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Originally posted by gruntly
Mr. RoBo Sir...Cubans probably see so few Americans, they thought you were Canadian

The Cubans I spoke with who I told I was American did not seem surprised. The U.S. dollar is the only foreign currency that Cuba puts a 20% surcharge on to exchange for Cuban exhchange pesos. I don't recall seeing any other Americans there, but I was not there that long.

The tours buses deliberatly avoid going down roads that have anti-American billboards posted on them. Again, it is the Cuban government that does not like us, and really, who can blame them? After all, we did try to assasinate Fidel Castro.

Then again, he should be over that by now since there have been hundreds of other assasination attempts on his life since. It is so bad that no one knows where Castro lives.

I'm really considering learning Spanish. The hispanic influx here is higher than the norm and I can see the advantages of learning the language.

Even if it doesn't help my business, at least I'll know what they're saying about me in the elevator.

Originally posted by benncool

Originally posted by ozone drone

. E Pluribus Unum...from many one.

YOU'RE POSTING IN LATIN!!???!! Get out of my country you commie Roman Ba$tard. (You're probably Catholic to boot!)

ooops!

Originally posted by trane
Sysint, you think letting all the good hard working mexicans in is good for this country? They are the ones taking jobs away from us. I have to disagree with you on this and vote to send them all back. The lazy ones are stealing and the working ones are taking jobs away from thousands of people.

-Tell that to your grandpa. Insert his nationality in place of "mexicans".

Originally posted by benncool
I live south of the border. From where I am I can drive 3 hours north and be in the middle of Montreal. If you really want to feel stupid as an American go to Montreal.

Go to any restuarant or shop. The servers will greet you in French. As soon as you say,"Huh?" they will speak to you in perfect English. It is a bilingual city. Two official languages. No problem. You are the dummy if you only speak one language. Not that they make fun of you because you can only speak one language. They just kind of consider you handicapped.

Don't feel bad, Mr. Benncool Sir... They treat everyone like that.

Why is it so many reject everything English in this world... Except the language?

Mr. RoBo Sir...Cubans probably see so few Americans, they thought you were Canadian I've never been, I'll probably never go... My wife is from Barbados so I prefer it there(if I ever get there again...) or Florida. Had a good time there, too.

Originally posted by yorkie820
RoBoTeq...how did u get into Cuba? Did you had to go to one of those gateway nations to get there? I have been wanting to go for a long time. When I saw the documentary on the Buena Vista Social Club, I couldn't help but appreciate the natural beauty Cuba has to offer.

You can get to Cuba from anywhere but the U.S. The Cuban government does not stamp American passports so as to avoid creating issues for Americans that visit there.

As for natural beauty, that is the only beauty you would appreciate becuase the Cuban government essentially owns everything and has done nearly nothing to improve Cuban real estate. Even the monuments to the Revolution were existing monuments to some other cause.

I must add that there is much beauty in the Cuban people. I have never met a nicer group of people. It is a shame how they will change when that country opens up and they acquire the freedoms that others in the world take for granted.

One Cuban tour guide stated that the reason Cubans are so nice is that they all have to live with their mothers-in-law. I tried very hard to ignore the opulent facade of normalcy that the Cuban government allows to be put up while barely concealing the fact that while the Cuban people endure their lifestyle graciously, the Cuban government only tends to suppress a beautifull culture of people.

I for one admire the dedication of Fidel Castro. I admire the way he stood up to the United States for what he believes is best for his people. I don't however agree with him and I can see where the Cuban people will have tremendous oportunities when Castro is dead and the country opens up to the rest of the world as a free nation.

By the end of the weekend that I spent in Havannah I was quite fed up with the hypocracy of the Cuban government. Basically, Cuba is set up to where the only way a Cuban citizen can better his/her life is to participate in Cuba's vast black market, everything on the black market is illega, yet overseen by some government official..so..the Cuban government has something on every citizen to keep them from ever getting out of line by vocalizing any discotent about their lives.

By the way the Cuban government has set up the two peso system the government gets a cut of every illegal transition that takes place in the black market while maintaining that it is against such illegal practices going on.

Yorkie, people like you wouldn't last a week in Cuba without winding up in jail. You would not be able to spout off your opinions like you have the right to do so in the U.S.

Sysint, you think letting all the good hard working mexicans in is good for this country? They are the ones taking jobs away from us. I have to disagree with you on this and vote to send them all back. The lazy ones are stealing and the working ones are taking jobs away from thousands of people.

I live south of the border. From where I am I can drive 3 hours north and be in the middle of Montreal. If you really want to feel stupid as an American go to Montreal.

Go to any restuarant or shop. The servers will greet you in French. As soon as you say,"Huh?" they will speak to you in perfect English. It is a bilingual city. Two official languages. No problem. You are the dummy if you only speak one language. Not that they make fun of you because you can only speak one language. They just kind of consider you handicapped.

if i went to work in south america noone would comfort me by translating everything i needed to conduct business

Originally posted by ozone drone

. E Pluribus Unum...from many one.

YOU'RE POSTING IN LATIN!!???!! Get out of my country you commie Roman Ba$tard. (You're probably Catholic to boot!)

The other accepted language debated in America at one time was German. The original English is not spoken anymore either. Now we speak "American".

Personally, I don't care where (and in most cases) how someone gets here as long as they work hard and hold their own. If someone is here illegally, I'd rather that was the touchstone than politics. Give them citizenship or green card. They proved it.

Benjamin Franklin considered the Pennsylvania Germans to be a "swarthy" racial group distinct from the English majority in the colony. In 1751 he complained, "Why should the Palatine Boors be suffered to swarm into our Settlements, and by herding together establish their Language and Manners to the exclusion of ours? Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a Colony of Aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of our Anglifying them, and will never adopt our Language or Customs, any more than they can acquire our Complexion?" (The papers of Benjamin Franklin. Ed. Leonard W. Labaree. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1959. vol 4:234).

The Germans were accused by other eighteenth-century Anglos of laziness, illiteracy, clannishness, a reluctance to assimilate, excessive fertility, and Catholicism. They were even blamed for the severe Pennsylvania winters. (Feer 1952, 403; Mittelberger 1898, 104). Most irritating to Pennsylvania's English-firsters in the latter 1700s was German language loyalty, although it was clear that, despite community efforts to preserve their language, Germans were adopting English and abandoning German at a rate that should have impressed the rest of the English-speaking population.

There still are German speaking populations in the US. "Herding"? Ben was a pompous ass.

Ben would be totally lost with todays English but guess what - he would learn what's predominant and got him through the day. Language doesn't make you part of the country or define anything. It's the people and the ideals.

Bi-lingual - Excellent. Being Bi-lingual helps out your brain and makes you smarter. The more A/C's you sell to these working families the better. Their kids will be seeing how sucessful Americans operate.

They might not speak the language, and have different culture, but they are hard working industrious people making their life better let them go. I get the feeling that most of them want something better than Mexico.

I met this Polish guy who was being a laborer for a resi-house builder. Green card. Not much English. Hard worker/nice guy. Started to get to know him and find out the guy was really an electrician. Explained HVAC and asked him if he was interested. Apprenticeship finished, he's one of the better guys you can get. -Least important part for me was the Green card.

The problem isn't "all these Mexicans" flooding the borders. It's more getting to know the good ones and letting them stay and then excercising the law to get rid of the bad ones.

I want to be a canadian.

When I was a kid during the 50's I heard the parents of kids in my neighborhood speak the following languages:

German, Polish, Spanish, Italian, Czech and Russian. None of them demanded signs in their native language or that the schools teach their kids in their native tongues.

Our language is what binds us a people.....if you don't want to be a part of us .... go home. E Pluribus Unum...from many one.

.

Like I said. If you are bilingual then that is great. I see no reason to learn the language of what amounts to a invading army or someone breaking into my house and country.

If you can't speak English

Then get the HELL out of MY country!!

Nobody sterotypes on this board.
I will try to make it simple.
Mexicans and blacks are lazy.
Pols are dumb.
French are ignorant.
Irish and Russians are drunks.
Middle easterners are nut cases.
English are fags.
White Americans are paranoids on prozac.
Italians are criminals.
Canadians are pot smoking hippies.
Sweeds are porn freaks.
Asians and Scots are money hoarders.

If I left anybody out, let me know.

PS. I am on the list too.
I am an ignorant paranoid. What are you?

You know you guys are stereo typing. I come from a mexican background and proud of it. My parents own a home, pay their taxes and became citizens of the U.S of A. My dad even works 2 jobs full time. I dont discriminate anyone. If in order to make money you have to adapt to any changes. For example, most asians learn both Spanish and English to make more profit. If you guys are close minded to only 1 language then you are closing doors for yourselves.

Please dont take this as a bash to anyone. I just see things on a bigger picture. As do most companies where nationalities have a section of the map serviced and another nationality on the other section.

Wow , this is a great thread.

A vote for the rednecks from SoCal.(just north of the Mexican border) SoCal has gone to hell. From what I hear , it's that way all over.

Hell yeah ,it should be even more difficult to get into this country.


Both sides of my family came here from Poland and Germany in the early 1900's
Both sides were expected and did learn the language of the country they immagrated to.

They did not wait for someone to learn their language or try to change this country to eastern Europe.

I think that's where everyone gets pissed off. Fit in , or leave.

Don't litter , pay your taxes , don't live with 4 families in a single family home .

Originally posted by yorkie820


I've made my point. People are entilted to their opinion.

A contradiction from a previous post.

Worthy of note.

Well...keep talking till you're blue in the face.

I've made my point. People are entilted to their opinion.

I am not changing my views on the situation.

I'm done with you. Go pick on the immigrants who want to take your job.