In article ,
Larry Green wrote:

On Wed, 20 Apr 2005 15:26:10 GMT, Gunner
wrote:

Your Border Patrol buddies seem to have forgotten one HUGE undefended
border - that between our terrorist-cell-harbouring country (Canada)
and the largest and most vulnerable and resource-richest state in the
Union - Alaska.
You're just ripe for the plucking by Muslim, anti-American,pro-Arab,
white-hating Inuit and Native Americans!

:-) ------please note.

Mike in BC

It would have been nice if that page on the 'enemy to the north' had
even one fact right in the entire section! For example:

Quote "If Montreal resident Ahmed Ressam, the Algerian-born Al-Qaida
operative who was caught by vigilant U.S. border inspectors, had simply
walked across the Canadian border through the woods near Detroit, his
bombs would have brought untold death and destruction to his planned
target, LAX, and possibly killed more people than were killed on 9/11."
/Quote

It is physically impossible to walk from Canada to Detroit. There are
only three crossing points, two road links (bridge and tunnel) and one
rail link (tunnel). The road links are heavily manned on both sides,
with no pedestrians allowed and the rail link is covered by CCTV cameras
and the last time anyone attempted to 'walk' through the tunnel they
were either caught within a few yards of entering or ended up as red
smears on the walls.

There are no 'woods' near Detroit (except in parks) and the urban sprawl
extends many tens of miles beyond the city limits.

"Many tens of miles"??? Surely you jest! Try more like several hundred
miles. When I bailed out of Michigan back in the early 90's, essentially
the entire southeast quadrant of the lower penninsula, from roughly port
Huron south, and west almost to Lansing, was already well on the way to
being considered "a suburb of Detroit". I can't imagine that the trend
has reversed in the time I've been gone.

In fact there is nowhere in the entire state of Michigan where you can
simply 'walk' across the border from Canada unchallenged. It is
completely separated from Canada by water, either by large lakes or
large rivers (large enough for ocean going freighters to travel freely
and pass each other).

Makes you wonder just how many other 'facts' on that site will hold
water ;-).

Nicely done, Larry as a Michigan native (Born and raised in
Cheboygan, spent time living all over "the tip of the mitt" and sections
of the southern/eastern U.P., Grand and Little Traverse bay areas,
Gaylord, Grayling, Alpena, Houghton Lake, Big Rapids and Grand Rapids,
Saginaw/Bay City/Midland - Basically everywhere but the far southeast
quarter and extreme western edges of the lower penninsula) I too had
some... Let's say "difficulty"... swallowing the idea that anyone could
cross into Michigan from Canada, whether at Detroit, or anywhere else,
carrying a bomb or similar item without using a vehicle of some sort and
being subject to the attention of customs or other officials.

Someone in a boat could, with relative ease, make the trip pretty much
undetected if all they were interested in was getting themselves and a
small amount of personal effects across the border without the scrutiny
of Mr. Customs agent, but someone wanting to haul in a bomb that could
"possibly kill more people than were killed on 9/11" would be pretty
much out of luck, since a boat of sufficient size to such a device or
its disassembled components would be remarkable in every port in
Michigan, and would draw the attention of AT LEAST the harbormaster, if
not many more people, many of whom would be doing the "Who the hell is
that and what are they doing HERE?" thing. Under such conditions,
whoever was aboard would have little, if any, chance of avoiding
official scrutiny.

On the other hand, it would be child's play to cross the border
undetected (in either direction) in Minnesota, for instance, carrying
pretty much whatever one felt like carrying. Four-wheel-drive vehicles
are just as common there as in Michigan, and would go unnoticed by
pretty much anyone - Boondocking HAS to be just as big a pastime in
Minnesota as it is in Michigan, so I can't imagine anyone doing so much
as raising an eyebrow at some "appropriately dressed" redneck-mobile
rumbling out of the woods and onto a lonely chunk of highway out in the
middle of nowhere. Assuming there was even anyone present to observe
such a thing happening, that is.

And never mind all the rest of "the upper tier" of states who share a
border with Canada...

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