If this is how America treats its friends...

[almostwitty]

So the UK stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the US against pretty much everyone else in launching a doomed war against Iraq, which sends Tony Blair out of office, potentially Gordon Brown with him and ushering in the Tories at the next general election ... and what does the UK get in return?

All European visitors to be forced to register with the Department of Homeland Security 72 hours before entering the United States on a visa-waiver system.

Erm... surely, the whole POINT of a visa-waiver system is so that you don't have to do bureaucratic things like registration, retinal scans, fingerprint IDs and all that?

It's the equivalent of asking your neighbour to help you burgular-proof your place, then thanking him and demanding that your neighbour registers with you three days before the next time he wants to visit.

I'd like to think Obama would change this when he gets into office. But he won't.

Ever wonder why we get the feeling that Bush/NASA's plans for a Mars colony aren't about exploration, but about setting up Planet America? ;)

Comments

[lmurph524.livejournal.com]

I personally don't think Obama is the best candidate. Actually, the UK military should hope that McCain gets elected. Obama would try to pull out the troops in mass and that just won't work. McCain at least recognizes that a massive pull out wouldn't be in the best interest of the Iraqis or for the US. Besides, Congress has to approve everything. All the campaigning is just retoric anyway. Without Congress's support, the President really can't do too much.
As for the Dept. of Homeland Security, I'd rather they erred on the side of caution instead of seeing another attack like the one on 9/11. If the situation were reversed, wouldn't you?

[choirgrrl.livejournal.com]

Well, this is only logical, as you know so many English are terrorists. *rolls eyes so far back she passes out*

lol.

[nikki-z.livejournal.com]

haha, britain, HAR HAR.
even if you lick it, a dirty ass stays always DIRTY.

[lmurph524.livejournal.com]

My point was that I would prefer my legislators err on the side of caution than be lazy.
Someone mentioned Timothy McVeigh, add the Unibomber to that and many other American terrorists. You can't tell me similar things have NOT happened in Britian or any other democratic country.
Does the visa waver crap suck? Yeah. Is it going to stop terrorists? Probably not. But does it make the average American feel a bit safer knowin that their government is doing what it can to protect its citizens? Yeah, it does. That's the whole purpose of it. Our leaders don't do things with individuals in mind. They do them with everyone (and thier own pocetbook) in mind. People in mass are stupid, scared creatures. Individuals are smart and see through the bullshit.

where would we be without fear mongering?

[shoshannad.livejournal.com]

The whole thing makes me ill. I just spent a weekend with people from around the country at a DeLorean car show and someone found my "Barak to the Future" (done in the proper logo, of course) entirely unamusing because they would never EVER support Obama. I don't even feel that much venom towards McCain and I wouldn't vote for him. (although they were amused when I told them about the shirt with Clinton and Obama on it that said "bros before hos". ) They are from middle america... but I've even talked to people here in New Jersey and they are convinced that Barak Obama is a Muslim and that it is a bad thing. People that I thought were smarter than that. Another person said that we couldn't elect him because he wouldn't support Israel.... until I pointed out that no one in the oval office would be silly enough to think that we could survive for a single second without Israeli intelligence... and then he agreed.

Its all about keeping people afraid - and if Obama stopped the visa thing SO many people would say he was soft on security - they want things in place no matter how much time/money it wastes - because they don't think it through. We are a society of instant gratification because we want to move from one thing to the next so we don't have to see how our world is crumbling. Its about what is fast and what is easy, not about what is right (see American's skyrocketing debt).

Its a sad state of affairs, and I haven't a clue how to change it.