Have you been fingerprinted ?

[bealine]

SPIT is right - despite NORAID being a proscribed organisation, the giant McDonalds organisation is believed to still yield 1% of its massive turnover to NORAID - hence why British members of the armed forces were forbidden to use McDonalds restaurants. If the Provos need to re-arm, I don't think it would have too much difficulty!

Mrs Bealine was publicly humiliated by the "Bank of America" by being fingerprinted in full view of the public just because she wanted to cash Travellers Cheques. Apparently, this is now "standard" procedure because Osama Bin Liner and his not-so-merry men used Travellers Cheques to transfer cash.

Poor old Thomas Cook and American Express have lost out - all our forex deals are done on plastic now! If we have to suffer the same humiliation at US airports, then I'm afraid we will go elsewhere for holidays. I suspect many other Brits and Europeans will feel the same way and the mighty dollar will only be fit for toilet paper!!!

Who needs that stupid Mouse anyway!!!

[London Lass]

From 24th Oct the US has demanded that to stay eligable for the VWP all current VWP country must start issuing passports containing biometrics.
Currently, the UK and france have publically said they will not make this date. This has forced the US to set up a group in the Dept Homeland Security to address the problem. Should we be removed from the VWP, anyone who wishes to travel to the US will have to obtain a visa (containing biometrics?) from the US embassy. Belfast and London currently have the set up to issue Visas but would not be able to cope with the demand should all US bound travellers require one.
US law will not allow the 24th date to be changed, so now they hae to start thinhking about how to change the law or as previously pointed out kiss goodbye to millions of tourists $$$$!!!!

[Bealzebub]

bealine, you are brave making such accusations of the giant and notoriously litigious hamburger corporation ! Many years ago a popular myth was conceived that employees were made to donate a percentage of their salaries as an IRA deduction. Except of course in the USA an IRA is an individual retirement account, a pension fund, not a contribution to a terrorist organisation !

The British armed forces are "forbidden" to use this companies restaurants ? Do you honestly believe this rubbish ?

[bealine]

bealine, you are brave making such accusations of the giant and notoriously litigious hamburger corporation !

It was indeed true. Like many American multinationals, McDonalds paid into NORAID in the belief that they were helping Irish countrymen achieve a United Ireland. Unfortunately, NORAID forgot? to mention that its funds went directly to support the Provisional IRA. Unfortunately, after this was brought to the attention of the US authorities, McDonalds continued to fund NORAID and it is widely believed that they still do.

They also paid protection money at their branches in Northern Ireland to the IRA in return for "exemption from bombing.".......indeed, other well-known companies did too and they all appeared on a list of "forbidden" outlets published by the Ministry of Defence.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jainlist/message/541

http://www.mcspotlight.org/cgi-bin/z...ages/5244.html

The British armed forces are "forbidden" to use this companies restaurants ? Do you honestly believe this rubbish ?

Sorry, for "are" forbidden read "were" forbidden. The British Armed Forces certainly were forbidden in Standing Orders, along with other "household" company names listed by the MoD, when I served in the Royal Corps of transport between 1974 and 1980, purely because of their CEO's stmpathies with Noraid!!!

[OFBSLF]

Have you been fingerprinted ?

Yes, in fact.

Every four years I have to go to the local police station to be finger printed and photographed for my concealed carry permit. The finger printing that I under go is all 10 fingers of each hand individually, then four fingers of the left hand together, then four fingers of the right hand together. The police officer controls your hand and slowly rolls each finger across the card.

The fingerprint card is then put through a machine that heats up and fixes the ink. That takes a few minutes. At that point, the police officer checks the fingerprint card to make sure they haven't been smudged -- if they have been, we start over again. This whole process takes a good 10-15 minutes.

In contrast, the US Visit system uses an inkless scanner and only the two index fingers are scanned -- it is complete in a few seconds.

[Crepello]

I can't believe this one's still doing the rounds. The McDonalds - Noraid allegations originated in the tabloid press of the late 1980s, substantiated by a McDonalds US payslip with the line 'IRA contributions'. As Bealzebub said, this has a rather different meaning west of the Atlantic.

McDonalds hotly denied the connection, all the way to court IIRC, but the muckraking continued. There was never a proven link but it's a hardy hobbyhorse of the anti-globalisation lobby. No point in letting the facts obstruct a good story...

Edit: Bealine, I've just re-read your last posting. If you can substantiate your claims, I'll willingly back down. But activist sites and talking shops aren't exactly reliable sources.

Sorry for the tangent!

[maxman]

Bealine. I too have been fingerprinted while changing travellers cheques at a bank in Michigan. But was explained to me, that it was to stop people cashing stolen cheques (you put your thumb print on the back of each cheque).

This was two weeks before Sept 11th, so things may have changed somewhat, still thought it was a good idea though.

[bealine]

Crepello - I can't substantiate the McDonalds story beyond the fact that, as a serving soldier I was banned, by official MoD Standing Order, from using Mc Donalds, as well as a number of other companies, known to be bankrolling the Provisional IRA through NORAID. (this was well before the 80's - this was 1974) Perhaps any other Servicemen/women who served during this period would care to confirm this?

It may, or it may not, have been innocence on the part of McDonalds, as NORAID were at that time marketing themselves as a "charity" bringing "relief" to Irish people and appealing to Americans with "Irish roots"......there was no mention of their sinister links.

Don't forget, the military intelligence network gathers a lot of reliable information of financial networks which it may not be able to prove in court (indeed, bringing such knowledge before the courtsmay jeopardise other investigative work).