http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2007/...-hospital.html

2 weeks ago a Firetruck was delayed at the US border when responding to the New York call for assistance. The delay may have lead to a hotel burning down.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/14/bor...uck/index.html

Its really amazing that our day and age this is happening. This extra scrutiny faced by emergency vehicles is a ridiculous. I agree with random checks, but clearly not for ambulances or firetrucks which are trying to save peoples lives. Add this to the long list of Homeland Security screw-ups.

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"The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. " — John Stuart Mill

Two things pop out at me from that article.....

No 1: that a Canadian patient was being rushed to an American hospital. Doesn't say much for the so-called healthcare system of Canada that they need to be rushed to America for treatment.

No 2: Obviously you've not heard that ambulances are sometimes used in terrorist attacks throughout the world.

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

Canadian healthcare issues aside, you are way off on that one. Windsor is a small town right across the river from Detroit. Like most small towns, in Canada, the U.S. or France, there is no large hospital in Windsor where an emergency angioplasty can be performed. Since Detroit is literally a rock toss away they send them there. It's also quite possible that the patient was an American.

Yeah, that Windsor-Detroit border is littered with blown up ambulances. You people crack me up.

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I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.

If it weren't for having a police escort and a pre-clearance arrangement, I'd be all for a detailed inspection. This just makes it confusing. If they had no reason to be suspicious of this specific vehicle, they should have let it go through.

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Do you know what it's like to fall in the mud and get kicked... in the head... with an iron boot? Of course you don't, no one does. It never happens. It's a dumb question... skip it.

Not to mention that the Detroit-Windsor border is very heavily traveled. The Port of Detroit is a busy one. The stone cold fact is that if someone wanted to, it would incredibly easy to get a car filled with bombs over the border. They random check next to nothing. Stopping an ambulance and doing a detailed check, with an escort or not, is just being silly.

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I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.

Sounds like a civil lawsuit in the making. I wonder if blame will be placed on a lowly employee.

Lou Dobbs would probably suggest having American doctors on the border to test patients who come over to see if they are really sick.
Of course, the patient would have to wait in line and apply for a visa at the border first.

I'm wondering how many small towns on our northern border rush their victims into Canada for health care.

Well, how many are near a large Canadian town? That, grasshopper, will lead you to the answer.

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I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.

Would an ambulance bring a US patient into Canada, usually private insurance plans won't cover medical treatments in another country. They would probably bring the person to a US hospital, just to avoid debt or bankruptcy which could result from not being covered.

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"The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. " — John Stuart Mill

Crack up all you like. But I know that had it been such a terrorist attack, YOU and other Bush haters would have been the first to say "Bush did it." YOU would have been the first to say, "the security failed."

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007