"Caregivers and wet nurses"?!? "Baby treatment"?!? Your kidding, right? It seems to me that all Mr. Panahi wanted was to be treated fairly and with respect and dignity. I think the treatment that he received is a far cry from the special treatment that some high profile individuals ask for and receive on a daily basis. I understand the dynamics entailed in this situation, with Iran recently listed as the number one terrorist country and of course with recent terrorist activities in general (which of course is why in part Middle Easterners in general are so horribly stereotyped in the first place), not to mention the situation of illegal immigrants trying to come into the country everyday, but I don't think that excuses anything like what Mr. Panahi received, or anyone else. It really frustrates me when such a clear case of abuse (assuming of course that everything Mr. Panahi said was true) is somehow excused. Best, Reagan At 11:24 PM 05/05/2001 -0400, you wrote: >Anthony has a point. The INS are not obligated, or trained, to be caregivers >and wet nurses. If you want to organize a protest, all you can really fight >for is baby treatment for all. Good luck. Besides, Panahi is demonstrating >supreme arrogance to suggest he should be exempt from the laws. If they had >let him through I highly doubt he would have stuck around to fight for the >freedom of the little crying boy. I think he would have have placed a little >more importance on a movie premiere, and left the kid to fend for himself. >My aunt works in the airline industry and faces similar attacks all the >time. Once a major Hollywood actor (who she refuses to identify) became >indignant because he was not given special attention and it prompted him to >scream at her "Don't you know who I am?" Without missing a beat she replied >"Oh my God! Don't you know who you are?" Unfortunately he had enough clout >to land her a fine and suspension for that, but I'm proud of her. > >---- >Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite >http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite > ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.tcf.ua.edu/ScreenSite