If only that were correct. The US government can and does withhold the issue of passports for a range of reasons including the ones you mention above.

The grant of a passport is not a right and the United Declaration on Human Rights is silent on the issue of travel.

Both of your assertions are threfore incorrect.

Not at all. You are right that only US citizens are able to be issued a legitimate US passport but it is not true that all US citizens qualify for the grant of a US passport.

A US passport is not a right in law, but a privilege.

I agree with all you say and I commend you for arguing it as well as you have.

But you have forgotten the centerpiece when it comes to understanding the relationship between Iran and the rest of the world.

Israel.

Add that complexity to your points above and you have a much fuller picture.

Can someone please change the headline from "In Xhengzhou, Thousands Vie For Foxconn Jobs" to "In Zhengzhou, Thousands Vie For Foxconn Jobs".

The name of the Chinese city in question is Zhengzhou not Xhengzhou.

The answer is no.

Unless of course they were the "founding fathers" who never did any wrong. I remain amazed by how often the anachronistic laws set by a group of largely uneducated men over 200 years ago are defended as being untouchable.
     

Some of what you say in indeed correct but I am surprised that you would argue against "direct" democracy - i.e. people ruling or that the role of money and corporations is a "modern phenomenon".

The ancient Greeks were very much aware of the possibility that elections could be influenced by wealth or special interest groups. Their solution was ballot rather than election as with a ballot only the Gods could possibly interfere and that was "OK".
     

And again, you fail totally to understand what a democracy is.

Democracy is government by the people. America is not governed by the people to the extent necessary for it to be considered a democracy.

For example the majority of the most powerful and important government roles (Secretary of State, Treasurer, Secretary of Defence etc etc etc) are appointed - not elected. That is the opposite of democracy and is a situation that would never be tolerated in most of the world's actual democracies.

I restate, universal suffrage does not equal democracy.

I agree with this and would add one more observation.

Americans confuse universal suffrage with democracy. They assume that because leaders are elected that it is a democracy. America has universal (well kinda sorta) suffrage but it is not a democracy.
 

"The stated goal from bin Laden was the destruction of the capitalist monster that is the United States."

This myth persists but is entirely wrong. bin Laden's clearly stated goals were to force the US to remove its military bases from the Holy Lands and have the US end its support for Israel. Nothing more - nothing less.

bin Laden made these comments on many many occasions on the record to respected newspapers. Why Americans refuse to accept what he said and instead make it about bin Laden hating "freedom" or "capitalism" is beyond me.

Always and forever. Politeness goes a long way even in the face of those "screwing you without lube".

Being polite is not hard at all regardless of the situation.

Absolutely right. My American friends would say that I am a far left socialist, whereas my European and Australian friends would consider me centre left.

My Chinese friends cannot understand why I take any interest in politics at all.
 

"... love clapping".

Sounds like any RNC / DNC convention then.