i agree len
ridiculous & absurd as well as off target
just like many of the other so called news items we get here
from well meaning members who apparently still havent found or
understood the very clear bp charter & thus still think boundarypoint
is some kind of place for any kind of border nonsense in general
whereas we are expressly gathered here for a much more particular &
exacting kind of nonsense
of course bp can still be as general as anyone likes
& everyone is still right to send & say whatever they do like
but that is only because the point & the pointer are one
& individuals here are no less important than their points
rather than because these sorts of tries are on point
& there is a big difference
m
--- In BoundaryPoint@y..., "lnadybal" <lnadybal@c...> wrote:
> Regarding the quote from this story:
>
> "The posting of the Canada Customs inspectors in Newark has created
> some unease among Canadians worried about their country's close
> relationship with the U.S. becoming too close."
>
> "To the extent that there's more and more encroachment, I think
there
> will be growing concerns as to just how sovereign Canada really is."
>
> I laugh at the absurdity of this kind of thing. First of all, give
me
> names of the Canadians who are ill at ease with the stationing in
the
> USA of their officials.... it's the USA that "gives up" sovereignty
in
> such an affair - if you consider that stationing officials in
another
> country is a splitting of sovereign rights - which it's not. The
> sovereign, the US in this case, exercizing its right to do what it
> wants on its territory, is granting a license for someone to do
> something - not making the ground the Canadian inspectors stand on
> some sort of extraterritorial area.
>
> For criminy sakes, both countries are in NATO and have troops on
each
> others' soil (remember the DEW line across northern Canada and the
US
> troops who were in Newfoundland, on on and on...) - and here we
have
> some newswriter asserting that some anonymous Canadians are afraid
> because we (the US) let their people come here to perform official
> acts. They should be afraid that the US has given up some of it's
> sovereignty to the Canadians - if that's the "logic" they insist on
> applying.
>
> The author is just a rabble rouser.
>
> Len Nadybal
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --- In BoundaryPoint@y..., "Doug Murray Productions" <doug@d...>
> wrote:
> > Print Story - canada.com network
> >
> >
> > Cameras target border jumpers
> > Staff now can see why a sensor has been tripped
> >
> > Glenn Bohn
> > Vancouver Sun
> >
> >
> > Thursday, April 04, 2002
> >
> > Vancouver Sun
> > John Bates (above, left) of the U.S. Border
Patrol
> is shown in the Blaine control centre where new $50-million US
camera
> patrol system is monitored. Greg Faubion and Kimberly Kaya, both
Law
> Enforcement Communications Assistants, are at the computer
controls.
> >
> >
> > Vancouver Sun
> > Bates walks along Jerome Street in Blaine,
where
> dual cameras on a pole watch the border.
> >
> >
> > The U.S. Border Patrol has installed 64
> remote-controlled video cameras along the western end of the
> Canada-U.S. border.
> >
> > The cameras, atop metal poles on U.S. soil, are
> monitoring a 70-kilometre stretch of the international boundary
from
> the Columbia Valley south of Abbotsford to the Douglas border
crossing
> at south Surrey and Blaine, Wash.
> >
> > U.S. authorities already have
> weight-and-motion-sensitive sensors that alert border agents when
> someone or something moves through one of the farm fields or
ditches
> that run along the 49th parallel, which used to be known as the
> world's longest undefended border.
> >
> > But, before the cameras, U.S. Border Patrol deputy
chief
> John Bates said agents didn't immediately know whether the sensors
> were detecting a smuggler or a deer.
> >
> > Now, staff who monitor camera-captured images can aim
as
> many as two cameras on any one area, to try to find out what
tripped a
> sensor. If they see something suspicious, a border agent has some
> forewarning of a potential danger before rushing off to investigate.
> >
> > "For instance, if a farmer was plowing his field and
he
> got very close to the sensor, we could tell [the border agent] you
> don't need to respond," Bates said Wednesday in an interview. "Or
we
> could have a heavy rainstorm that causes a stream to overflow its
> banks, which can make a [light beam-based motion] sensor false,
> because it thought that some person broke the beam when in fact it
was
> water.
> >
> > "On the other hand, we might see six or seven
> individuals cross and we'd be able to tell the agent what he's
looking
> for."
> >
> > The cameras capture colour images, so staff looking
at
> the monitors can see the colour of a suspect vehicle and relay a
> description to the border agent, who otherwise might pass the
vehicle
> on his way to the scene. Each of the 18-metre-high poles is topped
> with two cameras: a regular camera for use in daylight and an
> infra-red camera for night. The cameras can pan the landscape or
zoom
> in on one area, to get an image of a person or car from as far away
as
> five kilometres.
> >
> > "Even if we had agents out there at night, they might
> not be able to see that in the dark," he said.
> >
> > The U.S. government began installing its $50-million
US
> surveillance system last September, before Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks
> in New York and Washington, D.C.
> >
> > Bates said there are similar cameras along the
> U.S.-Mexico border, but the cameras here are the first major
> surveillance systems along the U.S.-Canada border.
> >
> > The cameras are already paying for themselves. Bates
> said they have been successfully used to stop marijuana smugglers,
as
> well as northbound and southbound aliens, as recently as last
weekend.
> >
> > Each year, about 1,000 illegal aliens are captured
along
> that stretch of the border. Bates said it used to be impossible to
> estimate how many more people eluded authorities and crossed the
> border illegally, but he's hoping the cameras will give the U.S.
> Border Patrol a better idea.
> >
> > In contrast to Canadian officials at borders and
> airports -- who often say they can't discuss security measures --
> Bates isn't shy about letting the public know about the cameras.
> >
> > "Part of our job is to deter illegal entry," he said.
> >
> > Bates also said the cameras will benefit both
countries,
> because he said U.S. authorities are sharing their information with
> Canadian authorities to stop things like weapons and drug smuggling.
> >
> > "We look at this border as a two-way street," he
said.
> >
> > Meanwhile, two customs inspectors from Canada have
> quietly begun working in the United States, screening northbound
cargo
> for contraband or potential security threats.
> >
> > Canada Customs inspectors stationed last week in
Newark,
> N.J., and Seattle are "pre-screening" some of the 200,000 marine
cargo
> containers on their way to Canada each year.
> >
> > In Newark, the Canadian inspectors sit at computer
> terminals and examine ship manifests and customs declaration forms,
> using electronic intelligence and law enforcement databases to help
> them spot suspicious containers.
> >
> > "Anything that we recognize that looks out of the
> ordinary, we will investigate further," said Michel Proulx, a
Canada
> Customs spokesman.
> >
> > "If someone did send us a nuclear bomb, it's better
to
> catch it right away at the point of entry than let it take six days
as
> it moves across the continent."
> >
> > The two inspectors based in Newark seek anomalies
that
> might make a container suspicious, including paperwork marred by
> errors, shipping routes that make little sense, and computer "hits"
> showing that a vessel or its captain has previously been involved
in
> smuggling.
> >
> > In October, Italian officials found a suspected al-
Qaida
> operative locked inside a marine container bound for Canada. Inside
> the container, authorities found a bed, a makeshift bathroom,
airport
> maps and security passes, and an airplane mechanic's certificate.
> >
> > The unarmed Canada Customs inspectors in Newark won't
> conduct any searches, Proulx said. If a Canada-bound container
draws
> their attention, he said, they will ask their U.S. counterparts to
> search it.
> >
> > Inspected containers that have been cleared are
sealed
> and then sent to Canada.
> >
> > Newark was selected because it is the eastern U.S.
port
> that ships the largest volume of containers onward to Canada, he
said.
> >
> > "We are neighbours," Proulx said. "We have to work
> together. We are looking at this as a joint initiative to ensure
> security on the North American perimeter."
> >
> > The posting of the Canada Customs inspectors in
Newark
> has created some unease among Canadians worried about their
country's
> close relationship with the U.S. becoming too close.
> >
> > "I think over all there's a feeling of angst," said
> Allen Sens, a professor at the University of British Columbia.
> >
> > "To the extent that there's more and more
encroachment,
> I think there will be growing concerns as to just how sovereign
Canada
> really is."
> >
> > gbohn@p...
> >
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> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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