Pushin' An Elephant Up The Stairs aka Diving Into The Stupid Well - Update #2

On Tuesday February 27, 2007 I detailed Number One Son's initial frustrating attempt to renew his passport. Then on Thursday March 1, 2007, I summarized an update, when he was finally handed a renewed passport.

Since we have moved to Cairo, all of our mail is being forwarded. I was skeptical as to whether his old passport would ever arrive. Some mail can't be forwarded for matters of security and will explicitly state, “Do Not Forward.” Oh, but not U.S. State Department mail. You’d think something like a passport, even an old and cancelled one would need a signature or some notification that it was actually received by the addressee, particularly in this day and age (post 9-11). Hey, I wouldn't even bring it up, if I were not reminded daily by Bush and Cheney of the "War on Terrorism." Boy, they seem pretty determined. It seems to be a consuming problem with them. I would think the government would be a bit more careful, especially with passports, which could be used for identity theft and that sort of thing.

It's just a thought.

On March 30, 2007, mailed from Washington, DC in a normal envelope marked with the return address: US Government Official Mail, the State Department finally got around to righting it’s errors and sent us a small package.

On Sunday April 15, 2007 we received the following letter, dated March 28, 2007 stating:

“The documents you submitted to this office are being returned to you for your disposition. A request for a refund of $127.00 has been made on your behalf. Please allow several months for processing.

Sincerely.”

The minute I picked up the envelope, I could tell it contained a passport. How many hands did this letter pass through in order to get to us, here in Cairo. Who knows?

Again, we are peering into the bottom of the stupid well. Government attempts to "secure" our country are run by a bunch of Bush cronies who couldn’t organize a piss up in a brewery, but can give Paul Wolfowitz's girlfriend a raise.


Hey, State Department, Homeland Security, Department of Immigration, Border Control, and all you feckless government leeches out there! It's about time - Thanks for the old passport. I admit, I thought you loosers lost it (the passport).

Oh and I'm not holding my breath waiting for that refund either.