Peter Hendra wrote:
Hey Peter,

Its not really as bad as some people are making it
out. I'll bet everything ends up working out just
fine. If not, I'll join you down in Maori
land--at least during the summers ;-)

Don W.


Hi Don,
You're welcome any time but you may miss the paranoia and general
rudeness of some of your border control officials, or those security
people roped in to fill a gap. You won't be shouted at "I said. Remove
your jacket!!" and other such rudenesses I have seen directed at your
own citizens. You will probably think the Immigration or Customs
officers want a tip when they call you "Sir". You may miss the Police
not carrying guns or sidearms or even a baton.

Peter, I've been in and out of the US many times
since 9/11 and have not personally witnessed the
type of behavior you are refering to. I don't
doubt that it occured, but it was an isolated
incident, and not the norm.

I know that it's not as bad as all that. I have travelled a little in
the States on several occasions and generally met nothing but very
friendly people and kind and helpful policemen. I got lost driving in
Providence, Rhode Island on my way back to Boston from Mystic Seaport
once and got invited home for dinner by one of a pair of policemen.

The USA is still mostly that way. We are just
getting a lot more bad press these days.

The growth of the siege mentality saddens me though, especially when
one realises that it does not make America safer and that Americans
(and Australians) have willing given away rights and freedoms that
previously they would have vigorously defended. Thomas Jefferson comes
to mind with his "Those who give up freedom in order to gain security
shall have, nor do they deserve, neither".

I think history will show that the security
changes are temporary. There were similar things
done during WWII, but they stopped as soon as the
war ended. Unfortunately, we are _really_ at war
at present although not in a traditional war with
another nation state. Furthermore, our adversary
has shown itself to favor attacks on unprotected
civilians.

Perhaps Larry may be right. The blowing up of the Maine in 1898 to
forment the Spanish-American War comes to mind. History is full of
governments who burnt their own Reichstag.

It seems your mind is made up that the Maine was
blown up by the US Government to give it an excuse
to intervene in Cuba. Doing a little bit of
Google research, it appears that your conclusion
is controversial, and not well supported by the
evidence.

Unlike Herr Hitler, or even present day Hugo
Chavez, there has been no attempt in the USA to
change the constitution in a "one-off" election to
allow a single party to hold power continually.
In fact, the Republican party has now lost control
of both houses of congress, and the Democrats are
in control. The political story of this
week--Congressional hearings on FBI abuses of
power during the last several years. The pendulum
is swinging back the other direction even as we
write. Unlike a lot of people, I have faith that
our system will correct itself.

I actually haven't been back to N.Z. since we sailed away in '96 and
live between Sydney, Australia and Malaysia where I work for Marine
Customs. There, they don't bother with yachts. The only time I stopped
a yacht was to hail it from the flying bridge of a 32 metre patrol
boat as I thought it was a friend. No paperwork, no inspections. Just
anchor or moor and wander up to Immigration. At the Johor Bahru base
there is even a pontoon with water supplied for yachtees to tie up
their dinghies securely (24 hour armed guard) whilst they walk five
minutes to the causeway bus link to Singapore. You can leave your
yacht in the country as long as you like.

Sounds great. That is the way it should be.
Fortunately, Singapore and Australia have not been
directly attacked, and so have not developed
"paranoia" yet.

The main border protection tasks are to stop smuggling of heroin (from
golden triangle to the West - automatic death penalty), cigarettes
from Indonesia and other dutiable items and illegal immigrants,
especially young children for the sex trade. Prevention of the piracy
and theft of big ships in the Malacca Straits is also a major part of
the role. To do this, new patrol boats have been built in various
sizes such as 17 metre, 2,500 HP turbo charged diesels that do over 55
knots armed with GPMGs. To zoom around in one of these (especially
with air-con) after doing 5 knots all day in a sailboat is simply
divine.

Sounds like fun.

cheers
Peter

Regards,

Don W.