You're going where?

That's really funny considering the Czech state has been in existence for over 400 years. How long has your state been in existence? You illustrated my point perfectly and I thank you for that.

To further enlighten you, the Czech Republic makes the most advanced radar systems in the world and has always been technically adept and ahead of the times. As a matter of fact the U.S. has bought that particular radar system for use in this 'missile defense shield' program.

Boy, oh, boy, that post did make your point.

It reminds me of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" I was waiting for a bus, and it was playing on the TV. The question (not the million dollar question, but it was up there) was: "Which of the following is the capital city of Australia?" It gave the four choices, and the contestant was sweating bullets. He used his 50/50. Still he wasn't sure. So he asked the audience. Their pick: Sydney. And that's what he went with.

Not that it's the best analogue, but it does remind me of sitting there at the bus station, shaking my head.

I'm opting for part of Ken's post and part that the American culture is not trained to tune into the news and are also not thoroughly educated in world geography. We get so much negativity from the media that we turn off our tube rather than turn it on. I have learned from research and personal British friends that the British are a culture much more geared towards the news, what goes on in other parts of the world, and their geography. So part of my reply to you is that ignorance appears to be partly a culture thing. By the way Ken, loved your post.

Granted, ignorance of the world outside of the country is indeed a part of American culture. But what, I think, you fail to realize is that I too am an American. As for being tuned in; it's easy enough to turn off the television I agree. It's also easy to take an interest in the world around us and search for less sensationalistic news outlets that are focused on the story and not on making something of nothing.

The borders of the countries in the European Union, including the Czech Republic, have been stabilized for years. The only thing that has been happening is that diverse nationalities and cultures that have previously been lumped together in one country have decided to rediscover their cultural heritages and in doing so have amicably separated with the others. That is the case of the Czech and Slovak Republics who split in 1993, 13 years ago for those keeping track.

Recently Serbia and Montenegro have decided to split as well.
Think about this, what if something happened and Canada and America were lumped into one country, or Canada, America and Mexico? There would probably be some tension and some identity crises in the members of the societies.

Side notes:
The Czech Republic was never part of a -stan. It was part of Czechoslovakia which was only a combination of the names of the two cultures.

The -stan countries and the Serbian countries are thousands of miles apart. The Czech Republic would technically be classified as Slavonic.

If you lived in Los Angeles you would know that what you just said has already taken place:

Mexico decided to merge itself with California. Without going into radical particulars, if you want them I'll give them to you privately, but the gist of what I want to say is that there IS tension because of the lumping of cultures in Los Angeles. That is why I left Los Angeles just six months ago.

Mexico decided to merge itself with CA...

I'm unclear on this sentence, but I like the sound of it.

I should edit that the culture merge was just one reason I left, not the sole reason.

Okay, when I said Mexico merged itself I meant that Mexicans moved into the Los Angeles area from Mexico at a very rapid pace, plus they are reproducing at a faster rate than the whites, thus the flooding and merging of a new culture.

Yes. Oh, yes. Indeed, it's happening.

They're moving from down there to up here, and the up-heres are moving up there, to Canada Dry.

We can't put whitey down, but we can raise him up here, with us.

I don't mind the mixing myself, that is not what we are discussing. We are discussing the flooding of a culture into another culture - - uninvited. My sister is married to an Argentinian, a very nice guy, so yeah, mixing is good. I myself will probably end up marrying someone from a different culture, you never know, but again, to recap - - the tension in Los Angeles comes from the Mexican culture burying itself uninvited into the American culture.

Secret: I wasn't invited, either.

If I had to wait for an invitation, I would still be elsewhere.

A few mixtures is great, it really is. I don't mind that. The key word here is FLOODING, as in pour into and overflow... and then add in overtake.

Yes, I understood that a few posts ago.

That's the reason you left.

One of the reasons.

The smog may have been another.

Smog oddly enough, was not among the reasons. Ridiculous rent charges of $900/month and the stress to come up with it each month was wearing on my health. I am a single parent with no child support and I was tense often. Here in the midwest my rent is only $230/month and I am happy to report my nerves are much calmer.

Also, the area I lived in continually got worse, and soon someone across the street starting shooting bee-bees at my son more often than not. One day I was almost hit with one myself as we stood on our own driveway just talking. It was sad. There are more reasons I moved but the one that broke the camel's back was when my son was threatened by 2 hoodlums to give up his brand new 3 day-old bike or they would harm him. That night I said "That's it!" and three weeks later we were gone and out of the state.

That was a good move.

Yeah, people can be morons, and for no good reason.

Just like the Brits don't like the Arabs moving in on their country and culture. I know many brits haved moved away from London to the outskirts of England in order to get away from the culture flood. Seems America is not the only place flooding has taken place...

I would leave because of the smog.

And the Evian.

Yeah, it's not the only place.

Just look at that whole Katrina mess.

Talk about flooding.

Oh, wait...that was America.

The difference there is we did not colonize Mexico. The British Empire crumbled under its own weight and now the sins of the fathers have come home to roost. France suffers from similar problems and recently was witness to their power in the form of rioting for weeks...

With the ever-shrinking world people will move from one country to another. I was not invited to this country, I simply wanted to live here for several years and then move on. Actually that's a topic under discussion in the European Parliament these days. But they're looking at ways to integrate and embrace as opposed to eradicate and revile.

If you represent all of the American people now, I fear for the future of *OUR* country because your hate and fear of change and things that are different than you is plainly visible in your writing.