What kind of deluded crap is this?
Feds may suspend border passport rule
By MATTHEW LEE and DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writers
5 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration may suspend a major post-9/11 security initiative to cope with increasingly angry complaints from Americans whose summer vacations are threatened by new passport rules.
A proposal under consideration would temporarily waive a requirement that U.S. passports be used for air travel to and from Canada and Mexico, provided the traveler can prove he or she has applied for a passport, officials said Thursday.
The proposed six-month suspension in the rules is aimed at clearing a massive backlog of passport applications at the State Department that has slowed processing to a crawl, they said.
But the plan has run into opposition from the Homeland Security Department, which controls U.S. border points and fears the move could make it easier for terrorists or other undesirables to enter the country, the officials said.
What a bunch of wussies Americans have become!! Calling your representative to complain you have to get a passport to leave the country? Good for Homeland Security, I hope they fight this crap. Why doesn't the State Department put some cash back into the system and hire enough paper pushers to catch up with the backlog? Seems simple enough to me.
This administration has done so little to secure our country after the attack, it just boggles the mind that they would consider suspending one of the few things they have.
posted by Paddy @ 6:03 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
We Americans seem to be extremely spoiled. I think a majority would push for being able to travel anywhere around the world without a passport as long as they could prove American citizenship.
Though I'm one who thinks we should create a North American Union, based on the success of the EU, and that would of course end any requirement for needing a passport to cross into Canada or Mexico. Not gonna happen though, because the nutso nativists of this country will see brown, not to mention french, and crap themselves.
My husband goes to Canada every summer for some fishing and hiking...you know, where you are out in the middle of know where, living off what you catch in the lake? Anyway, he went through all the trouble to update his passport to the new one and made sure he got in done in time, then he found out that it wasn't necessary after all.
Pssst...I saw Paddy over at Atrios' place cheatin' on Cliff.
I respectfully disagree. As long as you have picture identification,when requested,
border crossing between the US, Canada and Mexico should be allowed without a passport.
Bush and his people don't want to piss off the base, who, it would appear, vacation in Canada?
Weird.
So I guess its access to the brothels in Mexico that are causing the complaints.
Okay. Now I get it.
**
...I think a majority would push for being able to travel anywhere around the world without a passport as long as they could prove American citizenship...
Unless, of course, you're a 9/11 rescue worker going to Cuba for medical treatment you can't afford in your own country.
Frankly, I think it should be required that everyone has a passport by the time they're 18, and must spend at least one year of their life in another country. It might make Americans just that bit more aware that the world isn't just like America... except that everyone else talks and dresses funny.
I'm not too concerned with tourists, though we get our share here in the Texas Big Bend who don't seem to realize that we're just across the river from a "foreign country" called Mexico. However, some of those tourists do cross the river, and passports for a day trip are going to be a huge hit to a family vacation budget, and means money will not be spent here.
Much more troubling for me is that we are some of the poorest counties in the United States down here. Many of us regularly cross the border for a day or so for normal things like doctor's visits (Mexican medical care being much, much more affordable and available), auto repairs or even to visit relatives. Given that family incomes are very low here, the costs of a passport for one's family -- a hundred bucks a person may not be a lot to a well-heeled tourist, but to a rural family, with relatives on the other side, it's a budget killer.
The absurd requirements that Mexican visitors show their micas (requiring an overnight trip to a U.S. consulate, an investigation and a huge expense) has already killed a lot of our shopping... look at downtown Presidio Texas...even the dime store closed.
To the best of my knowledge, the State Department (like every other frigging section in this administration) has outsourced the procedure. Gord-forbid that a private-contracted agency should have to hire more people - that cuts into the profits!
Have we forgotten the approval of student-visa renewals for the 9/11 terrorists that were mailed in June'02?
Us Canadians have had to get passports for travel to the USA, which is a pain for those living on the border and who USED TO shop in the US. Have not heard this much whining yet here though.
Post a Comment
<< Home