republicans are demanding that the law be reversed. I think the reform law will help people, who have no insurance. But the Republicans don't think so. It is all about money to them, not in helping people.

This is just disgusting. The cost of health care in America is terrifying and astronomical. Compare that to the NHS or similar services! And I certainly don't think President Obama is stepping on the constitution - it's an easy way to attack a president, but has little basis in fact.

Wait...you mean if we don't have to pay astronomical amounts for medical care - a basic human right - that doesn't in fact make us evil communist traitors? I think you're right @uptowngirl, that the US is in need of some reinvention, but instead this country seems eager to under-educate most of the population and send its best/richest minds to Wall Street where they can trick people into signing people up for home loans they can't afford. People should be demanding health care, not calling their president a weak communist Muslim terrorist for trying to give it to them.

@BroadwayBK Bravo! very well said if feel as if you've read my mind... Btw I just read an analysis on the job creation potential of Obama's visit to India around 50,000 potential jobs for Americans so that should be a victory of some sorts. http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2010/11/07/obama-in-india-deals-breakdown/ The Republicans get all hysterical about outsourcing but who is shipping the jobs out? those US corporations who want to maintain healthy bottom lines and big, fat bonuses for their CEOs. We live in a globalized world we have to learn to compete better, I have full faith in the US reinventing itself and innovating after all it does attract the world's best brains even today but some folks just don't want to accept reality and want to keep the US isolated in a cocoon that is not going to work.

@uptowngirl Outsourcing was the new frontier for a while, but actually a lot of big companies have realized it can be a major disaster. Especially in areas like customer service, the cultural and language barriers start to really put a strain, and a couple of companies I can think of have started to limit their outsourcing, it just doesn't pay and loses customers who are angry about not being able to speak to someone who understands.

@Uraniumfish: I agree with you. When I called a company not too long ago, I got an Indian woman on the phone. No offense to you Uptowngirl, but this woman could barely speak English. Her accent was so thick I couldn't make out what she was saying, so I demanded that she transfer me to an American, who I can understand. It took her 5 minutes before she got on the phone again and requested I give her my information. I said forget it and hung up. I called back and this time I got someone who actually spoke English well and I could understand.

@Ajadedidealist: I hear ya. I strongly believe there must be proof, solid proof, in order to accuse someone of doing something wrong. So far, what I heard was hearsay. In fact, here is the controversial video I am speaking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KGlBHyVeYU

@hhusted I do understand. Those call center folk sometimes are a real pain. More than they accent they go totally by the book and when you are desperate for help on something ask you inane questions. I myself get frustrated often especially when I problems with a cell phone/bank account though its not only customer service jobs that have been shipped abroad. As for Obama bashing, We live in a time of instant gratification, I think any president would have had a tough time in office right now.. what are these people talking about ? how can they forget who started the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? wasn't that government spending? that's what plunged us in to the mess we are in today. Obama is trying hard to jump start the economy though perhaps he should have concentrated on jobs first and then concentrated on health care reform. Its the sequence of events which is at fault.

Thought this was an interesting read: http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1945955,00.html It's from last year, but times haven't changed much since then, except perhaps in terms of how many acting Republicans are in Congress. This weekend I met one of those fabled people that truly believe Obama is a Muslim, a whack job Brooklyn cab driver who was giving us a piece of his twisted political mind our ride home at 5am. I've read that there are plenty of Americans out there who believe in such things, but somehow I just couldn't bring myself to believe it. And there was no reasoning with this guy!

@NeverSleeps unfortunately nowadays rabid, uninformed and ignorant and brainwashed people in America abound. They are affronted that Obama is in the White House and will do / believe anything just to get him out of there. Yesterday my Ipod ran out off battery just as I was starting my work out at the Gym I was subject to an hour of CNN where Jeb and George Bush were being interviewed by Candy Crowley .. excruciating.

@NeverSleeps; I hear ya. I have a close friend who worked with the Obama campaign and she found out about Obama and his life story. Here is a link to his bio. http://www.biography.com/articles/Barack-Obama-12782369 When you follow that link, you will find out that Obama's mother was born in Kansas and left for Hawaii, where he was born. So Obama is a legal citizen of America. As for his religion, Obama stated time after time that he was a Christian and went to a Christian church for 20 years. His father and grandfather were Muslim, but he is not.

Meanwhile CONGRESS IS GETTING RICHER, y'all: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Members-of-US-Congress-Get-cnbc-1255923366.html?x=0 Now tell me what reason these super-rich congressmen have to do a damn thing for any of us as far as: 1) health care reform and ensuring access to affordable care for all, and 2) making any kind of compromises with Obama so that he can actually institute social policies that will actually make life a little better. What congressmen do in a day is: 1) take naps, and 2) spread stupid rumors about Obama being a Muslim, global warming not being something the "believe" in, etc which the rest of the sorry ignorant population is only too willing to believe. Okay, I'm in a testy mood.

@Uraniumfish: You have a right to be and I understand what you are saying. You have valid points. Congress will not do anything for the American people because they don't have to. They sit in their luxury offices, collect a check so many times a year, and do nothing but pass or fail a piece of paper that comes across their desk.

@Uraniumfish I really wonder at the US population at times. Literacy levels are high in this country even then the populace sometimes behaves like the illiterate population in a Third World country. They are only to happy to follow the herd and believe anything that a woman like Sarah Palin will tell them. I am astounded at the following she has and that those followers are helping her daughter win a dance competition on TV when she can't dance to save her life.Something has gone seriously wrong with this country.

@Uptowngirl: I wouldn't doubt if Sarah Palin paid the judges (bribes) to let her daughter win, even though she doesn't have talent.

Major health care reform will never happen unless people demand it. However, since the American everyman seems to view such a reform as a communist attack upon his rights, it's unlikely that people will demand it in the near future.

@BradwayBK Yeah, so how did we get so screwed up that basic needs are viewed by the everyman as a communist attack? What's wrong with us?

@Uraniumfish Republicans have mastered the art of using the word "socialist" to play upon America's historical fear of "communists," that's for sure.

@BroadwayBK You'rre right, and I hate that we can be, collectively, so stupid.

@Uraniumfish. That's so depressing. I hate that whenever I'm abroad, my English/etc. friends ask me why Americans are doing/saying x, y, and z and I honestly can't give an answer that doesn't make my countrymen sound like extras in a school play of Oklahoma

@ BroadwayBK so true.. I am drawn again again to Mayor Bloomberg's recent speech in Hong Kong where he said Americans are ignorant and don't want to learn how other countries live. However we can't ignore the fact that Ireland has now joined the ranks of European countries teetering on bankruptcy and the Republicans will now use this as a new weapon against socialism.

Most people wouldn't know how to find Ireland on a world map.

@uptowngirl He actually used the word "ignorant"? Can't believe I missed that. And it's true that socialized health care is by no means free health care - nothing is free. But would there be a need for bailouts in Ireland if some other country hadn't initiated a global recession...? @Uranuimfish I would hope that Americans at least know where Ireland is, even if they can't locate Iraq.

@BroadwayBK He didn't use the word ignorant but this is what he said:- I think in America we’ve got to stop blaming the Chinese and blaming everybody else and take a look at ourselves,” Bloomberg said while addressing a meeting on climate change in Hong Kong. Bloomberg warned that the habit of making scapegoats out of other things can backfire badly. “If you look at the US, you look at who we are electing to Congress, to the Senate – they can’t read,” the New York mayor said. Americans tend to not travel, they tend to not learn foreign languages, and America is very isolated from the rest of the world. I think what Mayor Bloomberg said is true – they do not read, they do get most of the news from the TV,” he stressed. “It is unfortunate but the educational system is where America has to focus, get better educated and competitive,” he added. “The US is in a global economy and they have to compete like everyone else and not look for excuses.”

@Uraniumfish: I know where Ireland is. In fact, I have relatives that live there.

@uptowngirl: Bloomberg is right about a couple of things. 1) We are living in a global society, so we are all in competition with each other, 2) many people can't read. Illiteracy is very high in America. Maybe he wasn't talking about that, but was referring more to people not taking the time to read. That is probably true.

@hhusted Amen to that

Illiteracy in America? For goodness's sake, we're a first world country! It astonishes me to see how low a priority education is for us!

@ajadedidealist: Yeah. Illiteracy is a very big problem in America. Here is a link you may find interesting about illiteracy: http://donpotter.net/PDF/Illiteracy%20in%20America.pdf

@uptowngirl Yeah... I think he's right. I always wonder about people who don't read the news, however. You can't possibly know what's going on if you merely watch the horrid news channels. They are often biased and they don't have enough time to enlighten viewers on the details.

@BroadwayBk I totally agree with you, I love to read - newspapers, magazines, books everything I can get my hands on and really cannot understand folk who have no time for the written word.

@BroadwayBK @uptowngirl It's not easy for a writer to understand why people don't read! But there are so many people out there who don't...

@NeverSleeps that's truly tragic they dont know what they are missing.

It always kind of blows my mind when artists (successful ones in particular) don't patronize any art. I know a really successful actor that never reads books, never goes to concerts, had never heard of Sargent. Unbelievable.

@Uptowngirl: I like to read a lot myself, when i have a chance. I mainly like to read stuff on the Internet. My favorite magazines are Script Magazine, Hollywood Reporter, and Writer's Digest.

@JenMac - an article in NYMag this week was asking Melissa Leo her favorite cultural moment/piece of 2010. Her response? "I live in a bubble of my own creations" - she doesn't see any TV, movies, read any books, etc., because she doesn't "like what's going on in the real world" (paraphrased). Ridiculous!

How can you really create anything meaningful if you don't know what's going on at the moment/historically in your medium? That is ridiculous...and utterly self-indulgent.

@BroadwayBK and Ajadedidealist: Maybe she has some form of addiction and doesn't want people to know about it.

@BroadwayBK so true! @ajdadedidealist unbelievable isn't it? in this age of information overload?

@BroadwayBK: You're right. How can you change your life or even change the world and try to make it a better place if you don't know what problems exist in the world.

@ajadedidealist I find people who think that way don't have anything to tell me as artists, actually. So I guess shes'not one whose work I'm going to be seeking out any time soon.