We Are The Art

Liberals want to take away my gun rights in their dealing with the Second Amendment. As the kenyan says "for the sake of the children" This is our first task as a society: keeping our children safe. This is how we will be judged," Obama said. “We can’t put this off any longer."
"I intend to use whatever weight this office holds to make them a reality," said the president, speaking about his full set of recommendations. "If there's even one life that can be saved, then we've got an obligation to try."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/16/obama-gun-control-proposals_n_2486919.html
So if liberals want to gut the Second Amendment.....Why not also gut the Fourth Amendment...."for the sake of he children"..As the article mentioned they did catch a child molester once.
http://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/fact-sheet-us-constitution-free-zone
•What we found is that fully TWO-THIRDS of the United States’ population lives within this Constitution-free or Constitution-lite Zone. That’s 197.4 million people who live within 100 miles of the US land and coastal borders.
•Nine of the top 10 largest metropolitan areas as determined by the 2000 census, fall within the Constitution-free Zone. (The only exception is #9, Dallas-Fort Worth.) Some states are considered to lie completely within the zone: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.
"If the current generation of Americans does not challenge this creeping (and sometimes galloping) expansion of federal powers over the individual through the rationale of “border protection,” we are not doing our part to keep alive the rights and freedoms that we inherited, and will soon find that we have lost some or all of their right to go about their business, and travel around inside their own country, without interference from the authorities."
For the sake of the children why cannot we just gut the Fourth as the liberals desire to gut the Second. "we are not doing our part to keep alive the rights and freedoms that we inherited" Should we get to pick and choose which right we want to protect. I find it odd that a computer should be protected under the eyes of a liberal when an AR-15 should not be. After all neither were around when the bill of rights were written. Or is it now affecting a liberals right rather than just a conservatives right.
For the sake of the children

Be Advised: The following comments voice my strong opinions on a subject that many will find hard to accept. I make no apologies for my personal beliefs nor will I retract any of my statements. I will however ask that those who disagree respect the OP's posting by addressing the thread rather than launching any personal attacks.
That's the Philippines for ya! Take some good advise; Wash your hands of the entire affair immediately.
Let her family deal with their own problems and you make your own family your sole priority. Personally, and as difficult as it may be for a multitude of reasons, I would immediately cease to provide any and all monetary support to her family as well. (IMO it was a serious mistake to ever have provided financial support for her family in the first place) Your wife will no doubt protest and be upset if you do but, remember that you married HER, not her family. Your wife is your responsibility, her welfare and the welfare of your immediate family is your priority. By taking on the burden of her families needs you have unwittingly put you and yours at risk. Just take a look at the stress and strife that you and your wife are currently experiencing as proof of that fact. There are many unexpected consequences occuring and I suspect more are to come. As difficult as it may be for both you and your wife to witness and accept, poverty is a fact of life in the Philippines. As you can now see, the very perception that you "have money" is enough to invite disaster from all sides when such terrible desperation is a factor. The seemingly innocent and well intended injection of money (however small it may be) into the support of her family has obviously become well known to many others far beyond the scope of just her family, throw in the rampant corruption so commonly seen in the Philippines and that is all that was required to bring you to this current dilemma. Desperate people do desperate things, it happens every day all over the world, not just in the Philippines.
While any responsible husband does in fact have a responsibility to help the extended family (both sides) in times of genuine need, there are distinct limits involved. Sudden serious illness or injury as example or even some unexpected financial distress may require some temporary aid, but beyond that it is fool-hearty for any husband to allow his own family to become financially involved and at risk in order to satisfy the unwise and unrealistic "cultural expectation" of financial support from anyone who has the good fortune of escaping the poverty of their previous life. Yes, charity does play an important role in life; But always remember...."charity begins at home". One must first be able to "help themselves"....before one can truly help others.
This widespread and common belief amongst many Philippino's that a daughter (or son for that matter) who marry's an American or any other nationality "of means" by Philippine standards, has a "duty" to unendingly provide financial support to their natural family (even including cousins and 2nd or 3rd cousins in some cases) is born out of the desperation brought on by poverty and is probably rooted in the so-called "tradition" known as Sin-Sot commonly practiced in Thailand. Without going into too much detail, in Thailand, "Sin-Sot" is the practice of a prospective husband paying both gold and money to the prospective wife's family in order to compensate the family for the "loss" of the potential earnings that daughter may have provided had she not married and left the family. Basically, it's a corrupted form of "dowry". But even in Thailand, there is no evidence that it was ever a part of any true Thai "tradition". In fact, many respectable Thai families would never accept such payment as it would bring utter disgrace to the entire family. The truth is, "Sin-Sot" and the Phillipine custom of expecting and/or demanding financial support from any family member who is perceived to "have money" is a relatively new practice that is born purely out of desperation, corruption and poverty and did not come into play until large numbers of Thai and Philippino women began to marry Americans (primarily) during WWII. Since that time, both Thailand and the Philippines have long been economically distressed and poverty stricken. Sadly enough, the most common and abundant export from either country has been....their beautiful women. Human nature being what it is, it didn't take long for many less than honorable elements of both countries to seize upon their new-found "windfall" of wealth by basically extorting money from their own family members and the spouses they chose to marry.
Yes, many will strongly dispute my statements and attempt to justify this corrupt practice by claiming (and rightly so in some cases) that they do "owe" their families as much as they can give but, a large percentage of those nay-sayers are also the very victims themselves. Many a Filipina has been coached or even brainwashed to believe this corruption since early childhood and it has become deeply entrenched in Philippine society. All people have a natural desire to help their families and a deep emotional bond will always exist, it is that very bond that is so often used to manipulate many Filipina's into mistakenly believing they have a "moral obligation" to serve this destructive "cultural expectation" even at their own peril. In the end, neither party is well served by this corrupt practice and many Fil-Am marriages have been destroyed because of it.
I strongly urge you to take the above into consideration when deciding how best to address your current and future situation. Chances are, there is in fact a certain level of extortion going on and it may not be limited to only outside parties. Many a man has been used and manipulated in ways that boogle the mind to imagine, I'd do some very serious fact checking before I made any commitments if I were you. I firmly believe that many of your suspicions are completely justified and the truth may be even worse than you expect. Honor your wife by standing strong and refusing to allow this or any other outside interference to come between you, she may be a bit confused or even hurt at first, but in the end she will respect you for it. Let troubles on the other side of the planet work themselves out and focus on maintaining your own family's stability. You are not responsible for the problems in other people's lives and they should not depend on you to provide solutions, especially not if the solution they seek....is money.
Good Luck and Best Wishes!

Be Advised: The following comments voice my strong opinions on a subject that many will find hard to accept. I make no apologies for my personal beliefs nor will I retract any of my statements. I will however ask that those who disagree respect the OP's posting by addressing the thread rather than launching any personal attacks.
That's the Philippines for ya! Take some good advise; Wash your hands of the entire affair immediately.
Let her family deal with their own problems and you make your own family your sole priority. Personally, and as difficult as it may be for a multitude of reasons, I would immediately cease to provide any and all monetary support to her family as well. (IMO it was a serious mistake to ever have provided financial support for her family in the first place) Your wife will no doubt protest and be upset if you do but, remember that you married HER, not her family. Your wife is your responsibility, her welfare and the welfare of your immediate family is your priority. By taking on the burden of her families needs you have unwittingly put you and yours at risk. Just take a look at the stress and strife that you and your wife are currently experiencing as proof of that fact. There are many unexpected consequences occuring and I suspect more are to come. As difficult as it may be for both you and your wife to witness and accept, poverty is a fact of life in the Philippines. As you can now see, the very perception that you "have money" is enough to invite disaster from all sides when such terrible desperation is a factor. The seemingly innocent and well intended injection of money (however small it may be) into the support of her family has obviously become well known to many others far beyond the scope of just her family, throw in the rampant corruption so commonly seen in the Philippines and that is all that was required to bring you to this current dilemma. Desperate people do desperate things, it happens every day all over the world, not just in the Philippines.
While any responsible husband does in fact have a responsibility to help the extended family (both sides) in times of genuine need, there are distinct limits involved. Sudden serious illness or injury as example or even some unexpected financial distress may require some temporary aid, but beyond that it is fool-hearty for any husband to allow his own family to become financially involved and at risk in order to satisfy the unwise and unrealistic "cultural expectation" of financial support from anyone who has the good fortune of escaping the poverty of their previous life. Yes, charity does play an important role in life; But always remember...."charity begins at home". One must first be able to "help themselves"....before one can truly help others.
This widespread and common belief amongst many Philippino's that a daughter (or son for that matter) who marry's an American or any other nationality "of means" by Philippine standards, has a "duty" to unendingly provide financial support to their natural family (even including cousins and 2nd or 3rd cousins in some cases) is born out of the desperation brought on by poverty and is probably rooted in the so-called "tradition" known as Sin-Sot commonly practiced in Thailand. Without going into too much detail, in Thailand, "Sin-Sot" is the practice of a prospective husband paying both gold and money to the prospective wife's family in order to compensate the family for the "loss" of the potential earnings that daughter may have provided had she not married and left the family. Basically, it's a corrupted form of "dowry". But even in Thailand, there is no evidence that it was ever a part of any true Thai "tradition". In fact, many respectable Thai families would never accept such payment as it would bring utter disgrace to the entire family. The truth is, "Sin-Sot" and the Phillipine custom of expecting and/or demanding financial support from any family member who is perceived to "have money" is a relatively new practice that is born purely out of desperation, corruption and poverty and did not come into play until large numbers of Thai and Philippino women began to marry Americans (primarily) during WWII. Since that time, both Thailand and the Philippines have long been economically distressed and poverty stricken. Sadly enough, the most common and abundant export from either country has been....their beautiful women. Human nature being what it is, it didn't take long for many less than honorable elements of both countries to seize upon their new-found "windfall" of wealth by basically extorting money from their own family members and the spouses they chose to marry.
Yes, many will strongly dispute my statements and attempt to justify this corrupt practice by claiming (and rightly so in some cases) that they do "owe" their families as much as they can give but, a large percentage of those nay-sayers are also the very victims themselves. Many a Filipina has been coached or even brainwashed to believe this corruption since early childhood and it has become deeply entrenched in Philippine society. All people have a natural desire to help their families and a deep emotional bond will always exist, it is that very bond that is so often used to manipulate many Filipina's into mistakenly believing they have a "moral obligation" to serve this destructive "cultural expectation" even at their own peril. In the end, neither party is well served by this corrupt practice and many Fil-Am marriages have been destroyed because of it.
I strongly urge you to take the above into consideration when deciding how best to address your current and future situation. Chances are, there is in fact a certain level of extortion going on and it may not be limited to only outside parties. Many a man has been used and manipulated in ways that boogle the mind to imagine, I'd do some very serious fact checking before I made any commitments if I were you. I firmly believe that many of your suspicions are completely justified and the truth may be even worse than you expect. Honor your wife by standing strong and refusing to allow this or any other outside interference to come between you, she may be a bit confused or even hurt at first, but in the end she will respect you for it. Let troubles on the other side of the planet work themselves out and focus on maintaining your own family's stability. You are not responsible for the problems in other people's lives and they should not depend on you to provide solutions, especially not if the solution they seek....is money.
Good Luck and Best Wishes!

Be Advised: The following comments voice my strong opinions on a subject that many will find hard to accept. I make no apologies for my personal beliefs nor will I retract any of my statements. I will however ask that those who disagree respect the OP's posting by addressing the thread rather than launching any personal attacks.
That's the Philippines for ya! Take some good advise; Wash your hands of the entire affair immediately.
Let her family deal with their own problems and you make your own family your sole priority. Personally, and as difficult as it may be for a multitude of reasons, I would immediately cease to provide any and all monetary support to her family as well. (IMO it was a serious mistake to ever have provided financial support for her family in the first place) Your wife will no doubt protest and be upset if you do but, remember that you married HER, not her family. Your wife is your responsibility, her welfare and the welfare of your immediate family is your priority. By taking on the burden of her families needs you have unwittingly put you and yours at risk. Just take a look at the stress and strife that you and your wife are currently experiencing as proof of that fact. There are many unexpected consequences occuring and I suspect more are to come. As difficult as it may be for both you and your wife to witness and accept, poverty is a fact of life in the Philippines. As you can now see, the very perception that you "have money" is enough to invite disaster from all sides when such terrible desperation is a factor. The seemingly innocent and well intended injection of money (however small it may be) into the support of her family has obviously become well known to many others far beyond the scope of just her family, throw in the rampant corruption so commonly seen in the Philippines and that is all that was required to bring you to this current dilemma. Desperate people do desperate things, it happens every day all over the world, not just in the Philippines.
While any responsible husband does in fact have a responsibility to help the extended family (both sides) in times of genuine need, there are distinct limits involved. Sudden serious illness or injury as example or even some unexpected financial distress may require some temporary aid, but beyond that it is fool-hearty for any husband to allow his own family to become financially involved and at risk in order to satisfy the unwise and unrealistic "cultural expectation" of financial support from anyone who has the good fortune of escaping the poverty of their previous life. Yes, charity does play an important role in life; But always remember...."charity begins at home". One must first be able to "help themselves"....before one can truly help others.
This widespread and common belief amongst many Philippino's that a daughter (or son for that matter) who marry's an American or any other nationality "of means" by Philippine standards, has a "duty" to unendingly provide financial support to their natural family (even including cousins and 2nd or 3rd cousins in some cases) is born out of the desperation brought on by poverty and is probably rooted in the so-called "tradition" known as Sin-Sot commonly practiced in Thailand. Without going into too much detail, in Thailand, "Sin-Sot" is the practice of a prospective husband paying both gold and money to the prospective wife's family in order to compensate the family for the "loss" of the potential earnings that daughter may have provided had she not married and left the family. Basically, it's a corrupted form of "dowry". But even in Thailand, there is no evidence that it was ever a part of any true Thai "tradition". In fact, many respectable Thai families would never accept such payment as it would bring utter disgrace to the entire family. The truth is, "Sin-Sot" and the Phillipine custom of expecting and/or demanding financial support from any family member who is perceived to "have money" is a relatively new practice that is born purely out of desperation, corruption and poverty and did not come into play until large numbers of Thai and Philippino women began to marry Americans (primarily) during WWII. Since that time, both Thailand and the Philippines have long been economically distressed and poverty stricken. Sadly enough, the most common and abundant export from either country has been....their beautiful women. Human nature being what it is, it didn't take long for many less than honorable elements of both countries to seize upon their new-found "windfall" of wealth by basically extorting money from their own family members and the spouses they chose to marry.
Yes, many will strongly dispute my statements and attempt to justify this corrupt practice by claiming (and rightly so in some cases) that they do "owe" their families as much as they can give but, a large percentage of those nay-sayers are also the very victims themselves. Many a Filipina has been coached or even brainwashed to believe this corruption since early childhood and it has become deeply entrenched in Philippine society. All people have a natural desire to help their families and a deep emotional bond will always exist, it is that very bond that is so often used to manipulate many Filipina's into mistakenly believing they have a "moral obligation" to serve this destructive "cultural expectation" even at their own peril. In the end, neither party is well served by this corrupt practice and many Fil-Am marriages have been destroyed because of it.
I strongly urge you to take the above into consideration when deciding how best to address your current and future situation. Chances are, there is in fact a certain level of extortion going on and it may not be limited to only outside parties. Many a man has been used and manipulated in ways that boogle the mind to imagine, I'd do some very serious fact checking before I made any commitments if I were you. I firmly believe that many of your suspicions are completely justified and the truth may be even worse than you expect. Honor your wife by standing strong and refusing to allow this or any other outside interference to come between you, she may be a bit confused or even hurt at first, but in the end she will respect you for it. Let troubles on the other side of the planet work themselves out and focus on maintaining your own family's stability. You are not responsible for the problems in other people's lives and they should not depend on you to provide solutions, especially not if the solution they seek....is money.
Good Luck and Best Wishes!

Be Advised: The following comments voice my strong opinions on a subject that many will find hard to accept. I make no apologies for my personal beliefs nor will I retract any of my statements. I will however ask that those who disagree respect the OP's posting by addressing the thread rather than launching any personal attacks.
That's the Philippines for ya! Take some good advise; Wash your hands of the entire affair immediately.
Let her family deal with their own problems and you make your own family your sole priority. Personally, and as difficult as it may be for a multitude of reasons, I would immediately cease to provide any and all monetary support to her family as well. (IMO it was a serious mistake to ever have provided financial support for her family in the first place) Your wife will no doubt protest and be upset if you do but, remember that you married HER, not her family. Your wife is your responsibility, her welfare and the welfare of your immediate family is your priority. By taking on the burden of her families needs you have unwittingly put you and yours at risk. Just take a look at the stress and strife that you and your wife are currently experiencing as proof of that fact. There are many unexpected consequences occuring and I suspect more are to come. As difficult as it may be for both you and your wife to witness and accept, poverty is a fact of life in the Philippines. As you can now see, the very perception that you "have money" is enough to invite disaster from all sides when such terrible desperation is a factor. The seemingly innocent and well intended injection of money (however small it may be) into the support of her family has obviously become well known to many others far beyond the scope of just her family, throw in the rampant corruption so commonly seen in the Philippines and that is all that was required to bring you to this current dilemma. Desperate people do desperate things, it happens every day all over the world, not just in the Philippines.
While any responsible husband does in fact have a responsibility to help the extended family (both sides) in times of genuine need, there are distinct limits involved. Sudden serious illness or injury as example or even some unexpected financial distress may require some temporary aid, but beyond that it is fool-hearty for any husband to allow his own family to become financially involved and at risk in order to satisfy the unwise and unrealistic "cultural expectation" of financial support from anyone who has the good fortune of escaping the poverty of their previous life. Yes, charity does play an important role in life; But always remember...."charity begins at home". One must first be able to "help themselves"....before one can truly help others.
This widespread and common belief amongst many Philippino's that a daughter (or son for that matter) who marry's an American or any other nationality "of means" by Philippine standards, has a "duty" to unendingly provide financial support to their natural family (even including cousins and 2nd or 3rd cousins in some cases) is born out of the desperation brought on by poverty and is probably rooted in the so-called "tradition" known as Sin-Sot commonly practiced in Thailand. Without going into too much detail, in Thailand, "Sin-Sot" is the practice of a prospective husband paying both gold and money to the prospective wife's family in order to compensate the family for the "loss" of the potential earnings that daughter may have provided had she not married and left the family. Basically, it's a corrupted form of "dowry". But even in Thailand, there is no evidence that it was ever a part of any true Thai "tradition". In fact, many respectable Thai families would never accept such payment as it would bring utter disgrace to the entire family. The truth is, "Sin-Sot" and the Phillipine custom of expecting and/or demanding financial support from any family member who is perceived to "have money" is a relatively new practice that is born purely out of desperation, corruption and poverty and did not come into play until large numbers of Thai and Philippino women began to marry Americans (primarily) during WWII. Since that time, both Thailand and the Philippines have long been economically distressed and poverty stricken. Sadly enough, the most common and abundant export from either country has been....their beautiful women. Human nature being what it is, it didn't take long for many less than honorable elements of both countries to seize upon their new-found "windfall" of wealth by basically extorting money from their own family members and the spouses they chose to marry.
Yes, many will strongly dispute my statements and attempt to justify this corrupt practice by claiming (and rightly so in some cases) that they do "owe" their families as much as they can give but, a large percentage of those nay-sayers are also the very victims themselves. Many a Filipina has been coached or even brainwashed to believe this corruption since early childhood and it has become deeply entrenched in Philippine society. All people have a natural desire to help their families and a deep emotional bond will always exist, it is that very bond that is so often used to manipulate many Filipina's into mistakenly believing they have a "moral obligation" to serve this destructive "cultural expectation" even at their own peril. In the end, neither party is well served by this corrupt practice and many Fil-Am marriages have been destroyed because of it.
I strongly urge you to take the above into consideration when deciding how best to address your current and future situation. Chances are, there is in fact a certain level of extortion going on and it may not be limited to only outside parties. Many a man has been used and manipulated in ways that boogle the mind to imagine, I'd do some very serious fact checking before I made any commitments if I were you. I firmly believe that many of your suspicions are completely justified and the truth may be even worse than you expect. Honor your wife by standing strong and refusing to allow this or any other outside interference to come between you, she may be a bit confused or even hurt at first, but in the end she will respect you for it. Let troubles on the other side of the planet work themselves out and focus on maintaining your own family's stability. You are not responsible for the problems in other people's lives and they should not depend on you to provide solutions, especially not if the solution they seek....is money.
Good Luck and Best Wishes!

Be Advised: The following comments voice my strong opinions on a subject that many will find hard to accept. I make no apologies for my personal beliefs nor will I retract any of my statements. I will however ask that those who disagree respect the OP's posting by addressing the thread rather than launching any personal attacks.
That's the Philippines for ya! Take some good advise; Wash your hands of the entire affair immediately.
Let her family deal with their own problems and you make your own family your sole priority. Personally, and as difficult as it may be for a multitude of reasons, I would immediately cease to provide any and all monetary support to her family as well. (IMO it was a serious mistake to ever have provided financial support for her family in the first place) Your wife will no doubt protest and be upset if you do but, remember that you married HER, not her family. Your wife is your responsibility, her welfare and the welfare of your immediate family is your priority. By taking on the burden of her families needs you have unwittingly put you and yours at risk. Just take a look at the stress and strife that you and your wife are currently experiencing as proof of that fact. There are many unexpected consequences occuring and I suspect more are to come. As difficult as it may be for both you and your wife to witness and accept, poverty is a fact of life in the Philippines. As you can now see, the very perception that you "have money" is enough to invite disaster from all sides when such terrible desperation is a factor. The seemingly innocent and well intended injection of money (however small it may be) into the support of her family has obviously become well known to many others far beyond the scope of just her family, throw in the rampant corruption so commonly seen in the Philippines and that is all that was required to bring you to this current dilemma. Desperate people do desperate things, it happens every day all over the world, not just in the Philippines.
While any responsible husband does in fact have a responsibility to help the extended family (both sides) in times of genuine need, there are distinct limits involved. Sudden serious illness or injury as example or even some unexpected financial distress may require some temporary aid, but beyond that it is fool-hearty for any husband to allow his own family to become financially involved and at risk in order to satisfy the unwise and unrealistic "cultural expectation" of financial support from anyone who has the good fortune of escaping the poverty of their previous life. Yes, charity does play an important role in life; But always remember...."charity begins at home". One must first be able to "help themselves"....before one can truly help others.
This widespread and common belief amongst many Philippino's that a daughter (or son for that matter) who marry's an American or any other nationality "of means" by Philippine standards, has a "duty" to unendingly provide financial support to their natural family (even including cousins and 2nd or 3rd cousins in some cases) is born out of the desperation brought on by poverty and is probably rooted in the so-called "tradition" known as Sin-Sot commonly practiced in Thailand. Without going into too much detail, in Thailand, "Sin-Sot" is the practice of a prospective husband paying both gold and money to the prospective wife's family in order to compensate the family for the "loss" of the potential earnings that daughter may have provided had she not married and left the family. Basically, it's a corrupted form of "dowry". But even in Thailand, there is no evidence that it was ever a part of any true Thai "tradition". In fact, many respectable Thai families would never accept such payment as it would bring utter disgrace to the entire family. The truth is, "Sin-Sot" and the Phillipine custom of expecting and/or demanding financial support from any family member who is perceived to "have money" is a relatively new practice that is born purely out of desperation, corruption and poverty and did not come into play until large numbers of Thai and Philippino women began to marry Americans (primarily) during WWII. Since that time, both Thailand and the Philippines have long been economically distressed and poverty stricken. Sadly enough, the most common and abundant export from either country has been....their beautiful women. Human nature being what it is, it didn't take long for many less than honorable elements of both countries to seize upon their new-found "windfall" of wealth by basically extorting money from their own family members and the spouses they chose to marry.
Yes, many will strongly dispute my statements and attempt to justify this corrupt practice by claiming (and rightly so in some cases) that they do "owe" their families as much as they can give but, a large percentage of those nay-sayers are also the very victims themselves. Many a Filipina has been coached or even brainwashed to believe this corruption since early childhood and it has become deeply entrenched in Philippine society. All people have a natural desire to help their families and a deep emotional bond will always exist, it is that very bond that is so often used to manipulate many Filipina's into mistakenly believing they have a "moral obligation" to serve this destructive "cultural expectation" even at their own peril. In the end, neither party is well served by this corrupt practice and many Fil-Am marriages have been destroyed because of it.
I strongly urge you to take the above into consideration when deciding how best to address your current and future situation. Chances are, there is in fact a certain level of extortion going on and it may not be limited to only outside parties. Many a man has been used and manipulated in ways that boogle the mind to imagine, I'd do some very serious fact checking before I made any commitments if I were you. I firmly believe that many of your suspicions are completely justified and the truth may be even worse than you expect. Honor your wife by standing strong and refusing to allow this or any other outside interference to come between you, she may be a bit confused or even hurt at first, but in the end she will respect you for it. Let troubles on the other side of the planet work themselves out and focus on maintaining your own family's stability. You are not responsible for the problems in other people's lives and they should not depend on you to provide solutions, especially not if the solution they seek....is money.
Good Luck and Best Wishes!

Be Advised: The following comments voice my strong opinions on a subject that many will find hard to accept. I make no apologies for my personal beliefs nor will I retract any of my statements. I will however ask that those who disagree respect the OP's posting by addressing the thread rather than launching any personal attacks.
That's the Philippines for ya! Take some good advise; Wash your hands of the entire affair immediately.
Let her family deal with their own problems and you make your own family your sole priority. Personally, and as difficult as it may be for a multitude of reasons, I would immediately cease to provide any and all monetary support to her family as well. (IMO it was a serious mistake to ever have provided financial support for her family in the first place) Your wife will no doubt protest and be upset if you do but, remember that you married HER, not her family. Your wife is your responsibility, her welfare and the welfare of your immediate family is your priority. By taking on the burden of her families needs you have unwittingly put you and yours at risk. Just take a look at the stress and strife that you and your wife are currently experiencing as proof of that fact. There are many unexpected consequences occuring and I suspect more are to come. As difficult as it may be for both you and your wife to witness and accept, poverty is a fact of life in the Philippines. As you can now see, the very perception that you "have money" is enough to invite disaster from all sides when such terrible desperation is a factor. The seemingly innocent and well intended injection of money (however small it may be) into the support of her family has obviously become well known to many others far beyond the scope of just her family, throw in the rampant corruption so commonly seen in the Philippines and that is all that was required to bring you to this current dilemma. Desperate people do desperate things, it happens every day all over the world, not just in the Philippines.
While any responsible husband does in fact have a responsibility to help the extended family (both sides) in times of genuine need, there are distinct limits involved. Sudden serious illness or injury as example or even some unexpected financial distress may require some temporary aid, but beyond that it is fool-hearty for any husband to allow his own family to become financially involved and at risk in order to satisfy the unwise and unrealistic "cultural expectation" of financial support from anyone who has the good fortune of escaping the poverty of their previous life. Yes, charity does play an important role in life; But always remember...."charity begins at home". One must first be able to "help themselves"....before one can truly help others.
This widespread and common belief amongst many Philippino's that a daughter (or son for that matter) who marry's an American or any other nationality "of means" by Philippine standards, has a "duty" to unendingly provide financial support to their natural family (even including cousins and 2nd or 3rd cousins in some cases) is born out of the desperation brought on by poverty and is probably rooted in the so-called "tradition" known as Sin-Sot commonly practiced in Thailand. Without going into too much detail, in Thailand, "Sin-Sot" is the practice of a prospective husband paying both gold and money to the prospective wife's family in order to compensate the family for the "loss" of the potential earnings that daughter may have provided had she not married and left the family. Basically, it's a corrupted form of "dowry". But even in Thailand, there is no evidence that it was ever a part of any true Thai "tradition". In fact, many respectable Thai families would never accept such payment as it would bring utter disgrace to the entire family. The truth is, "Sin-Sot" and the Phillipine custom of expecting and/or demanding financial support from any family member who is perceived to "have money" is a relatively new practice that is born purely out of desperation, corruption and poverty and did not come into play until large numbers of Thai and Philippino women began to marry Americans (primarily) during WWII. Since that time, both Thailand and the Philippines have long been economically distressed and poverty stricken. Sadly enough, the most common and abundant export from either country has been....their beautiful women. Human nature being what it is, it didn't take long for many less than honorable elements of both countries to seize upon their new-found "windfall" of wealth by basically extorting money from their own family members and the spouses they chose to marry.
Yes, many will strongly dispute my statements and attempt to justify this corrupt practice by claiming (and rightly so in some cases) that they do "owe" their families as much as they can give but, a large percentage of those nay-sayers are also the very victims themselves. Many a Filipina has been coached or even brainwashed to believe this corruption since early childhood and it has become deeply entrenched in Philippine society. All people have a natural desire to help their families and a deep emotional bond will always exist, it is that very bond that is so often used to manipulate many Filipina's into mistakenly believing they have a "moral obligation" to serve this destructive "cultural expectation" even at their own peril. In the end, neither party is well served by this corrupt practice and many Fil-Am marriages have been destroyed because of it.
I strongly urge you to take the above into consideration when deciding how best to address your current and future situation. Chances are, there is in fact a certain level of extortion going on and it may not be limited to only outside parties. Many a man has been used and manipulated in ways that boogle the mind to imagine, I'd do some very serious fact checking before I made any commitments if I were you. I firmly believe that many of your suspicions are completely justified and the truth may be even worse than you expect. Honor your wife by standing strong and refusing to allow this or any other outside interference to come between you, she may be a bit confused or even hurt at first, but in the end she will respect you for it. Let troubles on the other side of the planet work themselves out and focus on maintaining your own family's stability. You are not responsible for the problems in other people's lives and they should not depend on you to provide solutions, especially not if the solution they seek....is money.
Good Luck and Best Wishes!

Guess I am privileged. The fruits of a lifetime of hard work and busting my ####### for everything I have ever gotten.
Anyway... So why are there not Female running backs in the NFL ?
So tell me. How much experience have you had serving in a rifle platoon in the Armed services.
If your average man could not handle it, then how do we get soldiers. To be quite frank you have no clue what you are talking about

I have served in the Infantry of this great country. I have also served as a commander of a mixed sex combat support unit. . The OP is spot on. Women have no business in the Infantry. As much as we may all want to prretned it would change and everything would be fine it would not. Your average woman is not going to strap on a 60lb ruck with mortor base plate on her back and hump 20 miles thru the FT. Benning bonnies. Are there some that may could.Probably.
Let's face it men and women are different. As much as it may pain some of you libs to admit it. Men and women are not meant to be the same. Women as a rule of thumb can not do everything a man can do and men are not good at strengths that women have. It's fact no matter how much you may not want it to be.

By James Robert Webb
I first need to begin this post with a disclaimer. Not because of any offensive or controversial subject matter but because I have failed to achieve the proper mindset necessary for 'attacking' this kind of subject.
A good friend of mine, who knows the most intimate details about my opinion on this matter, read my draft copy of this post and said, "Jim! Get angry! Let the hate flow through you!" So, I walked down to my local convenience store and bought a 12 of PBR in order to tap into my inner Clint Eastwood (GET OFF MY LAWN!). I then assembled a list of tracks I deem necessary for pushing me to the Dark Side, which may or may not have worked..
So..
Last week I had the opportunity to sit down with a diverse group of people to discuss the new Department of Defense mandate that the military open up billets in combat units to women. The discussion was pretty lively, if not completely one sided. The main (if not only) proponent for the addition of women into combat roles was Martha McSally. On the other side were several women, to include Retired USMC Gunnery Sgt. Jessie Jane Duff, and then myself, the lone male in the group.
Before I get into the meat of my perspective on this particular issue I want to make a couple of things clear. The first is that women have encountered combat in the past decade, just like the rest of the force, and served admirably. On a more personal level my mother, aunt, grandmother and one of my female cousins have all stepped up, put on a uniform at some point during a time of war. I also come from a long line of war fighters, more specifically Infantryman. In more recent history, my father was a Marine and wounded twice in Vietnam, my grandfather was in the second wave of Marines to land on Iwo Jima, my other grandfather was a career Air Force Officer. Serving in WWII, the Berlin Airlift, Korea, and Vietnam.
In short, while only two family members (from either side) have made a career of the military, I can trace my lineage to every American War dating back to the French and Indian and to European conflicts even further back in history. I myself was a Sgt in the Marine Corps Infantry and the phone call to my father after rating a Combat Action Ribbon was one of the proudest moments of my life. I had managed to carry on the war fighter legacy for another generation.
All of that to say: Women entering the Infantry is a hot button issue for me, not as an abstract policy decision, but on a very personal level.
I see this as an attempt to create social progress or make a social statement at the expense of those who put their lives on the line.
Pure and simple, it's nothing short of self promotion... which is ironic given that Infantry units abhor the concept of the individual.
It is preached to the point of mantra that tightly knit teams win wars, while individuals get people killed.
Let's break this down.
1. This is unfair to women.
Plain and simple, if you admit women into the Infantry, you must ask them to be men. This is completely unfair, as women are not physically just smaller men - they are completely different. Now, this is not the same as equality in society - that is a completely separate issue.
In society writ large there are examples of these physical differences. One of these is the Olympics, where there are separate events for both men and women. As Ms. Duff pointed out during our discussion, women have 50% less upper body strength, and 25% less lung capacity. Because of this reality, the physical standards for women in the military are significantly and justifiably lower. The Infantry itself is a lot like your university's football team. They're a bunch of mouth breathing, knuckle dragging, testosterone charged, physical machines (to be clear I say this out of love). These men didn't join the Infantry because the uniforms were cool or they wanted money for college. They joined to push themselves to the limits of human endurance, and well, because over the past 10 years were promised a chance to take a shot at another human being... legally.
Do you really want your daughter hanging out with men who have that mentality?
Additionally, you are opening up the door to a world of backlash as well. The Army has already mandated that not only will women attend Ranger School, but any who are dismissed must be justified to the highest level of command. This is precisely the kind of treatment that creates resentment and makes it harder for women to co-exist in the military with men.
2. The Infantry as a sub-culture.
BLUF: The Infantry exists for one purpose and that is to kill people.
Anyone can try to paint a rosier picture of what grunts do; nation build, hand out soccer balls, etc. but, when it comes down to it, throughout history Infantrymen have hunted down the enemy and killed him.
Intrantrymen are not diplomats, negotiators, social crusaders, or explicit advocates of human rights. They are the men who are sent in when diplomatic channels fail, in order to influence other groups of people through the application of violence. In all other segments of society, except in criminal elements, violence is preached against, avoided, and except in the rarest of circumstances, illegal. In an Infantryman's world, violence is actively sought out, and participating in a gunfight is not only sought out, it is a standard by which you are judged. As this is a primal kind of existence all things are judged by whether or not they make you more effective in combat. That is to say, does this policy enable you to take life more effectively, or does it put you and your fellow grunts more at risk of losing your own. Everything boils down to exploitation of weakness and preservation of your own. Needless to say this is very different from the day-to-day in everyday America.
As a result, the Infantry is probably the least politically correct and most exclusive group in America. It's allowed to be, it HAS to be. This is not to say that Grunts are sexist men who drive fancy cars and are haggled by the Paparazzi. Fairness in the Infantry is pure. It is simple. It is determined by how effective your unit is on the battlefield. The more elite the unit, the more 'unfair' the entry standards are, and the more 'unfair' the fight is for the enemy. Anything which hinders your ability to dominate your battlespace is stripped out. As an individual you are constantly evaluated to determine your worth, more specifically, whether or not you are a liability. We eat our own. If it is determined that a new member is weak or undependable, every attempt is made to get rid of that person by any means necessary. Additionally, these screening methods, which would boil the blood of activists across the country, has a very unique effect which isn't really witnessed in any other institution. All races and creeds present understand what is at stake and all stand together because you're held to the same murderous standard. There's a saying, "All Marines are Green" and unlike anywhere else, in Grunt units it's true.
Why is it important not to alter this equation?
Because it's a methodology that works... and has to work, because if it doesn't then we no longer have the most effective fighting force in the world. Additionally, it is inherent to the existence of Infantry units that they are able to police their own. This mandate is the exact opposite of this, and opens the door for groups, many of whom have no association with the military at any level, to determine the correct way for such units to conduct themselves.
More to the point, if the calculus is altered, our people, my peers, die. So, if we have the most capable and lethal ground combat force on the planet, it isn't broken. If it isn't broken, what are we trying to fix?
3. There is a marked difference between 'Combat' and 'Sustained Ground Combat Operations'
Combat in its simplest definition entails that shots are exchanged between two hostile groups. This can last a few seconds, minutes, or hours. Combat, or what is commonly known as a 'firefight' can occur at any point. Typically non-infantry units who are attacked, seek to respond with force to get away from the attack, or 'out of the kill zone'. They do not seek to necessarily close with and destroy hostile forces. In essence, the less time engaged with the enemy, the better.
Sustained ground combat operations , as conducted by infantry units, are quite the opposite. If an infantry unit encounters hostility in an area, their focus becomes driving the enemy from that area. Unlike non-Infantry units, Grunt units will keep going back until the threat is eliminated. This means days, weeks or months away from any kind of comfort, while you constantly move around looking for a fight. Fundamentally, it is an assertion of dominance and control. It is a primal an animalistic existence. This kind of attitude is shunned and feared in today's main stream society. However, in warfare it is inherent that you act this way, because if you do not, your opponent will. Once a specific area is under control, leadership then finds a new area in which to repeat the process. Infantrymen do this day in and day out for the length of their deployment. In the "War On Terror" these types have deployments have ranged from 7 to 18 months in duration.
Now, take this attitude which is completely contrary to societal norms, and do it with a series of factors which make degrade your ability to be effective. First, strap on around 100lbs of additional equipment, thereby making you slow, cumbersome, and constantly uncomfortable. Next, remove a regular meal schedule, which makes you weak. Finally, only sleep for a couple hours at a time, usually in your gear and when it's too hot to move, as many Infantry units operate mainly at night. All of this reaches a crescendo when it's combined with the ever present reminder that any mistake you make can cost your peers life and limb. This is not your typical day job, and it is not a place for social experimentation. As if it's some kind of lab set up to 'see' if certain people can hack it or not. This environment is the complete opposite of that. It is the ultimate crucible of human physical and emotional endurance, which only the most capable people should apply.
4. It can physically break off even the strongest men
I will never be as proud as I was about serving as a Grunt in the Marine Corps. However, it was the most physically taxing and damaging thing I have ever done to myself. To this day I still wake up every morning, and have a nice 'walk down memory lane'. When I look in the mirror I see the scars on my body left by a reconstructive surgery on my shoulder, at least once a year my back seizes up because I have compressed vertebrae. I'm not yet 31 and sometimes feel like an old man. On the same note, I have never been a physical slouch. At my peak physical conditioning I weighed in at 170 pounds, could do 26 pull ups and ran 3 miles in under 18 minutes. However, even in that kind of shape, the sheer magnitude of the equipment I had to carry around took its toll. An easy day was carrying around half my body weight. At times, it was significantly more.
To put it metaphorically (and to draw on a previous one), everyone should be afforded the opportunity to go to Ohio State, but for obvious reasons not just anyone can be on the football team.
5. My Biggest Fear
Plain and simple, that standards are dropped to allow 'social progress.' To me, this will mean nothing short of a marked drop in effectiveness on the battlefield, which in turn results in needless deaths of our people. Let's be real for a second, whomever we're fighting could care less about whether or not we have women on the battlefield. Their only concern is how easy it is to kill our people. What I truly believe is that those who are proponents of Women in the Infantry are actively attempting to change the culture of the Infantry, because for one reason or another, it disgusts them. Infantrymen are notoriously aggressive, combative, politically incorrect and downright offensive at times. This is precisely the type of attitude that the job demands. I don't tell anyone else how to live their life or how to do their job, and what I resent is the line of people coming in and telling me how to do mine. Furthermore, if you look at American culture, the 'beta' male has become the norm, or even the social ideal. While James Dean, or John Wayne used to be the 'ideal' American male, we now have Justin Bieber and Justin Timberlake. Gone is the man's man.
This is no accident.
On the flip side, the Infantry is an old school, 'man's man' environment. Furthermore, the majority of Americans have never even met an Infantryman, let alone know what it takes to make a unit effective in combat.
Yet, these people are determining the fate and direction of such units.
Some .45% of Americans have served in the War on Terror, and I promise you it's vastly different than any video game you've ever played. But, what I do know, is that once groups such as NOW, the ACLU or anyone else starts going through the 'dirty laundry' of Infantry units (such as how they enforce discipline...for those who have been there, you know what I'm talking about), I have no doubt that they will demand, and get, 'change.' If and when this does happen, you will see the wholesale destruction of more than 200 years of tradition which has separated our Armed Forces from those of the rest of the World.

Captain,
You know I was never a fan of splintering off P&R from Off Topic, but now because of a few members with their own agenda have been nitpicking over new threads and openly questioning within those threads whether they belong there in the first place. This disruptive, deliberate attempt to hinder the enjoyment of these forums needs to stop. It's reached a level of absurdity.
I would like to suggest that either P&R be clarified and broadened to include any topic which may spark a debate or argument. That was, after all, why so many who participated in Off Topic wanted political and religion based threads in their own separate forum because they almost always sparked a heated discussion and would end up dominating the discussions in Off Topic.
IMO, if a person starts a thread in P&R then there should be careful discretion used by either Moderators or Organizers, with the understanding that the original poster INTENTIONALLY created a new thread in P&R for the sole purpose of sparking a debate/argument. As of right now, a few members are using the 'report' button along with their clout among the Mods/Organizers to effectively censor/kill off any potentially, hotly debated threads because the subject matter is something that don't agree with politically.

This proves it is the Dream Act's fault. It was a good idea, but it should have been funded by the foreigners applying for the benfits instead of by the taxpayers. These are illegals and haven't paid a dime in income tax their whole life. I would have paid $1,000 to have my fiancee here 24 months ago, $10,000 to have her here with my baby in September, even if I had to borrow it and pay it off in 30 years... Immigration has a cost and the money should be coming from the foreign applicants, or the US Citizens inviting the applicant. Unfortunately, USCIS, NVC, and the Embassy would only accept the $340 filing fee up front of the I-129F and then treated us worse than everyone else with a 400 day wait time at no fault of our own.

So what you are saying is that the Dream Act is an unfunded mandate. And so, it IS the Dream Act's fault because, it should have been funded by the foreigners/illegals who are applying for the benefits, not the taxpayers.

People calling this "Just another Rant" are misguided. The figures are concrete. And this is not saying that the Dream act or even DACA is a bad idea. I fully believe that people brought here as children with no say in the matter, who are upstanding members of society deserve a chance to make their status legal. It is how it was forced on USCIS to process them at a truly breakneck pace, at the expense of other visa types, particularly those filed by American Citizens. K-1 visas are about reunification with our significant others. If the AOS part of it were slowed, that would be less detrimental. I have also seen criticizm that these DACA applications are going through so fast there are serious doubts that they are actually verifying the information contained in them unless it brings up an obvious red flag. Politics should not be driving this. USCIS is a fee-based service. There are American citizens who paid back in July last year who are now waiting behind non-citizens who just paid last month. And they keep getting shuttled to the front of the line. That is not right.

I'll let you make your own judgement from this info.
From the USCIS website

From timelines here and me entering data

To me it's pretty clear there is a direct connection between the CSC and DACA. Just as DACA got really going in October, K1 NOA2's here on VJ fell off to almost nothing. CSC has had slow periods before but nothing like this. If you can show me on the timelines here or anywhere else a worse 5 month period, I'd love to see it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/01/duke-energy-dnc_n_2791867.html
http://freebeacon.com/duke-energy-loan-becomes-gift-to-dnc/
In summary there was a bill to be paid but democrats and liberals consider "borrowing" and "lines of credit" free money

in summary, the bill wasn't paid.

It's great being a moderator. You can post stuff that supports your narrow minded views and if someone comments on it you can remove the post and say it's not allowed.

As I said, it is a vehicle of redirection. The point of Charles' post was not what was doing the killing but who. Yet we now have pages on the what and the initial message has been lost.

In this thread... "Guns have actually killed more people than anything in the history of this country".
Given we were talking about the government, changing the subject of the sentence as above is a tool of redirecting the argument away from the initial message.

those evil guns......i had a talk with mine today and made them promise not to kill anyone while i was at work!

Sorry, the "beans and rice and rice and beans" is a Dave Ramsey reference. It is one of the things he always preaches to focus on when cutting your expenses. Eating out or eating expensive it not necessary.
When my better half gets here, that is one of the first things we will do together is take the Financial Peace class in Spanish so that he can bette understand money here in the US.

I'm not sure why you're getting so defensive. You started this thread and brought up the issue of money, so I contributed by pointing out how money or economics plays a part in these Fil/Am relationships. That doesn't make them any less valid. People choose their partners for a myriad of reasons and it's obvious to most everyone that these young Filipinas aren't settling for men much older than they are because they enjoy the feeling of wrinkled, sagging skin. The U.S. has traditionally been looked at as the land of opportunity even if that opportunity is less so now than before. Go to the Philippines and ask some young, single girls right up front if any of them would be interested in marrying an older, American and moving to the U.S. and you'd see droves of them lining up. That's just the way it is. Yes, it's a generalization and not every Filipina who marries an American is that eager to move to the U.S., but for many of them who lack any real economic opportunities, a middle-aged Kano with a modest income is their best hope for getting out of poverty.

My name is not Don, you can't spell "tilting" correctly, and providing information is hardly "tilting at windmills". The information is not for you. It is for people with minds. There are people on this forum that have them.
You think yourself superior for criticizing people who share information with others on the laws that affect them? I'm not going to stop doing so just because some lazy, ignorant, blindly obedient sheep criticizes me for it. You have no power over me.

FYI I did complain while I was there. Not sure it worked but I wrote to BDO to complain that they should not partner with PRISM and spread false info about needing a bank account when they know its not true. I received a response saying they will look into the matter. Probably never did lol. Back then there were like 50 of us in one room and they convinced like 48 of them to open one. I refused, as did another lady. Plus you needed php100 to open the account. No way lol