Posted on 04/07/2008 5:25:03 PM PDT by Chickensoup
Actual Letter to the US Passport Office
Dear Sir,
I'm in the process of renewing my passport, and still cannot believe this. How is it that Radio Shack has my address and telephone number and knows that I bought a TV cable from them back in 1997, and yet, the Federal Government is still asking me where I was born and on what date. For Christ sakes, do you guys do this by hand?
My birth date you have on all the income tax forms I've filed for the past 30 years. It is on my health insurance card, my driver's license, on the last eight passports I've had, on all those stupid customs declaration forms I've had to fill out before being allowed off the planes over the last 30 years, and all those insufferable census forms that are done at election times.
Would somebody please take note, once and for all, that my mother's name is Maryanne, my father's name is Robert and I'd be absolutely astounded if that ever changed between now and when I die??!!!!!!
I do apologize sir. I'm really pissed off this morning. Between you an' me, I've had enough of this bull****! You send the application to my house, then you ask me for my address. What is going on? You have a gang of Neanderthal workin' there!
Look at my picture. Do I look like Bin Laden? I don't want to dig up Yasser Arafat. I just want to go and park my ass on a sandy beach. And would someone please tell me, why would you care whether I plan on visiting a farm in the next 15 days? If I ever got the urge to do something weird to a chicken or a goat, believe you me, I'd sure as hell not want to tell anyone!
Well, I have to go now, 'cause I have to go to the other end of the city and get another copy of my birth certificate, to the tune of $60 !!! Would it be so complicated to have all the services in the same spot to assist in the issuance of a new passport the same day?? Nooooo, that'd be too easy and maybe make sense. You'd rather have us running all over the place like chickens with our heads cut off, then find someone to confirm that it's really me on the picture - you know, the one where we're not allowed to smile? Hey, you know why we can't smile? We're totally pissed off!
Signed - An irate American Citizen.
P. S. Remember what I said above about the picture and getting someone to confirm that it's me? Well, my family has been in this country since 1776 when one of my forefathers took up arms against the British. I have served in the military for something over 30 years and have had security clearances up the yingyang. I was aide de camp to the lieutenant governor of our state for ten years and I have been doing volunteer work for the State Police for about five years. However, I have to get someone 'important' to verify who I am - you know, someone like my doctor WHO WAS BORN AND RAISED IN COMMUNIST CHINA!!!
Actually, we just renewed ours—it took less than 2 weeks and I was really, really impressed.
LOL
hmmm...my passport expires in a couple of years...maybe i should start the renewal process now...
I’ll second that. It took less that 2 wks to renew mine. They are finally getting it together. ...... well, maybe.
That describes me every time I need to deal with the sorry Virginia DMV.
The real reason is the Federal Government has EXCEEDINGLY strict restrictions on the sharing of data on people between government agencies. There's no centralized database. The passport people can't get data from the IRS. The FBI cannot get data on specific people from the Census (they've tried several times and been shot down in the courts.) And so on and so forth.
People have an extraordinarily hard time believing this, but it's true. And the restrictions are largely in place because of fears of the government having too much information on you in an easily accessible form; ironically, it then ends up POing people.
I had an expired passport from 15 years ago, got a new one -didn’t even pay for expedited, and got it in 10 days in January.
Reminds me of a part of Newt Gingrich’s stump speech where he says we should get FedEX to send a package to all the illegal aliens in the United States so we would know where they all are.
My father died 3 weeks ago. My mom had to file some papers with Social Security. They sent her a letter. She read is several times and couldn’t understand it. Meanwhile, her financial advisor was coming over to go over some things (life insurance and so on) and she asked him to read it and maybe explain it; he, too, was mystified and had no idea what it said.
So, she calls up Social Security and the lady there had no idea what the letter was about!!! And they want to put our health care into the Government’s hands.
The only reason there was that huge problem last year was because of the rule change and everyone waiting til the last minute.
I always plan ahead. My passport was expiring in April, 2007 so I went to the Post Office on January 2nd and mailed in all the stuff to renew both my husband’s and my passport. It did take a few weeks but we got our passports WELL before we went to Greece in June.
The funny thing is when I went there in January, the postal guy was like, “Oh, you have plenty of time” and I told him I didn’t care, I like to plan for “contingencies.” Good thing I did or mine probably would’ve been in with the huge onslaught and screwed up my vacation.
Please, let's not insult Neanderthals. It probably more likely an out of control Affirmative Action Program that valued identity over competence. Of course the usual Political Appointees didn't help the situation.
When applying for your child, what documentation do you need?/Just Asking - seoul62.......
You’d better believe it. I worked for an agency under the Treasury. We could not share anything with the IRS. We were also a tax agency. Glad I don’t work there anymore...Some of the people were good, but the work environment...sheesh, I’d rather have people shooting at me. At least then I’d know who my enemy was. Where I worked, your amicable co-worker one minute was twisting the knife in your back the next...
And if you really believe that, I've got this bridge I can make you a great deal on, plus some oceanfront property in Phoenix that's a real steal.
C'mon, pull your cranium from your transverse colon and wise up. You ain't gonna persuade anybody on this forum, so you might as well go back to DU or Lucianne. Or back to your village- word is, they're missing their idiot.
But have a great day!
Have you ever worked for the government? See the other post from someone who has.
There is no centralized gubbmint database where all the information about you is collated. Sharing of most information is prohibited by law, and you're reminded of this at every turn.
The amount of hoops the FBI has to jump through to get information from other agencies, when they can at all, is unbelievable - warrants, court appearances, etc.
My father died 3 weeks ago. My mom had to file some papers with Social Security. They sent her a letter. She read is several times and couldn’t understand it. Meanwhile, her financial advisor was coming over to go over some things (life insurance and so on) and she asked him to read it and maybe explain it; he, too, was mystified and had no idea what it said.
We are becomeing a country that has exceedingly complex rules and we have to pay lawyers BASHEESH to help us through the red tape.
Just like India.
Gives everybody a piece of the pie.
Happens in societies where there is no other way to make a living.
I always plan ahead. My passport was expiring in April, 2007 so I went to the Post Office on January 2nd and mailed in all the stuff to renew both my husband’s and my passport. It did take a few weeks but we got our passports WELL before we went to Greece in June.
The funny thing is when I went there in January, the postal guy was like, “Oh, you have plenty of time” and I told him I didn’t care, I like to plan for “contingencies.” Good thing I did or mine probably would’ve been in with the huge onslaught and screwed up my vacation.
Actually I'm not leaving until August, knew I needed to get a new one and decided I'd go ahead and get it now ... nothing like playing it safe....<\:)
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