UN report: Canada 4th best place to live

[tompeepin]

Behind Norway, Sweden and Australia. And ahead of The Netherlands, Belgium, Iceland and the United States.

I know that this means nothing to people who only consider GDP and household income as gauges of quality of life.

 

[happygrump]

Norway and Sweden are too friggin cold! Australia is glorious, but everything there is poisonous - bugs, spiders, snakes, scorpions, pretty much anything that can bite you can do you serious harm.

I like this place, Canada. I mean, I really like this place!

 

[Drunken Master]

WE'RE NUMBER 4! WE'RE NUMBER 4! WE'RE NUMBER 4!

 

[E_B_Samaritano]

Surely based on that finding, the UN would have no problem relocating to Norway, Sweden, Austrailia or yes even the frozen tundra of the north. I for one would love to see them get the hell out of New York. Funny how the member nations profess to abhor the US while continuing to freeload off of our generosity in the form of their world headquarters and its associated headaches brought to the city of New York.

EBS

 

[The_Jaded_One]

EBS,

The USA is only a good place to live if you are rich and boring. It has too much violence, religious repression, and inequity to ever be considered the best place in the world. Also, special interest groups control everything as can be seen by George Bush's popularity. On top of that, too many Americans are uptight and take offence at everything if they are not thought of as number one (which is made all the more evident by your post). No one wants to live there except for Americans. I will admit that the USA has some nice places to visit but just to visit not live.

 

[zydeco]

Correct me if I'm wrong EBS - but isn't the US hundreds of millions of dollars behind in it's UN contributions - talk about freeloaders!

 

[Mao Tse Tongue]

Correct me if I'm wrong EBS - but isn't the US hundreds of millions of dollars behind in it's UN contributions - talk about freeloaders!

Correct!

Just ignore that guy--he's clueless.

 

[Drunken Master]

No one wants to live there except for Americans.

And the thousand of immigrants - legal and otherwise - who spend every cent they have and sometime endanger their lives to enter the States...

I mean, I'm all for a hearty round of America-bashing, but let's not be silly, shall we?

EBS - I think the US and the rest of the Coallition of the Willing should form your own UN. You, Bulagria and Micronesia will have a grand old time, I'm sure.

 

[zydeco]

DM - I hope you're not taking lightly the significant Micronesian contributions to the so called "coalition"!

 

[E_B_Samaritano]

EBS,

The USA is only a good place to live if you are rich and boring. It has too much violence, religious repression, and inequity to ever be considered the best place in the world. Also, special interest groups control everything as can be seen by George Bush's popularity. On top of that, too many Americans are uptight and take offence at everything if they are not thought of as number one (which is made all the more evident by your post). No one wants to live there except for Americans. I will admit that the USA has some nice places to visit but just to visit not live.

Jaded One,

I for one abhor stereotypes...that would be the one about "rich and boring". I guess Conan is rich and boring...yes? Last time I checked he lives in Manhattan.

The individual who posted this tidbit, intended for it to be a dig at individuals who had defended quality of living in terms of GDP and other economic terms. You know where that debate came from I am sure.

Let me put it to you this way...I regularly see gratitous backhanded comments about Americans on this board. Canucks are obsessed in comparing your country and selves to the US and Americans. When I jump on this nonsense...you cry foul. Well guess what...keep right on posting it and I'll feel very free to refute it.

EBS

 

[zydeco]

Fair enough EBS - but you should at least try to get the facts straight.

 

[Mao Tse Tongue]

Jaded One,

I for one abhor stereotypes...that would be the one about "rich and boring". I guess Conan is rich and boring...yes? Last time I checked he lives in Manhattan.

The individual who posted this tidbit, intended for it to be a dig at individuals who had defended quality of living in terms of GDP and other economic terms. You know where that debate came from I am sure.

Let me put it to you this way...I regularly see gratitous backhanded comments about Americans on this board. Canucks are obsessed in comparing your country and selves to the US and Americans. When I jump on this nonsense...you cry foul. Well guess what...keep right on posting it and I'll feel very free to refute it.

EBS

Lots of people on this board--Canadians like myself--have also jumped in when someone posts something silly like the "rich and boring" post and defended America. Make generalizations and you'll get generalizations back--it's really that simple.

It is kind of funny that you're blathering about what a pain in the ass the UN is when your government hasn't paid its fees AND ignored the UN to conquer a sovereign nation like Iraq and is now overseeing the trial of Saddam for "invading a sovereign nation."

The ironies pile up.

 

[Drunken Master]

DM - I hope you're not taking lightly the significant Micronesian contributions to the so called "coalition"!

Current number of US troop in Iraq: about 140,000
Current population of Micronesia: about 100,000

Don't get me wrong - I'm sure the mine-sniffing wildebeast the Micronesians sent over is doing wonderful things.

 

[E_B_Samaritano]

Correct me if I'm wrong EBS - but isn't the US hundreds of millions of dollars behind in it's UN contributions - talk about freeloaders!

Zydeco,

In the interest of full disclosure...As of March 31, 2004, members arrears to the Regular Budget topped $1.326 billion, of which the United States alone owed $614 million (48% of the regular budget). Damn..you mean to tell me after appropriating well over 100 billion dollars to fight a war in Iraq, we overlooked paying a MERE 614 million to that bastion of worldwide authority aka the UN..LOL.

Would you presume the reason the US doesn't pay their dues is because they are insistent on being freeloaders or might there be some political disagreement as to the equity of assessment of dues to member nations. Could the US not offset our arrearages with the monies owed to the US for fronting for other UN obligations. That would be before we consider the cost of the building and land on which the UN sits. Maybe the US should stop freeloading, make the UN pay its own way and then watch it fold like a circus tent.

Please..go do your homework and comeback when you're ready to have a "COMPLETE" discussion of the situation.

EBS

 

[E_B_Samaritano]

Correct!

Just ignore that guy--he's clueless.

Why don't you clue us in on the UN stewardship of the Food for Oil program in Iraq...? I can't hear you...LOL..

EBS

 

[red]

Surely based on that finding, the UN would have no problem relocating to Norway, Sweden, Austrailia or yes even the frozen tundra of the north. I for one would love to see them get the hell out of New York. Funny how the member nations profess to abhor the US while continuing to freeload off of our generosity in the form of their world headquarters and its associated headaches brought to the city of New York.

EBS

ask them to leave then. If the US hates the UN so much- ask them to leave.

 

[zydeco]

It would appear that you (EBS) are the one that is not ready to have a complete discussion here - the US arrears predate any expenditures that were made in connection with the war in Iraq. But that point is actually a "red herring" - the two issues are not mutually dependent.

 

[tompeepin]

The individual who posted this tidbit, intended for it to be a dig at individuals who had defended quality of living in terms of GDP and other economic terms. You know where that debate came from I am sure.

EBS

ESB, you are a smart guy. I respect some of your views (you are not a neo-con) and actually I am fiscally conservative myself. (Unlike some I do not believe in deficit spending.) The problem is that socially I am an Anarchist or since that word has taken on such a negative "terrorist" connotation let's just use the term - social libertarian.

Your first post affirmed the validity of Talerion point:

]It is the other side of the coin of what North America is specifically suffering from with regards to intellectual laziness. Label someone as left or right and you can therefore vilify them and of course this allows you the automatic moral and intellectual high ground.

T.

You made disparaging comments about the source of the information (the UN) instead of commenting on what you may perceive as an inaccurate position.

Surely based on that finding, the UN would have no problem relocating to Norway, Sweden, Austrailia or yes even the frozen tundra of the north. I for one would love to see them get the hell out of New York. ...
EBS

I merely wanted to present another perspective to show that different worldviews lead to differences in what people value. And I thought that referring to this report was a good way of doing that. It was not specifically about Canada or the US and definitely not about the UN. But rather:

IMHO quality of life is not solely about $$$, even if, yes I will grant you, economics do play a significant part.

 

[happygrump]

Sorry, EBS, but I think you just shot yourself in the proverbial foot.

The UN is supposed to be an independent body, not a sycophant of any national power.

The long and short of it is that if the US wishes to continue to utilize the UN as a political instrument, and holds back funding until it - the US - gets it's way, that's hardly in the original intent of the UN mandate.

The US entered into the present funding arrangement with the UN without coercsion, and is free to withdraw anytime it pleases. Undoubtedly, it would damage the UN, probably beyond repair. But what would that serve? Possibly isolationist conservative forces, but that's about it.

I don't like the fact that my car insurance is high... I don't like the fact that my electricity bill is creeping up and up... and I don't like the fact that my natural gas bill is being driven up by forces completely beyond my control... but the fact is that I've made an obligation to pay them on time, so I do.

Surely, the US, as the one and only superpower left on the planet, with all the military and moral suasion it possesses, can follow through on its own committments!

 

[Mao Tse Tongue]

Why don't you clue us in on the UN stewardship of the Food for Oil program in Iraq...? I can't hear you...LOL..

EBS

I don't get your point. You're showing your superiority because you do know about it? Did you Google it?

Ok, we get it: you think the UN is outdated and you don't want to pay for it. Some people, with lots more finesse than you, have made compelling arguments for getting rid of the UN. But the knee jerk stuff is tiring, especially when you haven't paid your tab at the UN. Can't quite complain if you haven't paid.

I guess you think Kofi Annan's plea to the US to use some of that war money to help eradicate AIDS is just a pile of crap too, huh?