Letters to the Editor
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@Electrorobot - This whole mindset of fear was created by the neocons
The neocons - who are ideologically part of the fascist Likud party in Israel - subscribe to a policy of fear mongering and paranoia. Unfortunately, they were successful in driving through these policies that make little sense from a security standpoint, not to mention the disastrous consequences in economic and human relations terms.
As a die-hard supporter of Israel's fascist right wing, I suspect you feel quite at home in this atmosphere of self-perpetuating fear mongering.
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Enough!!
My family runs some a few beach cottages in Maine, and most of our guests are French Canadian. The border crossing has become an hours-long ordeal for them on any summer weekend, but on holiday weekends - or if there should be any famous foreign guests expected at Walker Point - the wait becomes intolerable.
One family with a little kid was stopped at the border and had to unpack everything for their 2-week stay. All the plastic beach toys and Tonka trucks were shaken, peered into, inspected very thoroughly. A French-speaking grandmother was stopped for hours because she used the pronoun "we" in speaking to the ICE guy. He demanded to know who was with her and why she was carrying so much luggage. She was traveling in caravan with the rest of her family and she had their luggage in her car. Very bad move!!
I'm organizing a secession. Maine, Canada's Tropical Province! Good healthcare, great surfing and a balmy climate!!
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Canada, Annexation of
Canada has the second largest proven oil reserves in the world and a significant percentage of its fresh water supply.
The United States is running out of both oil and water. If the attack on Iran comes, and the Middle East is burning; can the annexation of Canada be far behind?
A strongly policed border can only be an asset in the coming anschluss.
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@anonyme and Maine as a Province of Canada
Not a bad idea. My parents go to Ogunquit every year, they have moved it to September as the crowds tend to be smaller and, especially, since Dubya has been in the White House, you never know when he will show up in the summer and drag some foreign guest to WP and then everything in that part of the state comes to a complete standstill, but he doesn't go that late in the year. Question - would Canada be evicting the Bush family from WP and turning it into one of those Canadian Heritage resorts???
I might actually move to Maine....
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It reminds me of border crossings during the communist era in Hungary
We dont't travel to the US anymore. We used to visit alot. We visited Chicago, Cleveland, Austin, Denver, Kansas City, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, San Antonio and even crossed into Mexico a couple of times. Because I am afraid to fly we would take the train. Now VIA, the Canadian passenger rail service, doesn't cross the border. When our dollar value got better we were thinking about visiting Chicago again. But since 9/11 we have heard all of the terrible things being done at the borders we decided we just didn't need that kind of stress. It is really a shame. This needs to be fixed. Perhaps when the Bushies leave cooler heads will prevail.
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@SueNJ97
The Amtrak Cascades train between Vancouver and Seattle is about a four hour trip (driving is usually three), but the train is preferable because, yes, you can use your laptop and phone, walk about and get a microwaved hotdog if you want. One goes through American border control in Vancouver (a relative breeze) but the train is borded by guards and dogs past White Rock and we're grilled again (a pain, but at least we're sitting down). However, the train runs only once a day (we've been promised a second run for 2 years now). Four times a day the Amtrak bus, called Cantrail, leaves from the train station in Vancouver and arrives at the station in Seattle in about 3 - 3 1/2 hours, depending on the traffic and border hassles. Apparently the train is more expensive than the bus to run (the tickets are more expensive, too) and inefficient. When the 6pm train isn't an option for me, I take the Amtrak bus, get my Amtrak points, and avoid the Greyhound route, which has even more inherent dangers and border delays.
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STOP TORTURING INNOCENT CANADIANS!
Maher Arar was an innocent, law-abiding Canadian businessman who was kidnapped by the American government while he caught a connecting flight home through JFK. They sent him to Syria where he was held in a cell for a year that was the size of a coffin. He was tortured brutally for an entire year under the explicit direction of the Americans, and then released when they finally realized they'd made a mistake ... "ooops, sorry Mr. Arar! Y'all have a nice day!"
Congress has since apologized although the thugs responsible have said nothing.
In the meantime, Omar Khadr, a Canadian child with radical idiots for parents who took him to Afghanistan, was shot in the back at his home by an American soldier even though he was unarmed. He has been beaten, raped and tortured by Americans at Gitmo ever since.
His lawyers say that the goons at Gitmo poured bleach over his open gunshot wounds and then used him like a mop to clean the floor with.
He is the only child in the world charged with a war crime in contravention of international law because the U.S. is so embarrassed by the fact he was innocent they are throwing the book at him.
The U.S. Army Major who is defending him has introduced valid evidence of his innocence and completely discrediting the arrest report, which he has proven was doctored after the fact to say the boy was armed. Originally it correctly stated that he was unarmed. Who shoots an unarmed child in the back?
Since then they have tortured this child for more than five years now, destroying him. After the stupidity of his parent's ideology, this just piles abuse on abuse.
The border crossing is no big deal. Who wants to go?
JUST STOP TORTURING INNOCENT CANADIANS WHILE CANADIANS ARE DYING ON THE FRONT LINES OF AFGHANISTAN TO PROTECT AMERICA!!!