Arthur Frommer has been catching alot of flack from RWers of his travel site. If you are so inclined, please go to his site and support his sensible rants:
http://www.frommers.com/blog/2007/08/from-department-of-homeland-security.htmlAug 30, 2007
From the Department of Homeland Security, another procedure that will discourage tourism to the U.S. without making us safer
Because travel to the United States has declined by up to 20% since 9/11, causing a loss to our economy of tens of billions of dollars, there was rejoicing in the travel industry several weeks ago over the passage of a bill to ease visa requirements for citizens of an additional 12 countries. Less noticed was a provision inserted by the Department of Homeland Security requiring foreign visitors to register their travel plans with that department at least 48 hours in advance of arrival. That provision, which has caused shock waves in Europe, will again diminish the number of foreigners traveling to the United States, without any benefit at all to our security. If you were a foreigner considering a trip, and you heard of such burdensome rigamarole, would you visit the U.S.A. -- or go somewhere else? And couldn't the terrorists, like Mohammed Atta (one of the 9/11 hijackers), simply inform us they were planning to visit friends and relatives? One shudders to think of the task of reviewing all those hundreds of thousands of "travel plans", diverting employees of the Department of Homeland Security from more productive areas.
The new requirement is from the same people who, several months ago, divvied up funds for anti-terrorism equally among the cities -- the same amount to Enid, Oklahoma, as to New York. How long will Michael Chertoff remain in charge of Homeland Security?
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