I’m not at all secure in that statement anymore.
Paul, would you feel comfortable in talking about the corruption within the Saudi government?
Hope you get some funds tomorrow. Let us know.
Right you are. This reminds me that shortly after Mohammed 6 became king, there was talk about oil discovered in Morocco all over the newspapers. Then a while after that, nothing. I wonder what that was about.
Tell me what said that was either inaccurate or an exaggeration.
Tracy, I assume you’re female. Would you live in Saudi Arabia, where you wouldn’t be able to vote, drive, own property or show your unveiled face in public for fear of the Islamic authorities whipping you in the streets? What if you were totally exempt from taxes? Would that be enough to sway you?
I’m having a little trouble with your syntax. Come again?
I was very amused at your comment’s ignoring the focus of the OP (that being, he’s doing work he’s not getting paid for) and immediately honing in on “Saudi Arabia! That’s where terrorists come from! Why the hell aren’t you working in America?” That’s all.
I don’t want my own comments misunderstood. I had rather live hand to mouth in the United States than to be a woman living under Saudi law or a man in Saudi tolerating the mistreatment of women.
A few years ago there was a fire in a girls school there and many girls burned to death because people would not allow them to leave the burning building uncovered.
Unthinkable.
If you will notice, I addressed the focus of the OP earlier. I was simply amazed that an American citizen–especially someone like Paul whom I have been acquianted with on this board for some time, and whom I know to be an intellegent, reasonable and generally nice person–would choose to live in a repressive society such as Saudi Arabia just because he didn’t like paying taxes. I don’t like to pay taxes, either, but I love my country, my liberties, and my way of life so much that I pay them as part of the privelage of being a citizen.
Furthermore, what I said was true. Most of the 9/11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. The country is an absolute monarchy whose government enforces draconian religous laws on all of it citizens. They are as far from the American way of life as you can possibly get, in my opinon. We are currently at war with militant Islamic fundamentalists, and Saudi Arabia is one fo the main centers of funding, support, and manpower for the jihad. We have troops in the field fighting those people right now–troops who I support with my tax dollars. I think the war in Iraq is one of the biggest mistakes in the history of the republic, yet I still pay my taxes even though I disagree with the way they’re being spent. I certainly won’t move to Saudi Arabia–or to the Caymen Islands, for that matter–to avoid paying them in this time of national need.
IIRC, Paul is in the oil business in some capacity, so Saudi Arabia is a natural place for him to end up working. I’ve got no problem with that whatsoever. I’m sure there are many more reasons besides his disdain for taxes that he ended up moving there to work, and that his earlier comments were made in haste and without thought to their full implications.
Actually, I am a humble English teacher. Not so exciting really.
Since I teach the English language (and not the literature), most positions for my sort of work are outside the English-speaking world. I chose this business for that reason. I was born with wanderlust and this is how I slate it.
While it is easy to make a caricature of this place and its people, but in fact there is fact more than a little to admire in this culture. (Or at least there is if you are inclined to give people the benefit of the doubt.) In any case it is rather interesting.
They are saying the pay will be posted in the bank today sometime. Checks (I prefer a paycheck) will be a day or so later.
I will keep you posted.
I don’t think all these restrictions would apply to an American living in Saudi Arabia.
I’m guessing Paul doesn’t get to vote, either, and it’s not because he’s a woman.
We just had elections yesterday (Saturday that is). Only one of the four Saudis in my office bothered to vote. He voted the straight ‘golden ticket’ of Islamists. Bully for him.
Anyway, I did not in fact vote this time around as my (Nevada) ballot did not get here in time.
I agree with you on Saudi Arabia. Bush invaded the wrong country.
I think it wasn’t the “people”, more like the loony “religioous police”*. The people weren’t too happy about that. This has been discussed many times on these boards. Just saying. 
*Cite available upon request.
The word here is that the Religious Police (who prefer to be referred to as 'The Committee to Suppress Vice and Support Virtue) tried to chase the girls back in the building. The local population attacked them, and they were arrested by the Real Police.
(The Religious Police are a little-understood institution and perhaps some day I will start a thread on them.)
Actually, pretty much all restrictions on Saudi women (and men) apply to visitors to the Kingdom. As I understand it the exceptions are on foreign compounds and some women can work in fields like teaching and nursing, but I don’t know whether this applies to the compounds only. The veiled/unveiled thing seems to vary by city. Veils for women was not the rule in Jeddah or Dhammam, although Riyadh is supposed to be more strict. I did see “European” women without head coverings, but it’s not usual to see non Muslim women around at all. The ONLY women I ever saw working were flight attendents and the occasional woman sitting in the middle of the street hawking wares. I don’t believe the whipping thing is very common at all, although a colleague, who lived in Riyadh for a while said it was not unusual to get a rap to the back of the legs from a religious police if you were doing something they thought unsavory (like looking at a woman in public).
Ah. I see. Thanks. I think the woman I know who lived there was in an “excepted area” then.
I would be very interested in reading such a thread.
What the hell is THAT supposed to mean?
Sorry…caught the 
after I hit send.
A few years ago, I worked for a corporation, one responsible for maintaining our nations national security infractructure. When they were absorbed by another corporation, we were told that there might be a slight hiccup in the pay system while they integrated old into the new. The hiccup turned into a four week hiatus (we’re normally paid on a bi-weekly basis) before they finally got it sorted out.
Now, it wasn’t deliberate, or planned, and they certainly weren’t low on cash. (We’re so flush with money right now that they have to cut training budgets by 70% percent in order to maintain the standard of record-breaking profits[sup]*[/sup].) So, this sort of thing happens here in 'Merica, too. And this isn’t the first time I’ve dealt with this, though one practially expects this thing with startups and companies so mismanaged that they are producing record quantities of product while not being able to afford werehouse space for all the stuff they aren’t selling. You know, like the last five employers, not including the plastic home-improvement equipment outfit.
Oh, which company did I say I worked for? A major one.
Stranger
[sup]*[/sup]This sort of logic only makes sense to highly trained finance people and late author Catch-22 Joseph Heller
I think I speak for more than just myself when I say: who fucking cares? Yeah, it’s appalling to you that anyone might like Saudi Arabia better than America. Whoop-de-doo. I’m sure he’s real interested in taking a bunch of shit from you about it in a thread about not getting paid.
Wow. A guy named galt hates taxes. Big fucking surprise. Do you wear a cape, too?