Brian's Not Home

Have you ever tried to find a decent meal in the UK? Spend a week in the north living off pub food and you'll need that socialized medicine.

He's someone I sort of know, so while in general I've been annoyed in a detached sort of way at the irrational state of our "homeland security" making the homeland less safe for all of us, in this particular case I'm so mad I can't think straight. But really, how does it help us to catch returning tourists at airports and deport them for minor offenses from over a decade ago? What it does do is get rid the most affluent (and thus tax revenue generating) non-citizens, since they are the ones that can afford to fly on international trips. And builds further ill will toward our country in their home countries, among their equally affluent friends, which is bound to financially hurt us further through reduced tourism and business. What it doesn't do is make us any safer, because I'm pretty sure none of the hijackers on 9/11 were convicted on petty drug charges in their teens.

I have a non US citizen coworker (who you Dan saw talk not so long ago in Hilo) who has quit going on foreign trips because he's afraid they won't let him back into the country to see his wife and kids if he does. They don't seem to need much of a reason any more. And he's not alone, pretty much everyone where I work who isn't a US citizen has essentially lost the ability to travel, out of fear of being separated from their home, job, and family. It's one of the things they talk about the most, and a major issue for their (and my) employeer. We're closing ourselves off. I'm just waiting for our former allies in Europe to start referring to it as an iron curtain.