Omelet > wrote:

> "Bob Terwilliger" > wrote:

>> Om wrote:

>> >>> He has no respect for our laws!

>> >> Um.. Just how much respect do *you* have for the laws of some foreign
>> >> country? Do you abide by the laws of Saudi Arabia?

>> > If I lived there, I'd have to.
>> > Anyone that lives here should!

>> So you believe that Calderon lives in the USA? And is President of Mexico at
>> the same time? Or is it just that you think Mexico is a kind of appendix of
>> Texas?

><sigh> No. He is objecting to Arizona law being applied to his illegal
>people that live there.

>Are you really this dense in real life?

I think Bob's point may be that if Saudi Arabia had an unfair
law (such as, beheading someone for adultery, or whatever),
a visiting head of state does not automatically "respect"
such a law. I would view it as a good thing if, for once, a U.S.
president could man up and tell the Saudis that what they're doing is
wrong (recall that Amnesty International rated Saudi Arabia worse
than Saddam's Iraq in human rights abuses). Especially so
if he did it on a state visit.

Arizona, with its history of white-on-brown police violence
and other unacceptable forms of discrimination, does not earn any
"respect" for its laws from Calderon. Or from many/most Americans.
Or plenty of Arizonans for that matter. And certainly not from
people internationally. All eyes are on Obama to see if he
does that right thing and stands up to the rightwing minority.


Steve