I can't speak to China and I wasn't. I was speaking to a very common defense of authoritarian governments in general, which I immediately recognized. The idea that one has personal rights as long as one manages to obey the state is logically flawed.

I don't know about China specifically as I've never lived there. But whether there are law firms there is here nor there, really. There were lawyers in the old Soviet Union. Where you have bureaucracy and statecraft you have lawyers. That doesn't mean individuals have guaranteed personal freedoms. Two different things. There were lawyers centuries before the concept of natural rights was ever proposed.

I appreciate your wish to stand up for your adopted homeland. But clearly, the country has a ways to go in terms of personal rights. Now, things are improving in your country every day, we understand. That implies recent room for improvement, doesn't it?

That's exactly why they were taken and held outside the USA -- to deny them the due process they would be afforded if they were held and tried stateside. On a military base in Cuba, these individuals are not subject to the U.S. Constitution, or at least that was the legal opinion of the previous administration. Of course I am totally opposed to such practices. The legal justification is these people are akin to enemy combatants, which I find to be rubbish. We are not in a state of war with any of the countries from which we took these people. We are apparently at war with an abstraction known as "terrorism." Hopefully this chapter is drawing to a close.

All that said, let's keep the discussion on the level. I hope you are not suggesting that as a whole, the legal standards of the USA are inferior to those of China. Let's not lose our minds here.

How long do you think a newspaper can survive in Cuba in opposition to the Castro regime? If such questions don't matter to you, Cuba is a perfectly fine place to live.

She has two jobs? Or is it one of those partnership deals where a Western firm will enter an association with a local firm to take advantage of its license?

you are correct it depends;

if you are person who needs everyday bread and milk guaranteed, guaranteed place to live, free of charge scolarship on all levels and crime-free state than Cuba is a perfect place to live

the tradeoff hovever is you have to shut up about regime, now I think its a small price bacause I do not give a damn who is in charge, as long as I live pleasant life,, and for me screaming Castro is dictator, take him down is rampant, but thats just my opinion

Don't forget the best universal health care system in the world.

Yeah - all rosy for the masses. The problems don't start until the new dictator comes to power (say Joe Stalin or Kim Jong-il) and he's not so benevolent and the constitution doesn't have any provision for the people to have their say.

I would rather live under dictatorship knowing that when I get pneumonia I will get equal medical treatement as the dictator himself and I wouldnt have to pay a dime for it, than live in free world where if I do not have expensive health insurance I would be left out on the street to die

I know I helped push this thread OT but there's a politics thread over in the Paddock Club.

OK, but before you rush off to emigrate to Iraq or North Korea consider Australia or NZ - we have the best of both worlds.

Australia where you have a waiting list to get onto the waiting list do get essential surgery or treatment.

The reason for the waiting list for the waiting list was that the original waiting lists were getting too long and as an election promise to reduce the waiting list led to longer waiting list the Minister decreed that no waiting list was to be longer than 12 months (the average was 18 months) So the administrators do not take booking for a list that is over twelve months long, they stick you on a waiting list.

The health system is failing in NSW (and most of the rest of the country) it is getting worse not better.

Yeah she was a criminal lawyer before but does mostly corporate/bussiness work now, mostly big money theft/embezzelment and believe it or not, IPR (intellectual property rights) but she just did a criminal case (an appeal) where she had the Guy's death penalty reduce to 13 years jail - A narcotics transporter who killed his dealer boss.

I'm guessing your not a death penalty fan?






To get certain recognitions the larger firm has to be of a certain size in employment and structure so they 'took over' my Ladies smaller city firm and her 20 staff by name only - she still it but is operating under the more prestigious name and also is a senior partner in the bigger city one.



Mac, I like living here but I am not a patriot nor a champion, facts are simply facts.

Yeah she was a criminal lawyer before but does mostly corporate/bussiness work now, mostly big money theft/embezzelment and believe it or not, IPR (intellectual property rights) but she just did a criminal case (an appeal) where she had the Guy's death penalty reduce to 13 years jail - A narcotics transporter who killed his dealer boss.

I'm guessing your not a death penalty fan?






To get certain recognitions the larger firm has to be of a certain size in employment and structure so they 'took over' my Ladies smaller city firm and her 20 staff by name only - she still it but is operating under the more prestigious name and also is a senior partner in the bigger city one.



Mac, I like living here but I am not a patriot nor a champion, facts are simply facts.

3 times in my life I have had to have a cyst (large fatty pimple) cut off my head - in Oz I go to a local GP, he refers me to a specialist who takes a look and books me for surgery about 6 months to a year later (not surprisingly I missed a surgery appointment once) so the medical system is 3 times loaded - all for a crappy pimple.

In China 2 years ago I walked in off the street cold and walked out 25 minutes later having had the cyst removed, with 8 stitches to show for it and $30 lighter.

I've done much the same thing here in Australia, at my local doctor also three times. Though it didn't cost me anything because of bulk-billing - you got ripped off!

Bulk billing? You must live in a big city. The rest of the country is paying cash up front.

He should have got a medal.


Some scum deserve to die. Unfortunately the way capital punishment works everywhere it is practiced, other people get executed too.