[wordup] Entry to America

[Adam Shand]

Actions like these don't seem that unreasonable if the USA is actually in
a state of full alert.  If you're trying to protect a country as large as
the USA against something as nebulous as terrorism, you have to filter
based on anything that is "un-normal".  The fact that she had a
"harmless", but unusual, history is her bad luck, and not necessarily
indicative of a broken system.

The question is why is the USA still in a state of full alert.  If there
really are threats at every corner and it's simply due to the diligence of
those in charge that they never manifest to the point that us citizens can
see it, then so be it.  If it's a technique to keep us scared and thus
easily controlled and bullied then that is obviously not in our best
interest as citizens.

Security is always a two edged sword, as security goes up privacy,
independence and convenience go down.  That's just the way it is, no ifs
ands or buts.

Do we as Americans want to miss out on what the world has to offer because
we're scared?  To me that seems a vast loss against which the potential
risks have to be carefully measured by all of us.

Adam.

From: http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/328/7433/235-a?etoc

BMJ 2004;328:235 (24 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.328.7433.235-a

Land of the free

At the age of 19, I got a job lifeguarding at a kids' summer camp in
America. I let slip to a colleague that I didn't have a work permit. Next
day, I got a ride in a yellow car with the siren screaming just like in
Starsky and Hutch, while handcuffed to a hunky cop. I got six hours of
questioning and my mugshot and fingerprints taken by the FBI. And I got
deported.

Six months ago, I was invited to give the opening keynote lecture at an
international conference in New York. My visa application included an
Undesirable Alien Form. I ticked the boxes to indicate that I did not plan
any subversive or terrorist activities, and that I had never knowingly
engaged in genocide.

I was summoned to the US embassy and took along six character references
from seriously important people. After a body search, I waited three hours
before explaining to a charming lady what evidence based medicine was. She
told me that the conference sounded wonderful, and tapped my number into a
computer. An automated message flashed. Her tone became frosty and she
informed me that my file would be transferred upstairs.

I was shown into a room behind an air-locked door, guarded by a man with a
submachine gun. I waited four more hours without food or water. I made
friends with three other Undesirables. One had had a parking ticket; one
had been arrested on a peace march; and one (a fellow academic) had been
caught eating grapes in a supermarket queue in the early 1970s.

I was eventually called to a desk, charged a three-figure sum, and had
another mugshot and more fingerprints taken. I was told to go home while
my case was considered, and not to build up my hopes.

Several weeks later they wrote asking me to send in my passport as my visa
had been granted, and to expect up to three weeks' wait.

The Post Office tells me that my passport was signed for at the embassy on
21 November 2003 at 11 27 am. The embassy's call centre tells me to submit
an email inquiry, and the email inquiry service does not reply to my
messages. I have reported my passport stolen and applied for a new one
from the British authorities.

And if any Americans want to hear me lecture, they can come to me.

Trisha Greenhalgh, professor of primary health care
University College London