Rag Files Of A Fashion Diva

Sunday, April 30, 2006

Spanish version of the US national anthem

Exercise: House cleaning - it's a workout. No really....it IS a workout especially when hauling a vacuum cleaning up and down stairs.

Adam Kidron (a British citizen and 16 year resident of the US) has put together a Spanish-language version of the national anthem and of course it's caused quit a stir. Once again Dubya opened his mouth only to have his ignorance come foaming out about it. He said, "One of the things that's very important is, when we debate this issue, that we not lose our national soul." Ok let's think about this for a minute. The United States is the biggest melting pot in the known world and really we represent all nations of the Earth because if you want to get right down to it, the majority of us are either immigrants or descendants of. Personally, I think having other language versions of the anthem is representing who we really are and celebrating out national soul not promoting loss of it. Besides, I don't see what the big uproar is anyway. I mean the melody of America came from the British national anthem and has served as an anthem for several other countries too so it's not like we haven't ripped stuff off from other places if that's how some people wish to see this Spanish-language version of the US anthem.

Then there's the oil business. Good old George doesn't want to investigate companies for price gouging and he doesn't want the huge tax breaks they are given to be rolled back (hmm...sounds like there are personal reasons involved in that one). Instead he's thinking big oil is going to take those huge profits and dump them into research for alternative fuel sources. Yah right whatever. C'mon Dubya, do you really think the American public is that stupid? You're ratings seem to be dropping with every day that passes. This certainly isn't winning you any points. Neither is the idea of your little repub bots that want to go to ANWR and drill. Oh and the $100 rebate check is laughable to say the least. A 100 bucks that's what equal to 2 tanks of gas maybe 3 depending on what you drive. LMAO Yah that's some relief. We get a lousy $100 and the oil companies still get billions. *RE*

And now for something completely different...

What is it with people not being able to recognize personal space? I was shopping at the Evil Empire's brother Friday night and as I was standing in the checkout line, this woman comes up behind me and I swear stood right on top of me. When she wasn't doing that, she had her cart up so close to me, I could barely move. Now it's one thing if I know you and you're standing within six inches of me but if you're a stranger - BACK THE HELL OFF! Geez!

So once I got done there, I went to the Evil Empire. I just have to say they are hiring some pretty creepy greeters these days. I walk in and this guy who was standing there looked a little strange to begin with but then when he looked me up and down before saying, "good evening" in a sort of "chilling" way, it just kind of freaked me out.

As I was returning home after shopping, I looked up in my review mirror and saw this car that I thought was an Eclipse like mine. I thought, "Nah...can't be. I've only seen two in the six months I've had mine and that's been awhile ago." I looked up again and the car had gotten closer. Sure enough it was a new Eclipse like mine and blue to boot - that was a first. When I got almost to my exit, the guy driving it pulls up along side me to pass. I look over and he gives me the thumbs up and waves. Think he must have been as shocked as I was to see another blue new Eclipse on the road. I waved back and just giggled to myself. After he got past me, I did notice one thing...his car wasn't exactly the same. It wasn't a GT. Come to think of it, none of the other ones I've seen on the road have been GTs. I don't know if that's because people just don't want to spend the extra money, they want the slightly better gas mileage, or a combination of both. Ah well....all I know is that I'm extremely happy with the choice I made and know I will love my car in the years to come. :)

Otay....I's outta here.

Til next time....

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
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Thursday, April 27, 2006

A Lunch Outing And AOHELL

Exercise: 60 push-ups, 50 leg lifts, 240 crunches

Today the office president and top retail supervisor at my office took the administration staff to lunch for a belated celebration of administration professionals day. I always get a kick out of these sort of outings with some of the higher ups because you get to see them in a more candid way and get a chance to talk to them about stuff you may not normally get to. What's funny is that somehow I usually end up being the one that gets to sit right next to them. It's almost like everyone else fears that position. Personally, I think it's great. It's not that I'm the brown noser type who looks at it as a way to butter the bigwig up. I like it I guess you could say because it allows me to become more at ease with them and not have that feeling of intimidation you sometimes get when you only see these people in a business setting. Today was no different. I was sitting by Mr. Prez himself and he kept joking that I was the one who was buying and telling everyone to take advantage of anything on the menu. I said, "Oh....DAYUM....forgot the credit card...guess you're going to have to cover this one." That's when he started in with the washing dishes bit. I said, "Hey, I know....let's give the tab to Monkeyboy (the business manager I work most closely with) he's got more than enough money and he needs something to do." That got a laugh out of everyone because they all know what MB is like. All in all it was a wonderful time and even though I'm not the biggest fan of the restaurant we went to, I enjoyed it. :)

And now for something completely different.....

J-Lo cancelled her AOL account about a month ago. Yesterday, they sent her one of those "risk free" CDs which kinda ticked her off so she decided to call them up and have them remove her name from their database. Remembering the experience she related to me about canceling the account and what went on when I called up to cancel on my mom's behalf years ago (they wouldn't just take no for an answer), I told J-Lo to hold on to her ass because more than likely the would try to take her for a ride just like they did before. Sure enough....the bastards did it again. After going through the hoops to just get to a customer service person, she had to go through a ton more once he got on the line. He started asking her all kinds of questions about the account she used to have (screen name, account holder's name, secret question, ect.). He said it was to verify who she was but personally I think it was nothing but a bunch of bullshit. Based on what she was telling me, all of that wasn't needed to have a name and address removed from a database. I mean I could see it if she was trying to cancel the account but really. Who the hell is going to give a shit if their name is mistakenly removed from a marketing list if they already got rid of their account to begin with? I'm 99% sure this was a set up to attempt to talk her back into reopening her account.

So anyway, after he gets this info I guess he puts her on hold for a few minutes saying it takes that long to do what he needs to do (again what I would call another bullshit line). They pull this same crap when you make a cancellation and let me tell you anyone who would believe that's what is really going on has got to be stupid. I mean let's think about this....they call up your account and can tell you everything about it but it takes five minutes to hit the delete key? Yah WHATEVER! Sure enough when he came back, he started in with attempting to get her to rejoin with every little gimmick possible. I think she must have spent 10 minutes telling this guy no and he still wouldn't back off. Finally once he told her the task she wanted done had been taken care of, she hung up on him. She actually let him off a lot easier than I would have. I have a tendency to give people like that a piece of my mind. You know, I understand these people have to make a living too but C'MON! What really gets me is that obviously they are trained to do this kind of crap and with all the people that they've obviously pissed off, you would think that they would take a different approach. *RE*

Otay....I gotta get outta here. Comments on the other posts in the coming days.

Study me, I'm history...

Til next time....

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
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Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Previous post comment response and some other crap

Exercise: None the weather was shit today. Here we are almost the 1st of May and it was effin SNOWING! Thank Pete it wasn't sticking otherwise Ms. Mother Nature would have been getting an earful.

Brett said ~ "Negative, negative, negative...
Minutemen, while having a few bad apples, do just stand there and view the border and point out people crossing. That was the whole idea. They aren't armed with anything other than a walkie talkie to point out the criminals. Since, as you say, there isn't enough money going to this issue, we can use all the help we can get. Especially, since we aren't enforcing the existing laws due to mostly the reasons you cite. Also, part of the crowd that sides with you on "grandfathering" people in thinks those people should get away with breaking the law. It's a slap in the face to those doing things legally.
Greencard or another system, there still has to be a way to check up. It's going to cost because it does involve someone doing the work. That's not a bad thing. We do that for our drivers licenses and more. Seems that this form of taxation is quite prevalent for us, why not moreso for those that aren't citizens? I'm all for getting rid of taxes, but let's start with actual legal citizens.
So you're all for scrapping the Constitution now? While there were errors in the interpretation over the years, there is no mention of white men and no mention of women not having these rights. If you can point that out in the Bill Of Rights, that would be great. You also may want to check out the stats on illegal gun use versus legal gun use. As always, there are some bad apples, but it's amazing that people want to use that excuse for taking away our rights. There is a reason the first two rights listed are listed as they are. Man doesn't get "smarter" due to generational time. We may discover more science and geography, but that's not "smarter". Is there a modern day Plato or Socrates? Who is the modern day Einstein? Ideas have been around for thousands of years concerning freedom. Our founding fathers debated every word in the Constitution. They came out of it with a document that has held up over 200 years. With all the devisiveness in this political day and age, do you really think we can do better and actually finish a document? (Puts Iraq in perspective as they try to build a country, doesn't it?)"

The Fashion Diva's thoughts ~

I'm not being negative. I would call it more like practical & keeping Joe Public's interest in mind.

I know what minutemen do. Please stop attempting to give me a lesson on the subject. All I'm saying is that by allowing any old schlep off the street to patrol our borders, we could potentially be asking for trouble because things could more easily get out of hand. No weapons are needed for that to happen. I say take some of that pork barrel spending (there's a ton of it) and put it to some good use by applying it towards hiring trained professionals to do the job.

I really wish you would stop making it sound as though we aren't doing anything about illegal immigration because we are. Hell deportation hold tanks are getting too full as is. When you are talking the kind of numbers involved, there is NO WAY things are just going to be solved in a day's time no matter how strict the law or plentiful the resources.

How do you know grandfathering illegal immigrants in is a slap in the face to those who went about things legally? How many of them have you actually talked to? Given your profound inexperience with things like diversity and racial problems that are even blatant to a blind person, I'm going to say VERY few if any. Sure there are some who will bitch about it but there will always be some that do regardless of how the problem is solved. I, for one, can tell you as someone who has dealt with immigration on a few different levels and has gone through the legal process of bringing a foreign national into this country that I don't feel the least bit slighted especially if those who snuck in are required to always remain as a permanent resident alien. My reasons for this are:

I believe that if those people were sent home, the US would experience at least a mild economic hardship if not worse that really isn't needed right now particularly with the way Dubya is running things.
I feel for those who have to come here by ways of being smuggled in and I can understand what it's like to have something you really want ripped right out from under you. I don't want to have to say I was responsible for taking someone's dream away just because our government can't get it's act together.

What exactly do you think we need to check up on when it comes to a permanent resident alien? I mean if they get in trouble with the law, it's not like renewing a greencard every ten years is going to make a difference and I'm fairly certain the odds of someone's fingerprints changing is basically nill. Let's face it, it's nothing but a way for the government to make money. I mean we're talking about something that's equivalent to renewing a driver's license yet costs $260 instead of $20. When you calculate that out on a per year basis you're talking $26 vs $5 and unlike a DL, you more than likely will be waiting 6 months to get it and in Chi's case, driving 200 miles to get it. How ridiculous that anyone should have to pay 5 times the amount for the government to be that much more inefficient.

Extra taxes for those who aren't citizens??? Um yah no. Sorry but that just wouldn't fly because in some cases like that of Chi and me where the foreign national marries, the non-citizen wouldn't be the only one paying the extra tax or impacted by it. There's a saying that goes "Love knows no boundaries". Now why the hell should I be penalized just because I decided to live by that? All together now....R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S!!!

I didn't say that I wanted to scrap the constitution . I was pointing out the fact that it's outdated and needs revisions to better pertain to this day and age. Errors in interpretation LMAO that's a good one. When you look at what was written and then how people especially women and blacks were treated, it's easy to see to whom it was really aimed.

It's not just the "bad apples" who drive my thoughts about gun control. It's the number of accidental deaths caused by legally owned guns especially involving children. It also has to do with living in a country where strict laws on such weapons is enforced. Imagine a place about the size of Iowa which has close to 60 million people living there yet the crime rate is about the same. This I believe has a LOT to do with the gun control laws.

Ok, so let's say human knowledge is only a matter of new science as you say. What's to be said of those who discover the new science? Obviously they have the ability to look at things differently from others in order to make that find. We also learn from that science which in turn makes us smarter than those who came before us. You can't tell me that the first humans to live on Earth knew everything that we know today and never progressed. Maybe our founding fathers debated every word of the Constitution when it was written but it was done in that day and age according to society then not how it is now.

And now for something completely different......

I watched Brokeback Mountain and A Beautiful Mind this weekend. Both of these films were pretty good. I have to say that I think the reason a lot of people were having such fits about Brokeback had more to do with the fact that the movie was above them and they weren't able to look past the sexuality of it to the relationship and connection of the characters. Oh the ignorance of some people.

People seemed to really have their heads shoved up their asses today. During the morning commute, most people were driving as though they forgot the gas is the pedal on the right and at work planes were buzzing over people's heads right and left because they just didn't seem to "get it".

I am now 100% sure that all the bitching people have been doing about mileage ratings on new cars being overstated is complete crap. My car is rated at 18/27. Normally I do about half & half driving - half city/half highway. Now if you take the two ratings and average them, that's about what I would expect to get for the type of driving I do which would be 22.5mpg. So far I've done no less than 23. This past time I filled up, most of my miles were highway but there were some city. I came out at 27.5mpg and had I actually waited a bit longer to fill up, that may have gone a bit higher. I can usually get about 400 miles out of a tank but this time had I gone until I was down to my last gallon, it probably would have been closer to 500. Sorry people but I think it's more a matter of how you drive that's influencing your ratings than anything else. From my observances, I think one of the biggest factors is speeding rather than driving the limit especially when it comes to streets with stoplights.

I heard on the news this evening that May 1st is National Day Without Immigrants. All immigrants are being asked to stay home from work, school, and stores to protest federal immigration reform legislation (something that makes it a felony to be in the States illegally). Personally, I hope every last one stays home and supports the cause because I really do think we depend on these people much more than most people in this country realize.

Ok....think that's it for me today.

Til next time....

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
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Tuesday, April 18, 2006

dumb Dumb DUMB!

Exercise: 2 mile run. I wanted to go further but rain was expected and I could see some dark clouds moving in. Normally rain doesn't bother me when running (not a light one anyway) but I had my MP3 player with me and didn't want to get it wet.

I was watching the CBS Evening News last night and heard two stories that just left me wondering how much more ridiculous things can get.

The first story had to do with Medicaid. As of July 1, all US citizens who sign up for Medicaid or renew their benefits will have to provide documentation of their citizenship. Ok, I get the fact that the idea behind this is to try and weed out any illegal immigrants using this service, however, let's think about this for a minute. Basically a birth certificate and a passport are the two most likely prospects of proof for most people. Well let's see....a lot of people don't have either of these things to begin with and if you're extremely poor, it's going to be that much more difficult to get them. I mean a certified birth certificate alone will cost you at least $15 in the state of Iowa and can take anywhere from two days to three weeks to get. Oh and let's not even mention the possible hassle you may have to go through (like waiting in line or on the telephone for 20 minutes or more). Then there's the passport option. Um yah...that's going to be really easy for someone who has very little or no money. A first time applicant over the age of 16 will pay $97 ($82 for under 16s) and that's not even counting the $15 or $20 for the pictures which need to be submitted. First time applicants also have to apply in person which, depending on where you have to go, could be somewhat of a hassle. Of course this too has a wait of a minimum of two weeks and in order to get it in the first place, you have to have a birth certificate. Hmmm....if you had that, what's the point of the passport as you could just use it to show proof of citizenship.

So what does someone do who has neither of these and can't get them? Well, you then have to go with a letter of no record and as many of the following as possible:

Baptismal certificate
Hospital birth certificate
Census record
Early school record
Family bible record
Doctor's record of post-natal care

LMAO....sure those are soooo much easier to come by than the first two options. *RE*

The second story had to do with the Opus Dei people kicking up a stink about The Da Vinci Code movie. I guess their group isn't depicted in the best of ways and they want a disclaimer put on the film stating it's fiction. Um hello are you for real? As if your average person with an IQ of above oh say 60 isn't going to already know it's fiction. Granted you people are kind of a freaky bunch but really. Actually, the fact that you're blah blahing so loudly about it is enough to make cynics like me think that maybe everything that has been said about you along with the depiction put forth maybe really does have some truth to it and you're trying to do everything you can to cover it up. GET A LIFE and go crawl back under your rock people! *RE*

And now for something completely different.....

Chi received a jury summons in the mail. LMAO!!! Now I know that they get the names from DOT and voter records (obviously they got his name from the DOT since he's not allowed to register to vote) but c'mon! This right here is how a simple little thing like checking a SSN could reduce costs and paperwork. If they took the time to look it up (the service is free mind you), they would see that his number carries the stipulation "Valid for work only with INS authorization" (this is what they print on the card issued to you if you aren't a citizen). Personally, what I think would make more sense is if they maybe put a suffix letter on the end of the number so that they could easily be filtered out of a database.

Otay.....time for me to be off.

Til next time....

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
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Monday, April 17, 2006

Ok...Let's make this easy...

Exercise: 2 mile run. Travel time was decent tonight although not as good as I would have liked (18 minutes). Of course when you figure in the kinda strong wind I was against most of the way, it wasn't so bad.

If I were to put forth a proposal concerning the way the US should move forward with the immigration issue, it would go a little something like this:

Secure the borders first to slow down the influx of new illegal immigrants and require those patrolling them to be government trained officials. Do away with all minutemen penalizing anyone caught acting as one.
Require ALL businesses hiring any foreign national to run a check on all AI and SS numbers to ensure documentation is legit.
Allow all illegal immigrants working and residing in the US at the time the law goes into effect to be "grandfathered in" as permanent resident aliens with no citizenship option or ability to petition other family members to the States. By doing this, we wouldn't be causing additional possible hardship to the country as I believe we do actually depend on their labor. In addition, it is also "punishment" for coming in the wrong way as these people would not be allowed to vote, serve on a jury, enlist, etc. They also would have no chance at getting other family members in at anytime as can be done now.
Streamline the immigration process by reducing the amount of paperwork involved by possibly allowing the initial forms to be filed electronically.
Reduce the fees involved. Rather than having several for each particular requirement, have one flat fee per type of visa which is paid up front.
Do away with greencard renewal for those who do not become a citizen. Issue one and have it be good for life or until the "alien" leaves the country for a period of more than two years. If that period expires, they must reapply and go through the visa process again.
Negotiate a work exchange program between Canada, the US, and Mexico. This would allow a person the opportunity to pay a small flat fee and swap places with someone in the country they choose to go to for a set amount of time (say a maximum of a year). After the time is up, the company the person is working for may petition on the worker's behalf to have them stay permanently.

I could go on but I just don't have the time. These, however, are some of the main ideas I would put forth after experiencing things from both sides of the table by not only going to a foreign country on a work exchange visa but also from going through the petition process to bring Chi here.

And now for something completely different.....

Yesterday I went to my parents' house for Easter dinner. My mom, my sister, and I were sitting and talking about various different things. My mother mentioned she saw someone with a bumper sticker on their car which said, "Border control, not gun control". How completely asinine. Um sorry but if it came down to a choice between those two things for me, I'd choose the gun control first seeing as the majority of the illegal immigrants who come into this country are fairly harmless.

The Nebraska legislature has voted to split the Omaha school system into three districts. Now normally this wouldn't be anything overly newsworthy, however, it's how it's being split that just leaves me shaking my head in shame. It seems this split is little more than state sponsored segregation. One district is mostly black, another predominantly white, and the third largely Hispanic. On one hand I could see how in a way this could actually be good in the respect that particular groups might get certain needs met more easily, but I really think the damage would outweigh any good that may come from it. In my book, diversity is the way to go because it allows you to learn about different cultures and the people from them. Leave it to a republican to come up with garbage like this.

I was reading a news article online the other day about this woman who is an American living in London. She was giving her little whiney blah blah about people there showing hatred towards her because she's an American. What a load of crap! Granted there are some people who do keep this mentality but I really don't think they are as plentiful as she tries to make it sound. I don't once remember coming across someone over there that hated or even acted like they hated me because I am American. Of course that could be because I didn't take the attitude that I'm better than everyone else because I'm American - pomposity has no place. Sure one of the guys I worked with and I would always rib each other (he'd call me a Yank and I'd call him a Limey) but it was all in good fun and neither of us took it seriously.

I also think it could be the fact that she said even though she doesn't like the stuff Dubya does, she defends him. Ok I know it isn't fair for people in another country to judge someone based on their country's leader but c'mon people! You deserve to get picked on if you are actually going to defend someone like George Bush especially in a foreign country because let me tell you, in many places, he doesn't even go over as well as he does here and we all know how well he ISN'T doing.

The last thing I want to address is people who use/play others and think nothing of it. I had someone who I thought was my friend do this to me lately and it really just kind of pissed me off. She wanted to get a "cheap" used car for her son. I told her I would be willing to talk to the car guy we got our cars from to see if he could do anything for her because I knew he wouldn't screw her around. She accepted and acted very appreciative and thankful that I was willing to help her. The next day which was Saturday, I got a hold of our awesome car guy and he told me that he could help her out and just to have her contact him. Monday was the next time I was going to talk to her so I figured I would just let her know what the scoop was then. Wouldn't you know, she went out and actually bought a car on Saturday. Not only did she spend a good $500 over the maximum she wanted to fork over, the car ended up having a problem with it about three days after she took delivery. Now it doesn't piss me off that she didn't buy from our guy - that was for her to decide. It's the fact that she basically told me she wanted my help even though I think she had this particular car picked out before I even said anything to her about talking to our dealer. All I can say is if you are looking for a way to get me to not want to have anything to do with you anymore, this would be the way to go about it.

If this wasn't enough, she also told me how she is using this guy so she can maybe have an advantage in a child custody battle. Her ex drug dealing/junkie boyfriend has now decided that he wants custody of their daughter. This detective guy came to her house and served her papers. I guess he was being helpful by saying if the ex-boyfriend did anything to violate his patrol, he would go pick him up in an instant to help her get out of the mess. Anyway, she said that she knew he was kind of sweet on her and even though he's married with kids, she was going to milk it as much as she possibly could so that he would help her - she's been to lunch with him quite a few times already. My jaw nearly dropped to the floor when I heard her say that. I couldn't believe that one she would be so stupid and two that she could do something that might break up a marriage especially one that involves children. She always bitched when her boyfriend would step out on her and yet here she is playing the part of the person someone else is stepping to. UGH! Some people just have no shame.

Alrighty roo....I'm outta here.

Til next time....

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
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Friday, April 14, 2006

The Goober is BACK!

Exercise: 2 mile run. After a pathetic attempt the other night, tonight totally rocked. It was like I had a firecracker in my ass or something. I knocked that bad boy out in 16 minutes flat. :)

I don't have a ton of time to post tonight but I just wanted to stop and leave my impressions of my first experience behind the wheel of Chi's car since it came home. There's only one word that can even begin to describe it. FUUUUUUUUUUCK!!! That is one bad ass car! Nothing like getting sucked back into your seat when the turbo kicks in and you hear the jet engine whine of the turbine. It's got a very different clutch in it and I don't think I would want it for an everyday car but it would definitely be a great weekend toy. I think one day that Porsche 911 Turbo I've been dreaming about may one day have to become a reality. It's one of the few cars on the street that can actually beat Chi's car in a 0 - 60 run.

Otay....must dash. I've got stuff to see and people to do...LOL.

Til next time when I post my proposal to congress about that little issue called illegal immigration.

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
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Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Even more immigration blah blah

Exercise: 30 pushups, 50 leglifts and 200 crunches. I'm hoping to get this at least doubled by next week.

So I guess a lot of people are upset over the immigration debate because they think there's a double standard when it comes to Mexico's laws as opposed to the US laws. They think that Mexico makes it terribly difficult to immigrate there yet the US just opens its arms so to speak. If these people who are so upset over this so called double standard actually took the time to read up on immigration laws rather than listening to extremists who only represent one side and make things look like such an atrocity, they might find out that the differences between the US and Mexico aren't as great as the "shockers" are making it out to be. When it comes right down to it, it would probably be easier to get into Mexico legally than it would be to get into the US.

Like with the US and the UK, the more well known ways to "get your foot in the door" in Mexico are:

Marry a citizen.
Find a company who will sponsor you and can prove that you possess a skill that can't be provided by anyone else in the country.
Be independently wealthy.

Now the one thing that Mexico seems to do that I don't believe the US or the UK does is a permit for retirees. This is for people 50 and older who aren't looking to work or make money but can prove they have a means to support themselves. The income requirement - 400 times the daily minimum wage per month and an additional 200 times daily minimum wage per month for each dependent. Might sound like a lot right? Here's the shocker - it comes up to just over $1600/month for the retiree alone. Pretty darn cheap if you ask me since that wouldn't even cover our house payment, dues, and one car for Chi and me.

It seems like one of the biggest fits is being thrown over the idea of going there as an investor because it is said that the minimum amount of money allowed is 40,000 time the daily minimum wage. Guess what? This amount that everyone thinks sounds so horrendous comes out just under $165,000 - barely a drop in the bucket for a serious investor. Here's the real kicker though. If you wish to come to the US as an investor, you have to have $500,000 to $1,000,000. In the UK, you are required to have the equivalent of about $400,000. Gee now that 40,000 times daily minimum wage isn't sounding so bad.

Like the US, you can be a foreign national and be a full resident. Doing this will entitle you to all the rights and benefits of a Mexican National (living, working, claiming state benefits, and paying taxes) but you can't vote. This is the same for a resident alien in the States. The one difference has to do with a possibility of prohibiting work in specific industries. It's usually limited and relate to bar and waiter/waitress work which is understandable. The UK does this sort of thing too mainly because jobs aren't as plentiful as the jobs in the US and they have to protect the interest of the citizens.

Let's talk property. Foreign nationals can own property (along the coast and borders) just not through direct diminion. Land which is outside this point can be acquired through direct diminion, however, the foreign national can't enlist the country of their citizenship's help to defend the property. Well DUH! I don't know any country that would allow that.

Oh, anyone born to Mexican parents in foreign territory is still a Mexican Nationalist. Just like a US citizen born in a foreign country. This child actually has dual citizenship.

There is nothing saying you are required to learn the language. As far as I know, none of the countries I've taken time to look at have a such a requirement. It will, however, make things easier for the people involved though.

Here are a couple other interesting facts...

For those coming into Mexico and the US, bank accounts can be set up fairly easily and as far as I know, you aren't required to register with the police. For someone going to the UK, it's a bit different. Even though I was legally able to live and work there, I was not allowed to have a bank account. I believe the stipulation was that you had to be there for a minimum of one year before that was allowed. I also was required to register with the police.

The list goes on but I'm going to stop here as there is just too much to cover. One thing I will say is if you want to see some STRICT ass laws, look at the ones for Denmark. They even have a thing about bi-racial couples and the age you have to be when it comes to getting in by marriage. I think the most interesting thing is people are pitching this double standard fit about Mexico which really isn't much of a double standard yet you never hear them crying about it when a country like Britain has harsher rules. Go figure.

For those of you who choose to learn more and see that the laws really don't differ as much as SOME people want to make you think, I suggest the following links:

http://uscis.gov/graphics/

http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=93

http://www.mexperience.com/liveandwork/immigration.htm

Based on a lot of the discussions I've seen and heard, I think one of the biggest problems is the clarification between foreign national and citizen. According to the information I've been able to find, the "rules" everyone is having a cow over apply to a foreign national, not a naturalized citizen. The are two DIFFERENT things. Both legal but one carries more "privileges" than the other.

And now for something completely different....

Dubya was in Iowa today raising money for gubernatorial candidate Jim Nussle. What do you know...a crook supporting a crook. I hope to hell this guy doesn't win. He's nothing but bad news.

I think there was something else I was going to post here but I'll be damned if I remember what it was so I guess I will just leave it here.

Til next time....

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
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Sunday, April 09, 2006

Weekend Recap

Exercise: None. It's Sunday and my day off.

Friday - The business managers were doing their spring cleaning of the storage area we have downstairs in our building so the administrators got to go "shopping". I got enough tea for Chi that a shop could be opened. Check the picture of our pantry below (some of the stuff is stacked anywhere from 4 - 8 deep by 2 high). The majority of stuff in there came from work. Oh the benefits of working for a food broker. :)

Saturday - I had Chi take me up to Ames for my haircut. Mr. Salon Guy who does my hair wanted to see the new ride. When I was done, I called Chi to come and get me. I guess he went to pick up an oil filter at an automotive shop then on an adventure to find a good place to take some pictures. It obviously was quite the adventure too since he ended up getting lost. LOL It's a good thing I spent nearly 5 years in that town. Although there have been many changes since I went to school there, I still have a good working knowledge of the streets which helped me get him back to where he needed to be. I think though I'm going to have to buy him a compass for his new car since this one doesn't have one on the dash like most other cars. He doesn't do well telling his direction by the sun. LOL Oh and Mr. SG absolutely loved the new car. He's kind of a sucker for fast cars so when Chi finally arrived, I had Mr. SG's coworker go get him so he could come out and have a look. I think he could have used a bib because there was obvious drool. LOL

Sunday - I have now renamed our "Brown Kitty". Her new name is Piss Pants. For some reason she has decided to take to peeing on the bedroom floor. Friday and Saturday morning both she decided to whiz in the corner by the window around 5 am. We got it cleaned up and banned her from the bedroom at night. She really hated that because usually she comes in and snuggles up with us on the bed at night and she hates being locked out of any place her peoples are. This morning I got up and decided to let her in since Chi was still in bed and I thought she wanted to go curl up with him. I'll be dammed if she didn't want in just to piss on the floor again. I'm also convinced the little winch held it all night just so she could dump it off there. That earned her a permanent 24/7/365 banning from the room which she spent the first half of today announcing her displeasure with by sitting at the door and howling nonstop.

Mr. PIB also came over for a little while today. He recently bought a new motorcycle and had to come and show it off. I think he also wanted an excuse to take it out on the road too. He said that yesterday alone he put something like 80 miles on it driving all over town and stuff. LOL

Oh....so the little construction boys and girls have now started to level out the field to the west of our house. The last couple of days we have woken up to the sound of bulldozers and other big dirt movers outside our windows. Ok, the fact that a street is going to be put in just yards from our front door doesn't bother me too much but the noise from construction machinery rolling past my window at 7 or 8 in the morning on a weekend is just ridiculous. I'm mean come on people. That's when us working schleps get to sleep in. How's that supposed to happen with that kind of noise going on outside? Here's a picture of the work that has been done so far. It's not the greatest but hopefully I can get some more that do a better job of showing it. For the past summers, this area was filled with 7 - 8 foot high corn. Not any more - have a look.

Otay...I shall be off now.

Til next time...

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
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Saturday, April 08, 2006

Immigration Rebuttal

Exercise: None - too busy with other stuff which kept me active. :)

I'm going to use a full post for my feedback on my immigration post because there is just too much for me to write in the Haloscan comment box. I'm warning everyone right now. This is going to be a long ass post. :P

Steph made the following comment:

Mexico's economic problems has nothing to do with the US. You're way off on those issues. Mexico's problems stem from decades of state ownership, much like most of Asia. For nearly 7 decades they practiced "dependencia", which basically meant that they were to be self sustaining and not trade with any other countries, believing it would boost their own economies. THEY are the ones who cut off trade which brought their countries to where they are today. The only reason some Latin American countries are now finally starting to raise their GDP is because they sold off large amounts of their state ownership, much like Margaret Thatcher did to bring England's economy out of the slump it was in during the early 80's, and finally opened up trade.I can list a slew of other things that has hampered the Mexican economy, but none of them have to do with us. Read "Commanding Heights" chapter 9. You watch PBS. The book is based off the PBS program of the same name.You use a lot of strong rhetoric, but most of it is extremely misguided by emotion. The fact that the congress would consider any kind of program letting illegals stay is being generous IMO. I think every single one of those moronic illegals marching in California should have been hauled away and deported.

I was able to pull up one of the essays from the book.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandi.../

My thoughts....

I wasn't trying to say the US is completely at fault for Mexico's economic problems. Anyone who would think that way obviously hasn't looked at things very closely. I was only referring to the things which did involve the US starting with the Mexican War in which the US took half its territory away. I mean if you get right down to it, in a way WE are the illegal immigrants - not the Mexican people.

My point in regards to NAFTA is that it wasn't the success as it was touted to be. I'm not sure if you read the post that you referred to or not but even that points out that Mexico's economy is now in a position where it's very sensitive to the performance of the US economy meaning when our market took a turn for the worst, theirs did too. What it fails to mention are the people who were put out of work (namely the small & mid sized farmers) because they couldn't compete with the big companies NAFTA allowed in. It's those companies who reaped most of the benefits and more on the US side than Mexico. The link also fails to point out that NAFTA made it possible for companies like WalMart and Costco to go down there and completely under sell the retail market which again although there was a creation of some jobs, it also forced others out of theirs along with tearing up the environment. Oh and I guess I should also mention that those who are newly hired cashiers at WalMart in Mexico make about $1.50/hr - that's approximately 1/6 of what the someone in the US makes doing the same job. Now tell me....where would you rather work?

My "rhetoric" as you call it is not extremely misguided by emotion. My thoughts and opinions are based on first hand experience from dealing with immigration not only in this country but others as well. Until you have dealt with it directly, you really can't understand it.

Brett said the following:

Way to go, Steph! Yea, I especially like the comment "I don't blame people for hopping the border illegally". What other illegal things are acceptable? Also, how does our country get made out to be the bad guy when these people are sneaking into our country? The only bad thing I can see that we did was not protect our borders properly. Other than that, as you so clearly point out in your own decision to live in this country, we are the greatest country in the world. That's why everyone wants keeps trying to get into this country. The main thing to remember in all of this is that we have LEGAL immigration, which I am all for, and ILLEGAL immigration. To condone the breaking of laws starts a very slippery slope for any argument.

WHOA! Who said anything about me supporting people coming into this country against the law or doing anything else which is illegal??? My statement about not blaming people for sneaking in had to do with being able to understand why they would choose that method, not that I actually supported it. If you had the choice of being left to feel like a criminal from the outset and having to possibly wait YEARS to support your family who desperately needed money for food and clothing or taking a chance at maybe getting caught then treated like a criminal, which would you choose? I ask that you keep your two girls whom you say you care for and love so much in mind and think about just how far you would go to get them their basic needs.

Granted border patrol isn't what it should be, however, by going after the companies offering the jobs (and YES, they are doing that. My mother worked with someone whose husband came in that way), it's a more nip it in the bud way of doing things. There are tons of places willing to hire illegal immigrants because they know they can get away with paying them less and in return increase their profits. THIS is actually why many of them are sneaking in rather than just doing it on a whim and hoping for something better as your words would imply. If you don't think this happens, then you are very naive to the corporate world.

My comment about Chi and I staying here really was not to imply that the US is the greatest country in the world. Jobs and economic opportunities do tend to be better (at least if you are educated and skilled), however, the US like every other country does have its problems and there are some places which actually lead us in some areas.

Let me tell you a little something about LEGAL immigration into this country that you think is SO wonderful based on the K-1 (fiance visa) that Chi came over on. In order for us to get the process going, I had to get a bunch of forms to fill out and let me tell you that in itself is a trick because some of them will say you need a particular form that goes with it and others will tell you that you don't. Just figuring out what you do need is a pain and it's not something where you can just pick up the phone to call and ask someone either. I also couldn't just walk into the INS office downtown to ask. If you call the hotline, you may have to wait in a que for an hour or more because you aren't just competing with people in your area but more like the whole country. If you walk in, you have to take a number and wait. If they don't get to you before it's time to shut up shop, you're out of luck. What makes it even "better" is that the hours are VERY limited and only during the week when most people are at work. At the time it was something like 8 - 2 M,T,Th,F - Wednesdays were reserved for greencard interviews only and I believe part of the day on Tuesdays was for fingerprinting. There's now a website that is more informative than anything that was available at the time I filed but that doesn't mean there still won't be questions that come up which it doesn't answer.

So now after the week or so it took to get all the forms that were needed, it took a good few hours to fill them out. That didn't even account for the time to get all the extra support you have to send with them gathered up. That includes the following assuming it's filed by a US citizen who meets the initial requirements and has never been married:

1.) Statement from an officer of the bank or other financial institution in which you have deposits given the following details:

Date account opened.
Total amount deposited for the past year.
Present balance.

2.) Statement from your employer on business stationary showing:

Date and nature of employment.
Salary paid.
Whether position is temporary or permanent.

You have to be able to prove you make 120% of poverty level. At the time the requirement was something like $12000/year. If you couldn't, you had to get a co-sponsor and provide the bank and employment information for them too.

3.) Birth certificate

4.) One color photo of petitioner and one color photo of your fiance(e) taken within 30 days of the petition date. They must be glossy, un-retouched, and not mounted. The dimension of the facial image should be about 1 inch from chin to top of hair in 3/4 frontal view, showing the right side of the face with the right ear visible. Let me tell you this is something photogs don't usually do so most don't get it right the first time. I had a pro do mine and he had to take three sets before it met the specific requirements.

5.) Proof of relationship. This includes:

Phone bills
Emails
Cards

Once I got all this together, the packet was sent off with a check for $95 (now $170) which was non-refundable should the visa not be granted. After that, all that was left to do was wait. I think it took at least two weeks just to get a letter back saying that the stuff had been received. It was then something like a month before I was given word that the application was approved and sent to England for processing. Once it got there, Chi received a letter from the Embassy telling him when to come for his "interview" which consisted of a doctor's check up, some questioning and then issuance of his visa which gave him 90 days to be married once he stepped foot in the US.

When Chi got here, he was given a 90 day work authorization. When that was up, we had to file for another one which I think was good until he got his greencard. That was another $100 (now $180). In addition, we had to file the papers so he could become a resident alien. That was $220 (now $325) and then there was the $70 (remains at $70) fingerprint fee. On top of that, if we wanted to be able to travel out of the country before he received his greencard, we had to file yet another form and fork over $95 for what they call advanced parole (now $170). If you don't already feel like a criminal in this process, this would do it for many people.

From that point, the wait was two years. We got a letter in the mail telling us to bring all of our relationship "support" along with bank and tax records to the downtown office for an interview. Luckily the guy we dealt with was fairly pleasant. Of course I would say having all our papers and Chi being from England rather than some place like Mexico helped - They tend to get very impatient with people who don't speak fluent English. After that approval, it was another month or so before we were told to report to the Omaha office to get the greencard. That's good for 10 years and then must be renewed. Cost of renewal $260.

If you add all the fees up and include the fees for the photos and sending the stuff in, it was just over $500 in 1998. It now pushes $1000. The fees for people wishing to come here as an immigrant or non-immigrant worker are even higher. Assume you are talking about a family of 4. You're looking at something like $4000 for them to all come here legally. Now you tell me how people who don't even have enough money to feed themselves are supposed to get that kind of cash. Oh and also tell me how that isn't a bunch of bureaucratic bullshit aimed at those who have money and at making the US government a ton of cash. Of course if you are financially well to do, more than likely the government will just turn it's head on making you file the forms and pay the fees because it knows the wealth you are bringing in.

Otay...that's all on this subject for now.

Til next time...

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
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Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Immigration - Washington's Latest Mess

Exercise: 2 Mile Run. I know I know - lame but it has been awhile and I need to ease back into things especially since my knee and back have been hurting a bit. A result of a lack of exercise no doubt. At least the weather is getting nicer so it will make it easier to get back out there and unlike previous winters, I actually lost 5lbs rather than gaining them.

You know I just love how the Head Overpaid Office Monkey in the White House has gone on with his bad self blah blah about this temporary guest worker program to make people think he's really doing something for the people who want to come and live here. In reality all he's doing is ensuring that we have a constant supply of workers who are willing to come here and work for below minimum wage pay so everyone else's wages stay depressed and we can live off of the tax they pay in and will never be able to claim back. How else do you think social security has been able to stay solvent this long? About the only real change his plan would make is say they are here legally rather than illegally. Whoohoo more free money for Bushie and we all know how much he loves that. At least when I lived and worked in London on a temporary work visa, I got the "perks" of some of the tax I paid in. Every paycheck 10% went to National Insurance and should I have had to go to the doctor, it would have been covered. Now I know we do have free programs these people can and do take advantage of but come on. If we're going to let em in then kick them out, take some of that money they are making for us and put it to use by setting up decent benefits for them while they're here.

In my opinion, if the guy (and congress for that matter) really wanted to do something about getting control on illegal immigration, they would go after the companies here who are offering the jobs rather than the people hopping the fence. Of course they would never do this. Many of those companies are the ones who support their political careers and we wouldn't want them to have to do without now would we? Oh the wonderful greed that runs rampant through DC.

In addition, had NAFTA worked as it was designed to, the Mexican government would have a much harder time with their "ethnic cleansing" of the very poor. Of course getting the asshole president out of there and replacing him with someone who actually cares about the people rather than him or herself would help.

Personally, after going through the process to be a temporary worker in another country and the immigration process to bring Chi here, I don't blame people for hopping the boarder illegally. It's nothing but a bunch of bureaucratic bullshit aimed towards those with money and making Uncle Sam some extra green that I can only imagine is even more inefficient than it used to be since Bush rolled the INS into Homeland Security. What's so stupid is that these people are coming here because their living conditions where they are suck and they want a chance at a better life yet the government extorts money out of them to do so. Ok let's think about this....if they had money to begin with to pay the kinds of fees we are talking about ($1000 upwards - and remember the exchange rate isn't working in their favor), how likely would it be that they would literally be dying to get in here? I'm thinking not nearly as much as they are now. I mean hell, why do you think Chi and I chose to live in the US rather than the UK? - the money and opportunities course. Had they been better in the UK, we would have gone there. Oh and don't even get me started on all the paperwork crap you have to fill out. You think doing a "simple" tax form is tough? HA! Try some of the immigration forms I experienced. I'm well educated and I still found them confusing as hell! And this bit with Bush saying he's doing this to protect us from terrorists - OMG that's just too funny! Bush wants to fight the "bad guys" with paper. *RE*

You really want to get a grip on things. Cut the salaries of the high paid political figures, lower or do away with the horrendous fees, and streamline the process to make it more efficient. Better yet, help countries like Mexico build a stronger economy instead of ripping it out from under their feet like we've done in the past and are continuing to do and I would be willing to bet border hopping wouldn't be nearly the problem.

And now for something completely different.....

This past Friday I went to the optometrist to pick up the pair of glasses I had on order. I finally broke down and got another pair since the ones I had were over 10 years old, my current contacts are still in really good shape, and I didn't want my insurance money to go to waste. I mean since the cost was completely covered, I figured what the hell. Anyway, when I was picking out a pair of frames, I was having a hard time finding anything I liked and wished they had something shaped like my sunglasses. I eventually settled on a pair which were ok although I wasn't overly fond of the color. The funny thing was though after I got them, I compared them to my sunglasses and I'll be damned if they weren't practically identical in shape. LOL

American Idol....

This show took an interesting turn this evening. Mandisa was voted off. Now I knew she wouldn't win the competition but I didn't expect her to go this early on. Personally, I think Elliott should have gone. I never have cared for his performances and I really don't understand why the judges seem to think he's so great. He's got a nasty little warble in his voice that just grates on my last nerve. ICK!

Journey/Lep Tour....

Well it seems there are people who are very interested to know if I am going to any of these shows and which ones. Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. I've decided to keep it on the down-low this time around just because I can so :P

Otay....I think that's about all for tonight.

Til next time.....

Knocked Off By The Fashion Diva
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