Letters to the Editor
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no issue here
Traveling anywhere in the world, passports are required. This is not a big deal. No one should be an exception.
If you pay attention to the news at this particular border, it is not crime free. Drug smugglers are being caught, suspect characters carrying guns over the border, criminals of all walks of life are being snagged, etc.
If you've ever lived in Canada, and I have, you will also be surprised to see a history of anti-americanism, that americans are mostly clueless about. And, this goes way back in history, so the Bush factor is irrelevant. (I was in Canada BEFORE the Bush administration, and before 9/11).
As far as hockey games, again, if you know Canadians, they will pay any amount of money and jump through hoops to see a game, yet remain passive on things that really matter, such as standing up against their failed, and supposed universal health care system (a tragic system that collapsed a long time ago).
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The terrorists have won
Consider what 9/11 has led to:
The Iraq war (9/11 provided the excuse), having cost in direct costs alone 750 billion dollars, and an eventual 2 trillion.
The above led to a plumetting of goodwill in the world towards the US, particularly in the Arab world.
Homeland security costing many more hundreds of billions.
An enormous increase in the national debt because the above costs were paid for by borrowed money instead of tax increases.
The War on Terror, which is derided by most non-American experts as non-productive in the long run.
The election of Bush in 2004 through fear mongering.
*Add your own favorite consequence here.*
OBL must be more than pleased.
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Hate the border
I'm from Europe, lived in Canada for 15 years, and every time I cross the border I get photographed and fingerprinted. And I have to go, because my in-laws live in Buffalo.
And yes, the border guards are obnoxious and aggressive, but then I find the majority of things become more obnoxious and aggressive right across the border. All the billboards start promising to make you rich off the guy who accidentally rear-ended you. Suddenly all the gas stations have stickers of a cop on the pump warning you to pay first. The supermarkets double in size so they can pack in more aisles of Fritos and Hostess products. The Coca-Cola starts being served in buckets. You can get cheap booze at Wal Mart. Neon signs advertise bail bonds.
If I didn't have family there, I'd be more than happy never to set foot in the States ever again. Don't get me wrong - outside of law enforcement, the Americans I've met have all been very nice people. And I love the South-West. But come on, guys. You had some good ideas to begin with, but now it's all just got a bit silly.
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Crossing the border....oh my
Interesting article, Canada has always been a foreign country. We like it that way so maybe there is a silver lining to this current wave of American paranoia.
As for actually crossing the border, no thanks. The last time I did so (going to Boston from Montreal) was an 'interesting' experience. After boarding the late night Greyhound, the bus driver (tenser than usual) stated a long list of things we couldn't cross the border with (opened bottles of liquor, liquor if we were under the age of 21 (even though the legal age in Quebec is 18), etc.).
Once we got to the Quebec-Vermont border, everyone had to get off the bus at 2 AM. We had to take all the bags out of the bus and lay them out so they could all be ruffled through. The Homeland Security gave my passport a steely look-over before asking me what it was (obviously a trick question). I wondered at that point whether even a passport was insufficient to prove my lack of terrorist credentials. For a moment, I hoped only that if she did refuse me entry into the US, she'd at least let me just go home from the border without sending me somewhere else.
I remember the trip back being much more relaxed. Canadian border officials welcomed me home. The bus driver going back to Quebec didn't bother listing out things that weren't allowed in to the country.
I've never met a really mean American on entering the States however due to the general paranoia now present with regards to anything relating to the border, I'd much rather stay home and spend my money where I'm not treated like a criminal.
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The Fear Factor Unleashed
On an auto trip through 9 European countries last October, we were required to stop at border crossings only upon re-entering Germany from the Czech Republic. There, they scanned our passports and gave us a friendly wave through. On a trip into Mexico two weeks ago, we crossed with only a friendly good morning.
We'll travel into Canada again in September for an annual fishing trip and while the Canadian authorities will ask a few questions: Guns? Potatoes? Liquor?, it will be pleasant enough.
What a paranoid pack of wimps we've become! Of course, paranoid people may really have "enemies" so there is some justification for caution but this is getting ridiculous! I won't even go into my recent flight to El Paso via Minneapolis and Phoenix. Northwest Airlines probably knows as as much about me as my mother did and yet my "travel documents" were looked at with a watchmakers eyepiece! It reminded me of 1950's thrillers of traveling into "godless commie" territory. Have we become what we used to despise?
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Hillary Will Fix Everything
After she nails the last coffin in the Obama campaign (does anybody think someone in HER campaign may have offered significant scratch to Rev. Wright to make such a "timely" ass of himself?), Hillary will attempt to copy the Canadian system of socialized medicine, institute a GST, or similar national tax, and we will cease to be different.
Until there are more Tim Hortons locations in the US, and I can watch Hockey Night In Canada on DirecTV straight through the Stanley Cup finals, The United States and Canada will always be different. And, in lots of other ways I will refrain from mentioning. We all may look the same, but trust me - that's where it ends.