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Madilayn

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  1. Happy New Year to everybody! Here's wishes that 2008 brings you everything you want.
  2. Because you have to conform to the rules of Society. Why?
  3. T: Triskaidekaphobia A morbid fear of the number 13
  4. I have decided to give up writing smut and concentrate on those that are pure of mind, body and soul....
  5. Oops - sorry. My bad - I misunderstood. Frank Lloyd Wright
  6. We have this problem in Australia as well - and I'm in the middle of trying to get my fiancee migrated from England to be with me. I work in recruitment, and have recently begun some campaigns to fill graduate programs. I'm starting to think that there are no Australian-born people in Uni here! The easiest way for a lot of people to get into Australia is via a student visa. So we have a lot of Asian and Indian students coming over and doing Masters degrees to get their Student Visa and then when they are finished, applying for permanent residency (and usually getting it), then bringing their families (not just wife & kids, but often brothers, sisters, parents & grandparents) on family reunion visas. It's well known that someof these failies will spend all thei rincome to get that one person here to study so they can all get over here and basically "sidesetp" the usual immigration procedures. What really irritates me, is many of these students don't even take the time to learn English enough to get a job - now considering most of these are doing Engineering or Accounting subjects, and then will be dealing with English-speaking people on fairly complex matters when working - one would hope that you could understand and be understood. Unfortunately this is not the case. Many Uni's provide lecure notes & even recorded lectures in their own languages, so they have no incentive to learn good English. What makes it even worse - there are so many of them, that the Master Degree means absolutely nothing here now. And to add to the insult, there are people who have "businesses" in helping these students apply for jobs. They prepare their resumes & cover letters in perfect English, and then teach them phonetically how to answer the "ususal" questions. I know this because my company was caught at the beginning of this year. We regularly phone screen all applicants, paying special attention to those who have no schooling other than their last degree in Australia. We had a great candidate - who had some Aussie experience in the relevant field and so called him for a quick phone screen (to check English). Fantastic - no accent, answered intelligently and comprehensively. Bring him in for a face to face interview. He could not understand a word I said to him when he walked in the door. What did I do? "May I tell the Consultant who is here to see them?" and then "Could you please complete these registration forms", and then went into my speil explaining what page was what. His reply "Not understand what you say - not speak good English". Fortunately, one of our consultants spoke his language, and that was how we got the story. This seems to be a huge problem throughout Australia - and we have enclaves of people who may as well be living in their original countries. Australia has now introduced a test that you have to pass before you can become a citizen - about Australian culture & values (and English - as the test is only given in English). But we have to get tough on migration. For my fiancee to come out here, as he isn't a "professional" (he's a short order cook & kitchenhand) it will cost $1300 for the "prospective spouse" visa, then, within 9 months, another $1000 for his permanent residency when we get married (we have to be married within 9 months of his arrival) plus the airfares. And it will take anything up to 12 months for the visa to be approved. Student Visas, on the other hand are half that price (but then they have to pay full fees for uni's ) and can be approved within 4 months. I believe firmly that if you are going to live in another counrty, you have gone there because you want to live in that country, in their culture and embrace their customs. That means speaking the official language. The funny thing is. it seems to be only in English speaking countries where the "not speak enough English to do daily things" is tolerated. In may non-English speaking countries, not speaking their language is tolerated in visitors, but if you live there, you had better speak their language if you want to get deent service, or to conduct day to day business. And in those countries, nobody screams "discrimination" about that. It's accepted. Perhaps we in English speaking countries should stop being so politically correct about our own language and country. It's almost a cultural cringe, and should stop.
  7. It's definitely something that should be discussed reasonably by everybody. I am in favour for one simple reason: we often put our beloved pets to sleep when they are in great pain and have no chance of living a full, happy, long and pain free life. In other words: when there is nothing that can medically be done - or afforded. To me, it seems hypocritical that we don't give humans this dignity. What right do we have to condemn them to live in pain, suffering and the humiliation of having somebody else do everything for them: espeically since they often have no means of expressing their opinion. In my family, we have discussed this and all have agreed that we would rather have that option if the worst came to the worst. Interestingly, a nurse I know in pallative care told me that "unofficial" euthanasia often takes place. When there is no chance of life, or the person is dying and in great pain, they are often put on a self-dose morphine drip/machine. The Drs & Nurses know that many patients, when they do this, will take the opportunity to end their own lives through an overdose of morphine. This happened with both my father and my aunt - both of whom were dieing of cancer. Both of them, after saying farewell, took the option of the overdose of morphiene. Or if they didn't it was a huge coincidence that they died less than 12 hours after they said farewell. I couldn't see my pets suffer from an incurable disease - why should it be different for people I love?
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