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She doesn't have her hair up in a ponytail.

6 (6.8%)

Black really clashes with her eyes.

2 (2.3%)

That wasn't Splenda she put in her coffee.

4 (4.5%)

She got an extra ear piercing since yesterday.

5 (5.7%)

Faye has a scar on her right boob.

9 (10.2%)

Dora's hair was purple.

8 (9.1%)

She doesn't really need glasses.

5 (5.7%)

Pintsize has her entire BDSM collection uploaded into his memory.

24 (27.3%)

That WASN'T Kirk, but his brother Leeeeroooyyyy Jenkkinnnnsss!!!!

8 (9.1%)

Waffles taste better with chicken.

17 (19.3%)

Total Members Voted: 71

[Carl-E]

...Which is the whole "economic resources" point.  You could work your debt off in America, and then you'd be free.  Then you had to earn enough to buy transportation home, but by then, you'd be either well set up here, or dead. 

A very different ball of wax compared to the "lifers" shipped to Australia. 

It also started a good deal of "southern" culture, many of the early plantations in the south started with these "indentured servants", then found the slaves to be more economical.  The whole indenturing thing died off pretty quickly once the slave trade got going in earnest. 

Happy MLKII day. 

[peterh]

Just this:

Today's QC delivery is AWESOME!

[akronnick]

Also, I'm from Arlington, VA.  That means I'm from the North.  No one considers it the South except if you're from, say, Philadelphia or higher.

Robert E. Lee was from Arlington.

You can't get more Southern than the commanding General of the Army of Northern Virginia!

[Carl-E]

Virginia seceded from the Union.  You can't get more confederate than that, and you can't get more southern than confederate! 

[Wraith11B]

Quick, I need a picture of Jeff Dunham's Peanut with "Oh! My! God!" written under it... preferably as a gif.

Again, I'm not getting into a fight concerning the Civil War.  Yes, VA seceded.  Yes, REL was from Arlington.  But there were some people in the Army of Northern Virginia who were from the "North," just as there were people from the South who fought for the Union.

[Carl-E]

Fine, fine, you can consider yourself a northern sympathizer all you want.  Doesn't change the geography - Arlington is in VA, and that's the south! 

[Akima]

The US was also one, that was the joke (even though I was referencing Australia).

The United States Of America is a legal and political entity, which did not come into existence until after the American Revolution (arguably not until the Treaty Of Paris in 1783), and so was certainly never a British penal colony. Any convicts shipped from Britain would have been received by its American colonies, not the by United States.

[Wraith11B]

Is not Australia a former colony?? Are they not a legal and political entity?  Australia as a commonwealth did not exist until 1901...

[Akima]

Is not Australia a former colony?? Are they not a legal and political entity?  Australia as a commonwealth did not exist until 1901...

Exactly. If someone specifically referred to the Commonwealth Of Australia (born 26th January 1901) as a penal colony, they would be just as incorrect as if they called the United States Of America one. If they use the informal term "Australia", that is fair enough because the modern country is coterminous with the geographical entity of the same name that was used as a dumping ground for the British Empire's undesirables, and five of our six states were indeed once penal colonies (South Australia was founded "free" and stayed that way). By contrast, most of the USA's territory was conquered, purchased or otherwise acquired after its founding, and never had British colonial status in the first place.

[jwhouk]

Truth is, if the USA hadn't started things in 1776, India, Australia, Canada and several other ports of call would still be British "Colonies" and not "Commonwealths".

[Wraith11B]

I would argue that we simply refer to it as "the US" instead of singling out the one specific example because if you did, people would wonder if you're saying that the country of Georgia was once a penal colony of the British Empire.

Also, if you really think about it, the American Colonies were a great way to offload some serious overpopulation as well as political undesirables like those damn Puritans.  As Robin Williams once said, "People so uptight, the English kicked them out.  Take your pimp shoes and go!"  So, it's really all the same.  What a great way to start a great country.

[AnAverageWriter]

I would argue that we simply refer to it as "the US" instead of singling out the one specific example

Maybe you do, but there is no "we" involved. Your error is one not shared by others here.

[Wraith11B]

Thank you for insulting my mental faculties.  Sure, I guess living overseas, traveling all over the world, and all of that just makes me another ignorant American.  Great.  I will initiate consuming bad domestic beer, insulting everyone here for not living "in the real world" and promoting the US over all comers.

[Border Reiver]

Truth is, if the USA hadn't started things in 1776, India, Australia, Canada and several other ports of call would still be British "Colonies" and not "Commonwealths".

Canada started it all with fully representative government around 1791 for Lower Canada and Upper Canada (Nova Scotia had it earlier  in 1758).  Britain's role was to deal with foreign policy - domestic policy was firmly in local hands - same as in the 13 colonies prior to that tiff over trade tarriffs and not nicking the First Nations lands.  Canada's unification occurred primarily becasue of that little spat down in the US from 1861-65.

And we were a Dominion - not a Commonwealth.

[pwhodges]

I think most people here know the score, and the discussion is heading towards terminological nitpicking, politics and heatedness - so I think we'll stop now.