EL_REY

how will it protect US, if we are the ones needing them to come in and out?
and yea, nothing will stop the flow of illegals, or to be politically correct "undocumented workers"..just like nothing will ever stop the supposed "war" on drugs.....and the other guy is so misinformed about not bieng able to worship "God" in public lol

but yea, the passport... its for US togo into and back from mexico....so how is it going to protect us...and why should we even need one? hell my dad has a purple heart license plate on his trucvk, shouldnt that be proof enough that hes a damn american who fought in the vietnam war?

hell what they really need is to make all the dang pakis, punjabis, arabs, hatians, cubans, and the like to get a passport, and we should make the "gubment" do thier job and enforce the laws when it comes to those things

how much will our passport be good for? a year? and we have to pay $100 every yr or what

captain howdy

Hey, that's just how I feel. That's my opinion and I don't feel it to be a bad example. I'm referring to shutting down the borders and making America a place for Americans only much like the Nazi's did. Isn't America supposed to be the land of freedom and opportunity where all people and religions are embraced and welcomed? Why shouldn't America be open to all people and all religions? If people were to have had this conversation a couple hundred years ago and went through with it how many of us would actual be Americans now? I believe that immigrants should seek to become Americans once they come here and I know many don't. But talk of shutting down borders, building fences, and that immigrants are ruining America is just ridiculous and a sounds a little too overly Nationalistic for my liking.

EDIT: About the whole terrorist thing. With the general consensus and ignorance of us Americans I'm surprised we haven't set up "internment camps" again like we did in WWII for all people of Middle Eastern descent.

solman98

Who said anything about shutting down borders? It was simple stated to enter you need a passport. When I deployed to Germany, Korea, Bosia, Saudia Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and several other countries, I had to have a passport or US Military orders, or I did not enter. Plain and simple. That is to protect that country, or at least help. When I traveled to Guatemala to pick my daughter up, I needed a passport, or I did not enter. The only two countries I have been to that did not require that was Mexico and Canada. The US has a lot of threats placed upon it daily.

If you want to compare security to the Nazi's. That is done is poor taste IMO. I served this country for over 20 years in the military. Fought in three wars, you know the type were you get shot at. To this day I still work for the Goverment, proudly. I work closely with numerous other Government agencies including, Air Force, Navy, Army, Marines, DoD, DHS, & and many others. I may not agree with what comes from our government, but I still support and defend it. Just think, the next 9/11 might not be so tame.

BTW, passports are good for 7 years I believe. Plus it depends if you are getting a red or green overed one (makes a differenance of security level you are applying for) Yes you have to pay to have it renewed. It's not a hard thing to get, but it is time consuming. As a through background check is completed.

DYLANSHHR

Nice job Cap ! I agree 100% The most important part and the key for immigrants to know was " If the person refuses to be American, believe in the American ways, or wants to differentiate themselves from the rest of America then I have a huge problem " Well said C.H.

Krejaton

ROFL...go into downtown LA...Santa Ana...Long Beach...Anaheim and you can get a fake Cal Drivers Licence for about $10. That is the document that will get you access to the US. Thus the security that document brings is nil...and each states is different. So now the border patrol has to monitor licences from 50 different states...plus passports and that is just for US citizens. Insane.

Set up a modernized system with a uniform document that can be more easily tracked = a step in the right direction.

And no, it is not good for a year. Used to be 10, I believe 7 now. $90 divided by 7 years? You do the math. I am with our Canadian friend, should have been madatory long ago.

James06

A passport is good for 10 years. If you break it down like that, it's $10 per year. I haven't posted here yet, so here goes. First, we should do everything we can to protect our borders against anyone entering illegally. That's just common sense. I know we can't stop it all, but we have to make the attempt. Second, I have never felt I can't worship my God in public. I don't think we should cram our beliefs down someone else's throat, but we are able to worship and discuss God as we see fit, as long as it doesn't harm anyone else. I've never even felt censored on this forum, although some others have thought they were. I guess what I'm saying is we live in a country where we are free to worship as we see fit, unlike a lot of countries where Christianity is illegal. Please, let's not knock our country. Yeah, it has some faults that we should work to change, but I challenge any of you to find a better one.

calgaryhhr

I really enjoy reading the discussions that take place here. I love having a fairly close look at American society. I really enjoy the posts made about people being American versus Mexican American, Italian American whatever. I don't understand the amalgamation forced upon people to become "American." Why is it that someone should have to forego their history and ethnicity and background in order to live in the US and be an American citizen.
The government of Canada and the people of Canada embrace multi-culturalism. We have been our country on a foundation that everyone here is from different places, believes different things and we respect each other for that. Some of the greatest events that happen in various cities across Canada are multi-cultural events. Citizens of Canada who have come from all over the earth come together for festivals to share culture, food, stories, and their backgrounds. It's a great way to actually learn about people from other countries. We're not afraid of our identities. I'm a Polish-German-Canadian.

That's all for now, keep the conversation coming! I love hearing/seeing/reading it.

calgaryhhr

Sorry, one other question. Previously religion and the state was brought up and there was talk about how religion is kept out of school and public buildings and government and whatever.

In court rooms and during trials, do witnesses still swear on the bible before testimony?

And why does your money say "In God we Trust"?

EL_REY

now isnt that what they get paid for? isnt that why i get a crap load of taxes taken out of my check? isnt that what even the normal police as well as HW troopers do? dont they run checks into thier local computers or even NCIC or whatever the hell it is that they check for warrants, etc?
maybe it does take alittle more effort, but hey why not, its to "protect the country" isnt it? they tell us teachers that there should be "no child left behind" etc, but why put any effort into the kids who will drop out in 9th grade no matter what or get preg by the time they are in 8th grade? cuz its OUR job...

ok i think the topic is going in a diff direction.... its says that AMERICANS need the passports now to GET BACK INTO THE USA from MEXICO.... this has never been done, and ive lived on th eborder my whole life, all we had to do to get back into the USA was pay a dollar at the mexican checkpoint; drive to the border, declare what we had/or didnt have that was it.....u think maybe this is bieng done because there have been alot of cases of profiling mexicans? who knows...

i mean i only go to mexico when we want togo eat some food and drink a few beers, the casual tourist thing i guess....i dont think i wanna fork out a 100 bux just for that...maybe they should consider that for some of us on the border..

calgaryhhr

Oh, and I would just like to mention that I am in no way trying to make it sound like Canadians are better people than Americans. I am just trying to show how we differ.