I am a Canadian citizen who has been living in the US for about 7 years. Yes, what the US is doing is contrary to the norms of international law. However, Canada too has some very ugly blots in its lawbooks. For example, the Canadian Immigration law Section 20.1 allows immigration officials to deny lawyers to detainees. The accused can be held incommunicado indefinitely. etc etc. Recently, a Catholic priest, who runs a Catholic shortwave broadcast from Manila was arrested and handcuffed and held incommunicado in Toronto for about a week. The Catholic church appointed the famous lawyer Barbara Jackman but she could not even see her client. Later the priest was expelled to the US. This priest has no links to violence.
I’m a US citizen. The US is not a Christian state, either de jure or de facto. I ‘allow’ my govenment to torture people because I’m not omnipotent. I didn’t vote for the current president, and I know some very loyal Bush supporters (who are also strong Christians) who have openly opposed the situation at Guantanemo. The best offense against the US use of torture is to hold the US up to its own standards (as well as point out the practical implications of torturing other countries’ citizens: an increase in the torturing of Americans).
Support for the president’s stance in the war in Iraq has just dropped below 50% for the first time, by the way.
Will
Mattsays:
I believe there are far more reasons not to move into the US.
I also believe that if the American people would actually care about and know what their government does, they would be appalled.
In fact, I think that the current government is betraying the values of the American people.
I make a great distinction between the US government and the American people. I believe that many values of Americans match those of Canadians and Europeans. Consequently, I have no problems with Americans. In fact, family and friends are Americans. Yet even among them I notice an increase in disinterest and ignorance. They “believe†that their government “does the right thing†yet don’t care to check whether facts support that belief. (Facts don’t support that belief, increasingly they support the opposite)
It is interesting to note that the current president once said something like: “What do you think the American people could do about this? Most of them are even too stupid to vote. And the rest doesn’t care.â€
I am a Canadian citizen who has been living in the US for about 7 years. Yes, what the US is doing is contrary to the norms of international law. However, Canada too has some very ugly blots in its lawbooks. For example, the Canadian Immigration law Section 20.1 allows immigration officials to deny lawyers to detainees. The accused can be held incommunicado indefinitely. etc etc. Recently, a Catholic priest, who runs a Catholic shortwave broadcast from Manila was arrested and handcuffed and held incommunicado in Toronto for about a week. The Catholic church appointed the famous lawyer Barbara Jackman but she could not even see her client. Later the priest was expelled to the US. This priest has no links to violence.
I’m a US citizen. The US is not a Christian state, either de jure or de facto. I ‘allow’ my govenment to torture people because I’m not omnipotent. I didn’t vote for the current president, and I know some very loyal Bush supporters (who are also strong Christians) who have openly opposed the situation at Guantanemo. The best offense against the US use of torture is to hold the US up to its own standards (as well as point out the practical implications of torturing other countries’ citizens: an increase in the torturing of Americans).
Support for the president’s stance in the war in Iraq has just dropped below 50% for the first time, by the way.
Will
I believe there are far more reasons not to move into the US.
I also believe that if the American people would actually care about and know what their government does, they would be appalled.
In fact, I think that the current government is betraying the values of the American people.
I make a great distinction between the US government and the American people. I believe that many values of Americans match those of Canadians and Europeans. Consequently, I have no problems with Americans. In fact, family and friends are Americans. Yet even among them I notice an increase in disinterest and ignorance. They “believe†that their government “does the right thing†yet don’t care to check whether facts support that belief. (Facts don’t support that belief, increasingly they support the opposite)
It is interesting to note that the current president once said something like: “What do you think the American people could do about this? Most of them are even too stupid to vote. And the rest doesn’t care.â€