Financial Situation is Desperate

Just found a job...but that doesn't help the 5 weeks w/out income. in 2008, when I closed down my own shop, I didn't know that in Maryland, when you're self employed, you can't collect unemployment benefits...even if you had unemploymentt coverage for you emp'loyees...so, for the past 5 weeks, we've had only the income from my wife's part time job @ Sears.

I've finally found work and start on Monday (60 mile commute)...and Cheri's gotten a full time job, but that doesn't help much being 2 months behind on rent. We'll be out on the street by the end month as the landlord isn't going to let us catch up on what we owe.

Please hit the tip jar to the right or make a donation through pay pal @ ravail136@aol.com.

Edited to make more sense...

2nd Week Out Of Work...

On my 2nd week out of work.  It doesn't look good.  I've put out over 100 resume's in the past 10 days...and other than the daily harrassement of AFLAC head-hunters, I've not heard a single response yet.  Due to my having filed for unemployment following closing my shop, I'm not eligible to collect benefits until I pay back the roughly $5k I got in 2008/9.  So...that means the $433 per week I'm supposed to get goes to pay back that amount...please feel free to hit the tip jar on the right...

If anyone would like a copy of my resume please contact me via the sidebar to the right.

Laid Off...

Yesterday, at about noon, one of the project managers came into the cabinet shop I worked at...yes, worked at.  I was told that the company was shutting down and laying off all of the shop personnel.  The company is gong to become stricktly a general contractor and only use subcontractors to build their product.

So, I'm out of work...and not eligible for unemployment due to a conflict several years ago.  So, I won't even be a statistic on the government rolls, since I won't be counted.  Hopefully I'll be able to find something.

I humbly ask that anyone reading this, please donate to  the tip jar to the right.

Immigrants and Food Stamps

The other day, my wife went to the grocery store to pick up a few things before payday...so we'd have milk and bread. The family of a daughter and her mother ahead of her in the checkout line didn't speak English very well, which isn't unusual here in the People's Republic of Maryland; a state that has decided to be a "refuge" state from enforcing the laws governing immigration.

What really pisses me off about this is that these ladies, while ONLY speaking mostly Spanish, they were asked for ID as they had a state issued food stamps card. They produced Honduran passports, but not green cards...Honduran nationals evidently can get food stamps but not Americans citizens. (We had applied when both my wife and I were unemployed, but were told we "made too much" ON UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS!!!!).

The only way to get cities, counties and now states to enforce federal immigration statutes at this point will be to threaten (or better yet, follow through) and terminate any federal funds to a city, county or state that doesn't enforce those statutes. Additionally, we need to pull the business licenses of any company that hires illegal aliens. Those two "sticks" would be enough to eliminate the incentive to hire illegal aliens, much less provide them "sanctuaries".