for no apparent reason to a lot of people looks is becoming a routine, imho. At the same time i noticed more aggressive campaign locally: if you don't get green card and don't move into US soon - you 've sold your life. Lots of US promo green card ads in newspapers and pretty much on every street cross; plus FREE of charge English courses with Americans for young people.
My take is - it's a pre-selection and psychological screening for youth without pangs of conscience whom the safe entry in the US would be favoured / granted. Upon arrival they will have to 'pay' for great American benevolence toward them by joining and doing dirty jobs in Blackwaters, police

You don't know much about Iceland, do you?

That the woman be prohibited from re-entering the US is one thing.

That she be treated the way she was is another.

She broke the law, fine, send her home, but treating her like dirt is not necessary. Putting her in chains is not necessary. Putting her in jail is not necessary.

To equate overstaying her visa with some violent crime where the offender is a danger to others is black and white thinking: everyone who breaks the law is the same.

The officials involved, and you if you support them, have lost all sense of proportion. Did her crime really call for the humiliation she endured? Is the US better protected and do you feel more secure because the officials threw their weight around?

You seem to have a serious problem of being unable to judge consequences. You probably also think that the illegal kidnapping (extraordinary rendition) and torture of anyone the government decides is also OK, even though it is condemned by international law. Perhaps you think the US is too good to have to respect international law?

Janusinsocal wrote: "She overstayed her visa by three weeks and expected to come back to the US without hindrance. As far as I can see, she got what she deserved."

Aside from the absolutely jaw-dropping hubris of such a remark, let me remind you that the rule of law generally means that the "punishment" fits the crime. I suppose you also advocate the Islamic laws which include stoning women for adultery and cutting off the hands of someone who steals a loaf of bread to keep from starving. I imagine you were behind those militarized police who were shooting Katrina victims who were taking food from flooded stores... food that would be spoiled and trashed anyway...

People like you certainly do deserve what you will get. And when it is you that offends, as you have and will, I rather suspect that your tune will change dramatically.

Yes, exactly - couldn't have said it better than Corajudd if the hallucination of 'american freedom' depended on it.

=)

I suppose that "intelligent, Icelandic blonde women" are also incapable of breaking any law here in the US. Perhaps it's the job of our Customs agents to do more than simply identify potential terrorists . . . perhaps spotting trouble-makers who ignore State Department-mandated visa expirations is a part of their job as well. Don't we have enough citizen law-breakers without having to put up with foreign ones?

The U.S. will not have to put up with any "foreign law breakers" because all the foreigners will stay home and keep their money at home. And, since all the jobs in the U.S. are being outsourced to China and India, people like you can just sit there and rot and no one will care when you start begging for bread because you certainly didn't offer any to a stranger.

To Janusinsocal and the others who've spewed "law n' order" retorts to this article, I assume you've never commited a technical breach of the law: You never exceeded the speed limit, you never jaywalked, you never filed your taxes a day or two late, you never found a $5 bill on the sidewalk and stuffed it in your pocket instead of turning it in to the police, you never drove through a yellow light.

This woman may have overstayed her visa by 72 hours once, more than a decade ago, but her treatment in my name by my government is appalling. It makes me ashamed to be an American; it also explains why I live outside the US and won't come "home" until the rule of law is restored.

Tell the families of the nearly 3000 innocent citizens who were murdered on 9-11 that nothing should have changed. Oh, and I suppose that you haven't noticed that several planned attacks on our country and in other countries have been thwarted by the policies set forth by the US State Department regarding visas and immigration. Since 9-11, not one attack. While you're at it, ask the families of the victims how many of them wish we had done what we're doing now before 9-11.

Janusinsocal:
As someone who was at ground zero, and who knows people who lost family there, I'd like to assure you that detaining icelandic women is NOT helping us win the war on terror or make anyone feel better about being attacked. Its also not going to stop another attack. You're example #1 of how the terrorists have beaten us. We're willing to sign away our rights and those of our friends for a fictitious sense of 'security'. As a country we're also far to thin skinned. London would lose 3000 people in a week during WW2. We go around bombing country after country and then when someone finally manages to hit us back, we go beserk and invade everyone we can. Again, this is just what the terrorists were trying to get us to do.

And even with the improvements to security, please explain to me how chaining someone who is clearly not a threat keeps us safe. Do you feel safer that this woman was held for 24 hours without any recourse to law? I don't. I worry that its only one step until our government starts holding it's own citizens without recourse to law.

Janusinsocal repeats the GOP propaganda lie that "Since 9-11, not one attack."

FALSE.

The 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States, also known as Amerithrax from its FBI case name, occurred over the course of several weeks beginning on September 18, 2001. Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to several news media offices and two Democratic U.S. Senators, killing five people and infecting 17 others. The crime remains unsolved.

Don't believe the lies. Demand the truth and demand action on this homegrown terrorist act that targets Democrats, the media, and the American people.

it happened to you for exceeding the speed limit?

Do you not recognize there is a difference between overstaying a visa, or speeding, and planning and carrying out a violent crime?

I think the point you are missing is that the punishment massively outweighed the crime. Jesus christ, the woman was on holiday and for some reason overstayed her visit! What is wrong with simply informing her of this and sending her home? Are you really suggesting that being shackled in irons and thrown into jail is a reasonable punishment for staying a little too long in the "greatest democracy on earth"?? You should think seriously about supporting such draconian measures by US law enforcement, because if you and others like you do so, one of these days the same treatment is going to be meted out to you for a damn parking offence! GET IT??

Customs officers often ask personal questions so that they can compare answers given under different situations and times; it's one way they find out if the person they're questioning is lying. Also, it's a well-known fact that pregnant mothers from other countries very often come to the US to give birth because our health care system provides free delivery in better conditions than they would find in their own country.

As to whether or not communist China is so wonderful, I suggest you gather some information on student protests/uprisings in the summer of 1989 in Tiananmen square. Moreover, China is much more capitalistic than you can imagine. Why don't you move there for a while and see for yourself?

One other thing: it's always hilarious to hear about the Cheney/Haliburton-conspiracy-against-freedom thing; after all, you know that despite the fact the guy was worth millions before he came to public office, he spends all of his time in back rooms filled with smoke thinking of ways he and Bush can take away our rights . . .

Please.

Janusinsocal wrote: "Also, it's a well-known fact that pregnant mothers from other countries very often come to the US to give birth because our health care system provides free delivery in better conditions than they would find in their own country."

Hate to tell you this bud but the U.S. healthcare system is among the worst in the world and the infant mortality rate is shocking. Have a look here: [Link]
and here: [Link]

where you will read:

"According to recent stats from the World Health Organization, the U.S. ranks 33rd in infant mortality and 38th in life expectancy, behind such economic powerhouses as the Czech Republic."

As for the rest of your ignorant nonsense, I begin to smell a Troll.

Dwell in your paranoia, angst, and distrust. For you it will always be the worst of times; personally, I'd rather live in the best of all possible worlds and believe it or not, I wish the same for you.

To add to what Laura wrote, the infant mortality rate is lowest in the world in Iceland. And according to a recent Human Development report by the UN (http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/hdr_20072008_en_complete.pdf), Iceland is the best country in the world to live in, while USA is far back. There are very few things in America which should attract Icelandic people to live in the USA, except for maybe better golf courses. :-)

Janusinsocal:
> Dwell in your paranoia, angst, and distrust. For you it will
> always be the worst of times; personally, I'd rather live in
> the best of all possible worlds and believe it or not, I wish
> the same for you.

Trouble is, the best of times isn't decided by personal fiat. It is a question of looking at the data. The data shows that the US is reacting over and over again "out of proportion" to perceived offences. Such an attitude is the mark of a country that is going through a period of hysteria. It has happened elsewhere (think Germany in the 20s and 30s) and can be studied critically.

When multiple police cars are sent out because some kids are skateboarding on private property, or people are tasered on the front lawns for having a smoke, or a man who looks figgity is surrounded by the SWAT team, society has lost any sense of perspective. But the point of these manoeuvres is to inflict a state of fear on the population. The message is: "You could be next".

If you want to live in an illusion, that is your choice. Just don't come weeping to us when your illusory world is shattered.

unfortunately, you're right.

It's time for a moratorium on the U.S. - don't buy their products, don't go there for vacation and spend your money there... let them rot in their delusional superiority.

i would agree with you laura except that there ARE those of us who live there who don't agree with how our country is run and how things are...

Do you actually believe every non-US national being detained and/or jailed at this moment is innocent and that the US starts war for oil? On the first point, citizen or not you have rights here as long as you remain a law-abiding member of our society. As far as the oil wars go, you probably also believe in UFOs. Let's have some proof. And I don't see Bush trying to amend the constitution to become President for life.

Janusinsocal is a Troll... time to ban him/her/it.

For starters, to Eva:

1) Know our laws, & don't over-stay... if you do, figure out how to make it right before coming back.
2) Most kind hearted Americans (including myself) apologize for the actions you experienced while here in our beautiful country.

What prompted me to write this reply, and to Dookados, you said:
"Join the likes of Brazil and Venezuela and start harassing american citizens the same way when they travel anywhere in the world."

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME, RIGHT?

We are under the same attack, by our own government. We are no different than you, really. Just like you, our own government can stick us in a room, even without the crappy food - for an indefinite period of time and not even speak to us (and have done exactly that already to American Citizens). Yes, it's legal for them to do that. In reality, you should sympathize.

Just because of some greedy power hungry people who make the rules and run our country your MENSA like intellect suggests you harass those who give to your economy.

That's priceless... really.

Hope you don't harass some 'Dirty Harry' type American who is having a bad day (notice the capitalization of AMERICAN).

Really people ~ can't we all just get along?

First, let's lock up ALL the journalists from the Guardian; they're practically terrorists anyway with the way they lie. Then, let's start harassing innocent people to show how righteous and indignant we are about what the US does in it's own country when people break the law. In fact, let's just do away with all borders, laws, government, police, military, teachers, Starbucks, and ugly, dark-haired, dark-skinned, mature, terrorist-looking Spaniards so we can live in caves and become truly peaceful inhabitants of the Earth.

Janusinsocal is a Troll... time to ban him/her/it.

To be heard in the voice of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog:

OH, I AM SO SORRY FOR HOW TERRIBLE WE AMERICANS ARE . . . WE ARE SO NOT WORTHY TO HAVE THE BEAUTIFUL BLONDE WOMEN FROM ICELAND COME AND BREAK OUR LAWS BY STAYING LONGER THAN THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO. OUR GOVERNMENT WHICH SUPPLIES FOOD AND HEALTH CARE TO COUNTLESS MILLIONS OF POOR DESTITUTE PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD IS NOT MY FRIEND. WE ARE SUCH MORONS

FOR BEING THE MOST CHARITABLE NATION ON EARTH AND SAVING COUNTLESS NUMBERS OF PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD FROM HITLER, SADDAM, AND OTHER DICTATORS. OUR COUNTRY IS NEITHER NICE, CLEAN NOR PEACEFUL AND WE ARE ALL MOVING TO ICELAND WHERE THE BEAUTIFUL BLONDE WOMEN ARE LIVING BECAUSE THEY WILL NEVER TREAT US BADLY FOR BREAKING THE LAW AND BECAUSE PUPPIES RUN FREELY, BUNNIES AND CHIPMUNKS FROLIC, AND EVERYONE HAS THE MINTY FRESH BREATH.

Yeah, we spent about 6 billion on aid to the world last year. 3 of that went to those most deserving Israelis. I heard that they were really short of food and housing there.

I think if we count up the number of terrible dictators we installed vs the number we removed, it would probably make your argument look rather daft. Shit, we supported Saddam in the 80s.

As for how we spend our hard-earned money, some estimates put the cost of the Iraq war at around 1-2 trillion $. 26 million people live in iraq. We could have bombed hussein and given every man, woman and child in iraq 43,000$. Instead we spent that money to destroy their country, kill untold numbers, and create 2 million refugees.

Name's Mark,
I'm a 17 year old american citizen, and I am currently in High School. I go to a tech school and am enrolled in Security & Police Sciences. Now, believe me, I don't want to do anything with the Law when i get out of school, I want to be a musician, but installing home security systems is something to fall back on. Anyways, I was currently arrested for trespassing on private property (my school) on a weekend. I was only skateboarding (with one friend), when an adult waled up, started yelling at us, and said he was calling the police. within minutes, one police cruiser shows up from the Phoenixville Police Dept.- understandable. But! i know the cops in my hometown better than they think! I guessed correctly, and within 30 sec. of the first cruiser arriving, one after another shows up. the ONLY officer not the was the police chief. Even our town's K-9 unit was there. In front of the entire neighborhood, we were patted down, told not to talk, cuffed, thrown into police cars, and escorted to the station by 12, count 'em, 12 police cars. no Miranda Rights were read to us, no phone calls, just cuffed to a metal bench, and told to stay quiet (not politely either) until they asked for our names. by the end of the day, we were released with a $350 fine. So, th jist of my little novel is that U.S. citizens are treated just the same as foreigners if they're not politicians. I'm with you dude! FIGHT THE POWER.

Some of us TRUE Americans welcome our foreign friends and don't hate and fear all that is different they way you cowards on the far right do. Frankly, I'd rather you leave and they come take your place. This would be a more beautiful and decent country again, no doubt.

how can you say "god bless america" after writing what you wrote above that? i don't think God would appreciate you using his name as a fucking back-up for things like "stupid muslim terrorist cab drivers."

Cop1152, America might not be the pariah that it is today.

So let me get your logic straight: you think that a valid way of getting rid of people who overstay their welcomes here is to keep people from returning who LEFT after overstaying for a short period of time from coming back. And then not just saying "sorry, go home", but chaining them up, locking them in NJ for as long as we want (yes some people are left there for months), and not letting them contact anyone is the right way to handle it.

I'm sorry sir, this logic doesn't cut it. If someone overstays a visa and stays, that's a problem. If they overstay a visa and leave, then that's not a problem. Often time, overstaying a visa is completely unavoidable, and there's no due process here to find out any extenuating circumstances.

This isn't an isolated case, this happens everyday, and the way that people are treated, most of whom NEVER EVEN OVERSTAYED A VISA, is atrocious. If you're not willing to accept that, then you don't seem to care about living in a civilized society.

Plus, last I checked Iceland was part of NATO and one of our staunchest allies. Why are we treating our best friends like this?

You speak as someone who has zero knowledge of what its like to travel into this country.

Granted, I don't know why the title of this article has 'blonde' in it. I think it's funny that you read into that somehow that this woman must have been a 'queen' and somehow must have insulted the immigration people.

The immigration system in this country is in dire need of an overhaul. Right now, it's just making the world hate us.

Okay, I read the article. Then I threw up. What stuns me is that you would allow yourself to oppose policies that are clearly intended to thwart terrorist activities exclusively. Don't get me wrong; I'm no fan of Bush, who in my opinion is among the most ineffective modern Presidents. I also in no way condone techniques like water-boarding for gathering information. But this article makes it seem like everyday, law-abiding citizens and guests from foreign countries are regularly submitted to mistreatment by our government; that's just not true. What Bush has done is to expand executive power in new ways to combat terrorism by detaining people who are clearly involved with it. The beauty of the checks and balances inherent in the Constitution is that after he leaves, the next person can change things. And you're right: I am living in a dream world because thanks to the American justice system, the government, and the evil Cheney, I can happily go about my life, do my job, and be with my family. I'm just about as dreamy as a guy can get.

You go ahead and wallow in the misery of the terrorists; I'll just stay safe here wrapped warmly in my FoxNews induced euphoria.

... read Political Ponerology. Notice that the article anart recommended details laws that target American citizens. Everything Hitler did to set up his police state was "legal," too, via the same kinds of laws -- and he ran "law on order" campaigns, no end. Such laws are not passed unless they're intended for use. If there was really a fear of "terrorism," they would have closed the borders, first thing -- so that's definitely NOT it. Your references to "news" items clearly identifies you as a victim of propaganda. For example, you made the "trying to be president for life" charge against Chavez, which was US spin of his simple proposal to eliminate term limits, which was rejected in a vote. You probably also believe the deliberate mistranslation of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- you know, that BS about "wipe Israel off the map." I'm not defending these guys, just pointing out that the spin the corporate media puts on everything is deliberately misleading, and extremely so, to encourage misinformation and to inflame attitudes like yours. Just open up a bit, recognize that all sides get bombarded by BS propaganda.

I think your statement is helping people to decide to want to leave. I wish you'd leave. Unfortunately, when they make up lists of people who get to life and who gets to disappear, I'll be on the disappear list because I tried to speak out and you'll get to join the gulag because you didn't care as your fellow man was treated like animals.

Obviously, this must be President Bush's fault. Everything else is. People here are so loony it's unbelieveable.

You go and insult everyone in the rest of the world. Saying that if they have a criticism of your country they should shut up and leave. That's your fault. Bush doesn't even say things that stupid.

"This is the greatest country in the world."

Why? Nazis believed the same thing about Germany. A lot of good it did them!

"I don't believe this lady's story"

Okay. But no one cares about what you believe. No one cares about what I believe. Believe it or not, there ARE people in this world who care about what is actually happening, rather than what they would like to believe is happening.

I do agree with you though that bad things happen sometimes. For example, you called everyone here loony, so now you can't post comments anymore! :)

Ms. Eva Ósk Arnardóttir,
as an American citizen I am appalled and shocked at your treatment. I am ashamed of what America has now become and only hope a new administration can put right some of the legion of wrongs such as the one you faced. I have the relief of never voting for this tyrant who wears the presidency of the USA like a crown with contempt for its people and moreover the people of the world. For what little it is worth, I apologize as an American. Fifty thousand people die here a year in auto accidents, but we haven't made driving a crime, yet we destroy our own democracy, and our relationship, with the world for the three thousand who died on September 11th, 2001. it is beyond stupid and insane to believe that treating foreign visitors such as yourself as criminals in any way helps us. This is not the country I was born in to and while I mourn it, I have hope that one day we can rejoin the rest of the world as a civilized republic once we have eliminated the criminals who lead our government. I don't expect that you will ever return to the United States but I do hope that in the future you will come to forgive us for what was done to you.
Sincerely and regrettably,
W. Michael Tenery III ([email protected])

It is these "true Patriots" that never see it coming.

They say that all you have to do is "follow the rules" and you'll be okay. What they are incapable of seeing is that in a fascist state, like we have here in the U.S., the rules change whenever those in control deem it necessary to change them. Like from minute to minute. And it is those who are so sure that they are "in the know" of their government and are such goody two-shoes that don't have a clue what is coming and get blindsided when they, all of a sudden, realize that the good old democratic U.S. of A. is not so democratic after all. That you can be thrown in prison just because someone else doesn't like the way you look or act, or the way you look at them.

And the police have become unfeeling, unthinking robots. As have, as we have all seen, a lot of people living here in Hitler-land.

You all don't have a clue what is coming. I'm looking forward to the realization hitting you between the eyes when it finally dawns on you just how little you understand about the fascist USA and you are locked up, tortured and forgotten, just like what is being done now to people who are innocent of any crimes or wrong-doing other than what has been made up by psychopathic agents.

There is evidence for this also that is presented in a couple of articles I wrote some time back. For example, there is this one [Link]
which includes excerpts from Sebastian Haffner's book "Defying Hitler". It is well worth reading to gain a deeper understanding of people like Janusinsocal.

Another article onsite that deals with the "authoritarian" personality is this one: [Link]

Here the focus is on the "authoritarian" personality.

Psychologist Andzrej Lobaczewski describes the type that really "believes" in "authority" as the schizoidal psychopath. He writes:

"We frequently find expressions of their characteristic attitudes in their statements and writings: “Human nature is so bad that order in human society can only be maintained by a strong power created by highly qualified individuals in the name of some higher idea.” Let us call this typical expression the “schizoid declaration”." [...]

"Carriers of this anomaly are hypersensitive and distrustful, but they pay little attention to the feelings of others, tend to assume extreme positions, and are eager to retaliate for minor offenses. Sometimes they are eccentric and odd. Their poor sense of psychological situation and reality leads them to superimpose erroneous, pejorative interpretations upon other people’s intentions. They easy become involved in activities which are ostensibly moral, but which actually inflict damage upon themselves and others. Their impoverished psychological worldview makes them typically pessimistic regarding human nature." [...]

The common factor in the varieties of this anomaly is a dull pallor of emotions and a feeling for the psychological realities of this essential factor in basic intelligence. This can be attributed to the incomplete quality of the instinctive substratum, which is working as though on sand. Low emotional pressure enables them to develop proper speculative reasoning, which is useful in non-humanistic spheres of activity. Because of their one-sidedness, they tend to consider themselves intellectually superior to “ordinary” people.

I think that's a pretty good fit here.

in the both the International Herald Tribune and the Iceland Review indicating in both articles that the Iceland Foreign Minister met with the American Ambassador in Iceland to lodge a complaint and ask for an apology:

[Link]

[Link]

I wanted to add some additional points. Is the person concerned complaining about a) getting deported, and/or b) or the treatment from the law enforcement officers?

People from western European nations/developed nations DO NOT need a visa to enter the US. They have the privilege of visa waiver where they can enter the US only with a valid passport. The immigration officer at the port of entry determines the duration of stay. There's no standing in line at a US embassy, no intense interviewing by consular officers, no proving that they will return back to their home countries, no making appointments for interview etc. for people from developed nations to enter the US for visiting as tourists. Then, we have these cases like this one where despite all these privileges, they'll break the law and then complain about getting caught and sent back. Just because someone is blonde and from Iceland doesn't grant them immunity from the law. What kind of an attitude of entitlement is this?

... above the law I wouldn't know where to begin. We can start with the president of the US, who sent hired killers, unasked, to two foreign countries and started wrecking the places and killing people. Apparently, he felt this was justified because he was afraid or something. In fact, he did this without getting a declaration of war from Congress, against the Constitution, allegedly the supreme law of the land.

The president can also decide, of his own accord, who is above the law. There was this guy Scooter Libby...

It was also mentioned in the news, that several American laywers have contacted Erla encouraging her and offered their help to sue the US government. Hopefully that will happen, since it would likely reinforce the movement to reesatblish America as the “Land of the free, and home of the brave”.

PS: Lively discussion on this can be found where the original posting in English is hosted -> [Link]

"According to news yesterday in Iceland, the Foreign Ministry received a letter from the DHS, signed by the Deputy Secretary Paul A. Schneider, where they regret the treatment Erla got, admit it was out of proportion, and that they will review processes in the light of this incident."

That is the point. The treatment this woman received was "OUT OF PROPORTION" to the situation.

There are many other situations in the U.S. where authorities are acting all out of proportion to the situation. It is as though people in the U.S. have completely lost their common sense and have descended into some kind of nightmarish black and white world of extremes and hysteria.

This hysteria is a consequence of 1) pathological material being assimilated by society by way of the mainstream media all through their formative years 2) transmarginal inhibition [Link]
- in other words, planned and deliberate. It is intended to convert people who would otherwise be normal and have correct reasoning to the "authoritarian" world view of fascism.

And, as we can see from some of the comments above, it is working.

I am glad to see some healthy reactions. But Bush is just a high ranking puppet in the game. Period. Another Skull and Bones "classmate" will replace him. Do you really think that the Powers To Be behind him, who have spent so much time (decades) and resources ($Trillions) to get the situation up to here will just say: "Oh, we lost the damn elections... We give up. Cancel everything..."? I don't believe so! Instead, you are just a minor staged event away from the Constitution becoming old news. Have you been following the hair raising legislations that were approved this summer in the US? 13 months is an awful lot of time... I fear it will take more than a vote to get rid of this manipulation. IF they allow "elections" to happen, it is only because the result is rigged. Too much is at stake for the "average Jo" to have control over who runs USA...

Get over it? I hope you're joking. Or are you just a troll? If not, I hope someday that you have a full-body cavity search done by a government goon.

It would be illegal.

The idea that voting will undo the mess we (the US) finds itself in is to ignore the obvious, that voting is what got you into this mess. It was not those who did not vote, but rather those who did that elected generation, after generation into maintaining and expanding the only role government serves: theft.

Voting supplies exactly what those who run the government need, the pretext that their armed robbery is supported by the majority. What you do not like your labor being looted? Well you voted did not you? Well then, if you do not like the results you are a sore loser. Or perhaps your politicians won. Congratulations, how are you liking the results?

Lastly, this assumes the votes are actually counted. This is delusional when there is ample evidence to suggest they are not. What your masters want is for you to show up at the polls. The last thing they want is the unpredictability of actual vote counts.

Support Ron Paul's ideas. They are gathering the remnant. As for the election...well, enjoy the show. The R3VOLution starts between your ears, where it ends up after that is truly up to you but it won't be at the ballot box.

Clarence Darrow, a famous American lawyer once said:

“As long as the world shall last there will be wrongs, and if no man (or woman) objected and no man (or woman) rebelled, those wrongs would last forever.”

These words are indeed very appropriate in the context of this affair.

As we have repeated, what we are upset about is the reaction that was so out of proportion to her 'crime. According to the law, yes, the US was 'completely justified' in deporting her. Was it also justifiable to put her in chains, to humiliate her, to keep her in jail, to prevent her from calling family or the Icelandic Embassy?

Look at what is really happening in the US before saying we are unhinged. It is the US that has become completely unhinged. "Inbred and despotic rulers"? Doesn't that refer now to the small elite in the US that is in power?

As to your remark about what occurred in Europe, maybe you should try and understand the hysteroidal cycle and how those events are now being played out in the US.

Behind your reasoned tone lies the same blinkered view of reality of the Americans that continue to believe their is a 'terrorist' threat to the US that comes from a few Islamic terrorists. The real threat of terror comes from the US government itself.

I am a Canadian who works in the US. Almost without exception, every person in INS/Homeland Security that I have dealt with has been robotic and totally without any semblance of human empathy. Like “Canadian observer” I am familiar with the UK, Canada and the United States. Americans are the worst in this regard hands down. You will certainly get Canadian/British officials who act like little Hitlers. What you won't get is anyone who will defend them.

“Observer” is glad that the Icelandic master criminal is being “held to account” - for a trivial offense like this? I wonder how he feels about scofflaws who jaywalked during the Eisenhower administration?

Why is the US like this? Personally, I think it is the effect of 200 years of multiculturalism (starting with slavery...compulsory multiculturalism). Europe, including Britain, and Canada are headed in the same direction. Recent research indicates that diverse populations are less cohesive and people display less trust and empathy towards one another. See [Link]

Fundamentally, I think that most of the things that liberals hate about the United States are the result, not of capitalism or democracy, but of multiculturalism. The irony, of course, is that multiculturalism as a meme is one of those things that goes totally unquestioned by liberals. Europe: This is your future!

Ok
The problem I have with this whole situation is that this was not the first and not the second time she returned to the states since braking the law. She had actually returned several times without ever being stopped. Which again must raise a question on the jobquality provided by the protectors of your border.

Also if other nations behaved similarily then we would probably start a war with the US each time one of your Marines got drunk and insulted or bashed the hell out of one of our civilians.

And in retrospect.
When looking at all the illegal immigrants that have crossed the south border and are working in the US the persons responsible for this incident should get a swift kick where it hurts. And those dictating procedures should get a double portions.

I don't think it is multiculturalism. Please read my article here [Link]
that discusses this subject from a particular perspective.

The problem, always and ever, is pathological deviants.

The Bush administration is neither! The powers that control them have a definιte plan, which they carry out with cold precision. Having a frontman with bellow average intelligence (Bush) serves as the perfect smoke screen!. "Let them put the blame on the stupid guy". Don't buy that.
Presidents are expendable. Laws and belief systems are longer lasting. Fear and division is their game. Why would anyone blow himself up or try to cross US borders if he had a job, a house, a wife, kids, happiness, peace and dignity in his own country? WHY? Only because he envys your "freedom" in USA? Put your thinking caps on for a while...

Joseph Goebbels, minister of propaganda in Nazi Germany once said:
"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the state can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie ... The truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the state."

So the unfolding consequences of all their lies will eventually wake up a LOT of people. I hope by then there are still some things left to save.

Corey your world-view is split into two different factions. You have hatred in your heart unfounded and you judge others with a collectivist stamp. Thats the problem not the solution. Partisan politics is poison and our Founders knew it; George Washington himself was dead set against the idea of political parties.

That being said JFK from his policies would have been a Reagan era conservative and his outlook is nothing like the modern American liberal outlook now. Most likely in this Bush age of politics JFK would be an independent or a Republican who wouldn't be voting.

If you want to find the heart of our nation that lies with Classical Liberalism which is not even remotely connected to Modern American Liberalism which had been co-opted by the progressives in the early twentieth century.

The only lesson she is likely to learn from your post is an ungrounded hatred for Americans and the belief that all Americans are as ignorant and foolish as yourself. It is very obvious you don't travel as your insular and xenophobic outlook on other human beings is constrained by an us-them attitude. Perhaps these words will help you remember the soul that this nation was founded on:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government..."

Rights don't exist because someone is a member of a nation, a racial group, a gender, or anything else - their rights exist because of their existence as a living human being.

9/11 Did nothing except open us up to the scared individuals like yourself clinging to someone who they view as strong and wrongly and ignorantly your ilk flocked to the skirt of government. In opposition to our highest law, in opposition to the ideological groundwork that established what we consider Western civilization to be now, and in abject denial of the lessons of history: you have sacrificed the liberties of others because you are fearful and cowardly. Liberty isn't free, it is a continuous and animating struggle.

"Pardon my prejudice, but I can't care about foreigners--Washingtoners, Texans, Ohians, blonde, yellow, black, green, blue, or otherwise--traveling outside the U.S. Foreigners come from there to save money on shopping, which impacts the value of the dollar, even beyond what the Bush administration has managed to devaluate and damage and they expect to be treated as equal to the rest of the world's citizens! I hope John Doe learned a hard lesson when he was killed in London, and in Canada and in ... a while back, and, while I understand that tourism is an important business in the rest of the world, I hope he stays dead!

When traveling abroad, one should expect to be treated like a foreigner. I don't travel to the US for this very reason; I would be concerned about what could/might happen to me. All those little warden wannabees. Of course, I don't expect everyone to feel or live like I do, but I do expect intelligent people to realize that humane treatment in the US is never guaranteed! What happened to John Doe can happen to ANYone, at ANY time, ANYwhere in the US!

Please don't forget Dresden, Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Please don't forget Korea, Cambodia and Vietnam. Those were real events where millions of people died. And there are legitimate reasons that the rest of the world should be cautious and very careful or, yes, even suspicious of anything or anyone coming from the US.

WE SHALL NEVER FORGET!

Wake up, people! We live in a world of war, insecurity, danger, suspicion and unfortunate-but-necessary evils."

:-l

Well, how would you like it if this was the view of the rest of the world, all five or more billion of them? Please don't forget that what goes around comes around and there has always come a point where wrongdoers are punished.

The trouble with time is that the views change as time passes and today's good deed often becomes tomorrows monstrosity.

The day we stop caring about a fellow human is the day we sign a contract for our own demise. You only need to look at Emperian Russia, Hitlers Germany and pre Mao China. All Dictatorships will come to an end.

This whole thing is not about whether this particular woman was mistreated or if the poor misguided individuals who did so had a probable cause or not. This is about letting domestic and foreign terrorists change the US into a police state and then sit back laughing at your governments stupidity.

It is also about allowing these same terrorist to play you like marionettes in a way that makes you the laughing stock of the civilized world.

They did it so you would start a few more wars, like with Afghanistan and Iraq. And to aid in the self destruction of your economy. Bombing the twin towers on 911 was a monstrosity that can only be compared with other monstrosities in the wake of history like the bombing of Nagasaki, Hiroshima and Dresden.

Sadly for the citizens of the US, your government took the bait and I suggest you all look at what it has brought you. Your trade deficit with China is getting larger by the minute. Your economic situation is in shambles. And still you let your big enterprises outsource jobs as if your nations future depended on US citizens being unemployed.

For decades we, the western civilizations have been trampling around the middle east killing people right and left. We even stole the land needed to house a whole nation because no one wanted them and that nut case Hitler and the Russians before him even tried to exterminate them.

How dare you live in the childish, naive believe that this would not create a problem later on in the line of history? What would you say if your Native Americans suddenly came and said: "You all go home now. We want our land back." You would be furious and probably kill the lot of them. But to the Arabs you say "Shut up. Those people lived here some 1000 or so years ago, so it is their land."

How does this compute?

So you want to have the right to mistreat people at your airports?
Ok. But if I where a terrorist I would disguise myself as an illegal immigrant and come over the south border along with the tens of thousands of others that come that way each year...

To the rest of the US population I would like to extend my condolences for having to endure such badly advised leadership that bought their way to power with television time financed with moneys obtained largely from the large corporations.

The strange thing is that they didn't even have the majority of voters behind them. Do you remember the voting results in Florida?

And since we are at it, "bashing" politicians that is, remember the "great" job that was done in New Orleans? There actually is a whole world outside your borders that remembers these things and is not quite ready to forget your track record during the last 50 years or so.

It is kind of sad to think about all the money that could have been spent on securing your Golf citys being spent on two rather that one war.

Well actually if you keep polluting the way you do, your Golf citys may dissapear completely anyway allowing you to spent even more money on "punishing" your enemys.

It seems one can hear a collective sigh go through the rest of the western world each time you manage to elect a half ways decent administration that is not backed by warmongers like the Hawks.

Please correct me if I got any of this the wrong way.

Kind regards
Hans

And yes I live in Iceland.

This should have been Gulf cities and not Golf cities since I'm referring to the cities at the waterfront in the Gulf of Mexico.
I apologize for the typo.

Hans

The point about her race is not that what happens to other people who are arabs or muslims is forgotten, but that this woman's experience points to one of the gradual shifts in a fascist government. Most people think that this kind of event will never happen to them. No one is saying that because she was white that what happened to her is worse than what happens to a person of Arabic origin. If that has been said, please point it out. But, their is a tipping point. What is stopping the authorities from doing the same thing to an American citizen? Nothing but the will to do it.

For some reason, you are giving the benefit of the doubt to the US government. Why you would do that, I am not sure. They do not deserve it nor do they need it. Comparing what this woman went through to "brusque border officials" is ludicrous, and you are also being unfavorable to the traveler, taking a leap of faith that she was belliegerent or untruthful.

The fact of the matter is that whatever she did, she certainly did not deserve to be put through the experience that she was. I cannot fathom why someone would want to be apologetic towards the authorities in this respect, as though they had no other choice. They certainly had many options, but they chose the most dehumanizing and humiliating one they could. Please don't try to cast blame on anyone else.

Somehow I feel this is not a question of whether she was telling the truth or not. Somehow I feel this is more a question of general excessive force being integrated into and being applied in the US administrational system.

You allow for the option to process children as adults when they commit a crime.

You sentence children to 10 years of imprisonment, when charged with things were other countries place them in treatment, often turning them into hardened criminals by the time they come out of jail.

Some of your states kill criminals when proven guilty even when they are after their death proven not guilty. Are those people then categorized as collateral damage? Is better to kill the innocent just to make sure you don't miss anyone that might be guilty?

In my mind a situation like Eva's should have been solved by simply saying: "You are not welcome here due to your previous discretions and we will place you in a one person holding cell until the next available flight to your point of origin or your homeland. You may request something to drink from the warden and should the wait be longer than four hours you will be fed. And, please do not try to return to this country again without getting a green light and a visa from our embassy in your home country."

Everything else is excessive force and a farce in the eyes of any civilized country. Especially when watching the magnitude of illegal immigrants in the US. You will not solve your immigration problem by shackling and interrogating people at your airports. Also I doubt that a hardened terrorist is deterred from entering the US by these methods.

I can imagine why you think like you do, but that does not make this, or any other wrong, right.

Continuing your line of thinking, I wonder when the US starts to fine people that are shot or stabbed, for bleeding on the street.

Just a thought.
Hans

No one should be treated like this person was. If your laws provide for such treatment they should be changed.

If I remember correctly then our foreign minister logged a formal complaint with your ambassador over here. And it seems after looking into it there was some talk of an appologie and a closer look at procedures practiced in such cases.

But others may know more since I wasn't following the news closely at the time.

Hans