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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Blog Feeds
10-19 08:40 AM
Fraud prevention has been the rallying call of protectionists who have called for clamping down so hard on granting immigration benefits that virtually no one will want to bother applying (assuming they could jump through all of the hoops placed in front of them). Despite lacking real evidence that fraud is a serious problem in our employment-based immigration system, the antis keep banging this drum. And it's killing our economy. In the 1930s, protectionists thought they were saving jobs for Americans when they imposed trade barriers that kept out foreign goods. Today's protectionists are focusing on immigrant workers. But rather...
More... (http://blogs.ilw.com/gregsiskind/2010/10/finding-a-way-to-yes.html)
More... (http://blogs.ilw.com/gregsiskind/2010/10/finding-a-way-to-yes.html)
Citizen of the World
01-18 11:01 AM
NVS International--www.nogalesvisaservices.com
The U.S. Consulate in Nogales Mexico has been really efficient in issuing appointments as well as Visa Stampings. You are able to schedule them in one week from the date you apply; the process takes no more than two days. 98% of NVS's Clients in the last month have been in and out on the same day of the appointment with no issues. There have been a few cases where people had to stay one or two extra days for additional proccessing.
If you need any help with anything from: Transportation (From the Airport to Nogales and within Mexico to the U.S. Consulate), Visa Application fee processing (Bank Draft) and Lodging please contact:
NVS International and visit us at: www.nogalesvisaservices.com or e-mail: japujol@nogalesvisaservices.com.
NVS International's staff is fully bilingual (English/Spanish) and all natives of Nogales. They really help make your visit as simple and worry free as possible. The staff makes sure you get to your appointment on time and assists you until you get in and make sure you have no problems until you are back in the USA.
The U.S. Consulate in Nogales Mexico has been really efficient in issuing appointments as well as Visa Stampings. You are able to schedule them in one week from the date you apply; the process takes no more than two days. 98% of NVS's Clients in the last month have been in and out on the same day of the appointment with no issues. There have been a few cases where people had to stay one or two extra days for additional proccessing.
If you need any help with anything from: Transportation (From the Airport to Nogales and within Mexico to the U.S. Consulate), Visa Application fee processing (Bank Draft) and Lodging please contact:
NVS International and visit us at: www.nogalesvisaservices.com or e-mail: japujol@nogalesvisaservices.com.
NVS International's staff is fully bilingual (English/Spanish) and all natives of Nogales. They really help make your visit as simple and worry free as possible. The staff makes sure you get to your appointment on time and assists you until you get in and make sure you have no problems until you are back in the USA.
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milestogo
03-30 05:10 PM
Hello, could some one help to answer this question.
Can I work part time on EAD, while I-485 is pending, without loosing my status? What could be potential issues?
I want to go back to school and complete a master's degree.
Thanks
:)
Can I work part time on EAD, while I-485 is pending, without loosing my status? What could be potential issues?
I want to go back to school and complete a master's degree.
Thanks
:)
more...
STAmisha
12-05 04:32 PM
I applied an LC from an employer on March 27th 2005 (Pre-PERM)
It is shifted to P-BEC. I have not got any 45 day letter for that
How do I get the 45 day letter?
It is shifted to P-BEC. I have not got any 45 day letter for that
How do I get the 45 day letter?
Macaca
10-05 08:39 PM
The Failings Of Heroic Conservatism (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/11/the_failings_of_heroic_conserv.html) By George Will | Indianapolis Star, November 25, 2007
A Gathering of Young Conservatives (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/17/AR2007111701329.html) Former Reagan Ranch Is Site of Annual Retreat for Politically Active Students By Krissah Williams | Washington Post Staff Writer, November 18, 2007
Conservatives Are Such Jokers (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/opinion/05krugman.html?em&ex=1191729600&en=fb619e4d74a10758&ei=5087%0A) By PAUL KRUGMAN | New York Times, October 5, 2007
The Republican Collapse (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/opinion/05brooks.html?em&ex=1191729600&en=a469b21dd5ec2170&ei=5087%0A) By DAVID BROOKS | New York Times, October 5, 2007
The New L-Word: Neocon (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/opinion/04cohen.html?ref=opinion) By ROGER COHEN | New York Times, October 4, 2007
A Gathering of Young Conservatives (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/17/AR2007111701329.html) Former Reagan Ranch Is Site of Annual Retreat for Politically Active Students By Krissah Williams | Washington Post Staff Writer, November 18, 2007
Conservatives Are Such Jokers (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/opinion/05krugman.html?em&ex=1191729600&en=fb619e4d74a10758&ei=5087%0A) By PAUL KRUGMAN | New York Times, October 5, 2007
The Republican Collapse (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/opinion/05brooks.html?em&ex=1191729600&en=a469b21dd5ec2170&ei=5087%0A) By DAVID BROOKS | New York Times, October 5, 2007
The New L-Word: Neocon (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/opinion/04cohen.html?ref=opinion) By ROGER COHEN | New York Times, October 4, 2007
more...
Blog Feeds
07-30 06:30 PM
Amid all the pre-election hurling this week of vituperative, partisan accusations over a Federal Court's partial injunction against AZ SB 1070 (Arizona's foray into federal immigration enforcement), you would be forgiven if you overlooked two small but significant creatures in the immigration ecosystem. A pair of remedial immigration bills, passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee, await a vote in the Senate. Their significance is not merely because they are examples of a rara avis -- that nearly extinct form of billmaking distinctive for its bipartisan features. Nor are they significant for the hopeful promise suggested by their titles -- The...
More... (http://blogs.ilw.com/angelopaparelli/2010/07/my-entry-2.html)
More... (http://blogs.ilw.com/angelopaparelli/2010/07/my-entry-2.html)
2010 Beaches « FREE WALLPAPER 4
pappu
11-28 10:29 PM
Is there only one member in the IL chapter? I am sure we have several IV members from this state and nobody has responded. It is sad to see such response from members. IN order to get anything done, we all have to pitch in and help out.
more...
Blog Feeds
12-30 12:20 PM
Often, when there is a great concentration of businesses focused on a specific industry in a particular geographic location, the area is called the "Silicon Valley" of and then you fill in the blank. That's a tribute to Silicon Valley in Northern California which is the home to many of America's great tech companies - Google, Apple, Intel, etc. For example, Charlotte is the Silicon Valley of banking. Nashville is the Silicon Valley of hospital firms. Well, it turns out the actual Silicon Valley is the Silicon Valley for America's ping-pong talent. All of those immigrant tech workers who came...
More... (http://blogs.ilw.com/gregsiskind/2009/12/immigrant-of-the-day-rajul-sheth-ping-pong-guru.html)
More... (http://blogs.ilw.com/gregsiskind/2009/12/immigrant-of-the-day-rajul-sheth-ping-pong-guru.html)
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Anders �stberg
November 22nd, 2004, 12:30 AM
Grumble, grumble...
I don't think I've ever seen a discount, Canon triple rebates, or any low prices in general over here...
Your prices are lower *and* you get rebates - not that I want the Kodak dSLR, but it's still not fair. :)
I don't think I've ever seen a discount, Canon triple rebates, or any low prices in general over here...
Your prices are lower *and* you get rebates - not that I want the Kodak dSLR, but it's still not fair. :)