Rant of the day

It's 7am and I'm standing in a Walmart in Georgia, blinking sleep from my eyes, my hair matted on one side, looking at pills.

Everyone knows how much I hate Walmart, because of their predatory nature, forcing out small businesses and leaving themselves as the only store in town. Which is why I'm standing in a Walmart.

As for the pills, vitamins are extraordinarily expensive in the UK. I have no idea why that is, but as a result I stock up whenever I am in the States. Today I need slo-niacin, alpha lipoic acid, hydrocortisone, and multivitamins. Then I remember I have no money.

I have two US credit cards, one of which I accidentally left in the UK, and the other I've discovered has been cancelled for 'lack of use.' In addition, Wells Fargo started charging for a checking account so, after 20 years with them, I closed that account and moved my money to ING. Except ING sent my debit card to my mother, who has not sent it to me.

I do have some cash but it would be foolish to spend it on my first day in Georgia, so I will have to come back to Walmart next week.

I get back in the car and listen to NPR discussing Obama's new immigration plan, which I think is long overdue. Of course, this being the South, they trot out a long line of white, middle class racists to give 'balance' to the story. That doesn't bother me--it's du rigeur--but what gets me very upset is to find the state of Georgia has long held a policy of preventing children of illegal immigrants from attending the five most prestigious universities in the state, regardless of merit! I want to scream at the radio. They interview a chancellor who is desperately trying to defend the indefensible, claiming that since the schools are part funded by the taxpayer, that is why they need to keep out immigrants. (Um...easy answer to that is to tax the immigrants. Oh, but you can't do that because you made them 'illlegal'...)

Worse, he is trying to find a loophole in the President's new order so they can continue discriminati--I mean, defending the taxpayer. I really don't know what is wrong with people.

Meanwhile, of course, NPR interviewed several Latinos with perfect grade point averages who were denied places at university because of their 'documentation status' and their stories are heartbreaking. These are smart, hard working kids pushed down so that white, middle class, less-qualified students can attend. Go USA.

And you wonder why I live in England. They have a lot of problems and do a lot of stupid things, but denying people an education is not one of them.

Oh wait, the UK just introduced a £9000/year fee, ensuring most minorities and lower class students will be excluded from the university system, while ironically *increasing* the cost on the taxpayer (through financing) of sending white, middle class students to university.

So I'll shut up now.