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> The Bush Administration has been successful in passing the "Patriotic Act" - Try that in in any European Country and you will have virtually everybody on the street - Nobody in Europe will give away his individual
rights.

I am no fan of the Patriot Act, but Euros are much more complacent with government snooping. In Germany you have to register with the cops every time you move, and you always have to have your "papers" with you. In France, they just passed a law promising 6 mos. jail time for anyone who dares "insult" the flag or national anthem. In the UK, they are much further along the road on National IDs and net censorship (not to mention gun bans).

I wouldn't say he is an America-hater - he has just been trained to be critical of America by the German public school system, which is run by the children of the far-left '68 student movement. There are much worse characters over there.

I don't know if it's that bad over here in Europe. Yes, in Germany you have to register where you live. Not with the cops, but of coarse the cops have access to this information. In the states the cops seem to be able to figuar out where you live one way or the other too. What town you're registered in determines what town gets your taxes and where you vote. It's just sort of done all in one.

Where you're a bit off is in the UK. These guys don't yet have IDs. An English friend of mine told me all you have to do is show a bill with your name an address on it (say your electric bill), and you can get a drivers license and eventually even a passport. This is why people love to sneak into England. Think of all those guys tring to get from France to England through the tunnel. Imagine America if you didn't need a birth certificate.

Yes, Germany has a bunch of silly laws and it seems they will put up with a whole lot more crap from the goverment. I'm just correcting some of your details, because I don't want people in the US to get the idea it's some kind of police state here.

There are things that idealogically bother me in Germany. Hitler's books and demostrating with the swastica are illegal, which on one side is understandable, but on the other side don't even those cheese monkeys deserve total freedom?