Canada - US Border - Useless

Yesterday I headed down to Seattle to go and watch the Canada vs. Brazil friendly football match at Qwest Field.  Just after you have crossed the Oak Street Bridge over the North Arm of the Fraser River from Vancouver to Richmond, BC there is a signpost that states Seattle is 221 kilometres away.  So...at an average driving speed of 110 km/h you might say to yourself..."we'll be there in two hours!  Great!" Ok, ok...add in some traffic, a pee stop, some construction, maybe a coffee and it might take three hours.

Yesterday it took us seven hours!  SEVEN.  We had a bit more construction than normal around Bellingham and traffic was heavy in Seattle.  But the main reason for the seven hour trip was the three hour wait at the Peace Arch border crossing.

Here are some thoughts that crossed my mind while we sat there taking this crap from governments:

Common mother and brethren 

The inscriptions on the top of the arch state "Brethren dwelling together in unity" and "Children of a common mother".  Under the arch there are gates that are open and an inscription stating "May these gates never be closed".  The border may as well have been closed.  It took us three hours to move two or three kilometres (I am guessing that was the length).  I had time to walk to the Peace Arch and back.  People were playing soccer outside.  A man was selling ice cream bars and water walking down the middle of the highway.  

Most siblings (of a common mother) do not have to stand outside each others doors waiting for three hours before they are allowed in.  At least not functional families.  I guess Canada and US make up a dysfunctional family.

A thirty second event

What thirty second event is worth waiting three hours for?  I have tried real hard to find a good answer to this.  Let's see.  Try and find something...remember the event can last longer than thirty seconds.  A sip of the elixir of life?  That's the best I could think of but it has yet to be found and if it was I imagine the wait would be considerably longer :-).  No wait...I know!  Waiting to be asked "Where do you live?  Where are you going and what will you be doing?  How long will you stay?"  Any sane person would say that it was worth the wait (catch the sarcasm dude?)

The environment

Three hours of idling.  I have done a bit of digging on the economic and environmental cost of idling a car.  Here is what seems to be the consensus.  0.6 litres of gasoline are burnt during one hour of idling.  3.8 litres (one gallon) spews close to 9 kilos of carbon dioxide.  OK, so let's do the math.  We spent three hours idling.  That means we burnt 1.8 litres of gasoline and spewed 4.2 kilos of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.  Now...how many cars were there in that line up.  I am not sure how many cars were stuck in that lineup.  I am going to guess 400 but that is likely conservative.   Let's not forget that this three hour lineup likely lasted a good part of the day.  So 400 cars multiplies by 4.2 kilos equals 1680 kilograms.  OK...we were good.  My father turned the car off when we were stopped.  But you get the point.  An utter waste of energy.

Assumed guilt

Remember my post regarding the lack of trust and the assumption of guilt?  That is why this ridiculous border is in place.

Our acceptance - our fault

It is also in place because as citizens we accept this folly.  Write your senator, your member of parliament, your governor, your premier, whomever represents you.