cieloazul

US President-elect Barack Obama intends to push a comprehensive programme of social and economic reform beyond an immediate emergency stimulus package, Rahm Emanuel, the next White House chief of staff, indicated on Sunday.

Mr Emanuel ... said Mr Obama saw the financial meltdown as an historic opportunity to deliver the large-scale investments that Democrats had promised for years.

Tackling the meltdown would not entail delays in plans for far-reaching energy, healthcare and education reforms when all three were also in crisis, he said. "These are crises you can no longer afford to postpone [addressing]."

...

Mr Obama’s transition economic advisory board ... is tilting heavily towards a "big bang" approach that would combine a short-term stimulus with large public investments to raise the longer-term US growth rate.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3496c848-ae91-11...0077b07658.html

Prez-elect Obama is an intelligent guy so I'd be a little shocked if Obama didn't recognize he needs the business community to buy into his policies to move the US economy out of its current condition. In some ways he's fortunate that the business community is dependent on gov't for bailouts, etc.. At least that should give him some bargaining power with the overpaid CEOs. If banks don't begin funding business projects soon, cutbacks on spending and jobs will increase over what we're currently seeing. It would be interesting to see an overall Receivables Aging report on all US companies to see how much payments have slowed. I wish Obama all the best, because our jobs probably depend on how he performs.

I'm not sure if anyone would want to be president with the current conditions. It would be interesting to know what Obama's thoughts are as he is given updates on everything from the economy to foreign policy,,probably something like ####### have I gotten myself into.

It does get better guys. Hang in there.

It really does, if you just keep yourself busy! I remember how much Ruchie was bored, but I told her to do something. Anything to keep herself occupied. She got into the kitchen and learned to cook alot of American Recipes. The kitchen is were her passion is.......

Don't stay home when there are so many opportunities to meet people and help out. There usually are lots of volunteer opportunities at local hospitals, etc.. You'll meet new people and later these contacts may help if you're interested in finding a job. Usually the schedules are flexible so just choose the days and hours you'd like to help out.

We hope to have the interview scheduled the second or third week of December but if it is delayed a week or so, does the embassy schedule interviews during Christmas week or the week prior to New Years?

Hello I am here in the Philippines with my wife until 12/10/2008 and needing letter from NVC about interview etc. What is the best thing for us to do about having her medical finished before her interview? If no letter received due to poor mail service here what can we do? What can we take in place of the letter for the medical? I understand you need the letter to enter to get the medical? Thanks for any help you can offer!

We called the embassy about a week after finding out NVC had sent the package to the USEM and was told to call back a couple of weeks later. Based on what another VJer's experience, we called the following week and the person told us that we were eligible to schedule the interview. We scheduled the interview and received a confirmation email which is apparently equivalent (for SLMEC) to receiving the snail-mail letter from the embassy. You can use a hardcopy of that email for the medical.

5 minutes. I asked them to see what write-ins they had, they showed me, I had a small notecard with me that I wrote down how I'd vote so it was pretty quick. I refused the electronic machines and used the simple, connect-the-arrows thingy.

Wait - I'm confused. Why did you have to have a cheat sheet for your vote??

Firstly, because there were 12 initiatives. 2 of them dealt with energy, one of them I didn't agree with in WHO would get the funding, one of them a waste of money on rehabilitation too vast to cover all recidivists. Didn't feel like doing any more thinking, so last night looked it up on Wiki, knew pretty quickly based upon the funding and who things would benefit how I would vote.

There were other people I had to write in. And a few local initiatives.

One interesting thing is San Francisco has Prop. K which legalizes prostitution.

We're are also naming a sewer system after George W. Bush.

Prop K legalizing prostitution where there is a high incidence of HIV in that population?,,who was the genius that spawned that idea?

I know a woman (former neighbor and co-worker of my wife) who didn't want to wait for an annulment so she bribed some people to get her name changed on her birth certificate so she could pretend to be single.

I thought for sure she would get caught by the US Consulate but she just got her K-1 VISA!

BTW, she told her US fiance that her husband is dead. The poor guy doesn't know what he's getting into. She has 2 kids who she is leaving with her mother. Maybe she will try to bring them later, but I guess she would have to pay some more bribes to get them new birth certificates too.

sooner or lated that woman's secret will come out...

Curious, is she a member here?

My wife, Cynthia stayed at the Cherry Blossoms during her and the children's medical and said it was ok. If you are staying longer term,,week or longer, there are condos available for longer term rentals: http://manilacondorental.com/default.aspx . We stayed at the Makati condo listed in the above link for about 28 days with no problems. They also have condos in Malate in the Baywatch Towers.

I'm not a big soft drink person, but I always enjoyed a coke here and there until I went to school in the USA and totally lost my taste for it. I thought it was just me until a friend recently came to visit me in Canada and said, "I have to have a Coke while I'm here!" I asked why and he told me that it tastes better in Canada because we use sugar where in the USA they replace much of the sugar with high-fructose corn syrup! This is because the USA has tariffs on sugar which make it too expensive to produce soft drinks with so much sugar.

Apparently this is the case with many products including ketchup! Who knew? Just thought I'd share because there are probably a few people who find thing taste just a little different in the USA. Next time check the label... maybe it is the corn syrup!

Yes, Coke here is definately different, as is ketchup and in fact most things that have sugar in them, we have had quite a few conversations about it, including this one:

What the heck did they do to the Heinz Ketchup???

If you are into pop, you find some other brands like Jones which uses sugar instead of HFCS.

Hopefully it was worth it to save the $7.

Think the cost escalated a more than two magnitudes and you can add foolish besides being cheap and apparently pig-headed.

Well,i just got home from SLEC,they just wanted the copy of the decision and finality of my case,the doctor didnt talk nor ask to see me again.i just waited for a while then my name was called to proceed inside the immunization room.But the lady that i met the other day who went thru her annulment told me she was interviewed by the doctor,she also mentioned that she's already done with her interview but had to re-do her medical since it already lapsed,she had her first medical last March.

anyways,i'm done with the medical and will now prepare for my upcoming interview

I'm not clear on the when a psychiatric evaluation is requred. When is this required for people who had their previous marriage annuled? I guess the question is under what circumstances is it required?

A copy of the bill is on this site; http://www.senate.gov.ph/lisdata/83157561!.pdf

What do you think? Express your views to the Philippine Senate.

This bill proposes that the rays of the sun on the Philippine flag be,

"increased from eight to nine, to symbolize the community of Muslim leaders who defended

our land." Quote taken for the bill!

There is also a bill to change the Anti Mail Order Bride Act. That bill is SBN-2576,

Senate Bill Number 2576

Wonder how much it will cost to replace the flags flown in every city plus all the stationary. Seems like the money would be better spent on education/infrastructure/ etc.. in the Mindanao province.

my displY Name is babyKim coz its a combination of our names of my fiancee and i. karen and tim

hmm,,another moment of deja vu

It's October now and we are closer to 8 mos from filling our 1-130 and still case PENDING. It's so frustrating and depressing that until now we haven't receive our NOA2 yet. Soooo... unfair while we see others filed April, May, June got approved already without expedite. Wonder how Vermont approve everyone's case, I'd like to believe now they approving it at RANDOM not by FIFO -first in first out. And here we are, the waiting continues like eternity. How long can we stay apart from our spouses, ohhh, sick & tired here to just talk in the computer everyday, I hate the waiting....It's about time, VSC PLSSS APPROVE US & those that have been waiting for long time. :crying:

Sent : 1-130 - Feb 19 - NOA1 Recieved Feb 29, 2008 touched 4/17/2008..nothing fallows

1-129F - Mar 22 - NOA1 Recieved Mar 25,2008 touched 5/7, 5/8 ....nothing fallows

Case Status : PENDING

On November 2, its my husbands b-day, "Wishful thinking" we can be together on that day, but it seems not. My only Wish & the greatest gift that the USCIS can give to my husband is NOA2- APPROVAL soon, We'll be the happiest couple if it happen. My husband is very lonely, we been apart for many months now, closer to 1 yr, there are times he cant help but cry whenever we talk in the computer, he just stared at me and start crying, he missed me and longed to be with me, then ask "why it so hard for my wife to live with me", "will they "VSC" still approve us?" he seems to be hopeless but i just tell him to keep his patience and wait another time and think positive, anyway, its not yet the end of the world, i said.

I know, you guys can relate and feels the same way being apart from our love ones. The waiting is very stressful. Noticed this first week of October i don't see any approvals, do you? Well, this is another week of desperation. Hopefully on the 2nd week Vermont will start approving us. Good luck to everyone.

mamalou

I thought you would have been approved already. VSC is getting slower with the processing. Since the election is so close maybe you could get your representative to call VSC? Normally I don't think they would do anything but if they are up for re-election this November, maybe they would at least try for you. I hope you'll hear about your NOA2 soon.

I've seen charges from $1-$3 as posted earlier. Some of the machines will take credit/debit cards as well as coins. Hope your trip goes well.

I think most larger cities have women's shelters staffed with people who can give her advice on her options. If you could post the city maybe someone could post the 800 number for the shelter?

Anyone have the telephone number for the Cherry Blossom's Hotel?

Tomorrow my wife and children begin the medical at SLMEC. The post on medicals and interviews by other members here have been so helpful to prepare. If everything goes well with the medical, we'll have the interview on October 10th. I still can't believe it is actually happening after waiting for so long.

I went out to the room and told my husband that the interview was already finished. Weve waited again to the blue chair and my name was called on the releasing window and i was the 3rd on the row that is being told, the first one was given a white slip and a pink slip coz she was asked to give an ITR

What is the ITR?

Tuesday-Thursday 1 pm. Since she got kids better to do it on Tuesday expect for the skin test between 48-72 hrs waiting for the result. Good luck on their medical & interview. My regards to amorsiempre .

Thank you for the advice and I forward your advice to Cha.

Hi,

My wife, Amorsiempre, and our children's interviews are scheduled for October 10th, 2008. We were wondering what day of the week is best for the medical. Please let me know based on your experience. I'm guessing Thursday since it takes two days and the people working at SLEC will be happy weekend is close.

For example,my grandmother used to talk to the TV.My grandfather had a cane with a secret compartment that held booze.

Probably just something that inherited/in the genes. Not to worry though, I've heard it skips a generation.

Hello,

My wife received the notification letter (for visa interview) from the USEM yesterday but it only referenced K1/K3 visas even though we intend to apply for K4 visas for our children. Should the letter have included a reference for the K4 visa? The I-129f did include the children.

How long will we bury our heads in the sand and never seriously question what direction our country has taken.

Sounds like you might like the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

Here is what they stand for:

U.S. OUT OF IRAQ NOW

End the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan. Bring all the troops home now.

Stop U.S. blockades & sanctions against Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, Korea, Sudan and everywhere.

End U.S. aid to Israel—Support the Palestinian people’s right of self-determination.

Free Puerto Rico.

International friendship and solidarity, not imperialist domination.

FIGHT THE CORPORATE BOSSES

Full employment—decent jobs for all. Job training for youth & the unemployed.

Raise the minimum wage to $15/hour now.

Free, quality healthcare for all.

Expand and guarantee social security for all retired workers, disabled and unemployed people.

Stop union-busting, expand the right to organize, including card-check recognition.

Free, high quality education from pre-school through college.

Housing is a right—End foreclosures and evictions.

Stop environmental destruction—Make the polluters pay.

Rebuild New Orleans—Right of return for all survivors.

EQUAL RIGHTS FOR ALL

Fight racism and the racist criminal “justice” system.

Defend women’s reproductive rights, including the right to choose.

Full rights for all immigrants.

Reparations now for the African American community.

Eliminate anti-LGBT laws—Equal marriage rights for all.

Equality for disabled people.

Stop police brutality and mass incarceration.

Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier, the Cuban 5, Angola 3, S.F. 8 and all political prisoners.

SOCIALISM

End the rule of the billionaires, bankers and militarists—fight for workers’ democracy.

We need a sustainable economy based on meeting people’s needs, not making the rich richer.

We need socialism!

These ideas just go to show how conservative Obama is,,at least compared to the PSL.

Report: Obama mentored by Communist Party figure

Investigations show ties to radicals who shaped him, helped launch his political career

Posted: May 22, 2008

11:40 pm Eastern

By Jerome R. Corsi

Barack Obama had extensive ties with extreme anti-American elements, including agents of the Moscow-controlled Communist Party USA, in Hawaii and Chicago, according to two new reports released yesterday in Washington, D.C., by two experienced internal security investigators.

Investigative journalist Cliff Kincaid and Herbert Romerstein, a former investigator with the U.S. House Committee on Un-American Activities, presented evidence Obama was mentored, while attending high school in Hawaii, by Frank Marshall Davis, an African-American poet and journalist who was also a CPUSA member.

The authors, in a separate report, document Obama's ties to radicals in Chicago who helped launch his career.

In a paper entitled "Communism in Hawaii and the Obama Connection," the authors document that in 1948, Davis decided to move from Chicago to Honolulu at the suggestion of what they describe as two "secret CPUSA members," actor Paul Robeson and Harry Bridges, the head of the International Longshoremen's and Warehousemen Union, or ILWU.

In Chicago, Davis had worked for the Chicago Star newspaper; in Honolulu, he was hired as a reporter for the Honolulu Record, both identified by Kincaid and Romerstein as "communist front newspapers."

In his autobiography, "Dreams from My Father," Obama discusses the influence a mentor identified in the book only as "Frank" had on his intellectual development.

Obama described Frank as a drinking companion of his grandfather, who had boasted of his association with African-American authors Richard Wright and Langston Hughes during the time Frank was a journalist in Chicago.

Romerstein, in addition to having served as investigator with the U.S. House Committee on Un-American Activities, served in the same capacity with the House Committee on Internal Security and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He was the head of the Office to Counter Soviet Disinformation for the U.S. Information Agency. Romerstein is also co-author of the influential book "The Venona Secrets: Exposing Soviet Espionage and America's Traitors," which included extensive documentation of the communist activities of Roosevelt administration staffer Alger Hiss.

Kincaid is the founder and president of America's Survival Inc., an independent watchdog group that monitors the U.N. and international terrorism. He is also editor of Accuracy in Media's AIM Report.

Are you a member of the Communist Party?

Kincaid and Romerstein quote Kathryn Takara of the University of Hawaii, who wrote a dissertation on the life of Frank Marshall Davis, confirming Davis was a significant influence on Obama when the senator attended Punahou prep school in Hawaii from 1975 to 1979

A transcript of a 1956 hearing before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee discovered by internal security affairs researcher and writer Max Friedman showed Davis took the Fifth Amendment when asked by the subcommittee if he was or had ever been a member of the Communist Party.

In the second report, "Communism in Chicago and the Obama Connection," Kincaid and Romerstein present evidence supporting their contention the SDS organization from which the Weather Underground organization and radicals Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dorhn came, received financial contributions from the CPUSA, which in turn receive its funding from Moscow.

Obama's run for the Illinois state Senate was launched by a fundraiser organized at Ayers' and Dorhn's Chicago home by Alice Palmer. Palmer had named Obama to succeed her in the state Senate in 1995, when she decided to run for a U.S. congressional seat.

Nine years before Palmer picked Obama to be her successor, she was the only African-American journalist to travel to the Soviet Union to attend the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, according to an article Palmer wrote in the CPUSA newspaper, People's Daily World, June 19, 1986.

"There has been no explanation of why Ayers et al. played a role in launching Obama's political career," Kincaid wrote.

Kincaid and Romerstein present documentation that Tom Hayden, another major figure in the SDS, is today one of four principal initiators of the "Progressives for Obama" movement, which calls for ending the war in Iraq "as quickly as possible, not in five years."

According to Kincaid and Romerstein, U.S. Peace Council executive committee member Frank Chapman "blew the whistle on communist support for Obama's presidential bid and his real agenda" in a letter to the People's Weekly World after Obama's win in the Iowa Democratic Party caucuses.

"Obama's victory was more than a progressive move; it was a dialectical leap ushering in a qualitatively new era of struggle," Chapman wrote. "Marx once compared revolutionary struggle with the work of the mole, who sometimes burrows so far beneath the ground that he leaves no trace of his movement on the surface.

Kincaid and Romerstein wrote, "The clear implication of Chapman's letter is that Obama himself, or some of his Marxist supporters, are acting like moles in the political process. The suggestion is that something is being hidden from the public."

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=65066

I'm not saying that communism is good but the people of communist China do make my clothes, kitchen appliances, most of my electronics, etc. etc. etc.. I've heard a rumor that this is so because capitalists moved our factories along with much of our technology to communist China. This is all part of a global economy and is good for us,,so our politicians say.