Happier Abroad Forum Community

This is pretty ridiculous, it's no wonder that people are going ape shit and killing government employees and what not. Basically the government is pushing and pushing to see what they can get away with. And the thing is you have all these stooges not saying a word and enforcing it. that's the problem, you have too many people just going along with the program and not questioning why this is happening and what the purpose of it all is.

The poster though should have put up the history of why they are removing it though. I'm assuming it's some bogus ordinance issue where the town passed a law where you need a permit or something to get a basketball pole put up in your yard or something. Towns and cities are continuously passing new laws not to benefit the citizens but to create new revenue streams since they can't control their own spending.

It's sad to say but I've given up ever moving back to America anytime soon, most likely never. Even if it fixed itself and started reversing all this police state bull shit, it would take another few decades to do it and by then I'll be too old to care.

Ugh, sometimes it sucks being someone with no true country of his own that he can be proud of anymore. I hate defining myself as an American nowadays even though that's the first question everyone asks is where I'm from, I hate answering it.

Mr S wrote:Ugh, sometimes it sucks being someone with no true country of his own that he can be proud of anymore. I hate defining myself as an American nowadays even though that's the first question everyone asks is where I'm from, I hate answering it.

I hear you, man. I tell my wife that this is not the America I grew up in. I don't get along with my family and I no longer share the current American values. I've visited or lived in nearly 30 countries and I appreciate many aspects of many of them, but none of them feels like "home" to me anymore. I feel like a man without a country, not really fitting in anywhere I go. It's a lonely feeling.

Let's hope Italy fills the bill. Of course, the whole nation-state concept may eventually find its way onto the as heap of history. I don't much care for the economic premises of the European Union, but I do think Nietzsche was on to something in arguing that Europeans should think of themselves as belonging to the entire continent. From climate to intellectual culture, somewhere in Europe you have it as good as it gets.

That was so sickening that I couldn't watch the whole thing. I guess it is better for kids to go out onto the streets and commit crimes then to play basketball in their own driveways. Your dumbass government at work. That is why I prefer to live in countries with ineffective governments like Mexico, then to live in America where the government is becoming more organized and fascist by the minute. There was significantly more freedom in the 1950s then now. Even, when I lived in the Netherlands, it was relatively unregulated compared to the US - they didn't even get non-smoking laws for restaurants until about two years ago. In Mexico, people leave me alone and I can do what I want. When I am sick, I just go to the pharmacy and buy drugs without prescription. The security situation is really not that big of a deal because if you have the freedom of action, you just organize your life to be safe. When you are being harassed by the government or your neighbors, life quickly becomes unbearable.

I don't understand what's happening in this clip...

A guess... the woman in glasses who has just got out of bed had some legal disagreement with the man with the basketball pole (maybe they were neighbours and he put it in her land?) and she got some government heavies to take it away, whilst trying to tell him he couldn't stand in his front garden/speak to the heavies?

But then... they showed the trucks with lots of poles in. And why would they threaten to arrest them over this?

Sorry if am being stupid. I just watched it twice and don't really get it. I have a little trouble with the accents at some parts too.

RedDog wrote: I hear you, man. I tell my wife that this is not the America I grew up in. I don't get along with my family and I no longer share the current American values. I've visited or lived in nearly 30 countries and I appreciate many aspects of many of them, but none of them feels like "home" to me anymore. I feel like a man without a country, not really fitting in anywhere I go. It's a lonely feeling.

For how long did you live in each of those 30 countries (except the USA, which clearly isn't working for you)? If you only lived in each for a year or two, then it's no wonder that you feel that you don't fit in anywhere. It takes time to truly fit in and to adapt to a new culture.

Summary of cultural adjustment:
First 3 months: "Hey! This place is really cool!"
Next year or two: "Man, some shit here is really starting to annoy me here and I feel sort of lonely."
Next year: "This place is starting to feel like home."
Next year+ : "This place is now my home!"

Every year that passes here, I feel that the cultural and linguistic barrier between myself and the locals gets smaller and smaller. Stay in a country that you mostly like for long enough and learn the language and it will happen to you, too.

BellaRuth wrote:I don't understand what's happening in this clip...
A guess... the woman in glasses who has just got out of bed had some legal disagreement with the man with the basketball pole (maybe they were neighbors and he put it in her land?) and she got some government heavies to take it away, whilst trying to tell him he couldn't stand in his front garden/speak to the heavies?
But then... they showed the trucks with lots of poles in. And why would they threaten to arrest them over this?
Sorry if am being stupid. I just watched it twice and don't really get it. I have a little trouble with the accents at some parts too.

In America there are laws at different levels of government, city, county, state, and federal. Many cities have laws governing placement of basketball poles/hoops/boards facing or near public right-of-way (street), because they don't want kids running after basketballs in the street. There are also laws governing vegetation and any items within x feet of the curb so that it would not block the view when cars are pulling out of the driveway. So even if it's your own private property, you're not allowed to grow a tall shrub that would block the view of your car being backed out to the street.

When I used to live in Placentia, how the neighbors did it was put portable basketball hoops/hockey nets/etc out on the curb side for kids to play, and whenever cops come to complain they just roll it inside their garage and shut the door. ;p The police aren't bored enough to come out looking for them, but they're reqired to respond when someone calls and files a complaint. In cases like this, 99% of the time it's because a neighbor got sick and tired of trying to drive home through a pack of kids playing ball in the street every day, and decided to call the cops on them.

For examples, see:
http://www.cityofirvine.org/about/municipal_code.asp
http://library.municode.com/HTML/13239/ ... 3-1_28.jpg

In the link above, you can see my city's code on drive-through menu boards. So if you run a restaurant and want to put up a menu board for the drive-through lane, you must obtain permit and follow exact specifications. Note that landscaping to block the view of the menu board from public street is required, so people won't rubber-neck and slam into the car in front of them. My city (Irvine) is a "nanny state", and within each residential community we have HOA (Home Owner Association) rules and regulations as well. i.e. just because you bought a house, does not mean you get to paint the house in a color of your preference. All external modifications require approval by the HOA board.

Jackal wrote:

RedDog wrote: I hear you, man. I tell my wife that this is not the America I grew up in. I don't get along with my family and I no longer share the current American values. I've visited or lived in nearly 30 countries and I appreciate many aspects of many of them, but none of them feels like "home" to me anymore. I feel like a man without a country, not really fitting in anywhere I go. It's a lonely feeling.

For how long did you live in each of those 30 countries (except the USA, which clearly isn't working for you)? If you only lived in each for a year or two, then it's no wonder that you feel that you don't fit in anywhere. It takes time to truly fit in and to adapt to a new culture.

Summary of cultural adjustment:
First 3 months: "Hey! This place is really cool!"
Next year or two: "Man, some shit here is really starting to annoy me here and I feel sort of lonely."
Next year: "This place is starting to feel like home."
Next year+ : "This place is now my home!"

Every year that passes here, I feel that the cultural and linguistic barrier between myself and the locals gets smaller and smaller. Stay in a country that you mostly like for long enough and learn the language and it will happen to you, too.

It took me about three months to adjust to the Netherlands and get past the "WTF, why are they doing it that way?" stage. After two years there it felt more like home to me then the US.

momopi wrote:

BellaRuth wrote:I don't understand what's happening in this clip...
A guess... the woman in glasses who has just got out of bed had some legal disagreement with the man with the basketball pole (maybe they were neighbors and he put it in her land?) and she got some government heavies to take it away, whilst trying to tell him he couldn't stand in his front garden/speak to the heavies?
But then... they showed the trucks with lots of poles in. And why would they threaten to arrest them over this?
Sorry if am being stupid. I just watched it twice and don't really get it. I have a little trouble with the accents at some parts too.

In America there are laws at different levels of government, city, county, state, and federal. Many cities have laws governing placement of basketball poles/hoops/boards facing or near public right-of-way (street), because they don't want kids running after basketballs in the street. There are also laws governing vegetation and any items within x feet of the curb so that it would not block the view when cars are pulling out of the driveway. So even if it's your own private property, you're not allowed to grow a tall shrub that would block the view of your car being backed out to the street.

When I used to live in Placentia, how the neighbors did it was put portable basketball hoops/hockey nets/etc out on the curb side for kids to play, and whenever cops come to complain they just roll it inside their garage and shut the door. ;p The police aren't bored enough to come out looking for them, but they're reqired to respond when someone calls and files a complaint. In cases like this, 99% of the time it's because a neighbor got sick and tired of trying to drive home through a pack of kids playing ball in the street every day, and decided to call the cops on them.

For examples, see:
http://www.cityofirvine.org/about/municipal_code.asp
http://library.municode.com/HTML/13239/ ... 3-1_28.jpg

In the link above, you can see my city's code on drive-through menu boards. So if you run a restaurant and want to put up a menu board for the drive-through lane, you must obtain permit and follow exact specifications. Note that landscaping to block the view of the menu board from public street is required, so people won't rubber-neck and slam into the car in front of them. My city (Irvine) is a "nanny state", and within each residential community we have HOA (Home Owner Association) rules and regulations as well. i.e. just because you bought a house, does not mean you get to paint the house in a color of your preference. All external modifications require approval by the HOA board.

I thought I heard the guy with the cane yelling that that basketball pole had been there in the ground for 60 years. I'd say that was 'grandfathered in'. The fact that they just decided to pass an ordinance one day and go around confiscating them without asking for neighborhood input, and then just lying about letting the man keep it, is just over the top. Of course, every town has ordinances; it's just that many of them are idiotic or at the whim of someone trying to score political points with someone else. My whole point here is that heavy-handed bureaucrats only cause social anger and discord, especially when it comes to petty things like this.

Obnoxious citizens like this prick are the reason America is going to shit.

Obviously the community has a local ordinance against basketball courts. I don't know why and I don't care, but if most of the people want them down, so be it.

Move to a community that permits it.

I hate people that behave like that prick. Did he file an injunction to have it stopped? No, he just had a childish tantrum because he could not get his way.

Contrarian Expatriate wrote:Obnoxious citizens like this prick are the reason America is going to shit.

Obviously the community has a local ordinance against basketball courts. I don't know why and I don't care, but if most of the people want them down, so be it.

Move to a community that permits it.

I hate people that behave like that prick. Did he file an injunction to have it stopped? No, he just had a childish tantrum because he could not get his way.

I can't bear to watch the video again, but I thought I heard him say that they did go to court (he was talking about his court papers), but the government was playing dirty pool (as they often do) and taking away the hoop without the proper papers. It's naive to assume the government always follows legal procedures. They have the power and will intimidate and crush the little guy if they can get away with it.

I owned a house many years ago in Orange County, and a group of petty tyrants took over the HOA. Often it is idiots with time on their hands and a desire to control others that take control of these organizations. We eventually organized and kicked them out. To do it, we had to go to court representing ourselves, and the HOA hired expensive lawyers using our own HOA fees to fight us. They ended up pilfering a good part of our money to fight us - money that could have been used for repairs, etc. I have owned two homes, and will never own another. HOAs are just more petty tyrannies to control the lives of people in the US, many who have been conned into believing that owning a home actually gives you freedom, and then discovering themselves living in a Stalinist gulag.

On the subject of American women on petty power trips, this just in from southeast Missouri: A deputy female sheriff shot three times and killed a chihuahua in the home she was entering because it was barking at her.

On another topic, this may not come as news to anyone here, but a story in Russia Today notes that women outnumber men in Russia by 2 to 1.

gsjackson wrote:On the subject of American women on petty power trips, this just in from southeast Missouri: A deputy female sheriff shot three times and killed a chihuahua in the home she was entering because it was barking at her.

On another topic, this may not come as news to anyone here, but a story in Russia Today notes that women outnumber men in Russia by 2 to 1.

I lived in Russia for 2 years, and found the women there to be incredibly resilient and pretty much the survivalist backbone of the country. Granted, I was there in the mid-90s, but the level of extreme alcoholism among the Russian men was extraordinary, which accounts/accounted in large part for their short lifespan, leaving the country full of widows. The country is also still recovering from the war and the women still use abortion as their primary means of "birth control". A Russian woman there once told me that a Russian woman isn't "really a woman" until she's had at least 2 abortions. I've heard things have improved there, but I haven't been back since to see it for myself. I can only hope it's better.

I just found a link that shows what I'm talking about. When I was living there, the male life expectancy was 57 years, but it seems to have improved up to 63. The women are still living to be much older though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Russi ... ctancy.PNG

RedDog wrote:

gsjackson wrote:On the subject of American women on petty power trips, this just in from southeast Missouri: A deputy female sheriff shot three times and killed a chihuahua in the home she was entering because it was barking at her.

On another topic, this may not come as news to anyone here, but a story in Russia Today notes that women outnumber men in Russia by 2 to 1.

I lived in Russia for 2 years, and found the women there to be incredibly resilient and pretty much the survivalist backbone of the country. Granted, I was there in the mid-90s, but the level of extreme alcoholism among the Russian men was extraordinary, which accounts/accounted in large part for their short lifespan, leaving the country full of widows. The country is also still recovering from the war and the women still use abortion as their primary means of "birth control". A Russian woman there once told me that a Russian woman isn't "really a woman" until she's had at least 2 abortions. I've heard things have improved there, but I haven't been back since to see it for myself. I can only hope it's better.

I just found a link that shows what I'm talking about. When I was living there, the male life expectancy was 57 years, but it seems to have improved up to 63. The women are still living to be much older though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Russi ... ctancy.PNG

Did you ever think of marrying a Russki?