New passport requirements

KeithnRita · July 8, 2005

Teri,

We totally understand how you can be frustrated trying to get the correct

JoeyandDavid · July 8, 2005

Excellent suggestion Keith and Rita,

I was thinking lawyer for long term soultion. But yours makes more sense short term.

now wheres our joke of the day?

ABoatNerd · July 8, 2005

:cool:

Hi There, ABoatNerd again

Thanks for the posts after my response. Good stuff. I learned alot!

Passports are a big deal and will be absolutely necessary for international travel.

JoeyandDavid, you make a very significant query in your last post "I thought all Americans were into counterterrorism after 9/11"

Sadly, not at all. That is why people involved in national security and law enforcement are disheartened and fed up - I am.

Not to make this a political discussion on a cruise travel board - but the broader implications of this item will affect our cruising future.

A goodly % of Americans support and encourage terrorists by participating in maintaining the status quo on immigration, cultural practices of new immigrants. Many left leaning Americans (and particularly Canadians) absolutely refuse to believe there is evil and that some immigrants are bad. To the a) surprise then b) horror of the Netherlands, France and now England, they are learning the folly of not integrating new persons into the principles and practices of a western democracy. The old ideas of multiculturalism, political correctness need to be frankly addressed relative to risk.

The more terrorists are allowed to move freely in G8 countries, the more and more restrictions (and costs to us) will be placed on our travel and our cruising as we respond to each incident of terrorism.

I wish it were otherwise, but frankly, many of us are now "intellectually disarmed" via notions of multicultural, political correctness, moral relativism and therefore we become "physically disarmed" to. It is these lofty notions that allowed the enemy to arrive and flourish on our soil.

The cost and efficiency of cruising may well rise in the future as the G8 countries respond to world politics.

The passport is just one cost item implemented by G8 governments to know who is where. Unfortunate, but it will soon move into iris scanning to absolutely know who holds the passport.

Anyways, good cruising to all.

I am off to the cottage

Cheers

ABoatNerd

TheSkipper · July 8, 2005

Ok guys I think Terinzak got the message.

I would ask her "is it going to be any easier to get a passport a year from now, given the Long-Lost Dad issue??"

It is a bother, but really not that big a deal. It will be good for 10 years and very simple to renew. My advice is "bite the bullet" and get it over with, then enjoy your cruise without the minor issue still hanging over your head. :wink:

GottaCruz · July 9, 2005

Great advice, Keith and Rita.

GottaCruz · July 9, 2005

A Boat Nerd,

As Joey and David posted earlier, here at CruiseCrazies we agree to disagree without insults to anyone. We value the beliefs of every single member . We respect each other's views. We have lively discussions but we do it with sensitivity as to how others will intrepret our remarks. We are very glad to have you as a member here but we would appreciate it if you could state your views in a manner that is not insulting to others. Thank you for understanding.

Cheryl, Moderator

hamster92256 · July 9, 2005

Thank you Cheryl

One of the main reasons that I like coming to this board is because everyone is so friendly and up until today I have never seen an insulting remark made, some differences of opinion, but no insults. To Joey, you are the diplomat, I had to hold back and wait a few hours before I posted this time.

I too work in law enforcement, and if ever there was a job that could make you bitter towards society as a whole it would be the one that I do every single day. I work in a medium security prison, that houses 500 plus convicted felons. Believe it or not I usually don't lock my house when I go out, the keys to my motorcycle are in the ignition in the garage, and I don't lock my car. Why? Small town mentality, maybe, or it could be that I'm just overly trusting of my fellow man.

I too was shocked at the bombings in London, could it happen here again, of course it could. Am I going to fear for my life every time I leave the house, of course not, if that happens they win!! Fear and intimidation is their main weapon. If I walked into work and onto a housing unit with 65 inmates, if I did not present myself in a strong professional manner, if I showed any kind of fear surely someone would pick up on it and I would be at their mercy. Have I ever been afraid at work, Hell yes, in the middle of a small riot almost 13 years ago, stand down, Never.

Terrorists are just big bullies, they want you afraid, they want you to hide, they will do that if you let them. Just remember you probably have a better chance of getting hit by a truck crossing the road then you do of getting blown up by a terrorist. Just think about that the next time you step off that curb.

Sorry I had to get that off my chest, now back to the easy living and talk of cruises and family and such.

Chris

JoeyandDavid · July 9, 2005

Thank YOU Chris,<]

For doing a job I want no parts of!

People like you are the real hero's

now back to your regularly scheduled forum.:grin:

GottaCruz · July 9, 2005

I too say thank you Chris, for the job that you do in making our country safer for all. You definitely are a hero.

And JoeyandDavid, as I said in my PM to you, you are true gentlemen, a class act and we greatly appreciate your diplomacy, to say the least, in this situation.

Cheryl

hamster92256 · July 9, 2005

Thank you JoeyandDavid and Cheryl, very few people have ever said that about Correction Officers as normally the only press that we do get is of the bad kind. Example, military prison in Iraq, I will say that I actually got into the business because of the pay and benefits. But as we say around here it's a family business as both my older brother and younger brother are also officers and my oldest son just started working for the Federal Prison system after getting out of the military.

Prior to this line of work I was a Land Surveyor and have a degree in Forest Engineering.