Ok, I notice a few non-US citizens from Canada, Italy, I think Britain, Austrailia, etc.  And would like if possible (if you would give me some of your time) some questions answered about how your country looks at the United States.

I see articles from foreign (to me anyways) newspapers about US this, US culture of violence, US should've done this but I was curious is this mostly how the newspapers/elites feel about this or is it more of a general consensus with everyone wherever you're at?


Such as:
Do you look toward the UN as a good establishment?  Ways to a means if you will.  Or do you feel like I do and I suppose others do that it is not needed and/or takes our rights away.  Few other things I can't put into words right now but I suppose do you and your country like the UN I guess would be a better question.

Environment.  Seems like from what I read, "saving the environment" and "US" doesn't belong in the same sentence.  Do you feel most of your country believes this or do you think we have a different way of looking at the problem (if there even is a problem)?  Mostly trying to find out if enviro-nuts who think the sky is falling I see all the time on the news represents your country or if their just kooks who try to group whenever its time to get another 15 minutes of fame (if you're an enviro-nut let me apologize now I guess...[;)])

Guns.  'Nuff said I think.  Practically every article I see on guns blames US culture on every shooting or import of illegal guns or whatnot.  Is this general consensus or just the elites?  If possible keep your own bias' out since I assume you're here because you like guns and you probably hang out with people who have similar beliefs.

Death penalty.  As far as I can tell most if not all European countries do not have the death penalty.  Think of it as sick and stuff.  Is this more of an elite thing or is it agreed upon by most of the masses?


This is all I can think of for now.  Just kind of curious.  Overall I could care less about what or how Canada or Britain or France, etc. feel about the US but everyso often I read an article that strikes a nerve to the point of where I want to have a shouting match.  Would like to finally find out if this is just something the papers/elites who make the laws believe or is it generally accepted/believed by all the normal people in those countries.


Thank you for your answers...

CANADA. (Canadians feel free to add or correct as necessary)

-Do Canadians look toward the UN as a good establishment?
Not if they own guns and have an internet connection and can read.  Make that about 10 or 20% of Canadians.  Plus a handful of organized family & pro-life advocates.  The rest of them somehow think it doesn't affect them, probably because the papers don't cover it nearly as much as the 'rejected loser shot girlfriend, pet, self, 10 years ago next wednesday' stories.  Also our public schools tend to de-emphasize the UN, religion and a host of 'right wing' topics like responsible gun ownership.  But nobody knows or cares about that until they get 'into' guns - say around the time they start reloading.  'Peacekeeping' seems to be the  word associated most with 'UN' by Canadians.  Mention 'global taxation' or 'universal gun confiscation' and you'll get strange looks at parties, roughly akin to rubbing your crotch on the host's leg.  Personally I love the UN & would like to welcome our new evil overlords, provided that they then leave quickly without tracking in any mud.

=Environment?
Enviro-folks are of two major classes: 1) those who know what they are doing and mean to screw over the (insert legitimate small business interest here) on purpose and 2) those who don't know what they are doing but go along with 1) anyway.  There might be a few people who honestly care about what they are doing and see a real need that is not being addressed, but the PETA types generally drown them out.  Generally the young urban girls say they care about the environment, but won't pay for it and don't have any idea how much their demands would cost on a meaningful scale.  It's a good mudslinging issue for the left wingers come election time, and it provides a convenient excuse for 'environmental levy' tax hikes and patronage grants to study frog navels.

-Guns?
Farm, rural and small town people grew up with guns - mainly long guns - don't use 'em to knock off stores, and generally consider hem useful tools just like vehicles or lawnmowers.  Pre-sept 11, with urban people I hadn't talked to before, perhaps 80% were opposed to guns on a knee jerk 'heard on the radio all my life that they kill puppies and I'm not about to change what I've absorbed without thinking now' kind of way.  About 5% would express an interest in going shooting for the first time if you talked about guns the right way. Post Sept-11, it's a new world.  The topic of guns came up at work today - and everyone in the vicinity, about half a dozen people in cubicles, stopped what they were doing and talked about guns!  Young kids, in an urban call center!  Dragging out half-remembered stories about how their great-uncle once had a semiautomatic 22 they shot once!  What a difference.  Last year in the same setting that discussion would have been conducted in hushed whispers between trusted friends only, for fear of being known as a DREADED POSSIBLE GUN OWNER WHACK JOB WAITING TO SNAP.  Now there's much more realization that some people in this world just want other people dead, and there's not a hell of a lot anyone can do about it with an antigun pamphlet and some hyperbole.  But yeah, the average guy on the street in Canada is ignorant on the issue but unafraid to speak out against the US or 'anti gun control' people on this issue because after all, that's what we pay CBC to bias us against.  Personally I'm a fan of full auto, which makes me part of a dying breed - literally, because our full autos up here are grandfathered & cannot be sold to anyone who didn't own one back when I was too young to buy 'em.  Hence, all our MG owners are either 50+ish or criminals.  Many don't even know full autos are even legal at all - a product of a law so needlessly complex it takes a 1500 page Firearms Officer Desk Manual to attempt to enforce it.

Death penalty?
Polls say it's about 50-50 either way, but I've never been able to arouse much interest in changing or keeping the status quo of no death penalty.  From time to time our media and leftist politicians use it as an excuse to bash Americans. Too many other problems to fix first, like health care, our dollar, Kyoto, getting a representative electoral democracy back in functioning shape, putting the Firearms Act out of its misery, etc.  Besides, what gunowner living in Canada would want Chairman Jean's government able to pass laws with the death penalty?  Up here under Chretien's rule, the maximum penalty for choosing not to renew your mandatory firearm license is the same as that for screwing your neighbor's pet in front of their children - 10 years.  Let's not give Chairman Jean any ideas on where to go from there...

If I may add another question --

To those foreigners who have American troops on their land: Do you welcome the presence of a foreign army, or do you resent it?

[b]Important note[/b]: Altough I was born and raised in Germany, the following will describe the opinion of the generic German sheeple, certainly [b]not mine[/b]. Comments in ( ). So, before you pop a vessel, I'm quite happy to live as American in the US.

UN: Wonderful, a great establishment. The US should really shut the fsck up and pay their dues, and let progressive countries like France, Germany or China have more say there. Also, why not install UN peace-keeping troops in areas of Germany where those poor illegal immigrants get beaten up by pissed of locals. _That_ will teach them evil skinheads.
(Hosting the friggin UN HQ, and not throwing every UN representative from some of these shithole 3rd world countries into jail for abusing American hospitality, not to mention bearing the major load of the peace-keeping efforts doesn't seem to be a big enough contribution, apparently.)

Environment: It's just sooo terrible! The US has only n% of the world's population and uses n times x % of the world energy ressources, and all those nasty cars! Why can't they just walk to work, like we do? (Because an 11 mile walk is not how I want to start my day? Plus, I might want to pick up some groceries on my way home.)  And A/C'd buildings? What a waste! (Right, we could all sit in our 110 degrees offices all Summer long, and smell European, I guess.)

Guns. EEEEK! [b]Nobody[/b] needs a gun! We can see on TV how baaad guns are! American streets are just littered with corpses, all victims of guns running away and shooting innocent bystanders. The carnage! The bloodbath! One can barely leave the house without getting shot! And come to think of it, everybody knows that guns are 5800% more likely to shoot their owners or his poor old auntie. Guns are just a penis ersatz for immature, or impotent people.  (fine, then I better get a big one) Nobody needs guns these days, the US really should put away with private gun ownership, like us decent and progressive countries (what the sheep don't know: Germany has a population of 80 million, and 30 million guns in private hands) Guns in private hands are just a sign that the US still have the Vilde Vest mentality and need to grow up.

Death Penalty: Horrible! How can the government take innocent people's life? That's just uncivilized! 50% of the US population is in jail, did you know that? All victims of society. Poor oppressed blacks! Adolescent kids who steal cars as a pastime should be rewarded with cruises in the Caribic, or adventure trips in Canada. (I kid you not, that's done!) And double murderers? Why, throw them in jail for life (= max 15 years), and when they come out (after 5 years) they'll be better people who deserve a second chance. (A man who served his second time in jail for murder of a second young girl was recently given a "honorary day off from jail," (=have a day outside and promise to come back come nightfall, willya?) and guess what, he went on a murder and carjacking rampage immediately. Killed 4 or 5 people until he finally was caught again.)

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I'll just quit here, I'm getting more and more pissed off. Damn! Good thing most of you guys don't read German, or I'd send you to a couple of German webboards to read the posts there, it's fscking maddening.