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Fortress America Divides Sleepy Border Town

Posted by Booman, Booman Tribune at 5:45 AM on August 25, 2008.


This is a very stupid policy.

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Wingnuts never think through the consequences of their actions. To wit:

DERBY LINE, Vt. -- The changes started coming slowly to this small town where the U.S. border with Canada runs across sleepy streets, through houses and families, and smack down the middle of the shared local library.

First was the white, painted lettering on the pavement on three little side streets -- "Canada" on one side, "U.S.A." on the other. Then came the white pylons denoting which side of the border was which. After that, signboards were erected on some streets, ordering drivers to turn back and use an officially designated entry point.

And along with the signposts came an influx of American Border Patrol agents, cruising through the town in their green-and-white sport-utility vehicles with sirens, chasing down cars and mopeds that ignored the posted warnings.

For longtime residents accustomed to a simpler life that flowed freely across a largely invisible border, the final shock -- and what made most people really take notice -- was a proposal by the border agents last year to erect fences on the small streets to officially barricade the United States from Canada, and neighbor from neighbor.

All this supposedly so we can stem the flow of Islamofascists and Canadian migrant workers through the sidestreets of Derby Line, Vermont.

Digg!

Tagged as: immigration, stupidity

Booman is the proprietor of the Booman Tribune.


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"Doooon't fence me in!"
Posted by: Knowmad on Aug 25, 2008 7:26 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Typical, primitive neocon strategy: "Yuh gotta control 'em and keep 'em out or they'll getcha."

Must admit, however, that it's hard to argue against something that might help stop rightie, wingnut whackos from coming north. Surely there's way to tell whether an aspiring border-crosser is a real person, or one of the 'others'. A standard insanity test would probably do it. That way all you Alterneters and the like could visit whenever, while those such as the group that snuck up here lately to - so helpfully - let us know that a terrible decapitation incident in Alberta happened because Canada allows abortion and gays in the military, would be politely told to go back home.

And before anyone says it, we're working at getting rid of wannabe chushrovian Harper. His days in 'power' are definitely numbered.

So, c'mon up. Just leave the sad, gullible, neocon knuckle-draggers behind if you don't mind. Cheers.

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Remind me again...
Posted by: Benjaminsjw on Aug 25, 2008 7:40 AM   
Current rating: 4    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
...who was it who said "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall"?

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Out Here On the Frontier...
Posted by: ranchero42 on Aug 25, 2008 9:25 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
We is stone...immaculate!

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Welcome To The Machine
Posted by: NoPCZone on Aug 25, 2008 10:27 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
One of the things to be proud of until we got Bushwhacked was the longest undefended international border in the world. Of course that's all out the window now as there is money to be made expanding the police state.
By the way, don't forget your RFID equipped passport when you travel to Canada...

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Fortress America at Work!
Posted by: zippoflash on Aug 25, 2008 4:39 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This open-ended so called 'war' on terrorism is sheer idiocy. Just a way to manipulate and control through fear and finance a police state. Idiots!

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Derby Line/Stanstead and life on the border
Posted by: Linda in VT on Aug 25, 2008 9:04 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
A good friend of mine lives in Island Pond, VT, ten miles or so from Derby Line (and its Quebec counterpart, Stanstead). She appeared in a theatre production there this spring. The Opera House is on the line: The stage is in the US, the seats in Canada (or vice versa, I forget). She tells me that people who attend productions there and park in the parking lot now have to be careful which way they drive home; if they don't cross both checkpoints, they're in trouble and can be fined.
Not long ago they had a visiting performer who was from Europe and didn't have a Canadian visa, so they had to reverse the location of the stage and seating so he wouldn't get into trouble.
I don't know what the people do whose bedrooms are in the US and the bathroom in Canada.
Are we in Looneyville yet?

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