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Bill O'Reilly: Blowhard

IanGillespie

Join Date 01/2004

Bill O'Reilly: Blowhard

As the author of a Canadian and American political blog, nothing warms my heart quite like a showdown between Fox blowhard Bill O'Reilly and Canada's most respected newspaper, The Globe and Mail:

"On Friday, O'Reilly took exception to reports that he is an 'ultra-conservative' and that he does not like Canada. In recent days, the outspoken American TV personality has been involved in a running dispute with Toronto's Globe & Mail newspaper..."

"But the biggest bone O'Reilly has to pick involves two U.S. army deserters who are seeking asylum in Canada. He has argued that if Ottawa grants that asylum, the U.S. should boycott Canadian products in protest, a move that he says could cripple the Canadian economy."

O'Reilly has said these deserters are being "treated like heroes" by the Canadian media -- and has singled out The Globe and Mail. I can tell you, having followed the Canadian media far more thoroughly than Bill O'Reilly, these guys have barely even been mentioned. The O'Reilly/deserters story has gotten far more play than the actual deserters story.

That being said, if these two soldiers are conscientious objectors they should absolutely be granted asylum. The American military has a track record of denying conscientious objector status on a whim, but we take these issues very seriously. Canada has never accepted a combat draft -- even during World War II. We have a proud tradition of accepting those who refuse to fight in America's many wars. If Bill O'Reilly thinks a boycott is going to change all that, he's underestimating his adversary.

After all, this is country that marshalled every force available to the effort in World War II -- without even a combat draft.

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Frogboy: Perhaps "Royalists" is the American version of the term "Loyalists", which refers to those loyal to the British crown. I don't know.

The immigration of Loyalists to Canada continued long after the American War of Independence, however. If memory serves this issue was involved in the War of 1812, which was itself fought largly over issues of conscription.

As for what does and does not constitute a tradition, who cares? My point stands whether this was a tradition or just something Canada did a couple of times. I doubt whether you think Canada should be accepting U.S. draft dodgers (or those who aren't given a fair hearing when it come C.O. status) is really gonna rest on how often Canada has done this in the past.

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Super Baby: It seems that this is all political. The same people who are approving of these "conscientious objectors" are the same people who are against the whole thing with Iraq, Bush, and America.

Hey Super Baby....just to clarify I hope you don't mean that if you're against the war and don't like President Bush then your against America. Hopefully that isn't your meaning, cause I've heard about enough of that shit. "America is a free country but if you don't agree with the war and love the president your ANTI-AMERICAN".....thats a bunch of crap. The right to choose what you believe in and disagree with something or someone you don't like is the basis of this country, or at least it used to be.

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If you join the military, you should be expected to go to war. The Vietnam War had more people enlisting every year than were drafted anyway, so now the military is completely voluntary. Why should you join the military if you're opposed to war? What kind of idiot does that make you?

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Draginol

Join Date 03/2001

+137

BTW, there was no draft in the American revolutionary war. Royalists weren't forced to fight. They simply emmigrated.

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kingbee

Join Date 04/2004

+42

this is a bit off-topic but im appalled to see so little support for those stalwarts of revolutionary-era colonial conservativism (better known as tories). but what can you expect when the liberal press is so biased in favor of their fair-haired radical liberal heroes like paine, jefferson, and all the rest of those traitors.

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Draginol: I didn't say there was. I just said that Loyalists/Royalists continued to come to Canada after the American Revolutionary War, including -- I believe -- during the period leading up to the War of 1812 when there was complusory military service in the U.S..

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