How can we secure the coasts when our borders are wide open?
This is important to me. The borders of our country are in terrible shape and need to be secured if we are going to have any chance of stopping terrorists from getting through. Our border on to Mexico is large but is nothing in comparison to the borders that we call 'coastline'
How can any politician even begin to talk about securing the ports when we cannot control our borders?? As mariners many of you have probably had the experience of being boarded by the Coast Guard and Customs. Ships are not given much slack when it comes to entering the US. So why have American ship crews line up in the galley of their ship like criminals and get the shakedown by our authorities when the borders are a mess??
I don't see how we are making anything safer? I appreciate the Coast Guard (except when it comes to renewing my license) for all that they do, TRYING to secure our coast!!! BUT isn't it all for nothing when everyone knows that it is easy to get through in Mexico or Canada.
How many terrorists are in our country already? How many have come through our weak borders in the north and south?
Next time you are coming back into the country whether it is by ship or plane- watch the security shaking down our countrymen but letting the arab pass so it doesn't look like racial profiling!!! It is insane. There is no reason for this to be going on.
All I can say is that the younger generation is going to have to take power and change things for the better and get rid of all the pothead liberals that are stuck in the Vietnam era. Pray for your friends and family and hope that they are not in the next Skyscraper the muslim radicals take down.
5 comments:
That is an excellent point. It is defeating the purpose focusing so much time on the ports when the border is a floodgate.
Ken R.
Wow, it is great to see a real honest blog about the border problem. I fail to understand why the government keeps putting restrictions on us merchant mariners. We are U.S. citizens and they have to keep putting more, and more on us. We have to get a security check, back ground info, piss tested, and now they want to track us with this new ID card. I was on a ship in a U.S. port and I was not aloud to go ashore because of this security crap. WHY, do we get treated like terrorist when that Border is wide open and they refuse to do anything about it, and yet I am a citizen and I can not even go ashore in may own country to get a paper. It is just really sad.
Pissed off Mate
I am a USCG licensed Master but I will be letting my license expire next year. They've made it too much trouble with the finger printing and the "treat you like a common criminal" attitude. It's high time I retired from this harrassment and belittling treatment.
It's insulting enough already when they treat somebody they have already done a thorough background check on like some kind of servant making them go hundreds of miles out of their way for finger printing ezpecially when they got a finger print already when the license was first issued. What's with that? What did they do? Lose their records? So for their ineptitude they make people spend a day and travel hundreds of miles so they can give a law-abiding citizen the first degree.
In the meanwhile any common terrorist can get a counterfeit licence and get away with bombing a port or worse. The bureaucrats are ignorant. They think more paper pushing is what they are getting paid for. They need to remember who they work for. Fat chance!
Capt. Neal Warren
Master of Steam or Motor Vessels #1045941
Capt. Neal,
I agree with you, this is getting to be too hard. We are the grease in the wheels of this country and we are treated like shit!!! I love my job and my industry but it is getting to hard to stay in the business.
I believe you are correct Captain Neal. There is no reason to keep harrassing the good people that work for america- when they want to let illegals run in here from mexico and everywhere else.
I don't blame you for wanting to retire. I think what we need is people like you to become lobbyists in Washington to appeal these laws. There is no reason to treat mariners like criminals when we have already had background checks and worked so hard with the USCG to get the documentation in the first place.
We need people who will change what is going on. Desperately!
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