Olympics & Customs

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Carl Stork <carl () ciconiaco com>
> Date: October 4, 2009 15:54:06 EDT
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: Olympics & Customs

> While Brock is right that there is politics and corruptions at the  
> IOC, and
> that our border procedures may not have been the primary cause of  
> losing the
> Olympics, he is wrong to conclude that because dictatorships and  
> corrupt
> nations have unpleasant entry procedures, we should be happy with  
> what the
> U.S. has. Compare us to France, Switzerland, and Germany, not to  
> Pakistan
> and El Salvador.
>
>
>
> From: "Brock N. Meeks" <bnmeeks () verizon net>
> Date: October 4, 2009 14:35:34 EDT
> To:  <mailto:dave () farber net> dave () farber net
> Subject: Re: [IP] Airport Security Cost The US the 2016 Olympics
>
> Oh man, this “blame U.S. Airport security” or â 
> €œblame CSIS” or blame
> DHS for the loss of the Olympics is complete bullshit.  (And as no  
> less an
> aside, I hear no one even talking about what a rat f**k hosting the  
> Olympics
> actually is in economic terms...)
>
> In 1989 I was stripped and cavity searched by the Pakistani’s  
> as I was
> EXITING the sh*thole called Karachi International Airport and for no  
> other
> reason than because I (stupidly) admitted that I was a foreign  
> correspondent
> reporting on the Afghan war.
>
> I have traveled to my share of dangerous and godforsaken places and  
> believe
> me, I will take whatever “attitude” and “standing  
> in line” I have to
> get back into the U.S. or depart from it compared to a dozen other  
> places
> I’ve been. All this whining and moaning about the nefarious  
> U.S. Entry
> standards is a friggen joke.
>
> Try driving a car down the Pan American highway; try cross into El  
> Salvador
> from Guatemala by car if you really want to be made to feel like a
> criminal... Of course, all the hassle and delay can be sidestepped  
> for a
> mere $500 U.S. --amazing what bribery will get you in Latin American
> countries... Or East European countries, or Caribbean countries  
> or... You
> get my drift.
>
> Our security measures had nothing to do with this; Stewart Baker is  
> right...
> (I think Stew just had a heart attack upon hearing me say that...)  
> this was
> entirely political, a rigged friggen game.  Frankly, the Olympics,  
> has long
> been a mere shadow of itself.  Cheating is rampant; bribery  
> influencing
> judging is all too common, performance enhancing drugs should be an  
> Olympic
> sport unto itself.
>
> The IOC did us a favor in handing this debacle of a “sportingâ 
> € even to
> another country.  Let it be their headache.
>
>
>
> <winmail.dat>



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