We’ll show you what we do to bloggers in the USA, punk!
Ensight – Jeremy C. Wright � The End of the Story — What the heck is this all about? A tale of woe by a Canadian blogger. His crime? Blogging. Hm.
I’m still not 100% sure what happened at Customs at the airport. Really, totally unsure. However at the very least I was denied entry and flagged for followup any other time I try to enter. As far as I can tell, I am not “banned” from entering. I’m not sure why the border guard said I was, threatened to throw me and jail and sieze my assets, etc.
I don’t know if any of what I experienced is even allowed by DHS (Department of Homeland Security). And I don’t even hold anything against DHS, Americans, etc. At the end of the day it’s this guy’s job to protect the border from, as he said, “ingrates and other seedy characters”.
There are quotes that stick out in my mind, like the “blogging ain’t a job” qoute that everyone’s bandying about. And there were threats. And there was lots of talk and many humiliating moments. There were also jaw-dropping ones like:
Him: Why would you visit someone in the states you’d never met (I mentioned I was planning to visit several people whilst down there)
Me: Well, I have met most of them, but I’ve talked to them dozens or hundreds of times online.
Him: Do you have any of their phone numbers?
Me: No, but I talk
Him: You can’t talk to someone without a phone number. Stop lying to me.
Me: No, really, I can talk from my computer to theirs
Him: Don’t be a smartass. If you don’t have their phone number, and you%u2019ve never met them, how can you have ever talked to them.
Me: (at this point I’ve learned that sarcasm doesn’t help, nor does answering questions he doesn’t want to hear the answer to)
Him: So, you’re trying to tell me that you’re going to visit someone who you’ve never met, never talked to and who knows nothing about you? And I’m supposed to believe this?
Me: (This was two hours in, and minutes before I demanded to be released)
Now zat zee bloggerz are no longer needed by zee party, zey are expendable, jah? — especially the Canadians. Round zem up and kill zem all!
One of the most frustrating experiences I find, time and again, is trying to deal with someone who doesn’t know a damned thing about their job. I don’t care if I’m grocery shopping or in an electronics store, when I ask a perfectly reasonable question, nothing esoteric, and I’m confronted with an incapable dunce — someone who’s sole qualification is that they may be able to restock shelves and give directions to the restrooms.
It’s not a surprise to run into a cop who got his job through Uncle Ernie. Especially, somewhere quiet where they’re not liable to run into trouble. They get assigned to traffic detail. I have a couple of friends who are good cops, professionals, who know exactly what I mean. One of them has changed jobs twice to get away from departments where local politics ruled.
Then, there’s Homeland Security. A bullshit operation if there ever was one. Founded in the throes of panic, designed to validate lousy, incompetent politics, no doubt being populated by opportunists — led by xenophobes.
That’s not just rhetoric, guys. I live in a border state where illegal migrant labor is a foundation stone of the economy. Yet, yesterday’s Friendly soccer match between the United States and Honduras was marred by the fact that members of the Honduran team were refused visas as security risks!
My father-in-law’s girlfriend is a 60-year-old physical therapist, Canadian-born, who’s had US citizenshop for decades. Any time she travels by air and buys a 1-way ticket [like, if she’s going to rendezvous with my father-in-law who’s gone ahead with his trailer], she gets to suffer through 2 or 3 hours of grilling about why she doesn’t have a roundtrip ticket and when was the last time she visited relatives in Canada?
The level of incompetence and ethical corruption in Homeland Security is criminal. You ain’t seen nothing, yet.
I saw a story last week that said the U.S. government is going with Canadian cryptography. The DHS has become a commodies marketplace. The multicorporations are into this big. I guess they have to arrest people to keep the spending going at full tilt.
They have seminars for relatively inexperienced companies. Start a DHS busines today and start rolling in the dough in no time! You can run the government better than the government can, no experience needed. Investors wanted for all new Sky is Falling project. Former Enron cons encouraged to attend!
Ways to keep your investment in the DHS market reasonable and your sales … of information available on entering individual DHS agency markets from …”
http://www.fedmarket.com/productTour/seminar/DHS.php
Practical information is presented on identifying sales opportunities with DHS agencies. The speaker will then focus of using that information to sucessfully close a sale. The seminar is designed for companies which are relatively inexperienced in federal sales. The seminar is geared towards company management, sales managers, and sales persons. Topics include:
1. Which companies should sell to DHS.
2. The advantages and disadvantages of selling to DHS.
3. Ways to keep your investment in the DHS market reasonable and your sales costs down.
4. Locating DHS sales opportunities.
5. Identifying DHS procurement decision makers.
Notice to Government End Users. The Software and Documentation are “Real Bitchin’,” as that term is defined at 48 C.F.R. §2.101, consisting of “Real Bitchin’ (formerly ‘Radical’ items)” and as such terms are used in 48 C.F.R. §12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §227.7202, as applicable. Or maybe 56 C.Fsomething something. 7. Oh, and these things, too: §§§§. Consistent with 48 C.F.R. §12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §§227.7202-1 through 227.7202-4, as applicable, as well as §R2-D2 and §JOHNNY 5, locked in a beautiful metallic embrace of everlasting robot love.
Well, once you’ve run out of old ladies in tennis shoes and babies in strollers to inspect, what’s a DHS thug gonna do?
Well, there are those Canadian bloggers…
I can see why the Bush administration is so worried about terrorists sneaking across the border especially when you consider the functioning retards they’ve got manning them (borders).
One wonders what other idiots the US government has listening to the “chatter” and other important bits of “intelligence” that the Bush administration is using in the fight against those phoneless terrorists!
Can’t talk to someone without a phone number. If that wasn’t so f@%*’n stupid it might almost be funny.
You know… at least Hitler was upfront about his plans you have to give him that.
It’s LEGAL to share MUSIC in my country! 🙂
I am very sorry to hear about you incident with the cbp…..And yes i can relate….I have a friend (Canadian citizen woman) who was going to visit me for the second time in 9 weeks….she was banned for 5 years …she said she was going to visit the Wyatt family…..(stepfather last name…..mine is different) but i live with them…..that’s all it took! a section 212(a)(6)(C)(i)……its called fraud or misrepresenting a material fact……the law was voted in for people claiming to be U.S. citizens or showing fake documents…but that is not how its being used..so don’t tell them your going to Walmart and they find out 3 hours later that your going to Kmart too…even if there in the same mall…..stick to your guns and don’t change your story….keep your answers short …its a jungle out there..
just thought i should keep you up to date, about my friend (canadian citizen woman) My local newspaper ran the story today….its in…sacbee.com.. The Sacramento Bee my local congress woman has taken an intrest in this matter Doris Matsui of Sacramento California….she has made a congressional inquirie requesting an immediate reveiw of this case. they have untill next friday to answer it…..everyone who has read the statements can see how stupid and anel the cbp officers can be….if something like this has happend to you, or you know someone that is going through this….your best bet is to contact the office of trade relations!….thats the first place to start…the number is 202-344-1440 washington D.C. If you dont get satisfaction there…then its time for the news paper and your local congress….ill be sure to let you know how all this turns out……….by the way..is your six months up yet?…hope your back in the big apple doing what you do best…..have a great day ..and thanks for your time