IMMIGRANT OF THE DAY: MIKE MYERS - COMEDIC ACTOR

Well, since I made a Dr. Evil reference in the comments (here's to Roy, our resident punching bag, who did me the favor of finding the great clip in this post), why not make the brilliant Canadian comedic actor Mike Myers our immigrant of the day? Whether it's Wayne, Shrek, Linda Richman, Austin Powers, Dr. Evil, Fat Bastard, or the Cat in the Hat, Myers' characters are now cultural icons. I was happy to see there are new Austin Powers and Shrek movies on the way.

Roy, with all those out of work and underworked American comics out there, I'm sure you're fuming that we're allowing in cheap foreign comedians

Comments

[USC]

RE: NYC

I want to add that NYC has a good man in Mayor Mike and that he will do a good job in clamping down on this type of thing. Unfortunately, there are still a few rogue cops around who think that they are still in the Rudy Giuliani era and have a carte blanche to do whatever they want.

[EB]

USC WRITES:
"Let me help you out by pointing the obvious:

"after he took photographs of a subway station"

Since when does "a subway station" become multiple subway stations?"

NOW THIS IS GETTING COMPLICATED...YOU ARE BEING HARD ON ANON HERE..

The more ideal line of "discussion" for Anon would be in the Lou Dobbs show..

ANON: Can you beleive the Indian guy shooting photograps of multiple subway station...now suing the government that he was discriminated..

LOU: (shaking head)....unbelievable...(umph) I'm getting (sigh...umph)..what can I say...when are these Washingtom politicians going to listen to middle class true americans like Anon (Umph...sigh...umph)...(shaking up head)...unbeleivable

LOU: Coming up next after the break...you are not going to believe this..yellow people bringing in leprosy into this country...umph...sigh...unbelievable....

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continuation of LOU...

USC WRITES:
"Let me help you out by pointing the obvious:

"after he took photographs of a subway station"

Since when does "a subway station" become multiple subway stations?"

NOW THIS IS GETTING COMPLICATED...YOU ARE BEING HARD ON ANON HERE..

The more ideal line of "discussion" for Anon would be in the Lou Dobbs show..

ANON: Can you beleive the Indian guy shooting photograps of multiple subway station...now suing the government that he was discriminated..

LOU: (shaking head)....unbelievable...(umph) I'm getting (sigh...umph)..what can I say...when are these Washingtom politicians going to listen to middle class true americans like Anon (Umph...sigh...umph)...(shaking up head)...unbeleivable

LOU: Coming up next after the break...you are not going to believe this..yellow people bringing in leprosy into this country...umph...sigh...unbelievable....

.......advertisment....
continuation of LOU...

[Sid]

"If a white guy was exhibiting the same behavior - they should stop and question the guy. This is a no brainer. It isn't about race."

Handcuffing and arresting someone is exactly the same thing as stopping and questioning. Did you even graduate from High School?

[USC]

"The guy was photographing MULTIPLE subway stations."

You need to re-read the story.

Let me help you out by pointing the obvious:

"after he took photographs of a subway station"

Since when does "a subway station" become multiple subway stations? It was only after the photographer was detained that he told the officer about his project to photograph multiple stations. The officer did not see him photographing multiple subway stations. If you knew anything about NYC you would know that it virtually impossible for a "single" officer to have seen an individual at multiple subway stations.

Do you guys even read about what happened before you pull the race card?

The guy was photographing MULTIPLE subway stations. The project required him to photograph ALL in fact. If you are a cop and you see a person photographing infrastructure like that, you take notice.

If a white guy was exhibiting the same behavior - they should stop and question the guy. This is a no brainer. It isn't about race. It is about national security. I don't care what color people are - if they are doing something that looks suspicious regarding public transportation and terrorist hot spots we need to take notice.

[USC]

"Based on that logic, after what happened in Omaha, every 16-25 year old white male who enters a department store should be handcuffed and investigated."

Exactly, right.

The question is simple. Is taking photographs a criminal offense? If no, then you can't arrest people. If yes, you need to make people aware that they will get arrested if they take pictures. That didn't happen in this case.

As you correctly point out, if this type of logic were applied then people should be arrested for boarding a plane for they could be scoping out the layout for a hijacking. Or, people should be handcuffed & arrested if they submit an application to pilot school for they could be planning to crash a plane into the United States Senate!

9/11 is no justification for justiying the unjustifiable!

[Legal and no longer waiting]

"Who's rights were violated??? For Christ's sake - the guy appeared to be scoping out a target. The law allows our police to question people they reasonably believe to be in the progress of a crime."

Based on that logic, after what happened in Omaha, every 16-25 year old white male who enters a department store should be handcuffed and investigated. Better yet, get them at the parking lot - there must be a sinister reason they are going to the mall at holiday time!

"Now, let's not crack down on this individual either. "

I don't get the comparison. We have a judge who is petty and throws everyone in the slammer because one guy has his ringtone on.

Then you have police who suspect that a man may be scoping out a target - a man who has been photographing many different parts of the subway.

You can't compare a petty judge to an alert cop. Even though the cop's hunch was wrong, he had every right to investigate. The guy was held up for 30 minutes. They didn't drag him to the station. That seems like a small price to pay for our national security.

[USC]

"If we crack down on our police for this"

Now, let's not crack down on this individual either. After all he is only upholding the law. He calls himself a Judge. I call him a thug!

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/law/11/28/judge.cell.phone/index.html

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_2616717.html

And, oh, yes, I haven't heard the Thug's side of the story but then again I am not an apologist!

[Anonymous]

"I don't get this logic - so if you saw people jumping out of twin towers, then it is OK to violate people's rights?"

Who's rights were violated??? For Christ's sake - the guy appeared to be scoping out a target. The law allows our police to question people they reasonably believe to be in the progress of a crime.

If we crack down on our police for this, then they will be afraid to go after anyone they think is involved in a crime.

The police HAVE THE RIGHT to investigate THE APPEARANCE OF a crime. What planet are you from?

[Legal and no longer waiting]

I don't get this logic - so if you saw people jumping out of twin towers, then it is OK to violate people's rights? If you had a pinch of common sense then you would probably understand that this is the fastest way to start sacrificing people's rights in the name of a the "greater good", which is exactly what the hijackers did.

"This has been used as a great excuse to harass and humiliate all brown skinned people in high handed manner."

You're right EB. All the white people in this country are preoccupied with doing whatever we can to stick to the brown man. There's not a day that goes by where I don't think about ways to make their life as tough as possible.

The first thing I did this morning when I woke up was recite the white man mantra: "I am white, therefor I am." I set daily and monthly goals for making your life tough. We have secret meetings where we discuss the next month's agenda. We smoke cigars and each have a unique evil laugh. Last month we decided to go after drivers licenses. This is really just a big conspiracy against brown people. You caught me!

Give me a freaking break. If it is that bad here, why do you want to immigrate here? You have become an expert at playing the victim. I'll bet you have much more of an opportunity here than in your home country.

You're nothing more than a chronic complainer.

[EB]

To the anonymous white supremacist who wrote:
" Did you see the people JUMPING OUT OF THE TWIN TOWERS!!!
Safety first. Being PC is secondary"

Yeah.. you are right. People were jumping out the twin towers because you were politically correct and Fedexed visas without doing background check....

This has been used as a great excuse to harass and humiliate all brown skinned people in high handed manner...Such arrogant xenophobic behavior gives you "safety"??...I bet a white guy from Ireland doing the exact same thing would not have been treated that way.

You enquire what he is doing... Take him to a location to interrogate him..that's all fine. Why handcuff? why public humiliation...this all makes you feel patriotic and "fighting" in the war on terror?

"Please! If you don't want to allow photography put a sign up "Photography Not Permited.""

How about you just watch THE NEWS! It's common sense that you shouldn't be doing something that appears to be scouting the next attack. Innocent behavior or not, the cops need to investigate.

You didn't hear the cop's side of the story. You are just assuming they did what he claims they did.

[USC]

"The cops did the right thing here."

Please! If you don't want to allow photography put a sign up "Photography Not Permited."

"The least this guy could have done to prevented the misunderstanding would be to notify authorities as to what he is doing and why prior to."

ROFL! Obviously you are not from NYC!

[Sid]

"The cops did the right thing here. "

Why did they have to handcuff and arrest him? Was he refusing to clarify why he was clicking photographs? How about simply asking him to come down to the police station to answer some questions? Would that have been too un-Bush like?

[Anonymous]

"Wiita, who has sought compensatory damages, alleges that he was detained in Manhattan shortly after he embarked on a planned 10-day project of photographing all 468 subway stations and their surrounding streetscapes."

OK, so major details were missing. You made it sound as if he was your average tourist snapping a picture. If I were law enforcement and noticed someone photographing all of the subway stations, I may think that something was up.

The cops did the right thing here. After 9/11 of course people will suspect something is up - and THEY SHOULD.

The least this guy could have done to prevented the misunderstanding would be to notify authorities as to what he is doing and why prior to. We have got to be on high alert when it comes to public transportation. I'm not going to let the PC cops endager our society. Did you see the people JUMPING OUT OF THE TWIN TOWERS!!!

Safety first. Being PC is secondary.

[R. Lawson]

"Roy, with all those out of work and underworked American comics out there, I'm sure you're fuming that we're allowing in cheap foreign comedians "

Yes, it's true. I woke up last night after a nightmare I had regarding this very issue. An army of Conan Obriens were invading from the north. They were all dressed as mounties!

[Sid]

New York police sued for harassing Indian student

http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/dec/07ny.htm