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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