Most of the stupid entry requirements for Americans entering other countries are due to politicians responding to pressure from their constituents complaining about being treated like criminals when they enter the USA.
Yeah, even Indonesia is initiating biometric passports. It's really odd to contrast entering Indonesia vs entering the US. When entering Indonesia, they check your passport, check your luggage, and make sure all your entry papers are in order. But, the people you deal with are generally professional and you are talking to a real human being. Also, the overall setup is not designed to intimidate and corral everyone, like it is in the US. Upon entering the US, it's like entering some kind of fascist nightmare. The people you deal with may as well be robots. You have to give fingerprint and other biometric stuff. And God help you if you look "funny" to them. And there is even the general stupidity of having to put baby blankets through the x-ray scanner. I actually unfolded the baby blanket and showed it to the TSA guy, but this stupid robot still mindlessly drones that I have to put it through the x-ray.
OTOH, early settlers had the whole continent to escape to, if they had the balls and some luck.
Unfortunately, the Puritans who woke up one morning, realized "I'm living with a bunch of fucking lunatics!", and then decided to leave and live with the Natives wound up being hunted down and killed by the other Puritans. But you are right. Those that had gumption and some luck, especially as late as the 18th and 19th centuries, could escape and live with one of the Native American tribes.
What utter rubbish. There isn't much that causes more physical harm and dependence than heroin.
Try to read up on the effects of alcohol dependence and alcohol withdrawal. You can start here. Alcohol is actually one of the few drugs whose withdrawal symptoms can kill you. (Which is also why, if you want to break an addiction to alcohol, you need to see a doctor so that you can be carefully monitored and treated.) Alcohol is a legal drug, but it can still be incredibly dangerous to your health, even more so than some of the illegal drugs.
Usually Microsoft's anti-piracy initiatives are aimed at businesses without any licenses at all. I would be surprised if they changed their target to 12 year old kids or companies missing 2 licenses out of 5000.
Now, if only the MAFIAA would go after big bootleg CD/DVD operations around the world rather than going after casual downloaders. Then, maybe most people wouldn't want to, you know, kill them after hours of prolonged torture.
Sadly, all the ships run Vista and will subsequently BSOD at the worst of times, or the best of times if you love watching M$ phail.
Ensign: Captain! Pirates off the starboard bow!
Captain: No problem. Their weapons are no match for ours. Target their deck with the forward guns and fire.
Ensign: Captain! Targeting control just BSOD'd!
Captain: SNAFU!
Pirates: PWND!
Yes, I could just see an episode where they put a phone routing system up on a block and tackle. You would need a geeky Hannibal to go "I love it when a system comes together!"
Even 1% false positives or negatives in a huge application will lead to lots of problems.
So, they screw up once in a while and get Buttle rather than Tuttle. Do you think the UK (or US, since it will soon be in the States too, I'm sure) even cares about ruining the occasional person's life? Besides, they'll get a receipt for it.
I'd love for someone to point out to me all the terrorist attacks that have been thwarted by the TSA at airports in the United States since 9/11. Because you know if it happened, it would be all over the news. They'd be shouting, "Look what we did!"
Very true. Look at what happenned when Richard Reid was stopped. Imagine how they would have trumpetted their effectiveness if they had caught him before he got on the plane.
I know people desperately want to see this as a subtle plot by hidden puppetmasters, but really, as with all conspiracy theories, Hanlon's Razor needs to be considered:
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."
Oh yeah? That's just what THEY want you to believe!
I can, I think, top this. In July, on a flight from Hong Kong to Toronto, the plane made a refueling stop. Nobody, repeat nobody, had bought a ticket to Anchorage, this was a refueling stop and there were no tickets for sale Hong Kong - Anchorage. Nonetheless, everybody was ordered off the plane and had to show passports to American immigration officials. The people in front of me also had to press their thumb against an electronic fingerprint scanner. When it was my turn, I asked what would happen if I refused to surrender my fingerprint, or that of my two children. He said not to worry, they didn't do that for American and Canadian citizens. Only everyone else.
I've heard of this sort of thing, but I always wonder how this could be even remotely legal. The international section of an airport is supposed to be considered international territory. This would be as bad as, say, NYPD wandering into the Indonesian Embassy and arresting someone. Why isn't this sort of thing an international incident?
Yes, like spending less on food maybe? There are lot of people who can barely afford to feed themselves or their children, maybe you have any ideas on how they should handle their economy to afford good health care?
The problem is that people like GP think those who are too poor for health care should just die and decrease the surplus population. "Oh, you had an accident at work? Fuck you! Die!" "Oh, you got sick again from some inherited disease or from some disease that has been spreading around? Fuck you! Die!" You can't argue with people like that.
Canada. If a Canadian wants service from someone other than the Ottawa Parliament, then they have to come south to the U.S.
You're an idiot. Canada uses the Stockholm model of Nationalized health care. It is not socialized medicine. The UK (AFAIK) has socialized medicine, but Canada uses a public-private mix. Try reading a little, preferably something other than factually-challenged Rush Limbaugh quotes. Believe it or not, there are many different ways to nationalize health care, one of which may even work for the conditions the U.S. faces. You see, it helps to consider the present conditions and rationally debate how to handle health care in the U.S. However, you babbling right wing nuts simply screech "Socialism!" "Communism!" "It will never work!" whenever someone suggests any kind of national health care plan.
Actually it made me more think of Windows Seven, but that's just me. A few parts bloat, some OS X envy and some lust for world dominance and you're pretty much there.
Well, out of this list alone, there is Taiwan, which is a fairly nice place to live. There are also plenty of Westerners who live in Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia, although in Indonesia you would need to rent since they don't allow foreigners to own real property there. The only hitch is that you would have to learn a foreign language (which I know is abhorrent to most Americans). Actually, if you are American, British or Australian, you would probably have to learn two. One for where you are going, and one for where you pretend you are from (I guess you could claim to be Canadian, but it would be better to be on the safe side).
Also, apart from that list, and as others have pointed out, there are countries with extradition treaties that still wouldn't extradite you due to the terms of their extradition treaties.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, you can't be too hard on Pantomime Tony Blair. After all, Iceland did give us Björk...
Very true. For those of you who thought things couldn't get worse than Bush, I give you - [cue ominous music] Sarah Palin.
Yeah, even Indonesia is initiating biometric passports. It's really odd to contrast entering Indonesia vs entering the US. When entering Indonesia, they check your passport, check your luggage, and make sure all your entry papers are in order. But, the people you deal with are generally professional and you are talking to a real human being. Also, the overall setup is not designed to intimidate and corral everyone, like it is in the US. Upon entering the US, it's like entering some kind of fascist nightmare. The people you deal with may as well be robots. You have to give fingerprint and other biometric stuff. And God help you if you look "funny" to them. And there is even the general stupidity of having to put baby blankets through the x-ray scanner. I actually unfolded the baby blanket and showed it to the TSA guy, but this stupid robot still mindlessly drones that I have to put it through the x-ray.
Stupid frigging people. [/rant]
Unfortunately, the Puritans who woke up one morning, realized "I'm living with a bunch of fucking lunatics!", and then decided to leave and live with the Natives wound up being hunted down and killed by the other Puritans. But you are right. Those that had gumption and some luck, especially as late as the 18th and 19th centuries, could escape and live with one of the Native American tribes.
And apparently she doesn't like you.
Try to read up on the effects of alcohol dependence and alcohol withdrawal. You can start here. Alcohol is actually one of the few drugs whose withdrawal symptoms can kill you. (Which is also why, if you want to break an addiction to alcohol, you need to see a doctor so that you can be carefully monitored and treated.) Alcohol is a legal drug, but it can still be incredibly dangerous to your health, even more so than some of the illegal drugs.
Now, if only the MAFIAA would go after big bootleg CD/DVD operations around the world rather than going after casual downloaders. Then, maybe most people wouldn't want to, you know, kill them after hours of prolonged torture.
Ensign: Captain! Pirates off the starboard bow!
Captain: No problem. Their weapons are no match for ours. Target their deck with the forward guns and fire.
Ensign: Captain! Targeting control just BSOD'd!
Captain: SNAFU!
Pirates: PWND!
The problem is that the ribbon is too thin, so you have to re-ink it more often. Plus, you can only use Microsoft Certified Clippy Ink (TM).
Yes, I could just see an episode where they put a phone routing system up on a block and tackle. You would need a geeky Hannibal to go "I love it when a system comes together!"
Also, make sure you go up to the camera and say "You're not recording this, are you?" in your best Richard Nixon voice.
So, they screw up once in a while and get Buttle rather than Tuttle. Do you think the UK (or US, since it will soon be in the States too, I'm sure) even cares about ruining the occasional person's life? Besides, they'll get a receipt for it.
That's probably because they assume too many spherical cows.
Very true. Look at what happenned when Richard Reid was stopped. Imagine how they would have trumpetted their effectiveness if they had caught him before he got on the plane.
Oh yeah? That's just what THEY want you to believe!
You must be knew here.
I've heard of this sort of thing, but I always wonder how this could be even remotely legal. The international section of an airport is supposed to be considered international territory. This would be as bad as, say, NYPD wandering into the Indonesian Embassy and arresting someone. Why isn't this sort of thing an international incident?
- BatuJan :-p
GO USA!
How about registering this paedophile abuser of children?
If only politicians had to suffer the consequences of the laws they create more often. Then, maybe we would start to get decent legislation.
The problem is that people like GP think those who are too poor for health care should just die and decrease the surplus population. "Oh, you had an accident at work? Fuck you! Die!" "Oh, you got sick again from some inherited disease or from some disease that has been spreading around? Fuck you! Die!" You can't argue with people like that.
You're an idiot. Canada uses the Stockholm model of Nationalized health care. It is not socialized medicine. The UK (AFAIK) has socialized medicine, but Canada uses a public-private mix. Try reading a little, preferably something other than factually-challenged Rush Limbaugh quotes. Believe it or not, there are many different ways to nationalize health care, one of which may even work for the conditions the U.S. faces. You see, it helps to consider the present conditions and rationally debate how to handle health care in the U.S. However, you babbling right wing nuts simply screech "Socialism!" "Communism!" "It will never work!" whenever someone suggests any kind of national health care plan.
Perhaps they could have William Shatner run the ad campaign.
Also, apart from that list, and as others have pointed out, there are countries with extradition treaties that still wouldn't extradite you due to the terms of their extradition treaties.
And for a modest fee, we can check your Pirate level with our P-Meter.