America = owned

[kami]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1114806,00.html

Sweet.

[BFG]

Brilliant. Fantastic!   Damn right. Its just another crazy sign though of the American "Siege" mentality.

[Supernatural Pie]

owned? What are you talking about?

[sarcasm] oh damn... we have to be fingerprinted and photographed when we go to Brazil!!! Oh man... not.... PHOTOGRAPHS!!! NOOOOOOOO! We got um... owned because um... because uh... Brazil is um... taking um... photographs because uh... the U.S. is doing that to... um... Brazil. HEHEHEHEHE! OWNED.... [/sarcasm]

 

[c| Hathcock]

Good for Brazil, and for America too for taking precautions.  Is it really that big of a deal to have your photograph and fingerprints taken when entering a foreign country?

[Brain]

exactly what i was thinking snipe. i think someone needs to have the definition of owned refreshed in their memory

[bronto]

owned? What are you talking about?

[sarcasm] oh damn... we have to be fingerprinted and photographed when we go to Brazil!!! Oh man... not.... PHOTOGRAPHS!!! NOOOOOOOO! We got um... owned because um... because uh... Brazil is um... taking um... photographs because uh... the U.S. is doing that to... um... Brazil. HEHEHEHEHE! OWNED.... [/sarcasm]

 

sound a little offensive.

[BFG]

Precautions? Precautions against what exactly? How many other countries demanded this before America started? Why exactly do you think america feels it needs to do this? And this would actualy be effective in stopping terrorists? i doubt it...

Or perhaps the "are you a terrorist" Questionare that you have to fill in is stopping terrorists? oh yes i can just imagine the potential bomber stopping to fill in the questionare and getting to that question. "Oh dear well i can't lie on this so i better put yes im planning on going and blowing up a high rise"... oh come on.

Perhaps if America made some alterations to its views and forign policy regarding the rest of the world then it wouldn't find its self being such a target in the first place.

[bronto]

do onto to others as you would have them do onto you..

[Cutter]

it's pretty simple BFG it's called prevention. it only takes a couple minutes to get a digital pic and prints taken. how do you feel about all those cameras on londons streets watching your every move? it's the same thing, some may consider it a bit intrusive, others will look at the statistics and be happy with the extra measures. isn't it true that crime rates have signifigantly dropped in areas with the cameras? of course taking pics and prints won't catch any terrorists, but what it will do is prevent them from using our airports again. personally if all the countries in the world adopted this policy it wouldnt bother me at all. it's about saving lives man....mine and yours.

[BFG]

Ok, so lets take a theoretical look at this. My name is Ali and i live in south spain. I am a islamic fundamentalist and i wish to travel to america to blow myself up in the most destructive possible way... I have been a law abiding spannish citizen all my life.. i have no criminal record etc...

So i get on my plane to america. I have my photo taken and my fingerprint done.. fine. I get to america, buy my guns/explosives etc, strap them around my body and walk into office building....

Im not to bothered about the photo or fingerprints.. im dead anyway so it dosn't matter - but i have suceeded in doing what i aimed to do.

Ok, maybe this sytem would work if the following happend: I came into america, went on a killing spree and left lots of finger prints around etc.. then somehow excaped fromt he country... 2 months later i think i'll come back and do it again! but lo and behold when i fly in im stopped as my fingerprints/photo match...

So who exactly would be that stupid? I do not understand how it will prevent anything...

Yes camera's in London have helped drastically with some crimes. very good cameras were installed in some of the busiest shopping streets in london where pick pockets and bag snatchers were opportating... With radio contact to a mobile sqad on the ground the camera opporators could spot criminals - be recording the footage and navigate the squad to the location of the crime...  Job done.

But if america is doing this in an attemp to prevent another september 11th... then it might be worth considering your dealing with men and women who will die for their believes (or some of them did) and not kids who are making cash from petty crime.

(ps my name is not Ali and i do not live in spain... Nothing against spain i just thought of somewhere that dosn't fit in with Bush's list of the "Axis of Evil" which is a f*cking joke)

[BTs_Mysterio]

BFG hit the nail on the head. Let's also remember this isn't a one time thng, you get your fingure prints taken then you get a pic taken on the way in, and then on the way out. This also includes countries the US are close to. I don't know about you but this lowered my drive to go into the US for a vacation. Whoever comes up with these "prevention" methods must have dropped out in Grade 2. You Americans just keep blowing billions upon billions of dollars on shit.

P.S. I wasn't aware the system was in 100% effect, I thought it was still gonna be a few months before everyone entering from an country would have to comply with this disrespectful act.

[|MP|Buccaneer]

Precautions? Precautions against what exactly?

Perhaps if America made some alterations to its views and forign policy regarding the rest of the world then it wouldn't find its self being such a target in the first place.

Kami, BFG, you guys are really pathetic sometimes.  And you wonder why I get pissed about the "American Bashing" that goes on.  Assholes.

BTW, let me tell you a little story about my last trip to Sao Palo, and the "precautions".

First, we had to smuggle in the software disguised as music CD's, because of some "restrictions" they have on importing software.  This was company software for our own computers in Sao Palo, mind you.  All we were trying to do is save time and not FTP them over.  And this was fucking 8 years ago.

Next let me tell you about the guards around the plant, which had these nice shinny sub-machine guns.  We were told they were needed because nice US businessmen like ourselves were kidnapped on a regular basis down there.  We were also told not to venture off campus, especially the blond women, as they would shave their heads for the hair to make wigs, while they were kidnapped.  And this isn't just a story to frighten  us, they gave us real examples (the ransom was usually around $500 USD, not enough to make a big deal out of and risk our lives).

Why don't you boys start going through customs in a few more countries before your weakass attempts at bagging on the USA.  Assholes.

[Cutter]

so what then exactly would you two international security experts do to secure your countries after a major terrorist attack?

bucc is right once again, i've been to argentina twice in the last two years and the areas economic woes, not america being at war is the greatest threat to foriegners in south america. hell anybody that comes from a civilized and wealthy country runs the risk of being kidnapped in any south american country. it's been that way for decades. it was recommended to my wife (by the argentinian government) that we hire security. just because her husband is a gringo and they think i may have money or somebody will pay money for me. boy would they be in for a suprise! anyway the security i saw at the airport makes americas security look relaxed.
also, lets not forget that america is a country at war still. if the government wanted to completly shut down the borders and international visitors it has every right to do so. i can imagine the whining we'd hear if that happened. but i also get the feeling that america is the only country that isn't allowed to do such things. i doubt russia, china, most of the middle east, and most south american countries would have any problem doing such a thing. and would it matter to you? nope, only if amreica does it.

[c| Hathcock]

The current list of people with connections to terrorist organizations is rather extensive so checking people against it is not a waste of time.  Obviously not every terrorist in the world is on it but if we can keep the known ones out the it's a success.  

And from what I know its only in Atlanta and I think Dulles right now but it's supposed to go into all the major international airports within a few months.

[|MP|Buccaneer]

It's at the major hubs, and it's also at Detroit Metro, which shouldn't surprise anyone, since there are so many people from the middle east here.

[BFG]

Kami, BFG, you guys are really pathetic sometimes.? And you wonder why I get pissed about the "American Bashing" that goes on.? Assholes.

Firstly, my view does not make me pathetic. wtf happend to freedom of speetch or is this the normal "i don't agree with your view so i will just insult you?"

Ok so what if countrys in south america had/has daft laws on software? im sorry i do not see the relevance. Its like we have laws against inporting food... or like america dosn't allow the inport of cuban cigars or pianos!

Yes exactly. When you go into a poor country and you obviously have a lot of money (compaired with some of the inhabitants) you are going to be a target. My aunt and cousen traveled to egypt recently.. they had an armed guard most of the time they traveled (when i say armed we are talking both police and milartry). In some countries westerners are not partically popular... are you surprised given some parts of recent history?

When and if (which i doubt) i hear about other countries who start doing this (other than in retaliation to the the us) i'll complain about them as well. The more and more countries try to isolate themselves and alianate themselves from the rest of the world the more, i believe, things will deteriate. the siege mentality of "defending yourself" from outsiders - the more the ideology of "them and us" will be inplanted into people. At a time when the world in general should be trying to heal old wounds and prevent this massive divide between east and west the better. But treating forigners to these types of 'security checks' does not seem to me to be a good way of going about it.

And becasue i think that i must be an asshole. thanks for the input bucc

[Cutter]

for a while after 9/11 ppl were randomly searched and questioned at airports all over the country. al gore is the most known case (think it happened to him twice after he grew the beard). but i can tell ya about 2 cases that i know of directly.
a chef i work with flew from miami to nyc for the holidays last year. the chef is a 250lbs. jewish woman born and raised in nyc. she was strip searched and questioned for 6 hours by the fbi and wasn't allowed to leave the interrogation room to take a piss even.
the next case is my wifes aunt. she was on vacation in mexico from argentina with her two daughters, 8 and 11 years old. her flight going back to argentina had a layover in miami, where she and the children were searched and questioned for 9 hours. not allowed to leave the room in this case also (not even to pee). all those with children must know how hard this must have been.
in both cases the people were clearly not even close to resembling terrorists. the system was clearly flawed. it's taken a long time (too long in my opinion), but the system is being refined. and these sort of useless and very disturbing searches should be a thing of the past with the new print and pic system in place. so smile for the camera put your hand down on the scanner and thank the security ppl for not holding you all day in a 12X12 room.

[|MP|Buccaneer]

Firstly, my view does not make me pathetic. wtf happend to freedom of speetch or is this the normal "i don't agree with your view so i will just insult you?"

You had your freedom of speech asshole, you used it to bash America.  I used mine to point out that you were an asshole for it.  SO FUCK OFF WITH THAT STUPID ARGUMENT, IT IS NOTHING BUT BULLSHIT.  Assholes don't even know what freedom of speech means it seems, because it also gives me the right to call you an asshole for being one, asshole.

Don't try to play that card with me, you obviously don't know how to do it.

Oh, and it's your constant American Bashing that makes you pathetic in my eyes, I am welcome to my opinion too, asshole.

Ok so what if countrys in south america had/has daft laws on software? im sorry i do not see the relevance. Its like we have laws against inporting food... or like america dosn't allow the inport of cuban cigars or pianos!

You don't see the difference, so I guess there is none, eh?  Let's look at your example of cuban cigars, hmm, why are those illegal, oh, I know, it's because there is a full trade embargo with that country.  Wow.  Is there a full trade embargo with Brazil.  Nope.

Let's look more closely at it, shall we.  I don't know if you've ever been to America (but the way you talk about it, I doubt it), but if you had, was your software searched.  Did they turn on your laptop and go through the applications you had on it?  Pull out your CD's and put them in their computers?  Well, it's happened to me more than once going into other countries.

And that, sir, is in reply to your "precautions?" statement.  They couldn't stop us from FTP'ing in that same software, it's on Ford computers in a Ford facility on a Ford network.  But they are taking their "precautions" too.  And it's not like this is a recent thing.  

Hey, I had precautions taken against me a Gatwick, where some nice military personal pointed some nice machine guns at me while I was searched once.  They didn't like my setting off of the metal detectors no matter how many times I told them about the pins in my shoulder.  I didn't bitch about those precautions, because the IRA was still pretty active at that time.  Do you think that they were wrong?  They shouldn't have been carrying those big ass guns and pointing them at an innocent tourist?  

Or, we could talk about saying the wrong thing to a Canadian Boarder Patrolman, and being stopped at the boarder for 16 hours once (the driver was being "questioned" and we didn't want to leave him).  All this before the Trade Towers came down.

So don't fucking get on a high horse about "precautions".  I'm closer to a libertarian than you are (since I've been accused of it often enough), you just seem to like bashing on the USA.  Talk about your own government and it's fucked up issues for a change.

In some countries westerners are not partically popular... are you surprised given some parts of recent history?

I'm not talking recent, I've been traveling since the early 80's.  South America is getting better in these times if anything.

[Jeb]

Listen,
i don't know why any of us americans need to go to brazil. They import the cocaine to america, thats whats so great about a global market and the underworld drug trade.

Perhaps if there was a radical american sect lead by someone like bucc to terrorize our "allies." people would think differently about border checks.

[*DAMN Hazard]

W-O-W! Kami that in no way owns America. It just makes it so they are fingerprinted and getting on a plane takes 10 minutes longer. Who the fuck wants to go to Brazil anyway?