spiderman1972
03-01 12:02 PM
.
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seawise
05-29 01:09 PM
Indeed i was thinking about signing up before, anyway i signed up at last..thanks..
manusingh
09-23 11:39 PM
I am using Advance parole in december to visit India. I have applied my canada PR in 2008, but I don't have stamp of PR in my passport.
Is there are any problems using AP for India visit.
Any suggestion is appreciated
Is there are any problems using AP for India visit.
Any suggestion is appreciated
2011 jessica simpson wedding.
Joppe
05-13 04:09 PM
Thats real nice.. and soft .. Like it :thumb:
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May2002PD
01-26 12:31 PM
I am on 8th H1b extension with approved I140 and 3yr extension. Now I want to join a new company, who does my H1B and will get 3yr extension on that. If my parent employer revokes my I140, will my new H1B (with new employer) gets void ? or is it still valid for me to work with new employer for next 3 years. I dont want to apply for LC and I140 with the new employer as I will be R2I in August 2007.
Thanks
Thanks
Macaca
02-20 10:10 AM
Some paras from Information, Please (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/18/AR2007021801064.html): Watchdog Groups, Some Lawmakers Say Congressional Reports Should Be Made Public.
Elizabeth Williamson (http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/elizabeth+williamson/), Washington Post Staff Writer.
Deep inside the Library of Congress, 500 researchers pound out the secret intelligence Congress uses to make law.
Legislators request 6,000 Congressional Research Service reports a year, on weapons systems and farm subsidies, prescription prices and energy use. Together, they offer what lobbyists and industry want most: clues to what's next on the Hill.
For years, open-government groups have fought to make the reports public, and for years, many lawmakers have kept them under wraps. Or so they thought.
By insisting on secrecy, Congress instead created a bootleg market for the research. Every day, a small Texas company compiles the reports and sells them to lobbyists, lawyers and others who pay thousands of dollars for a peek at the reports and what they say about the congressional agenda. And it's all legal.
"How I get them is my trade secret . . . but I get them all," said Walt Seager, who digs up the reports for Gallery Watch, a legislative tracking service.
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) was established in 1914 as Congress's supplier of nonpartisan research and analysis. Its reports are neither classified nor copyrighted, but they've long been the exclusive property of lawmakers, who distribute them as they see fit. Taxpayers supply the agency's $100 million annual budget, inspiring open-government groups and some lawmakers, including Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) to push for public release of CRS reports.
Aftergood and others have fought back by posting every CRS report they can find on their Web sites. But watchdog groups have released only about 10 percent of the total, not enough to reveal the patterns that suggest what Congress might do next.
Subscribers to Gallery Watch pay about $4,000 a year to get all the CRS reports, online and searchable, delivered weekly.
At a recent meeting for potential customers, Riendeau explained that clients scan the reports for intelligence "kind of how the CIA operates," by spotting the political trends suggested by their contents and timing, he said. About a year ago, lawmakers made a flurry of requests for CRS reports related to North Korean counterfeiting of U.S. currency; not until months later, when the Treasury Department cracked down on North Korea, did the issue appear in newspapers.
Resources
CRS REPORTS (http://www.ilw.com/immigdaily/news/crs.shtm)
A peek at "Congress' Brain" (http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/2/19/182559/089)
You'd Know if You Were Congressional (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/21/AR2007032102043.html)
Elizabeth Williamson (http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/elizabeth+williamson/), Washington Post Staff Writer.
Deep inside the Library of Congress, 500 researchers pound out the secret intelligence Congress uses to make law.
Legislators request 6,000 Congressional Research Service reports a year, on weapons systems and farm subsidies, prescription prices and energy use. Together, they offer what lobbyists and industry want most: clues to what's next on the Hill.
For years, open-government groups have fought to make the reports public, and for years, many lawmakers have kept them under wraps. Or so they thought.
By insisting on secrecy, Congress instead created a bootleg market for the research. Every day, a small Texas company compiles the reports and sells them to lobbyists, lawyers and others who pay thousands of dollars for a peek at the reports and what they say about the congressional agenda. And it's all legal.
"How I get them is my trade secret . . . but I get them all," said Walt Seager, who digs up the reports for Gallery Watch, a legislative tracking service.
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) was established in 1914 as Congress's supplier of nonpartisan research and analysis. Its reports are neither classified nor copyrighted, but they've long been the exclusive property of lawmakers, who distribute them as they see fit. Taxpayers supply the agency's $100 million annual budget, inspiring open-government groups and some lawmakers, including Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) to push for public release of CRS reports.
Aftergood and others have fought back by posting every CRS report they can find on their Web sites. But watchdog groups have released only about 10 percent of the total, not enough to reveal the patterns that suggest what Congress might do next.
Subscribers to Gallery Watch pay about $4,000 a year to get all the CRS reports, online and searchable, delivered weekly.
At a recent meeting for potential customers, Riendeau explained that clients scan the reports for intelligence "kind of how the CIA operates," by spotting the political trends suggested by their contents and timing, he said. About a year ago, lawmakers made a flurry of requests for CRS reports related to North Korean counterfeiting of U.S. currency; not until months later, when the Treasury Department cracked down on North Korea, did the issue appear in newspapers.
Resources
CRS REPORTS (http://www.ilw.com/immigdaily/news/crs.shtm)
A peek at "Congress' Brain" (http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/2/19/182559/089)
You'd Know if You Were Congressional (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/21/AR2007032102043.html)
more...
leoindiano
11-02 04:58 PM
I worked with Romy Kapoor and Ashish Sharma, both are good.
Romy's firm now merged with some international law firm called Adorno.
Kapoor & Associates: Atlanta Immigration Attorney and Orlando Immigration Attorney (http://www.kapoorlaw.com/)
google for sharmas firm.
Romy's firm now merged with some international law firm called Adorno.
Kapoor & Associates: Atlanta Immigration Attorney and Orlando Immigration Attorney (http://www.kapoorlaw.com/)
google for sharmas firm.
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ragz4u
01-24 04:11 PM
610-955-8290
phillyag
his email id is black_logs@yahoo.com
phillyag
his email id is black_logs@yahoo.com
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Macaca
07-22 05:49 PM
Senate Comity Slips Away (http://www.rollcall.com/issues/53_9/news/19453-1.html) By Emily Pierce and Erin P. Billings, ROLL CALL STAFF, July 19, 2007
Though tensions between Democrats and Republicans have been festering since the beginning of the 110th Congress, this week�s Senate debate on the Iraq War has pushed the chamber to a new level of partisan acrimony, where even the most seasoned and collegial of Senate elders have abandoned traditional acts of decorum.
�The Senate is spiraling into the ground to a degree that I have never seen before, and I�ve been here a long time,� Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said. �All modicum of courtesy has gone out the window.�
That statement came after a highly charged, all-night debate on a Democratic amendment to refocus the U.S. mission in Iraq and complete a troop drawdown by April 30, 2008. The amendment failed, 52-47, to get the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster, and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) cited the Republicans� �obstructionist� tactics in his decision to scrap the entire debate on the Defense Department authorization bill.
Reid�s insistence not only on having repeated votes this year on pulling out of Iraq but also on having the overnight session contributed to the explosion of partisan tensions, some Senators said.
�I do think 36 hours with no sleep and the orchestration of a repeat debate of what we just got through two months ago weighed heavily on everybody,� Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) said. �It was what it was, but there�s a lot of frustration. It�s a good time for a four-week break.�
Senate Republicans said the clearest evidence that the chamber�s traditional comity has evaporated is in Reid�s repeated decisions to prohibit GOP Senators from giving short speeches when they object to his unanimous consent requests. Reid first began using the tactic against a handful of GOP conservatives during last month�s bitterly fought immigration reform debate.
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the most recent victim of that tactic, gave an indignant speech on the floor Wednesday to protest what he said was Reid�s lack of respect for fellow Senators.
Though Specter acknowledged that Senate rules do not afford lawmakers the right to give speeches following unanimous consent requests, the veteran Pennsylvania moderate said, �It has been common practice in this body to allow a Senator who reserves the right to object to make a statement as to why the objection is being lodged.�
Specter went on to ominously state that Reid�s insistence on the rules could come back to haunt him.
�Those practices I think are not only rude, but dictatorial,� he said. �And if those technical rules are applied � and any one of us can do it � this body will cease to function.�
Republican sources said that beyond Specter, both Lott and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) were taken aback this week when they were denied recognition typically afforded the minority. Lott and Specter � Senators who often work with Reid and Democrats on the floor and on legislation � were particularly incensed with what they viewed as Reid�s disregard of Senate decorum and protocol.
Specter said that Lott declined Reid�s offer to publicly apologize.
One senior Republican aide said Reid � by refusing to allow GOP Senators the opportunity to answer him when addressed � sent a clear signal to the minority of, �To heck with you, your views don�t matter.�
�Not only is violating common courtesy unlike him, it�s not conducive to running the Senate in an effective manner,� the aide said of Reid.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who led the GOP debate on the Defense measure, said what occurred over the course of the past two days � and the past two weeks � demonstrated that the �climate here is very bad� and is �part of the whole environment� of the Senate these days. The Iraq War is just one factor contributing to the heightened partisanship in the chamber, McCain added.
But it isn�t just Republicans who are complaining about the breakdown of the chamber�s otherwise civil atmosphere. Senate Democrats countered that they also have been on the receiving end of what they consider ungracious behavior by their GOP colleagues.
In what appeared to be a slap at Democrats on Wednesday, McConnell turned his back on Reid and the Democratic side of the chamber while speaking about the Democratic amendment to refocus the U.S. mission in Iraq.
McConnell spokesman Don Stewart said the Minority Leader was simply addressing his fellow Republicans as he often does when many are gathered in the chamber. More than 70 Senators � roughly half Republicans, half Democrats � were present for the post-vote debate.
But Senate Democrats have said repeatedly that they are being forced to use heavy-handed tactics because the minority refuses to adhere to the traditional courtesy of allowing the Majority Leader to conduct the bulk of the Senate�s business without first having to file procedural motions to limit debate. Republicans have objected to a little more than half of Reid�s requests to begin debate on both controversial and bipartisan bills, resulting in Reid having to file time-consuming cloture motions to cut off prospective filibusters.
�Who�s been asking for these cloture votes?� asked an exasperated Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). �Republicans.�
McConnell has �lost control of his caucus on this matter,� Durbin said of what he believes is McConnell�s inability to convince conservatives in the Republican Conference to pick their battles.
Reid spokesman Jim Manley declined to comment specifically on why Reid has been prohibiting GOP Senators from making short objection speeches, but he indicated that Democrats need to fight back against the GOP�s blocking strategy.
�It�s become pretty evident in recent weeks that there�s been a decision by the Republican leadership to block the Senate from doing all but the most routine and noncontroversial legislation,� Manley said.
Meanwhile, debate on the Defense bill has stopped for the time being, with Reid saying he would bring it back up once it is possible to �pass a Defense authorization bill, but with a deadline dealing with Iraq.�
For the moment, Democrats have been able to put a lock on the Republicans� procedural objections by bringing up a higher education reconciliation bill that is privileged under the rules and cannot be filibustered. But that measure was taken up only after Republicans blocked Reid from quickly beginning debate on a Homeland Security spending bill.
Reid has tasked Durbin with negotiating a deal with Lott, McCain and Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) on how to resume consideration of the Defense measure.
However, McCain questioned whether the DOD bill would rear its head again in the next two weeks: �Without a certain level of cooperation it�s almost impossible. It will be difficult to make it out in time, make it out by August. And the fiscal year ends the first of October.�
Though tensions between Democrats and Republicans have been festering since the beginning of the 110th Congress, this week�s Senate debate on the Iraq War has pushed the chamber to a new level of partisan acrimony, where even the most seasoned and collegial of Senate elders have abandoned traditional acts of decorum.
�The Senate is spiraling into the ground to a degree that I have never seen before, and I�ve been here a long time,� Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said. �All modicum of courtesy has gone out the window.�
That statement came after a highly charged, all-night debate on a Democratic amendment to refocus the U.S. mission in Iraq and complete a troop drawdown by April 30, 2008. The amendment failed, 52-47, to get the 60 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster, and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) cited the Republicans� �obstructionist� tactics in his decision to scrap the entire debate on the Defense Department authorization bill.
Reid�s insistence not only on having repeated votes this year on pulling out of Iraq but also on having the overnight session contributed to the explosion of partisan tensions, some Senators said.
�I do think 36 hours with no sleep and the orchestration of a repeat debate of what we just got through two months ago weighed heavily on everybody,� Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) said. �It was what it was, but there�s a lot of frustration. It�s a good time for a four-week break.�
Senate Republicans said the clearest evidence that the chamber�s traditional comity has evaporated is in Reid�s repeated decisions to prohibit GOP Senators from giving short speeches when they object to his unanimous consent requests. Reid first began using the tactic against a handful of GOP conservatives during last month�s bitterly fought immigration reform debate.
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the most recent victim of that tactic, gave an indignant speech on the floor Wednesday to protest what he said was Reid�s lack of respect for fellow Senators.
Though Specter acknowledged that Senate rules do not afford lawmakers the right to give speeches following unanimous consent requests, the veteran Pennsylvania moderate said, �It has been common practice in this body to allow a Senator who reserves the right to object to make a statement as to why the objection is being lodged.�
Specter went on to ominously state that Reid�s insistence on the rules could come back to haunt him.
�Those practices I think are not only rude, but dictatorial,� he said. �And if those technical rules are applied � and any one of us can do it � this body will cease to function.�
Republican sources said that beyond Specter, both Lott and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) were taken aback this week when they were denied recognition typically afforded the minority. Lott and Specter � Senators who often work with Reid and Democrats on the floor and on legislation � were particularly incensed with what they viewed as Reid�s disregard of Senate decorum and protocol.
Specter said that Lott declined Reid�s offer to publicly apologize.
One senior Republican aide said Reid � by refusing to allow GOP Senators the opportunity to answer him when addressed � sent a clear signal to the minority of, �To heck with you, your views don�t matter.�
�Not only is violating common courtesy unlike him, it�s not conducive to running the Senate in an effective manner,� the aide said of Reid.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who led the GOP debate on the Defense measure, said what occurred over the course of the past two days � and the past two weeks � demonstrated that the �climate here is very bad� and is �part of the whole environment� of the Senate these days. The Iraq War is just one factor contributing to the heightened partisanship in the chamber, McCain added.
But it isn�t just Republicans who are complaining about the breakdown of the chamber�s otherwise civil atmosphere. Senate Democrats countered that they also have been on the receiving end of what they consider ungracious behavior by their GOP colleagues.
In what appeared to be a slap at Democrats on Wednesday, McConnell turned his back on Reid and the Democratic side of the chamber while speaking about the Democratic amendment to refocus the U.S. mission in Iraq.
McConnell spokesman Don Stewart said the Minority Leader was simply addressing his fellow Republicans as he often does when many are gathered in the chamber. More than 70 Senators � roughly half Republicans, half Democrats � were present for the post-vote debate.
But Senate Democrats have said repeatedly that they are being forced to use heavy-handed tactics because the minority refuses to adhere to the traditional courtesy of allowing the Majority Leader to conduct the bulk of the Senate�s business without first having to file procedural motions to limit debate. Republicans have objected to a little more than half of Reid�s requests to begin debate on both controversial and bipartisan bills, resulting in Reid having to file time-consuming cloture motions to cut off prospective filibusters.
�Who�s been asking for these cloture votes?� asked an exasperated Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). �Republicans.�
McConnell has �lost control of his caucus on this matter,� Durbin said of what he believes is McConnell�s inability to convince conservatives in the Republican Conference to pick their battles.
Reid spokesman Jim Manley declined to comment specifically on why Reid has been prohibiting GOP Senators from making short objection speeches, but he indicated that Democrats need to fight back against the GOP�s blocking strategy.
�It�s become pretty evident in recent weeks that there�s been a decision by the Republican leadership to block the Senate from doing all but the most routine and noncontroversial legislation,� Manley said.
Meanwhile, debate on the Defense bill has stopped for the time being, with Reid saying he would bring it back up once it is possible to �pass a Defense authorization bill, but with a deadline dealing with Iraq.�
For the moment, Democrats have been able to put a lock on the Republicans� procedural objections by bringing up a higher education reconciliation bill that is privileged under the rules and cannot be filibustered. But that measure was taken up only after Republicans blocked Reid from quickly beginning debate on a Homeland Security spending bill.
Reid has tasked Durbin with negotiating a deal with Lott, McCain and Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) on how to resume consideration of the Defense measure.
However, McCain questioned whether the DOD bill would rear its head again in the next two weeks: �Without a certain level of cooperation it�s almost impossible. It will be difficult to make it out in time, make it out by August. And the fiscal year ends the first of October.�
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kirupa
03-12 04:48 AM
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Blog Feeds
03-29 07:50 AM
Hat tip to a helpful reader for this very encouraging news being reported by Newsweek. Readers may remember my posting a story last month that the Obama Administration has decided not to defend the reprehensible Defense of Marriage Act in court (though not surprisingly, House Republicans have taken up doing that work). Sooner or later, however, DOMA is going to be struck down. In the mean time, two USCIS offices - Washington, DC and Baltimore, have announced that they are accepting adjustment of status green card petitions and putting them on hold pending the decision by the courts in various...
More... (http://blogs.ilw.com/gregsiskind/2011/03/two-uscis-offices-accepting-same-sex-marriage-green-card-petitions.html)
More... (http://blogs.ilw.com/gregsiskind/2011/03/two-uscis-offices-accepting-same-sex-marriage-green-card-petitions.html)
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Bpositive
10-22 12:02 AM
I am planning to travel via BA from DC to Bangalore and travel back from Bangalore to DC through Lufthansa.
I have my AP doc. I know Lufthansa is fine with an AP while I travel from Bangalore to DC visa Frankfurt.
Will I need a transit visa to travel through London to India (one-way)? I have a valid Indian passport and am on Advance Parole.
any thoughts?
I have my AP doc. I know Lufthansa is fine with an AP while I travel from Bangalore to DC visa Frankfurt.
Will I need a transit visa to travel through London to India (one-way)? I have a valid Indian passport and am on Advance Parole.
any thoughts?
more...
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maniac
07-22 09:12 PM
Keeping in view the current and anticipated situation in Oct 2007, would priority date transfer help me at all or I will have to face same processing times?
My assumption is that visa numbers will be unavailable from Aug 17th to Oct '07 and when the new visa number become available, the dates will retrogress to 2003 or 2004 ... who knows. So using old PD may earn me advantage in that case.
My assumption is that visa numbers will be unavailable from Aug 17th to Oct '07 and when the new visa number become available, the dates will retrogress to 2003 or 2004 ... who knows. So using old PD may earn me advantage in that case.
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sanz
06-29 03:15 PM
my company also got acquired recently and i had gone for stamping. Mine was for renewal. they just looked at the 797 and gave the stamping. i had written the name of the old company in the ds-160 as the h1 document was in their name
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lost_angeles
06-17 12:45 AM
I am getting ready to file for my 485. I have a problem, and I am not sure how to go about it --
My wife's birth certificate has her name listed differently than it is. The birth certificate has a temporary/pet name. Is there anything I can do now, in next 14 days, before I can file for 485? Will any kind of affidavit help?
Appreciate all your suggestions.
My wife's birth certificate has her name listed differently than it is. The birth certificate has a temporary/pet name. Is there anything I can do now, in next 14 days, before I can file for 485? Will any kind of affidavit help?
Appreciate all your suggestions.
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Macaca
07-23 07:32 PM
Reid's Anti-Reform Maneuvers (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/22/AR2007072200881.html?nav=hcmodule) By Robert D. Novak (http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/robert+d.+novak/) Washington Post, July 23, 2007
When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid picked up his ball and went home after his staged all-night session last week, he saved from possible embarrassment one of the least regular members of his Democratic caucus: Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Reform Republican Tom Coburn had ready an amendment to the defense authorization bill removing Nelson's earmark funding a Nebraska-based company whose officials include Nelson's son. Such an effort became impossible when Reid pulled the bill.
That Reid's action had this effect was mere coincidence. He knew that Sen. Carl Levin's amendment to the defense bill mandating a troop withdrawal from Iraq would fall short of the 60 votes needed to cut off debate, and Reid planned from the start to pull the bill after the all-night session, designed to satisfy antiwar zealots, was completed. But Reid is also working behind the scenes with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to undermine earmark transparency and prevent open debate on spending proposals such as Nelson's.
These antics fit the continuing decline of the Senate, including an unwritten rules change requiring 60 votes to pass any meaningful bill. When I arrived on Capitol Hill 50 years ago, Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson (like Reid today) had a slim Democratic majority and faced a Republican president, but he was not burdened with the 60-vote rule. While Johnson did use chicanery, Reid resorts to brute force that shatters the Senate's facade of civilized discourse. Reid is plotting to strip anti-earmark transparency from the final version of ethics legislation passed by the Senate and House, with tacit support from Republican senators and the GOP leadership.
At stake is the fate of Coburn's "Reid amendment," previously passed by the Senate and so called because it would bar earmarks benefiting a senator's family members such as Reid's four lobbyist sons and son-in-law. Nelson's current $7.5 million earmark for software helps 21st Century Systems Inc. (21CSI), which employs the senator's son, Patrick Nelson, as its marketing director. The company gets 80 percent of its funds from federal grants, mostly through earmarks. With nine offices scattered among states represented by appropriators in Congress, the company has in recent years spent $1.1 million to lobby Congress and $160,000 in congressional campaign contributions. "As of April," the Omaha World-Herald reported, "only one piece of [the company's] software has been used -- to help guard a single Marine camp in Iraq -- and it was no longer in use."
In requesting the 21CSI earmark, Nelson did not disclose his son's employment. "There's no requirement that he disclose that," a Nelson spokesman told this column. "But frankly, in this case, we didn't disclose it because it's so public." An April 24 letter from Levin giving senators instructions on how to request an earmark made no mention of the "Reid amendment" that had been passed by the Senate three months earlier but that required only certification that no senator's spouse would benefit from an earmark. Inclusion of Nelson's son, however, would be required if the ethics bill provision passes.
When the defense authorization bill came up last week, Coburn prepared amendments to eliminate the Nelson earmark and the most notorious earmark pending in Congress: Democratic Rep. John Murtha's proposed $23 million for the National Drug Intelligence Center in his Pennsylvania district. Reid's plan to satisfy antiwar activists with an all-night debate averted debate, for now, on those two earmarks.
Reid, the soft-spoken trial lawyer from Searchlight, Nev., has tended to suppress free expression in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body in his tumultuous 6 1/2 months as majority leader. Last week, he cut off an attempt by Sen. Arlen Specter, the veteran moderate Republican, to respond to him with an abruptness that I had not witnessed in a half-century of Senate watching. When Specter finally got the floor, he declared: "Nothing is done here until the majority leader decides to exercise his power to keep the Senate in all night on a meaningless, insulting session. . . . Last night's performance made us the laughingstock of the world." It may get worse if plans to eviscerate ethics legislation are pursued.
When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid picked up his ball and went home after his staged all-night session last week, he saved from possible embarrassment one of the least regular members of his Democratic caucus: Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Reform Republican Tom Coburn had ready an amendment to the defense authorization bill removing Nelson's earmark funding a Nebraska-based company whose officials include Nelson's son. Such an effort became impossible when Reid pulled the bill.
That Reid's action had this effect was mere coincidence. He knew that Sen. Carl Levin's amendment to the defense bill mandating a troop withdrawal from Iraq would fall short of the 60 votes needed to cut off debate, and Reid planned from the start to pull the bill after the all-night session, designed to satisfy antiwar zealots, was completed. But Reid is also working behind the scenes with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to undermine earmark transparency and prevent open debate on spending proposals such as Nelson's.
These antics fit the continuing decline of the Senate, including an unwritten rules change requiring 60 votes to pass any meaningful bill. When I arrived on Capitol Hill 50 years ago, Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson (like Reid today) had a slim Democratic majority and faced a Republican president, but he was not burdened with the 60-vote rule. While Johnson did use chicanery, Reid resorts to brute force that shatters the Senate's facade of civilized discourse. Reid is plotting to strip anti-earmark transparency from the final version of ethics legislation passed by the Senate and House, with tacit support from Republican senators and the GOP leadership.
At stake is the fate of Coburn's "Reid amendment," previously passed by the Senate and so called because it would bar earmarks benefiting a senator's family members such as Reid's four lobbyist sons and son-in-law. Nelson's current $7.5 million earmark for software helps 21st Century Systems Inc. (21CSI), which employs the senator's son, Patrick Nelson, as its marketing director. The company gets 80 percent of its funds from federal grants, mostly through earmarks. With nine offices scattered among states represented by appropriators in Congress, the company has in recent years spent $1.1 million to lobby Congress and $160,000 in congressional campaign contributions. "As of April," the Omaha World-Herald reported, "only one piece of [the company's] software has been used -- to help guard a single Marine camp in Iraq -- and it was no longer in use."
In requesting the 21CSI earmark, Nelson did not disclose his son's employment. "There's no requirement that he disclose that," a Nelson spokesman told this column. "But frankly, in this case, we didn't disclose it because it's so public." An April 24 letter from Levin giving senators instructions on how to request an earmark made no mention of the "Reid amendment" that had been passed by the Senate three months earlier but that required only certification that no senator's spouse would benefit from an earmark. Inclusion of Nelson's son, however, would be required if the ethics bill provision passes.
When the defense authorization bill came up last week, Coburn prepared amendments to eliminate the Nelson earmark and the most notorious earmark pending in Congress: Democratic Rep. John Murtha's proposed $23 million for the National Drug Intelligence Center in his Pennsylvania district. Reid's plan to satisfy antiwar activists with an all-night debate averted debate, for now, on those two earmarks.
Reid, the soft-spoken trial lawyer from Searchlight, Nev., has tended to suppress free expression in the World's Greatest Deliberative Body in his tumultuous 6 1/2 months as majority leader. Last week, he cut off an attempt by Sen. Arlen Specter, the veteran moderate Republican, to respond to him with an abruptness that I had not witnessed in a half-century of Senate watching. When Specter finally got the floor, he declared: "Nothing is done here until the majority leader decides to exercise his power to keep the Senate in all night on a meaningless, insulting session. . . . Last night's performance made us the laughingstock of the world." It may get worse if plans to eviscerate ethics legislation are pursued.
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mdforgc
02-27 04:23 PM
Hi Guys
Let me make this suggestion, instead of trying to organize statewide, organize aroound each of the senators offices in a state. In this way you can get more people to join as they ahve to travel only short distances to meet, and you can also make more of an impact by giving the senator input from multiple local offices instead of one central office.
I just met and spoke to Sen Schumers office locally and explained our problems, and showed our presentation, they said they will convey it to the senator. I urge you to do the same
Also start the process if meeting your hosue reps as well, as this would be crucial too, to get this thru
mdforgc
Let me make this suggestion, instead of trying to organize statewide, organize aroound each of the senators offices in a state. In this way you can get more people to join as they ahve to travel only short distances to meet, and you can also make more of an impact by giving the senator input from multiple local offices instead of one central office.
I just met and spoke to Sen Schumers office locally and explained our problems, and showed our presentation, they said they will convey it to the senator. I urge you to do the same
Also start the process if meeting your hosue reps as well, as this would be crucial too, to get this thru
mdforgc
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07-18 03:24 PM
Hello,
I have an approved I140 and eligible to apply for I485. My wife is in the same situation.
Should we file separate? Or should I file only one application heither through my employer or hers?
Any clarification in this matter would be greatly appreciated.
Thansk,
Valy
I have an approved I140 and eligible to apply for I485. My wife is in the same situation.
Should we file separate? Or should I file only one application heither through my employer or hers?
Any clarification in this matter would be greatly appreciated.
Thansk,
Valy
roseball
07-10 04:58 PM
Couldnt resist replying:
DOS = Denial of Service = Dept of State.
:D :D :D
DOS = Denial of Service = Dept of State.
:D :D :D
hns23
03-06 10:50 PM
Hi:
I am planning to apply for Advanced Parole , my friend informed me we have to compulsary got for FingerPrinting. Is that true??
thanks
hns23
I am planning to apply for Advanced Parole , my friend informed me we have to compulsary got for FingerPrinting. Is that true??
thanks
hns23
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