Re: Guns & Crime
Master Muse said:
For those Canadians who've never read the Second Amendment and I can't think of why you should), here it is in its entirety, one single sentence:
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
As to your French, well, of course I understand. I had a home in Paris for some 7 years. Mengez (menger?) must be Quebecois as it's not a French verb. However, the sense is clear. Crude, Kirk, simply crude. And not much of an argument.
Ah friend muse......
Funny, when i read your second amendment, i read from start to finish. When i do so, my take on it is that it allows for "states" to have militias, which they did quite a bit back then.
(Not to be confused with the more whacked out militias you guys have today like the michigan militia. You know, tim mcveigh's friends. The guys that distrust the american gov't so much, they decided to blow up a federal gov't building in Oklahoma and kill a few hundred poor slobs just trying to make a living and their kids in day care.)
If the "founding fathers" wanted to guarantee gun ownership, why didn't they merely write, "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." It would have been so much more straight forward now wouldn't it.
The gun lobby tends to read either backwards, or focus on only that one aspect of the second ammendment.
The "founding fathers" were not pros, nor were they infallible. In fact, one of the strengths of the american consitution is that it can be ammended, mind you, you can never get enough agreement to do it. Then again, wasn't thomas jefferson a founding father?
Why yes he was, in fact, he wrote the bulk of the constitution didn't he. Ooopps, and he was a paedophile on the side too wasn't he now. Great, just great. I heard he kind of liked having sex with 12 year old slave girls he owned. What was her name now???, hmmmm, wait, it's coming to me, yes!, it was Sally Hemmings wasn't it.
Nice....
What a role model.
As to my french, my comments were directed at your statement which inferred that if it wasn't for good ole uncle sam, we'd all be speaking russian or worse, quebecois.
As a person from ontario, i take offense at your slight aimed at my quebec brothers.
I am sorry that I told you to mangez (thanks for correcting my typo) du la merde, i was merely quoting Pierre E. Trudeau. What did nixon (another great american) call old pierre, yeah that was it, "that asshole up north"
I find the american belief that they are somehow responsible for the freedom of Canada most amusing, especially considering that the only country to ever attack this country is your country.
I guess you have been brainwashed by your military leaders that you need the biggest military budget in the world, no, in fact, you need a military budget bigger than EVERY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE WORLD COMBINED. And now you are spending 14% more this year in the wake of 911 on more military hardware. Like that will stop future terrorism. Why not spend that money on foreign aid and education in the countries that international terrorism germinates in due to ignorance and lack of oportunity.
Why not try and change your image from that of international oppressor to international educator. (And i am not saying that america is an international oppressor, i don't think that they are, what i am saying is that they are "perceived" as such by much of the world.)
The truth of the matter is that i like americans just fine, i just laugh at the "we are the reason you exist" attitude. This attitude that so many americans have is why you get into trouble so much in the rest of the world. But that's another story.
You can have your toy guns and whatever else you feel the need to own, it really doesn't interest me. I think you would have a hard time drumming up support for gun ownership rights here in canada. It's frankly not an issue here, or in just about any other G-8 country in the world. Only in the us do they care about legislating the right to own guns and legislating the ban on the sale of dildos.
oh brother