U.S. ID card scheme fatal for tourism: survey

[Newsjock]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060314.wborder0314/BNStory/National/home

BETH GORHAM
Canadian Press

Washington — A bilateral business coalition opposed to U.S. plans for new ID cards at the border says the scheme will erect a wall with grave implications for commerce because most Americans and Canadians won't buy them.

A survey released Tuesday by Zogby International suggests 68 per cent of people in the United States and 54 per cent in Canada would be unlikely to purchase a card to avoid showing a passport at land crossings by the end of next year.

About a third of people surveyed in each country who don't have passports said they'd be less likely to cross the border, a sign of an impending blow to tourism that's been estimated at nearly a billion dollars in the U.S. and twice that in Canada.

... It should take less time to cross the border than navigating the Berlin Wall during the Cold War, said Representative Jeff Morris, a Washington state Democrat who's among dozens of U.S. legislators worried about the security policy.

"I want to ask President Bush: Please tear down this wall," said Mr. Morris. "No one has proven that this will enhance security in any way."

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[Atman]

1. Mr. Morris has it all wrong

"I want to ask President Bush: Please tear down this wall," said Mr. Morris. "No one has proven that this will enhance security in any way."

It's not about enhancing the security of our mutual borders...it is about enhancing the security of the Bush regime!

[saigon68]

3. The coward hides under his bed at night

protected by thousands of armed security "contractors"

[NYC]

2. Perhaps someone will stop this really bad idea

before it happens. Let's hope so.

[rodeodance]

4. it will be difficult as it is Stensenbrenner who is pushing it.

[DELUSIONAL]

5. There was the Iron curtain and then the Bamboo curtain

What will America's curtain be called.

I hope I can get out before leaving becomes impossible.

My Jewish friends managed to escape Germany TO America just before WWII. They stayed and fought as long as they could but we smart enough to know when to leave.

If the bush gang is allowed to continue down the path they have chosen -- then many of us will make the choice to leave. Some will leave and more will stay to continue the battle.

[whosinpower]

6. I stopped traveling

To the US after the invasion of Iraq. It is my own sort of protest and now we travel exclusively in Canada. Spend our money here. Of course, since the canadian dollar is so much stronger than it was in previous years - it would not surprise me if Americans would not travel to Canada - it isn't the bargain it was before 2001.