Actually, Uncle Sam, it's much more expensive to execute a prisoner than to keep him in prison for life.<BR><BR>You know as much about this as you know about soccer.

Anon and European,<BR><BR>Suggest that you cry your crocodile tears of concern for their victims!<BR><BR>BTW, we're appropriately PC in Texas and give them a lethal injection. However, public hangings in the town square might be in order!<BR><BR>US

And BTW, every single country in the world has its own faults. Don't see much point in dwelling on them unless you're working on positive solutions to these problems. Do you sit around with your friends and tell them what you don't like about them? No. You don't even do this with your enemies, of which I suspect many of the nasty posters above have many. None of us are perfect, so just TAKE IT EASY!

Ann,<BR><BR>Of course it does by the time you allow for 12 to 14 years of appeals. Now we're on the fast track and it will not be so expensive. <BR><BR>Once again you and your liberal, bleeding heart friends ought to ocnsider the victims instead of the scum that commit the crimes!<BR><BR>US

US<BR><BR>Your language has sickened me. Not agreeing with murder by state can hardly be equated with lack of concern for the victim or their family!

US....also whenever you post, your words are always so "angry".<BR><BR>If you represent the consensus of US opinions then I worry for us all.

I have just looked on the US board...quiet normal. "Europeans" do not go there and put down Americans, so why do you come here and do it?... and some of you wonder why Americans think they are disliked?? doesn't take a genius to work it out.

I've often wondered why foreigners apparently showed so much interest in the US criminal justice system. Are they really concerned about capital punishment, or is this one of the very few topics they think they can criticize the US on? <BR><BR>I don't know, but when innocent civilians were being murdered en masse in the former Yugoslavia it took the US to stop the killing. <BR><BR>One other thing. If Americans had the "temerity" to criticize the internal policies of European countries we'd never hear the end of it on this board. And as I stated earlier, the death penalty is applied on a state-by-state basis -- it is a state issue, not a federal one. But who wants to get bogged down in details when blanket statements condemning the US are the order of the day.

Bill: Thanks for the laugh. Loved your input!<BR><BR>Anon: I concur regarding your statements about Uncle Sam. Nothing he says is ever productive or helpful. It's always vitriolic and venomous.

Jim<BR><BR>Some Americans on this board critizise Europe continually. Plus if you read carefully you would see that the comments to US, are to Uncle Sam and not the US in general. While run by Fodors, these message boards are international, so you are as much a foreigner as I am.

Anon,<BR><BR>I think you're just a bit sensitive. I can, if you wish provide some angry words for you though.<BR><BR>US

XXX,<BR><BR>Well everyone is entitled to an opinion. Suggest, however that you take your touchy, feely offended self to a search and reconsider the words "nothing he says is productive ir helpful"...generalizations defeat your case.<BR><BR>US

i am beginning to understand why Texas is at the bottom of the list of tourist arrivals. With people like Uncle Sam in the majority there, nobody wants to visit such a horrible place.

US<BR><BR>I am absolutely sure you can...no doubt about it. Isn't the American term a "jerk".... In the much kinder words of Derek Trotter you are a "plonker" . I feel sorry for the sad angry person you are, though I do ask myself why am I even getting involved in an argument with a twit like you?? That was therefore the last word from me...

European,<BR><BR>Actually Texas is an excellent place to live and visit. I am sorry, however that you are so thin skinned, perhaps none of us would be welcoming to you.<BR><BR>It seems like the least little disagreement with your position and you claim foul because of "harsh" language.<BR><BR>Alwasy the refuge of the loser is to complain about the tactics of the other person. Often when losing others that cannot refute the ideas resort to calling someone a racist, or a redneck or assoted other names.<BR><BR>You have not resorted to that. Instead you throw blanket accusatons couchedd in such nice terms. You sir or madam are much worse that I.<BR><BR>Thank you,<BR><BR>US

Anon,<BR><BR>see ya!<BR><BR>US

US<BR><BR>Here we say "see ya wouldn't want to be ya"<BR><BR>Bye;-)

Excuse me, but can't we all just get along here?<BR><BR>The point of international travel, whether to or from Europe, is to experience another culture (not a better or a worse culture). I am an American and proud of it. I have traveled this great land far and wide. We have much in the way of natural and people beauty that we can be proud of. There is a different kind of beauty in European places and people. Close your mouth and open your eyes. Respect what each of us had yesterday, treasure and protect what we have today. We're stuck with one another so we might as well enjoy it. And now, I'm booking my next trip to Paris.

Anon,<BR><BR>"whatever" ;~))<BR><BR>US

No, I promise not to do For Whom The Bells Toll. Thanks for your patience however. You know, this thread about change is so moving, so right. The Sun was all about how Europe and mankind had been damaged by WWI, and how people were lost, the Lost Generation in Paris, of course. Major changes everywhere, every aspect of life. I'm not telling you anything new. Except when I sold my car in '63 (just two year after Papa ended it outside Ketchum, Idaho) and took the Queen from NY to Calais, passing underneath the unfinished Verazzano, then the train to Paris, I ended up in a small hotel in the 6th. the L'Abbey, on L'Abbey Gregoire, I believe. People on this site occasionally speak of it still. Now the change. Onboard I met a man from India, and he and I shared a room, each of paying 75 cents per night. Breakfast delieved was included, plus one laundry service weekly. We had a small bathroom, and showers down the hall were 65 cents, payable upfront downstairs at the desk. My days in the Sorbonne were free - as an audit student. My mornings at Alliance Francaise a pittance. Of course Europe has changed, Paris has chaged. But it still sparks that spark when I revisit. I liked this thread.