Green Card Tease

If you are a skilled foreign worker (or at least know someone closely), you probably heard about what's been going on with USCIS reversal of a surprise opportunity for permanent residency.

On June 12, 2007, USCIS published a Visa Bulletin which stated that all skilled foreign workers that were waiting to apply for an 'adjustment of status' through employment, were allowed to apply immediately. This especially was a rare opportunity for workers from India, China, Mexico and Philippines that have to wait upwards of 4 years to even apply. Without questioning their motivations, tens of thousands of foreign workers like me scrambled to get our applications in by meeting our lawyers and getting all the paperwork done, paying for medical exam. Due to the short notice, many workers and their dependants that were abroad had to change their plans overnight and come back to the U.S. as required for the process. This meant changes in even wedding plans for some friends of friends I know.

On July 2, they announce that a new bulletin has been issued, effectively reversing the June 12 bulletin and they were no longer accepting any new applications. I didn't have sufficient time to apply and the money I already spent was a loss. Successful applicants who were able to file before June 30, must have gone to enormous trouble with time, effort and money and they have it even worse. If their applications weren't part of the first 140,000 for the entire current fiscal year, then their applications were being returned as being rejected outright.

Needless to say, this disappointed everyone and devastated quite a lot of people. According to Murthy.com, the AILF is filing a class action lawsuit already. A congresswoman disapproves.

God influencing US Foreign Policy

For Evangelicals, Supporting Israel Is ‘God’s Foreign Policy’ - New York Times

People will rationalize anything. According to this NYTimes article, conservative Christians think that it is justifiable per the Bible for US to take the side of Israel and continue waging the war. So much for the separation of the Church and State. In response to the meeting between President Bush and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel, administration officials claim that it was just a courtesy meeting with a political ally and that evangelical theology has no effect on foreign policy making. Yeah Right! Read the article for more insight.

As long as religion plays a role in politics and wars, which will probably continue for a while, there will be no end to radical terrorism.

Plutocracy

"Party of the Rich"
Limousine liberals are upgrading to Lear jets.

By Peter Schweizer

Although obviously right-biased, this article shows an interesting trend about how Democrats have joined the party of the rich politicians that used to be Republicans mostly because they were allegedly in the pockets of oil companies. Now anti-Bush Democrats and others with silver spoons have themselves amassed a party that may not be in touch with middle class America either. Even if Democrats use Iraq to kick Republicans out, is there much that they can do?

Nicaragua Bans Abortion

Nicaragua Passes Total Ban on Abortion

- NYTimes

It's sad to see another country go in the opposite direction of progression along with Chile and El Salvador in the name of Catholic Church. Total ban on Abortion without exceptions for rape or life threatening emergency. The vote was 52 to 0. Zero - not a single representative to take the side of the 32,000 illegal abortions that happen every year in Nicaragua. What is wrong with these people? Do they think they are being good by banning sin? To quote Dr. Gregory House:

I have a theory on what makes good boys “good”. It’s not because of some moral imperative. Good boys have the fear of God put into them. Catholic Church specializes in that kind of training, to make good boys afraid of divine retribution so they will do what their daddies tell them.

Free Health Care

Hospitals Try Free Basic Care for Uninsured - New York Times

Finally someone is trying to do something about rising healthcare costs. Instead of throwing money at the problem, institutions like the Seton Family of Hospitals are managing it in corporate style with the intent of minimizing financial losses from treating uninsured emergency patients. Ulterior motives aside, if this works out for the better for both the healthcare providers and the needy, may be my insurance will go down a bit.

Sex Blog

'I don't write to titillate. I censor like crazy to make my blogs less erotic'

Some people have more success with their blogs than others. The sex diary of a London post-modern feminist blogger gets her a six figure book deal but loses her privacy.

So this sex liberal decides to write her sexual experiences explicitly and anonymously on her blog. Her intent was never to write erotica apparently, but I guess a need to pour out her psychoanalytic thought process about her sexual appetite, technique and men in general.

Despite the ultra-conservative background I come from, where nobody talks about sex, ever, (except in crude humor), I have been able to learn that the average woman I have known supposedly does not think about sex all that much. It's not as important to women. It is men that are dirty and last about 7 seconds. We've heard all this before. But now, in this 'Sex and the City' Samantha Jones generation, having a healthy (or obsessive) sexual appetite, satisfying it and telling the whole world (at least anonymously) is considered 'third wave feministic' (*)? Really?

*(I know the "women entering work force, women's education, abortion, sexual freedom is considered the first wave of feminism. No idea what the second wave of feminism was, just quoting from the Guardian article.)

Feminism on the front-page again. I guess the feminist movement in London has reached a new milestone when this sex blogger is not being vilified more than the attention she receives in media. She has an ardent reader base that does not only consist of perverted men. Plus a publishing company is willing to put money (six figures I repeat) on it.

Here in the U.S., I was a little surprised that the conservative Christian pro-lifers actually lost their campaign against making Plan-B over the counter. At least they were able to push it behind the counter, but I still consider it a loss. (This is after the same conservative base vehemently being able to ban gay marriage not so long ago.) I guess that is a success for feminists / pro-choicers in a big way.

At least in this aspect, I was further surprised to hear about India staying ahead of the game. Forget about India being uncomfortable with sex in the open, the Hindu radicals won't let Deepa Mehta shoot a movie, Water, that depicts them in a harsh light (she had to shoot it in Sri Lanka I think), but there is a Plan B already. I guess the Ministry of Health was able to sell the idea based on practicality or perhaps even this is serving the male-dominated society in some twisted way. Nevertheless, women have more choice in India already and that's something.

Feminism on the front-page again, and changing the world.

Women About Men

What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage - New York Times

It's official. The only way the female of the human species can understand the male is to reduce us to dumb animals and use the same techniques to train us if they want us in their lives. Seriously? Seriously? It's bad enough that relationships have a hard time surviving all the thoughtlessness, sarcasm and passive aggression. Throw in a little condescension, that will do the trick.

We aren't all the same

We aren't all the same: "Some of you may consider it good news that the top three finalists in the the Geography Bee, hosted by the great Alex Trebek himself, were Indian American. I do not. Some of you may also think fondly on the fact that the last four contestants in last year's Spelling Bee were also Indian American. I do not. "

This is a hilarious post but does have some truth to it. The stereotype of Indian has always been vastly misrepresented in the United States over the decades. Perhaps gone are the days when we were all thought to be riding elephants and had inborn talents of snake charming. But now we are thought of as too intelligent than the rest of the crowd and only interested in the smart jobs (IT, Doctors, etc). For the most part, it's probably a good thing if you are actually interested in these fields when you are picking a career. These prejudices can work for you. But it's a huge disadvantage for those interested in the arts or any other faculty. I agree that we have to do anything and everything we can to educate the masses. We are a diverse group as any other ethnic group.

You already know of the vast majority of us who are in IT or are Doctors. We also ...

• write prize winning fiction.
• write prize winning non-fiction.
• cheat when writing.
• host morning TV shows.
• make blockbuster movies.
• solicit minors for sex (Marvin Lakhan).

And the rest of the one and half million who aren't in the news are really just average. Nothing special about us at all.

'Slumming' Takes on a Whole New Meaning

'Slumming' Takes on a Whole New Meaning:

I guess the Salaam Baalak (founded by Mira Nair from the proceeds of her movie 'Salaam Bombay') charity organization means well in trying to generate revenue in inventive ways to help the street kids, but I wonder what the price of dignity is for the poor.

Congo's tragedy: the war the world forgot

Congo's tragedy: the war the world forgot: "This is the story of the deadliest war since Adolf Hitler's armies marched across Europe - a war that has not ended. But is also the story of a trail of blood that leads directly to you: to your remote control, to your mobile phone, to your laptop and to your diamond necklace. In the TV series Lost, a group of plane crash survivors believe they are stranded alone on a desert island, until one day they discover a dense metal cable leading out into the ocean and the world beyond. The Democratic Republic of Congo is full of those cables, mysterious connections that show how a seemingly isolated tribal war is in reality something very different. "

I have learnt of the Congo tragedy in some detail from this article. It portrays how governments refuse to listen to UN's warnings that the only way to end the decade old war (that killed over 4 million people and reduced the state of women and children to far worse than destitutes) is to stop buying the country natural resources which is what the various militias fight over. I keep seeing everyday in the news about how 2 Australian miners are in the process of being rescued or the count of US soldiers dying in Iraq has crossed 2000, but I wonder when the world stopped paying attention to the deaths of as many people in the World Trade Center every two days (according to the author).

Darfur Tragedy

It is sad to hear the ongoing Darfur Tragedy get less than 10 minutes of media coverage over the entire year. (Source: Yahoo! News) Atleast TV shows like ER are doing what little they can to bring attention to the issues.

Sexual Harassment

I've come across several posts today on the topic of Sexual Harassment. One of the them, very well written, and made me really aware of what a woman can suffer through in a crowded public place, is Known Turf: Streets, stories, strategies. Annie, while writing about how a Mumbai woman has to be on constant alert from being sexually molested on the streets and in public places, in broad daylight, also discusses about how every woman has probably gone through this humiliation and how one's expectations have been artificially trained to expect the worst in these situations.

Some other articles I've read ...
- A Time To Reflect: On being a female body
- This is Mangs: Train to Chennai


From a male perspective, I was really not aware of how bad this has been in India or elsewhere. Nor would I separate myself from it as if I were not part of the problem. Let me ask myself the tough question...

Have I ever sexually harassed anyone?

To answer it without explanations, I would say probably I did. Since this is my post, I guess I will at least explain it for my own benefit. On the defensive first, I don't think I've ever done anything that is blatantly and obviously objectionable. Never in a crowded public place or on the streets. I've always been hanging on the door step of a crowded bus carelessly endangering my own life, while my other brethren have been deep inside (and I guess that was a way of separating myself). On the streets, I was always anxious to get to my destination or get back home. Hey, I have two older sisters and learnt a lot from them about how not to behave like the scoundrels that have harassed them. Movies and TV helped too. So I guess I steered clear of the worst of it. But then most women complain of going through something terrible with someone they knew or were related to. And this is where I am not so innocent.

Obvously I or most decent men would not enter a situation with malice for intent in order to gain personal pleasure (popularly coined term - "cheap thrill") of the wicked kind. (I'm being so defensive aren't I? Just makes it sound like I'm building up to confess something really horrible or justify my actions. Well, at least I'm typing this as I'm thinking, so I'm not censoring myself too much) But then all forms of sexual harassment considered, however "mild" they may be, an innocent interaction can easily turn into a sexual one in the flash of a second. I was probably very curious about certain things and couldn't be objective about the girl's space. Or in some situations, I could have been so blindsided, I didn't even realize that it was uncomfortable for her. (I know, confessing defensively. I'm such a coward.)

But then there are situations where I was in the dark about how the girl was feeling and I chose to exploit the situation for my benefit. An embarassing accidental brush on her part and I would have taken it as a big invitation. A dire need for transportation on her part became an unhindered close contact for me while driving and stopping suddenly on my 2-wheeler. When I got paired off with someone in a group of friends on an outing, I don't think I would have considered the peer pressure involved or that she didn't have a choice in it at all. An innocent appreciative hug that I enjoyed more than I should have or lasted longer than what she intended to allow. These situations are innumerable. I may have crossed my limits, and none of them chose to object and instead let it pass. So the only reason I'm not guilty is that those who objected to my advances did not say so and I am under the impression that it was no big deal or they may have even enjoyed it. (hehehe, universal male justification for their sins)

Feminism

What's a Modern Girl to Do?
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/30/magazine/30feminism.html

Interesting article in the New York Times about trends in feminism and the dilemmas of modern women.

(news) H-1B Visa program expanded

H-1B Visa program has been expanded to include another 20,000 visas (read here). I thought it was a good idea when I read the headlines, but obviously its being seriously discouraged and has strings attached. American Universities invest so much in foreign students for the latest advancements in technology, and now its a bad idea to use their skills in the market? I understand that the current economy cannot help but try and preserve as many jobs as possible to US citizens, but I also think that a good competition will let the US tech industry stay in the international lead. That's a postive for the economy itself again right? So what if the big companies are trying to cut costs by employing cheap labor? They are trying to stay afloat in this tough economy and keep it running. I'd say consider the visa program again and increase the cap further. Things will get better, I'm sure of it.