Yeah Putin, you're a great guy to have on the prosecutors team I'm sure they'll love you there :D

invictus, same with me. When I went to Germany and Austria recently, and I have German speaking parents, so my accent is not that bad really, they could tell I was from America almost withut fail, and swappedto English 9 times out of 10 on me if they spoke good English.

Sometimes though, I think they want to practice English, since they can speak German every day.

In russia.....very few speak english, and many try, and fail....horribly.

@redhouse - Do you seriously think you are going to pick up ont hat in an interview anyhow? Let's look at our case here in the states of a college coach who was molesting young boys. Same language and everything, but they didn't pick up on the fact he was a pedophile at his interview. Sorry, but you can't tell someone is a pedophile by the way they talk. And if you for some God awfulr eason think it is because gay men often have a stereotypical "gay lilt" to their voice, well gay does not equal pedophile. I'm not calling you a homophobe for certain, unless you make that connection in your mind, in which case I am. Only homophobic assholes think gay men are pedophiles. They like *men* not *boys* and are no more likely than a heterosexual man to be one (who could well be into little girls).

You don't think there's a tiny wiff of "He has slightly right wing views... Burn the racist!" about this, Putin? One would think that after the hard time left wingers got back in the 50s that more of them (especially Yank ones) would be against this sort of thing.

"That is incidental at best, redhouse1938."

Explain that to the 67 families involved (I thought there were 72 children, there's 67)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsterdam_sex_crimes_case

My future children will be taken care of by Dutch people, women preferably, and family members, preferably.

If that makes me a racist: okay, no problem :D

ya,. because Putin was around in the 1950s...I am guessing he is mid 20s, maybe some Grad student, thinks he has it all figured out. Guessing somewhere in the Midwest (cuz he is more left wing than even New Englanders), Iowa or Illinois maybe, or any other Big 10 school.

It doesn't make you racist, not even xenophobic. You have every right to pick who takes care of your kids.

All I'm saying is that the fact that he was foreign has nothing to do with the fact that he was a pedophile, and I don't buy the idea of the language-barrier being a way for him to disguise his perversion.

Actually, red, it makes you both xenophobic *and* homophobic. Congrats, you are a fucking douche. Enjoy the title.

In regards to speaking another language in another country…

• When I was in Israel, I spoke the Hebrew I knew (wasn't fluent then, still am not quite fluent now), even when someone spoke to me in English. I ran into a couple of Americans who thought I was American, and I began speaking in Hebrew and they had no clue what I was saying. That's the only time outside of my family that I spoke English.

• I'm going to Germany this winter and I'm trying to pick up as much basic German knowledge as I can before I go there. I'm sure I'll speak primarily English, but I would love to pick up some real German, not textbook German, while I'm there.

Point being that when I personally am a foreigner, I would take pride in picking up some of their language and culture. Maybe that's my 16-year-old obliviously naive self.

Putin is more late 20s and an OSU graduate/former grad student, so Ohio would be his home. Eventually, he will grow up.

@bo - Do that. Nothing naive in wanting to respect the people you are visiting. It also makes reading the signs a hell of a lot easier. It's good to know the difference between the Eingang (pedestrian entrance) and the Ausfahrt (vehicle exit).

In all honesty the concept that young children are best cared for by people with a very good understanding of the language and local culture does not seem radical to me. This will rule out most foreigners except those who are exceptionally well qualified, or indeed those who live in communities in which their particular culture and language is well represented. The biggest problem with childcare (at least in the UK) are the low standards needed to get such a job

Drau, you have kids, yes?

We have lots of kids here taken care of non-Americans, without much trouble here.

However, that is a 1 on 1 basis.

the only problem FOR me, is if the language barrier prevented the teacher/care giver to understand a health issue or something like that.

taht beign said, his kids, he has a right to raise them within reason, as he wishes.

"In all honesty the concept that young children are best cared for by people with a very good understanding of the language and local culture does not seem radical to me."

-Thanks Octavious, it does not sound radical to anyone in his right mind.

Hey, I am not AGAINST it, but I think it becomes a parents decision, and that should be respected 100%. If he dont want his kids being cared for by someoen who is not Native Dutch, that is HIS coice.

Well Jamie, thanks for creating this brilliant thread. Your contribution to the forum was indispensable as ever. Thanks again.

@Red, it's not radical to say that they should, but to say that the must is quite radical and, like has been said, xenophobic. The spectrum of people is too broad to try and limit people to such guidelines. That's what Hitler did. That's what Caesar did. That's what many have done in the past.

@Draug, I am going with faculty from my school and it's up to them to know society prior to going. I'm going to be in Berlin for about a week, so I'm not going to really get a chance to assimilate with the people there, especially since I'm without my family and have a schedule I can't deviate from. Still, I just find it both respectful and respectable to at least make an effort to learn their ways to the extent that I can.

"You don't think there's a tiny wiff of "He has slightly right wing views... Burn the racist!" about this, Putin?"

You're always 'getting a wiff' of that, Octavious. It's the only wiff of discrimination you ever seem to smell. How many more tales of poor oppressed conservatives are we going to hear before the day is through? Last I checked the CP in the 50s hid itself from view as best as possible. Rightwingers like Redhouse control, have controlled, and likely will control some time in the future - every institution of government - and have mega billions from corporations and churches across the country to bankroll their campaigns in order to do so.

And as I've mentioned to Bob Genghiskhan, we don't need to go back to the 50s to experience anti-communist witchhunting in the States. It's happening as we speak.

"Putin is more late 20s and an OSU graduate/former grad student, so Ohio would be his home. Eventually, he will grow up."

I'm glad we're whining about 'witchhunts' while engaging in pathetic personal attacks to change the subject. I won't take lectures about growing up from someone who repeatedly makes jokes about having sex with teens.

""In all honesty the concept that young children are best cared for by people with a very good understanding of the language and local culture does not seem radical to me.""

If only that was all Redhouse said.

Red has every right to make those decisiona for *his* kids, but not as a policy or law for all daycares. And not even for the daycare he currently sends his kids to. His right doesn't extend to enforcing a limit on who they can hire. His right is just to change them to a daycare that caters to xenophobic homophobes.

drau has sex wit teens?

"What is this "Black Belt" of which you speak?"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Belt_(U.S._region)

@Octavious: "In all honesty the concept that young children are best cared for by people with a very good understanding of the language and local culture does not seem radical to me."

Indeed. But as Putin said: "If only that was all Redhouse said". Unfortunately that's not all he said. He didn't just say that parents should be allowed to choose their childminder, he also said that Lithuanians/Latvians should *not* be allowed to care for Dutch children.

That remains an unacceptably xenophobic stance, in my view.

@ Redhouse: "Well Jamie, thanks for creating this brilliant thread."

What's your point?

Shouldn't in the sense: you shouldn't do that. Not in the sense: we should codify that into law.

Draug has sex with his 57 year old wife. Draug fantasizes about teens who are legally of age in the state in which he lives. Draug is not into kids or preteens. I want some nice hills and some neatly trimmed grass on the greens where I fantasize about golfing thank you.

Drau, i assumed as much, but was wondering why Putin threw that out there.

@Putin - interesting. I had never heard of it before. But it is funny how, except for Florida, it correlates heavily with the "Southern" region (as opposed southern country which includes Tenn and KY. Although consdiering the slave history of those regions, I guess that is to be expected. Migration patterns still have many people living within a state border of where they were born or grew up.

Thanks for the link and the enlightenment.

Now, does that mean the Black culture of Michigan and Ohio is different from the culture of the Black Belt?

@Stressed, I do make jokes about having sex with 16 and 17 year olds. They are legal in Ohio and Kentucky as long as you aren't an authority figure intheir life. But, I have to face it, unless one was looking for a serious sugar daddy and didn't have any standards, I'm a fat, ugly, 46 year old. I ain't gettin nothin from a hot 16 or 17 year old, even if I tried.