inter-country cooperation

an article on the latest front page of our newspaper spotlighted the efforts to find an effective compromise to the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative which will soon require passports at all border crossings.

a number of communities along the border with canada are concerned about adverse economic impact. some people are concerned it's too much trouble and costs too much to get a passport.

and then there's point roberts, washington which is a bit unique -- it's bordered on three sides by water and the remaining side by canada. none of its soil touches the mainland, so the people in that area either need a boat since there is no ferry run, or need to go through the border crossing.

the comment that really caught my eye, however, was the following: "Ernie Bartucci, executive director of operations for the Ontario Minister of Transportation, called for a more flexible interpretation of WHTI and cited an example of a community on the Alaskan/Yukon border that has one school district between two countries." personally, i think that's very cool.

regardless, i like the idea of people being required to have passports and having to go through all the steps to get one. and to get a little away from the subject but still to this point, i was irritated by the florida woman who expected to be allowed to have a driver's license photo with her face covered (dictated by her faith). frankly, i'm against accomodating challenges which fly in the face of intent -- another example is those dark-tinted windows on so many cars, which not only can keep policemen from seeing potential danger, it keeps bicyclists and pedestrians from making eye contact to gauge safety.

oh well, change isn't always easy.