Homeland Security: Go to Church Pay $10,000

[subgenius]

MONTREAL (Reuters) - Crossing the U.S.-Canada border to go to church on a Sunday cost a U.S. citizen $10,000 for breaching Washington's tough new security rules.

The expensive trip to church was a surprise for Richard Albert, a resident of rural Maine who lives so close to the Canadian border the U.S. customs office is right next door to his house.

Like the other half-dozen residents of Township 15 Range 15, crossing the border is a daily ritual for Albert. The nearby Quebec village of St. Pamphile is where they shop, eat and pray.

There are many such situations in rural areas along the largely unguarded 8,900-km (5,530-mile) border between Canada and the United States -- which in some cases actually runs down the middle of streets or through buildings.

As a result, Albert says did not expect any problems three weeks ago when he returned home to the United States after attending mass in Canada, as usual.

The local U.S. customs station is closed on Sundays, so he just drove around the locked gate, as he had done every weekend since the gate appeared last May, following a tightening of border security.

Two days later, Albert was summoned to the customs office, where an officer told him he had been caught on camera crossing the border illegally.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=573&ncid=757&e=2&u=/nm/20040210/od_nm/crime_canada_border_dc

So if you're following along, we have a guy drive around a gate at an unmanned customs station.

Thats our security. Good thing Osama doesn't read the news.

And instead of giving him a warning and keeping it quiet they fine the guy. Not $100, not $1000, but $10,000.
Remind me what country I live in.

[Ælfgifu]

So if you're following along, we have a guy drive around a gate at an unmanned customs station.

Thats our security. Good thing Osama doesn't read the news.

And instead of giving him a warning and keeping it quiet they fine the guy. Not $100, not $1000, but $10,000.<sarcasm>Golly, I hope if terrorists get into the country by driving around a gate at an unmanned customs station, that we do the right thing and slap a huge fine on them.</sarcasm>

Have a nice day,
Kelly :)

[Nikk]

Surely a citizen has a right to enter the country. How can they be convicted and fined for that?

[WildCat]

That fine is as idiotic as the "no-fly zones". All symbolism, no substance.

But how does a building get built straddling an international border, I wonder? Who issues the building permit, which countries regs apply, etc. - I'm dying to know!

[Zep]

He should pay the fine with a cheque drawn on a Canadian bank, written in French, posted from Canada to Washington. The paperwork would tie the thing up for years, and they can't claim he didn't pay.

Or it could just be dropped.

Nah. Guess not. Camp X-Ray, here he went!

[Hexxenhammer]

Originally posted by Nikk
Surely a citizen has a right to enter the country. How can they be convicted and fined for that? What he was supposed to do was drive to a larger checkpoint that was probably miles and miles away since his was closed. Stupid and asinine, but what he should have done. Those small border towns shouldn't even have checkpoints.

[subgenius]

You would think that Customs would have taken the guy aside and said, "We'll let you off with a warning if you don't tell everyone that our borders are like a sieve."

And how about the fallout to the "Religious Right" for fining a guy $10,000 for going to church?

[Zep]

Originally posted by subgenius
And how about the fallout to the "Religious Right" for fining a guy $10,000 for going to church? Then he should ASK to be fined retrospectively for all the times he crossed the border "illegally" to go to church between now and the effective date of the Homeland Security Bill. Then publish his plight on breakfast TV nationwide. :D

[subgenius]

Originally posted by Zep
Then he should ASK to be fined retrospectively for all the times he crossed the border "illegally" to go to church between now and the effective date of the Homeland Security Bill. Then publish his plight on breakfast TV nationwide. :D
Not a bad tactic, although I've had bad experience with inviting your adversary to "Bring it on."
Would love to hear, and smell, the fundies spinning this one.

[ceo_esq]

Originally posted by subgenius
And how about the fallout to the "Religious Right" for fining a guy $10,000 for going to church? Actually, he was fined for leaving church. If only he had gone to church and stayed there, he'd have been okay. I'd recommend the same to the Religious Right.

[Abdul Alhazred]

Originally posted by WildCat
That fine is as idiotic as the "no-fly zones". All symbolism, no substance.

The no-fly zones in Iraq were more than symbolism. They were enforced vigorously and very likely this policy prevented the total extermination of the Kurds.

[Zep]

Quick question: Can you get in trouble like this for LEAVING the USA as well as ENTERING? I mean, does the penalty apply for CROSSING the border in any direction, or only for ENTRY?

[Bottle or the Gun]

Can we put an unmanned gate in California by Mexico? We spend tons dollars and use thousands of agents closing that border and it doesn't stop anyone. If we only thought of a camera and unmanned gate before, think of the resources we could have missapplied elsewhere!

[Agammamon]

Originally posted by Zep
Quick question: Can you get in trouble like this for LEAVING the USA as well as ENTERING? I mean, does the penalty apply for CROSSING the border in any direction, or only for ENTRY?

Well that's a tricky one. Keep in mind he was fined not for entering the US per se but because he entered improperly.

It's all about the customs' angle and there are things you're not allowed to export from the US (irregardless of their legality at your destination), so while you can't be prevented from leaving the US as such(though being allowed to enter the other country is a different matter), you can be delayed/stopped leaving by customs inspections.

And of course you can be prevented from leaving if your destination country is one of several that the US government has deemed "off-limits" due to embargoe, etc (like Cuba).

[zakur]

Speaking of crazy fines: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2004/02/11/343066-ap.htmlSingapore's highest court has ruled a local man must pay a fine worth the equivalent of $4,720 Cdn for leaving a water-filled plastic pail lid outside, local news media reported Wednesday.

[WildCat]

Originally posted by Abdul Alhazred


The no-fly zones in Iraq were more than symbolism. They were enforced vigorously and very likely this policy prevented the total extermination of the Kurds.
Oops, I wasn't very clear there. I was referring to the no-fly zones over US cities. Mayor Daley here freaks out whenever a temporary ban is lifted. As if a terrorist intent on a suicide nose dive into the Sears Tower would be dissuaded by a no-fly zone. :rolleyes:

[WildCat]

You know, the more I think of it fining Christians $10,000 every time they go to church could pay off the national debt in a few weeks time. Just wait until the Planet Xians land and annoint me emperor!

[subgenius]

Ok? I did a search and couldn't find where "standing in the shadows of motown" was the topic, so I'm posting it here:
I'm 3/4 the way through the DVD and blown away.
One of the, if not the, greatest documentaries, much less music documentaries.
Anyone who's into music, Detroit, movies, or documentaries, must see this.
The soundtrack is awesome, as is the history. Michelle N'Degeocello stopped my heart, Gerald Levert, Joe Hunter's comment about Rachmaninoff's left hand, "Lottie the Body" and her influence on Motown, how Stevie stole (not a bad thing) from all of them, s**t, this is the s**t. Still trying to catch James cameo, .......final review later.

Also,

Just finished watching "West Wing" . If you want to imagine a world where we have a president with a brain, watch this show.
"Blind Willie Johnson" figured prominently. He was blinded, as a child, by his own mother when she discovered her husband fooling around. Did you think you had the blues?
His music was sent by NASA into space.
Stay tuned.

[BTox]

Originally posted by subgenius

Just finished watching "West Wing" . If you want to imagine a world where we have a president with a brain, watch this show.

Bwaaa! Martin Sheen pretending to be a president with a brain - love it!

[subgenius]

Originally posted by Bottle or the Gun
Can we put an unmanned gate in California by Mexico? We spend tons dollars and use thousands of agents closing that border and it doesn't stop anyone. If we only thought of a camera and unmanned gate before, think of the resources we could have missapplied elsewhere!
30 years ago the National Lampoon had a great picture of a bunch of border guards literally picking their asses as a busload of illegals went by behind their backs. Sure wish I kept that one.
Bush's solution: let em in, make em slaves.