I hate Poraz

[ramlin]

...Poraz is the Minister of Interior here in the holy land - his political party prides itself on being secular and a tad bit on the right. As is found in many economies, jobs in the caring field tend to be dominated by foreign workers - this was (until quite recently) very true in Israel since Israelis prefer to take jobs that don't involve (literally) looking after and cleaning away someone else's crap. Then, because of the economic downturn here, Poraz had a bright idea, let's create a new police unit that will go afer foreign workers, deport them and make it vitually impossible (except for the very old and infirm) to hire them.
Why is this the subject of a rant. Well, we have/had a Philipino au pair. She's been with us for nearly 3 years - she's brilliant - a rock - just like Alice in the Brady Bunch! My children adore her - but she has no permit. Last year we fired her because of the change of policy instituted by Poraz. For three months we had a series of au pairs and interviewed/spoken to over 100 applicants - they were all sh**. Many came with false references, many saw the job as being something very temporary (until the hi - tech boom re-commences) and those we took on were appalling. So we pleaded with our Philipino - and she came back. Now, 40 days ago at 4.00 am in the morning the police (5 of them) literally broke down the door of our apartment, woke up my kids, found our au pair and took her to prison. I put up the bail, found her a lawyer and tomorrow is the day she flies back.

I will soon receive a huge fine as well. Meanwhile, during the past 40 days we have been interviewing - the au pairs are mainly interested in the spare apartment we have and look at the actual job as a bore. The cost of the new home grown au pair will be roughly the same as what my wife earns - so what's the point of working? The working conditions of our Philipino au pair were excellent (she had her own apartment and received a good salary) - and she was one of the family. The home grown ones will only stick it out for a year (just like the new one we have to take) and want well over the odds - so thank you Mr.Poraz - my wife will probably have to give up her job and I will have to cut down my hours - so instead of encouraging work, you're doing the opposite...

tomorrow, I take her to the airport...and everyone in this family has a tear in their eyes....next time I'm voting for one of those fanatical religous parties - they didn't do what Poraz did when they controlled the Interior Ministry in Israel (they would have taken the budget allocated and put it in their seminaries)..

End of rant! :

[dodecahedron]

yeah...
even though i'm a secular liberal etc. i didn't vote for their party.
Mr. Lapid, the head of that party, is a fanatical demagogue, even though he doesn't appear that way to the majority of the public.

he got to ride the waves of anti-religious feelings among the secular liberals, but once in office we see what kind of fiasco he and his party are.

another gem from Mr. Poraz - "There are no hungry people in Israel"
screw him.

sorry to hear of your misfortunes, ramlin.

think of all those DW1620pro's you could've bought with the sum of money you'll be paying that fine

[ramlin]

...well last Monday I took my ex au pair to the airport for her deportation. This was somewhat complicated by the fact that there's a new terminal at Ben Gurion Airport - which is so new that even the information booth doesn't know where every thing is and for some reason Lufthanser (I probably spelt that incorrectly) check in desk is in the Arrivals section (my ex au pair is travelling on that air line). Any how, after clearing things with immigration (we met outside Mcdonalds just near the departure hall - the immigration official accompaning my au pair didn't know the new terminal - so Ronnie McDonald was our meet point), we say an emotional goodbye and I mutter under my breath how much I hate Poraz - she went and I returned to Tel Aviv.

2 days later our new (legal) au pair starts. In the first five minutes she talks about her period (it was her time of the month) and a number of other things which, frankly, I don't care about and certainly don't want to know about. I come home home later that day - the place looks a bit of a disaster -we are vegetarians and our au pair has managed to cook soggy potatoes and veg (she explained to us that she only eats meat and that she has no idea what veg ought to taste like). The next morning, my daughter comes up to me and aske when our Philipino au pair is coming back....

More has happened, but life continues - and I still haven't bought my DVD burner yet (which is good, since I have noticed from Lamir's web site that the price has gone down to a manageable NIS 580)...so they you are (or not, as the case may be)

[dodecahedron]

565 NIS now at Lamir.

[ramlin]

...well, who knows how much it will go down by, if I wait til next week.
BTW, what's happening with your LG Burner - still waiting until the 4163?
The reason why I didn't go for the LG was the fact that (i) it doesn't have bit setting (ii) there is a rip lock and (iii) the benq seems to be getting better reviews - so, dodecahedron, what say you to a bulk purchase from Lamir?

[dodecahedron]

the LG will probably have bitsetting capability.
the hardware has the ability.
the 4120 has the ability to do bitsetting in recent firmwares.
the 4160 has the capability in theory, but current firmwares don't support it. probably some future firmware will enable this.
i'm guessing the same goes for the 4163 (hope so at any rate).

i've always has this fascination with DVD-RAM. i don't know how practical or useful it will be, but i think i'll get the LG for playing with it.
also, for some reason i've always really liked the way the LG super-multi drives look.

[ramlin]

.....last night I received a phone call from a woman who knew a friend of mine who needed some advice urgently. She has 4 children and is in the 40th week of her latest pregnacy. Apparently, her Bolivian au pair was caught by the police and is now in a jail in Holon (South of Tel Aviv - a place not known for much other than having a great Children's Museum which you have to book up in advance to get into). She told me that like us she had advertised for au pairs, tried some of the local variety - they were no good - but then took the Bolivian who was excellent - a life saver in fact. So I gave her the number of the lawyer I used when I had the same problem (ie caught foreign illegal worker)...and she was depressed that the best she'll get is probably 40 days bail for her au pair by which time the au piar will be deported. She was distraught.

A week before that, a friend of mine (a single mother with twins who is a lab assistant) had her Ghanian au pair caught - this friend of mine can't afford a lawyer nor the fees to put up the bail - she will probably have to leave her job to look after her children because she can't otherwise afford to take on a local au pair/nanny.

Oh, and one of the mother's from my daughter's kindergarden had her nanny caught by the police - again irreplaceable.


What the F^^^ is Poraz up to. Foreign workers tend to make the best care givers - they come over to work to make enough money that can be sent home. They don't want to take the economically lucrative jobs that need degrees or phd's. These people have come over and have cared for our old, sick and young - and even gave them love - and how does Poraz repay them -by putting them in jail and deporting them - leaving a vacuum here.

I am seriously thinking of starting some NPO on this matter - but am worried that if I put my head up high I'lll definately get a fine for my Philipino.

In the meantime, I am still debating whether to get the benq1620 or the NEC 3500.

However, some things don't change - I still hate Poraz!

[ramlin]

....and the latest poll (according to the Jerusalem Post) shows Poraz and his friends receiving zero mandates in the next election in March - I wonder if my postings had an effect on this steep decline

[dodecahedron]

zero ???
i hadn't heard that.
but a sharp decline in the number of mandates they receive is not surprising to me at all.
anyway i detest Lapid. he's a bloated demagogue.