The blame game
Author’s note: I once read a study that pointedly admitted that only 10 percent of Americans know the name of the country on their northern border. You can see the country from Alaska. Any guesses as to what that country might be? (Unfortunately, I can’t find a link to the study.)
Canada has become a haven for terrorism, according to Bert Tussing at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania:
“The threat along the northern border, while far less publicized, is nevertheless cause for concern — perhaps equal concern, perhaps greater.”
Mr. Tussing’s concern for the Canadian border is even greater than the concern he has for the Mexican border. I don’t see how that’s possible, given that the illegal immigrant sieve, known to America as the Mexican border, is impossible to plug, no matter what America pretends to do in its continued feeble attempts at stemming the tide. To America, illegal immigrants cannot be terrorists. Those illegals entering the U.S. from Mexico come for a better life, not to plan and execute terror attacks. Perhaps the Army War College should launch — if you’ll pardon the pun — an inquiry into determining how many of those millions of Mexicans are terrorists from somewhere else. Does anyone, anywhere, actually know?
* crickets chirp *
I didn’t think so.
Canada’s immigration and refugee policy is cause celebre for the concern, according to Mr. Tussing, and other, more well-known ignoramuses in America. There are still Americans who believe that Canada was the source of the 9/11 terrorists. How in God’s name that became a truth is entirely unknown, but given the American media’s constant parroting of Administration talking points and lies, I suppose its not unusual. For the ignoramuses among us, the terrorists were mostly Saudi — you know, from Saudi Arabia — and three other Arab countries. Fifteen hijackers obtained their visas for travel to America in Saudi Arabia, no questions asked. That’s why America invaded Iraq, remember?
No mention is ever made of who lets these terrorists into America from wherever they might launch themselves. It does occur to me that all of the blame just might rest with the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service, the U.S. Border Patrol, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (long live Der Homeland!), and various and sundry other American agencies and councils that operate in secret and are paid trillions of dollars to prevent such incursions.
Touched as I am by America’s concern for who Canada lets into its own country, I think America should take a long and hard look within its own borders first. I’m not optimistic that will happen anytime soon, given America’s penchant to blame almost any other country first for its problems around the world.
The greater concern for the border-watchers should be for the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who enter into the U.S. for the sole purpose of spending money whilst escaping something known as the extreme Canadian winter. There’s no telling what those mostly white, Canadian-born, winter-escaping extremists might foment. (They’re called snowbirds, by the way.)
Here’s a link to mindless rambling on about American border security and foreign terrorists on foreign soil. Can anyone give me the name of any country that has secure borders? I mean really, immigrants washing up on Florida soil from Cuba probably pose just as great a threat, but no one makes headlines over an insecure Florida border. Perhaps they come for the waters.
Mexico bullshit, the true grit way
Filed under: Baja, Long trips, On the road, Stupidity plain and simple
Author’s note: I tagged this with the Baja, but it’s about travel on mainland Mexico. Same dif, just a more diverse part of the country. And yes, I’ve ridden the mainland too — in fact, those very same roads that this guy whines and snivels about.
While I recognize the need for some to embellish their tales of motorcycle derring-do, it disappoints me greatly the length to which some will go to provide false and misleading information. Over the years I have ridden to Mexico many times, and have never encountered one problem. However, that’s not to say that there aren’t any.
For a most enjoyable read on wintering in Mexico, fast forward to this post.
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I’ve been reading about a bike trip some clown on a bagger took from Victoria, Canada to Mexico. It’s titled “Mexico Standoff”. Apparently this guy had been planning his ride to Ixtapa for years, but when he finally started his online research, everyone he contacted cautioned him against making the trip by motorcycle “with a lot of negative and scary reports”.
Oh mommy, don’t make me go.
By the third picture of his motorcycle, and the eighth paragraph of his sad tale, somewhere by Ely, Nevada, he’s complaining about strong wind threatening to throw him off of “his steed”, and rain showers. You pussy. Why not take the opportunity to vist one of the whorehouses in Ely — say, the Stardust — and relax with a beer while talking up the girls? You don’t have to sample the wares; you can just sit there and bullshit. But I digress.
By Nogales, he’s gotten himself checked into a sleazy motel right by the border. Yeah, shure. I’ve been through Nogales a time or two, and let me tell you, there are no sleazy motels right beside the border, chum. The border is completely denuded of anything for quite a distance. Those pesky coyotes and the illegals have seen to that.
While crossing into Mexico at a major port of entry can be a bit of an adventure, it usually entails riding on past the marker and watching the light. If it stays green, you keep right on going. Only when it turns red do you pull over for an inspection. Nogales is one of the more benign ports, believe me. It’s pretty much devoid of the traffic hassles that you can get riding into Mexicali or Tj. There’s not much chance you’ll get run over by an impatient truck or taxi at Nogales.
Naturally, once across the border, this guy’s paranoia factor is wound up to 10 because the poverty-stricken are watching him on his Harley-Davidson. Well shit, that’s a given. You get people staring at you in Bumfuck, America when you ride through town. Take a valium, dumbass, because almost everyone wants to look and listen when you ride by. It’s human nature for the great unwashed to want to fantasize about being out on the road and on their way to nowhere while riding a motorcycle loaded to the gills. Furthermore, in Mexico your fat ass is sitting on more dollars than most of those people will get their hands on in a lifetime.
Before I conclude my whining about this loser’s life, let me explain one more thing that he goes negative on, and that’s the military checkpoints. He makes a point of disparaging the young soldiers and their commanding officers that man these checkpoints by suggesting that they might want bribes. In my entire riding life down Mexico way, never — and I repeat, never! — have I ever been asked for money from anyone at these checkpoints. That is complete and utter bullshit, and to even suggest that it might occur is beyond the pale, in my opinion.
There’s much crying about bad roads, bad roadblocks, bad policia, bad military checkpoints ad nauseam. To top it all off, a day and a half from this guy’s destination, the dumbass turns tail and rides back home.
Oh mommy, I miss you.
Now that’s true grit.
More border static
Who is really targeted, and why?
U.S. authorities now have the power to seize and detain travellers’ electronic devices, including laptops and cellphones, and make copies of their contents at an off-site location, under newly disclosed customs policies. — cbc.ca news
Border agents may now seize documents, books, phamplets and hard drives from anyone who crosses the border. Such items may be duplicated and shared with other government agencies.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be a lawyer with client data on your way to a trial? Or a business person with material in your care subject to non-disclosure agreements?
I suppose this isn’t really a huge deal, since it’s their border and they can do anything they want to anyone who desires entry. After all, it is their country, too. Look at what they’ve done to it over the past eight years.
Just more of the same.
Canada adds U.S. to torture list
I must admit, I missed this back in January:
In Canada, the United States has joined a notorious group of countries… as a place where foreigners risk torture and abuse, according to a training manual for Canadian diplomats… — washingtonpost.com, Robin Wright and Julie Tate
Other nations on Canada’s list where foreigners risk torture and abuse:
- Saudi Arabia
- Syria
- China
- Iran
- Afghanistan
Distinguished company, that.
Link to article here.
Nipple ring security alert!
I’ve heard it all now, courtesy of Teh Stupid Administration:
A Texas woman who said she was forced to remove a nipple ring with pliers in order to board an airplane called Thursday for an apology by federal security agents and a civil rights investigation. — msnbc.com Travel News from AP
Of course, it happened at an airport in Texas. What can one expect, considering where the current Leader of the Great Free WorldTM claims residency on his hat ranch?
Link to article here.
What madness ensues?
The New York Times Opinion page has an excellent article by Patrick Smith entitled ‘The Airport Security Follies’:
The changes put in place following the September 11th catastrophe have been drastic, and largely of two kinds: those practical and effective, and those irrational, wasteful and pointless. — Patrick Smith, New York Times
Link to article here.
Patrick Smith writes a weekly article for Salon.com’s Ask the Pilot series.
Welcome to the club, Iceland
It’s happening more often. The stupidity of The Greatest Country In The World is being aptly demonstrated to all comers, even those from Iceland. Here’s the latest version:
During the last twenty-four hours I have probably experienced the greatest humiliation to which I have ever been subjected. During these last twenty-four hours I have been handcuffed and chained, denied the chance to sleep, been without food and drink and been confined to a place without anyone knowing my whereabouts, imprisoned. — Eva Ósk Arnardóttir, detained by Homeland Security at JFK
Link to story here.
Apparently, the woman had a previous visa infraction involving a three-week overstay in 1995, but she had been admitted uneventfully since then.
Considering the vast number of illegals that are allowed to be in the country, and that are allowed to wander around freely, I find it surprising that someone on a holiday would be subject to such intense confinement. I would guess that an airport security check is an easy bust for Homeland Security, although I’m not certain that the ensuing publicity is doing much to cement relations with Iceland.
Perhaps her real crime was being too white.
Four horsemen of the Apocalypse
They always get their man. This time, they killed him.
Robert Dziekanski was tasered and died when four RCMP officers were called in to the Vancouver International Airport arrivals area to subdue an unruly individual. He had spent 10 hours there after arriving on his flight, unable to speak English, and seemingly without any airport officials offering assistance of any kind. He was waiting for his mother to pick him up.
Once the officers arrived, Dziekanski put up his hands and turned around, and was tasered, pinned to the ground by four Mounties, and handcuffed. Unfortunately for the horsemen*, the man lost consciousness and died. It appears that they then stood around twiddling their thumbs and refusing him any medical attention whatsoever.
Also unfortunately for the four horsemen, the incident was video-taped by a bystander. It indicates that Dziekanski was never placed under arrest, as well as a host of other infractions perpetrated on him by the officers.
Then too, until the video came to light, the RCMP had a variety of stories prepared and published in the press to paint Mr. Dziekanski in a negative light — all for naught, as was demonstrated by the video.
Not to be outdone by all the bad publicity, Tom Smith of Taser International is interviewed, and comes up with, “Tasers don’t kill people. Tasered people just up and die of other causes.” I paraphrase, of course.
Most pathetic of all is the picture of four able-bodied, trained (they are trained, right?) members of the RCMP standing around with their fingers up their asses waiting for a medical team to arrive, while a man dies in front of them.
Are these guys dummies, clueless, or just plain stupid? It’s my opinion that they’re some of the stupidest sons of bitches to ever join the Mounties.
* Slang for members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
Border crossings
Yesterday I rode south to the Blackfeet Nation, where warriors on horseback guard the northern entrance to the rez. Artist Jay Laber created the sculptures out of rusted car parts remaining from the disastrous 1964 flood that devastated some areas of the reservation downriver from the Two Medicine River dam. Three more of Jay’s sculptures guard the south, west and east entrances to the reservation.
To qualify as a Blackfeet tribal member, one-fourth blood is required. Approximately 8,000 tribal members reside on the rez, which encompasses 1,462,640 acres.
After a stop at Many Glacier, I backtracked and caught Montana 17 north to the border and returned to Canada. This is a gorgeous ride, but 17 is populated by lots of open range cattle lounging on the roadway. They’re all black, and difficult to see in the shaded areas of the highway. I can’t imagine riding it at night for just that reason.
I’ve become so accustomed to crossing into “the States” that for me it’s just a matter of heading south and hitting the line. Polite Customs agents, few questions and a minimum of formality are the rule, and I’ve never ever had a problem being admitted. This time, however, I had forgotten my citizenship documents.
No problem, though.
After scanning my driver’s licence and receiving a lecture about not having citizenship papers, I was allowed into the country one more time by the tourist-friendly border guard.
Here’s a tip for those of you who are new at the border-crossing game: If you’re wearing dark glasses, take ‘em off. The agents want to see your shifty little eyes.
Avoid it if you can
Those duty-free shops will be writing their letters shortly:
“Air New Zealand Offers Round-the-World Routing Avoiding the U.S.” That was a recent headline from U.K.-based Business Traveler magazine. For the past several years, fliers bound from Australia and New Zealand to Europe by way of U.S. stopovers have been raising a ruckus about security policies that require all passengers, even those merely in transit to other countries, to clear U.S. immigration formalities — a process that includes fingerprinting, photographing and baggage rechecking. Air New Zealand has responded with the launch of a service from Auckland to Europe with a hassle-free transfer at Vancouver, British Columbia, eliminating its long-standing Auckland-Los Angeles-London route. Air Canada is following suit with a nonstop Vancouver-Sydney flight, bypassing its traditional layover in Hawaii, which, in the words of the magazine, “will enable global travelers to avoid the United States.” — Ask the Pilot by Patrick Smith, salon.com
This is probably only the tip of the iceberg.
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