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The Sculpin
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Mood: Riding into the Sunset, looking for a sunrise.
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Web searches at U.S. border bring scrutiny to new level
From the International Herald Tribune....not quite Baja related, other than it could happen on this border....
Kinda scary since the determination of whether a crime was committed was somewhat arbitrary.....
Web searches at U.S. border bring scrutiny to new level
By Adam Liptak
Monday, May 14, 2007
Andrew Feldmar, a Vancouver psychotherapist, was on his way to pick up a friend at the Seattle airport last summer when he ran into a little trouble
at the border.
A guard typed Feldmar's name into an Internet search engine, which revealed that he had written about using LSD in the 1960s in an interdisciplinary
journal. Feldmar was turned back and is no longer welcome in the United States, where he has been active professionally and where both of his children
live.
Feldmar, 66, has a distinguished résumé, no criminal record and a candid manner. Though he has not used illegal drugs since 1974, he says he has no
regrets.
"It was an absolutely fascinating and life-altering experience for me," he said last week of his experimentation with LSD and other psychedelic drugs.
"The insights it provided have lasted for a lifetime. It allowed me to feel what it would be like to live without habits."
Feldmar said he had been in the United States more than 100 times and always without incident since he last took an illegal drug. But that changed in
August, thanks to the happenstance of an Internet search, conducted for unexplained reasons, at the Peace Arch border station in Blaine, Washington.
The search turned up an article in a 2001 issue of the journal Janus Head devoted to the legacy of R.D. Laing, with whom Feldmar had studied in London
about 30 years before.
"I traveled to many regions many times with the help of many different substances," Feldmar wrote of his experiences with Laing and other
psychiatrists and therapists. "I took peyote, psilocybin mushrooms, cannabis" and other drugs, he added, "but I kept coming back to LSD."
He was asked by a border guard whether he was the author of the article and whether it was true. Yes, he replied. And yes.
Feldmar was held for four hours, fingerprinted and, after signing a statement conceding the long-ago drug use, sent home.
Mike Milne, a spokesman for the Customs and Border Protection agency in Seattle, said he could not discuss individual cases for reasons of privacy.
But the law is clear, Milne said. People who have used drugs are not welcome here.
"If you are or have been a drug user," he said, "that's one of the many things that can make you inadmissible to the United States."
He added that the government was constantly on the hunt for new sources of information. "Any new technology that we have available to us, we use to do
searches on," Milne said.
Feldmar has been told by the American consul general in Vancouver that he may now enter the United States only if he obtains a formal waiver.
"Both our countries have very similar regulations regarding issuance of visas for citizens who have violated the law," the consul, Lewis Lukens, wrote
to Feldmar in September. "The issue here is not the writing of an article, but the taking of controlled substances."
The waiver process would require a lawyer, several thousand dollars and dishonesty, Feldmar said. He would have to say he has been rehabilitated.
"Rehabilitated from what?" he asked. "It's degrading, literally degrading."
Ethan Nadelmann, the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, which works to ease drug penalties, said Feldmar's case proved how arbitrary U.S.
drug policy can be. "Roughly a majority of the population of the United States between the ages of 18 and 58 has violated a drug law at least once,"
he said.
Feldmar said, "I should warn people that the electronic footprint you leave on the Net will be used against you. It cannot be erased."
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Bob and Susan
Elite Nomad
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"I should warn people that the electronic footprint you leave on the Net will be used against you. It cannot be erased."
this IS true but...
he didn't have to sign anything...
he should have just asked for a lawyer...
he was in the USA
the cost...nothing
just ask for a public defender...
we would have just "sent him back"
he's a canadian...
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TMW
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I think it shows just how screwed up our Home Land Security system and drug policy is. His sin was he admitted using an illegal drug, what was it 30
years ago. He was not charged with a crime then so why would it matter now. There's millions of people in the U.S. illegally and some are bad people.
Why don't our hot shot blood hounds turn their computers on them.
I guess if I admitted to making and using alcohol during prohibition they'd throw me in the slammer. Not to worry I ain't that old.
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MrBillM
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Visitation Rights
Although recent and current events in major U.S. cities might make one think otherwise, there is NO RIGHT for ANY Foreign National to
enter the United States, just as there is none for a Foreigner to enter Mexico.
The U.S. Government has the sole power to determine which Foreigners it wishes to admit. Period.
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DENNIS
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Right-on Bill ---
And thank god or somebody that border protection at ports of entry are above political correctness. At least, I think they are.
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Packoderm
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Well I guess our Paul McCartney tickets are no good anymore if they aren't going to let him in the country either. I guess they've got to look like
they're doing something. By the way, just exactly who made this our country's policy. I don't remember hearing anything about any of my elected
representatives voting for or against such a policy.
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flyfishinPam
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Ironically, I googled the Dr's name and found another more detailed article"
http://thetyee.ca/News/2007/04/23/Feldmar/
this story mentions other persons who were denied entry for various reasons and they are a bit more freightening cases of refusing to allow entry to
internationally recognized scholars thus barring them from attending meetings, presentations and forums of varuious types. I guess Dr Feldmar should
consider himself lucky to be allowed to go back to Canada instead of being shipped off to guantanamo and tortured. The patriot act's very name is an
insult to the true patriots that fought for our freedoms (which are now being eroded) in the establishment our country over 200 years ago. How much
longer will it be before scientists and professors or "dissents" will be detained for whatever and or forced to leave or "disappeared"? Dr Feldmar
lived through this being a hungarian with parents what survived N-zi germany. and didn't GW publicly admit to using cocaine?! Its interesting that
the nation with the highest per capita drug use, the largest consumer of drugs the cause of other countries peoples sufferings due to narcotrafficing,
will turn away someone who admitted to using LSD in a country (great Britain in the early 1970's) in which at the time of this use was not an illegal
action? scary, when will we ever learn to pay attention to history and not repeat the same mistakes over and over?
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Bruce R Leech
Elite Nomad
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Don't do Illegal things and it cant come back to haunt you. 
If you do illegal things dont write about it and publish it on the Internet
you play you pay
Bruce R Leech
Ensenada
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TMW
Select Nomad
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Location: Bakersfield, CA
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| Quote: | Originally posted by MrBillM
Although recent and current events in major U.S. cities might make one think otherwise, there is NO RIGHT for ANY Foreign National to
enter the United States, just as there is none for a Foreigner to enter Mexico.
The U.S. Government has the sole power to determine which Foreigners it wishes to admit. Period. |
What about the UN in New York. Can the U.S. keep a person invited to speak or was appointed to be a deligate from some country from coming to the UN?
I don't think we've ever stopped any one from attending the UN from Castro to North Korea.
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flyfishinPam
Super Nomad
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Location: Loreto, BCS
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Bruce R Leech
Don't do Illegal things and it cant come back to haunt you.
If you do illegal things dont write about it and publish it on the Internet
you play you pay |
then I think its a good idea to "google yourself" to see what may be out there
on you. What's to stop someone from posting in a message board about say...porn, or terrorism or whatever with someone elses name?? if you "google
yourself" regurarly you'll see what's available about yourself.
so the moral of the story is:
google yourself often
and if you see something you don't like learn the google webmaster tools and remove it!
even "law abiding citizens" can become falsley accused and penalized, so this is no joking matter, really 
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flyfishinPam
Super Nomad
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Location: Loreto, BCS
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Hey bruce is that you on the F150online forum.com? and all those listings on the nomad forum?
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TMW
Select Nomad
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The owner of a company I do business with is named John T Davis. He says everytime he would use that name when flying he would be hassled by airport
security. So he started using J Thomas Davis and the problem went away.
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The Gull
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Location: Rancho Descanso, BCN
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| Quote: | Originally posted by TW
The owner of a company I do business with is named John T Davis. He says everytime he would use that name when flying he would be hassled by airport
security. So he started using J Thomas Davis and the problem went away. |
Or use Fidel Castro...
�I won\'t insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe what you just said.� William F. Buckley, Jr.
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David K
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How will Bill Clinton get back if he leaves the U.S.???
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TMW
Select Nomad
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I googled my name and came up with this story from the Washington Post by Emil Steiner. No it was not me.
Thomas Wimberly: Three Strikes, Two Hot Dogs & No Sense
Vet Jailed 71 Days For Not Stealing Hot Dogs!
Maybe We Should Pay More Attention to How These Are Made (Helayne Seidman) Thomas M. Wimberly, an elderly veteran living on social security, spent 71
days in jail because he forgot to pay for two hot dogs at a convenience store. The 75-year-old from Wichita, Kansas is the latest in a long line of
farcical cases which illustrate how poorer citizens get lost in the illogical inconsistencies of our criminal justice system.
Here's how this one went down. Last summer, Wimberly left his dog, Smokey Bear, in a shopping cart to go inside a convenience store. He picked up a
chocolate bar for himself and a couple of franks for Smokey. Although Wimberly paid for the chocolate, he claims Smokey started jumping out of the
cart, and so he ran outside to stop him. That reflex may have cost him two months of his life because an off-duty police officer noticed he hadn't
paid for the hot dogs, which he used to calm Smokey, and arrested him on the spot.
Wimberly was booked for theft, but after a municipal judge dismissed the charges, he assumed, as any sensible person would, that the fiasco was over.
However, even though the total value of the wieners in question was $2.11, Kansas law requires felony prosecution if a suspect has two prior
convictions, which Wimberly has, and so the city sent his case to the district attorney's office, which issued a summons. For whatever reason, that
summons was "returned as undelivered," and so a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.
Of course, Wimberly, who is "hard of hearing, walks with a stooped gait and shapes his words around missing teeth," had no idea any of this was going
on until he was brought in and told to cough up $5,000 in bail or get locked up. As a senior living on a fixed income, even the 10 percent bondsmen
fee constituted more than twice his rent. And with only an overworked public defender arguing on his behalf, Wimberly spent the next 33 days behind
bars until the judge granted him a no-cash bond on the stipulation that he report to a center across town from his apartment.
This worked well through last winter, until Wimberly got sick and missed a check-in. With no phone, he couldn't call to explain and so was hauled back
whereupon the judge issued a $100,000 bond. Unable to pay, Wimberly was thrown back in the slammer, charged with a crime that doesn't even carry "time
behind bars [if convicted], only probation." There he stayed until last week, when he finally got his day in court and a measure of commonsense.
Jurors took little time to decide that the charges against him were "stupid," and Wimberly was set free. That said, he is still facing a trespassing
charge stemming from his attempt to re-enter the convenience store in order to pay for the hotdogs... let's hope he doesn't get the chair.
Cases like these serve as stark reminders of how our justice system functions not as a fair scale, but rather a blind robot following commands. Those
commands are executed with no regard for commonsense, unless their creators (the Legislature) so endow them. And given the politics of creating
loopholes for criminals, what congressmen is going to risk his or her job to do so? That is why it is up to the masters of law (judges) to rein in
those commands when they lead to abominations like this one.
Unfortunately, the current climate of over-burdened jurisprudence slants toward a strict interpretation that favors the letter of the law even if when
it undermines the spirit. Though some may argue that it is a small price to pay for safety and justice, I would venture to say that such procedures
are not only more costly from a taxpayer's standpoint, but actually create more crime than they prevent in the long run. No one who goes through such
ridiculous humiliation as Mr. Wimberly experienced could come out with anything but contempt for the law; and with that mindset, a "criminal" cannot
be rehabilitated or even controlled, only hardened.
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tehag
Super Nomad
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security vs liberty
Perhaps a little misquoted, but not materially:
"Anyone willing to trade liberty for security deserves neither."
Benjamin Franklin
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elgatoloco
Ultra Nomad
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Location: Yes
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"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. "
Words to live by.
MAGA
Making Attorneys Get Attorneys
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Mexray
Super Nomad
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Location: California Delta
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I say, "It's about time"...
...That our Federal Govt's agents are enforcing this county's immigration/Visa regulations in a more 'aggressive' way.
For anyone who has traveled to other countries around our globe, you will find strict rules and regulations on visitors entering, visiting, etc. If
one has a questionable background, or problems on previous visits, they may encounter difficulties with authorities at their borders!
I believe it's about time our Govt. is taking steps to 'tighten' up the Reg's that have been rather lax on our Northern and Southern borders, for
years. What's wrong with turning back a foreigner with a questionable background? Just because they have been granted entry before shouldn't make
any difference!
Entry into OUR COUNTRY is a privilege - just as it is for us to visit other foreign countries.
I say it's about time other's begin playing by International rules we US Citizens have been abiding by to visit other countries, for many years!!!
According to my clock...anytime is \'BAJA TIME\' & as Jimmy Buffett says,
\"It doesn\'t use numbers or moving hands It always just says now...\"
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vgabndo
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Its all too bizarre. Selective enforcement of useless laws.
Isn't it true that under the patriot act, a person who knowingly consorts, and shares the world view of a known sponsor of terrorism, is supposed to
be thrown into Gitmo and interrogated until he proves he's not a threat to world peace? The detainee in this case would be the President for hanging
out with his father who was a known sponsor of international terrorism for his support of the "Contras" in their attemps to overthrow the government
of Nicaragua.
You can't tell the players without a program. A very slippery slope it is. I have not a doubt in the world that there is a political computer file
on me in Washington DC, and I have never been arrested or charged with a crime, AND I'm a veteran and a patriot.
I've long wondered what comes up on the screen at the kiosk when they run your license plate northbound at the border. In todays land of the free and
home of the brave, I suspect we're not allowed to know what they read about us on their screen.
[Edited on 5-15-2007 by vgabndo]
[Edited on 5-15-2007 by vgabndo]
Undoubtedly, there are people who cannot afford to give the anchor of sanity even the slightest tug. Sam Harris
"The situation is far too dire for pessimism."
Bill Kauth
Carl Sagan said, "We are a way for the cosmos to know itself."
PEACE, LOVE AND FISH TACOS
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Lee
Ultra Nomad
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Location: High in the Colorado Rockies
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| Quote: | Originally posted by elgatoloco
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. "
Words to live by. |
"Give me liberty or give me death." or
"Give me Librium or give me Meth."
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