Ah, Ian, Ian, Ian. Look, America definitely has some pretty big fucking problems. I absolutely agree. I don't think that America is a place of religious extremes, though. Maybe you meant Israel, where there are armed conflicts between rival religions on a daily basis. Or perhaps Northern Ireland, a part of the UK, you'll remember. Though, honestly, Northern Ireland seems to be more about economics and hating the English (something I'm sure you can relate to, being Scottish, Ian.)

There's not much religious strife here. There's just a few Christians who like complain loudly about everything. It's an absolutely tiny minority of complainers who get on TV because they like to bitch. The media is not an accurate representation of Americans. It's more like the craziest people in the country. That's not exactly the same as suicide bombings.

Honestly, if you read American newspapers, you'll see articles about eroding church attendance (which draws more rants from the crowds that complain a lot). Yes, church attendance went up following September 11th, but from what I've read in the papers, it's back down. This can largely be traced to both an over all decline in interest in religion in the western world and the scandals with Catholic priests molesting and/or raping small boys.

About September 11th: Yeah, I'm pretty sick of it, too. It's been bandied about as an excuse for all kinds of utter nonsense, not the least of which is racial profiling, locking people up under thin and/or false pretenses, and general invasions of privacy. It's embarassing for the human race that people are exploiting a tragic event to further their political agendas. There's also another bad consequence to all of this: I no longer give one flying fuck about it, and I don't want to hear another goddamn word about it. It might have been one of those Oaklahoma City bombing situations where you'd feel sorry for people who got blown up once in a while, but now I am totally desensitized and apathetic. Good job!

I realize that I live in California, which is a super liberal microcosm of America, and that my experiences here are not shared by the entire country. That said, most people here are pretty pissed off about Iraq and you see a lot "Bush Lies" bumper stickers. And hey, don't blame us for your ID card things. Your country was in on this blowing up Iraq thing, too. Don't assume that everyone in our country agrees with the government anymore than everyone in yours does.

And yeah, it's really lame that Britain is getting pressured into more European Union stuff. Everyone Briton I've talked to hates it.

I think your Channel 4 program has some misinformation, too. Well, first let me agree that it's idiotic that so many people here drive monstrous SUVs, Hummers, pick-ups the size of Mars, et cetera. They are gas guzzling behemoths, and there's no damn reason to commute to work in one. Now about what they got wrong. Maybe it does cost you $75 a tank to fill up a monster. Here it costs about $40. Maybe California is more expensive than the rest of the country, but I doubt it's THAT much more. For my part, I have a little Volvo, which gets about 25 miles a gallon. That's right in line with your Model T or whatever, and it's a European car anyway. Now if only it didn't have a bevy of oil-related issues. And people don't complain when the gas prices go up 3 cents. They complain when gas goes from $1.50 a gallon to $2.75 a gallon, as it did when I was working in cubicle slavery.

One last thing: global warming. The reason America didn't sign on for the Kyoto thing was not that we don't believe global warming is real. Most of us do. The reason we didn't sign on for it is that it says it's perfectly okay for some countries to pollute a ton, while first world countries (which is mostly us and you, Ian), get fined to hell and back. I'm not excusing our massive pollution and I'm not saying global warming doesn't exist. I am saying that there needs to be a global warming treaty that unilaterally cuts back pollution. Also recall that when we rejected it, we were also in the middle of a economic bubble bursting and scared of anything that would hurt our suddenly fragile economy.

Yes. Lowering pollution is really important and it would help a lot if everyone on the road wasn't driving a car big enough to fight Godzilla. I have no idea why this insanity became popular in the last ten years.

Since I'm spewing my political guts anyway, we have several politicans in our legislature that terrify me. Chief among them is Joe Lieberman. Before I get the knee-jerk reaction, I don't care if he's Jewish. I didn't even realize he was Jewish until someone tried to yell at me for saying I couldn't stand him.

Lieberman is just my least favorite politican because of his rabid anti-First Amendment way of life. He seems to hate my favorite things: video games, movies, comics, and books. Not a way to get on my good side. Look Joe, I love Grand Theft Auto, I'm a legal adult, and there's no reason I shouldn't be able to buy it. I agree that a five year old shouldn't be playing it. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be on the market. Same thing with R-rated or NC-17 rated movies. Kids can't see them. Fine. I can and should be able to. Sorry to reject a candy coated Disney media monopoly. Actually, come to think of it, some of Disney's tentacles are pretty unsavory. You might want to get in on the Disney bashing.