Read the story here about how America's border patrol and entry regulations are keeping you safe from dangerous criminals.
I'm trying to come up with the best word or phrase to describe the attitudes of people who makes policies like this, and for a country that would allow those people into positions of authority. Stupid? Naive? Unbelievably hypocritical? Completely out of touch with reality? Blinded by their moral superiority?And wouldn't it seem reasonable that we ask other countries to apply the same standards to their guests and visitors as we do, thereby reducing the number of Americans who travel overseas by 75%?
11 comments:
Reciprocity is a wonderful thing. That would be a great policy for someone else to implement.
I've heard all sorts of atrocious stuff about the current administration's approach to immigration...not only with Acid-head professors, but also with student visas, extra paperwork, etc.
Wonder if there's a contest anywhere for worst experience with an attempted US visit.
This is the phrase that captures me: "the electronic footprint you leave on the Net will be used against you. It cannot be erased."
I mean, really. I am captured! I did a Google of my name the other day, and it showed my Amazon wishlist preferences.
I wonder if they would make an exception for foreign people who admit they have smoked American-made tobacco cigarettes ?
I confess : 35 years ago, I once smoked - and inhaled - an illegal substance, and I enjoyed it. The substance was brought to my home in Brussels, Belgium, by a couple of visiting young American friends who bought it, illegally, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, prior to visiting me, and thus also illegally crossed an international border with it. The substance was usually smoked, not injected or snorted, and it was a gift, they did not charge me for it. Does that disqualify me as a tourist to the US ? If yes, would disclosing the names and adresses of the two American friends help rehabilitate me ?
On the "I wonder if.." comment :
I don't know if US citizens are submitted to the same thing, but *every* foreign visitor to the US, in at least the last 25 years, in the plane before landing, gets a card to fill-in (courtesy of the US Customs Administration or so), with a series of questions such as :
- are you, or have you ever been member of a terrorist organisation ? (yes / no) (*)
- are you or have you been a member of a communist or socialist political party or organization ? (yes / no) (*)
- do you carry, on your person or in your luggage, firearms / explosives / radioactive items / illegal substances ? (yes / no) (*) (**)
- what is the purpose of your trip ? tourism / business / blowing up the WTC ? (**)
etc...
(*) : circle the correct answer
(**) : underline which one(s) apply
I am *not* kidding (except about the WTC thing), and you are not let in the country without a filled-in card. Needless to say, I have never known anyone, or of anyone, having circled any "yes" answer, nor could I imagine anyone ever doing so (***).
But the total amount of trees cut down to produce those cards must be by now roughly equivalent to the Amazonian forest; the total cost to US taxpayers of producing and processing the cards must be several times Ghana's annual GDP; the total volume of cards disposed of by now must be roughly equivalent to Meteor Crater; and the amount of metal in the staples and staplers used in the process must be enough to sustain a couple of minor conflicts.
(***) this may also be because the few who tried it are now in the Guantanamo Bay holiday camp
It could be worse...he could have been coming here to try and work!
So if we treat our enemies like enemies, and we treat our friends like enemies, and we treat our visitors like enemies, just who do we suppose it is that's going to be around when we need a friend?
Come now, don't despair.
You've got Musharaff, you've got some of the enlightened leaders of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, etc.. in which you rent real estate for airbases, you've got the whole of the Saudi royal family (that's quite a lot in itself), you've got Mubarak, you got.. well, I'm sure there's a few I forget.
Granted, you haven't got Chavez or the Castro brothers, and you just lost Blair, but you've just gained a new French president who says he likes Americans.
Re the idea that your net footprint cannot be erased: Apparently not if you login from a White House/RNC account. In that case, it seems your emails cannot be recovered, even under Congressional order.
I think that we will all have to get used to such information being readily available, as David Brin argues in 'The Transparent Society.'
http://www.davidbrin.com/tschp1.html
Here Brin conjures an image of two cities. In each city, cameras are everywhere. Society is exposed. But in City One, the cameras are controlled entirely by the goverment. In City Two, the camera feeds can be accessed by anyone, and those cameras help us to keep track of the government as much as the reverse. The clear suggestion is that while privacy may be going out the window, our personal freedoms (and ideally the freedoms of our guests and visitors) don't need to go with it.
Sadly though, Americans have a long history of trading away freedoms for 'security,' let alone the freedoms of 'those other people.' Canadians...feh! I believe it was Denis Leary who said, "If you listen very carefully at night, up near the border, you can hear them sharpening their ice skates, getting ready to come down and take our cheese!"
"People who have used drugs are not welcome here."
"If you are or have been a drug user ... that's one of the many things that can make you inadmissible to the United States."
What's next? Denying reentry to U.S. citizens returning from traveling abroad? ("I'm sorry, Mr. Clinton, but your name came up on a Google search of admitted marijuana users, so you'll have to go back to Amsterdam.")
And will the banishment be limited only to users of illegal substances, or will it include illegal use of otherwise legal drugs? ("My apologies, Mr. Limbaugh, but you will need to return to your tour of pharmaceutical plants in Mexico.")
Apparently, if you're an American citizen, no matter your vice, you are quite welcome here. In fact, you can be President. ("Another can of Lone Star, Dubbya?")
Post a Comment