if only our Foreign Policy was more like a software installation

Amen to this!
Have you ever read the terms of service when signing up for a service online, or anything else for that matter? I mean, REALLY read the fine print?
Well, I recently created a free email account for myself through Gmail. So many of my other friends and family members have been using Gmail lately, so I decided to check it out to see what all of the buzz was about and I have to say, it looks pretty cool. It looks like it will give me the benefits I'm looking for in a free email/web account service. Not only a free email account but also the ability to upload photos from my iPhoto application on my Mac, which until now, was only something that Yahoo! let me do.

So, before I sign up for anything like this, I usually read all of the fine print pretty carefully. (I used to work in advertising and I used to be the one who set that all too important information so I've seen many variations on the same theme.) I'm concerned about how this particular search-engine giant will handle my information. Most people just skip over all of that mumbo jumbo so they can get on with life. If you've read one terms of service contract, you've read them all, right? Well, I usually take that attitude myself...yeah, yeah, yeah, blah blah blah, enter at your own risk, just get on with the show.

Well this time in particular, I took my time and read through (as opposed to skimmed through) all of the provisions outlined in the terms of service agreement Google laid out for this free web photo album service. I was impressed with the way it was written. They must have some pretty smart lawyers who have backgrounds in copy writing because it was pretty easy to understand.

Then I got to thinking. Perhaps it's all of the politics so thick in the air lately. Perhaps it's because I'm married to a victim of NCLB, oops, sorry, I mean a teacher. Or perhaps it's because I live so close to one of our borders, but I just had to share this one part with you. It just made me think about how so many people complain about illegal immigration and the problems caused by the foreign people who come into this country looking for the "land of opportunity" and then expect to change things to suit their own needs once they get here.

Just read this one excerpt I copied and pasted directly from the Terms of Service Agreement. Notice that you have to click an accept button before you can continue with the service.

If there is any contradiction between what the English language version of the Terms of Service say and what the translations say, then the ENGLISH language version shall take precedence.

Man! Could you imagine if the United States had a foreign policy like this?!!

If you come to this country from somewhere else and you want to live here permanently, fine, we invite you! I have plenty of family members and friends who have done so proudly and have "agreed to the terms of the service." They worked their asses off to live here and make this a better place for others, not just themselves and they deserve it. No problem. Select "I accept" and they're in and we welcome them with open arms.

It's the people who do NOT read the terms and just come here without an understanding of what it means to be an American that I have a problem with. It's the people who look at America and say yeah, that looks great, just click ok without reading our Constitution and our Bill of Rights and learning about our heritage and how things work here and then come in and try to complain about it or change it that I have a problem with. It's the people who slide across our borders and slip in and take advantage of our "free" healthcare system so their babies can be "born on American soil" when they've never shed a drop of sweat to work here and then strain the health care resources and limit the availability to the people who ARE legitimately born here.

I'm so tired of foreigners complaining about us not speaking their language or catering to their religious beliefs. No, we don't believe in beating our women here so I wish they would just go back from where they came from if we're not good enough for them. Leave their women here if they don't want them. We'll educate them and they can become productive members of society, not just reproductive members. If they want to beat something, then get a friggin job in construction, pick up a jackhammer and help the rest of the Americans to do what we do best which is to build a stronger nation. Maybe if they'd work harder, they wouldn't have the energy to beat their wives.

That's my polite way of saying "go screw yourself."

Just imagine if America's foreign policy was enforced like software installation? Wouldn't that be interesting?

Before entering the United States you would be faced with a blockade like:
Please read and agree to our Terms and Conditions below.
By clicking on "I accept" below you're agreeing to the Terms of Service and both the Program Policy and Privacy Policy.

If you do not accept, you simply can not proceed. It's as simple as that.

Anyhow, that's my rant for this morning.
Had to get that off my chest.

I'm trying out my new email address: TheMacMommy@gmail.com if you want to drop me a line and say hi.

peace