OT: Strange future for down-under?

[geoschmo]

This has more of a chance of happeneing then Australia becoming part of the US...
LINK

[Erax]

Point A : An overwhelming majority of politicians the world over would be considered 'socialist' if they entered US politics.

Point B : The Australian people won't go for it. That's why it isn't likely to happen.

Point C : But if they do, I'd say it's a 50/50 chance that the US Congress lets them in. The European Union grows larger every day and the US is looking for a way to counter that. Latin America isn't buying into ALCA, so that avenue isn't working too well.

It could happen. Not likely, but not impossible. I give it a 5% chance in the next 30 years.

Loser : Texas sets a legal precedent. That's all that's needed.

Geo : Our seasons are just as God intended them to be, it's yours that are mixed up.

[geoschmo]

Originally posted by Erax:
Geo : Our seasons are just as God intended them to be, it's yours that are mixed up.

No, if God had intended Christmas to be in summer he wouldn't have put Santa at the North pole.

There is a reason the Northern Hemisphere is on top Erax.

[tesco samoa]

Baron Munchausen the maritimes hates the usa as much as Western , Central , Nothern , Southern Canada.

[EvilGenius4ABetterTomorro]

Culturally Australia is almost like us. I went there for my Honeymoon and was surpised at all the American T.V. shows. I wanted to watch an Australian news broadcast in Brisbane Airport and I got NBC (u.s.) They watch U.S. football, They love U.S. Basketball, I saw Aboriginies acting like gang members in Cairns. Well actually that's all pop culture. But I was looking for somesort of Australian cultural experience and all I got was really nice people eating vegimite and driving on the left. They even have those obnoxious "Sunday! Sunday!" drag race commercials just like us. Boo hoo!

[Erax]

Geo, Santa lives in Rovaniemi, Finland, not at the North Pole.

[ July 18, 2003, 19:02: Message edited by: Erax ]

[Baron Grazic]

You guys are just trying to get me to bite, aren't you?

I can't believe this stupid article made it out of the country...
The article was published in our papers mostly as a humorous piece, and I doubt that any Australians took it seriously.

Australia DOES NOT want to join the US. We have many similarities, but not enough to join as "just another state". Our country is better than that...

Australia is also part of the Commonwealth and I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be legal to be an American State, while being a Commonwealth nation.

Becoming a republic has been brought up a few times, and support is growing for it, but it will still take a few years (decades) for this to happen. This would enable us to form good bonds between the UK, US and our neighbours - Asia.

To correct a few mistakes and inform you guys better.

1. Australia's population is 19.9M. The quota for Immigration is 110,000 per year. Estimated visitors to Australia is 5M per year, mostly from UK, USA and Asia.
2. Australia's isolationist immigration laws? We have a decent immigration policy, which may be small compared to the US, but the numbers are realistic as to what the country can handle. More effort is on trying to stop immigrants moving into their local community and getting them into the rural areas.
3. Metric System is the way of the future. One day (Century?) the US will change...
4. Australia is GMT +10, which in effect means we are about 20 hours AHEAD of the USA, depending on where you are.
5. Christmas is better during the summer anyway. I've had 2 "White Christmas". How can you enjoy it, when you are stuck in doors, while a blizzard is raging outside. Give me a Xmas BBQ on the Beach, going surfing while waiting for the food to cook, and looking at beach babes while eating...
6. City vs.. Country living. Yep, there is a difference, I have friends and family living in both areas, but I am sure many other countries are having the same problems, including the USA.
7. Thermodyne - your family was just being nice, being a small country, I asked them, and they like you living on the other side of the world... (Joke)
8. Culturally Australia is almost like us? Yes and No. Yes, because both countries have English history and we do get a lot of American TV shows, but we still have a strong influence from the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia. I like to think that our culture is somewhere between the US & UK, with our own mix thrown in their too.
9. People at airports want to know what is happening in the world, because that is where they are heading, which is was most airports have CNN on.
10. The only US Football game on Australian TV would be the Superbowl. I think I can safely say that less then 1% even know the rules, let alone want to watch any matches. Possibly their is a cable channel that shows matches.
11. US Basketball. The game is played widely here, but Australian matches are rarely played on commercial TV, and US Games never. I only heard the results of the US Basketball finials here, can't say I even saw them in the papers.
12. EvilGenius4ABetterTomorrow - you went to Cairns, a tourist city to get Australian culture?
You should have been in Melbourne or Sydney and checking out the ally Cafe scene, or the live band scene at the Pubs, or the back beaches.

[Fyron]

3. Metric System is the way of the future. One day (Century?) the US will change...

Do you want to pay for that change? The biggest thing stopping the US from converting to the metric system is the extremely high cost of doing so. Think of all of those billions of road signs that have to be changed, for one thing.

Give me a Xmas BBQ on the Beach

The terms Xmas and BBQ just don't go together.

[ July 18, 2003, 01:26: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

[deccan]

I agree. It was obvious that the original article was a joke. The idea that Australia would join the U.S. is so ludicrous that it doesn't bear mentioning.

In the meantime, here's something for you to ponder:

What is the likelihood of California breaking away from the U.S. to form its own country?

[geoschmo]

Originally posted by Baron Grazic:
To correct a few mistakes and inform you guys better.
...
4. Australia is GMT +10, which in effect means we are about 20 hours AHEAD of the USA, depending on where you are.

Sorry guy, no correction was needed on this one. I had it right to begin with. I said Australia was ahead of continental US time, Hawaii is behind. The point is you're both wrong though.

[ July 18, 2003, 01:34: Message edited by: geoschmo ]