How do you view the American?

Idealistically, I'm for guns because I don't believe the state has a right to prohibit its citizens from owning guns. I still don't believe it is reasonable to blame the hammer, no matter how many nails get bent (maybe a little more elegant a phrase than "guns don't kill people..."? ).

And on a practical level I don't want the only guns to be in the hands of other people (legally authorized or not). If the sh*t hits the fan, putting my loved ones at risk in some unforseen breakdown of security and/or society, I am comfortable with the operation of my firearms and justifiably proud of my aim. I am concerned about people who have never fired a gun...all that means is that they're a danger to everyone if they ever have to. If everyone respected guns instead of fearing them or worshipping them, they'd be a lot less perilous. 

And let's face it folks, the big fear didn't come down on us from crazies wielding guns, but from crazies with viruses, with letter bombs, with airplanes, with the desire to kill and a blindness to the suffering they would cause...denying them guns simply means they get creative.

Yup, Gleam, caning is still practised in Malaysia, and our politicians also practise the art of dismissing history with glib, inane one-liners ... I'm not fond of either concept in general ... I don't think the caning has helped reduce the rape/abuse crimes for which its use is probably most justified

Re: gun control ... as music and gun fans what did you guys make of that Judas Priest case? I remember I was barely into my teens, when some kids were listening to some music and blew the brains out ... and half of America was up in arms about the subliminal music ... and all the time I wuz thinking "my God, nobody even questions how those kids got access to guns" ... how subliminal was that ...

Malaysia has an interesting scenario with guns ... After the Japanese surrendered, the Brits came back, and the (almost wholly Chinese) Malayan Communists fled to the jungle to wage a guerilla war (killing two of my family members incidentally). As part of an attempt to control guns, it became a capital offence to own an unregistered firearm. This law dating back to the 1940s was never changed, and to date, I've never met a private Malaysian citizen who owns a gun. Of course, it probably hasn't worked because Malaysian cities are still topping murder per capita rates on a global scale ...

If George W. Bush is a typical American, then heaven help us! 

I like America - the geography, culture, the people I've come in contact with.  But I despise their current foreign policy; I think it reflects badly on how the rest of the world views the average American - which is the essence of this topic.  It's a shame how the actions of the few affects the perception of the masses.

Get rid of Bush and the neo-cons and more people will like America.

what country is properly represented by its government?  just look at Britain!  I believe both US and UK have the same "first past the post" electoral system.  until proportional representation is introduced (as if that will ever happen), we'll never have a truly representative government of the people.

politics sucks, thank god for music!

If all three of your dogs hit the windshield when you slam on the brakes you just might be a red neck uh I mean an American.

Hey Borealis, that's not fair at all. I don't believe than in Québec "most people hate americans" (by "americans" I guess you mean people from the USA, I don't think you hate yourselves). I can tell you for sure that here in Europe very few people hate americans. We can be, and usually are, very critical with the USA Government politics; we can also be very critical with some moral standards in the USA (Fox news devoted much more time to a certain nipple than to prisoners tortured in Iraq), but we DON'T hate americans.

It's that kind of comments that make people in the USA overreact at the minor criticism; I would do the same if I was continuously receiving the message that people in other country hates us Spaniards...

So my fellow "american" prog lovers: we will continue on being critical with your government and sometimes with you, but you are loved here  

Come visit whenever you want: you'll be welcomed!

"obese, ignorant, blindly patriotic"

^ I agree with being obese and blindly patriotic, but I wouldn't be surprised many of the halfwits voting for ignorance are relying on the views of what our media deem us as, not what we really are. Not all of us are hicks, people, keep that in mind at all times.