(no subject)

Whew. Well my internet connection was down most of the day, but I'm finally here, baybee!

( pics from Saturday's anti-war rally in New Orleans )

You can see more of the pics and a small commentary here on a page I slapped together this morning in notepad.

In other news... my friend Janice had two heart attacks over the weekend and is in the hospital now... I don't know anything further about this, but since I haven't heard anything, I presume she's going to be okay.

(no subject)

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to mention this, but I wasn't told I had to keep it secret.

I work at a safety council that provides basic OSHA safety training to people who work in industry, mostly in chemical plants and refineries in the area.

Last Friday, a group of men came in with falsified social security cards. The company they claimed to be working for could not verify they were employed with them. Their INS paperwork did not appear to be in order either. They caught notice for other reasons -- they were better-dressed than the people who usually come through here and were "flashing money around."

I was also told that they were Middle Eastern.

I didn't actually see them, because the moment I came in to work yesterday, my boss ushered me into his office and told me specifically to stay in my office until I was allowed to leave.

Now it's practically a weekly occurrence here that illegal aliens attempt to get certification so they can work at the plants and refineries. The police are routinely called. In the case of these five, however, the FBI took an unusual interest.

What was arranged was this -- the five men came to class and we would act like "everything is normal," and in the middle of the orientation film the FBI would come in 'quietly' and remove them from class.

So, that was how things went. Or so I was told. I remained in my office and waited until I was told I could come out.