Not the Heinlein Novel.

Oh, right. Friday.

In and out in about five minutes. I was back in Canada by  9:30am (although I got to sit around in the Sarnia Public Library for the next nine hours or so, waiting for the evening train home). Same judge as before, so whatever laid him low the first time around was obviously closer to the bad-burrito end of the scale.  Trial date’s March 16.

Once again, hauled out of line on the way down for a secondary vehicle search (it wasn’t even a rental this time; it was my lawyer’s car).  Once again, the air bristled with the agonistic pheromones of pissed-off army ants. And once again, Nice Blonde Lady appeared to pick up the conversation we’d started earlier in the week: how had I liked the Thomas Edison Inn?  Had I had a chance to check out the other sights? Her colleagues glowered on all sides; one of them came up after a few minutes and called her away. “Hey Dupuis. They need you for, for, some thing in the back.”

Dupuis. Dupuis. Where’d I heard that name before?

Oh, that’s right. The police report. Dupuis was one of the border guards that swarmed my car on December 8. I’ve said previously that she could search my car any day. I guess I got my wish.

I’ve tried to remember anyone in that contingent being pleasant, and have come up blank; they were belligerent dead-eyed stereotypes right down the line, far as I can remember. But my traveling buddy remembers this Dupuis: she was over on the other side, ordering him out the car “for your own safety”. She handcuffed him to a rail for six hours rather than hands-behind-back, as a show of good will. My buddy does remember her as the most polite of the bunch, no question; but that was an exceeding low bar to clear, and his memories are not nearly as fond as I would have hoped.

Oh Dupuis. Ohhhhh, Dupuis. You little heartbreaker. I really thought we might have had something there…

Anyway, that’s gonna be the last Squidgate update for a while. It’s basically just behind the scenes grunt work from here to the trial. So we’re returning you to your regularly scheduled programming for the next couple of months.

Next up, for example:

cheetah m3-head



This entry was posted on Monday, January 25th, 2010 at 11:50 am and is filed under Squidgate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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keanani
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keanani
14 years ago

Somehow not at all surprised…sensing how you were treated by as you say, the littermate of the Brotherhood of the Baton and inside was the nice blonde lady, who now is revealed as having turned out to be there during the December 8th border crossing…

It was more than obvious that the barely suppressed hostility of the personnel is indicative of no matter what, right or wrong in their actions, they still believe they can treat you that way…

Why am I troubled that a woman is seemingly utilized as some sort of “softening buffer” in light of what is actually going on?

americanincanada
Guest
americanincanada
14 years ago

good luck with the trial Peter. I shall continue to include you in my atheistic prayers to the indifferent universe till this nonsense is settled. Putting you in jail would be a colossal waste… unless, of course the state could guarantee us readers a certain number of novels and short stories in a reasonable timeframe. Without said guarantees, I have no choice but to support the defense. No, seriously, take care man! I’ve just finished rereading blindsight. Couldn’t find my original copy, so I ordered another one. Keep up the good fight!

americanincanada
Guest
americanincanada
14 years ago
Laur
Guest
14 years ago

Good luck with it all, Peter. Was this a lawyer-cleared update? 🙂

Ken
Guest
Ken
14 years ago

These border guys are being such pricks because they remember you. They know your name and they know that you’re going to win that court case, putting their jobs at risk.

It’s likely they pulled Dupuis aside and reminded her that she shouldn’t be so nice to you (or maybe she’s just kissing up).

I’m curious to hear if you have any kind of countersuit going on (I know you can’t talk about it). While your lawyer’s goal is to get you cleared of all charges, it would be a nice little bonus if some of the people involved were reprimanded severely.

Good luck with it all. We’re here to cheer you on!

Keippernicus
Guest
14 years ago

Mechacat is displeased by the border patrol!

I can haz enriched uranium for chargin’ ma lasers?

Raymond
Guest
Raymond
14 years ago

Have you so quickly forgotten your own sociopath test? Dupuis is behind it all. The beating, the charges, probably even the judge’s medical trouble.

She wanted to see you again.

keanani
Guest
keanani
14 years ago

Wandering down the path of life I often wonder why things happen as they do. Why people lie even if it hurts an innocent person. Why people lack the courage to admit they are wrong. Why people have no conscience for their lack of integrity.

No matter what hand of cards has been dealt, it can be played the best way one can. Despite the seemingly bad, I still believe in the inherent goodness of human beings and standing up for what is right, fair and true.

Especially in the face of such blatant injustice.

“Nothing is ever what it seems but everything is exactly what it is.” – Buckaroo Banzai, Across the 8th Dimension.

keanani
Guest
keanani
14 years ago

Take heart Peter, not every nice blonde lady is bad to the bone.

Besides, you may have been caught in a bad romance.

Although some find that to be a good thing…

Still, it could be living a dream ~
http://www.flixxy.com/dog-loves-cat.htm

“I’ve been ionized, but I’m okay now.”~ Buckaroo Banzai, Across the 8th Dimension

Oh Really
Guest
Oh Really
14 years ago

What are the specific charges? You’ve never told us.

Oh Really
Guest
Oh Really
14 years ago

And is the charge a felony or a misdemeanor?

Bahumat
Guest
Bahumat
14 years ago

It’s a friggin’ shame this shit even is going to trial. Rootin’ for you, Peter. Hope you and your lawyer smash the shit out the prosecution in the courtroom.

Allister01
Guest
Allister01
14 years ago

@keanani:

I am so depressed that I watched that video the whole way through. Still, even my blackened heart grew a few sizes larger when the cat was licking the dogs head.

@Peter:

I really hope this wraps up soon. Both for you, and because this whole trial has been one of the most entertaining bits of news that I’ve been following as of late. I’ve crossed that border multiple times (unfortunately), and I’m ecstatic someone finally had the balls to step up to those guys.

Dave Moore
Guest
Dave Moore
14 years ago

Some time around about 2050, just after China has knocked the US off its pedestal to become big dog of the planet (probably by calling all its loans), America will be looking around for allies; and it will suddenly remember there was a friendly country to the North of it. And Americia will turn to Canada only to discover that Canada has accepted an offer the join the EU, an offer that comes with unrestricted travel and employment in dozens of countries with no border inspection.

Keippernicus
Guest
14 years ago

@Dave

Will Canada be geographically joined to europe by 2050?

Or just a 3000 mile long bridge?

Oh Really
Guest
Oh Really
14 years ago

@Keippernicus, maybe Canada will take all that waste they’re generating from the oil shale mining in Alberta and use it to construct a land bridge to Europe?

americanincanada
Guest
americanincanada
14 years ago

What about all the garbage that Toronto sends down to be buried in Michigan? That can be diverted for bridge construction also.

http://www.tcrccpreasttrainmen.ca/04_19_2008.htm

As for joining the EU, the trend I fear is in the opposite direction. Despite the portrait on the money up here, these days, the north-south links run deeper than the east-west ones.

As for the border insanity, the US hurts itself way more than it does Canada.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/nyregion/14watchlist.html

read the comments

Defining this whole situation as some kind of US vs Canada thing is not that productive, IMO

Chris in NY
Guest
Chris in NY
14 years ago

Video of a new reading MP3 and review of Blindsight. All done in one day, he says. Haven’t had the chance to listen to it yet, so YMMV, but looks promising.

Chris in NY
Guest
Chris in NY
14 years ago

Not video, audio (MP3), I meant.

keanani
Guest
keanani
14 years ago

@Dave, Keippernicus and Oh Really re: “Or just a 3000 mile long bridge?”

Not at all inconceivable. We over here are the gateway to the Asia-Pacific Region and have very close ties to Japan, even with the 3,901 mile watery distance between, we are economically and culturally dependent upon Japan.

By 1920, 50% of Hawaii’s population was Japanese, and the local culture reflects this influence as the Hawaii-born Americans who utilize chopsticks, love anime, celebrate boys and girls day, eat sushi, mochi and spam musubi since little kid days, and love all things kawai (cute) and robotic, among other things, as a way of life, regardless of ethnicity and heritage, as well as the fact that Japanese Tourists are the bulk of our cash crop of Tourism.

We are the State most likely to be accused of anti-Americanism, the most often accused of not being “really, truly, American” and the island lands that are still seen as a colony of waves of settling immigrants who do not really know their American History and Culture as elsewhere on the mainland continent. I find this funny because it was America (U.S.A.) who made a grab for Hawaii in the first place in 1893.

As Hawaii now focuses her gaze on the potentiality for the newly affluent Chinese to come on over for a sun filled stay of sand, surf and swaying palm trees, we continue to see the ties to China as well, culturally and ancestrally as we witness every year, the orgiastic pyrotechnic displays heralding the New Year, covering the island in a foggy cloud bank of smoke thick air. This is defended as a “cultural practice” that somehow is accorded protection.

Having lived in both Japan and Okinawa as a child, and being told by my friends from Japan that “you remind me of old-fashioned Japanese girl”, when I am not of Japanese ancestry, says something about this influence upon Hawaii-American Culture.

I don’t think it will take a literal physical bridge to join countries in such a possible unification. 🙂

Mike Tevee
Guest
Mike Tevee
14 years ago

Can Dupuis handcuff me to a rail for six hours?
Seriously, I will pay top dollar.

keanani
Guest
keanani
14 years ago

Out in the enveloping darkness, where stillness asserts itself, and
moon dancing gardenias glow spectrally, whispering sentinels emitting sensory tendrils of intoxicatingly scented communications aloft in an upward drift…

…I used to climb a tall, rickety, swayward ladder up on the roof of my yesteryear’s home, and lay down on a blanket, gazing longingly…searchingly, at the endless velvet vault of stars arched silently across night skies……wondering…pondering…thinking…I…can’t …believe…the things that happen to me…

…such as, why have men come up to me, asking if I was for hire, as I stood near the sidewalk’s edge waiting for the bus?

Every thing, happens for a reason, and even if you can’t believe the things that happen to you, the reason is not written in the stars, or upon the faces of glowering pissed-off baton wielding army ants, the reason isn’t you, fate, bad luck, karma, the eternal balancing of yin and yang…

…the reason isn’t cosmic forces pushing you to generate a sense of profundity, or the Noodly One reaching out, touching you such that you are meant to learn one of life’s many lessons…

…the reason is that you are a human being, living your life, and just the fact that you are alive, your very existence, invites life adapting to you.

You know, when I think about what happened to you, the vision of you being pepper sprayed in the face, and beaten, saddens me, and brings tears to my eyes.

I watched the 3 am news this morning, and the graphic depiction of
sad-eyed, terrified, milk-cows being punched, pushed, hit and tail-docked
without painkillers…makes me wonder just how sheeply-cow-simon-says we humans have become, in enduring the pain we inflict upon one another.

“I can’t believe, the things that happen to me, I guess that I should have seen, a long, long time ago…~ All the Love, The Outfield (Play Deep)

“The Three Loves: love of others, the love of justice, and the love of freedom.”~ Buckaroo Banzai, Across the 8th Dimension

Desperately Seeking An Ignore Feature
Guest
Desperately Seeking An Ignore Feature
14 years ago

😉

Tom Cosgrove
Guest
Tom Cosgrove
14 years ago

Yeah, so, Peter;
Keep your chin to the wind.
Say “Aaaaaarrrrgggghhhh” frequently.

keanani
Guest
keanani
14 years ago

Oooh, Boom Boom Boom, oooh…green-eyed lovely cheetah kitty
waitin’ at the border pretty…

Ooooooooooooh…

‘Cause she gonna meet cha half-way, meet cha half-way
…across the borderline…………….

Boom Boom Boom, Hey, Boom Boom Boom…

Cats a Pushin’ Outta Space, See Their Alien Morphin’ Face

Super Kitty Morpho-Sonic, Dats So Fly It’s Ironic~

Boom Boom Boom, Ooh, Boom Boom Boom!

http://www.flixxy.com/cat-breeds-morphing.htm

B)

keanani
Guest
keanani
14 years ago

Green eyed lovely cheetah kitty…

“Green eyed lady” ~ Sugarloaf (love that bass!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_DydKnpDsk

Peter’s beautiful marble green eyed cheetah reminded me of that song right away. I suppose it also has to do with the fact that that song was one of my favorites when I was a little kid.

(A few girls would call me “Cat!” or “You green eyed cat!”, as if “cat” were some sort of epithet.)

“Mystery is the source of all true art and science.” ~ Buckaroo Banzai, Across the 8th Dimension

DB
Guest
DB
14 years ago

Saw this on a dog forum. Everyone was ruminating about what in the world could have happened here, but nobody on the dog forum, at least, thinks it was the fault of the girl or her mother.

http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=97332&catid=158
DULLES, Va. (WUSA) — “Dulles Airport and Customs officials have confirmed a Customs and Border Protection K-9 in training attacked a 4-year-old girl just after 12 p.m. Thursday at Dulles International Airport.

The child was there with her mother and a younger sibling picking up a friend coming from Argentina.

Officials have not yet confirmed why the dog attacked the child, but she was bitten once and received a cut that was a half inch deep and two inches wide.

The child’s grandmother tells 9NEWS NOW the dog bit the girl just under her pelvis and refused to let her go. The dog would not release her, even as the handler gave the command to release.

As her mother tried to intervene, she received numerous bites to her hand.

The dog was eventually subdued by its handler, and the girl was transported to Reston Hospital in serious condition….”