Congratulations, emp! I wouldn't want you to shut up, or change for a minute, even when I disagree with you (which is frequent). You are who you are, without apology, and I respect that highly.

You keep doing what your doing, in my eyes you love America much more than many born Americans do! congrats!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Congratulations, emp! I wouldn't want you to shut up, or change for a minute, even when I disagree with you (which is frequent). You are who you are, without apology, and I respect that highly.

You keep doing what your doing, in my eyes you love America much more than many born Americans do! congrats!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Awwww... What a bunch of sweeties. Thank you very much.

After I called Sabrina and her folks to pass on the good news I spoke with my Old Mum, back in England. Although we've explained the process to her on numerous occasions she's never really quite grasped the complexity of what's required to complete a legal process of immigration to this country. But then, neither has any native-born citizen I've spoken to either.

This is understandable in one way. I certainly never made myself aware of the requirements of the legal process of immigration into Great Britain. Why would I? I was born with the right to live there, nor is it a right I can ever give up. The Subjects of the Crown of England cannot voluntarily surrender or dispose of their status as subjects of the Monarch. Not citizens, as here - but subjects. I explained to her that I was one very important step closer to becoming a citizen - something that's been my ambition for most of my life, ever since I was old enough to have some vague intimation of what a citizen is.

We talked about the morning I left England, and her, to come here. She honestly thought she would never hear from me or see me again (in the past I've disappeared from the knowledge of friends and family for years at a time) - and the thought of my being half a world away was enough to convince her that I'd never get in touch. Of course, that didn't happen. I love my mother and sister very much, but I love them discreetly, and I love them best when there's considerable distance between us. Why that should be so I've never been entirely sure, but the fact is that it is so.

Several years before I was ready to make the break and leave the UK I told her that I had got myself a passport. When she asked why (because I was in no position to travel to foreign countries) I told her that I'd done so because, one day, I would go to America. It shocked her a little, even then - because she knew that, even then, I was perfectly serious. Even as a tiny child the thought of America fascinated me endlessly. I had what were, at that time, called 'transfers' on my bedroom walls as a child. American Indians around campfires. Cowboys driving cattle, buttes and desert landscapes; and my dreams were filled with nothing but these images. I've loved movies all my life - and the thing that made me love them is that most of them are, in one way or another, about life in America.

How I measure the success of my life is not how most measure success. I have no interest in fame (or 'celebrity', as it's referred to here). I've little interest in money, other than for the ease and convenience it provides, and the fact that I have champagne tastes on a malt liquor budget. But becoming an American citizen will be one of the greatest success stories of my time in this world, and something that will make me infinitely proud.

Great just what this country needs is another philosophy major.

O well just keep your yard clean and vote republican please.

Congrats

Congrats! That's happy news.

Congrats Rev Emp. Glad to hear that your adventures with the CIS is almost over .....

philosophy major. .................. and vote republican please.

That is a lethal combination .... , Emp doesnt strike me as a Republican-voting man. .... or a Democrat-voting man.

I think he will vote for the Queen ..... . He can write-in her name , you know.

wait a minute .... he can't vote here yet. He surely will vote for the Queen for now.

Congrats, my love.

Come home. We miss you. And thank you:)

That's great news. Congratulations.

And while I find you often abrasive and difficult (emotionally) to read, I've never had cause to doubt your assertions that you want to be a citizen and stay in the country. I wish you continued good fortune in attaining that status.

Congrats. You two deserve it, after all the rigmarole you've jumped through.



Amen. Nothing makes me more angry than false dilemmas like that; and the whole "America: love it or leave it" is about the most blatantly false dilemma out there. It's not that simplistic. I don't have to just love America unabashedly, never questioning her or her (amazingly stupid at times) people, in order to live here. There's a much broader spectrum of thought, you assholes, so shut up.

Exactly. Part of loving your country is cherishing the right to speak out against its policies. "Blind patriotism" is no more patriotism than "blind faith" is faith!

Congratulations... May the next piece of mail you receive be a great job offer.

America is the last hope of mankind. I believe that in my bones, and always have. There is no greater nation on earth.

There, can I say it more explicitly? America is the last hope of mankind.

That does not mean that that there is not a multiplicity of evils which beset America. There are. There is is the poisonous and anti-human attitude to sex which bedevils you. There is the fatuous and nearly incomprehensible attitude toward religion which bedevils you. There is your incomparable and (so far as I know) utterly unparalleled greed, which bedevils you.

None of which means that America is not possessed by the greatest dream of human liberty which has ever invaded and seduced the human imagination - which is why I wanted to come here in the first place. Here, I can be free. There are many things that are wrong in American life. Does that mean that America is not the greatest, the most beautiful, the most profound imagining of human freedom ever conceived?

No.

To: pseudosoldier

Thank you. None of my comments have ever been intended as insulting to America. And your comment, coming from one who has served her at risk of his life, means more to me than you might imagine.

'sheep lie!'

--popularly attributed to the owner of a ewe upon being informed the animal allegedly complained about sexual abuse to 'the sheep whisperer'