Letters to the Editor
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I don't see the distinction
"Macklin says that the Canadian system is more likely to view their plight back home -- facing a judge and potential jail time -- as distinct from that of immigrants fleeing an authoritarian regime, who could be imprisoned or executed"
So the "Canadian system" thinks "jail time" is somehow different from imprisonment and that the Bush administration is not an "authoritarian regime"??? Apparently the "Canadian system" has not been paying attention to the activities of the Cheney/Bush junta.
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Marko1965 makes an excellent point
While it is true that these ex-soldiers now seeking refuge in Canada could have enlisted for any number of reasons - college money, the surge in patriotism following Sept. 11 - I'd be willing to bet that many if not most of them supported Bush's invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Now that we've lost this war through our own utter incompetence and hubris, guess what? It's not popular anymore. Now that they realize war isn't just a silly video game, and they could actually be seriously wounded or die, they want to quit.
Translation: war's okay when America gets to kick ass and kill thousands of innocent civilians in an illegal conflict, but not so much fun when the hunters become the hunted. They're all too typical of my fellow Americans' mass opinion over the course of this war: when the going gets tough, the "tough" quit. The mass of Americans doesn't really care that the war was illegal, only that we've lost.
Soldiers don't get to decide what wars they fight in. That's part of the deal, and is an important principle of civilian control of the military. Yes, it's a problem when you have a criminal administration like ours, but we voted for it, didn't we?
As I said in my previous post, there's an honorable option for soldiers who've had a genuine revelation about the awfulness of war and don't want to be a part of it anymore: civil disobedience. Tell the military you're not going to report for duty and face the consequences. Yes, it'll be painful and difficult, and you'll likely go to prison for a while, but you just might emerge as a hero at the end. Fleeing to Canada - WHEN YOU VOLUNTEERED TO BEGIN WITH - is just cowardice.
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Re:Re: re: Citizenship Isn't That Easy
Bill, you are just confirming my point. There is little difference between being a Canadian "landed immigrant" and a citizen, just as there is very little practical difference between being a US citizen and having a green card. The difference is primarly a legal category. I'm sure that a man marrying a Canadian woman, provided it is a genuine marriage, will become a Canadian citizen. My main point referred to the difference in treatment between refugees in Canada and the US. In Canada, a refugee is given money, an apartment and free language training. In the US, a refugee is thrown into jail. In Canada, a permanent resident who is not yet a citizen has the same health care as a Canadian citizen. In the US, even citizens have no right to health care.
In general, the US is cursed by being a superpower and by being run by an oligarchy that is profit-mad and out of control. This distorts all discourse in this country. In Canada, the media is talking about daycare benefits; here it is about which country should be bombed next.
I am probably in a good position to discuss these matters as a dual Canadian/US citizen who has lived many years in both countries. And, for David Sugerman, I am not as thin-skinned as you may think - I'm a New Yorker too, and you don't last a New York minute here with a thin skin.
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that was a joke, jared2
(i erased the disclaimer because i thought it superfluous and insulting. hmm, maybe not) new deal democrat, maybe you have or maybe you haven't - made a mistake, but i can tell one thing for certain. you never spent any time in jail, much less prison. why don't you *taste* the consequences before you cheer others on to them?
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What?
David Sugerman,
You have lost me - I really don't know what you're on about. Anyway, no hard feelings from one New Yorker to another!
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sure, jared2, why not? messages are a lousy means of communication anyway
especially for one who relies on mischievous winks so much. i don't know if queens *really* qualifies as "new york", but if it is, why not? a paisan!
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Queens is the real New York
Manhattan thinks it is New York, but it has become the home of overfed trust fund babies. Queens is the real New York - where most immigrants find a footing. Where over a hundred languages are spoken, and where there are more immigrants than natives.
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thanks jared2, nice to hear some kind words about my borough
that said, i'd rather live in NYC - more exciting, more cosmopolitan. where you can crack a joke and no one thinks you're crazy. where i live, flushing, is a working class neighborhood. that means people here have the concerns of the amoeba - food, warmth, transportation. in human terms, jobs, families, cars and hope for houses. but there are some really good sides. we have orthodox hassidim cheek by jowl with abaya'd afghanis. the koreans are snooty to everyone. the chinese won't admit knowing english. the pakistanis frown to all - but we get along! unlike, say, S.F., there's NO racist grafitti. it's Live and Let Live. no kumbaya friendliness but no salon-type hostility either. it's real AMERICA.
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149th & Northern, REPRESENT, yo.
Lived there for years and years.
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RE: robotempire
You wrote:
<< Today's U.S. Army is a public welfare project, not a professional military force. There are too many financial incentives to joining the military. And most of these incentives are the fault of the hyperventilating defeatist leftists who don't understand what soldiering is about. >>
Oh please, while I "generally" agree with your overall theme, that once one signs up for Military duty it's their obligation to serve, irregardless of whether one likes it or not. But come on! The ads on television and in magazines make joining the Army sound like some kind of summer camp where "you can be all you can be ..."
If the ads are to be believed everyone who signs up is going to get a glamorous assignment in high-tech or some such nonsense. No where is it shown what being a typical soldier is *really* like. They even use a tres-cool game to garner enlistments.
This sack of crap that the Military markets to the American public is their own - ie the government - doing, not some "hyperventilating defeatist leftists" as you write. The fact that too many kids fall for it and sign on the dotted line doesn't make it right.
It's just another whole set of lies and distortions that are ruining this country.