Wow, it really has been a while since I posted to my blog. So, I've had a number of things kicking around for a while now but given that we have an upcoming election I feel somewhat compelled to throw a post about the election out.
Before everyone starts panicking about yet another jackass posting crap all over the interwebz defaming one candidate or another let me set some things straight:
1. I don't expect anyone to agree or disagree with me on the face of a statement unless they feel there's some glaring need. Posts that are blatantly inflammatory in nature will be deleted immediately. This is an opinion, albeit well informed, and I feel no need to defend from an attack but will respond to considered comments, whether they disagree with my standpoint or not.
2. Anyone who knows me should know that I make it a point to do research before posting something that agrees/disagrees with anyone's opinion. Therefore let it be understood that my views are as educated as I can make them and are not intended to be inflammatory unless I set out that intent from the start (I think I'm fairly accomplished at making that type of opinion known as such).
3. I expect to receive courtesy in the same way that I will give it. If comments are intelligent, well thought out and based in fact as you find it I will gladly participate in discourse. If, however, anybody just wants to start a flame war I'll spit on the matches. My time, and that of people reading posts pertaining to political discussions, is far too valuable to be wasted on burning teh webz down.
Disclaimer finished, on with the show!
I've spent a great deal of time, probably more than is healthy, reviewing all of the candidates for the upcoming presidential election. (Two gold stars for anyone who caught that I didn't say both there...) What I've seen doesn't instill confidence. I've decided to focus on the issue that has caused me to have more time than I care to have in this research: unemployment.
For anyone who doesn't know I have a BS in CompSci, 5 years of experience in the IT industry, 12 years experience in customer service and a healthy smattering of other experience under my belt. So when unemployment is at an all time high and people start talking about all of these jobs being available and I'm not getting recognition I tend to get a little tetchy about the issue.
My response, aside from spending a great deal of time applying for every position that will pay my bills and getting shot down like a Christmas goose during hunting season, has been to politely and repeatedly ask the leaders of this state and country WTF?!
I haven't gotten any responses from any of the senators, reps or congressmen I've written to except Orrin Hatch and Jim Matheson. Hatch's response was 'we're working on it' and Matheson's was 'we've made some improvements but not enough yet'. Neither of the responses had the manufactured feel of automated responses but neither gave me a lot of confidence.
Since we're coming up on what I believe to be the most important election of the last 20 years at the very least I decided to send my concerns to one of the candidates. I picked Romney as there's at least a possibility I'll vote for him. My disagreements with our current president are numerous, not to say I'll throw my hat in with Romney, but I agree with more things that Romney says than Obama.
As I have a habit of doing I'll post the message I sent here. Stay tuned for the credits.
I have some grave concerns regarding a number of issues that make this one of the most important presidential elections in history but I'm choosing one that is particularly important to me: unemployment. I have a BS in Computer Science, completed just over five years ago, and I have been out of work for almost two years now. But I see comments on this website regarding your plans to make it easier for seasonal migrant workers to take positions in agriculture that unemployed US citizens could more easily fill. This doesn't strike me as an effective, logical or practical answer to the unemployment problem. Before any assumptions are made about my background my first job ever, at the age of 16, was working in an agricultural production plant manning conveyor belts sorting cherries and, when I got bored with that, scooping out ditches in the sun during the hottest part of the summer. And now my career is working with computers. So please, any responses that American workers 'don't want to do manual labor;, as I've heard from so many people in Utah, are not valid. I really do want to know why the plan I see doesn't offer to address the failing wages that discourage American workers from taking this type of work but encourages migrant workers that couldn't make the same wage in their home country. I offer a bit of hyperbole about this situation: in a household is it not the first priority of those running the household to care for their own before extending a helping had outside the household? This country is not a household but the first duty of the patriarch (or matriarch, in all honesty) of this country should be the wellbeing and security of the people of this nation.
Please take my message seriously as these views are echoed by my peers, friends, family and acquaintances. I really do want an answer to my concerns and, despite my sending requests to multiple government officials in my own state (22 emails since March of this year) these concerns have yet to be addressed.
For anyone interested the statements made on his website can be found at:
Immigration standpoint
under the heading "Make The Temporary Worker Visa System Functional".
So there you have it. I feel the need to explain some things rq that some may find interesting.
I've spent entirely too much time being a dick about Obama in the past. I've been more than ready to tell people, in the past, that Obama was bad news because I was listening to negative hype. Over the last few months I've done even more self analysis (I think my newest hobby just may be contemplative introspection... how conceited .-.) and found myself lacking. I've always been ready with an opinion and it hasn't always been well informed. So I've made it a point to become more well versed in the goings on than I did in the past. I think this has made me a better debater and I certainly feel better about injecting my thoughts in to conversations.
I've also made it a point to be less inflammatory. So, to anyone who feels that I've wronged them in the past by discounting their opinions out of some galactic ego you have my apologies. Those of you that I have illustrated to why an opinion is flawed aren't off the hook: I really do make it a point to be as informed as possible and everyone who knows me should be well aware of the fact that I'm not so egotistical as to offer apology, take criticism or admit I'm wrong.
Let the commentary (likely not) commence!
Gryyphyn, out
*Quick note: I have no idea why the entire post is italicized. There's some broke-ass HTML somewhere, not in the post itself, that I don't feel like correcting atm so deal. :)
