"Fortress America"

That's the headline on the Irish Independent article on the new measures to track visitors to the US. Fingerprinting (inkless) and photographing (painless) seem to me pretty minor inconveniences for visitors. Yet, the tone of this article is full of the hysterical civil liberties nonsense. To my mind, this is the minimum that should be done. I'll be happier when the Canadian border is secure (or Canada begins to take this issue seriously).

I really love this line, "Civil liberties groups accused the government of isolating people of Middle Eastern descent". That's despite the fact it applies to all but 30 countries. And, it definitely explains Brazil's response (which is simply silly - do what you need to do for security, but don't be so petty).

Here's a voice of sanity, from today's NY Times:

"Any measures America feels it has to take in order to prevent any future terrorist attacks are worth losing a few minutes over," said Gerardo Molina, 54, a lawyer arriving in Miami from Santiago, Chile. "Hopefully the rest of the world will catch on and do the same."