I am getting increasingly frustrated by the amount of paperwork that is required and many back and forth visits to the employment agency just to gain employment in the USA. It’s not their fault, they are just following company policy but it’s frustrating non-the-less, it’s not at all easy for a non-US citizen to get work here in the United States especially if that person has been in the US for less than five years. I had to fill out forms for a US background check and another one for the UK, and the UK one can take upto 60 days to return. Luckily the company that I will be working for has given me a 60 day grace period for the results of the check to return. I know it’s going to come back clean as I have never been in trouble with the law in my adult life. There is another issue with verifying my education as both schools I attended have closed down. My secondary school closed down the same year that I completed my education and the training facility where I achieved my certifications has also closed down. The net result is that my education can’t be confirmed as I don’t have the original certificates anymore as I achieved them 10 years ago and have moved half dozen times since then. I am really hoping that they can overlook the education issue so I can get into work and then get a few quick and easy A+ certifications here in the US. Tomorrow I am attending orientation day at the workplace which should be interesting seeing how American companies work. From what I have heard about the company I am very impressed with their work ethic and will enjoy working there if what they told me is actually true.
Barrack Obama’s plan to introduce a government health insurance system got the backing of the house of representatives by a narrow margin. Obviously all the Republicans voted against it as they are pro-business and government health insurance would be bad for money grabbing private insurance companies. It’s a big step forward but the bill has been amended which will mean that states can opt out of the system from what I understand of the amendment. Which will almost make the healthcare reform next to useless as many states, especially republican states will opt out. I believe that Obama should have stuck to his guns and pushed through universal healthcare for all. If people still want to pay for their expensive insurance and go to their favourite (usually) expensive doctors; they can! I worry about the ‘richer’ states opting out driving less financially fortunate people to states that have public healthcare creating rich and poor states.
Back “home” in the UK; Liverpool had another disappointing result being held to a 2 – 2 draw with Birmingham City at Anfield. And the Reds were lucky to claim a point with a dubious penalty scored by Steven Gerrard 20 minutes from time to level the scores. David Ngog blatantly dived over Lee Carsley’s tackle but the referee thought otherwise pointing to the penalty spot, and of course the referees assistants saw nothing. Liverpool really seem like a shadow of their former selves right now; the title challenge is all but over; Liverpool are fighting to remain in the “big four”at this point as Tottenham and Manchester City are both above the Merseysiders currently.