tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2485469691062620401.post9102941209616496724..comments2023-09-15T02:40:58.916-07:00Comments on Move Along. Nothing To See Here.: They Convicted Peter WattsFlintharthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17456024642528783549noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2485469691062620401.post-91853200872861402142010-03-23T16:34:11.926-07:002010-03-23T16:34:11.926-07:00So do we know what his sentence will be? Would the...So do we know what his sentence will be? Would they extradite him from Canada for this sort of nonsense?Guru Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11278263694181625188noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2485469691062620401.post-32328560066197792162010-03-23T05:34:39.993-07:002010-03-23T05:34:39.993-07:00what he said ^
You're right mate, it hasn'...what he said ^<br /><br />You're right mate, it hasn't been the land of the free for quite a whileMickHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03951243567370863042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2485469691062620401.post-69746065327661931852010-03-23T02:05:44.887-07:002010-03-23T02:05:44.887-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2485469691062620401.post-19725650293432808032010-03-21T18:53:44.599-07:002010-03-21T18:53:44.599-07:00We had a terrible incident coming across the borde...We had a terrible incident coming across the border from Mexico in 2003. We did a 3 month road trip through Mexico and the US. We had been driving for 6 hours, we had been stuck on the Mexico side for 3 hours without any food or water. Coming back accoss the border we were saying to ourselves thank god we are back in civilisation(Mexico was a bit disapointing) , expecting to go straight through BUT we were missing a little paper tag that was supposed to be stapelled to my wifes passport. No idea what it was or what it looked like. We were sent to sit with all the Mexicans, most who looked really scared as these guys had the power of life or death over them.<br />Wait an hour, have a couple of questions then sit down, wait another hour then they call my wife over and this HUGE black dude starts drilling her over and over, basically "are you a terrorist" BS . I get up and go over to find out what the hell is going on and start having a slanging match with him , he did not like pointing out that the we were actually ALLIES. Turns out being a scientist working with Viruses means you may be a bio-terrorist. They demanded my passport and did a FBI scan on me (found nothing) as I was causing "trouble" wait another 3 hours , meanwhile I was getting REALLY REALLY pissed. They just left the passports sitting there till they felt they had taught us a lesson for questioning their godliness. THEN they told customs we were suspicous and they spent another hour strip searching our car (they found a bottle of vanilla liquour we had to pay 1.50 alcohol tax on). This is on the biggest known drug crossing in the states, I bet the drug lords were happy that day. It honestly was the worst day of my life.<br /><br />PS found the missing piece of paper the next day in a book! <br /><br />Some of the people who work on that crossing have absoultely no humanity left.NOTaHAPPYcamperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06440707018683564730noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2485469691062620401.post-20725248280110232552010-03-21T15:36:18.439-07:002010-03-21T15:36:18.439-07:00And Flinthart, I did mean to add that I find your ...And Flinthart, I did mean to add that I find your ideas really interesting & inteligent. I hadn't seen your blog before but it just adds to the impression I have of you from JB's Blunty (etc). Great blog :)<br />Abster.Abigailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08892142578964860337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2485469691062620401.post-65838067081083041592010-03-21T13:02:14.381-07:002010-03-21T13:02:14.381-07:00Apologies, my mistakeApologies, my mistakeMichael barneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08986102144813296339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2485469691062620401.post-28812531969056872942010-03-21T05:26:45.115-07:002010-03-21T05:26:45.115-07:00Flinthart. Yes. Can't agree more.
What's ...Flinthart. Yes. Can't agree more.<br /><br />What's happened to Watts is a fucking disaster.<br /><br />I guess they'll offer him a plea bargain and let him off more lightly. (Although I saw a pretty scary 4 Corners episode on that subject). Poor guy.<br /><br />I had a very small but still telling experience in cyber space regarding what happens sometimes when you criticise US policy/ the President. I made a remark on my fb page about a certain president (nothing extreme at all) then followed it with "I guess I'll be unwelcome in the US if their govt reads this page". To my shock , a US correspondent ( man in his 60s) replied: "Yes.They track these comments. You'll get to customs and they'll turn you around. You won't know why"<br />==shivers==<br /><br />AbigailAbigailhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08892142578964860337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2485469691062620401.post-84824716102075018832010-03-20T16:21:08.196-07:002010-03-20T16:21:08.196-07:00I should have been more clear, Mr Barnes: I'm ...I should have been more clear, Mr Barnes: I'm not actually being paranoiac. What I'm saying is that this shit can happen randomly to somebody like Watts -- so it's easy to see how such routine procedural abuses of power could be used as a 'cover' to discourage anybody who happened to be on the shit list. (And did I ever mention that among the folk with whom I argued about the Bush II Iraq war there were NSA and Pentagon people?)<br /><br />I'm not suggesting I'm really a target. I'm just saying that since there's already a culture of authoritarian abuse, it would be extremely easy for someone in the right position to use that culture to target an easily compiled list of people -- and how would we ever know?<br /><br />Mister Jay -- every account I have of Watts from people who know him personally suggests he's an eminently reasonable man. And for what it's worth, I know for a fact he's been personally thanking and emailing every last individual who sent contributions to his defense fund. The email was quite unexpected, but very restrained and sane. And of course, he has no useful way of lying about the court outcomes, since all the transcripts are a matter of public record, etc.<br /><br />It's a screwed up situation. I hope the judge exercises good sense in the sentencing process.Flintharthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17456024642528783549noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2485469691062620401.post-23639208682074942172010-03-20T15:17:11.105-07:002010-03-20T15:17:11.105-07:00Watt's account is most generous. After all he ...Watt's account is most generous. After all he has been trough, the only thing he takes issue with is the wording of the statute. Wording that made it all but impossible for the jury to not find him guilty.Jyggdrasilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13103800860401813367noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2485469691062620401.post-25934464171616074442010-03-20T15:09:47.583-07:002010-03-20T15:09:47.583-07:00And for every Peter Watts I have to wonder how man...And for every Peter Watts I have to wonder how many others have been subject to this. Mr Watts at least in educated, articulate and access to resources that are not available to many.<br /><br />The scenario you paint of "and I know that various US agencies routinely aggregate data from the Internet" would at least give some logical basis, however paranoid, to the way they select who to harass at the borders. I suspect it is an example of the abuse of power that can occur with any petty official with a little power. More damning is the lack of oversite that should be in place further up the chain that says 'don't be an idiot, we aren't charging him for this'.<br /><br />The more serious systemic problem is the one you outline that in the past years the US has introducing a framework which as less margin of tolerance in the way it deals with any behaviour outside an increasingly narrowly defined norm. This constriction of acceptable I think leads to a degree of groupthink that Orwell would have been familiar with.<br /><br />I am no fan of this draconian mindset that brooks no dissent. While I would not be one subject to scrutiny due to my work or my writing such as you but standing in a line at an airport and watching my eight year old be searched I can not help but think that "something is wrong here".<br /><br />I have met Americans and have found them as wonderful and as crap as any other group of people. The history of America is full of episodes of hope and despair. I imagine that they can change, by efforts and time and circumstance. <br /><br />They have had horrors such as this before, that list doesn't need to be enunciated here and yet still achieved great and noble actions. <br /><br />I hope they will overcome this period and become they best they can be again listening to as their President Lincoln called the Angels of their better nature.Michael barneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08986102144813296339noreply@blogger.com