Free Republic

My first thought too. And he has only been looking for four weeks? Cry me a river. I was out of work for 3 months after my layoff.

a.cricket

Well, that does depend. Is this visible from the road? It could be considered so visually distracting to qualify as a traffic hazard depending on the local ordinances

If it is in the back yard and not visible from the street then you are right.

BTW Cats do not taste like chicken; they taste more like nice lean pork.

a.cricket

Sad. But I know of several other single parents who have done the same.

Best of luck to you.

a.cricket

Ironically if they can't even speak English that means that the jobs that they lost probably moved right to where they were from in the first place.

Having lived in foreign countries I know that the first thing you should do is learn the language. And if an employer has a choice between someone he can communicate with and someone that he needs an interpreter to communicate with he is going to go for the one that he can talk to.

Is it good that they are out of work? Of course not, but it is not wholly NAFTA's fault. They failed to acquire a basic skill needed for them to be hired in other industries. People who are functionally illiterate are also having a hard time getting hired in for good paying jobs.

a.cricket

Yep. When profits are down you hire as cheap as you can, (actually you do this when profits are up too). Bottom line is that something is worth what someone else is willing to pay for it not just what you are willing to sell it for. That is true of everything including labor.

I have a friend who will not take a job that pays less then $15.00 an hour. She has been unemployed for over a year now. I have steered a few jobs her way that pay $11-$12. She won't even consider them. She says that she is worth $15.00 an hour. I have no doubt that she is. But in this area and in her field and with her skills they aren't paying $15.00 an hour. And the longer you are out of work the less likely they are to hire you. Especially considering that she is an older lady with health problems.

a.cricket

Sorry, women do have to pay child support. There have been quite a few cases. General rule is that non-custodial parent pays child support. At least in my state this is so, maybe New York is different.

a.cricket

Just try to prove it though. After all, I have had this painting for years, ask anyone. ;~)

I would also arrange the following; a ransom demand, the public destruction of a reproduction of the one I have, with the threat to destroy the other if my demands aren't met and then the return of the other for a huge ransom. This would be done by a separate bunch of crooks. I could even make money on the deal. I would also encourage the original thieves to make and sell as many copies as they could. Nothing like muddying the waters a bit more.

a.cricket

Which is why you steal something like that on commission. It is not chance that those two paintings were taken. Someone wanted those two, (or at least one of those two) paintings.

Here is how I would do it, first I would get a very good reproduction and hang it in plain sight for at least a year. Then I would have the original stolen and switch the original for the reproduction and, very important, destroy the reproduction. The original could be hanging in plain view in my office and no one would question it.

a.cricket

I really doubt that Iraq has anything that China doesn't already have more and better. China probably sold them some of the stuff in the first place.

a.cricket

I think I have identified why this guy does not have a job. There are guys out there who will take any job at $12 an hour and even at $11 an hour. So if you were hiring who would you hire?

Wake up people! It isn’t a sellers market out there anymore.

And yeah, I do understand, I lost my job too. I might lose the one I have found since within the next few months, the company is struggling.

a.cricket

He isn't in Iraq. Never has been.

Kind of strange, he sends underlings to Iraq but stays as far away from Iraq personally as possible.

Now what could possibly be the reason for that?

a.cricket

Committing suicide with a sub machine gun? In a particularly ironic twist the gun in question was a gift from Fidel to his good friend Allende.

a.cricket

Actually Jesus was very big on planing things out in advance. In His own words,
For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it-- lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,saying, "This man began to build and was not able to finish." Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.

Luke 14:28-32

a.cricket

Oh there are some good ones out there. You just hear more about the bad ones. Glad to see Jeb is taking an interest in the case. Maybe it can be straightened out quickly. I hope so, with kids every day really does count.

a.cricket

LOL.Now I know that you are a lawyer.

a.cricket

You can't make this stuff up.

a.cricket

Kind of bossy aren't they?

a.cricket

Sadly to some it wouldn't matter if she had slaughtered her other daughter on Main Street at high noon. The biological bond is sacred.

You think I am kidding? Mothers have murdered one child been sent to jail and when released promptly been given unsupervised custody of the other surviving children. After all, she cried so pitifully about how she missed her little darlings.

a.cricket

You would think so wouldn't you? But there is an absolute worship of unfit parents. It isn't their fault you know. They have problems. They need parenting classes. We have to be more understanding and give them another chance and another and another and another and another and another until the child turns eighteen or dies whichever comes first.

I think you should have to screw up pretty badly to lose your child. I also think that once it is done it is done. None of this back and forth stuff. Children need a parent, preferably two, but at least one consistent stable adult to raise and love them.

Two years old and this little girl has just learned that to love someone is to lose them and every other bit of stability in her world. After this has happened a few times more what do you think that her chances of becoming an emotionally healthy adult are? And chances are it will happen again and again. Rehab has only a 10% success rate.

Depressed yet?

a.cricket

a.cricket