US. Immigration redefine geography. By presidential fiat, Canada is now in the middle east... (830 hits)
Category: HumorRating: 0.53 on 20 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by You_must B.Kidding <yidele.at.hotmail.com> (View user info) at 2003-06-28 07:25:01 EDT
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/06/26/arar_pm030626
Last Updated Thu, 26 Jun 2003 18:47:54
OTTAWA - Prime Minister Jean Chrétien says the federal government will do all it can to get a Canadian citizen out of Syria.
Maher Arar was detained by U.S. immigration officials in September while changing planes in New York. He was travelling from Tunisia to Canada.
Instead of letting Arar continue his trip to Ontario, American authorities sent him to Syria - a country he left more than 15 years ago. They accused him of trying to enter the U.S. illegally, and suggested he had ties to a terrorist group.
Syria is now holding Arar in prison, but officials said he has not been charged with anything.
Ottawa has complained about the case, arguing that the U.S. had no right to deport someone carrying a Canadian passport to a third country.
Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham has spoken out about the case. Now Chrétien has added his voice.
In a letter to Arar's wife, the prime minister says he's surprised that the U.S. would deport a Canadian citizen to Syria. Chrétien vows to provide "all possible consular assistance" to get the man freed.
found on http://rotten.com
User Reviews
Submitted by PuffInqAllDay (user info) at 2003-06-29 11:00:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
You're correct that machiavelli isn't the only author out there to hold in such high credit. You are also correct that he merely wrote about the times, my interest has been held merely because machiavelli was blackballed by the catholic church for hundreads of years. He did more then put what was into practice, because if it was that easy then all of the empires that he has wrote on would all still be alive and powerful today, he saw what was done right and wrong with the times and commented on that, where as most of the poeople of the time were still content to believe that the prince ruled because god put him there, and god would save the empire. Machiavelli saw the politics behind the picture. What you have to understand is that I was introduced to machiavelli 2 years ago while I was still in highschool my teacher introduced the book as basically "If you are a leader, it is best to brutally and violently elimate all your enemies in one swoop." Years of videogame violence desensitization peaked my interest. When I read the book, I found that my teacher was wrong with his over simplification on machiavelli, but by that time I was hooked.
I have every intentions of broadening my prospects into other writers, my friends have been hounding me to read Sun Tzu, I'm currently looking for a used copy to buy. I'm also interested in reading plato politics, and that is merely scratching the surface.
Submitted by yidele (user info) at 2003-06-29 10:42:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Oh, yeah, the "may I follow in your footsteps" precedent.
Submitted by loki (user info) at 2003-06-29 10:14:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
There is legal precedent for this. See Johnny Dangerously circa 1984.
Submitted by yidele (user info) at 2003-06-29 06:05:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
I am not quoting "The Prince" directly or otherwise. It is my opinion that this work is one of the most undeservedly hyped pieces of literature, as though Sun Tzu or Gibbon could not have phrased simmilar sentiments! There is no need tp excite yourself with Machiavelli who merely put on paper the actual practice of governance & wasn't the first to do it anyway. It is my suggestion that you put aside Machiavelli who ,for all his intellect, produced one notable if consistently overhyped work, and concentrate your energies on other writers of whom there are many. When it comes to historical discourse on the rise & fall of the Roman empire, Edward Gibbon's "History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" is a standard reference without peer.
Rome's power stemmed from her citizen army which was composed of independant farmers. The power of the Plebes is what made Rome strong, that & the tradition & culture which emphasized civic duty to the commonality. When Imperial rome grew too big for her britches & cheap slave labour grew produce at prices ruinous to individual farmers, that is when the Plebs became disaffected, alienated and lost their civic zeal. In later times, Rome depended on mercenaries who inevitably turned on her at an advantageous moment. Rome fell because she couldn' handle her success & because it is always easier to destroy than build. Such is (mostly) the fate of empires.
Submitted by PuffInqAllDay (user info) at 2003-06-28 18:14:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Yidele, why dont you enguage your brain before your mouth the next time. Do you honestly think anyone who knew fuck all about machiavelli would even use his name. Most people have never even heard of the man, and those that have usually end up spurting out the phrase "The end justifies the means" Which is a GROSS oversimplification of what the true literal italian translation which was "Of all men and especially princes, when given a situation where they are without any impartial arbitor, one must consider the final result" I have read the prince at least 10 times, and the discourse a couple.
Oh and what was stated about the roman army, was said by machiavelli, if I had any more time on my lunch break, I'd pull out my copy of The prince and the discource and pull the chapter number, which book (I think its the prince) and then we can go toe to toe, and see who is confused about the hole in the ground and their dads ass hole.
BTW, the only reason I made my comment about machiavelli in my last post is because finding people my age who have even heard of machiavelli, is hard enough, let alone someone who is indirectly quoting him. I was hoping to discuss machiavelli, but I guess that is out the window.
Submitted by MickGinny (user info) at 2003-06-28 18:00:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Acarnis (user info) at 2003-06-28 14:25:09 (#)
Ranking: 0
"intermingling of the predominant race"? Yeah right, you made that up.
Yae, I did. fuckface!
Submitted by MickGinny (user info) at 2003-06-28 17:52:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
"It's almost as bad as having to deal with the french."
or Polish Jews.
Submitted by yidele (user info) at 2003-06-28 17:46:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
they're paid to be assholes. This is one of the reasons why i vist the states so infrequently - just too many petty assholes with a government job & a position of power. Someone forgot that Public Servants are SERVANTS of the public, not the other way around. It's almost as bad as having to deal with the french.
Submitted by bleuDayblue (user info) at 2003-06-28 17:31:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 because I hate US Immigration.
I was traveling from Mexico to the US with my US Citizen husband and they didn't let me in because I was trying to do so with a tourist visa... my visa was removed and I was sent back to Mexico.
WTF? I know I didn't to anything wrong, yet they decided not to let me in, with my husband.
At the airport's jail there were 2 other women, one from Germany and one from Chile and neither one of them were allowed in the country (both married to US Citizens).
What the hell is wrong with immigration people? They were assholes to me and to a lot of the people who were there at the time.
Submitted by yidele (user info) at 2003-06-28 17:22:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
from what was said on machiavellians, Puffinq doesn't know a machiavelian from a mcdaddy or his ass from a hole in the ground.
Submitted by PuffInqAllDay (user info) at 2003-06-28 16:37:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
From what was said on rome, someone is a machiavellian.
Submitted by yidele (user info) at 2003-06-28 16:16:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Id like to take this opportunity to separate myself & my views from those who think that the stupidity, ill will, ignorance and arrogance of SOME americans are an excuse to slam americans as a whole, americans as a nation or americans in general. Americans are people. They are prone to the same failures and pathologies as all of us - when you belittle "americans" ( as though such a generalization could mean anything at all) you expose the yawning abyss of your own predjudiuce & ignorance - for predjudice cannot live without ignorance.
This post was meant to show that the actions of few, carefully placed, arrogant & belligerent morons can cause an international dyplomatic incident & in addition pain & anxiety to innocents. There is no excuse for these actions - because of them, an innocent man was separated from his family and sent to a foreign country where he has been imprisoned for some 7 months. Aside from the obvious implications, some additional conclusions must be made - America, the "land of the Free, home of the brave" is quickly becomming a caricature of itself. What freedoms? What presumption of innocence? Where are the inalienable rights?
You can nod your head all you want, mickginny, but lady liberty is taking it up the ass from a bunch of yahoos & you are cheering them on. One day you'll realize that It's your mom, but by then you'll have shit to say about it
Submitted by Nator (user info) at 2003-06-28 15:49:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Filthy xenophobic swine.
Submitted by yidele (user info) at 2003-06-28 15:30:50 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
"intermingling of the predominant race" - aside from the fact that there is no such thing as race, had nothing to do with it. Fall of the roman empire was inevitable because all such structures are temporary, and as empires go, the Roman empire was uniquely lacking in anything but motivation. Culture & science? Romans took all they had from etruscans, greeks, egyptians, jews, parthians, persians, goths & celts. Kind of like you, except that the Romans, at least in the very beginning, were a single culture, even if an unremarkable one. This is where you differ. What made the romans special was their idea of civic duty & their stubborn perseverance. When those qualities disappeared, so did rome's military might ( originaly based on a citizen army, later mercenaries 'cause roman boys just didn't want to fight anymore) followed by their empire. Still, it took the better part of 700 years for the roman empire to die. You won't last a third of that & that is because America has arisen as a power, an empire if you will, only a short time ago ( 60-odd years) and already it is more decadent, rotten to the core & bereft of the values which founded her than Rome was 200 years into her empire. Romans at least knew that they were giving up freedoms when the old republic died.
There is a fitting quote:
"America is the only nation to move from barbarism to decadence without an intervening period of civilization."
Georges Clemenceau
Submitted by Acarnis (user info) at 2003-06-28 14:25:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
hmmm...why did that go twice....
Submitted by Acarnis (user info) at 2003-06-28 14:25:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
"intermingling of the predominant race"? Yeah right, you made that up.
Submitted by Acarnis (user info) at 2003-06-28 14:25:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
"intermingling of the predominant race"? Yeah right, you made that up.
Submitted by mikey <provider.at.net.ca> at 2003-06-28 11:53:52 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
fuck americans are retarted. seriously you ppl need a wake up call, that u are not infact so great. pieces of dog shit.
Submitted by ctrl_alt_del (user info) at 2003-06-28 11:28:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Embarrassing.
Submitted by MickGinny (user info) at 2003-06-28 08:11:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
It warms my heart when I hear that my country reacts, then asks questions.
The roman empire dissolved due to complacency, laziness, perversion, and the intermingling of the predominant race. among other things.
We are the modern day Roman empire.
At least were diligently working on the complacency.
MickGinny.