On Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 06:44:48PM -0500, Roy wrote:
> I am sure that our guards are getting testy too. I think that it must be a
> hiring criterion. They were not even armed until recently.
>
> Pittsburgh just before the G20 and then we were searched on the way into
> Arlington cemetery. We got the full treatment, mirrors under the car, hood
> up, poking through our things. We saw lots of security. We had been in
> previous years without even being checked.
>
> New York is one of my favourite destinations. My daughter (20) fell in love
> with it and wants to live there. She loves fashion and food, both of which
> you have plenty of. I just love the culture. We went to all of the boroughs
> except the Bronx and Brooklyn. Next time.
The Bronx has the zoo and Brooklyn has the Botanical gardens. I lived
in Brooklyn, and it was interesting-
time, think it's gotten better) area, but I could ride my bicycle up 20
blocks and it was a completely different world.
Pity it isn't 3 years earlier, I
worked as an admin for a fashion company--if that is where her interest
lies, there's a remote chance I could still get her some introductions.
>
> I would miss my trips to the States. We have friends and family there.
> Crossing the border is our biggest problem. Not because we are doing
> anything wrong. It just takes so much time and effort. I pity the folks who
> do it daily because they work or go to school on the other side of the
> border.
I have a good friend (from the fashion company). Her passport still has
her maiden name, and she and her family are Guyanese of Indian descent,
which can look remotely Arabic. Additionally, her husband is Muslim
(also a Guyanese of Indian descent) with a name that is somewhat of an
anglicized spelling of an Arabic name. So, they went to visit her
relatives in Toronto, the husband coming home a day early. Then, she and
the son (with different names on the passports or whatever they used),
followed a day later.
She said they were moderately harrassed--not horribly, but enough. But,
only coming back, not going there.
>
> The effect of all of this is people stay home more. Passports cost money and
> this adds to the cost of a family vacation. We used to cross just to shop.
> That was good for us and for businesses in Niagara Falls. Many of the plates
> in the parking lot were Ontario. Now you hardly see one. That's gotta hurt.
>
There is certainly profiling. (See above).
My wife, who is Japanese, went to Germany recently. Interestingly
enough, she had no trouble--I guess Japanese travelling to Germany
aren't considered likely terrorists.
> Yeah, I read that a Pakistani IOC member was held for thirty minutes. He
> described it as a humiliation and ordeal. I am sure that it did not impress
> them. That's got to suck even more, to lose to a violent overcrowded city
> with poverty and now power failures. ;) Perhaps they will regret that
> decision.
Oh, I thought you were describing Chicago for a minute. :)
(Or NYC).
Frankly, as a New Yorker, I hope we never get an Olympics.
From what I understand, they take out a lot more money than they bring in.
--
Scott Robbins
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