Weekly Summary 6: Politics and Bureaucracy

First of all I would like to thank all the people that sent encouraging words after the previous post. Your words are important and appreciated and I thank you for that. This week's post will deal with something most of us don't like at all: bureaucracy and politics. As I mentioned in some of the previous posts, we have encountered a frighteningly amount of red tape in our first weeks, starting with the problems of getting my university ID, entering me to the system and so on. Unfortunately, this has not ended yet. For example, I still haven't received the package with all my social rights and health care. The official "excuse" is that they sent it to another address, which is the hotel in which we had resided in the first two weeks. I doubt that very much, and my guess is that someone simply misplaced the package. My suspicions increased after my visit to the University's Human Resources, where a nice yet a total moron person told me that he will look for the package and let me know. He hasn't done that although almost a week has passed. This has become a major concern for me because now I'm starting to be sick, and I would like to go to a doctor if this condition persists.

Worse still, the same useless HR guy told me that we would not be able to apply for domestic partnership until a period of 6 months has passed since the beginning of D's relationship with me. And for them 6 months are counted from the date of the first document we have, which in our case is our lease on the apartment, dated from September. First of all, this domestic partnership is the only reason I am teaching here, instead of being a regular student. Don't think that I am the only one with incentive to do it; the department is very short in staff. In fact, they have two positions open, after two lecturers left in the previous year. They need me to teach no less than I need their money to support D's studies. If I don't get this domestic partnership approved, and we have to pay for D's tuition, which is circa $20000, I consider it to be a major breach of our contract. I intended to go down and tell the department head that if it is not sorted out, she can forget about me teaching and that we will go back home. D has managed to cool me off, and we intend to try and get this partnership approved using an old affidavit we made to the municipality of Tel Aviv (another bureaucratic superpower). Kelly promised to help as well, and seemed stressed by this new difficulty. In any case, if we don't get it, I guess I will have to have some serious and not so pleasant talk with the department head.

Now to politics. As you know, the presidential elections will be held on the next Tuesday. These are historic elections, and when they are over the United States will have either a first African American president, or a first female vice president. You might have suspected that this situation will raise a special interest in the elections, especially during a major economic crisis. As far as I can see, the students in the university are not so interested about it. Here they can vote ahead of the elections day, even today, and still I haven't seen any strong movement in the voting area. It is assumed that most younger people will vote for Obama, and if this is the case, don't be surprised if Mc'Cain wins the elections. In addition, elections day is not a vacation here; people are supposed to work in that day and then go to vote for their nominee. In light of the lack of interest I see around us, I think the voting percentage will be low, at least in Israeli terms.

By the way, it appears that Sarah Palin is a hit here with the average working class males. In other words, picture election rallies packed with Al Bundys and you'll begin to understand how this can happen. I guess that the fact that the talented and attractive Tina Fey plays her role in Saturday Night Live doesn't hurt, although the writers in SNL are pro-Democrats. Last week Sarah Palin even appeared as a guest in SNL, thus leveraging both the show's rating and Fey's popularity. You should catch a glimpse of this appearance if you haven't already done so.

Something less known is that in the same day people are voting for various offices other than the president. There are of course the U.S. Congress and Senate, but there are also more local offices. Here they vote for judges, district attorneys, state representatives, and even "clerk of courts". I don't really know what that is, but it appears to be someone who is responsible for signing official documents, like a document that title your vehicle in your name. We went to the bureau of motor vehicles (BMV) and titled our Altima in both our names. We also purchased our license plates (here they identify the person or group owning the vehicle, not the vehicle itself). The BMV seemed a more organized and has less bureaucracy than the university. Somehow, my impressions of the federal and state authorities are that they are far more efficient than the university. That's not too hard, I guess.

I read in Ynet that Israel is heading back to elections. Here are some good reasons to elect Benyamin Netanyahu as prime minister:

1. He did a good job as a treasurer and since we face a big economic crisis he can set a good example on how to lead Israel to economic haven.
2. He is against government expenditures. He'll probably be able to deal with Shas and prevent them from getting a billion sheqels out of our pockets.
3. The other options are Ehud Barak and Zipi Livni. It's not that there is someone far better than Bibi to elect.
   
4. Governments usually fall within two, maximum two and a half years, in Israel. If Bibi is elected this year, he will be gone by 2011, just in time to correct his mistakes before D and I are back. :-)

To summarize, a story that combine bureaucracy and politics. Yesterday was D's half a day off from her studies, after she returned from a midterm exam (yes, I know, it was Saturday, but hey that's Business School for you). Unfortunately, soon after she got home, the toilet overflowed, and we were afraid that the entire day would be ruined. We called the lousy company that rents our building, and they asked us to try and resolve the situation by ourselves. We thought about calling Joe the Plumber, who is - as you all know - an Ohioan, but finally we decided to buy a plunger and do it ourselves. It worked out, so now I am considering to become a plumber myself. After all, it is a good occupation even in times of economic dire; people will still need someone to plunge their toilets or install a new faucet. I will be better paid than what I make now, that's for sure. Even Joe the plumber makes more than me.