AZwolfman

I subscribed to this formula ever since I heard it from Hugh Hefner a few years ago. He said it was his formula for staying young.

I also have the same form letter as Ana. It is from Cabral, Jan 13. I have one from Lisa Piascik, Jan. 30, in response to another letter to Harty. Response from Piascik I also received this response from Ms. Harty on Jan. 3: Thank you for your message. I very much regert the delays you describe. We are working hard to work through them just as quickly as possible. That has included sending additional people to the consulate and greatly exanding the consulate's working hours to process cases expeditiously. I will make sure we look directly into your case. Sincerely, Maura Harty

Just an idea, Kkimm. . . . . include these ideas in your letter to the NY Times, which BTW is our "''Media target of the week."

Good idea, Target of the Week! Now we are becoming more than a discussion group; we are an organization, a movement, perhaps even a lobbyist group? Here is the letter I sent to the Times

I'm afraid the disease has infected the entire INS and DOS. But if you had your interview already, you were not among the 90,000 shredded documents. Those docs were at the Laguna Nigel, CA office. Once your petition is approved by that (or one of the other 3 regional offices) and sent to GZ, the INS regional office is out of the picture. The treatment for this disease is public awareness. The NY Times article about the shredding at Laguna Nigel is a first step in that awareness. We just keep telling our stories to our public officials, media, people we meet, etc., and eventually the INS will be cured. You do understand that this began as a metaphor, right?

It must be contagious. I am sure I check this board at least 2 dozen times a day. But I also work on the computer several hours a day.

You will have the sign, "Will work for visa, any promise helps +............................"?

None of the 9/11 terrorists were K-visas. Hmmmmm......

Yes, Ms. Randall at the Laguna Nuguel INS apparently had an advanced case of the ZDM. That was really sick. Let's hope this disease doesn't spread. I hope the court case gets lots of public attention. That, along with our letters to our media might help bring our plight to the general public awareness.

Rarely ever any problem with Yahoo. Frequent problem with ICQ, often problem with AIM, and occaisonal problem with MSN. Yahoo has added advantage of one-click web cam viewing capability. This is very good for long distance communication with our sweethearts.

Definitely.

Yes Ana, I agree. This is very important if we want to treated like people instead of case numbers, we must MAKE IT PERSONAL.

Uh... I don't know Tex, I think maybe Lisa is mad at me. . . http://candleforlove.com/forums/index....3a165755d1d68c1

I set out to write to the NY Times, but my first draft caught me going off on a wild editorializing tangent - way off subject. So I had to completely start over. I post this original here in case anyone thinks there may be some use for it somewhere. (Don't worry, this is NOT the letter that I sent to NY Times) The INS is very sick. Shredding is not the disease. No, the shredding of 90,000 documents (American and foreign passports, applications for asylum, birth certificates and other documents supporting applications for citizenship, visas and work permits) just to ease the work backlog is just one of the symptoms of this social disease that is hurting our economy and tearing our families apart. It is causing our families great expense, time, psychological trauma, separation from loved ones, has driven some of us from our beloved country, and in at least one case has even contributed to death (see CNN story - Aaron Brown 'Visa Delays' [sandy Booker]). This disease has kept students from studying in our universities, has prevented scientists from bringing technology into our country, and has cost our economy hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost sales to foreign buyers, and prevents expansion of American business into foreign countries, thus worsening our trade balance. The disease has not yet been named, but could be called Ineptitude, Paranoia, Indifference, Apathy, Prevarication, Incompetence. Since only our government is infected with this disease, let's shorten this name to an appropriate acronym: IPIAPI (ih-pee-aw-pee). This disease, IPIAPI, has infected our government agencies, notably the Department of State (DOS), Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), Consular Affairs (CA), possibly even the FBI and the CIA, and even the U.S. consulates abroad such as the one in Guangzhou (GZ), China. It is the GZ consulate that I am most concerned with, for it is personally affecting me and thousands of others. IPIAPI crept into our government agencies under the guise of counter terrorism. It was a byproduct of our DOS attempting to secure our borders. But does the DOS really think that our wives and fiancees, who have presented all paperwork and have been approved for visas many months ago by the GZ consulate are out to harm our country? Is there a cure for this awful disease? Of course there is, but it requires the help of each and every one of us Americans. We must become aware of this disease, and we must shake off the "terrorist paranoia" that our government has thrust upon us. Yes, we need to be watchful and protective of our borders, but we must be sure to allow the good in. Now that we are aware of the disease, we need to tell our friends about it. We need to let our elected officials know that this disease has not only infected the government, but is also causing grief and disruption in American families which is the very backbone of this great country. Once the effects of this disease are known to the public and to our government, our government will take steps to cure itself. How does the government do this? That is an easy one: ISSUE VISAS NOW! to our families.

Editor, National Desk The INS is very sick, and the shredding of 90,000 documents by the INS at its data processing center in Laguna Niguel, California - just to ease the work backlog is just one of the symptoms of this sickness that is hurting our economy and tearing our families apart. It is causing our families great expense, time, psychological trauma, separation from loved ones, has driven some of us from our beloved country, and in at least one case has even contributed to death (see CNN story - Aaron Brown 'Visa Delays' [sandy Booker]). My story is just one of over 7,000 similar stories of injustice that could be told. . . . . . I met my future wife . . . . our story here. . . . . . our dealings, frustrations with, and lies from the INS, DOS, CA, GZ here. . . . including time line and current status (which is basically "unknown"). . . specific things that these agencies have done to us, specific lies, randomness of visa issuance Hopefully you can find some of my letter useful in doing a follow-up to the shredder story that may help theis government to ISSUE OUR VISAS NOW! Sincerely, xxxx xxxxxxx

The Wolfman has locked himself in his room and is writing a letter to the NY Times. . . I know I promised to post this letter when finished, but the more I got into writing it, the more individual it sounded and the more I began to think that each of us should write a unique letter. Mr. Broder can write article(s) using excerpts from each of our letters. If we sent him a few form letters, he would have less material from which to draw for writing his story in the Times. There are several of us who are writing their own stories, and I know many were hoping to use parts of our letters, but I think that this time it might be more effective to write your own letters. I will, however, post a summary when my letter is finished, so those of you who are unsure how to start can get an idea. Basically you just want to tell your story. You are frustrated, you have been lied to, you have been delayed, you have been given false hope, you feel helpless, you are angry - whatever you are feeling, just write it down along with the facts of your own situation. Once you type your first sentence, the rest will flow. Remember, it does not have to be perfect either is spelling, syntax, or grammer. That is Mr. Broder's job. . . . well, it's back to my room now to finish my letter. . . as you might guess, I am having trouble cutting it down to a page.

Yes I sent each of them a letter and Mr. Mueller also a fax in the last 2 days. Since GZ is closed and DOS is passing the buck to whoever is doing the checks, we might as well send a few more letters to the FBI and CIA.

I intend to also post my letter on this board, but this is one time when each of us will have to insert his own unique story into the body of the letter. Use the form of the letter and any parts if you like, but try to make yours unique so that Mr. Broder will have more to work with. I suspect you will probably see Owen's letter and a few others posted also.

As I posted earlier today in response to the original thread, I am already at work composing such a letter to John Broder. I think we should all send in our own visa delay story. Mr. Broder has uncovered a story. Let's give him the amunition to do follow ups. I have 6 hours of driving ahead of me for now, but I should have my letter ready tomorrow. This could be one of the breaks we have been waiting for to get our stories to the media and educate Americans concerining this fiasco. Let's give the NY Times our stories and let the people know that 90,000 documents in not just a number, but that there is a real person with a real destroyed life behind each shred of paper.

Who is doing the namechecks? Maybe e should be writing to the FBI and CIA.

We listened to statement from CA that new implementations had taken place, that everything was working correctly now, that our checks should be cleared in 2 weeks. We responded to their plea to leave them alone and let them work. They have heard relatively little from us in the past 3 weeks. . . . until now! We even gave them 3 weeks, but only saw a trickle of visas. Now we are back in full force, stronger than ever. We have begun again to ratchet up the pressure on DOS, GZ, CA, FBI, CIA, our congressmen, local newspapers, and even our president. Now we let them see that we have strength in our numbers. We can either make their jobs easy (by leaving them alone as we were asked for the past 3 weeks), or they can make their jobs difficult by failing to act and thereby forcing us to keep the pressure on them.

Wow, our FBI gets an upgrade. Cool!

If you get to reason #1, you are really, really still drunk, possibly even insane.

This is the kind of action by a manager that could get the public's attention, especially with follow-up stories of thousands of already-approved visa applicants still waiting with no real excuses from the government. I should have a letter out to John Broder by tomorrow. NY Times has already opened the can of worms. We can supply them with enough to keep this story alive.

interview Aug 8, last resubmit Jan4; still waiting