More issues at the Canadian border - 6.1.2007.1

While everyone is busy being afraid about the potential problem that Mr. Andrew Speaker has posed to the health of various airline passengers around the world, I have focused on another matter. True, one person can cause a huge problem, infecting enough people to quickly spread an infection to multiple nations and thousands of people. Yet, given the low transfer rate of this form of Tuberculosis and the relatively limited time to contract the disease, my concern is more focused.

What could be more of a concern for me? What is more devastating than this well-hyped health scare? Our northern border.

I do not blame Canada for allowing a U.S. citizen to enter their country, and to leave it. They had no idea who this guy was, nor did we tell them to look out for him. Canada did nothing wrong. But how does a person who is flagged and sought after by the American government enter the nation? Through Mexico, crossing the border with illegal immigrants in the dead of night across difficult terrain? No, a casual drive over the northern border is all it takes.

I’ve spoken about this several times,

“…But if we are to posture about security and claim a need to patrol and defend the southern border, no less attention needs to be directed at our neighbors to the north….”

I further stated,

“The government may wish to stick its head in the sand, and assume that if we protect one border all are safe. The public at large may wish to assume that one culture is more dangerous than another. But the fact is, and is shown to be again, that such precepts are both false and dangerous.”

In that post I spoke of 17 terrorists, in this one we discuss a man who carried a virulent disease, was flagged by the nation, and used his passort that stated exactly who he was. Yet there is rampant terror about what happens at the southern American border. How much more ridiculous does this all get?

I have mentioned this several times, and as often as the media discusses various individuals entering America from the north, nothing is being mentioned by our politicians. That’s quite troubling. Think about it, if you were a demented fanatic and you see the world news where American pundits are arguing about the Southern border – yet let Mr. Speaker pass without hesitation – where would you head to cause trouble? Fanatics may be sick, but they are not necessarily stupid.

When will we stop being obsessively worried about the darker-skinned and more obvious neighbors to the south, and pay attention to the larger, least watched border to the north? If 17 terrorist, among the many others we know have already crossed into the U.S., are not enough of a wake-up call this one incident definitely is. Border security is not a one sided issue, nor should it be focused against one type of people. That’s a huge group of –ism’s that only lead to one thing, a nation less safe for it’s population.

This is what I think, what do you think?