I've been in Texas for the last two weeks and I miss my kitties something fierce.

Aw gee, little Scooter.

4:54:32 PM     leave/read comments []

First up: Fascist America, in 10 easy steps by Naomi Wolf

If that essay doesn't scare the living daylights out of you, you're not a real American.

The US is also in the business of dicking over parents who want to visit their kids.

Canadian professor denied US entry for taking LSD in 1967. Cory Doctorow:

W sez, "Vancouver psychotherapist Andrew Feldmar has been barred from entering the United States. The reason? During a random stop-and-search at a US/Canadian border crossing, a Google search of his name led to his article from the Spring 2001 'Janus Head: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature, Continental Philosophy, Phenomenological Psychology, and the Arts.' In it Feldmar describes two acid trips he took under the supervision of his graduate advisor in psychology -- in 1967. This turns out to have been enough to earn him a life-time ban under the grounds of 'admitted drug use.'

"Feldmar *was* told he could apply for a waiver, and that after a year, and at a cost of around $3,500, he had a '90% chance' of its being granted.

"Oh -- and he'd have to go through the process each time he wanted to travel to the US."

The official said that under the Homeland Security Act, Feldmar was being denied entry due to "narcotics" use. LSD is not a narcotic substance, Feldmar tried to explain, but an entheogen. The guard wasn't interested in technicalities. He asked for a statement from Feldmar admitting to having used LSD and he fingerprinted Feldmar for an FBI file...

Feldmar was determined, in the months after the aborted border crossing, to turn things around. He was particularly determined because the idea of not being able to visit his children at their homes was unthinkable.

Link

(Thanks, W!)

(Image ganked from The Tyee, where it was credited to C. Grabowski.) [Boing Boing]

Schande für de goyim.

2:21:04 PM     leave/read comments []