Obama wants more foreign tourists to come to America, and he has a plan to make it happen. It’s all about facilitating the process:
Frequent travelers who pass an extensive background check will be able to scan their passports and fingerprints and skip long lines at immigration at more airports. We’re going to expand the number of countries where visitors can get pre-cleared by Homeland Security so they don’t need a tourist visa. And we’re going to speed up visa processing for countries with growing middle classes that can afford to visit America — countries like China and Brazil.While we’re at it, why not require a stool sample as well? If the applicants are upper middle class or better, we can just let them mail it in.
That seems like a pretty big hassle to go through to see Disneyland. Is Donald Duck really worth a rectal search? Personally, I’d rather go to Napoleonland.
With Homeland Security who would want to go anywhere, either going or coming, you're subject to being mauled and violated and abused. No thanks, I had to make a short trip from Atl to Tampa and next time I'll drive. If I can't drive I wont go, I don't need that kind of treatment. They take things and don't even bother to tell you, makes getting off the next morning interesting when surprise, things are missing.
Posted by: knowdoubt on January 22, 2012 5:58 PMI'm not a traveler and even I know the U.S. is known to have the shabbiest airports in the entire world, so let's speed the affluent world travelers through so they can hole up at the Ritz Plaza for a week?
Every word out of his mouth going forward should be jobs, jobs, jobs, not trying to make it easier for the rich to get around.
Sometimes the man is tone fucking deaf, or maybe it's his orders are to be tone fucking deaf.
Posted by: Pat In Massachusetts on January 23, 2012 5:34 AMI met a young Finnish couple with a child that had been planning on an extended vacation in Chile. The questions at the border made them so angry with Chile that they spent a couple of hours in the most northern city and then went north to the beaches in Northern Peru.
I don't think that prequalification is going to work with tourists like this.
From the questons, I assume the customs thought that they were smuggling drugs and were trying to put the bite on them. Pinochet was a piece of human dung, but this didn't happen when he was running the place.
Posted by: evil is evil on January 23, 2012 7:08 AMAbout 50 years ago, when I first entered the United States as a five-year-old boy, my parents had to sign a paper and swear on the bible that they wouldn't try to assassinate the President of the USA.
A bit weird as a reception, maybe, but friendly. That has changed completely after 9/11.
I won't be back any time soon now.
Posted by: Peter on January 23, 2012 11:59 AM@ evil is evil
"I met a young Finnish couple with a child that had been planning on an extended vacation in Chile. The questions at the border made them so angry with Chile ... From the questons, I assume the customs thought that they were smuggling drugs and were trying to put the bite on them. Pinochet was a piece of human dung, but this didn't happen when he was running the place."
I was born in South America and I traveled to Chile during the Pinochet era. And I can assure you, it was the same thing then. These questions are meant to exact a bribe, nothing else. If you don't want to pay, the best thing is to play as dumb as possible (in a friendly way).
Posted by: Peter on January 23, 2012 12:12 PMMake that: a friendly and *very cooperative* way
Posted by: Peter on January 23, 2012 12:15 PM