I'm just catching up on email. My first thought was "did someone get up on the wrong side of the bed?" Or, maybe someone needed a nap. The Scottish people that came to the United States had it no easier than the Scots that went to Australia. We came here to escape the conditions in Scotland. Some of our family members came here to save their lives. Many of us had prices on our head. Many were transported here by the English as troublemakers. I come from some of the first Scottish settlers in the United States. My Scot ancestors have been in the United States since the 1600's. We explored this country and spread civilization as we went. My family explored along side Daniel Boone. One of his sons married into my family. I am a descendant of two American Presidents, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson. Our current Vice President is a cousin. Did you know that 75% of the signers of the American Declaration of Independence, signed in 1776, were of Scottish descent. Most of our American presidents are of Scottish descent. The Scottish blood that runs in most Americans, especially our first leaders is part of what has made this a great people. We, are as proud of our Scottish blood as you are yours. We came to this country and we continued the fight with the English here. We won our freedom from a tyrant that thought of us as savages. We celebrate our Scottish heritage with pride. The first Scots in the United States didn't have it any easier than did the first to arrive in Australia. The US like your country, was large, open, but very wild. You need to read the history of the Scots that settled in the Carolinas. This country was no more developed than Australia was. Our Native Americans weren't any happier to see foreigner there were yours. Many of our ancestors died from disease. Do you have any idea of how many men and women were shipped here as nothing more than slaves by the English. They didn't come to our "Gold" mines. We didn't discover gold in the US until well into the 1800s. The Scottish had been here for over 200 years by then. When we, Scotland, lost wars, the English would ship the prisoners of war to the American Colonies. The Scottish cut their way through the jungles of the south. They cleared the fields that made English Lords rich. The Scots as they worked off their indenture, or sentence; would move further west into the United States, taking the offer of free land. Much as they did in Australia. Very few early Scots had it easy here in the US. Remember we, like you, started under the heel of the English. Many early Americans were here because they had been burned out of their homes in Scotland. Their names had been taken away. Australia wasn't the only place the Scottish people went to start over. My Scottish ancestors fought as hard as yours did, to survive. Our pride in our Scottish heritage made us name many places in our country after places in Scotland. The same is true of Canada. Please study more about the people of Scotland and what they have done around the world. Very proud to descend from Robert the Bruce. Ylana Stoneyfields Ranch Remember what your elders used to say, "Birds of a feather flock together." If you're an eagle, don't hang around chickens: Chickens Can't Fly! You can't soar with the Eagles if you hoot with the hoot owls.