We Americans are just as bad to our Natives, but I think most "modern" Americans feel a liberal dose of guilt about it. Plus, we have a whole "noble savage" thing going on that idealizes the Native people as perfect humans living in harmony with nature. Which of course is just as bullshitty, but it least it accords…

Really?? Racism against newer immigrants may be horrible, but it's on some level comprehensible (motivated by fear and territoriality); but racism against the people who were there before you is flat-out rude.

I honestly had no clue about this reputation!

I had no idea about Alberta's reputation. I am Alaskan, and we are always told that Canadians are awesome to a fault, much more awesome than our Lower 48 brethren! Because all Canadians are the same, you know! That big ol' country to our East is a monolith! :)

These parents must have the patience of saints!

No, we are the ones who take away jobs that should rightfully go to REAL 'MERICANS! We should all just go back to China!

The entire thing was weird; not just the racism. The town was quite derelict; the houses were rotting, and the convenience store attached to the gas station had 3/4 empty shelves. How do they come up with $5000 for a cat? Also, how did they decide that the cat had been kidnapped? I didn't want to stick around to find…

Rural Alberta can be a strange place, as in "Deliverance" strange. I drove through recently, and stopped at what I took for a small, friendly town for gas (pump first, pay later!). Then I went to the diner to try to eat, but was stopped cold by a sign on the door: "Lost cat! We think he's been kidnapped! $5000 reward…

Isn't Kate Moss like 40? to have a sister that is 16 is... possible, but mind-blowing. I cannot imagine my mom happily signing up for one more kid after my sister and I were grown and gone!

Is McDonalds at the same economic level in Hong Kong as it is in the US? I've been to one in mainland China, and can't say it's exactly regarded as fancy (although it was a prosperous factory town). That being said, I could see this happening in the US, although it would be with a sense of humor.

Ew, sorry. I stand corrected. I thought you were being too harsh on the homophobes because I didn't believe that anyone could actually be like that.

dominant=dormant

How is "have you had a tattoo or piercing within the last 12 months" or "have you had an accidental needle stick" any more specific? The point is, it's a potential contact point with contamination. As for the "actual risk analysis" I have no idea, but I doubt you do either. Do you honestly know your precise odds of…

Sorry, you're absolutely correct. That was a brain fart on my part.

I think it's a simple matter of saving time and money. They could also just test the recent tattoo-ees for HIV and hepatitis, but they'd rather just eliminate the pool. Keep in mind, these are voluntarily-answered questions. If you are 100% absolutely positive that you are HIV negative, you might make a moral argument…

I'm not saying that every item on the list carries EQUIVALENT risk. I'm saying that there is a one-to-two page long list of risk factors. To imply that they are equal would be plain silly, and I did no such thing.

I honestly don't know if those two questions carry the same risk (and the Mad Cow question is actually more specific than that. I think it's something like, IF you've been in Europe since 1980, have you spent time adding up to more than XX number of years?). My point is, there is an entire page of questions that each…

They also ask whether you've had a recent immunization, tattoo, or piercing, have lived in Europe during the Mad Cow scare, and a whole bunch of other things on an entire page of questions. They can just as easily screen the blood of these "high risk" people, but they ask all of these questions to minimize their work…

Fair enough.

No one here said that. This is a particularly shrill and crazy strawman.