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Well, one of them anyway… brash consumerism. When I was a kid, heck when I was a salary-earning adult, Dad got a tie for Father’s day, or maybe a tape or CD that he liked. So wtf do I see ads on TV telling me to buy Dad a plasma TV, or a $500 camera?? Kids are being told that they don’t really love their dad if they buy him a cheap shirt?? What a crock.

Oh, anothing that sucks about the USA? Their football team heh heh.

Yesterday the temperature at 10am was 100F. By mid-afternoon it was 113F. This morning, driving to San Diego, the west most part of the valley floor was 92F at 7.30 in the morning!!

But at least it’s a dry heat.

From this article at LiveScience.com….

Scott Silverman, Chairman of the Board of VeriChip Corporation, has proposed implanting the company’s RFID tracking tags in immigrant and guest workers….. he proposed using VeriChip RFID implants to register workers at the border, and then verify their identities in the workplace. He added, “We have talked to many people in Washington about using it….”

[NEW HOST MARKER]I spent the first part of the day yesterday at my friendly neighbourhood INS office in Calexico. I had to hand in my current permanent resident card and apply for the new (unconditional) one. In the past you would have to get there early and queue up to get seen, now an appointment is mandatory; mine was for 8am and I was second in line at 7.40. The appointment letter said you will be denied entry if you show up later than 15 minutes before the appointment time: the doors opened at 8.05.

I believe no trip to the INS is without trouble, no matter how good your paperwork is. In my case, after watching the officer speak on the phone for 20 minutes without dealing with anybody she finally announced that the computer system was broken and so she couldn’t help anybody. We were welcome to stay but she didn’t know if it would be 5 minutes or 5 hours. There’s a plush INS office in San Diego so I asked the lady if I could go there instead, and not have to skip work to visit Calexico. She said I could but then, to my amazement, she said she would try to work my case without the computer. She took my passport and card away, came back 10 minutes later to take my fingerprints, and then about 20 minutes later she was done (and by then the computer was working again).

So now I have a stamp in my passport saying I am a permanent resident waiting for my card, and the card when it comes should be valid for 7 years or so, maybe even the full 10. Unless I decide to go for citizenship, it means I am finally free of the INS for a while. And that’s a good thing.

I’m pleased to say that just as 11 million illegals stand to become citizens as a reward for their crime, this week I received notice that my permanent residency has become unconditional. Its only taken 3.5 years since applying and several hundred dollars in fees and I’m not even close to being able to apply for citizenship. You can make up your own sarcastic next line.

Today is Day Without An Immigrant day, where people in support of illegal aliens and other criminals will try to hurt the country by not going to work and not buying anything. Well, I’ve decided to show my support by, today, not buying anything from a store that is run by anyone with ties to an illegal alien. Not sure how I will determine that but I am sure they will appreciate my effort.

It struck me this evening that almost every Hot Dog on a Stick vendor I’ve ever seen has babes working behind the counter. I don’t think that its neccessarily that employ above-average looking girls, I think its the uniforms that at once glance are pretty gaudy and dorky, but on closer inspection seem to do a lot for the wearer. Or maybe its just the idea of meat on a stick.

(Ok, I can’t get the image to reduce in size no matter what I try)

So today we have snot-nose students protesting the latest plans for immigration reform. Now, students will protest anything of course – I remember being part of a sit-in at UEA when some ‘facist’ speaker came to visit – but I become increasingly fed up with the “illegals are not criminals” mantra.

Of course the very term illegal immigrant is now supposedly racist but, by definition, if you do something illegal then you are a criminal. If I burgle your house I am not an undocumented visitor, even if I am desperate and only trying to better myself and my family.

At work today one of my new colleagues has been waiting 3 years to make progress on his Green Card application; $000s have been spent on his behalf to prove his value to the country. Why then should someone who has no interest in paying taxes or contributing to our society get a free pass? Make the process easier for all (note I said all, not just Mexicans) so that those who genuinely wish to belong can come; punish those who wish not to go through the process to the maximum.

Something that always amuses me – we all know that when people talk about illegal imigrants they really only mean Mexicans (and maybe Europeans). If the government was to propose real reform, say invite 75,000 Iranians and Syrians (I bet many of them are as desperate to live here as the Mexicans) I bet today’s protestors would be out again saying how the country is letting too many people in. Finally, let all the illegals who want to stay, stay, but they have to live in the same neighbourhoods as the protestors, paying no taxes but using all social services, refusing to speak English in schools…. Whats that I hear? Oh yeah, silence.

So I was watching CNN this morning and saw this article about giving men parental choice, like women ‘currently do’. In essence these guys want the right to say “you have the choice to have or not to have the baby, and I have the right to say that if you have it I will not be responsible”. The guy bringing the lawsuit said he told the girl he didn’t want to be a father but they got pregnant anyway – why should he have to pay anything towards it, she knew his wishes. What an idiot. We don’t need a law to ‘protect’ men from being fathers, we have things called condoms, maybe next time this guy should try one. Read more about these halfwits at the National Center For Men.
Is it me or are we becoming a nation of people who won’t take responsibiity for anything. I got you pregnant – not my deal! I spilled hot coffee on my lap whilst driving – not my fault! Come on people, be adults, not children.

So whilst I look for a job I’m enjoying the good graces of the State of California and a nice little cheque every week or two. Last week I got a letter requesting that I go to the local employment office for a personal job search consultation. Now I’m sure these people do a great job but I doubt any of them have heard about Java, J2EE etc let alone have any idea how to find a job. Typing in the local office, no problem. Someone looking for Struts on Tomcat – probably not. So I was thinking I might be able to have some fun watching them try to tell me how to do a job search. Yeah, I’ll give them the acronyms and my starting salary requirement and wait for them to give me the interview times.