Edjamacated

I'm going into my last day of census training. I would recommend census work to anyone who wants to know why our federal government is completely broken. We haven't even started the actual work yet and I've already lost track of the number of out-right screw-ups. But the pay is awesome. One of the guys I worked with during tax season is in the same class. We spend most of the time passing notes to each other with little dollar signs on them while we sit through yet-another scramble over contradictory instructions, missing forms and people from HQ (and yes, they actually talk like that) bursting in and disrupting our training for no discernible reason.

These same people want to run health care.

The training part will be over in about 19 hours, then I'm off Saturday and Sunday, and starting the real deal on Monday. Maybe. Last word was that all the paperwork we need is in a big pile somewhere in another state waiting to be assembled. Someone is working on it. They'll let us know.

And I get paid for this.

No real plans for the weekend; Debbie is working Saturday, but we may take advantage of the 80 degree weather to take more photos on Sunday and maybe bike down to the ice cream shop. We figure that cancels out, right?

Google goes completely to the dark side:

Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently said internet users shouldn't worry about privacy unless they have something to hide.

And yes, I realize the article is from The UK Register which is sometimes hard to distinguish from The Onion. I sincerely hope this is one of those times.

Again, why are cuts to government employees always, always, always directed at police and firefighters, but never the mayor's personal staff, or any of the hoards of over-paid bureaucrats sucking the life out of taxpayers? This is blackmail, plain and simple.

I see that Noah's Ark hasn't been found. Again. It's getting a bit tiresome, guys. I'm sure if you bothered to actually read a Bible, you could find a long list of ideas to spend time and money on other than tramping around Turkey.

I haven't said anything about the new immigration law in Arizona for a couple reasons. The big one is that I have no idea what the law actually says. I suspect that's true of most everyone who is talking about it. Just like always. But this is what I do know. I hate to agree with Pat Buchanan, but he's right in at least one respect: a nation that does not control its borders is not a sovereign nation. Period. Full stop. Our military is, for better or worse, fighting a war in the deserts of Afghanistan. What better training than deploying a significant force along the Mexico/US border? What a better test of equipment and tactics than disrupting the human and drug trafficking in our Southwest deserts? I'm willing to bet that a permanent training exercise on our southern border using all those fancy toys being used in the 100+ nations we have troops in, would put a serious dent in both the numbers of illegals and the drugs coming from Mexico. Would it work perfectly? No. Would the traffickers just find other ways. Yep. Would it be anywhere near the levels we're seeing today. Absolutely not. Will Mexico throw a hissy fit? That's pretty much a given.

Should any American citizen give a shit what Mexico thinks? N. O.

The flip side is that this law will be enforced by Sheriff Joe, someone so corrupt and greedy for power that he stands out even in Arizona. Given what he has done under existing law, I shudder to think what he will do when the new one kicks in. But just as murders were hired by Arizona towns tired of lawlessness in the early 20th century, residents of those same towns today are tired of the constant tax burden and crime caused by the unending flood of unskilled illegals and drug runners, and are willing and eager to give free rein to anyone with a plan.

So they pass a law that says that it is illegal for illegals to be in the US illegally. Only in America would such a law even be necessary. But the brain trust in D.C. has for decades said that it is illegal for anyone to prevent illegals from coming into the US illegally, or stop them from enrolling their illegal children in public schools or illegally using hospital ER's as a substitute for a primary care doctor or standing in large groups on street corners to make it easier for contractors to illegally hire illegals even as real unemployment among actual US citizens is running close to 20%. After a while, people become fed up and resort to drastic measures. Like hassling anyone vaguely Hispanic-looking and arresting any that can't cough up papers on demand.

Well, it's late and I need to get ready for a test tomorrow.