Letter writing campaign

[Mick]

Argyle, just let me know who you are writing and where you would like me to focus my efforts. I will be glad and honored to write letters in behalf of those still stuck in this quagmire of inefficiency.

[rocksplit]

Rocky, I sure hope you get it confirmed!  

Thanks, I share you're hope donahso. We still are still "racing" on the merry go round, right?

 

I just saw TimD's idea: It is excellent! Let's address the hopeful candidates, they know their relevant timelines while we have no clue but deserve clarity and accountability.

[Argyle]

Hi Mick,

 

Right now, my targets are political cartoonist Mark Fiore, Asianweek, and the L.A. Times.

 

 

Mark@markfiore.com

 

Asianweek@asianweek.com -- editor Mr. Samson Wong.

 

Letters@latimes.com

 

 

Thank you for keeping the faith! We need all the help we can get!

 

Best Wishes

[Mick]

Hi Mick,

 

Right now, my targets are political cartoonist Mark Fiore, Asianweek, and the L.A. Times.

 

 

Mark@markfiore.com

 

Asianweek@asianweek.com  --  editor Mr. Samson Wong. 

 

Letters@latimes.com

 

 

Thank you for keeping the faith!  We need all the help we can get!

 

Best Wishes

My pleasure Argyle. I hope this action nets some results. I echo your sentiment that we all need to keep the faith. Can't let these folks rob us of hope.

[Guest Charmhuang]

Hi Argyle,

How are you?

I am rocksplit's wife, Xiyu, I want to write" Letters@latimes.com", but whom I should address?

Yesterday I wrote to npr, but just got an auto-reply. I will continue write to them whether useful or not, just wanting to arouse their attention to us who really need fair treatment. I am sure things will be getting better if everyone here keeps writing. Oh, boy, I have long been fed up with the bad situation we are in, which has broken my patience.

 

Wish all the best

Xiyu

[Argyle]

Hi Xiyu,

 

I simply addressed my letter to "Editor" at L.A. Times.

 

Thank you so much for your support!

[Guest R2D2]

Hi Mick,

 

Right now, my targets are political cartoonist Mark Fiore, Asianweek, and the L.A. Times.

 

 

Mark@markfiore.com

 

Asianweek@asianweek.com  --  editor Mr. Samson Wong.  

 

Letters@latimes.com

 

 

Thank you for keeping the faith!  We need all the help we can get!

 

Best Wishes

My pleasure Argyle. I hope this action nets some results. I echo your sentiment that we all need to keep the faith. Can't let these folks rob us of hope.

To affect change, we have to continue to hope. You can quote me!!!!!!!!

[caiyunming]

Just wrote to Asiaweek, LA Times, and te cartoonist myself. Hope it helps. We should also refer them to come to this website to look for themselves just how big a problem this delay is really causing for so many of us here.

 

Good luck to us all.

 

ycai

[Argyle]

Hi Ycai,

 

You are absolutely right that we should encourage our media contacts to visit this website. Also, you and Rfsun have the right idea about personalizing our suffering.

 

It's a bit harder for the media to dismiss us when they think of us as people with feelings and hopes and dreams.

 

It's a great idea, and it will certainly help us in our writing campaign!

 

Best Wishes

[Guest R2D2]

This went out worldwide today to news organizations across the globe:

 

We came here from England and the continent to escape the tyrants that abused their power and invaded our privacy and our ability to allow our families to have a better life. It seems to me that the struggle continues.

 

Immigration, when people are out of work or working at inferior jobs, is a touchy subject when government and industry wishes to divert attention away from the real culprits. But, while we celebrate our open society, there are many of us that state that we have no sympathy for the recent and new immigrants coming to our shores. Our government has dusted off and, in a strange way, using 9/11 for additional security checks, has reenacted the Chinese Exclusionary Act that was abolished in 1944 after an official discrimination policy against one race of people had been on the books for 50 years.

 

Yes, it is easy to have a lack of sympathy for the tired and poor and downtrodden. Oops! That is what the Statue of Liberty symbolized, "Give me your tired and poor".

 

Imagine yourself as a younger man; would you have the courage to leave your family, your culture, and your security, to go to a place where you do not speak the language and might have to work in servitude for many years to pay the folks that got you there-just so that you could send money home and make a better life for your family and children. Like today, if you are a white European, there are no security checks for wives, children, and fianc¨¦s. The package is sent directly to the consulate for processing.

 

I guess there will not be a level playing field until we all make $80 a month worldwide and; that is soon approaching with a few making millions off of the hungry, poor, and downtrodden. Things have not changed much in 100 years either for the Chinese coming to this country or for white Middle American ideals.

 

It is usually the ones screaming the loudest against mixing cultures that err the most. Strom Thurman ran for president under the Dixiecrat label and at the time, had a daughter by a black woman. Do as I tell you, not as I do! Is that one of the commandments? We have not progressed very much in all these years and shame on us all. At the base of the Statue of liberty is a plaque:

 

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

[Argyle]

Great letter R2D2!

 

I never knew that Strom Thurman had a mixed race daughter. Very interesting indeed... Like all successful politicians, he was a survivor, and was able to reinvent himself to adapt to a changing culture.

 

Right now most politicians, especially those in the majority, are not sympathetic to immigration from countries where the people aren't caucasion. I hate to be so blunt, but it's time to stop tip-toeing around this issue. We are dealing with racism here, plain and simple.

 

They have wrapped themselves in the flag, and pretend that they're supporting national security. It's so pathetic.

 

If any politician today publicly claimed to support segregation, his career would be destroyed. We all remember what happened to Senator Trent Lott for his remarks at Strom Thurman's birthday celebration.

 

If we can strip the veneer of national security away from this issue, and expose it for the racism that it is perhaps we can change the way ordinary Americans think about this.

 

If we can make this issue a hot topic (because it is segregation and racism) perhaps we can create an environment in which politicians will be afraid to stand against us.

 

Or maybe that's just my pipe dream for the morning...

[Argyle]

Hi All,

 

In response to TimD's excellent suggestion, I have cobbled together a few thoughts, and plan to send the letter below to the Democratic presidential hopefuls.

 

I know that the letter basically says the same thing that my others have said, but then, we're still facing the same problem, and there are only so many ways to say "this system is broken, and we need to fix it!"

 

Please let me know what you think. As always, I am open to suggestions, and grateful for any help that I can get.

 

 

Dear Sir,

 

On June 5, 2002 my petition for a visa for my fianc¨¦e was approved by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. However, due to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 some visa applicants are subjected to an intense background investigation by our FBI. In fact, some of these "investigations" take more than one year to complete.

 

Perhaps these extensive delays are simply the result of an understaffed inadequately funded system overwhelmed with too many applications. But, if that were the case, it seems that applications would be processed on a first in, first out basis. Unfortunately, that¡¯s not the way it happens. Some visa applications are processed in just a few months, while others languish indefinitely.

 

Not all visitors to this country are subjected to this same degree of scrutiny though. Residents of Western European countries are allowed to enter without visas or lengthy security checks. Richard ¡°shoe bomber¡± Reid didn¡¯t need either to come here.

 

My fianc¨¦e lives in China, and has never associated with terrorists or criminals. She represents no threat to us. She is a delightfully charming unpretentious lady whose desire to be my wife and make a life with me is genuine. Yet, under the guise of national security, she has been prevented from joining me.

 

I am a loyal, devoted citizen who loves this country deeply, and have spent the past twenty years serving it as a member of our military. But, I am ashamed of the way our government is treating me, my fianc¨¦e, and so many others in our situation. We are not more secure because my fianc¨¦e has had to wait more than one year for her visa.

 

I invite you to visit www.candleforlove.com and read some of the posts by those who are trapped in this outrageous quagmire. We are dedicated citizens seeking an ally who will give national voice to our cause, and will stand with us against this irrational discrimination.

 

These extreme delays are a disgraceful injustice against ordinary Americans who just want to be reunited with their loved ones. Please help us bring an end to this situation.

[Guest R2D2]

Excellent letter but a suggestion. Say we will stand by you for your quest in the upcoming presidential bid for nomination and President if you speak out for those of us that have wives, children, and fiances in China that are not allowed to legally join us here.

[Argyle]

That's an excellent suggestion R2D2!

 

I believe that I've finally found a way to gracefully incorporate it into the letter. I'll be sending it out to the presidential hopefuls on Monday.

 

Best Wishes.

[TimD]

I like R2s suggestion, but instead of making the comment specific to the Chinese maybe use a more broader term such as non-caucasion, this addresses two issues. One the senseless visa delays and two why is it only the non-white cultures that are effected? Point #2 raises the issue of rascism, something the current administration has issues with.