random ranting

[frandroid]

Passports needed to fly to U.S. starting Jan. 23

Damn.

I have always made a point to travel to the U.S. on my birth certificate, just because I could. Travelling on a passport means that you need to be a reputable Canadian, i.e. you need to have the approval of your two (or one?) approved professionals; the fact that you are born in this country

Comments

[compasspoints]

a bit of a nonsequiter: my gradnmother, living in a border town in northern ontario, rushed out to get a passport as soon as they threatened that it was neccessary for border crossing - for the express purpose of not jeopardizing her ability to cross the border to buy groceries like cheese. :)

in a way, i want to say that it might be easier for working class folks to get at least one passport reference in a small community. (but this is all relative to how long you've lived there, i guess) if you've got a P.O Box, you 'know' the postmaster.

can't pharmacists sign for you, too? even if you've been in fairly good health and are in a small town, they probably 'know' you, too.

[frandroid]

a border town in northern ontario

Man, I had to compute that for 30 seconds. North = far from the U.S. :]

in a small community

Yeah, there I guess it would be easier.

[compasspoints]

well, i always idenify sault ste marie with quasi-north. it's no kasechewan, though!

are you going to make it to expozine? have you found people to share a car with?

[frandroid]

I understand that "Northern Ontario" can touch the United States since Ontario is the most east-west of the provinces, on that weird diagonal axis :]

I've been to the Sault (why is it so hard to pronounce it "so"? anglos crack me up) once, and my hitch-hiking ride told me to be careful of the youth gangs or something.

The carpool didn't quite work out as I wanted so I found a pay-ride on craigslist. She's a bit shifty about the *weight* of the stuff I'm bringing so I'm crossing my fingers she won't dump me, but if she does that, it's Thursday, so I can turn around and find another ride instead, just hopefully not the evil greyhound.

[rensalterego]

But haven't most people attended high school and elementary school? i.e. they can get their teachers from way back when to sign for them if they're still alive?

[frandroid]

Hmmm, that's a good question; I can't remember. I think it's only professors, but if it's teachers, it was irrelevant to me at the time since I was 2000km from my former schools. On most continents, that's a few countries away, but here It's Just Normal. :P

[compasspoints]

from my recollection of the forms, it can be a school principal (from elementary or high school) or a professor at a university.

[dobrovolets]

That is a really absurd, repressive, and class-biased requirement; I wonder how many countries place similar restrictions on obtaining passports.

[frandroid]

There are a bunch of things were you guys aren't too fucked up. :]

[konami]

This law is stupid, I agree. It's a pain in the ass to get a passport for most people.

You neglected to mention, that you need to (for some reason) get your passport photo taken "specially" by seemingly randomly listed commercial photographers, of whom charge $40+ for your little black and white photo. Ridiculous.

And then there's the charge for the passport itself... Depending on the country it can be expensive. If this law applies to the US to Canada, they will have even more trouble, their passports cost more by my understanding.

Only rich terrorists need apply for cross-border attacks. No poor-ass terrorists.

[woobeans]

wow that's nuts. i've never paid more than 20 bucks for mine.

and it's only been recently that the passport offices have been calling the guarantors to confirm that they actually know the person that they signed for. a lot of the time i had my passports signed by people who don't know me very well.

[konami]

Fortunately I got my passports finished a while back. The British passport cost a hell of a lot. Basically in Britain you can buy your citizenship with little criteria.

Although gets you anywhere you want in the EU, which is good.

this is going to make "terrorist" detection more difficult

[zenko]

... of course, these kinds of things are never actually about security. They *do* know that anyone with the slightest bit of determination and cunning can get a passport. This is just more security theatre.

Re: this is going to make "terrorist" detection more difficult

[frandroid]

Yeah, I made the mistake of using something like a sort of "logic". Silly me! ;]