The Goverment Crackdown On Americans Going To Church In Canada

If you want to see an example of the sort of bureacracy and incompetence that that brings to mind that great P.J. O’Rourke quote…

“The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop”

…then you need look no further than this story from Maine,

“Crossing the U.S.-Canada border to go to church on a Sunday cost a U.S. citizen $10,000 for breaching Washington’s tough new security rules.

…Like the other half-dozen residents of Township 15 Range 15, crossing the border is a daily ritual for Albert. The nearby Quebec village of St. Pamphile is where they shop, eat and pray.

There are many such situations in rural areas along the largely unguarded 8,900-km (5,530-mile) border between Canada and the United States — which in some cases actually runs down the middle of streets or through buildings.

As a result, Albert says did not expect any problems three weeks ago when he returned home to the United States after attending mass in Canada, as usual.

The local U.S. customs station is closed on Sundays, so he just drove around the locked gate, as he had done every weekend since the gate appeared last May, following a tightening of border security.

Two days later, Albert was summoned to the customs office, where an officer told him he had been caught on camera crossing the border illegally.

Ottawa has granted special passes to some 300 U.S. citizens in that region so they can enter the country when Canadian customs posts are closed, but the United States canceled a similar program last May.

That forces local residents to make a 200-mile detour along treacherous logging roads to get home via the nearest staffed border checkpoint.”

First off, you’ve gotta love the idea that the government’s idea of securing the border consists of putting up an unmanned gate that you can simply drive around in your car on Sundays. Apparently the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection believes that any bad guys who might cross at that part of the Canadian border will play fair and wait until the gate is staffed again on Monday before they make their move.

But while I sincerely doubt if they’re catching any illegal aliens, drug dealers, or terrorists with that gate, at least we no longer have to worry about the threat of Americans who want to go to church in Canada. Yes, that dark, menacing, shadow has been has been lifted forevermore from the face of Maine. Thank you government, thank you!!!

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