February 24, 2006

• Smoking a Cuban cigar overseas, if you are American, is illegal but that only recently changed. Not sure about the other stuff, but I doubt it.
• Smoking a Cuban cigar overseas, if you are American, is illegal but that only recently changed. It is also a highly overrated experience. I'm not sure about the law either, but I am sure of the likelihood that there will be some American officer of the law nearby to check your passport and verify that you're not breaking US law while in another country. Which is to say, nearly nonexistant.
• If that was enforced, all the returning USA springbreakers would be offloaded directly from their planes into police buses, I guess.
• Doesn't seem to stop the Americans visiting Windsor.
• Leave the country. Have fun. Obey that country's laws, regardless of what the US says. Don't make a public blog entry about violating any laws that can be traced to your real identity. Problem solved.
• But if you don't blog it, how do you know it really happened to you?
• Monkeyfilter: But if you don't blog it, how do you know it really happened to you? Another one for the koan thread!
• No one can keep a secret anymore. Blab blab blab! I say: don't update your blog! EVER. And don't think I don't walk it like I talk it, homeslice! I last updated my pitiful excuse for a blog on 1/16/04. 04! And let me tell ya, there's LOTS happened since then. I'm just keeping the sordid details to myself.
• I've heard that when in foreign countries, United States citizens must still follow all United States laws. Is that true? Sooo...suppose there was a conflict between US laws and the other nation's laws. What would you do?
• Some good points here, thanks guys. orococo, I'd most likely obey the laws of whatever country I was in at the time. Having said that, I wonder if I will now find myself on some watch list or other.
• What would you do? signal for another margarita, "...por favor." "You mean bitte, scheisskopf." "I bow to your superior foreign wisdom, homeslice!" "We don't have margaritas, also." "Well, now you're just being mean." "You're an American. It is, how you say? Expected." "Natch. What's good here, then?" "Aquavit?" "Da, mi amigo! Ausgeseichnet."
• And don't think I don't walk it like I talk it, homeslice! I last updated my pitiful excuse for a blog on 1/16/04. 04! And let me tell ya, there's LOTS happened since then. I'm just keeping the sordid details to myself. All the sordid details of Fes's life, subliminally written in to the html markup, can be found at my blog. Please send cash.
• And it added exactly 3k to the download. And that's including the gif of my butt nestled daintily in bubblewrap.
• I am an American living in Canada, and yesterday I shot a guy just to prove it. All I got was a stern, polite warning.
• BUT... If an American worker goes to Amsterdam, tokes up a few times, then comes back to the 'States, s/he can expect to be drug-tested and fired for pot use. Sure, it's not the legal system doling out the punishment, but the consequences are even more severe.
• s/he can expect to be drug-tested and fired for pot use. Depends on the line of work and policies of your place of employment, isn't it? *not living in USALand, realizes this may be quite a stupid comment* OK, YMMV.
• No, not stupid. Depends on your job. Depends on the company.
• Yeah, they're just trying to make the US look good. Actually, all hourly employees in America are required to leave a urine sample on their timecards each morning. S'true.
• I just pee on my boss when I come in. Cuts out the middleman.
• If I did that, I might end up with a promotion.
• Part of an HR job I had once was setting up drug tests for potential new hires and reading the reports when they got back. When they went to the test, they had to say if they were taking any prescription opiates and prove they were legit. One lady who failed the test got all in my face about how we couldn't hold it against her since she'd bought the Tylenol with Codeine in Canada where it was legal.
• I've had more work-related piss tests and background checks than I can remember. One was for a telemarketing job. WTF? But I was too young to realize just how stupid that was. I'll have to piss again if I get this new job, but given their market, it's understandable.
• I always think it's funny when Americans talk about their sacred free speech (like recently about David Irving) and at the same time comply with taking a piss test for a job.
• When I was a suckervisor, I had a suckervisee who told me that anyone working a customer service job should be allowed to smoke one joint per shift. Isn't that something worth marching in the streets over? Can you imagine malls emptying of retail zombies chanting "One joint per shift?" And Mare, I agree with you, but we roll over for anything in the US. It's not just piss tests.
• Now I know what y'all are fighting for in Iraq: the right to carry out random drug-tests on anyone and everyone. No wonder they hate your freedom!
• Um Minda not too sure how afraid you are of the reach of your countries - bbut have spent many years working behind bars in Australia - if you are 18 you are legal drinking age and i would serve you provided age proof ID. Guess you gotta figure that one out with your government!!!
• Um i am trying to figure from loto post - since when can your nation make you doing something legal under another nations laws (in that nation) illegal for you because of your passport??? I mean - um somewhere there is still free will and??? oh ok fades out...........
• I've heard that when in foreign countries, United States citizens must still follow all United States laws. Is that true? No.
• It's actually a very complicated topic, and one I had a lot of time to think about while traveling around North, Central and South America for 12 months. As far as I could make out, there are definitely crimes you will be pursued for back in your home country if you commit them overseas, but as near as I can tell, you will generally be extradited back to the country in which you committed the crime for prosecution. So, I don't think smoking pot in Amsterdam is going to get you a conviction in the US, but child molestation, murder, assault, fraud, drug running, etc, could get you jail time / death penalty / whatever in the country in question. It becomes even more complex, though, when you have countries like Australia which won't extradite to a country that has the death penalty if the death penalty will be sought in the case in question (recent experiences with the Bali Nine notwithstanding - apparently it's okay if we let them go there of there own accord and then just tip off the police of that country, so they get the death penalty and no messy extradition process for us). The best answer I can give is: first and foremost, obey the laws of the country you are in. Don't for a minute think that because you're a foreign national you get to bypass certain laws, just because they prohibit behavior considered acceptable in the country you're from. The Underpants Monster brings up a great point with codeine - you can buy it over the counter without a prescription in Australia. In some countries, you can get jail time for being in possession of it.
• Depends on the line of work and policies of your place of employment, isn't it? Yes, it does. I've worked for a number of large corporations and none of them do random drug testing. It says right in the consent form that you have to sign, the circumstances under which they can test you. Usually it's pre-employment and then only if you are involved in an accident at the workplace. I went on a vacation that included a stop in Amsterdam and even sent a postcard back to the office. No one cared.
• and Mare, I agree with you, but we roll over for anything in the US. It's not just piss tests. We're all actually wearing Foley catheters for 24-hour continuous drug testing.
• Fly: In 2004 the government (there used to be a FAQ n the US Treasury Website about this, but I can't find it in my current state) made it a fineable offense for an American to buy, sell, transport, or own Cuban goods in any nation, as long as that American would be, at some point in time, under US jurisdiction again. Yes, it is absoltuely ridiculous and almost completely unenforcable, but the law does exist.
• Usually, laws passed domestically are extra-territorial, at least in the Parliamentary tradition. A law passed at Westminster applies anywhere on the globe -- it's just a matter of enforcement. A law passed in Ottawa isn't only applicable in Canada (in fact, the Criminal Code has an express provision applying it to International Space Station, despite the fact that it isn't Canadian territory as such, and there aren't any Canucks on board, but whatever). Again, it's all a matter of what gets enforced. Recently, there's been a bit of a push to recognize the extra-territorial application of law, particularly for crimes like sex-tourism involving minors, human trafficking, etc. As an American, YMMV, but I would expect the same attitude applies. U.S. law would govern anywhere in the world. Those laws may not be enforceable when abroad, but you'll be coming home at some point...
• Huh. This drug-testing thing just seems bizarre. I don't think we do it much in Canada unless your supervisor is trying to figure out who to corner to hook them up with good dope. Incidently, making my website Bill 2257-compliant to please the twin bed prophets down south would violate Canadian privacy laws. They're good, those privacy laws.
• I can understand it for some jobs. Look, if I'm running a bank and you want to be a teller at that bank, I need to know that you don't have a serious criminal history, I need to know you're not over your head in debt and bad credit, and I need to know you're not a coke head. Mostly because if you fit any of those three categories, you're a high risk for dipping into the till. Likewise the job I just got today, which is with a major financial services company. But phone companies require it of their telemarketers. Office Depot, of all places, drug tests its employees. I mean, come on. Office Depot. Testing for pot I'll grant you is needless. But other drugs, not so much.
• Golden Round restaurants performed hair tests for cocaine (at one time, don't know if they still do) in addition to the pee tests for most street drugs before hiring someone to a management position. Retail management drug testing I can almost understand. Food service, not so much.
• Funnily enough, mct, my current job at a bank didn't require a drug test. My retail job at stupid ass Sears a decade ago did. I now have access to stuff that would make a criminal drool. At Sears, I had access to a couple Crafstman drills. Go figure...
• Golden Round restaurants performed hair tests for cocaine... ...by picking the hairs out of random diners' meals.
• MonkeyFilter: I now have access to stuff that would make a criminal drool
• Places that have drug tested me: Starbucks, Nathan's Hotdogs, Credit card telemarketing, Medical telemarketing, Best Buy, Steak house Places that have not tested me: Penn State University, my dad Yeah, I don't get it.