If you look at the large verison of it. The Russian leader is looking at Obama. I can imagine what he is thinking. 'Oh jeeze, what a sicko. Well, at least I know his weakness'

Or is this our new brand of diplomacy? As predicted. Give them full control and watch them make complete a$$es of themselves. Nothing was said about staring at them though. Nasty, terrible, and despicable.

That is the French President, Sarcozy, with Obama. From viewing this video, he's no better - lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uxb0JHqzlA

quote:

Originally posted by ProudUSC:
That is the French President, Sarcozy, with Obama. From viewing this video, he's no better - lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uxb0JHqzlA

...and truly, I am sure if Davdah has an opportunity to glance - he will not pass it on either. And for that matter, proof it that he is really looking at her a.ss. Tssss, men, men...what's more to say!

Discretion discretion discretion.

With what little public audience I have given I would always be mindful of my every action. A precept of public speaking. Everyone is watching all the time. No way would I let my eyes wander when all other eyes are focused on me.

Bad move on his part. But you are right. A guy is a guy. We do what we do when we think we won't get caught. This one needs to learn when he can loosen his belt and make those sort of gestures. His wife will never let this one go. I guarantee it and you know it, LOL.

I got it!

This thread needs to be renamed.....opinions are like.....holes because everybody has one.

Including the photographer....ROFLMAO!!

http://att.my.yahoo.com/

This link has a video of the Obama picture above. He is off the hook. He was turning around to help one of the girls behind him down the steps - not sneaking a peak at the girl's backside after all. Lol.

Don't be so quick to forgive. It started out with him being asked to help her down. Notice the track of his eyes and how it changes. If he were helping that women he would have looked at her face to face, not the bu.tt of that other girl. No, he's busted. Stone cold and guilty as charged.

Watch it a few times. When do you take a person's hand and not look at them? Uh ohh, I bet that is the same question ol Michele is asking about now.

She looks like she is capable of landing a few bruises to his scrawny hide, LOL. How does the Secret Service handle a situation like this???

Oh, Davdah the detective - lol! I guess he probably did sneak a peek. What man wouldn't? The girl needs a fashion lesson or two - lol!!! At least she wore a slip - could have been worse and shown her thongs - lmao!!!!

I'll give him the need to peek. However, how smart can he be to not know the secret. He is supposed to use his eyes only, not move his entire head. Not the brightest bulb on the tree. And, never, ever, do it in a public event where you under scrutiny of cameras.

This would have given me a fatal heart attack - lol.

Glitch hits Visa users with more than $23 quadrillion

$23,148,855,308,184,500 charge is about 2,007 times the size of the national debt

By Jason Kessler
CNN

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A technical snafu left some Visa prepaid cardholders stunned and horrified Monday to see a $23,148,855,308,184,500 charge on their statements.

Josh Muszynski noticed the 17-digit charge while making a routine balance inquiry.

That's about 2,007 times the size of the national debt.

Josh Muszynski, 22, of Manchester, New Hampshire, was one Visa customer aghast to find the 17-digit charge on his bill. Adding insult to injury, he had also been hit with a $15 overdraft fee.

He noticed that his debt exceeded the world GDP while making a routine balance inquiry on his online Bank of America account. According to his statement, he had spent the profound sum in one pop at a nearby Mobil gas station -- his regular stop for Camel cigarettes.

"Very, very panicked," he jumped in his car and sped to the station.

Full Story

I bet both of these guys were democrats. Since they were part and parcel of the spend at all costs crowd receiving the bill should be assumed.

Ok, I confess. All the money from those who did not report the error went to me.

quote:

Originally posted by davdah:
Ok, I confess. All the money from those who did not report the error went to me.

With that amount of money, you could throw a very nice ilw reunion party and then some . . . lol!

H1B Cap, Retrogression of Priority Dates, and Fraud Detention

H1B Cap : The H1B cap has not been met for fiscal year 2010 (FY2010). This is an indicator that economic realties impact the number of H1B filings. It thus supports the contention that there is no need for an H1B quota, because filing levels self-regulate based on economic conditions. In a soft economy, H1B numbers are not exhausted, or at least not as quickly.

The U.S. Congress needs to heed this fact and either eliminate the H1B quota altogether or increase the H1B numbers for use in a strong economy, so that highly-skilled professionals can available when needed to strengthen business, rather than short changing U.S. businesses, hampering their access to the foreign skilled / professional workers they need.

Retrogression of Priority Dates: The backlog of immigrant visa numbers in most categories in the employment-based arena is providing an opportunity for other countries, particularly European countries, to attract highly-skilled workers and create immigration options that will benefit their economies.

These economies are likely to draw the best and brightest highly-skilled workers, who are not able to obtain permanent residency status in the United States for many years due to visa number retrogression. Retrogression is the result of too few immigrant visas to meet the demand of U.S. businesses.

Fraud Detention : The collection of the $500 fraud fee for new H1B or L-1 petitions is being used to invest in hiring more investigators. One recent phenomenon is that business practices that were standard and went unchallenged previously, now are being viewed as "fraud." Many companies must revise their practices to meet current standards. This does not mean that these practices of employers or businesses are necessarily fraudulent. Many of them fit more within what would be considered technical violations or sloppiness.

The Fraud Summary Sheet that USCIS examiners use while processing H1B petitions is baffling, since it presumes fraud based upon criteria that seem superfluous on many levels. It presumes fraud if the employer meets two out of the following three criteria: has been doing business for fewer than ten years, has fewer than 25 employees, and/or has less than $10 million in revenue. Most well-established companies started with these drawbacks. Even many large, well-known, highly-reputable companies are being issued intensive requests for evidence (RFEs) that seem to be without basis.

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Reuters – The US Capitol dome is reflected in the glass roof of its underground visitor center ahead of President …
By Rob Hotakainen, McClatchy Newspapers Rob Hotakainen, Mcclatchy Newspapers – Sat Jul 18, 6:00 am ET

WASHINGTON — A California Republican congressman wants to do a little writing on the walls of Washington's newest federal building. If Rep. Dan Lungren gets his way, Congress will spend nearly $100,000 to engrave the words "In God We Trust " and the Pledge of Allegiance in prominent spots at the Capitol Visitor Center .

Lungren's proposal drew only a whimper of opposition last week when the House of Representatives voted 410-8 to approve it. Now, however, Lungren finds himself tussling with a national atheists and agnostics group.

The Wisconsin -based Freedom From Religion Foundation Inc. sued this week to stop the engraving, accusing Lungren of trying to force his religious beliefs on as many as 15 percent of all U.S. adults. That comprises "atheists, agnostics, skeptics and freethinkers, none of whom possess a belief in a god," according to the lawsuit.

"It really is a Judeo-Christian endorsement by our government, and so Lungren is wrong," said Dan Barker of Madison, Wis. , a co-president of the foundation. "Lungren and others are pro-religious, and they want to actually use the machinery of government to promote their particular private religious views. That is unconstitutional, and that's what we're asking the court to decide."

The Senate has approved a similar plan introduced by Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina . The congressional directive orders the Capitol architect to make the changes in the design of the $621 million center, which opened last December.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation , which has 13,500 members, sued in U.S. District Court in Wisconsin . It alleges that Congress is trying to make belief in God synonymous with citizenship and "discouraging nonbelief" among Americans, a contention that Lungren rejects.

Lungren said that the phrase "In God We Trust " had a long history and was consistent with the beliefs of America's founding fathers. He also said that the Declaration of Independence referred to rights given by a creator.

Lungren, a former California attorney general, said that while the proposed engravings incorporated religious references, they didn't violate the Constitution.

"What we're doing is making a specific historical reference to the beginnings of this republic," he said. "To ignore this or to forbid this statement or something like it to appear is to distort history. . . . We're not trying to change history. We're trying to enshrine history in the Capitol Visitor Center ."

Barker said history was better left to others.

"It's not the job of our government and our government buildings to do that," he said. "Historians can point out that many of our founders were indeed religious. But saying 'In God We Trust' in the visitors center of the Capitol is not just some historical reference. It's actually government speaking for all of us Americans."

Barker said the foundation had been waiting for the right case to challenge "In God We Trust ." He said government actions could be challenged on state-church grounds if they had specific religious agendas. In this case, he said, backers of Lungren's plan have provided "the smoking guns" by giving specific, overt religious reasons for doing the engraving.

Barker said that atheists regarded the phrase "In God We Trust " as rude, uncivil and un-American.

"Tens of millions of really good Americans don't believe in God," he said. "In fact, there's many more nonbelievers than there are Jews, and we wouldn't think of offending Jews on our national monuments. . . . Why is it wrong to offend a Jewish minority but it's not wrong to offend those of us who serve in the military and sit on juries but we don't believe in God?"

He said no hearing had been set.

Lungren is confident that a federal judge will allow the engraving to proceed.

"I never thought I'd see the day when someone would sue to stop us putting in the United States Capitol a statement of the national motto and the Pledge of Allegiance," he said. "Suggesting that the Pledge of Allegiance and the national motto is un-American in some way — talk about turning ideas on their heads."

Fla. hospital defends secretly deporting patient


STUART, Fla. – All sides agree on one thing in the strange case of a South Florida hospital that secretly repatriated a seriously brain injured patient back to Guatemala.

During the early hours of a steamy July 2003 morning, Martin Memorial Medical Center chartered a private plane and sent 37-year-old Luis Jimenez back to the Central American country without telling his relatives in the U.S. or Guatemala — even as his cousin and legal guardian, Montejo Gaspar, frantically sought to stop the move.

There, things get murky. Gaspar is suing the hospital for essentially deporting Jimenez, who was an illegal immigrant. The hospital, which spent more than $1.5 million on his care over three years, says Jimenez wanted to go home.

Underlying the dispute is the broader question of what's a hospital to do with a patient who requires long-term care, is unable to pay and doesn't qualify for federal or state aid because of his immigration status. Health care and immigration experts across the country are watching the case, which could go to a jury Thursday, and which could set precedent in Florida and possibly beyond. Lawyers for Jimenez said this appears to be the first time a lawsuit has been filed in such a case.

In closing arguments Thursday, Jack Hill, Gaspar's attorney, said the hospital wanted to send Jimenez back before the case could get on track for appeals.

"The plan was designed once and for all to stop the meter from running, to stop the expenses ... to stop the case from going all the way up to the Supreme Court — because Luis Jimenez was gone," Hill said.

The case also raises the question of whether a hospital and a state court can decide on their own to deport someone.

"Regardless of the decision, it will heighten the awareness of hospitals nationwide. The next time they debate shipping a patient overseas, they're going to have to do their homework because it's going to leave them open to a lot of legal challenges and questions," said Steve Larson, an assistant dean at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Medicine and medical director of a nonprofit clinic for Latino immigrants.

But Linda Quick, president of the South Florida Hospital & Healthcare Association, says hospitals may become even more wary about providing extended care to uninsured immigrants.

Hospitals are already struggling under the staggering costs of treating the nation's roughly 47 million uninsured. Illegal immigrants make up an estimated 15 percent of this group, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

"I think they'll do what's required according to physician orders," she said, "but I think they will be more pro-active and aggressive in finding a discharge plan."

Like millions of others, Jimenez came the U.S to work as a day laborer, sending money home to his wife and small children. In 2000, a drunk driver crashed into the van he was riding in, leaving the robust soccer player a paraplegic. For more than a year he lingered in a vegetative state before he began to recuperate, eventually reaching a fourth grade level in cognitive ability. The hospital sent him to a long-term care facility for a brief stint, but eventually he was returned to the hospital for care. Armed with a letter from the Guatemalan minister of health stating the poverty-ridden country could care for him, the hospital sent him home.

Because Jimenez has diminished capacity to make decisions, Gaspar was named as his legal guardian. Gaspar appealed a judge's order approving the move. The appellate court later reversed that order, ruling a state court lacks the authority to decide immigration cases. But by then, Jimenez had been released from the Guatemalan hospital and was living with his mother in a one-room home in the mountainous state of Huehuetenango, 12 hours from the Guatemalan capital. There is no road to the house, making it nearly impossible for his mother to get help for him in an emergency.

A South Florida Roman Catholic priest described a visit to Jimenez in an e-mail to The Associated Press: "He was clean, glad of the visit and occasionally made apparently good sense comments," wrote the Rev. Frank O'Laughlin. "It seemed that he was cooperating with his caregiver and would survive, I guessed, until his first pneumonia."

O'Laughlin said he wasn't sure that Jimenez should be returned to "medical care in an alien Florida institution."

But he maintains the lawsuit is important because hospitals should not be allowed to deport people.

He and Larson also say a country that relies on cheap, immigrant labor for everything from agriculture, to clothing to construction, should factor in the cost of catastrophic injuries to those providing these essential services — whether it means requiring employers to offer coverage even for day laborers or ensuring public and nonprofit hospitals can care for them.

Carla Luggiero, a senior associate director for American Hospital Association, stressed that cases such as Jimenez's are rare. Most of the time, hospitals are able to work with the families to find alternative and acceptable care. And most of the time families don't have pro bono lawyers working for them as Jimenez does.

But she also warned the issue is serious, and it is one Congress has yet to address in its health care reform proposals.

"There is absolutely no discussion about it," Luggiero said. And yet, hospitals that receive Medicare reimbursements are required to provide emergency care to all patients and must provide an acceptable discharge plan once the patient is stabilized.

"It's a complicated, huge issue. Without repatriation, the issue of undocumented immigrants is already a hand grenade and so is health care," Larson said. "So together, you're really walking a tightrope."


source

Mayors, rabbis arrested in corruption probe

(CNN) -- At least three New Jersey mayors, other public officials and five rabbis were among 44 people arrested Thursday in a federal investigation of public corruption and money laundering.


Hoboken, New Jersey, Mayor Peter Cammarano III and New Jersey Assembly members Daniel Van Pelt and L. Harvey Smith were among those arrested, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Newark, New Jersey.

A federal criminal complaint alleges that Cammarano, 32, a Democrat, took about $35,000 in bribes from a government witness posing as a real estate developer.

Another complaint alleges that Van Pelt, a Republican, accepted $10,000 in cash as "consulting fees" after an FBI official posing as a real-estate executive asked him to help fast-track a real estate project in Waretown, New Jersey, a section in Van Pelt's district. Van Pelt, 44, also is mayor of Ocean Township.

Others arrested in the public corruption portion of the investigation include Secaucus, New Jersey, Mayor Dennis Elwell, 64, who is president of a family-owned trucking company, and Jersey City Deputy Mayor Leona Beldini, the U.S. attorney's office said.

The probe also involves a "high-volume, international money-laundering conspiracy," the office said. Rabbis in New York and New Jersey were arrested in connection with the money-laundering part of the investigation, the office said. Video Watch how the investigation began in 2006 »

Cammarano, a former city councilman at large in Hoboken, was elected mayor in June and inaugurated July 1. According to his campaign Web site, he pledged to "lower taxes, reform government and deliver real change for Hoboken."

The FBI began the large operation three years ago.

The public corruption and money-laundering probes are separate but are linked by common players, a source close to the investigation said.

The source described the alleged public corruption as "straight bribery" -- cash-filled envelopes exchanged for political influence.

The other investigation centered on a group of rabbis who allegedly laundered tens of millions of dollars through their religious organizations for a fee, according to the source.

According to Newark's The Star-Ledger, the rabbis taken into custody are from the Syrian Jewish communities of Deal on New Jersey's northern shore and in Brooklyn, New York.

The arrests resulted from an FBI and Internal Revenue Service probe "that began with an investigation of money transfers by members of the Syrian enclaves in New York and New Jersey," the newspaper said on its Web site, NJ.com.

Those arrested Thursday "include key religious leaders in the tight-knit, wealthy communities," the report said.

Federal prosecutors released criminal complaints that contained dozens of pages of detailed allegations.
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One complaint said that Van Pelt, the state legislator, bristled when photographed with an undercover agent at a restaurant in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

"We don't want to get our picture taken," the complaint quotes the lawmaker as saying.

CNN

I think we've finally found SoM's real job - A (now suspended) Boston Cop. Just like SoM he claims to be not a racist.

Boston suspends Gates cop

Academic’s arrest stirs racial tension

BOSTON police department has suspended one of its officers for sending a “racist” e-mail about the recent arrest of black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates.

Boston police commissioner Ed Davis placed officer Justin Barrett, 36, on administrative leave, pending the outcome of a termination hearing, after he was made aware of the e-mail.

The e-mail describes Gates, who was arrested and briefly detained earlier this month at Harvard, near Boston, as a “banana-eating jungle monkey”.

Thetimes.co.za

Completion of Degree Requirements for the Purpose of H-1B Cap Filing

When one intends to file the H-1B petition based on a single education degree of bachelor's or U.S. master's, most of them would have already earned " a degree" at the time of filing and may be able to submit a copy of the "degree certificate."

However, there may a group of people who have yet to attend the commencement of graduation and yet to receive the "degree certificate" even if they have completed the degree requirement. In that case, thee rises a question of what kind of evidence or proof of completion of the degree requirements will be acceptable to the USCIS.

USCIS will accept one of the following evidence as proof of completion of the degree requirements prior to filing of the H-1B petition:

A final transcript; OR

A letter from the Registrar; OR

A letter executed by the person in charge of the records of the educational institution where the degree was awarded. If this option is utilized, then he/she must show that he/she is authorized to issue such letters.

Considering the fact that time is running out, people should immediately collect one of the foregoing evidence before filing the H-1B cap petition. Those who have been issued a degree certificate should make a copy of such certificate together with the full transcript. When the alternative options are taken, they may want to submit the official and "original" document rather than a copy.
Remember also that this alternative proof without a full transcript or required experience proof is not enough for H-1B eligibility since the rule requires the petitioners to submit full academic transcript as a required "initial evidence" to establish the education in the involved specialty in the case of 65,000 cap filing.

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Introducing the DS-160 Online Form for Nonimmigrant Visa (NIV) Application

According to the State Department, currently, twelve posts (including some Mexican and Canadian posts, Dublin, Hamilton, Hong Kong, and Tripoli) are requiring use of the DS-160 by their applicants. These posts' applicant volume makes up about a tenth of the worldwide NIV applicant workload. The State Department will be expanding DS-160 use to two additional posts in Mexico, as well as Mission Australia, this summer. The form is currently available in English and Spanish, but translations into Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Serbian, and French are being developed. The State Department hopes to have it available to all posts (and in the above languages) by the end of Calendar Year 2009.

1. Summary: Twelve posts currently require applicants to use the DS-160, the new and fully web-based nonimmigrant visa (NIV) application form. A few more posts will begin using the form this summer, but CA/VO will not approve any additional posts until server capacity is increased to ensure that system responsiveness for current users remains high. CA/CST plans to add additional servers in the next few months. In the meantime, CA/VO has posted information on the DS-160 on its Intranet website. End Summary.

2. It is CA/VO's priority to automate the visa process as much as possible. One major initiative is the DS- 160, a fully web-based NIV application form. The 160 incorporates all of the current NIV forms (DS-156, 157, 158, 156K, 3032, and parts of the E visa application) into one interactive format. It also allows applicants to upload a photo. The 160 is accessible to post and Washington through the Consular Consolidated Database (CCD). The form is hosted on the Consular Electronic Application Center (CEAC), which will also eventually host online IV and passport applications, online fee payment, possible queuing systems and an online appointment system.

3. The DS-160 is a valuable tool for posts and applicants. When an applicant fills out the form, he or she has the option of uploading a digital photo. [redacted] The applicant submits the form and receives a confirmation page with a one-dimensional barcode. That page allows consular officers to locate an applicant's case in the CCD and load it into the NIV system. Once a case is loaded into the NIV system, the DS-160 is permanently linked through the CCD.

4. All posts can view DS-160 forms that have been submitted through the "NIV" tab in the CCD. The "Online NIV Submissions" report locates DS-160 forms submitted by applicants but not linked to an NIV case. The "Online NIV Applications" report locates DS-160 forms submitted by applicants that have been loaded into NIV and are therefore linked to an NIV case. (Note: These two reports also will locate online DS-1648 applications, which are used only by A, G, NATO, and TECRO E visa applicants for domestic renewal in Washington through CA/VO/P/D. End note.)

5. We are exploring ways to add value to the visa application in advance of the interview. For instance, the Kentucky Consular Center (KCC) is performing checks requested by posts so the information is available to consular officers at the time of adjudication. We are working on additional future modifications, including automated fraud, Petition Information Management Service (PIMS) and Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) checks. [Redacted] The reports are available to non-State Department CCD users as well. If you work with non-State Department CCD users, such as members of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Visa Security Unit (VSU), please let them know that they have access to DS-160s in CCD if they are not already aware.

6. Currently, twelve posts (including some Mexican and Canadian posts, Dublin, Hamilton, Hong Kong, and Tripoli) are requiring use of the DS-160 by their applicants. These posts' applicant volume makes up about a tenth of the worldwide NIV applicant workload. We will be expanding DS-160 use to two additional posts in Mexico, as well as Mission Australia, this summer. The form is currently available in English and Spanish, but translations into Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Serbian, and French are being developed. We hope to have it available to all posts (and in the above languages) by the end of CY 2009.

7. We hope that you are as excited about this new electronic process as we are, and since reftel announced the DS-160 capabilities in NIV 04.06, we have been receiving inquiries from posts about how and when they can start using the DS-160. Unfortunately, current server capacity does not allow us to expand DS-160 use for the next few months while maintaining the current level of system responsiveness. Once we have sufficient capacity, we will notify posts, and CA/VO, in consultation with CA/CST, will resume approving posts to use the DS-160.

8. In the meantime, please explore the DS-160 CCD reports so you can see what the new online form looks like. Other resources include:

-- Comprehensive instructions on how to import the DS-160 into NIV, and other important materials, are in the NIV 4.06 user manual.

-- DS-160 frequently asked questions (FAQs) and an updated list of DS-160 posts can be found on travel.state.gov.

-- In addition, we have posted a PowerPoint on the DS-160, post processing FAQs, and a DS-160 Implementation Checklist on the CA/VO Intranet page, most easily accessed through the "CEAC" subject area on the Content Finder drop-down.

9. CA is preparing to pilot the IV online application, the DS-260, at selected posts. We will provide you with more information on this pilot as it becomes available. A similar initiative is underway to make the medical examination forms electronic.

10. If you have any questions after reviewing the DS-160 material and links provided above, please send them to your CA/VO/F/P post liaison officer (for procedural questions) or the CA SupportDesk (for systems questions).

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