Well, back to dreaming.

It (very briefly) looked like I might be able to get my MacBook Pro (a constant whining theme here). But, again, it fell through. Reality kicked in and the money went to where it was really needed.

Maybe I’ll score a consulting gig or something to help with this…

Leads on cheap MacBook Pros appreciated.

And remember, I will work/blog/twitter/pimp for geek cred computing style.

As many readers know, I am going through the process — if you call filing a bunch of paperwork and not hearing anything for 2 years a process — of obtaining Permanent Residency in the United States, often referred to as the Green Card.

This morning, on NPR, there was a story about a foul-up in the processing of Green Cards that is suspicious, to say the least.

I have started referring to this process as the Dream Card because it leaves one thinking that the application they completed was done in a dream, a long time ago. An like most dreams, it is a fable of the subconscious mind and as likely to come true as those blue, flying penguins in my dream last night.

The degree of complexity that accompanies the application process has made bureaucrats from the Byzantine Empire write letters of complaint to their members of Congress, saying that the USCIS is giving them a bad name. Kafka has been seen rising from the dead at night, and penning a new tale based on this experience.

Other people covering this story.

NY Times
The Guardian
Times Of India
Miami Herald
San Jose Mercury News
Sacramento Bee Editorial

A few media outlets have grabbed this story as an example of just how broken the US system is when it comes to immigration, especially given the irony of the recent debate over the immigration bill that was tossed out of Congress. How could the immigration system have hoped to deal with the new regulations, if thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of valid visas go unused every year, due to government inefficiency.

Why would an illegal immigrant bother to go through a legal process that punishes the very people who are taking the time to follow the rules?

I would raise my voice in protest; but it would do no good. Drawing a pool of highly skilled, well compensated indentured servants from around the world to these shores to keep the wheels of innovation and development rolling appears to have become the American way.

And like indentured servants everywhere, we are a disposable commodity, to be teased by the promise that some day, we could, we might, just maybe be able to live here (and still not be able to vote) as Permanent Residents.

Tags: Green Card, fiasco, scandal, State Department, USCIS, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, indentured, servants, work visa, visa

Steve, what the hell is this?

Problems with the iPod WiFi

• big
• cumbersome
• clumsy
• not environmentally friendly (no rechargeable batteries?)
• And it’s been done. There must be a dozen docks that let people plug iPods into their stereos

The iPod WIFI would have been a more interesting product announcement.

This one won’t sell many, except to the MacAddicts, or to the Apple museum of broken dreams.

Technorati Tags: Apple, ipod, ipod hifi

Bush scoffed at opposition to missile defence during private meeting with Martin

Frankly, the thought of leaving Canada unprotected is not the issue. It is the absolute arrogance of Bush to think that he even has a hope to get this through a minority parliament — hell, any parliament.

Even if the freaks in the Conservative party support it, they will be facing the wrath of the independent Western Canadian voter who will be stuck hosting these technology pipe-dreams.

George: Beijing isn’t going to attack you — they own you already.

Spent all day in bed.

Now before you go off the deep-end and start saying how decadent, you have to realize that I spent most of the time unconscious, sweating, and having very unusual vivid dreams. It was actually kind of nice to have vivid dream again; I don’t have them very often, as a result of the Paxil/Seroxat I take.

On the whole, it was a truly unpleasant day. Managed to crawl out of bed long enough to help put the boys to bed, and I am functioning mainly with the help of Advil (Curse of the CNS AGAIN!).

Samantha has hit her Holiday Season stride, and is slapping up "Canadian Pine" garlands, lights, bows, and pine cone highlights around the Embassy. I am settled in the command chair, knowing full well I better be healthy by Monday, or the whole trip to West Coast will be in question.

Ugh. Nice disease.

On a happy note, I sent my first 419/Nigerian Scam mail to spam@uce.gov. Seems that someone wants to hear about these things.

So, the Al Gonzales nightmare begins. The Bush Cabal have tried to play him as a good ol’ boy, someone who has worked hard and risen to the top of his field.

Did we mention that he finds the Geneva Conventions "quaint"? And that he helped re-define torture for the administration?

Al Gonzales will make Ashcroft look like Matlock.

Link: No Longer a Christian.

Read this. Understand.

I was told in Sunday school the word “Christian” means to be Christ-like, but the message I hear daily on the airwaves from the christian media are words of war, violence, and aggression. Throughout this article I will spell christian with a small c rather than a capital, since the term (as I usually hear it thrown about) does not refer to the teachings of the one I know as the Christ. I hear church goers call in to radio programs and explain that it was a mistake not to kill every living thing in Fallujah. They quote chapter and verse from the old testament about smiting the enemies of Israel. The fear of fighting the terrorists on our soil rather than across the globe causes the voices to be raised as they justify the latest prison scandal or other accounts of the horrors of war . The words they speak are words of destruction, aggression, dominance, revenge, fear and arrogance. The host and the callers echo the belief in the righteousness of our nation’s killing. There are reminders to pray for our christian president who is doing the work of the Lord: Right to Life, Second Amendmendment, sanctity of marriage, welfare reform, war, kill, evil liberals. . . so much to fight, so much to destroy.

Amen.