Speak Your Mind Friday

So I have been consulting for a certain company for 9 months finally got offered a full time position, required a 10 year background check. Well, All was good, until they tried to track down my High School, which given, is out of this fine country, but not anywhere close to being a 3rd world country.

Due to lack of 'evidence' of me completing High School, they cannot offer me the position - so their great idea that they have been shoving down my throat is get a GED. Now admittidly, I have no idea whats really involved in getting a GED, but I looked at some past exam questions, particularily the Algebra, and lets face it, I have NO chance... and lets not even get into US History and Geography, I grew up in a different country, like I'm going to have any chance.

In all honesty, I have a little issue with my pride - I really dont want to look like too much of a loser, especially if I fail :)

Perhaps I'm being a little rash, and I should just take the GED and see exactly how bad I do... but $66 for a laugh could be better spent paying my Utah taxes ;)  

Welcome to the US. History is easy. If anybody askes you a question about history, just say "the good guys win". This will feed the need for national pride and you won't be second guessed.

Venezuelan Student Movement Leader Awarded
$500,000 Milton Friedman Liberty Prize

Washington, D.C. -The Cato Institute has announced that Yon Goicoechea, leader of the pro-democracy student movement in Venezuela that successfully prevented President Hugo Chávez's regime from seizing broad dictatorial powers in December 2007, has been awarded the 2008 Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty.

A 23-year-old law student, Mr. Goicoechea plays a pivotal role in organizing and voicing opposition to the erosion of human and civil rights in his country. In his commitment to a modern Venezuela, Goicoechea emphasizes tolerance and the human right to seek prosperity.

Venezuela's student movement emerged in May of 2007 in response to a government-ordered shutdown of the nation's oldest private television station, RCTV.  In the face of ongoing death threats and continual intimidation due to his prominent and vocal leadership, Mr. Goicoechea has been indispensible in organizing massive, peaceful student protest marches that have captured the world's attention.  

By December of 2007, the student movement was credited with defeating a proposed constitutional reform that would have concentrated unprecedented political and economic power in the hands of the government.

"Yon Goicoechea is making an extraordinary contribution to liberty," said Edward Crane, President of the Cato Institute. "We hope the Friedman Prize will help further his non-violent advocacy for basic freedoms in an increasingly militaristic and anti-democratic Venezuela."

Renowned Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa remarked, "Freedom and complacency are incompatible and this is what we are seeing now in countries like Venezuela where freedom is disappearing little by little, and this has produced a very healthy and idealistic reaction among young people. I think Yon Goicoechea is a symbol of this democratic reaction when freedom is threatened."

Established in 2002 and presented every two years, the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty is the leading international award for significant contributions to advancing individual liberty.  The Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman passed away in November of 2006.  

The Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty's Biennial Dinner and award presentation will be held at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City on May 15, 2008.

Yon Goicoechea is a fifth year law student at Universidad Católica Andrés Bello. He was chosen to receive the award from a public, worldwide nomination process.  The members of the 2008 International Selection Committee are:

Kakha Bendukidze- Head of the Chancellery, Republic of Georgia
Edward H. Crane - President, Cato Institute
Francisco Gil Díaz - Former Minister of Finance, Mexico
Rose D. Friedman - Co-Founder, Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation for School Choice
Karen Horn - Director, Berlin Office, Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft (Germany)
Charles G. Koch - Chairman and CEO, Koch Industries Inc.
Andrew Mwenda - Research Fellow, Advocates Coalition for Development (Uganda)
Mary Anastasia O'Grady - Member, Editorial Board, The Wall Street Journal
Fareed Zakaria - Editor, Newsweek International

Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20001

btw... Coolerwhip. Where are you from?

That really depends which country you come from right ? :)

I am from the Land of the Great..... England ! <play trumphet sounds>

As the trumpets sound, I have the perfect avatar for you. Stay tuned and it will appear in the next few minites. Feel free to copy, paste and use it for your own if you so desire.

I have a couple hang ups with the Cato Institute, but overall, they hit the nail on the head.

As Coolerwhip (CW for short) says that the good guys are the ones who won, he can think in the back of his mind "...after 1900".  :)

Dese, I like the avatar... I'll update mine when I get home (I have something better) :)
I think we need a seperate topic for exactly 'who the good guys are'

Who the good guys are I determine by what genealogical line I'm looking at. At times it's the Scots. If not it's the Saxons. Rarely it's the Germans. I ignore any French lineage I may have : )'

Sounds like you have good policy on your heritage. Though (and without offending too many people) the Scots are to the English, what Canada is to USA :)

The unofficial 51st State that has a group of cheese eating french speakers?

Just to clarify for those who may not know. That "short" and crazy dictator was a Corsican. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corsica

I guess that would make Napoleon to the French like a Puertorican would be to an American.

Isn't that what happened when the red coats came originally? - wow this could get messy :)

some of us do like nancy.

i'm tired of the french comedy routine. why not make fun of obama and his pastor (who came out and defended himself to the dismay of obama). these guys really deserve it.   "no i'm not a racist and i don't preach hate..." as he finished his sermon and walks back stage... "were's calipso louis when we need him?"

Melchor you may want to restate the "Some of Us do like Nancy" on this board you are the only one to say they like Nancy. As to the French Comedy I am ok with it they deserve all they get I could take over France with boy scouts they are a weak country and for the most part they have relied on others for protection. They make it easy to make fun of them.

Gipsy Kings are the one thing that Melkor and I agree on. If you like acoustic guitar, you'll love these guys. Knowing Spanish is a help.

btw... The Gipsy Kings may speak Spanish but they are French. One of the few good things about France. However, their parents came from Spain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gipsy_Kings

Ok Splitt I Like Nancy Reagan as well, but I think Melchor was talking about Nancy Pelose which as I said I think only Melchor likes her.

I like Ronald Reagan and I would like Nancy better, but she lost me with the astrology and fortune telling.