This is a section from an article I read in the Associated Press today.
BOSTON - On April 25, Gregory Despres arrived at the U.S.-Canadian border crossing at Calais, Maine, carrying a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, brass knuckles and a chain saw stained with what appeared to be blood. U.S. customs agents confiscated the weapons and fingerprinted Despres. Then they let him into the United States.
The following day, a gruesome scene was discovered in Despres' hometown of Minto, New Brunswick: The decapitated body of a 74-year-old country musician named Frederick Fulton was found on Fulton's kitchen floor. His head was in a pillowcase under a kitchen table. His common-law wife was discovered stabbed to death in a bedroom.
So you can enter the United States with a a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, brass knuckles and a chain saw stained with blood, but you can't take a nail file with you on an aircraft.
My wife and I flew to London out of DFW last summer. We had to remove our shoes (a measure other nations find laughable) and explain everything in our carry-on bags. I wonder who these measures are for? I especially wondered about those measures that day. I had watched a feature on the local news the evening before that showed how checked baggage was not x-rayed for explosives in the terminal we were flying out of. So I wonder why the show of security at the gate?
Anyhow, back to the story.
A spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said that "Despres could not be detained because he is a naturalized U.S. citizen and was not wanted on any criminal charges on the day in question." he added that "Being bizarre is not a reason to keep somebody out of this country or lock them up. ... We are governed by laws and regulations, and he did not violate any regulations."
The problem is that we are governed by laws and regulations and that wisdom has no place at the table. Entering a country with a a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, brass knuckles and a chain saw stained with blood is not bizzare, it is a huge red flag! It yells deatain me! It begs for further investigation. When did common sense take a permanent vacation?
Anyhow, rest peacefully in the knowledge that we are governed by laws and regulations.
3 comments:
Everybody sing along now - "Blame Canada! Blame Canada!"
Well, I thought I would finally comment... You knew you would hear from me eventually!
Wisdom is not necessarily on the menu when it comes to government regulation. Everything that they do is reactive; i.e. the 'shoe' bomber now requires that we take our shoes off. Also, same thing with files (nail); since the hijackers used something sharp (theoretically), we all are out of luck with our nail clippers!
Good thing that someone has not put something in a body cavity!!! :-o
Imagine that security line... GULP!
What is really scary is that if someone wanted to, they could use ANYTHING as a weapon...
The reality is that the consistency with which we guard our borders/travel is so INCONSISTENT that we are, in many ways, bailing water out of the ocean...
I know. My drivers license can be a deadly weapon, yet my wife can't take a nail file on board.
"Would you like wine with your dinner sir?" How about those glass wine bottles they hand out on longhaul flights?
I agree that we are bailing water out of the ocean but you forgot to mention that we are using a teaspoon.
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