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Quoting Miguel Naughton <[log in to unmask]>: > All this condemnation being dumped on Dan is strange indeed. Indeed. As I have often advertised, I have lived in Europe ca. 2 yr.s (and many more lie down the road). Mostly in Northern Europe. Yes, many police departments feature uzi-toting officers. This unnerved me, I will admit, when I first visited Italy. And yes, there often are riot police at certain types of demonstrations/ strikes. This, however, is largely in response to a long tradition of violence accompanying demonstrations (at least certain types). I even visited a riot in Berlin once, the 2000 edition of the annual May 1st riot. They brought in something like 6,000 extra police from all over Germany to supplement the indigenous police force. There were armored personal carriers, armored vans, water cannon tanks, well armored police (fully-body plastic armor, shields, helmets, etc.), but, as far as I could see, no guns. It was fun. Met a few young women, too. I was only stopped twice, however, by the German police (in Nuremberg), both times in the same night, and, amusingly, both times by the same pair of officers. The first time I was taking two other Americans from my youth hostel to a beer garden at a park one night. But it was closed. Just as we were leaving the park, a cop car pulled up, responding to reports of suspicious activity in the park. None of us had our passports on us. But I explained what we were doing (in German), and the let us on our way. Later that night we were hanging out at a square. Some other youth were hanging around drinking and playing music. Neighbors must have been annoyed, b/c the same cops pulled up. They recognized us, and firmly, but politely, recommended that we ought to return to the youth hostel (they must have been suspicious that we showed up at both places, but not having any evidence of mischief, had to let us go). Has it helped that I speak German? Probably. Obviously others have experiences different from mine. But I always grew up believing America was better than other countries. One of these ways it was better was the greater liberty of both its citizens and guests. For example, we aren't required to carry national identity cards at all times (which is standard in most other countries around the world). Or that police have to have probable cause to stop you. Or that you're innocent until proven guilty. Of course, as I have grown older I have realized, that not all our ideals are universally practised. Nonetheless, this country by and large is improving. For example, while thousands of Arabs in America have been detained, mass internments such as those in WWII of Americans of Japanese descent have not happened. Unfortunately Al-Qaeda's great victory thus far has been to cause this country to limit some of its freedoms. BTW, such provincial comments as those expressed telling Dan to go home if he doesn't like it disgust me. You should be ashamed of yourselves, those of you who wrote them. The rest of the world stopped and grieved with us on 9/12 (with national minutes (and in the case of Ireland and perhaps a few other countries, a whole day) of mourning, etc.), and this is how you thank them? El Scorpion - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - SkiVt-L is brought to you by the University of Vermont. To unsubscribe, visit http://list.uvm.edu/archives/skivt-l.html