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Flying To the US? Pay In Cash
pin_gween writes to point us to a report in the Telegraph that British travelers using a credit card to purchase their ticket may now have their credit card and email accounts inspected by US authorities. This has been true since October, when the US and the EU agreed about what information the US could demand from airlines and how this information would be handled. But details of the agreement only recently came to light following a Freedom of Information request. The US says it will "encourage" US carriers to reciprocate to any requests by European governments. From the article: "[T]he Americans are entitled to 34 separate pieces of Passenger Name Record (PNR) data... Initially, such material could be inspected for seven days but a reduced number of US officials could view it for three and a half years. Should any record be inspected during this period, the file could remain open for eight years...'It is pretty horrendous, particularly when you couple it with our one-sided extradition arrangements with the US,' said [a human rights activist]. 'It is making the act of buying a ticket a gateway to a host of personal email and financial information. While there are safeguards, it appears you would have to go to a US court to assert your rights.'"
Yes stay in your own country. With a camera on every corner and a gunless cop in every box. If you choose not to follow the rules stay home!
I wouldn't go back to the states if you paid me. Not after I got arrested when I lived there a few years ago for disturbing the peace with my "Honk if you hate Bush" sticker.
It didn't help that I asked the officer "We're not at peace. How could I be disturbing it?".
In Soviet America, thinking is not a crime, and you're absolutely free to do what they tell you.
I've declined three employer-funded trips to business meetings and conferences in the USA in the past couple of years. The thought of having some jackbooted stormtroo^H^H^Homeland Security officer with a German shepherd on a leash screaming at me to produce my "PAPERS! PAPERS!" just turns me off. The USA is a place I just don't want to visit any more.
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PGP Key ID 0xCB8FF658
USA's #1 cultural contribution to the world: financially-fueled hatred. Seriously, people get killed over their beliefs, their appearance, their race, their family, their actions.. all over the world. Americans kill for profit. You don't need to pull the trigger to kill a man, robbing him of all values and morals is worse than death to some.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
(jazz, blues, country/western, bluegrass, soul, rap, hip-hop).
These are indeed among the best musical genres. Bug if you want to talk about history, then you should note that these genres were created by Africans (not Americans) which Americans slaved and dragged to America. Feel free to mod me flamebait, the meta-mods will take care of you anyway.