There's a good bit of irony in that coming out of the mouth of a CAIR spokesweasel.

It's important to take note that American Muslims think of themselves as Muslims first.

CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, says it all. They see themselves as distinct from Americans.

Maybe you guys in England don't quite get it, but over here, anyone can be an American, just by wanting to.

They're the only group, as far as I know, which IDs themselves by religion, not country.

There are plenty of hyphens for any number of races, creeds, colors, and nationalities.

When your membership in the tribe is the defining element in your personality and worldview, hyphens are mandatory.

Sandy P:They're the only group, as far as I know, which IDs themselves by religion, not country.

The World Is Not Enough.

In the UK we have the MCB - Muslim Council of Britain. Not the Council of British Muslims, note.

"Maybe you guys in England don't quite get it, but over here, anyone can be an American, just by wanting to."

Really, i would have thought you would have to be there ( rather than here), be there legally, be there for a certain time as a specific type of imigrant (i.e. a green card and not a H1b holder etc.) and petition for citizenship, do a test, and make an oath. All of which can take a decade. And getting a green card is not easy. One suspects it is harder to gain US citizenship for most Europeans then it is to gain UK citizenship for most Europeans -and the UK fast-tracks old commonwealth countries too.

So I dont think you can just turn up and wish yourself to be American. Not anymore.

eoin is right. I once had such a nightmare trying to get a green card that I decided to remain in the UK. In a larger sense though, eoin is wrong and Bill Dooley is right. Once you get into the US (or the UK for that matter) then how you conduct yourself is the true test of whether you really want to be American (or British) or you just wanna live there and ponce off the system. Frankly, I fail to understand the mentality of people who come to our countries and don't want to be a part of them. Those who just want the NHS and the social security and the economic opportunity but care nothing for our history and our freedoms. I don't blame the immigrants, I blame the lunatics who are running our asylum.

But who am I to know? I was recently called a facist for reading the Times. Mind that was from an Indy reader who votes Green.

God help us all!

My exit strategy is Australia. I'm under 35 and have an MSc. I also have a load of rellies in Melbourne.

A small quibble: O'Reilly is not unhinged, just stupid. His pre-broadcast background (state-school teacher, journalist) are not lines in the CV to cause enthusiasm.

Populist crap.

It is NOT easy to get UK citizenship. I was a Canadian, with British-born parents and almost my entire extended family lived in the UK; I was college edgy-cated and ready to work, not leech; and I couldn't get jack sheet. So y'all deserve all the problems from throwing open the floodgates to the people from cultures hostile to western civilization and British culture. If you won't keep your own, you get stuck with the Other.

I'm Amurrican now. Yes, it's hard to immigrate here. H1B visas (if you got skills) and the personals (if you're a charming singleton) are probably the best strategies.

I don't agree with the US making it hard for culturally compatible people to immigrate and making it easy for culturally hostile people. I think we're in a good position to be selective and should be.

Nick - we don't want your sort comin' over 'ere, bignotin' yourselves with your fancy diplomas and airs and graces!

Nah, you'd be let in like a shot. I will say that Melbourne weather is terrible; Perth has a Mediterranean climate, but it's a bit far from the action unless you're in the mining industry. I'd live in Sydney over Melbourne any day, though Australia's best coffee can be bought in the Victorian capital.

Kim - perhaps you're right. The fact he let Awad's clanger noted here pass through unmolested supports your contention.

Thanks for the advice James.

Perth a bit far from the action! My wife worked with a girl from Perth here in Manchester (Melbourne weather couldn't be worse than what I'm used to) and she said she'd come to the UK because she wanted a break from Western Australia and it the flight was only slightly more than one going to Sydney!

kentuckyliz,
If you're from the anglosphere getting UK citizenship is a grim ordeal. I know some horror stories. Basically, the IND (immigration & nationality directorate) of the Home Office is the most truly Kafkaesque institution I have ever come across. The country is full of failed asylum seekers and a few years ago the IND moved heaven and earth in an attempt to deport a US student of my acquaintance (with a proper student visa and paying full-whack international fees) for no immediately obvious reason. I also studied with a load a Canadians and a lot of them wished to get jobs in London. Visas for them seemed to be determined on no appreciable criteria. Some got visas very quickly, others didn't. The best thing about the IND is that they never answer the phone.

When NeuArbeit came to power in 1997 they introduced a cute little change to the law to enable unmarried (mainly gay, I assume) couples to have the right of domicile and work in the UK for the non-UK partner. This is priceless. You had to be able to prove that you had lived together continuously for four years! I think that had to be in the UK as well although I'm not 100% on that. Now how could one do that legally? Bear in mind, that's before they issue a work permit. The only realistic circumstances I could see fulfilling that criteria is if you met someone in year 1 of med school and then moved in with them for years 2 through 5.

I live in a very ethnically diverse part of Manchester. We've got folk from all over. I suspect there's quite a large contingent from the former Sov 'stans - they kinda look like Borat and speak something that sounds like a cross between Russian and Arabic. My wife is a Russian grad and the 'stans is her best guess. I have no idea what the legal status of these folk is. I suspect they neither know nor care. I assume they're probably not packing Polonium-210 but God alone knows why they are here and why my Canadian mate Rod (with an LLM from QMC, London) was denied a visa and ended up waiting tables illegally in Covent Garden.

It's just a chaotic mess which would probably be funny if it didn't represent very real pain for a great many people whether they be Westerners with qualifications and a non-EU passport or Chinese cockle-pickers drowning in Morecambe Bay or the Pakistani indentured serfs at the corner shop. It is all truly fucked.