Things that are f'd up about the US thread

[Vosem]

#2 and #4-8 are pretty bad, yeah.

[Badger]

Rooney's posts

Fair enough. I will not argue that in some ways I do represent some messed up parts of American culture.

You mean you are an unabashed crank.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

The biggest problem with the US is that its just too perfect.

lololol

I'll give you one thing, I assumed at first this Ray woman was Black, and turns out she isn't, but the article does feature a black guy as well. If it's Alabama, and they're targeting poors, then I would assume there is a racial element in it. Even if it means fining a couple of poor whites.

Or, if you're poor and can't afford a speeding ticket, DON'T SPEED!  There's an easy solution right there.

As the article says, it's got nothing to do with her guilt or innocence. Read it, I'm sure most Republicans would agree that the current situation regarding mushrooming private fines that are enforceable by prison stays (for which you get charged[/i]) is f'd up.

On that I agree.  But to say that Alabama is targeting poor blacks just based on that is a bit extreme.

[Hatman 🍁]

Inks, are you suggesting it is only ok for rich people to speed?

[Franzl]

Inks, are you suggesting it is only ok for rich people to speed?

I certainly would suggest that. But it's ok for everyone, rich and poor, in North America with the 100 km/h / 65 mph bulls**t.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Inks, are you suggesting it is only ok for rich people to speed?

I'd argue it isn't ok for anyone to speed.  Even if you're rich, if you keep speeding, you're gonna lose your licesne.

[Peter the Lefty]

Political rant:
The lack of a public healthcare system
The lack of a high-speed rail system
The power corporations have to pollute the environment and frack and steal resources without anyone doing anything about it. 
The horrible lack of labor standards and the fact that our minimum wage is merely $7.25 an hour. 
Corporate personhood
The simplistic mentality of "caring for poor people and saying the banks and corporations have too much power=socialism=bad"
The Westboro Baptist Church itself, and the fact that they have the right to protest at funerals. 
The fact that people with the intelligence of Todd Akin can be on the House's Science Comittee
The two-party system and the electoral college (not to mention the FPTP)
The lack of limits on corporate campaign funding
The literalist degrees to which the second amendment is interpreted
The rigid social conservatism of so much of the population
The lack of a real welfare system
The defense hawk militarist mentality
The levels of summer drought we get
The levels of Racism
The levels of Homophobia
The power of the banks
The fact that everything sold and used here (INCLUDING OUR FRICKEN' OLYMPIC UNIFORMS) are made in China
The lack of government arts funding
Rick Perry

Non-political:
Obesity and fast food
Daniel Tosh
Country and rap music
Donald Trump (okay, semi-political)
The way (wannabe) gangsters think it's cool if your trousers are descending in the back. 
The fact that we haven't adopted the metric system (semi-political)

[hawkeye59]

Political rant:
The lack of a public healthcare system
The lack of a high-speed rail system
The power corporations have to pollute the environment and frack and steal resources without anyone doing anything about it. 
The horrible lack of labor standards and the fact that our minimum wage is merely $7.25 an hour. 
Corporate personhood
The simplistic mentality of "caring for poor people and saying the banks and corporations have too much power=socialism=bad"
The Westboro Baptist Church itself, and the fact that they have the right to protest at funerals. 
The fact that people with the intelligence of Todd Akin can be on the House's Science Comittee
The two-party system and the electoral college (not to mention the FPTP)
The lack of limits on corporate campaign funding
The literalist degrees to which the second amendment is interpreted
The rigid social conservatism of so much of the population
The lack of a real welfare system
The defense hawk militarist mentality
The levels of summer drought we get
The levels of Racism
The levels of Homophobia
The power of the banks
The fact that everything sold and used here (INCLUDING OUR FRICKEN' OLYMPIC UNIFORMS) are made in China
The lack of government arts funding
Rick Perry

Non-political:
Obesity and fast food
Daniel Tosh
Country and rap music
Donald Trump (okay, semi-political)
The way (wannabe) gangsters think it's cool if your trousers are descending in the back. 
The fact that we haven't adopted the metric system (semi-political)

That's called freedom of speech, you realize.

[Donerail]

Political rant:
The lack of a public healthcare system
The lack of a high-speed rail system
The power corporations have to pollute the environment and frack and steal resources without anyone doing anything about it. 
The horrible lack of labor standards and the fact that our minimum wage is merely $7.25 an hour. 
Corporate personhood
The simplistic mentality of "caring for poor people and saying the banks and corporations have too much power=socialism=bad"
The Westboro Baptist Church itself, and the fact that they have the right to protest at funerals. 
The fact that people with the intelligence of Todd Akin can be on the House's Science Comittee
The two-party system and the electoral college (not to mention the FPTP)
The lack of limits on corporate campaign funding
The literalist degrees to which the second amendment is interpreted
The rigid social conservatism of so much of the population
The lack of a real welfare system
The defense hawk militarist mentality
The levels of summer drought we get
The levels of Racism
The levels of Homophobia
The power of the banks
The fact that everything sold and used here (INCLUDING OUR FRICKEN' OLYMPIC UNIFORMS) are made in China
The lack of government arts funding
Rick Perry

Non-political:
Obesity and fast food
Daniel Tosh
Country and rap music
Donald Trump (okay, semi-political)
The way (wannabe) gangsters think it's cool if your trousers are descending in the back. 
The fact that we haven't adopted the metric system (semi-political)

That's called freedom of speech, you realize.

Nonsense; freedom of speech doesn't apply when I disagree with the speech or the person speaking, you know.

[dead0man]

My favorite part is that 85% of the things people are mentioning are not even close to being unique to the US.  Haters gonna hate.

[Sbane]

Yeah, people all over the world basically suck.

[dead0man]

Indeed, we ain't special, we're just bigger and louder than average.  I suppose those are two things that are F'ed up about the US.

[Lief 🗽]

My favorite part is that 85% of the things people are mentioning are not even close to being unique to the US.  Haters gonna hate.

Yeah, but a lot of those things that are now worldwide originated in America.

[J. J.]

(Feel free to start one about Australia)

Here's a thread for things I come across that are clearly stains on the US. There are many wonderful things about America, of course, but some of the stuff that comes out of your country is sad, disappointing, and occasionally enraging.

To start us off, the story of Gina Ray, thanks to the NYT:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Continued at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/03/us/probation-fees-multiply-as-companies-profit.html?_r=3&pagewanted=all

Since she presumably had the ticket, she could use that to prove that the date was wrong, and the penalties from that should be removed.  So, we're back to the original $179.00.

So, why did she just let it slide?