Tim Blair

I'm surprised you didn't comment on the strange set of statements:

"I became an Australian citizen a month ago".

but

"I will vote for Kerry"

I'm pretty sure that won't be legal. No offense, but I think becoming a citizen of another country causes you to lose your U.S. citizenship.

If Australia is one of the exceptions, I guess I'm OK with that...

... as long as there's no way for Margo Kingston to vote in our elections, that is...

...the trailer parks where America's social policies force one family in thirteen.

Er, what? Is there some intrinsic evil to trailer parks of which I was heretofore unaware? (I mean, besides the fact that tornadoes hate them.) When I was a kid we lived in trailer (for a time), and my folks were proud that here they had their own home, even if it was a mobile one. Man, I'm so embarrassed now. What rubes we were, and I didn't even know!

I better not tell my grandmother. She just moved into a trailer---forced into it, no doubt. Poor thing, she's unaware of how poor she is.

And then there's this statistic of "one in thirteen". If true (I haven't Googled it), that comes to 7.7% of US families living in a trailer park.

Well, are they supposed to live in a box? Or should they all have 3 bedroom ranch style homes, even if they can't afford the payments? I don't see much of a solution here, only more whining.

I'm pretty sure that Ash is right. It may depend on the local custom as well. In parts of Illinois, even death does not disqualify a person from voting.

Sorry, my train of thought was interrupted.....

Most people in other nations would be pleased to live in a warm, comfortable trailer home, as opposed to a damp cave or leaky hut....and that percentage is more than 7.7%. Are these folks supposed to live in a box to suit this clown disguised as a unique Australian?

No offense, but I think becoming a citizen of another country causes you to lose your U.S. citizenship.

I don't think so. You're not even required to give up your old citizenship (anymore) when becoming a U.S. citizen, and I doubt they're any more eager to strip original U.S. citizens of theirs when they take on another nationality.

> Or should they all have 3 bedroom ranch style homes,

No, that would be sprawl. And, the proper name is "snout houses". (These folks are so concerned with the rabble that they spend considerable time inventing pejorative names for things that the rabble want/like.)

In an earlier day, the rabble was supposed to want to live in "projects", but now it's a warmed over commune-style where everyone walks to work at the candle or sandal shop.

I just checked with my county Supervisor of Elections. He told me that there is nothing in US election law prohibiting voting in a US election after assuming foreign citizenship. This answer is specific to Florida, and might vary from place to place. A person registered to vote in, say, Hillsborough County, Florida, but with no permanent address in the county, would be registered to vote in "Precinct 999", which would allow voting in all Federal, State, and County races, but not in Municipal races.

Most American mobile homes are at least the equal of the 1,000 square foot boxes that the average Euro-socialist lives in -- and many are larger and nicer, often with a bit of private garden and patio attached, which the concrete boxes don't offer.

What is the difference between living in a trailer park and living in a concrete block of tiny, identical boxes? (

Ah -- there's the rub. The concrete block of identifical boxes is communal; the trailer park is a collection of private property owners! Horrors! Poor people being allowed to own private property! Poor people actually having something to show for their rent payments after a few years instead of ending up with nothing and wholly dependent on the all-glorious state!

Yet another example of how much the elitist Left hates the poor while pretending to be s-o-o concerned for them.

The US recognizes dual citizenship. It's joining the military of a foreign country that will nuke your US citizenship.

Or you can voluntarily relinquish it (in writing) to the nearest US embassy. Say hi to Mr. Oswald...

I'd rather live in a trailer park than in concrete boxes stacked one of top of the other. I've done both, I know.

And I still call them "ranch style house". Call me a non-conformist, but I've felt this way since one woman I spoke with informed me (in very chilly tones) that she didn't have a basement, she lived in a bi-level house.

In the Empire of Ignorance, Hypocrisy and Obedience Ninio is king.

I can hardly believe that 1 in 13 Americans live in (mortgage free?) trailer parks. Lucky them! Anyway, I looked up some stats and found that, surprisingly, 1 in 18 citizens do live in damp caves and 1 in 22 are leaky hut dwellers. Good call, TheRealJeffS!

My wonderful carpenter has to live in an itinerant hotel, because American social policies force him to give away his hard-earned money and monthly government checks to his "friends" and to bet on the lottery every week. How unconscionable is our government that allows citizens to rise or fall according to their will and abilities, (and often with government monies at their disposal).

Jimmy the carpenter aspires to a trailer, and I am encouraging him to save toward that end. Poor thing has to endure bourgeois pep talks in the meanwhile. (I am secretly saving up money for him and looking for property. Better me than the government. When social policy ensures all wants and needs met, social policy dictates all wants and needs to be met...)

I used to live in a trailer park, but I don't anymore. I must a' tricked them sneaky guvmint types that wanted to keep me poor and downtrodden in a house with wheels! Go me!

As for the citizenship thing, I know the U.S. has treaties with certain countries that allow dual citizenship. But it doesn't go for all countries, because some countries don't allow it.

Y'know, there's another option for them poor people, beyond trailer parks and stacked concrete blocks....there's always C.H.U.D.!

Might help with the grocery bill as well.

Margo’s screeching nonsense has just burst in to the top ten.

Oh dear. I went into Dymocks in Brisbane city a few days ago looking for it so I could loudly mumble at what a deadshit Margo is. Problem is, they didn't have any copies of the book.

If it'd sold out, I think I'm going to commit mass murder.

Ash and mojo are both wrong. Once you are a US citizen, by birth or by valid naturalisation (i.e. you didn't obtain it by fraud), nothing you do can make you lose it involuntarily. You can become a foreign citizen, you can join a foreign army, you can even take up arms against the USA - that would make you a traitor, but not an alien. They can execute you for it, but they can't strip you of your citizenship.

So says Afroyim v Rusk, and so has been the law since the mid-'60s. Or since the 14th amendment was enacted, actually, but so has been the decided law since Afroyim.

Here's a link:

U.S. Census Bureau (Oct 13, 2003).

Didn't see the mad woman's screech at Borders the other day, but I did see PJ O'Rourke's "Peace Kills". Duly purchased. Very funny, but perhaps not as unintentionally hilarious as Magrot's.

Yes, I too was pleasantly surprised to wander into Kinokuniya in Sydney only to be confronted with a large stack of Peace Kills. Haven't finished it yet, so don't tell me how it ends!

Oh, yes, I was going to say something:

Americans, your vote can fix what's wrong with your country!

Step 1: Vote for Bush.
Step 2: Bush wins in landslide.
Step 3: Unprecedented outbreak of strokes, heart attacks, apoplexy and assorted aneurisms effectively eliminates the political far left.
Step 4: At the next election, vote for whoever you damn well please, knowing that the moonbats aren't around any more.

Well, I can dream...

You can say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. . .

How I miss Kinokuniya. Shopping for manga online just isn't the same.

I don't live in a trailer park, but I know that Ninio would sneer equally at my nice, new house because it's in a soulless suburban development.

Why is it that some people are never happy until we're living in some funky downtown ugly-mural-festooned brick apartment building within walking distance of the folk music festival?

...the trailer parks where America's social policies force one family in thirteen...

Don"t keep me in suspenders. Policies that force one family in thirteen to do what??? Not with Jimbo's dog surely?

I had a heck of a time with that sentence too, but from everyone else I gathered that one in thirteen families was forced into the trailer park, and that's the big deal.

It's cute, huh? GWB is a symptom of American trailer parks, where everyone's stupid white trash, and isn't it dreadful that our social policies force good hard working proles into trailer parks? You can pity them and mock them at the same time. In the future, this will be remembered as Michael Moore's contribution to the working class.

God hates trailer parks, he keeps sending tornados to eat them up. Bad (ahem) mojo.

Don't put any credence in the Dymocks top ten, thats a selection not based on volumes sold. They just rotate the books through it so silly punters will buy a book thinking its popular.

Plus I believe that publishers can influence what book makes the list as part of an overall promo effort.

Fear not, i'd suggest there will be plenty of those books on sale for $ 2 in the bargain bins in about a month.

There were 150 of us living in a shoebox in t' middle of t' road...