A tale of two journeys
Posted December 30, 2007 on 2:41 am | In the category Uncategorized, Canada, Environment, Europe | by Mackenzie Brothers If you live in Iceland and wish to travel to Estonia or Bulgaria, or Malta, you can now take a short plane ride and rent a car or take a train and in a couple of days you will arrive at your desired destination without having crossed a single controlled border. But if you get in your car in Vancouver and drive 45 minutes south to Point Roberts, Washington, you will reach a border control very reminiscent of the old European borders between the Soviet-bloc nations and western Europe, but with enough sophisticated and expensive electronic detection equipment to convince even the most sophisticated terrorist to try another route.
if you are lucky and hit this border at a time when there is not a hour-long lineup (or more) and then manage to pass muster at the guard station, by displaying a valid passport and a believable story about why you want to go to Point Roberts (usually to go to the post office as the US postal system is much cheaper and more reliable than the Canadian one), and then drive another 15 minutes in any direction, you will hit salt water since Point Roberts is US territory accessible by land only through Canada. Kids who live there have to be bussed out to US schools in the main part of the US by passing across this border, making the misery of school bus journeys four times as trying as it is for any other US kids, since they now must cross heavily guarded borders 4 times a day.
OK this is the most absurd of all the East German-like US border crossings, but it is not at all funny at places like the Peace Arch Crossing between Seattle and Vancouver, the highway between Winnipeg and Minneapolis, the tunnel between Detroit and Windsor or the bridge at Niagara Falls. In these places, and in many lesser ones all along what used to be an unguarded border, normal travel regularly comes to a complete standstill as cars wait for hours in lineups that, among other things, make any talk about an interest in cutting down pollution from idling cars ridiculous. Does anyone out there know of a single terrorist who has been captured at a Canada/US border crossing?
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A quick couple of corrections:
a) there is no (direct) highway between Winnipeg and Minneapolis; you would have to take route 29 from Winnipeg to Fargo and then jog left onto route 94 from Fargo to make it to Minneapolis, and
b) as for a single terrorist captured at a Canada/US border crossing, I nominate Ahmed Ressam who was captured crossing from Vancouver Island to Port Angeles, Washington aboard the M/V Coho equipped with nitroglycerin and four timers.
As far as stricter border measures are concerned, the US is welcome to continue the Mexico-US fence up on their northern border. I guess that makes the Mexicans and Canadians the new Palestinians. I wonder if all this moat building will work out any better for them than it did for the Soviet bloc…
Comment by Belazeebub — December 30, 2007 #
my wife is canadian and we have a place above osoyoos, just over the border from oroville, wa. i am an american citizen and work for the us gov. have for 40+ years in law enforcement of one type or another. what is your problem? have you really been anywhere else in the world? so you have to wait for awhile….that is the small price you pay to enjoy your vast freedom, both americans and canadians. get a passport and don’t worry about it. read a book while in line, listen to some music, talk to your significant other, etc., but please stop this incessent whining! i cannot believe the spoiled brat comments on this and other blogs from people who have most likely never went in harms way, faced hardship, or had to do anything more stressful than consider which latte to buy. get a grip and wait with the rest of us and thank the guard for doing his job.
man, i just cannot believe you.
cole cordray
colecordray@msn.com
Comment by cole cordray — December 30, 2007 #
http://www.greatdreams.com/terrsm.htm
Comment by j hammer — December 30, 2007 #
I know for a fact that the Mackenzie brothers have travelled extensively all over Europe and parts of Asia. I also know that they have had a passport for many, many years. I am both Canadian and American (dual citizenship). I was born in The US and grew up in Canada. I currently reside in The USA. I do feel that the borders have changed since when i was younger. I have been pulled over (at the border) on a random check and had my car searched, something that would never have happened pre-2001. My question, is why should the borders be more heavily guarded now? Because of 9-11-01? Should the borders not have been guarded as well before 9-11-01? Were there no terrorists prior to that? Why were the borders not “beefed up” after the bombing of the USS Cole? That was a Terrorist attack, right? My point is that while most Americans think they are free, i doubt that they are free as they believe they are. Homeland security was a great excuse to intrude on peoples lives, in the name of the preservation of democracy. The Stasi would be proud.
Comment by preacherbbb — January 3, 2008 #
I kind of wondered whether anyone would come to the defense of my pals, the Mackenzies. As it turns out, they have traveled to more countries than most long-term enforcement officers and they simply wonder whether waiting for hours at a border of the U.S. is really necessary. I actually think it disgusting that the U.S. cannot do better with this stuff and frankly, “whining” about it is a public service. I have traveled to over 30 countries and the U.S. comes in last in terms of efficiency in managing its borders. As for keeping us safe (”blah blah blah” - Rudy Giuliani)I think it is not such a great idea to scare the crap out of us all to further the destruction of our civil liberties. But then, to quote the great Canadian Leonard Cohen, “And theres a mighty judgement coming, but I may be wrong”.
Comment by Jeff — January 3, 2008 #
In 1962 I crisscrossed Western Europe (East Berlin included) with 50% of the Mackenzie Brothers. He was a kindly lad, already afoam with traditional Mackenzie family values, and allowed me to repair our ratty $150 Mercedes night and day as he drank in the sights. But say what you will, the man knows his border crossings. Really.
Somewhere along the line he married, learned to read, and moved to Canada, where his driving and his politics still make people nervous.
Chris
Comment by Chris Wallach — January 5, 2008 #
The border crisis seems to have hit a raw nerve as comments have been flying in from around the globe including what might be Hades for Mr. Belazaeebub, and Planet X in the latest effort. I phoned my brother Doug in his remote retreat to query about the accuracy of the supposed Mr. Wallach’s memoirs and he asked me to immediately correct one of his fantasies. He says he did not learn how to read after getting married.
Comment by Mackenzie Brothers — January 5, 2008 #