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Zeppelins on Patrol?
Our Man In Redmond writes "Everything old is new again: The Seattle Post-Inteligencer is reporting that NORAD is considering deploying zeppelins along the west coast and Canadian border to keep an eye out for terrorists. Larger than jumbo jets, easier to repair/upgrade than satellites, this may be an idea whose time has come. Again."
Haven't you followed the news? The Canadians are seriously considering legalizing marijuana, officially making them a terrorist nation! (I shit you not, check out canada.com if you don't believe me).
...and this lie crawls out of its mouth: 'I, the state, am the people.'
It's not going to make a whit of difference after he's nuked his own country to death, now will it? I'm assuming he wants to pre-emptively prevent terrorism by removing the target(s)
*how* many suitcase bombs are missing from the russian arsenal?
Sometimes I think we miss the old Soviet Union so much we'eve deceided to morph into it. A paranoid government that uses its vast state security infrastructure to monitor its citizens whilst the media toe the party line and filter out any news stories that could offend the leaders.
I could say more but thay are probably monitoring my key strokes...hold on there is a knock at the door...
Pray tell: What, exactly, is a "Canadian" accent? Is this one of those foolish "paint 30 million people covering 10,000,000 square kilometers with one brush" type stereotypes? There are dozens of accents within Canada, all very different. My `accent' tradition is turned as "neutral" (such as in a recent trip through the Virginas), and hard to place, versus say a New York, or Boston, or Minnesotan, or Wisconsan, or Texan accent.
And why would Canadians be running the balloons? From what I've read, they are a prospective part of NORAD protecting the coastal regions of both countries, not the borders in between (mind you, Mr. Bush has been hard at work giving the illusion of safety to a public that is so unbelievably uninformed that they buy it. You know, pretending that the REAL problem is the Canadian border, despite the fact that not a single one of the 9/11 terrorists came from Canada. I continually hear about the big problem with Canadian marijuana entering the US (all a part of the "War on Drugs" propaganda that is keeping a lot of contractors rolling in dough), and this would almost be humorous if it weren't the absolutely miniscule amount of drugs going South (far less than the drugs and guns coming to Canada from the US. The US is a far greater exporter of crime than it's an importer, which makes the posturing and lip service all the more ridiculous), but compared to the monstrous amount of drugs coming into the US via the gulf region, BC pot is absolutely trivially tiny.
I think the real problem is Canadians entering the U.S. from Canada. :)
I'm kidding.
If you are in B.C. then your accent is surely as neutral as the U.S. Pacific Northwest.
Speaking of customs and such, I've noticed that when I come back into the U.S. they ask me just a few questions:
1. "Are you all U.S. citizens?"
If yes, go to question 3.
2a. "No? Okay, what citizenships do you hold?"
2b. "Are any of you dual-citezenship, and if so, where?"
3. "Are you transporting controlled substances, alcohol, tobacco, firearms, or any items in quantity subject to duty?"
"Thanks, have a nice day."
But, going into Canada:
"Can I see some identification?"
"Where are you going?"
"What are you planning to do?"
"How long do you plan on being in Canada?"
"Which border point do you plan for you return?"
"Do you have any firearms?"
"Could you pull over here. We are going to do a 'random' search on your vehicle."
So tell me, is the reverse true for Canadians? Do our customs grill you over for your entire vacation plans and searching your vehicle far more often than should statistically be done? Or, is it just your customs being jerks?
"Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.
It definitely depends on the point of crossing: When I leave Toronto (there's actual US customs in the Toronto airport), or fly to the international gate in Pittsburgh, the grilling is fairly substantial (including ID checks, and a verification that I'm not a wanted person or something by typing in my drivers license or passport numbers into their system), and you have to be very careful about what you say (the grilling has more to do with protectionism than about drugs or terrorism: Most questions are based around what sort of work you are doing, determining that you are not providing a paid service in the US, but instead are being trained or something of that sort) lest you get denied entry. I've never actually gotten searched being the normal pat down at any point.
:-)) is a bit ridiculous in ways because they hire students to assist the customs, so when you're coming in the international gate you get accosted by a phalanx of about 14 students, all acting thoroughly unprofessional, asking you questions about your trip, etc. I'm not criticizing teens, but I don't think that something as serious and liberty-invading as customs should be staffed by non-professionals.
Crossing the border by car, though, is often the basic "Where are you going and for how long?" type deal that goes by fairly quickly, or alternately just a wave through. This is not just at the Canadian border, but I've read that even the Mexican border is pretty much the same.
I understand why the Canadian border guards ask the extended questions: It's likely to find a hole in your story, if it is a story versus a reality. i.e. Asking your return port is brilliant if someone didn't actually think through their plan, and of course even if they did someone would likely get nervous about their story and cracks in their facade will appear, likely leading to a thorough cavity search. Of course this has a unwanted side effect of persecuting the naturally nervous as well (returning from Florida recently I was sure that I would be in for a thorough search: I had driven straight through and was so unbelievably tired that I'd swear I sounded like I was lying being 100% honest, but thankfully he wasn't feeling like pursuing it).
One side thing: Toronto airport (I'm from Toronto, so I can criticize it