"Thank you for your order. You should expect delivery in about 2 years."

I remember a number of years ago talking to a guy who worked at a local hardware store.  He was Hispanic, worked all day, and then went to evening classes at the local community college.  I was pretty impressed with him.  I asked him if he was here legally, and he said, yes, he was, and so were his parents, but his uncle was not.  I asked him why his uncle wasn't, and he said after waiting two years on his paperwork to be processed, he finally just gave up and waded the river to get here for a job.  

I've heard since that a 2+ year wait is not unusual.  My understanding is that both the Democrats and Republicans say they would welcome legal immigrants, but they had to go through the proper channels and jump through the proper hoops first.  Fair enough.  

So here's my question:  I googled "Samsung TV's" and it found 1,410,000,000 responses in .53 seconds. I can buy a gun and it takes the FBI about 15 minutes to do a background check on me to see if I qualify.  I can go through a fairly exhaustive Texas Dept of Public Safety background check in order to legally carry a firearm in about two months.  In this age of the internet, massively powerful computers, and nano-fast search engines, why should it take TWO YEARS to get a background check on some guy from Mexico?  And I checked....yes, they have computerized record keeping in Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and elsewhere in Central America, too.

I also want strong borders.  I want to know who we're letting in.  I want to know they aren't felons, aren't currently wanted for a crime, etc.  But if we drag our feet for a ridiculous TWO YEARS and still can't complete a background check, why should we be shocked if they just sneak in?   It seems to me we could control our borders much better if we had the cooperation of a proud, secure, legal immigrant population.  

Or is there some other more sinister ulterior motive that explains why we throw up all these roadblocks?

S

King For A Day

Yes, I've once again put back on my CEO hat for a few days.  I must keep the empire rolling.  OK....I've gotta sit here and wait for the phone to ring.  Don't laugh.  The waiting can be intense.

This month my sister-in-law is having a certain momentous birthday (50), so my bro is surprising her with a trip to a resort in Mexico.  Her family and a few close friends are also going.

Let's review.  It's August.  Yesterday it was 104 in Dallas, and today it's expected to be 108.  And bro is taking a vacation, traveling even CLOSER to the equator.

See, even their logo shows a cactus, a blazing sun, and some little native guy burned to a crisp.

I thought I taught him better than that. *shaking head*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I see in today's news that there is growing momentum in Washington to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two home financing institutions taken over by the Feds back in 2008 when the housing market collapsed.  In the pre-2008 days private financiers made 60% of all mortgage loans, with Fannie, Freddie, and FHA making the other 40%.  More recently the latter have been making 87% of all mortgage loans.

President O'bama recently echoed Congress when he said, "I believe that our housing system should operate where there's limited government role and private lending should be the backbone of the housing market...."  

Good....the "free market" is back!  The banks say they are ready to resume their role as the nation's primary source of home mortgages.

In other news, it was announced today that the Justice Department is suing Bank of America, accusing them of defrauding investors by vastly overestimating the quality of some $850 million worth of mortgage-backed securities.  

B of A now joins Goldman Sachs, Citi, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Barclays, HSBC Holdings, and Credit Suisse, among others, who have/are being sued for similar mortgage securities fraud.

Ummm.....

(What's that definition of insanity?...."Doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.")

S