not proud to be an american

i can tell you without a doubt that the death of osama bin laden did not bring the immediate return of reason to the wheels and cogs of american government. i spent a bit of time outside the american embassy in copenhagen today and what an experience it was. i witnessed instance after instance of lack of common sense in relation to people who had come to the embassy on various errands.

if you come to the embassy with a telephone, computer or iPad, you will not be allowed in. period. they will suggest to you that you take a train 3 stops back to the main train station in copenhagen and stow those items if you didn't come with your own car, where you could leave them to be broken into and stolen. they are so afraid of electronics (despite an elborate x-ray box of an entrance that appears to be encased within a safe, to protect it from the rest of the embassy), you can't have any of that with you at all.

they were even worried about people's car keys that have a little button you can press to lock and unlock the car. i saw a swedish woman being refused entrance due to her car keys. how do they think people get there? and do they think they leave their keys in the car? and do they really think that there's anyone on the planet today who doesn't have a mobile phone that they are likely carrying on their person? good odin, we don't even have a landline telephone at our house, we all have a mobile and let's face it, that's not unusual.

on top of it, you're not even allowed into the x-ray area with your bag until your bag has been thoroughly inspected - without you being present. you stand outside the mirrored doors until they decide your bag is ok - handing it back and forth to the guard for you remove various items. true story.

me, i was refused entrance because of the computer thing, but also because my errand there wasn't important enough to warrant my coming in. i was trying to drop off the papers for the renewal of sabin's passport. i had everything in order and simply needed to hand them over. i was actually supposed to send them, because we obtained all of the relevant signatures and such a couple of weeks ago in århus, when there was a consular visit there. i still had the papers on my desk and thought that since i was going to copenhagen, i'd drop them by. wrong. and would you believe they wouldn't even TAKE them from me? they said if i was there in person, the consular officer had to SEE me, and witness my signature (despite the stamp that it had already been witnessed) even tho' it was clearly all filled out and signed and stamped and ready and if i were SENDING the papers, no one would see me.  good odin, we'd had to raise our right hands and give an oath over the signing of the papers a couple of weeks before, but that wasn't good enough for them to take my friggin' envelope of papers. so i had to go to the post office down the street, buy an envelope and stamps and send it.

this is what all of this fear has done to common sense.  it's completely and utterly gone. and i can tell you that it's this kind of absurd and rigid inability to make sense of a situation that's right in front of you that will keep me from ever again living in the land of my birth.

i shouldn't be surprised, i guess a similar sort of temporary(?) insanity was also evident in the jubilation in the streets of various american cities yesterday. the power we ascribed to a man named bin laden will haunt us for years to come. look how it's made us behave.  it all has me feeling quite embarrassed to be an american.