Welcome to America

Michelle, of You Will Anyway fame, has e-mailed me a couple of links pretty much guaranteed to restore your lack of faith in this country, in case the recent victory by the ever-so-slightly-less-evil party gave you a sliver of hope.

First is the case of an Iranian UCLA student tasered repeatedly by a campus cop, who happened to shoot someone with impunity three years ago. Cannonfire has the story, and a link to the disturbing though quite uniformative video. The cop keeps telling the guy to stand up, even though tasering reportedly makes this pretty much impossible for several minutes. Campus cops wandering around with porta-torture devices, ready to use them at the drop of a hat. Al Gonzales' wet dream. And by the way, the cop is a (first) Gulf War vet.

Second is this article about a recent survey:

Rude immigration officials and visa delays keep millions of foreign visitors away from the United States, hurt the country's already battered image, and cost the U.S. billions of dollars in lost revenue, according to an advocacy group formed to push for a better system.

To drive home the point, the Discover America Partnership released the result of a global survey on Monday which showed that international travelers see the United States as the world's worst country in terms of getting a visa and, once you have it, making your way past rude immigration officials.

And after THAT, there's those taser-toting campus pigs to deal with.