Two firefighters dead after being shot while responding to house fire

[Thor]

His comments are hilariously bad, no argument.

But curious, if you guys were to judge a nation on its merits, would Canada not lead the US in most of the important and worthwhile categories.

I see Canada as one if not the top nation in the world to live in and find the US in maybe the lower part of the top 10 or further down, depending on what factors you consider to make a nation great to live in.

[PIMking]

who cares? I don't feel like freezing my balls off so Canada is out for me.

[RichKlit]

Originally Posted by Thor

His comments are hilariously bad, no argument.

But curious, if you guys were to judge a nation on its merits, would Canada not lead the US in most of the important and worthwhile categories.

I see Canada as one if not the top nation in the world to live in and find the US in maybe the bottom 10 or further down, depending on what factors you consider to make a nation great to live in.

I'm not sure you really mean bottom 10 in the world unless you love extreme poverty, dictatorship, rampant disease etc. I get what your saying though.

[Minnie]

Originally Posted by PIMking

who cares? I don't feel like freezing my balls off so Canada is out for me.

Just like the States, it depends where you live. It's not all a frozen tundra wasteland.

[Thor]

Originally Posted by PIMking

who cares? I don't feel like freezing my balls off so Canada is out for me.

So weather is your #1 reason to live anywhere? Not cost of living, safety, eduction, etc..?

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by PIMking

who cares? I don't feel like freezing my balls off so Canada is out for me.

Well you know we occasionally get warm streaks where we can sneak out of our igloo's and bugger polar bears for sport.

[Minnie]

Well, if he wants to talk weather, I'll take some frigid temps once in a while, over the damn tornadoes all the time.

[nickerjones]

Originally Posted by Thor

His comments are hilariously bad, no argument.

But curious, if you guys were to judge a nation on its merits, would Canada not lead the US in most of the important and worthwhile categories.

I see Canada as one if not the top nation in the world to live in and find the US in maybe the lower part of the top 10 or further down, depending on what factors you consider to make a nation great to live in.

Thor some person earlier hit the nail on the head when they talked about American's thinking America was the greatest country in the world. Since we were little it's all we were taught. "America is great and we are far superior in every aspect." It's why we are all so oddly patriotic. I actually get mad at Canadians for talking etc during the Canadian Nat'l Anthem. We are taught the American National Anthem is a time to honor your country and remember the people who have fought and died for our freedoms. I find it disrespectful when Canadians are living it up during their anthem at Flames games ( and doubly so when they do it during the US Anthem) ...

However I realize that we ( Canadians, Americans, Europeans etc) are from different cultures. I am not saying Canada isn't great. I really enjoy Calgary and am even in the beginning stages of moving here. I am moving mainly for the wife but there are things I enjoy about Canada as well. I am not moving because I hate America. I still love the United States and Oklahoma and am proud to be American. Sure America is 'effed and I am not pleased with how things are going right now but the beauty of America is you ( America as a whole) have the freedom to change how things are going if you dont like it. ( or at least there is a belief that we are free to change). Every country has their problems and I think every thing goes in cycles. Maybe we are just on the wrong side of a cycle and things will get better but who knows? Maybe not.

America is still a great place to live and deserves a little bit of respect no? America, myself, ,possibly PIM , and maybe a few other Americans have taken a hit on CP over the last week or so since the shooting. I am sure its because the killing of innocent children is such a sensitive horrible subject. People like the poster "Iginla" are just trolling and Im sure 98% of Canadians still have love for their Southern neighbors since we are practically the same.

Originally Posted by Thor

So weather is your #1 reason to live anywhere? Not cost of living, safety, eduction, etc..?

I hate cold and I hate tornados..... I will love Canada in the summer when its 80 degrees in Calgary and 115 in Oklahoma.

Cost of living? Oklahoma blows Calgary out of the water. 200k for a 2000sq ft new house in Oklahoma , 750+ for one in Calgary. Not to mention everything else is cheaper back home.

[PIMking]

Originally Posted by Thor

So weather is your #1 reason to live anywhere? Not cost of living, safety, eduction, etc..?

yes, all that other stuff is overrated.. I'm kidding of course

In all seriousness though, I can't take the cold weather. It's 34* right now here in Tuscaloosa and I am freaking the f out right now. I saw snow for the first time in 3 year last week in Indy and I hated every moment of it.

[PIMking]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Well you know we occasionally get warm streaks where we can sneak out of our igloo's and bugger polar bears for sport.

[HPLovecraft]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Maybe, the Russian offensive and destruction of the key German armies had a great effect on the European battles, but you could also argue that British and later American air power was just as large of a factor, and the fact that Hitler was forced to pull a lot of his veteran units out of Russia to defend fortress Europe in Italy and Western Europe.

Saying that the Russian's won the European war is over simplification.

You could in theory say that crippling diarrhea and parasites won the war in Russia for the Russians, and the crippling cold, and autumn mud and Hitlers stupidity at splitting his army into three.

The Russians' fought a great second half of the war aided by an American engineer that gave them the transmission for the T-34 tank, but the allies opening multiple fronts and the D-Day and post D-Day invasion had a significant effect on the Russian invasion.

On even turf with better Luftwaffe support and not using sub par German Allied troops to protect Germany's flanks in Stalingrad and I think General Paulus blunts Zhukov's encirclement at Stalingrad and saves his army in place.

The difference between Germany finishing off Russia and Russia finishing off Germany was pretty slight.

Okay, so now we're going way off topic, but ah well!

Basically every single respected WW2 historian out there lists the Eastern Front as the deciding factor in the war, while topics like the importance of the strategic bombing campaign are continuously up for debate (and even those historians that would agree the bombing campaign was decisive would never go so far as to say it had just as large an effect on the war as the land battle in Russia). As far as big battles go, and there were a lot from '39-'45, Kursk was the biggest battle of the entire thing. It absolutely crippled Germany's armour. From that point on, they were heavily outnumbered in tanks and other armoured vehicles in every single theatre. The war was basically already decided by the time the Allies landed in Normandy; Hitler had already gotten rid of all the capable old Prussians in the OKH and taken control himself, Stalingrad was well over by the time the Allies invaded Italy (Torch had a negligible impact on the Eastern Front), German armour was decimated, never to recover, and the only thing that D-Day really changed in the long run was how quickly the war would be wrapped up in Europe and how the continent was going to be divvied up in the post-war years.

When it comes to the 6th Army retreating, Hitler completely forbid it, convinced that its demise would make for a great heroic German tale for future generations of little Aryans. There was no way he was going to allow the army to make a retreat all the way back to Germany, at any point, especially not the army he said he could "storm heaven" with. After all, it was during the lead up to Stalingrad when Hitler began firing his more capable generals in the OKH and began gaining more and more power over the military. Pretty much all the men that could have saved the army were gone by that point.

Paulus worshipped Hitler, and he refused to disobey him, even when when his men were being piled frozen and dead on top of one another outside the caves and other holes in the ground that were serving as medical bunkers, and men under his command like Strecker (I think it was Strecker) decided to try and fight their way out themselves. Manstein was, according to Beevor, basically the only man with the clout to contradict Hitler's orders and demand Paulus retreat, but even he didn't do it in the end. Of course, if Paulus weren't in way over his head in leading an entire army with almost no experience he likely would have had a mobile force in reserve capable of reacting to the Russian armoured thrust in the north, negating the whole need for retreat in the first place, but alas for the Germans, I suppose.

I don't know if you've read it, but Richard Overy's "Why the Allies Won" is a pretty good book for examining the different aspects of the war, from the Battle of the Atlantic to the Eastern Front, and weighing them against one another.

[PIMking]

Originally Posted by HPLovecraft

Okay, so now we're going way off topic, but ah well!

The topic is history like WWII

[Mr.Coffee]

Iginla is not even worth engaging, it's clear I was quoting and targeting a person with the mental capacity of a six year old.

AMERICA BAD. CANADA GOOD.

[PIMking]

good dog... who want's a treat

[Minnie]

HPL, thanks for the book recc. I've added it to the queue at the library.

[normtwofinger]

Originally Posted by Iginla

Embarrassing rant...

Oh puckluck, old habits die hard.

Spoiler!

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by nickerjones

Thor some person earlier hit the nail on the head when they talked about American's thinking America was the greatest country in the world. Since we were little it's all we were taught. "America is great and we are far superior in every aspect." It's why we are all so oddly patriotic. I actually get mad at Canadians for talking etc during the Canadian Nat'l Anthem. We are taught the American National Anthem is a time to honor your country and remember the people who have fought and died for our freedoms. I find it disrespectful when Canadians are living it up during their anthem at Flames games ( and doubly so when they do it during the US Anthem) ...


America is still a great place to live and deserves a little bit of respect no? America, myself, ,possibly PIM , and maybe a few other Americans have taken a hit on CP over the last week or so since the shooting. I am sure its because the killing of innocent children is such a sensitive horrible subject. People like the poster "Iginla" are just trolling and Im sure 98% of Canadians still have love for their Southern neighbors since we are practically the same.

I think patriotism is actually one of the US's great weaknesses, the US is a great country but is far from perfect, in fact in some ways far from the best, and it is the patriotism that allows americans to somewhat ignore the glaring problems and always has.

I tend to think that is why you have such a schizophrenic relationship with your goverment and fellow citizans, on the one hand 'this is the best country in the world' rapidly followed by 'the goverment is out to get me and my neighbour wants to rape my wife therefore I need an arsenal of weapons to protect myself', it never made much sense to me.

I think it also creates inertia in the body politic, this sense that to mess with anything wll allow all of the inconsistances to come crashing in, hense the worship of the constitution while ignoring the fact that it has been ignored for centuries for minorities.