Sitting at the Border for No Good Reason

I curl. I curl in Canada during the winters. I will continue to curl there if for no other reason than to express one of my American freedoms to go where I want when I want so long as it violates no moral code. Yet I almost have the impression that our own government doesn't particularly want us visiting our northern neighbor and closest friend.

What brings this on is the number of times I have to sit at the border at 1 AM for sometimes 15 or 20 minutes of me trying, simply, to get back into my own country. I cannot imagine what kind of questions which need to be answered, and what kind of truly need to know information, any border guard really has to have about regular visitors to Canada.

I've been going there consistently for about 11 years now. They must know that. My record is virtually clean: not even a traffic ticket since the 1980's. I claim every drop of beer and spirits which I buy at duty free. I am meticulously honest with them, and it's all on record.

So why do I have to be asked, as I was last night for the umpteenth time, what's my occupation? How much Canadian and American currency do I have on me?

None of your damn business, quite frankly. I should be able to ask, 'Do you have anything on me? No? Then let me go home'. The rest is just presumption, and I thought we US nationals were innocent until proven guilty.

I guess not.

We have crossed the border with Canada for years without such unwarranted hassles. When we change how we live because of terrorism, the terrorists have won after all.

What's with these People?

My own former mayor (I really, really like saying that) had to be forced from office despite obvious errant behavior. The Governor Illinois had to be forced from office despite obvious errant behavior. The Mayor of Portland, Oregon won't leave office despite obvious errant behavior. What gives?

Ego and arrogance is undoubtedly at the heart of it. That, sadly, says much about our politics in this day and age. You have to have a certain amount of ego to get into the field, to be sure, but when we reach the point where it seems to openly attract figures who are, shall we say, a bit overly interested in the power and prestige, then perhaps we ought to rethink our system.

If it is the power which brings them in then I have to suggest that to drive them away we need to lessen the impact of our political positions. We need to make government less powerful and government service more truly something of a chore which offers little personal aggrandizement.

Sadly, that ship has long sailed. I guess we just have to deal with what we have and hope for the best. we have only to hope that the safeguards in place, such as they are, eventually work, as they did recently here and in Illinois. It sucks, but it beats being a third world country just the same.

If Money were no Object.

If I had all the money I wanted, what would I do?

I would learn to brew my own beer from scratch. That would be fun.

I would buy a Stradivarius and shock the classical music world by using it exclusively to play Orange Blossom Special.

I would get illegal Canadian satellite TV just to have TSN and watch all the curling.

I would build a dome over my property just so I wouldn't have to shovel the bleedin' snow! Global warming - HA! Seven of the snowiest winters in Detroit history have been in the last thirty years. I say again: global warming - HA!

I would hire a landscaper so that I wouldn't have to mow the bleedin' grass in the spring and summer. I hate outdoor work.

Well, I hate most work, but some work more than other chores.

I'd pay to keep GITMO open just to hack off the rest of the world. I don't want those ne'er do wells in my country any more than anyone else would, and I kind of like it when everyone else crabs about us. Jealousy is such an evil, unbecoming trait.

That does it. I quit. I'm stopping this blog. It has become tiresome.

Enough with the Winter Already!

I'm sick of shoveling snow! I'm sick of cleaning off my car! I'm sick of snow covered boots and clothes and hats! I'm sick of being cold! Make it stop, oh please, make it stop!

Sorry. I had to get that off my chest. Thanks.

Kwame: All Gall

Former Detroit Mayor (I love how that sounds!) Kwame Kilpatrick is asking for early release from prison, where he is serving time for his scandalous role in the text message/perjury affair (no pun intended). He wants to move out of state to seek work.

What's the matter, Kwame? Afraid you can't get a decent job in Detroit? What about the comeback we set you up for? Where's the arrogance now?

Oh, we all know why you want to leave. Sure, you're family lives outside of Michigan now (can you blame them?) but what else might be afoot? Hmm? That little affair with the stripper at the, ahem, alleged wild party at the mayoral residence? The fact that a sludge contractor just implicated you in bribes offered to city officials for a waste hauling contract? Could any of that be a factor in your wish for early release and desire to leave Michigan?

I'm sure that none of that matters. Yeah. Just incidental.

The Fight is On

President Barack Obama is considering letting each state set its own emissions and fuel standards for automobiles. As I like the idea of more power being granted to the states I have no essential problem with this move. What will be interesting, though, is how it will influence Washington's relationship with the auto industry.

On its own terms I'm not sure what to make of it; it does seem unfair that any given industry within the same country should have to deal with varying standards. Still, we are a federal union, which of course means the entities which comprise that union must have basic control of their geographical areas. The issue of where to draw the line is often contentious.

The move cannot help an already ailing segment of our economy. Yet even as I try to diagnose the question I find myself with a sense of glee at the implications. All those UAW workers who love the Democrats must be at the least perplexed just now. Those voters here in Michigan have got to feel a bit let down that their savior is showing his true liberal colors. If they've never understood it before, let them have a taste of the environmental extremism which this signals. Let them see what liberal policy really is, and hopefully think a little more deeply about voting for this sort of stuff the next time around. Let experience, the harshest teacher, give them a lesson in life.

And when the auto industry can't rebound, don't come crying to me. You get what you deserve in the end.

Sunday Salvos

The Detroit Lions are still worth something like $981 million even after the season they had. That only shows that values for sports franchises are way overinflated.

I have to buy some bottles to bottle the beer I'm brewing later this week. It's my first solo foray into beer making; my family got me a brewing kit for Christmas and I'm trying my hand at an IPA: India Pale Ale. It's based on the style of ale which was widely exported to India by England in the 1800's. They tend to be hoppy (lots of hops used in the process) and I like hoppy brews. Once bottled, they'll have to sit for awhile (one week on the inside, four months on the outside). I'll let you know how it works out.

The Detroit Tigers signed Arizona closer Brandon Lyon to presumably be their closer this year. They've made a lot of moves this year, moves less spectacular than the last off season's, adding a shortstop, catcher, and a couple other relievers, none of whom are superstars. But the conservative (ahem) approach works as well in sports as in all other aspects of life. Get the right pieces in place and all else follows. I am quietly confident that the Tigers will have a good, solid season in 2009.

In his sixth day on the job President Obama has been quietly treading the waters. I think that's a good approach, so far as it goes; understand that I am only speaking contextually here. I don't like the closing of GITMO, but that will prove more difficult that he may think. Notice how all his executive order really did was set up a task force to study how to do it. That translates into, simply, if we can't do it easily, we have reason to back off: the task force, not the President, recommended it. That little bit of insulation can be critically important in the nuanced world of American politics.

To be sure, his ideas about lifting foreign aid which affects abortion, his consideration of lifting the ban on embryonic stem cell research, and the idea of re-instituting bans on certain oil drilling are less than thrilling to conservatives. Still, they were expected, so no real surprises there. It's far too early to rail too harshly on his administration.

We'll have plenty of ammo on him pretty soon anyway. That, I cannot doubt.

On the plus side, there's curling on at two this afternoon on the CBC! Hooah!

Hope the Army forgives me for that...