The National ID wedge...

[Troubleshooter]

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/natio...rts050405.html

McLellan's comments come as the U.S. State Department announced that by 2007, most Canadians will need a passport to enter the United States.

And by 2008, most Americans who visit Canada won't be able to re-enter their country without a passport.

Emphasis mine.

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by Troubleshooter

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/natio...rts050405.html

McLellan's comments come as the U.S. State Department announced that by 2007, most Canadians will need a passport to enter the United States.

And by 2008, most Americans who visit Canada won't be able to re-enter their country without a passport.

Emphasis mine.

If they keep this up, you'll need a passport to cross state lines.

[tw]

Originally Posted by richlevy

If they keep this up, you'll need a passport to cross state lines.

"Patriot Act III - We need more Security." Sounds like they've confused reality with "Naked Gun" movies.

[Beestie]

Originally Posted by Troubleshooter

And by 2008, most Americans ... won't be able to re-enter [the US] without a passport.

Well, we could just waltz across the Rio Grand just like everybody else who can't get in here.

[lumberjim]

[nazi accent] papers, please! vee need to zee your papers! papers, please! Your papers are not in order! vee must kill you and eat you now. get in zee oven! [/nazi]

[cowhead]

you all remember a few years back when 'they' were pushing for the whole national identity card(s)? well... looks like 'they' found a way to sidestep the protests over that huh?

where's my tinfoil hat?

here's the other thing about that.. atleast in Kansas it's a 65$ fee to apply for a passport.. nifty little way to boulster the states lagging economy other than slapping another fifty-fucking-cents per pack of cigarettes.. and here's the thing about that! the damn state legislature SWEARS!! the want us to quit smoking! but if every smoker in Kansas QUIT!! the schools would be even broker than they are now, the roads would be even shittier the school lunch program would be out the window! GRRR!!!! hmmm.. maybe I need a cigarette...or a beer...ahhh.. sintax! (as long as they don't start directly taxing internet porn I suppose I'll survive)

[BigV]

Bush says no.

President Bush said Thursday that he had been surprised to learn in the newspaper of his administration's decision last week to require Americans to have passports to enter the country from Mexico or Canada by 2008. He said he had asked the State and Homeland Security Departments to look into other means of tightening border security.

[Undertoad]

I thought he didn't read newspapers?

[wolf]

The PDB is like a newspaper with limited circulation, isn't it?

Or maybe he sneaks it. Late at night. When no one's looking.

[Troubleshooter]

"When I first read that in the newspaper about the need to have passports, particularly the day crossings that take place, about a million, for instance, in the state of Texas, I said, 'What's going on here?'"

You can always count of Bush's confusion to lead the way.

[tw]

Originally Posted by cowhead

nifty little way to boulster the states lagging economy other than slapping another fifty-fucking-cents per pack of cigarettes.. and here's the thing about that! the damn state legislature SWEARS!! the want us to quit smoking! but if every smoker in Kansas QUIT!! the schools would be even broker than they are now, the roads would be even shittier the school lunch program would be out the window! GRRR!!!!

One other fact so often lost in the hype and propaganda. In most states over the many decades, the actual tax on cigarettes was actually down. With inflation, the cigarette tax actually was slightly lower.

But the industry knows how to make you tow the party line. With each tax increase came a large price increase for cigarettes. Whereas most industries obtain an 8% profit margin on sales, the cigarette industry has one of the highest profit margins estimated at about 40%. They increase the price and you get to believe it was all in tax increases.

You tell me. How big was the actual tax increase on cigarettes over the past 30 years. Do you know the number - or just how much more cigarettes cost?

Most cigarette price increases are really found in industry profit margins that are said to be phenomenal and are some of the highest for any industry. They increase your costs - and then get you to blame government. Amazing what a good propaganda campaign can do to a drug addicted society.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Troubleshooter

"When I first read that in the newspaper about the need to have passports, particularly the day crossings that take place, about a million, for instance, in the state of Texas, I said, 'What's going on here?'"

You can always count of Bush's confusion to lead the way.

Do you think the Office of Fatherland Security has done anything to make you safer? It added more layers of bureaucracy to numerous organizations that only had one problem - defective top management.

Look, the FBI was faking laboratory work. Its top management did not come from doing law enforcement. It had shortages of translators for most every language (including Spanish which is why a Seattle lawyer sat in jail for about 8 months because his sons Spanish homework was terrorist communications), the nation's #1 anti-terrorist agent was driven out of the FBI for reasons political, a translator (whistleblower) discovered a fellow worker was translating the surveillance on ... his boyfriend ... and changing the translations (and then the whistleblower was reprimanded), FBI agents in four cities were stopping from uncovering the 11 Sept attacks by their own top management, and the agency even had spies for years in positions of counter-spying operations resulting in the murder of American spies in the USSR.

All these problems (and so many more with less publicity) are solved by adding another layer of bureaucracy - Office of Fatherland Security? Not likely. More bureaucracy is how MBAs solve problems. Curious that is what the president's education. And so we have more of "Show me your papers" attitude. Do they address security issues created by bad management? MBA types never do that. Instead they create more bureaucracy and more paper work. And because they are the chosen people (after all they have advanced degrees and spin doctors), then we blindly believe the nonsense - that more bureaucracy and more papers will stop terrorists in their tracks.

We already know Clinton stopped far more terrorist attacks than George Jr - without Fatherland Security and more papers - and passports with bio-computer chips inside. Why? Good administrators empowered that fat black border guard on the Washington / BC border to do her job. Less management and more informed (and empowered) workers provide more security than bureaucracy and paperwork.

[Troubleshooter]

What I do know is that the Patriot Act has made the politicians feel safer...

...in their job security.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Troubleshooter

What I do know is that the Patriot Act has made the politicians feel safer...

...in their job security.

Absolutely. Now they can know when we read Hitler's Mein Kompf. Good luck in court if you accidently take Mao's Little Red Book from the library.

[wolf]

I don't think they care about that one anymore.

I got a reading list at the WMD conference I went to that I belive is guaranteed to put me on a watchlist if I buy all the books on it).

Luckily I already have my copy of The Turner Diaries, so I just have to get The Hot Zone and a few others ...