The newly-restructured U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services exam (administered beginning 2008), challenges immigrants to a list of tough questions, spanning history, politics, geography, language and culture, before citizenship is legally earned. Chances are, you'll never take it, but if you did, would you pass?

Take the sample test here: Chicago Tribune (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/la-na-immigrationquiz,0,2728687.triviaquiz?coll=chi_tab0 2_layout)

i only got # 10 wrong... silly me

I got #10 and #11 wrong,but,whatta I know.

Got them all right.

I would expect nothing less Borg.

Nailed it - 100%.

I got #10 and #11 wrong,but,whatta I know.
I surprised you knew our tax day. Do you know Ireland's? :)

Forgot to ask,
when do I get my passport?

Don't you already have one?

I surprised you knew our tax day. Do you know Ireland's? :)Hoho,ours is 1st April,april fools day,nothing as bad as a taxman with a sense of humor.

Don't you already have one?
Nah,they are more difficult to copy Im told.

Hoho,ours is 1st April,april fools day,nothing as bad as a taxman with a sense of humor.
I'd expect nothing less from an Irishman. They're some funny people. That's why I like 'em.

We aim to please.

Nah,they are more difficult to copy Im told.
Why do you have to copy your own passport????

I have an Irish passport.
I could have a British one if I wanted,but Id have to die first to take one.
Now I wanna trade one in for a US one.
If you could fix it for me.

I got all of them right. Sadly though, I can imagine a lot of Americans failing that test.

All correct.

I take it as myth,that American school children learn about America and its flag and so on in school then.

Now I wanna trade one in for a US one.
If you could fix it for me.
Even if you knew it would subject you to the constant jabs of lesser nations? Even if you knew it would provide you the privilege...er...RIGHT to be made fun of by others in Europe for your xenophobia, stupidity, greed, and my personal favorite, for being a war mongering OIL whore?

You know, Paul - with great power comes great responsibility. If you’re willing to go that extra mile, then you too, can become a member of the most hated country on the planet.

Still want that passport?

I take it as myth,that American school children learn about America and its flag and so on in school then.

I did... Betsy Ross... F.S. key..... In the early grades they touched upon it, and then again in highschool they did early american history... From the explorers to the civil war...

Even if you knew it would subject you to the constant jabs of lesser nations?All nations are greater and lesser to some degree. [/QUOTE=Praetorian]Even if you knew it would provide you the privilege...er...RIGHT to be made fun of by others in Europe for your xenophobia, stupidity, greed, and my personal favorite, war mongering OIL whore? [/QUOTE]Europeans make fun of us anyway.

You know, Paul - with great power comes great responsibility. If you’re willing to go that extra mile, then you too, can become a member of the most hated country on the planet.
The Brits beat you to that one,long ago.

Still want that passport?Fuck it.I been thru the worst bits of living here,may as well stay the course now.

I take it as myth,that American school children learn about America and its flag and so on in school then.
Well, for the most part, they don't. Then again, our schools are 30% Mexican now. Those kids don't care to learn about America OR (at the very least) our flag (Hell, they're too busy flying their own to even care). Outside of writing papers on Caesar commie Chavez and Pancho Villa, they know shit about the US or it's history (for their ancestors had nothing to do with it). Outside of them, you have dumbshit white people with no pride or formal education having kids. These are the people having children here. See the problem?

Maybe I can get you an Irish pasport.

I'll keep you posted. I don't like where I see my country going.

I'll keep you posted. I don't like where I see my country going.South, literally.

We aren't 30% Mexican, Prae... Closer to 12-15%.

Anyways, I got a couple wrong... Perhaps because I'm operating on 4 hours of sleep out of the last 40 hours, if that.

100% correct... I just wish the balance of Americans could take this (or even care)... oh well

100%

I wouldn't have known the tax question, except it's my birthday. Makes things easier!

Not all that difficult. Now, if they had asked the name of all the political divisions of the US more would fail, I think. :)

We aren't 30% Mexican, Prae... Closer to 12-15%.
Whatever. We're doomed. Of course , I'm a .27 right now, so who am I to question you???

WTF are you doing up, Paul? I guess it has something to do with the fact that you're (what is it now, 6 hours ahead of us) up?

Theres a bit of a get together in Pulaski TN on the 20th October you might be interested in hehe.

You got 100% correct.

Copyright © 2007, The Los Angeles Times

I would expect almost all the Americans who post here to get them all, or at least the great majority of them correct. We little brotherhood of posters are political junkies.

I have my doubts as to how the rest of the population would do though. Americans tend to be a complacent lot.

Frogger,you used to work in Education is that correct.

Yes, and I can vouch for the fact that the American education system is a basket case.

Were I in charge of the American education system I would institute some drastic changes.

First, I would go back to some of the older methods of teaching, fact based teaching coupled with teaching children how to learn.

Children should be taught their basic mathematics facts. They should be able to do the four functions without even thinking about them. Kids should know their times tables, be able to calculate without pencil and paper.

I would get rid of all the frills and government mandates that presently clog the educational system. If parents want these frills they should have their children attend class before or after the formal school day and not take away from academic subjects in order to fit them in.

I would remove disruptive students from the classroom setting and set up alternative schools for them or at the very least alternative classes within the school.

I would bring back geography and grammar as formal subjects.

I would track students into A, B and C classes. I would stop the homogenizing of education and recognize that some students perform better than others and can learn at a faster pace and can absorb more things.

I would model American schools on the German model and have a three tiered system like their Realschule, Hochschule, Gymnasium system.

What do you think of Mrs Clintons suggestion about opening a $5000 account for every American baby.

NY Post.

I think it is dumb, dumb, dumb.

So you give the kid five grand, BFD. Five thousand dollars wouldn't pay the McDonald's tab for the average teenager.

Better to give them a good education. The U.S. educational system needs a complete overhaul. It doesn't need more money, just a change in direction and priorities.

Education in the U.S. has become a boondoggle in which students are taught things that have no reason being taught in schools to the detriment of things that really should be taught in schools.

The piece that caught my eye was that there wasnt any guarentee the money would be spent on education.

It sounds an awful lot like what the Soviets did. Give money to the women of Mother Russia who have lots of babies. All it would do is encourage peole to have more children. Unlike many European countries they population of the United States continues to grow and we do not need to encourage childbearing.

I scored 100%.

It wasn't all that difficult......it saddens me to know there are people who would not know half the answers.

I got four wrong. :(

I wouldn't expect you to score 100%, Sal, any more than I would expect to score 100% on a similar questionaire about Canada. The questions are very specific to current and past U.S. things.

I wouldn't expect you to score 100%, Sal, any more than I would expect to score 100% on a similar questionaire about Canada. The questions are very specific to current and past U.S. things.

Thanks. I did miss question one though and should not have. I did guess at a few though so could actually have had a few more wrong.

Don't worry about it. When your province secedes from Canada and becomes an American state you will be granted automatic citizenship. You won't have to pass the test.

Don't worry about it. When your province secedes from Canada and becomes an American state you will be granted automatic citizenship. You won't have to pass the test.

lol...yeah me and Oldtimer will just slip right in... :D Except, we are both stuck in the rump... kind of roasted huh? Hope ya like duck, and old ones at that.

There is nothing wrong with a woman with a good rump. Look at Jennifer Lopez. Of course the feathers will have to go.



Side note:

I glad we can get past our disagreement about the future of Canada, or should I say rump Canada and the newest American states.

Yes, and I can vouch for the fact that the American education system is a basket case.

Were I in charge of the American education system I would institute some drastic changes.

First, I would go back to some of the older methods of teaching, fact based teaching coupled with teaching children how to learn.

Children should be taught their basic mathematics facts. They should be able to do the four functions without even thinking about them. Kids should know their times tables, be able to calculate without pencil and paper.

I would get rid of all the frills and government mandates that presently clog the educational system. If parents want these frills they should have their children attend class before or after the formal school day and not take away from academic subjects in order to fit them in.

I would remove disruptive students from the classroom setting and set up alternative schools for them or at the very least alternative classes within the school.

I would bring back geography and grammar as formal subjects.

I would track students into A, B and C classes. I would stop the homogenizing of education and recognize that some students perform better than others and can learn at a faster pace and can absorb more things.

I would model American schools on the German model and have a three tiered system like their Realschule, Hochschule, Gymnasium system.

Bill Bennett { Former Education Sec.rt } and now Talk Radio.
His lectures and books on K-12 are spot-on.
Rote is necessary in formulating the base.
Phoenics works,as well.
Rote doesn't teach one to Tink,however.
Dat's why I's ah Tinker,s'not a teacher.
Dig daddios ?

There is nothing wrong with a woman with a good rump. Look at Jennifer Lopez. Of course the feathers will have to go.



Side note:

I glad we can get past our disagreement about the future of Canada, or should I say rump Canada and the newest American states.

Well the thing is we are both quite emotional about our countries which means we react fast but then it passes equally fast. It's all good, a thread is merely a thread. And regardless of another's opinion I always learn something.

Because of that thread I did more research on Canada and the government than I have done in a long time. It prompted me. It made me realize I sometimes do not keep up on Canadian issues as much as I do on American because your media is so powerful and much glossier than ours. Ours is drier and less colourful. Anyway you left a link in another thread that caused me to surf a bit. I found some amazing sites and ended up joining a Canadian forum that will force me to stay aware.

So actually, thanks. See if you can get your health care fixed before we break... I am getting old. Either that or will me a bit for old age security.

Some Canadian politics is pretty interesting.

I followed the softwood controversy pretty closely and have been trying to keep abreast of the tar sands issue.

I also found the fact that Belinda Stronach, one of the liberals staunchest supporters of the Canadian single tier government health system recently went to The States for her cancer treatment. It seems she actually believes in a two tier health system, one tier for poorer Canadians who have to wait months for cancer treatment and years for some other treatments and a second tier for rich politicians or athletes who can simply pay for their treatment in The States.

Some Canadian politics is pretty interesting.

I followed the softwood controversy pretty closely and have been trying to keep abreast of the tar sands issue.

I also found the fact that Belinda Stronach, one of the liberals staunchest supporters of the Canadian single tier government health system recently went to The States for her cancer treatment. It seems she actually believes in a two tier health system, one tier for poorer Canadians who have to wait months for cancer treatment and years for some other treatments and a second tier for rich politicians or athletes who can simply pay for their treatment in The States.

Yeah Belinda Stronach... she is now liberal, but she crossed the floor. She was conservative and her boyfriend at the time was Conservative. She failed to tell him before she did a public announcement and crossed the floor. There were lots of funny liberal/conservative sex jokes in the media for a while.

Like any politician, they do what's best for them.

Many here support a two tiered system. I am not totally adverse to it myself.

Our system needs revamping as well. It also depends upon the type of cancer. Some Americans come up here. We too have some leading edge doctors even though you have 10 times the population.

My partner and I will likely cross the border for some heart imaging tests that are only availabe there. They are pretty expensive but are a predictor for future problems. We do not currently have the equipment here. It's taken our community three years to raise enough funds for the state of the art mammography machine we now have here. The costs are horrendous.

I don't know of anyone who has had to wait years for cancer treatment. A few months maybe but not usually. I live in a building with a lot of seniors...they seem to do okay. Then again, I live in a large tri-city one of which is world renown for computers. Our area is rich. We may not represent the norm.

Sal,

The following article gives some hint as to why I am against socialized medicine. There are many stories of Canadians, and Brits and others in countries with socialized medicine having to wait unsafely long times for testing and/or treatment.


Socialized Medicine is Sicko
By Stuart Browning

I'm an independent filmmaker with no ties to the health insurance or health care industry - only a personal concern about American liberty and medical freedom. I've made a number of short films about health care policy - specifically for the internet - and featured on a new website: www.freemarketcure.com.

Michael Moore's new movie Sicko is set to inject a large dose of misinformation and propaganda into our national dialog about health care policy. A case in point is Howard Fineman's column in the June 18 edition of Newsweek. Having just attended a Washington press screening of Sicko, he writes about the increasingly urgent calls for government-run health care:

It would be nice to think that the urgency is the result of outrage at our mediocre infant-mortality and life-expectancy numbers, which are among the worst in the developed world.
The truth, however, is that even if we were to adopt a single-payer system, our infant mortality and life expectancy numbers would still compare unfavorably with Canada and other OECD countries for the simple reason that they have little or nothing to do with the quality of our health care system.

Life expectancy averages are determined by a multitude of factors such as ethnicity, culture, and crime rates. Asians live longer than whites. Whites live longer than blacks. Canada has more Asians than blacks. Infant mortality rates are likewise determined by a host of factors having nothing to do with our health care system. The chief cause of infant mortality is very low birth weight babies. The U.S., for reasons having to do with ethnicity and culture, has more low birth weight babies than Canada and other OECD countries.

According to one observer, Michael Moore has created a love letter to the Canadian system. However, Americans should know that Canada rations health care and that many Canadians wait inordinately long periods of time for urgent medical treatment. The Fraser Institute's annual report "Waiting Your Turn" estimates that Canadians are waiting for nearly 800,000 medical procedures. If the Canadian system was adopted in the U.S. - and you assume one person per treatment - that would translate to nearly 7.3 million Americans. Not 7.3 million Americans theoretically without health care due to a lack of insurance - but 7.3 million Americans who need medical treatment but cannot get it without being on long waiting lists.

How long? In Canada, it depends on the province and the type of treatment. The median wait time for medical treatment in Canada in 2006 was 17.8 weeks. However, this doesn't tell the whole story. It's not hard to find Canadians who have waited months to get an MRI, and years for some types of treatments. There are multiple kinds of waits in the Canadian system: the wait to see a specialist, the wait to get a diagnostic test, the wait to get surgery - and then the wait for rescheduled surgery after one's initial surgical appointment has been cancelled - sometimes multiple times - a routine phenomenon. Waits for orthopedic surgery can be multiple years - and in the case of some elderly Canadians - forever. Waits for things like gastric bypass and sleep apnea treatment are routinely 4-5 years.

My short movie, A Short Course in Brain Surgery, highlights the plight of Lindsay McCreith, a Canadian with a suspected brain tumor who had to wait four months for an MRI. Instead, he crossed the border to the U.S and got it in two days. He then faced another four month wait just to see a specialist in order to schedule surgery which would represent yet another wait. Instead, he had the tumor removed in the U.S. - immediately. It turned out to be early stage brain cancer.

Another short, Two Women, chronicles the sad story of Janice Fraser who, unable to urinate, needed to have a pacemaker-type device implanted to control her bladder. Unfortunately, the hospital arbitrarily rationed the operation by doing only one per month. Janice was number 32 on the list - nearly a three year wait. She ended up waiting so long that she developed life-threatening infections, had to have her bladder removed in an emergency procedure, and will now wear a urine bag for the rest of her life.

The Lemon tells the story of Shirley Healey who was suffering from a near total blockage of her mesenteric artery which feeds blood to the bowels. She was slowly starving and risked death by waiting in Canada. She came to Bellingham, Washington where she got her life-saving operation immediately. The American surgeon who operated said that the Canadian patients are the worst, most dangerous cases he sees - due to the long waits.

In May, the Toronto Star ran a story about an Ontario man with a fist-sized hole in his head - due to an car accident - who had to wait one year for surgery to close it. Indeed, the newspapers of Canada, the UK, Ireland, New Zealand & Australia feature a constant weekly stream of horror stories about their nationalized systems. Two weeks ago, a study was released by doctors at Glasgow University showing that 464,000 deaths had been caused over the last 30 years by the NHS in Scotland and that "the vast majority of people - around 250,000 - who died due to inadequate or delayed treatment were heart or stroke patients".

Judging from the press, it seems that English-speaking countries are congenitally unable to run nationalized health care systems. Maybe that's why more thoughtful advocates of single-payer laud the French and German systems whose newspapers most Americans can't read. Apparently, Mr. Moore has not been as thoughtful. He may not have considered that anyone with a computer and an internet connection can use Google News Search to quickly determine that his version of the Canadian system is not even close to reality.

These are not isolated anecdotes. Indeed, they are the result of the systematic rationing of health care by the Canadian government via global hospital budgets, technology budgets and the intentional limitation on the number of practicing specialists. However, many advocates of government-run medicine deny that waiting for health care in Canada is a problem.

Defenders of the Canadian system tend to fall into three groups:

Those who deny that Canadians wait too long.
Those who admit it and blame it on under-funding
Those who think that waiting is not a bad thing
Those who deny that waiting is a problem in Canada include Ezra Klein of The American Prospect who minimizes the effects of waiting this way:

... there is no rationing or waiting lists for non-elective or emergency procedures.
Well, no there aren't. But, just because a surgery is termed elective doesn't mean it's not urgent. In fact, all cancer surgeries are considered elective in Canada. And - unless you're having a heart attack, a bypass operation is considered elective - even if the blockage approaches 100% - even if you're a ticking time bomb - even if an American doctor would consider it an emergency.

All of the patients in my films - a man with a cancerous brain tumor, a women whose bladder had ceased functioning, a women who was slowly starving to death due to a blocked mesoenteric artery - were waiting for elective surgery. In 2003, Diane Gorsuch of Manitoba died while waiting more than two years for elective cardiac bypass surgery. But, of course, it's in the interest of single-payer advocates to mislead Americans and make them think that Canadians only endure long waits for varicose vein treatment and lap band procedures.

Klein also plays down Canadian waiting this way:

Oh, and the "hordes of Canadians rushing across the border for care thing"? Mostly myth.
Well, its not difficult to see why. Canadians have already paid high taxes for national health insurance. They don't have health care savings because they've been subjected to two decades of government propaganda that tells them they don't need it. - And, they don't have private insurance because it's outlawed - and many of them are old, afraid to travel for surgery, fear they may lose their place in the queue or be thought of as "un-Canadian".

Then, there are those who admit that Canadians suffer and wait long periods of time for medical care - but who blame this merely on underfunding - not on the system itself. Groups like Physicians for a National Health Program, who take this stance, like to have it both ways. They lament high U.S. health care spending while they praise low Canadian spending - all the while blaming underfunding for the constant stream of horror stories in the Canadian press.

And finally there are those who seem to think that suffering and waiting is a good thing as long as everyone suffers equally. Academics like Pat and Hugh Armstrong who have written a book praising and defending the Canadian health care system say that "waiting lists are an indication of strong demand for high quality health care."

Undeterred by reports of long waits and suffering in countries where nationalized health insurance has been implemented, the advocates of government-run medicine point to 45 million Americans without health insurance as proof that the market has failed and that government-run medicine is the answer.

However, the so-called "crisis of the uninsured" is anything but. As I show in my short film Uninsured in America, the vast majority of the uninsured are people who choose to go without coverage. Seventeen million of the uninsured reside in households making more than $50,000 a year. Fourteen million people without coverage are eligible for Medicaid or SCHIP, but haven't signed up. Throw in millions of illegal immigrants who don't buy insurance and millions of people who are uninsured only for short periods of time and we've got a non-crisis of politically exaggerated proportions. Moreover, millions of people who are unwilling to pay for their own medical care have figured out that it's free-for-the-taking at any hospital emergency room.

Consider this: across Canada, thousands of baby boomers and the elderly often wait years for knee and hip replacements; often in great pain while taking powerful narcotics. However, a dog in Canada can get a joint replacement operation at a veterinary hospital done in a matter of weeks. The real danger of adopting a system like the one in Canada is not just long waits for medical treatment. Americans would pay much higher taxes and lose important liberties while turning over personal life-and-death decisions to government bureaucrats.

http://www.freemarketcure.com/socializedmedicineissicko.php

Geeze Louis.I hate ta tink what some fellarz dude round
hears,when they git all worked up over a gal er whatnot.
Proilly worse Danny a Big Western,is my bet.

I see your point Frogger. But why does your system have to be based on our system? Come up with your own. A for profit medical system just does not give basic coverage to the average individual. You need something better and we need to repair ours.

Yes we may have to wait longer but we still get treatment.

Like Moore or hate Moore he has made the average American aware that you have a huge problem with your system.

Yes facts are not always what they appear to be. Numbers can be skewed.

I heard about a hospital CEO from your country who developed MS. He was let go as he could no longer perform his job. His insurance will now cover only a fraction of what he needs for drugs and medical care. This is an intelligent man who is now in deep trouble. He was surprised. And that is a huge hidden problem with your system. People think they are covered only to find out they are not fully covered. 50% of your bankruptcies are health related. The list of stories are equally appalling.

I see your one son is a doctor ,your other a dentist. You will be taken care of regardless. But most of your population are not as fortunate.

You can not deny that many go without medical care or receive shoddy/second rate care and that just isn't right that such basic need be denied to a citizen who lives in one of the richest nations in the world.

I'll go it with our system for now.

You can not deny that many go without medical care or receive shoddy/second rate care and that just isn't right that such basic need be denied to a citizen who lives in one of the richest nations in the world.

While those who have insurance or who can afford to self insure probably get better treatment I don't think any get no treatment.

I was in the hospital for two days, (last Monday and Tuesday). While in the hospital I paid a surcharge that insures that people who cannot afford to pay can still go to hospital. My procedure was heart related and probably cost a pretty penny but if I did not have insurance or enough money to fully pay for the procedure I would have gotten it anyway. Our pay as you go health care system does not mean if you can't pay you can't go.