That is a pretty bold, yet pretty typical leftist European statement. What are you so worried about that would "inconvenience" your trip to American? Did you commit a terrorist act? No. Does your name appear on a list of those who shouldn't fly? No. Is comparing American policy to uh, let say, a dispicable regime like Hitler completely obtuse and unfounded? Yes. You can't judge a simnple policy for our safety and yours and call it Fascist. There is reason why you cannot fly here and there is no reason to believe you have any loss of freedom but if your coming here to cause trouble with the government or our people and these rules stop you, then yeah, I can live with that. We all can live with that.
If you wanted to stay here and drive in this country, you'd have to get a photo ID and a thumbprint. Does that stop people from driving? If you get a job in our country you have to get a social security number or tax ID, does that stop people from coming here and working?
What are these freedoms that you think you'll lose?

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Hi Steve

Not Bold really Just a logical observation on my Travels through this life of ours :) I watched a film, I read a notice at an airport, I thought about it. Leftist! Mate Im an old hippy and dont have a political bone in my body :)

But I digress. I DID NOT compare regimes I merely pointed out that the climate of fear which enabled Hitler to sieze power in his day is similar to the climate of fear under which the patriot act and the act in the UK were rushed through. If you beleive that the act's did not remove certain of our freedoms then I suggest you re-read them.

Did they catch any nasty terrorist types? NO Although they have served to have several planes sent back to the place they were flying from not least one recently. Oh yes and I forget the people released without charge after 3 years :) I dont think they helped to find any WMD's either but then thats another tall tale we were spun by the men in suits wasn't it :)

The Blog o sphere is a wonderful freedom that we all enjoy. Both you and I Steve can express ourselves in just about any manner we choose. Ive read your Blog and you do indeed express yourself :) Wink! We take this freedom for granted because we have it. My post was about being careful that we dont allow it and others to be silently taken from us.

I'm all for living safe but if that comes at the expense of losing ALL our freedom then the nasty terrorist types have won anyway! They have disrupted our way of life and that's what they are after.

PS
I have a passport, it has my picture on it and loads of code that can be run through a computer (it is when I fly now all the time) Why the need for more photos and also fingerprints? That's what my passport is for isnt it!

PPS (CNN)
Its official THE US (and UK) have given up there search for WMDs I.E There werent any in the first place which is slightly odd considering that was the reason we all went to war there :) What did Tony say "He can attack us in 45 minutes" yeh right one!

Mark..

I watched the film last night and have to agree with Mark on his observations!

Yes he was a total spycho. Well he certainly is in the film anyway! And yes he did very cleverly engineer a climate of fear enabling him to sieze power and rush through sweeping governemnt powers that took away peoples freedom.

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Heh, I also promised that I would never flight back to the US after they introduced the fingerprinting capture at airports. Specially after the US government forced Brazil to stop doing the same thing to US citizens visiting Brazil.

The coincidence both the US and Hitler's Germany have is that both of them are cutting off freedom rights under the excuse of securing the country, disguising it as something normal to the eyes of the citizen.

I agree with Steve in one way ; I'm Irish, and have been to and from the U.S six times in eight months, and had no problems being fingerprinted, scanned and tagged.

I've done nothing wrong, and they need to do what they need to do to keep their country safe.

I don't see what the issue is.

However, Steve's tarring brush is pretty damn big, and he's pretty damn wrong when he said that your post is a "pretty typical leftist European statement."

I'm a "leftist European", and I can attest to dozens of Europeans that I spoke to on my journeys who have the same beliefs as I do and yet also saw no problem with the security measures in place.

Well marie, steve is a taste of right-wing america: sweeping generalizations.