Immigration Lawyers

Sam Khan,MD
Copy right: medjobcity Inc.
02/2004.

ursing shortage have been an issue for sometime now in the country. The causes are varied and have been discussed in many articles in the recent past.

The purpose of this article is to explore the strategies US Hospitals are employing to overcome the nurse shortage.
The remedy of a problem is dependent on its cause. This is no different here. Since the causes of shortage of nurses are varied the possible solutions proposed are many too. Nurse shortage stems from lesser number of students choosing nursing as profession ,
Uncertainty created by a wrong research report in 1988 by a reputable organization predicting impending nurse oversupply (resulting in students deciding not to chose nursing), more nurses choosing to work in out patient setting creating a mal distribution of nurses in some areas of the country , dissatisfaction among nurses because of shift work, mandatory overtime, insufficient pay, lack of a career ladder are some of the common causes.
Many nurses are choosing Temp. work as it pays more money and allows some control over work hours and benefits.
In the private sector the turnover is higher then in the govt. sector.
Hospitals are doing all sorts of things to recruit and retain the nurses.
Financial incentives to recruit nurses are temporary fix in general. These do not guarantee retention of the nurse in the same facility.
Long term planning for this national problem is addressed by federal as well as state level. These will have effect though not in very near future.
A serious effort by the hospitals, nurses themselves as well as the government and the nursing organizations will be needed. Image building , making the profession attractive are the sort of things which will take time but will have lasting effects.
For the short term it is the hospitals which have to deal with the nursing shortage.

The latest news is that some nurses who are in army reserves are now being called in for active duty and sent to Germany (3 from our institution).
There are not many innovative strategies available to hospitals to deal with the shortage of nursing staff.
Here are some ways different health care organizations and hospitals are dealing with this nursing emergency:
(These strategies are for recruitment of new nurses, new graduates as well for retention of existing workforce. Some strategies are short term and some are long term. Your institution or hospital may already be employing many of these methods.)
Commonly employed strategies to attract and retain nurses in the organization include:
•Signing referral bonuses
•Salary incentives
•Flexible hours.
•Lower eligibility threshold for benefits.
•Improvement in working conditions.
•Increase recruitment in training programs.
•Recruitment outside of prime age.
•Identify cost effective and quality based practice models that promote quality patient outcomes and job satisfaction.
•Accommodate aging nurse force.
•Image building of nursing staff.
•Assign responsibilities and challenges for motivated members of nursing staff .
•Create role models for junior nursing staff members.
•Promote leadership development programs.
Baptist Hospital of Miami, Florida is employing following strategies for some time with good success.
•Sign-on Bonuses offered to all RNs and Out-of-Area Applicants ($5,000 and
$2,500)
•On-Campus Recruitment Twice a Year at each of Four Local Nursing Schools
•System-Wide Posting of all Job Openings
•On-site Child Care Center.
•Post Office.
•Choice of multiple health plans
•Group Legal Insurance.
•Leave Sharing (PTO donations to employees in need)
•Larger and more frequent advertising in Local Newspaper and Nursing Journals
•Special Annual Ads (i.e. Florida Hospital Association Guide, RN Magazine, AJN).
•Commercial Internet Postings.
•Special Nursing Limited-Time Offer ($5,000 and $2,500)
•Nursing Recruitment & Retention Committee
•Birthday Cards from Human Resources with 2 Movie Tickets
•Employee Activity Committee Events

•Regular Bonuses of $1,000 and $500
•Year-end Raffle for "Trip for Two"
•Stepped-Up Publicity of the vacancies (posters, brochures, raffle boxes)
• Employees Referrals program (RN Hires through employees referral program increased from 28% to 31% after
Introduction of Program).
•Relocation Assistance offered
•Extra Pay Option (in lieu of benefits).
•Staffing Incentive Bonus Programs (including $25 gift certificates)
•Special Weekend Scheduling Option ($7/hr diff)
•Supplemental Weekend Plan ($3/hr diff)
•Increased Base Rates and Per Diem Rates
•Guaranteed Overtime
•Preceptor Honorarium ($200)
•Special Call Back Pay (%20 or time and a half)
•Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Years Holiday Pay (time and a half)

•Annual Spring Luncheon for Graduating Nurses (all colleges)
•Pay for NCLEX Review Course
•Nursing Student Clinical Rotations and Practicums at Hospital.
•Students Hired as Nurse Care Techs at Top of Pay Scale until Graduation
•Nurse Care Techs Recruited into New Graduate Training Program

•Professional Advancement Process (Clinical Ladder).
•Leadership Development Program
•Mentorship Program
•Tuition Assistance
•Toolbook for Performance (clinical, professional & personal development
courses).
•Employee Assistance Program.
•On-site Credit Union / ATMs.
•On-site Dry Cleaning, Hair Salon, Shoe Repair, Car Wash, Pharmacy, Gift Shop,
•Meals-To-Go Program (from Employee Dining Room).
.
•Dental Insurance.
•Vision care.
•Life/AD&D/Dependent Life.
•Short and Long Term Disability.

•Flexible Spending Accounts.

Wellness Program
•Employee Health Services
•On-Site Fitness Centers
•Lectures, Training & Workshops
•Massage Therapy

Vacation, Leave & Time Off
•Paid Time Off (personal, sick, holidays) with annual cash-out option
•Extended Illness Bank
•Family & Medical Leaves
•Personal Leaves
•Bereavement Leave
•Paid Military Leave
•Sunshine Fund (no interest loan & donations to employees in need)
•Pension Plan with Employer Matching Contributions
•Adoption Benefit (up to $4,000)
•Credit Union (free checking, low cost loans)

Traditional benefit packages are not always sufficiently alluring to nurses. It is possible that employee benefits could be used more effectively to retain nurses and reduce costly staff turnovers
One example is payroll reduction program commonly known as 125 Reimbursement Plan. Using this plan the employee can allocate a pre tax dollar amount per year which is anticipated as potential expense to cover health and welfare expense.
The employer avoids having to match FICA tax and workman compensation expense by reducing the amount of income upon which these figures are calculated.
Not only does the employee net take home pay increases but the employers matching FICA taxes and related pay roll expenses are reduced (consult your tax advisor for more details on this program).

Employee’s Voice
•Annual Employee Survey
•Roundtables with CEO, VPs
•System and Divisional Townhall Meetings
•Staff Meetings & Committees
•Reward & Recognition Task Force

•Roving Cart (suggestion box)
•Nurse Week Activities
•VP Rounds on Nursing Units (all shifts) during Weeks On-Call and for Special
•Employee of the Month and Year Awards
•Employee Service Awards
•5&10 year plaques
•15 year dinner
•20+ year banquet
•Special Performance Awards - Recognition at Annual Employee Service Awards
Dinner
•Celebrate, Motivate and Decorate Task Force

Collaborative efforts between health care organizations, societies, hospitals , private sector.
Some examples:
•In San Diego, six hospital systems have committed $1.3 million to support a program called, "Nurses Now", which will add faculty and additional student slots to San Diego University.
•The American Hospital Association News reports that in Laredo, Texas, a hospital CEO worked with Texas A&M University to develop a four-year bachelor's program and is providing $425,000 in scholarships to local students over the next five years.
•In Morris County, New Jersey, the Board of Freeholders offered scholarships to students who agreed to work in a long term care facility.
•The Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council raised $600,000 to expand student enrollment at local schools.

Magnet Hospitals: This elite class of hospitals generally do not have problem with high nurse turn over and recruitment. These classes of hospital (only 1-2 % of all US Hospitals) attain and keep this designation only if they meet stringent standards and ongoing 4 yearly evaluations.
"The label 'Magnet hospitals' originally was given to a group of U.S. hospitals that were able to successfully recruit and retain professional nurses during a national nursing shortage in the early 1980s. Studies of Magnet hospitals highlight the leadership characteristics and professional practice attributes of nurses within these organizations... Hospitals selected met the following criteria: 1) nurses within the hospitals considered them good places to practice nursing, 2) the hospitals had low turnover and vacancy rates, and 3) the hospitals were located in areas where there was significant regional competition for nursing services." (JONA, January 1999). Magnet designated health care organizations consistently outperform their peers in recruiting and retaining nurses, resulting in increased stability in patient care systems across the organization.
Foreign nurses/Importing nurses.

Philippines is the largest source of foreign nurses. Nurses from many other countries including Europe have come recently and in last many years to work in the US.
WWW.CGFNS.ORG is a US based agency that has the authority currently to screen foreign nurses for eligibility for state licensing boards and work visas.
Acquiring the services of foreign nurses is not new in the US. Recently the number of non-US origin nurses has increased significantly.
A number of hospitals are using programs to hire foreign nurses. This is not an easy task as the process is tedious and takes months and may be years.
CGFNS (Commission on graduates of foreign nursing schools) is one source of information for this process. Hospitals generally use recruiters specializing in this
area and immigration lawyers to hire foreign nurses. Foreign nurses have to show that their training is adequate, they are proficient in English language and are eligible for visa otherwise

To summarize it seems that the major influences on recruitment and retention are salary and raises, benefits, shift rotations and scheduling flexibility , staff communications , tuition reimbursements, type of nursing care delivery system, nursing leadership, reputation of the hospital and responsive management.

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Author: Sam Khan, MD
info@medjobcity.com
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From epic skyscrapers to electrically charged ambience, initial experience of New York City can leave you utterly overwhelmed. Romance radiates from every street corner as film sets burst into life. New York is the city of the future.

Originally named New Amsterdam by Dutch colonists, it wasn’t until British occupation in 1664 it became recognized as present day New York. The creation of the Erie Canal in 1825 was the mechanism for trade and industrial growth that bought about the thriving city of today.

For visitors travelling via boat, opening port of call is the majestic Statue of Liberty. This illustrious emblem of the American Dream was designed by Gustave Eiffel – he of Eiffel Tower notoriety – and erected in 1886. For security purposes the Statue no longer offers public admission, however access to Liberty Island is still permitted, providing an exceptional picture of the elegant lady.

Opposite the Statue rests Ellis Island, an immigration station until the midpoint of last century. Formerly used by the English for disciplining buccaneers, Ellis Island supervised the influx of millions of European immigrants during the first half of the twentieth-century. The museum – open daily with free admission – is well worth a couple of hours of your time.

Straddling East River, Brooklyn Bridge is recognizable to anyone who has been to the movies. Affording some of the most breathtaking sights of Manhattan, Brooklyn Bridge was constructed in 1883, and at time of completion was the worlds biggest suspension bridge and earliest to utilize steel cables.

Off 42nd Street sits the vast, cathedral-like Grand Central Station. At one hundred and fifty feet tall, the stylishly decorated starry sky ceiling is a magnificent spectacle to behold. You may explore the station yourself, however best alternative is to seize advantage of the frequent free tours. If seafood is your thing, the Oyster Bar is a must, offering exceptional cuisine and a cool view.

In the heart of Manhattan lies Central Park, providing immense contrast to demanding urban life. Conceived in 1876, a recreational area was developed to afford the citizens a respite from modern living. By now New York was a flourishing town and authorities felt individuals required a contrast to bricks and mortar. Central Park Zoo is continually popular, as is the Wollman Rink, a delight in winter. Shakespeare in the Park – an admirable production – is located at the Delacorte Theatre and is free, however obtain your tickets in advance.

If you've retired anywhere outside the US, you've done the Radical Retirement. Disbelief from family and friends is proof enough. Today people everywhere are opting for radical retirement.

Take Bali for instance. Bali's weather is tropical with the warm ocean waters that you'd expect to find. There's a landscape of rice paddies at the bottom of volcanoes, an eclectic local culture and miles of extraordinarily beautiful beaches.

Exploring Bali will lead you to over 10,000 Hindu temples. Balinese music plays everywhere at night accompanied by dancing. The island has an active arts and craft scene and the best shopping and prices in Asia.

A cute 2 storey house with small plunge pool, 2 bedrooms, AC and 2 baths will cost you approx. $600+ US. a month. Apts. are even cheaper.

There are approx. 20,000 foreigners living in Bali, with a high concentration on the southern coast from Sanur to Seminyak and in the center of the island, in Ubud. The Ubud expatriates are for the most part artists, traders, and businessmen and women who offer services to tourists and the expatriate community.

People who live in Bali tend to be people who let life lead them rather than trying to control it. The Balinese don't have a word for future -they don't think about tomorrow the way we do. Sound familiar?

Expatriates living in Indonesia, have the unique advantage of being within a few hours flight or drive from beautiful pristine beaches, towering volcanic mountains, verdant rain forest, wildlife refugees and fascinating cultural experiences. All the normal activities such as golf, tennis and scuba driving are also available. The expatriate community is well organized and very sophisticate with many of the activities and groups you would find in most communities.

When it comes to medical needs there are many small hospitals throughout the island and serious medical needs are usually referred to Jakarta. There are many public hospitals but you can also find many private hospitals. Medical coverage from private insurers is recommended.

One usually enters Bali with a temporary 30 day visa and it's a long and winding road to obtain a longer stay visa. One is advised to seek professional help to work your way through the immigration maze.

Rachel Greaves, offers this advise to those considering this expatriate community. Make friends with the local people, learn the language, acknowledge the dangers, take care on the roads, accept the things you can·t change, embrace the challenges, explore the island and the culture, and be open to the intense spiritual energy here. Bali is full of magic and wonder, if you truly want to be here you will find a way to make it work. There are a lot of lessons to be learned on the way, but if you have a passion for Bali, the joy and rewards of living here are immeasurable.

If you would like website references for more information, please email me. I would enjoy your comments and recommendations for other expatriate destinations to feature. webmaster@retireresource.com

No Cost American Citizenship
By
William Cate

Full employment is a cornerstone to political stability everywhere in the world. In Democratic societies, elections that follow a Recession or Depression usually ensure that the politicians in power lose their jobs to a new wave of politicians promising full employment. In this context, many countries' immigration policy reflects their recognition for the need to create jobs. The United States has taken limited steps to use its immigration policy to encourage an increase in domestic employment. Any astute multinational corporation can use the opportunity that the U.S. Government's immigration policy has created to allow key employees to become American citizens without cost.

There are four American immigration visas that multinational corporations have used to convert U.S. residency into American citizenship

I. EB-1-3 Multinational Executive Visa is a request for permanent US residence. Applicants do not go through the lengthy and burdensome process of labor certification. The only visa requirement is that the multinational corporation furnishes the applicant a job. The visa application must state that the applicant will be employed in the United States in a managerial or executive capacity. The multinational corporation must have been doing business, for at least one year in the United States, before submitting a EB-1-3 Visa application. The applicant must have worked for the company outside the USA as an executive or manager for at least three years prior to filing the Visa Application. This visa is intended to give the executive permanent residency status in the United States. In theory, it precludes the visa holder from applying for U.S. citizenship. However, working in the multinational corporation's U.S. office allows the executive to attain a "green card." With a green card, the executive is on the path to being a U.S. citizen.

II. The L-1 Intra-Company Transfer Visa is designed to allow employees of a multinational corporation, with an affiliate, subsidiary company or branch operating in the US, to come to work for that branch in the US. There is no annual quota. The multinational corporation must have continuously employed the L-1 applicant outside the USA for at least one year within the past three years. The multinational corporation must own the U.S. subsidiary. The applicant must be employed as a manager, executive or have "specialized knowledge." The applicant must intend to depart the US when his or her stay is over. However, the applicant may also pursue permanent residency (An EB-1-3 Visa) simultaneously with his or her residence, without a negative impact on the ability to keep or extend an L-visa.

III. III. E-2 Investor Visa only applies to passport holders from a select group of countries. The multinational corporation must be incorporated in one of this select group of countries. The visa applicant must be an active investor in the company. They must work as a manager or executive for the multinational corporation. The applicant investor must plan to depart the USA when the E-2 visa expires.

In theory, none of the above three U.S. Visas allow the visa holder to
become a U.S. citizen. However, attorneys can use any of these visas as a basis for a citizenship application. It takes time and there is an uncertain outcome to anyone relying on these visas as the path to U.S. Citizenship. Under present U.S. Law, the U.S. EB-5 Visa is the only application that can directly lead to eventual U.S. Citizenship

IV. The statutory requirements of the U.S. EB-5 Visa category are onerous. This option could require that your multinational corporation lend a U.S. Government approved project US$1,000,000 to create at least ten U.S. jobs. There is an annual quota of 10,000 EB-5 visas. However, only about 1,000 applicants are actually accepted into the United States each year under the EB-5 Visa program. There is a rigorous and lengthy application process. Qualifying a person for EB-5 status is one of the most complicated subspecialties in immigration law. A sophisticated knowledge of corporate, tax, investment and immigration laws are all required. Multinational corporations must discard normal investment opportunities in favor of investments structured to meet the unrealistic requirements of the EB-5 Visa regulations.

To use any of these U.S. Visa options, your road to becoming a U.S. citizen without cost requires that you must solve three related problems.

The 21st Century will be the Century of the Multinational Corporation. No cost American citizenship is only one advantage that multinational corporations have over national companies. Any national company that hasn't considered evolving into a multinational corporation doesn't see the economic handwriting on the wall. The ebook, Venture Capital Profits, offers one logical way to move your company forward into the global village. The money needed to follow this international vision is readily available.

You will need a creative and competent immigration law firm to make the current American visa process work for you. I've outlined the requirements for the U.S. visas that have worked for multinational corporations. However, I'm not an attorney. The advantages of the law firm that I recommend are outlined at: [http://home.earthlink.net/~beowulfinvestments/id36.html]

Creating jobs is the justification for allowing executives of multinational corporations to become U.S. citizenship without cost. Like all legal systems, there is an Achilles heel that leverages a positive outcome from any of these visa applications. You can research and find this outcome on the Net. Or, you can work with Beowulf Investments and we'll suggest it. In either case, you'll find that it is possible to get a U.S. passport, without wading across the Rio Grande River.

No Cost Canadian Citizenship
By
William Cate

Go North successful businessperson; go North. Canada wants you. The Canadian business immigration program is designed to encourage and facilitate your admission to Canada.

No Quotas

There are no quotas based on nationality, language skills or present citizenship. It's not that Canada wants Americans or Irish or Italian settlers. The Canadian focus is upon immigrants with skills that create a better and economically stable nation. You can come from Russia, China or Uganda and expect equal application treatment with those coming from the USA, Ireland or Italy.

UN Says Canada One of the Best

Canada has been voted to be one of the best places in the world to live with the highest living standard in the world for the past five years by the United Nations. Canada has a very low crime rate. Canadians living in major cities like Toronto rarely lock their front doors. A fact shown in Michael's Moore's documentary "Hunting for Columbine." Canada is a safe place for your children to grow up.

Canada is the Austria or Switzerland of North America. The Canadian population is about one-tenth that of the United States. Canada has an excellent and free school system. Its environment is pristine. It's cost of living well below that of the United States.

Spouse, Children and Parents Included

You, your spouse and your children can apply for Canadian citizenship. Once you become Canadian citizens, you can sponsor your parents and other family members. It's a ploy that works for my multinational company clients and it would work for you.

Canada's Federal Budget is primarily devoted to its Social Safety Net. Currently, there is a National Health Care program. The country's social support network is similar to that of Sweden. Unlike the United States, there is little money expended on its military. Thus, a person carrying a Canadian passport is a welcome visitor everywhere in the world.

Become a Multinational Corporation

My mantra to clients is "Become a Multinational Corporation." On the long list of benefits available to multinational corporations is the fact that Canada will welcome you or a close relative as a citizen. Your multinational corporation buys a Canadian business and you or a close relative qualifies for Canadian citizenship. Your multinational corporation develops its NAFTA distribution center in Canada and you or a close relative qualifies for Canadian citizenship. Of course your distribution center or acquired Canadian business must create jobs for at least one Canadian, but that seems to be a small price to pay for Canadian citizenship. Once you are a Canadian citizen, you can expand your business in the USA under the NAFTA agreement. If you are interested in my comparative general advice to multinational corporations about have a top corporate executive become an American or Canadian citizen visit: [http://home.earthlink.net/~beowulfinvestments/id36.html]

Income Tax Breaks

It takes three years from the date of your application to secure your Canadian citizenship. For the first five years of your Canadian residence, you are not subject to Canadian income taxes. Nor does Canada tax you on foreign-source income. After you secure your Canadian passport, if you choose to live outside of Canada for more than half of each year, you aren't subject to Canadian income taxes.

No Visa For US Visits

Canadian citizens are not required to have a visitor visa to enter the USA. When the Canadian Dollar is strong, you buy your supplies in the States. When the US Dollar is strong, you buy Canadian. It's been the Canadian way of controlling their inflation for decades. As a Canadian citizen, you can visit your present country of citizenship as often and whenever you wish.

Unlike the United States, the Canadian government quickly processes resident visa applications, similar to the US "Green Card."

How To Do It

If you are a successful businessperson running a national company anywhere in the world, here are your steps to your Canadian citizenship and untold wealth.
1. Read Venture Capital Profits.
2. Adapt the Venture Capital Profits strategy.
3. Become a regional multinational corporation by securing a PIPE financing through the Global Village Investment Club.
4. Leverage your cash by using your publicly traded shares to acquire cash producing assets.
5. Ensure that one of those cash-producing assets is in Canada.
6. Send a close relative to manage your Canadian subsidiary. Expect that relative to apply for Canadian citizenship.
7. After you complete the Venture Capital Profits strategy, you can have that Canadian relative sponsor you and your family into Canada.

No Cost

This entire immigration process costs you nothing. The costs are borne by your multinational corporation.

Costa Rica is a wonderful place to visit with your family or even alone.
Many couples honeymoon in Costa Rica combining romance, adventure and mystical visits to volcanoes, rainforest's, waterfalls, and secluded beaches. Our goal here is to provide a condensed guide that you can print and take with you to use for reference. For more detailed information about Costa Rica our website is the best information source on the web.

Country Information
Costa Rica is in Central America north of Panama and south of Nicaragua. The Pacific ocean borders the country to the west and the Caribbean to the east.

The citizens of Costa Rica are affectionately called Tico's and Tica's. In all of Latin America, the Tico's are most like North American's in their thought process. There are many cultural differences but tourism and tourists in general are welcomed warmly in this country.

Costa Rica has the highest literacy rate in Latin America. Every four years elections are held with 95% of the population participating in the voting process. Costa Rica has had no military forces since 1946. 27% of the country's budget is spent on health care. Although there are demonstrations occasionally civil unrest is not present. Costa Rica is considered to be the "Latin American success story".

The country has 110 volcanic craters, six active volcanoes,mountain ranges throughout the central portion of the country and secluded beaches with rain forest filled with wildlife butting right up to the shoreline.

Temperature varies with elevation. Humidity is present and noticeable, especially at sea level. Mosquitoes are obviously part of any rain forest but are not as noticeable as most parts of Florida, for instance due to the natural predators maintaining an ecological balance not found in places like Florida. (Bring repellent with Deet however!)

Costa Rica has a wet and dry season. The wet or "green" season is from May until November each year. During this time rainfall is more prevalent in most regions (Guanacaste province is the driest area in the country) with sunshine typical in the morning hours with showers in the afternoon and at night. Green season is when hotels offer discounts and crowds are minimized. As mentioned earlier, the northwestern portion of Costa Rica is the best "green" season destination due to rainfall considerations.

General Information
Entry requirements for visitors differ depending on your country of origin. US citizens, Canadians, and United Kingdom tourists need a valid passport but do not require a visa. The maximum stay under these conditions is 90 days but can be extended an additional 90 days through a travel agent or within the country through immigration.

Vaccinations are not required for malaria and other diseases to visit Costa Rica.

The water in most areas is safe to drink. Some coastal areas are exceptions however. Bottled water is recommended simply due to taste considerations. If you are at the Multiplaza mall in Escazu for instance the water is perfectly fine to drink. Smaller communities on the coast can be problematic however.

Costa Rica has the best fruit in the world in my opinion. Eat anything and everything in sight!

Driving in Costa Rica is an adventure! A stop sign in Costa Rica is treated like a yield sign in North America. Potholes in certain areas are HUGE. If renting a car consider the following:

The story behind the first maternity and paternity tests used for legal purposes.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of a remarkable discovery which forever changed the legal profession. In 1985, Alec Jeffreys (now Sir Alec), a young genetics professor at Leicester University, discovered DNA fingerprinting—the technique which allows for unambiguous human identification as well as relationship identification between different people. Since then, DNA testing has emerged as a powerful tool in both civil and criminal justice systems. DNA testing can not only reveal whether two or more individuals are related but can also determine the nature of this relationship. Today, it is possible to identify people by a single hair, as well as obtain information about their gender, ethnic background, and nearly their exact age.

In non-criminal legal practice, DNA testing is used primarily for immigration and child support cases. In 2004, more than 7,000 DNA tests were conducted in the UK for these purposes. When no reliable documentary evidence is available, DNA testing can assist in determining varying degrees of relatedness between individuals, as well as their ethnic background.

The landmark immigration case Sarbah vs. Home Office (1985) was the first to use DNA testing to prove a mother-son relationship between Christiana Sarbah and her son Andrew.

The case started in 1983 when Andrew, then 13, arrived in England after a long stay in Ghana with Christiana's estranged husband. Immigration officials held him at Heathrow Airport, claiming his passport was forged, or that a substitution had been made. Only after intervention by a local MP was Andrew allowed to stay at his family's home in London.

Various genetic-determining tests showed that Christiana and Andrew were almost certainly related; however, it was impossible to determine whether Christiana was his mother or merely an aunt (Christiana has several sisters in Ghana). The photographic evidence and depositions were rejected at an immigration hearing, but deportation was delayed pending an appeal.

Around the same time, an article in The Guardian reported the discovery of DNA fingerprinting by Prof. Alec Jeffreys and his team at the University of Leicester. After reading about their work, the legal team dealing with the case approached Prof. Jeffreys, and he agreed to take on the case. In order to prove that Christiana was Andrew’s mother, a DNA test was performed on blood samples from Christiana, Andrew, an unrelated individual, and Christiana's three undisputed children: David, Joyce, and Diana.

Using a recently discovered DNA probe, a DNA fingerprint was produced which confirmed that Christiana was indeed Andrew’s biological mother, and that David, Joyce and Diana were his siblings. Based on this evidence, the case was dropped by the Home Office and massive press coverage ensued. The discovery of DNA fingerprinting had huge implication for the non-criminal legal system and led to an overhaul of the UK’s Immigration legislation. Current UK immigration legislation accepts results of DNA testing as the ultimate proof or relationship between a child and his or her relatives. Accordingly, DNA test results will normally (although not invariably) provide conclusive evidence as to whether a child is related, as claimed, to one or both of his alleged parents.

Before January 1991, it was up to the applicant to decide whether or not to obtain DNA evidence in support of his or her application or appeal. In January 1991, a government scheme was introduced, which enables entry clearance officers (ECO) to offer to arrange DNA tests in cases where they are not satisfied that persons seeking admission as children are related to their UK sponsor.

A look at the role DNA testing plays in bringing family members into the United Kingdom

DNA testing is routinely used in immigration cases to prove whether a child under 18 is a biological child of or, in some cases, is related to an individual with a leave to remain in the UK. Most DNA tests for immigration reasons are parentage testing (paternity or maternity) but in some cases a grand parentage or avuncular (whether a child is a nephew or a niece of the sponsor) test is employed to prove an alleged relationship.

When the child is outside the UK, a DNA test is normally arranged by an ECO. In such cases, DNA samples are taken from applicants at a post overseas and sent to a UK-based laboratory together with the samples of the sponsor, which in most cases is taken in the UK. If the child is already in the UK, DNA testing could be conducted in a Home Office-appointed laboratory or arranged privately or via solicitor. The DNA testing report provides an assessment as to the nature of relationship between the tested individuals and states the probability of this relationship.

According to the Home Office guidelines, in assessing DNA reports, the question to be addressed is whether the evidence establishes the relevant relationships on a balance of probability. If a DNA report concludes that the probability of a claimed relationship is at least three-times greater than any other relationship, it should normally be accepted as proof of that relationship without further enquiry. If the probability of the claimed relationship is only twice as likely (or less) than any other relationship, the case is usually reviewed as a whole. However, the Home Office admits that even a low balance of probability in favor of the claimed relationship is substantial evidence and should be accepted unless there is strong evidence to the contrary. If relationship was the sole ground on which the application was refused, and it was later established by means of DNA evidence, the Home Office usually concedes the case.

In cases where several children are to be tested, the fact that some children are related to the claimant does not constitute the evidence in favor of other children who were not tested. The application with regards to the latter will be refused on the ground that there is not enough evidence to support the alleged relationship unless DNA testing results prove otherwise.

When DNA testing proves the alleged relationship, the Home Office usually concedes the application; however, in some cases, the Home Office has specific guidelines as to their treatment. This applies to cases when the child is related to only one of the parents, or is not related to them at all.

The immigration law treats a case where a child is related only to one of the parents differently. Treatment will depend on whether the child is related to the mother or to the father.

When the child is revealed to be the biological child of the father but not the mother, the Home Office usually seeks an explanation from the family on the following issues:

Providing that the father is not in a polygamous marriage, has exercised the sole responsibility for the child’s upbringing, and the child’s mother is not seeking entry to the UK, the application is usually conceded by the Home Office.

When the child is related only to the mother, the situation is again different. This is a very delicate case and is usually handled with great sensitivity as the child may be illegitimate and the father may not be aware (even if he saw the DNA report). The impact of a disclosure of adultery could be disastrous for the woman. If the child has been brought up as child of the family he or she is usually admitted.

If DNA testing results indicate that the child is unrelated to the claimant, there may still be grounds for the Home Office to concede the application. If there is evidence that the child has been brought up as a member of the family he or she may be qualified for admission as de facto adopted child. In cases where the child is not a biological child of the parents but is related to them, the child may qualify as a dependant of a relative other than a parent.

DNA technology has significantly improved from the times when it was discovered, and now DNA testing has become a gold standard for cases where the relationship between people needs to be determined. Since 1985, thousands of children have been legally admitted to the UK and hundreds of families have been reunited. This can be largely attributed to Sir Alec Jeffreys’ discovery of DNA fingerprinting 20 years ago.

Jet lag is a common sleep disorder suffered by many millions of travelers every day, whether traveling on business or for pleasure. In one recent survey of international business travelers, seventy four percent of those questioned said that they suffered frequently from jet lag.

Jet lag affects people of all ages, although its symptoms vary widely from person to person and tend to be more severe the older you get. Jet lag symptoms also tend to be worse if you are already suffering sleeping difficulties in advance of traveling.

Jet lag also increases with the number of time zones crossed during your journey. If the time difference between your starting point and destination is just two or three hours, then you are likely to experience little or no jet lag. However, once your journey extends across more than three time zones you will begin to experience the symptoms of jet lag, which will tend to worsen as the number of time zones increases.

So what causes jet lag?

Jet lag is caused by a significant and rapid change in time zones which result in a difference between the local time and the time recorded by your body’s internal clock.

Let’s say that you leave London at 11 o’clock on a Monday morning flying to Bangkok. The flight lasts twelve hours and you arrive in Bangkok at 11 o’clock that same evening London time. However, because you have flown across several time zones the local time in Bangkok is five o’clock on Tuesday morning.

By the time you’ve cleared immigration and customs and taken a taxi to your hotel, it’s probably getting on for seven thirty in the morning and breakfast is being served at the hotel. However, as far as your internal body clock is concerned, it’s still only one thirty in the morning and your body wants nothing more than to crawl into bed.

Your body contains its own internal clock which takes its time from the environment responding to such things as temperature, humidity and, most importantly, the normal daily change from daylight to darkness. These environmental factors cause your own body clock to run, much like your mantle clock, on a series of twenty four cycles, often referred to as your body’s circadian rhythms.

Much as our lives are controlled by time today, your body clock is also responsible for many of your body’s functions. In particular, your body clock tells your body when it is time to shut down for sleep and when it is time to wake up and start the day’s activities.

By flying across several time zones and placing your body clock out balance with local time you upset the whole rhythm of your day, giving rise to such things as problems sleeping at night, staying awake during the day and eating when you wouldn’t normally eat. This, in turn, leads to jet lag.

Copyright 2005 Donald Saunders – http://help-me-to-sleep.com

by Al Loy

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), Chairman of the Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship subcommittee, and U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Chairman of the Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security subcommittee, introduced comprehensive border security and immigration reform legislation on Tuesday.

The Comprehensive Enforcement and Immigration Reform Act of 2005 will, S.1438, dramatically strengthen enforcement, bolster border security, and comprehensively reform our immigration laws. The key components of the bill include enhanced border security and interior enforcement, employer accountability, and reform that addresses temporary workers and the current illegal population.

Following is a summary of the bill:

Border Enforcement and Visa Security
• Authorizes sufficient resources, including 10,000 Border Patrol Agents (same figure as Intelligence Reform bill, with monthly reports to Congress on progress made in hiring and deploying the agents) and 1,250 new Customs and Border Protection Officers (working at ports of entry). Authorizes $5 billion over 5 years for accompanying technology (e.g. cameras and sensors) and infrastructure (e.g. stations and checkpoints), to stop illegal border crossing
• Expands and improves Expedited Removal, which provides a streamlined means of removing aliens who are clearly ineligible to enter the U.S. Authorizes $50 million over 5 years
• Strengthens US-VISIT entry-exit system to better track and identify aliens who enter the country and those who fail to depart
• Increases the bond amount for aliens from noncontiguous countries
• Cancels all visas in the possession of an alien if he or she fails to depart U.S. at end of stay
• Authorizes $50 million over 5 years in grants for American Indian Tribes on border adversely affected by illegal immigration.
Strengthening Interior Enforcement and Leveraging State and Local Law Resources
• Provides the Department of Homeland Security with 10,000 detention beds over 5 years to eliminate the release of illegal aliens into the country
• Clarifies State and local authority to enforce federal immigration laws
• Expands Institutional Removal Program to identify criminal aliens in federal and state correctional facilities and remove them upon completion of their sentences
• Authorizes $4.45 billion to reimburse states and counties for costs related to the incarceration of criminal illegal aliens and $200 million each year for the costs of processing criminal illegal immigrants through local criminal justice systems
• Authorizes 1,000 smuggling and status violations investigators over 5 years (200 more per year than Intelligence Reform bill)
• Authorizes 250 additional DOJ immigration judges and 500 DHS trial attorneys over 5 years
• Allows the Department of Homeland Security to expeditiously remove aliens who were previously deported and then reentered illegally
• Increases penalties for alien smuggling, document fraud, drug trafficking and gang violence
• Establishes new Assistant Attorney General in the Department of Justice to oversee immigration enforcement and litigation, to ensure high level DOJ attention and accountability Worksite Enforcement
• Authorizes 10,000 additional agents over 5 years to investigate employers who hire illegal aliens. Also 1,000 new investigators over 5 years to detect fraud in application process
• Increases the penalties for unauthorized employment of aliens, social security fraud and false claims to citizenship
• Requires within one year issuance of secure machine-readable, tamper-resistant Social Security cards
• Closes loopholes in identity theft by establishing minimum standards for state-issued birth certificates
• Requires within one year that all new hires participate in a Social Security-based electronic employment eligibility verification system
• Assists employers by reducing the number of documents that workers may present to establish identity and employment authorization

Obligations of Participating Countries
• Requires countries to enter into bilateral agreement with U.S. government before the nationals of the country are allowed to participate in a temporary worker visa program or Mandatory Departure status
• Requires aliens to have a minimum level of health coverage, which can be provided by the participating country, the alien or the employer
• Encourages countries to provide housing incentives for returning workers
• Requires participating country to:
1) Cooperate in efforts to control illegal immigration
2) Immediately accept return of nationals who are ordered removed from the U.S.
3) Work with U.S. to reduce gang violence, human trafficking and smuggling
4) Provide access to databases and information on criminal aliens and terrorists Temporary Worker Program
• Establishes new visa category that allows aliens to enter the U.S. to work temporarily when there are no available U.S. workers
• Limits the period of visa to two years, after which the alien must return home for one year. Alien may participate up to three times (for a total of 6 years of employment in the U.S.)
• Requires completion of background checks, health screening and issuance of biometric documentation to participating aliens
• Establishes a Temporary Worker Task Force to prepare a report on the effect of the temporary worker program on wages and employment of U.S. workers, which would then form basis of cap
• Family members may visit principal worker in the U.S. for no longer than 30 days within a given year

Mandatory Departure and Reentry in Legal Status
• Allows aliens who are present in the U.S. illegally to apply for Mandatory Departure, which enables them time to depart the United States voluntarily and reenter the country through normal legal channels (e.g. as temporary worker)
• Aliens granted Mandatory Departure status are ineligible to obtain permanent resident status (i.e. green card) while in the U.S. – they must depart and reenter through normal legal channels
• Aliens are registered, fingerprinted, and checked against all available criminal/terrorist lists
• Aliens are issued secure, biometric identity documentation. The documents will function as identity documents and employers will use document readers to verify identity and employment authorization
• Provides incentives for aliens to depart the United States immediately, but all aliens are required to depart prior to five years
• Aliens who return to home country within a short period of time may quickly reenter through legal channels as a temporary worker and are not required to spend up to 10 years outside of the country
• Aliens who fail to depart are ineligible for any other immigration benefit for a period of ten years

Circular Migration and Visa Backlog Reduction
• Creates temporary worker investment funds to encourage aliens to return home
• Reduces visa backlog waiting times by allowing the recapture of unused visa numbers and terminating the Diversity Visa Program.

Find more articles about immigration at LawyerIntl .com articles

Since its discovery 20 years ago, the use of DNA for human identity and relationship testing has emerged as a powerful tool in both civil and criminal justice systems. DNA testing can reveal whether two or more individuals are related as well as determining the nature of their relationship. Today, it is possible to identify people by a single hair, as well as obtain information about their gender and ethnic background, and, within the next couple of years, identify their age.

Before the advent of DNA testing, human identity testing was largely carried out through blood typing. DNA analysis has now superseded blood testing and is the most accurate method currently available for human identification.

The possibility that DNA could be used for human identity and relationship testing had been discussed from the time DNA was first revealed as the molecule which makes people unique. Yet, it was not until the discovery of DNA fingerprinting by Prof. Alec Jeffreys (now Sir Alec) of Leicester University in 1984 when the first practical testing system became available. As with conventional fingerprinting, where various loops and whorls are compared between two fingerprints, DNA testing relies on comparing certain DNA features called DNA markers between two individuals. If DNA patterns between the samples are identical, then they are likely to come from the same person. If the profiles are not identical but big similarities are observed, then the samples most probably come from related individuals. The degree of the similarity between DNA profiles is a representation of the degree of relatedness between people.

Currently, DNA testing is routinely used for both criminal and non-criminal applications. However there is a major difference between DNA testing for civil and for criminal cases. For civil cases, DNA testing is predominantly used to determine relationship between individuals while for criminal cases a crime scene stain has to be matched to the suspect.

In non-criminal legal practice, DNA testing is used primarily for immigration and child support cases. In 2004, more than 7,000 DNA tests were conducted for these purposes in the UK. Where no reliable documentary evidence is available, DNA testing can assist in determining varying degrees of relatedness between individuals concerned, as well as individual’s ethnic background.

The first time DNA testing was used for identity purposes was in the landmark immigration case Sarbah vs. Home Office (1985). In this case, DNA testing was used to prove the mother-son relationship between Christiana Sarbah and her son Andrew. Now, the Home Office accepts DNA testing as a virtually unquestionable proof of relatedness. The results will normally (although not invariably) provide conclusive evidence as to whether individuals in question are related as alleged.

UK Child Support Agency extensively uses DNA testing for establishing who the biological parent of the child is for purposes of providing child maintenance and support. Child support is one the main areas of non-criminal DNA testing.

Child adoption is another area where DNA testing is widely applied. Currently, UK adoption agencies adopt children into families which match their ethnic background. Sometimes, it is difficult to determine the ethical background of the child and here DNA testing can help. People of different races and ethnic groups have common facial and other features which are typical for this particular race or group. The same is also true for their genetic characteristics. Various racial and ethnic groups have genetic markers specific to these groups. When analysing these markers, it is possible to tell the proportion of individual’s ancestors who came from specific ethnic groups. It is, however, impossible to pinpoint at what stage the particular ancestors contributed their DNA and also their number. For example, the results of ethnicity DNA testing can show that an individual has 20% of markers specific to northern Europe, 50% to the Middle East, 10% to the Mediterranean and 20% to sub-Saharan Africa. Using this information the family with the closest ethnicity to the child can be chosen.

Although charged with the security of national borders by the "supreme" law of the land, Congress has pursued open door policies over the past century or longer. When lawmakers subvert the law they create, by deliberate non enforcement, they surrender all legal and moral authority to compel you and me to uphold their never ending laws. They encourage and allow the continuous daily invasion of this nation by those who understand American law amounts to window dressing. Now we are faced with a situation where Congressional criminals demand that citizens make life difficult for the guests they invite and encourage. If an employer of undocumented workers cannot win this case in court, it can only be the courts are as criminal as Congress itself. Do as we say, not as we do.

Illegal immigration is nearly as good for business as war. If we could choose one or the other, I would prefer the immigration. But this is America so we do both. If we could only admit whatever is good for business is good for everyone, we could end all the hypocrisy. We could all admit we serve money while pretending to serve God and humanity. We could all work for a dollar per day and fairly compete with workers all over the world. Of course, professionals and politicians would receive ten dollars per day to encourage sixteen or twenty years of education and indoctrination, just as we do now.

Let's end the hypocrisy. Let's throw the national doors open to any who want to live and work here. Let us make citizens of all who desire citizenship. However, if the hypocrisy is more profitable to business than an official open door policy, give us more. When corrupt and criminal government fails, as it always does, the undocumented worker will teach us how to feed ourselves and prosper in the cash economy. I swear there is an up side to every stupid rule. We only need patience to see and apply it. The region where I live is literally and figuratively hot. Migrants are filling the land from the North and the South. No matter what happens in Detroit or New York, boom times are here to stay in my neighborhood.

On 4 May, 2005, John Kyl, U.S. Congressman, appeared on public television telling Arizonans the important thing to remember about border security is; it is possible - which is to say, it remains possible for Congress to obey the law. The comfort I took from his message lasted only until I realized this law would be obeyed by Congress only at the expense of many long political careers no Congress people intend to sacrifice. After all, it is also possible to prevent people from flying airplanes into buildings. Possibility offers small comfort in the face of status quo. So long as people accept the politics of hypocrisy as normal, possibilities are irrelevant.

The long waiting time to get a Driving Test Appointment here in Ireland is of course the responsibility of the Department of Transport. Or is it? It is so easy to blame your Government for every ill that assails us, but let’s look at the real reasons for the delay.
There are many factors leading to the incredible waiting time for Driving Test.

1.Demographics --- here in Ireland we have a very high proportion of the population in the age group 17 to 30 which is the prime time for learning to drive.


2.Immigration --- As a result of our new-found prosperity: Celtic Tiger Economy and all that, we are not only attracting back expatriates but we have become flavor of the month for those looking to find a new life from both the European bloc and further distant countries. Since the accession of 10 new States to the EU during 2004 there are numerous ethnic groups wending their way to Ireland. Most of these families will ultimately be in a position to own cars and the children of these families will also aspire to drive when they are old enough.


3.Government Legislation --- introduced in JAN.2003,as part of EU Directives ,has led to a large chunk of drivers being forced to sit a Driving Test instead of being happy to drive on a provisional license for upwards of 25 years! In the lead up to this legislation, on one day alone, upwards of 8000 applications were received by the Driver Testing Section.


4.Candidates failing to turn up. Many Test candidates just don’t turn up at all. A recent grapevine comment from a Driving Tester indicated that four of his first six appointments on one day failed to show.


5.Cars not being up to the required Standard---Despite an extensive two page list of requirements on the Day, which is sent with all Test Appointments, cars are still being turned down .Some of the most common faults are :- Faulty Brake Lights; Cracked Windscreens; Faded and unreadable Insurance Discs; Poor Tyres.


6.Novice Drivers Unprepared---Learner Drivers are to a greater degree not taking adequate Driving Lessons. The result of this is a high first time failure rate. Lack of practice, in addition to Lessons is also contributing to candidates having to re- sit the Test.


7.Driving Test standards and requirements unknown---The changes due to recent Legislation will not always be known unless the candidate takes the trouble to enroll with a professional Driving School. Recently introduced on 14th February 2005 are the Technical checks which require a candidate to know their way around under the Bonnet (hood).


8.Cancellations ---Obviously there will be genuine reasons for last minute cancellations such as family problems, health problems and so on but there are too many cancellations from pupils who are chickening out at the last moment .A recent candidate told me that her car had been stolen twice and of course hiring a Driving School car for a Test at the last moment is not an advisable course of action. Getting used to strange car is not something that you can do in just a few minutes.


9.Overconfidence---It is a myth that the longer you are driving the better you become. If a learner Driver hasn’t been taught the basics and some more advanced skills at the start of their driving career they will very quickly pick up poor techniques and habits which will be difficult to rectify at short notice.


10.Learning to Drive with Mum, Dad, Boyfriend, Girlfriend.--- Many Adult Drivers have never taken a Driving Test, particularly those over 60 years of age and are not equipped to teach their offspring. In fact a high proportion of Adult Drivers exhibit such disregard for the basic Rules of the Road that they shouldn’t be permitted to be behind the wheel themselves, much less try to teach their children.

The Emancipation Proclamation Lie:

Why does the Immigration Department insist on asking the question who freed the slaves and saying it was Lincoln? Do you think Lincoln was in a position to free the slaves in the South? Perhaps he was but that was never settled in court and it was the matter of Civil War, in part. He did not free the slaves in the North where he actually was legally entitled to make such a Proclamation. This kind of management of public perception is almost considered wise by people when they learn that it is not true. They say things like ‘We need our heroes’.

If we need to lie about liars and racists or otherwise keep our heads in dark places and eat what mushrooms eat, how will we address the opportunities to stop fighting over the One Pie? How will we make more pies on other planets and who will own those planets or get the gene therapy to extend life to a potential of 900 years? Who thinks that sentient robots with human brain contents dumped therein (Stanford 1999) will be better workers and who will have jobs? Why work at any job that can be done by a robot? Has our education system been creating thinkers who can create the vast potential inherent in new technology and space colonization?

When General Fremont freed the slaves in Missouri he was upbraided by Lincoln and rather than telling lies about Lincoln freeing slaves I think the schools and Immigration Department should have people read the Lincoln-Douglas debates where he makes it clear that he is a racist. I know some people try to say Fremont did not free the slaves so I will give you a quote from people I agree with and a link to the information you might want to check into.

“’The property, real and personal, of all persons in the State of Missouri who shall take up arms against the United States, and who shall be directly proven to have taken active part with their enemies in the field, is declared to be confiscated to the public use, and their slaves, if they have any, are hereby declared free.’

It has been stated by some of the papers that in thus pronouncing the emancipation of the slaves of rebels General Fremont was only carrying out the Act known as the Confiscating Act passed by Congress at the extra session. An examination of that act will, however, show that its provisions do not warrant the step taken by the General.” (1)
http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1861/september/slave-proclamation.htm

HillarysVillage.com

Fearful that terrorists will next target Australia, Prime Minister John Howard broke the silence this week. He reopened the debate on issuing mandated national ID cards.

Those who live topside and think that internal political decisions made down under will have little bearing on our lives, should think again.

A national ID system in Australia will do more than raid that nation of personal liberty. It will set a precedent to be followed by the rest of the world.

So what's the big deal?

Once the national ID card is adopted in Australia, its effectiveness in curbing terrorism, illegal immigration and host of other social ills will be realized. That will make for an easy sell to Americans, Europeans and others weary of what ails society. The national ID will be seen as a quick fix.

The logical progression will lead to an international interlink between nations. An international ID card will be established. Then, to thwart card theft, the business-card sized documents will be replaced with permanent IDs: computer chips implanted in the hand (for convenience) and the forehead (for permanence).

Once established, implanted IDs will lend themselves for other conveniences, such as biotechnical debit cards and health histories.

So long to liberty

Implanted IDs will be effective. They will do wonders to end terrorism, tax evasion, kidnapping, money laundering and even purse snatching. With the exception of the cumbersome act of bartering, implanted IDs will be required for commerce of any kind. No ID implant? No buying and no selling.

While international IDs will provide a panache of benifits, they will also end personal liberty as we know it. And that, many believe, will be a fair exchange.

End of national sovereignty

The move toward internationalism is not new. What is new is a report issued recently by the Council on Foreign Relations. Like John Howard's quest to fend off terrorism, the CFR says terrorism can be held at bay if the Americas will form a coalition similar to the European Union.

Called "Building a North American Community," the plan calls for a "community" (rather than "union") of nations. It also mandates that national borders be replaced with "common perimeters".

Those who believe Americans would never agree to such a blantant abandon of national sovereignty will be surprised to know that conversative Republican George W. Bush has already agreed to the plan. Along with Mexican president Vincent Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, Bush committed the government to the CFR plan on March 23, 2005. That, you will remember, is that date that Bush, Fox and Martin met at Bush's ranch and at Waco, Texas.

What a plan!

In addition to effectively erasing national borders, the plan calls for American taxpayers to provide the following:

• "Long-term loans in pesos" to shore up Mexico's economy
• A North American Investment Fund to send U.S. private capital to Mexico.
• A "permanent tribunal [ie, court] for North American dispute resolution." (And you thought the Supreme Court's decisions were painful.)
• "Social Security Totalization Agreement negotiated between the United States and Mexico." That is, illegal immigrants living in the United States and will benefit from the Social Security system, a virtual guarantee of the its collapse.
• A fund to finance 60,000 Mexican students to study in U.S. colleges.

The move in Australia to impose a national ID system on that nation's citizens will get little press attention in America, Europe or elsewhere. But once affected and proven effective, Australia's national ID program will be one more step toward internationalism, the demise of national sovereignty and an end to personal liberty.

And it's all sold as an antidote for terrorism.

The Protocol plan 'will remain invisible until the moment when it has gained such strength that no cunning can any longer undermine it.' (Protocol 1) {Gardner's 1999 book and those of Barrett and the Blandford Publishers would seem to make it no longer "invisible”!}

-'Wars, so far as possible, should not result in territorial gains.' (Protocol 2)

-'(The) minds (of the masses) must be diverted toward industry and trade. Thus, all the nations will be swallowed up in the pursuit of gain and.. .will not take note of their common foe.' (Protocol 14)

-'We shall create an intensified centralization of government,' (Protocol 5) '… we must develop (a) Super-Government by representing it as the Protector and Benefactor of all those who voluntarily submit… {Remember Hobbes, see LEVIATHAN entry.}...We shall soon begin to establish huge monopolies... '(Protocol 6)

-'The intensification of armaments, the increase of police forces... (so that) in all the States of the world, besides ourselves, (there will be) only the masses of the proletariat, {With the non-lethal weapons and mind control psy-ops weapons developed in the last two decades the police and other enforcement of secret agencies under a variety of guises have expanded. Immigration, PATRIOT ACT or Mental hygiene, psychological teams in schools, medical use of drugs, tax collectors [There were no income taxes when these Protocols were written.] and a whole host of investigation and environmental or regulatory bodies have generated massive readjustments and further bureaucratization. Even the computer security has dual and multiple affects that allow major invasions of freedoms often only imagined in the annals of human culture. Soon the use of human body parts, genes and dumping of artificial and other implanted knowledge will occur directly.} a few millionaires devoted to our interests, police, and soldiers.' (Protocol 7)

-'We shall put (government power) in the hands of persons whose past and reputations are such that between them and the people lies an abyss, {E.g. South America and the Nazis, or Bush family} persons who, in case of disobedience to our instructions, must face criminal charges...' (Protocol 8)

-'We have fooled, bemused and corrupted the youth of the (masses) by rearing them in principles and theories which are known to us to be false... '(Protocol 9)

-'We shall destroy among the (masses) the importance of the family and its educational value.' (Protocol 10)

-'We have invented this whole policy and insinuated it into the minds of the (masses)... {Their early Greco Roman success and the patristic/Abrahamic 'baby-factories' is a precursor that when joined with 'The Original Sin' of Augustine made huge inroads of family ability to nurture each other. Women weren't allowed by law to become educated much less own things.} to obtain in a roundabout way what is... unattainable by the direct road... It is this which has served as the basis for our organization of secret masonry which is not known to, and aims which are not even so much as suspected by, these... cattle, attracted by us into the 'Show' army of Masonic Lodges in order to throw dust in the eyes of their fellows' (Protocol 11)

-What is the part played by the press today?... It serves selfish ends... It is often vapid, unjust, mendacious and the majority of the public have not the slightest idea what ends the press really serves. We shall saddle and bridle it with a tight curb Not a single announcement will reach the public without our control...'(Protocol 12)

-'The need for daily bread forces the (masses) to keep silent and be our humble servants In order that the masses themselves may not guess what they are about we further distract them with amusements, games, pastimes, passions, {The use of gambling and drugs or other addictions like lotteries and bingo.} people's palace (no TV at that time). Soon we shall begin through the press to propose competitions in art, in sports of all kinds...'(Protocol 13)

-'It will be undesirable for us that there should exist any other religion than ours… We must therefore sweep away all other forms of belief.' (Protocol 14) 'Freedom of conscience has been declared every- where, so that now only years divide us from the moment of the complete wrecking of that Christian religion, as to other religions we shall have less difficulty in dealing with them.'(Protocol 17)

{Add to this, the foundational support of science and guidance to academia that we showed in the case of Rockefeller and Yale interests.}

-'When we at last definitely come into our kingdom by the aid of 'coups d'etat' prepared everywhere for one and the same day...we shall make it our task to see that against us such things as plots shall no longer exist. {The success of monopolistic and imperialistic or economic [Fed, IMF etc.] made a unification unwarranted but what about space colonization and gene therapy or other technology they didn't have at their disposal?} With this purpose we shall slay without mercy all who take arms in hand to oppose our coming... Anything like a secret society will also be punishable with death..."(Protocol 15)

{The Gestapo had a lot of citizen help and the Nazis of Germany would be impressed with the denial of citizens going on today. There are strong indicators of major dependencies which lead away from freedom and people aren't even aware they aren't free due to the legalization and forced attendance at school not in existence in the time these ideas were formulated.} -'In our program one-third of (the masses) will keep the rest under observation from a sense of duty, on the principle of volunteer service to the State. {Machiavelli might say giving people perceived power to inform on others appeals to a lot of basic human urges.} It will be no disgrace to be a spy and informer, but a merit... how else (are) we to. .. increase… disorders?' (Protocol 17) 'Sedition-mongering is nothing more than the yapping of a lap-dog at an elephant... In order to destroy the prestige of heroism, for political crime we shall send it for trial in the category of thieving, murder and every kind of abominable and filthy crime. {The invocation of National Interest, increase in mutiny of the sea, fomentation of racial prejudices and the like served well for a century or more.} Public opinion will then... brand it with the same contempt.' (Protocol 19) 'Until (dissenters) commit some overt act we shall not lay a finger on them but only introduce into their midst observation elements...' (Protocol 18)

{The use of the Weathermen by J. Edgar Hoover was a fine example of this kind of management and encouragement to create a whipping dog to keep others from questioning whether the government was fair and open to criticism. Then they were brought down from within.}

Later Protocols deal with finances. Protocol 20 called for general taxation, 'the lawful confiscation of all sums of every kind for the regulation of their circulation in the State.' This would be followed by a 'progressive tax on property' and then finally a graduated income tax, a 'tax increasing in a percentage ratio to capital' as well as taxes on sales, 'receipt of money', inheritance, and property transfers. {The lack of actual taxes paid by the very rich allows further question. For example Rupert Murdoch is able to get preferred status by the creation of Congressional allowances just for him. Donations to the agencies of the Masons or churches are tax free and the investment in certain things they wanted allowed tax avoidance.} There was a discussion of 'the substitution of interest-bearing paper:' money since 'Economic crises have been produced by us... by no other means than the withdrawal of money from circulation.'

The Protocols also discuss at great length - loans, which it states 'hang like a sword of Damocles over the heads of rulers, who, instead of taking from their subjects by a temporary tax, come begging with outstretched palm to our bankers.'…

Despite their dubious origin, the Protocols were taken seriously by many powerful people, including Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II, Russia's Czar Nicholas II, and American industrialist Henry Ford, who used them to persuade the U.S. Senate not to join President Wilson's League of Nations.

The Ochrana's plan worked a bit too well. A counterrevolution took place and pogroms against Russian Jews were instituted by vigilantes called 'The Black Guard', incensed by the Czarist propaganda. Continuing instability and violence finally resulted in the 1905 Russian Revolution, during which the Protocols again were trotted out by pro-czarist elements to inflame the public.

Hitler saw the Protocols as a real proclamation despite the evidence of fabrication. In Mein Kampf he wrote, 'They are supposed to be a 'forgery' the Frankfurter Zeitung moans and cries out to the world once a week; the best proof that they are genuine after all... But the best criticism applied to them is reality. He who examines the historical development of the past hundred years, from the points of view of this book (the Protocols), will also immediately understand the clamor of the Jewish press. For once this book has become the common property of a people, the Jewish danger is bound to be considered as broken.'

As we all know that the legal industry is one of the most competitive industry today. Larger law firms often invest good portion in their marketing department to make sure that they are always in the public eye. Now with the help of Internet, Small law firms can reach out to public and give a good impression about their firm.

Here are some of the marketing tips that could be useful:

1. Create a website with your own domain name (i.e. www.yourname.com). Do not go for a one page profile that many sites offer with sub domain name (i.e. yourname.somesite.com). These days creating and maintain a small site is cheaper than ever. You could have someone create your site for $100-$300 and host it for $5-$10 per month.

2. Make sure the site looks professional and user friendly. I recommend studying some of the related sites on the Internet before having someone create yours.

3. Submit your site to all major search engines such as Google, MSN, AOL, Yahoo, iWon, Ask.com, Excite. Most traffic come from these top Search Engines. You don’t have to submit your site to thousands of search engines. Try to do manual submit to these Search Engines.

4. Make sure your business card has your website address (URL) and your email address (you@yoursite.com).

5. Try Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising campaign on Google or Overture (Yahoo) with as low as $0.10 per click. Make sure to use targeted keywords in these campaigns rather than generic. For Immigration services in Los Angeles, CA, “Immigration lawyer in Los Angeles” keyword would be more effective than “Immigration” or “Lawyer” keywords.

6. Find local community websites and advertise your banner on their website. These sites are cheaper and more effective since most people visiting the sites are local.

7. Make sure to keep your site up-to-date with the current information. List your achievements on your website. Ask your clients to give feedback and ask them if it is ok post them on the website.

Yesterday, London was hit by a series of explosions to the transport system. A number of people have lost their lives and there are numerous wounded. This barbaric act, another one in this mad world of ours, has hit hard – none more so than the Londoner and the Brit.

I called my mother yesterday, checked that all was okay. I did the normal things in life during such times, I worried and checked.
This morning I switched on the news, CNN are calling it “Terror in London” – a catchy title! It looks like they are giving it twenty-four hour coverage! But it was when I switched on my computer to pick up the mornings emails, I realized that so many people in this world are supersonic fast in benefiting themselves through tragedy! One of the emails that I received was from an Immigration Consultancy Firm in Canada called ACIC and the email was signed by a Russell Monsurate. He said:
To everyone we have come to know at ACIC:
We would like to express our sorrow and sympathy for those who have just experienced a very barbaric and unprovoked attack in London this morning, July 7, 2005. This was an attack not just on the United Kingdom, but on the civilized people of the world.
As Canadians we hope we speak for our country when we say our support is with those who are suffering through this trying time and with the government of Britain in their investigation into this matter. In the end justice will prevail.
I live in Taiwan. I am from Scotland; I have not been home for nearly three years! I recall in the dim past that I once had the idea of moving to Canada and that I filled out an application form for ACIC but I am sure that nobody at the firm ever came close to “knowing me”! Why would anybody on this planet want to send me an unsolicited email like the one above? It is neither the time nor place for Canadian Immigration Lawyers to send spam like emails when the British are trying to cope and return to life as they once knew it!

Further to this I had another email from a publisher requesting use of an article that I wrote on “how to cope with stress” and using a reason for requesting this piece as follows:

“In light of the recent London tragedy, as well as the ongoing tragedies of kidnapping and child abduction, our first reference will focus on "stress reduction."

Didn’t take you long to get off the mark! In fact the email I received from these publishers was written and sent in less than twelve hours after the actual explosions occurred in London. That must have been a straight rush to the computer that one ………… frightening stuff!

I expect in the next few days that I will receive many more like those mentioned above but at least they waited a day or two before jumping on the wagon!

Marriage and U.S. Citizenship

An extremely common practice in the USA is for an American citizen (or legal permanent resident) to have a spouse who is a foreign national. When this happens, the citizen most often desires that their spouse shares in the same opportunities and privileges they have as an American citizen. The process of securing a green card for the spouse is a long and complicated process, and can take anywhere from a couple months to several years. When seeking a green card for a spouse there are two options that one can take.

Because spouses of U.S. citizens are considered an “immediate relative,’ they can apply for a green card without the traditional waiting period. It takes around ten months for the application to be reviewed but while they are waiting, the spouse can usually obtain a work permit in about a month’s time.

A spouse of a legal permanent resident of the U.S. can apply for a green card, but the waiting period is much longer and in addition, the spouse is subject to annual quotas. One of the primary sources of investigation is the nation of origin.

If your application for citizenship takes longer than expected don’t worry. Immigration is a very time consuming process and many times you are treated as a number and not an individual. By consulting an experienced immigration lawyer you can make your case stand out. Contact an experienced immigration lawyer today!

Part I of this article listed all the things that you, an outsourcer, must do in preparation for a trip to India. It saw you up to the airport on your day of departure.

Now you’re on the plane and you’ve had dinner; your eyes close as you drift into sleep, to dream of maharajas, elephants and computer geeks…

After sailing the skies for an interminably long time, you finally arrive in the Indian subcontinent. Hot, humid air surrounds you as you disembark from the aircraft; flocks of parrots and other exotic birds streak by overhead.

Immigration takes anything between 10 and 90 minutes depending on the inflow of passengers... it pays to move fast and get a good position in the line.

Customs is usually a breeze, since the officers are only after the big offenders (and hopefully you’re not one of them!). They usually wave foreign citizens right by since they know these visitors are potential customers.

Incidentally, from the moment you entered the terminal, surveillance has been on, but since it's hidden, you've no idea it's in place.

If you now walk straight out of the terminal, voracious taxi drivers will descend upon you en masse, much like vultures on an African kill, after which they will proceed to confuse and destroy your thinking process in their attempt to sell you a ride.

So don't venture outside unprotected. Buy a controlled-rate coupon inside the terminal at the 'prepaid taxi' counter for a taxi ride to your hotel. The salesperson will also assign a taxi and driver to you.

The prepaid taxi coupon is your body armor against those unregulated taxi-drivers... they will not come near you when they see that slip of paper in your hands. You can walk to your taxi without fear of attack.

Once you're at your hotel, you're in safe hands, because indeed, Indian business hotels are havens for travellers. Their managements are seriously concerned about guests' well-being and comfort; their environs are restful and healing.

Knock back your welcome drink and decompress. Once that’s done, gently channel your thoughts towards acquiring a vital necessity: a mobile phone with GSM connectivity.

If you are a seasoned traveller, you will have a 'tri-band' mobile, in which case all you have to do is buy a SIM card and a prepaid connection, which will cost you about US$35 (as of 2005) including nearly 250 minutes of talk time.

If you don't have a tri-band, buy an inexpensive GSM mobile for about $45 in addition to a SIM card. SIM cards and phones are available at any of the myriad phone shops in any Indian metropolis; your concierge will tell you where the nearest one is.

Take this advice on mobiles very seriously... one cannot stress how important it is... I’ll be you $10 you’ll thank me for it later!

Inaugurate your new phone by calling the vendor you came to see. Get to the vendor's office by car (yours or theirs, as long as it has air conditioning); other means of transport like auto rickshaws may look exciting but will likely result in a missed appointment...

When at the vendor's place, look for:

* Capacity: (workstations and people);
* Supervisory arrangements: (floor managers, project leaders, group heads);
* Security: (controlled physical access and password-protected network resources).

Most importantly, meet the person who will be in charge of the project you are thinking of giving the vendor. Is s/he articulate? Tech-savvy? Quality conscious? Deadline oriented? Easy to get along with? Is there a second line to take over if s/he is away?

You must of course also hand over a copy of your RFP and discuss each point in fine detail.

Bear in mind that most often, Indians are formal to begin with. If you invite the key people to a meal, they will be very happy to relate to you on a personal level... this is better for all parties concerned.

Conclude each visit by asking for your quotation within a specified timeframe; encourage the vendor to email you freely regarding any questions s/he may have.

At the end of a visit, ask yourself if you have a good feeling about the interaction. If the answer is an overwhelming “NO!”, you had better strike the vendor off the hopefuls list. For any other answer, keep them in the running.

Follow these steps for all the hopefuls, and do extensive Internet research on the final candidates from the broadband connection in your hotel room.

Great, the business part of your trip is over, it’s time for recreation!

There are many unusual things to see in any Indian city, and you’d best ask your mentor what these are. There’s no point seeing typical big-city sights… look for the ancient or the ethnic (Akbar’s tomb, Kerala waterways or the Hindu temple at Madurai, for instance).

Be careful when deciding what to eat or drink. Only eat in restaurants that are clean by your country's standards; stick to bottled water from reputed companies like Kinley or Aqua Fina. And no matter how badly you may be tempted, do not eat from those small roadside carts and kiosks!

If you want to buy souvenirs to take home, ask your mentor where to shop, else you may very well end up paying twice what you should. Buy things that are not easy to come by in your home country: fine silks, carpets, and most importantly, Indian jewelry, of which only meagre selections are available outside the subcontinent.

So now, replete with silk, gold and an outsourcing vendor shortlist, you're at the end of a memorable journey. Get on a plane, push the seat back and wonder how it all went by so fast.

Dream about how much you’re going to save in costs, the quality improvements you will see, what a good thing you’ve done for your company, and how glad you were that you planned your trip carefully.

You now have valuable knowledge and experience about travelling to India, and might very well soon be recognized as an expert in the subject. Fare thee well, bold traveller, and fearlessly guide all those who may follow in your footsteps…

It wasn’t all that long ago that lenders blatantly discriminated when it came to approving credit for women and minority groups. Women were actually asked personal and demeaning questions like, how many children do you plan to have in the future or are you on birth control?

Despite the fact that they were entering the workforce in record numbers, single women were often required to get a cosigner or denied credit altogether. Members of minority groups were denied credit as well, even though they were fully qualified.

Today thanks to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, millions of consumers from all walks of life are given and equal chance to obtain and use credit to finance educations, buy or remodel homes or get small business loans.

The Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which was passed by congress in 1973 first banned discrimination in credit access on the basis of sex or marital status and was later amended to include race, religion, national origin and age. Of course, this doesn’t mean all consumers who apply for credit get it. Factors such as income, expenses, debt and credit history are considerations for credit worthiness.

But the law protects you when you deal with any creditor who regularly extends credit, including banks, small loan and finance companies, retail and department stores, credit card companies, and credit unions. Anyone involved in granting credit, such as real estate brokers who arrange financing, is covered by the law. Businesses applying for credit also are protected by the law.

When You Apply For Credit, A Creditor May Not.

Discourage you from applying for credit because of your sex, marital status, age, race, national origin, or because you receive public assistance income.

Ask you to reveal your sex, race, national origin, or religion. A creditor may ask you to voluntarily disclose this information, except for religion if you’re applying for a real estate loan. This information helps federal agencies enforce anti discrimination laws. You may be asked about your residence or immigration status.

Ask if you’re widowed or divorced. When permitted to ask marital status, a creditor may only use the terms: married, unmarried, or separated.

Ask about your marital status if you’re applying for a separate, unsecured account. A creditor may ask you to provide this information if you live in community property states, Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Washington. A creditor in any state may ask for this information if you apply for a joint credit account or one secured by property.

Request information about your spouse, except when your spouse is applying for credit with you. Note: your spouse will be allowed to use the credit account. You are relying on your spouse’s income or on alimony or child support income from a former spouse; or if you reside in a community property state.

Inquire about your plans for having or raising children.

Ask if you receive alimony, child support, or separate maintenance payments, unless you’re first told that, you don’t have to provide this information if you won’t rely on these payments to get credit. A creditor may ask if you have to pay alimony, child support, or separate maintenance payments.

A Special Note To Women

A good credit history, a record of how you paid past bills often is necessary to get credit. Unfortunately, this hurts many married, separated, divorced, and widowed women. There are two common reasons women don’t have credit histories in their own names: they lost their credit histories when they married and changed their names, or creditors reported accounts shared by married couples in the husband’s name only.

If you’re married, divorced, separated, or widowed, contact the credit bureaus to make sure all relevant information is in a file under your own name.

To find additional rights you have, what a creditor may not do: when deciding to give you credit or evaluating your income for credit and what to do if you suspect discrimination visit: http://www.creditandyou.com/yourcreditrights.html it’s a free information website!

Maybe I'm getting cynical as I get older or possibly I just know the smell of the perfume coated turd that is "spin". It seems that if nothing else, the government fully understands the working of UK public's mind and utilises every tactic possible to dodge, divert or just plaster over some of the most important liberty issues facing the people of the UK.

People by nature are trusting of their state's authority and this trust is often abused. The UK government sanctioned and helped finance the war in Iraq, in the public's name and with the public's purse. Other than the obvious, one of the major casualties of the coalition was the UN. Castrating the one organisation in a position to challenge any state with sinister ambitions was either a stupendous oversight or stroke of genius. Now any state can decide to act beyond the instruction of its UN peers and refer to past coalition action in its defence. Rejecting the democratic process on the one hand, the coalition is happy to preach freedom and democracy to the Arab States, Russia, North Korea and China.

The public's response to the Prevention of Terrorism Bill earlier in the year met with limited interest. Prevention of Terrorism Bill in its original form amounted to a suspension of habeas corpus, the right to a trial, which has been frozen only a handful of times since it was enshrined in English law in 1679. On one occasion when terrorist suspects were imprisoned without trial, the innocent were deprived of their freedom, while the terrorists were given a huge boost to recruitment. In Northern Ireland in the early 1970s, the policy turned out to be a failure. See Darkening of a nation

More recently the government is proposing the removal of juries in some complex fraud trials. On the face of it there seems to be good reason to debate this proposal in light of the millions of pounds of tax payers money wasted when such cases collapse. However, removing juries in these trials crosses a line that should remain sacred if we wish to hold on to current principles of freedom, liberty and human rights. See Juries face axe in fraud trials

Finally, the House of Lords took the crusty sheen off the governments "Entitlement Card" by renaming it the "ID Card". On the face of it, the ID Card has sound benefits. Some of the official uses of the card and national database include: national security, prevention or detection of crime, enforcement of immigration controls, enforcement of prohibitions on unauthorised working or employment, securing the efficient and effective provision of public services. However, although the concept may have been based on the best intentions, it offers ample opportunity to become a Pandora’s Box. Most people have reservations based on cost and the government's answer at the moment is to place a "Cap" on the price so as not to put people off the idea. However, like many other schemes aimed at reducing the burden on the public's purse, the government will no doubt slip the same money out of the public's back pocket.

Consider how new technology is currently being discussed, extend it with just a little imagination and you might see some of the following appear in the near future:

Governments Vision:
Your car transmits its position, time and speed using current satellite technology to bring about an age of pay as you go car tax.

or possibly:
Instant Speed Fines, Congestion charges in all cities, Peak time charges, to the penny expense claims enforcement for company car employees.

Governments Vision:
ID cards to prevent prohibitions on unauthorised working or employment

or possibly:
The week you are taking off sick is being traced by your employer via the government database. It seems that your visit to the Gym, Pub, Bookies, Garden Centre, Lake District, Golf Coarse etc is going to be causing you some embarrassment in the meeting on Monday.

You may sneer, but remember when personal phones with a face on a television were just seen on "Space 1999"... or is that just me?

turd (tûrd)

n. Vulgar

A piece of solid excrement.

[Middle English, from Old English tord.]

Bahamas is one of the favorite, hot and evergreen tourist spot. The charisma and the aura of the place are spell- binding. It seems that nature has given it all to this place with its 15 superb and exclusive islands, beaches, and the lovely Bahamians. The location of the place is such that it brings it nearest of al the Caribbean islands. Situated a few miles away from the tip of Florida, Bahamas has everything to mesmerize its visitors.
The two well known islands of this place are–The Out Island and the Nassau or Paradise Island. The Nassau is also the capital of Bahamas. The Out islands are a bunch of several islands like- the Abacos, the Acklins also known as the Crooked Island, the Andros, etc. then there are also breathtaking Brry islands, Bimni, Cat Island with the amazing landscapes, the Exumas famous for scuba dive, fish and the like. The rare West Indian Flamingos can be a treat to the eyes at the Inagua islands; the pulse of romance can be aggravated at the calm, quiet yet beautiful Mayaguana islands. Last but not the least the San Salvador Island that take to a journey into the past when Christopher Columbus first stepped there.

Besides the islands there are horde of soft and sandy beaches with turquoise blue water that make you experience paradise on earth. The most vibrant, active and lively beach is the Cable beach Nassau where you and your kids can take up any activity from snorkeling, scuba diving to bouncing banana boats. The Guana Beach at the Abaco islands has eye catching corals in waters while the Pink Sands beach of Harbour islands are endowed with mystifying pink sand. Along with these there are fine Beach at the Cat Islands, Taino Beach with outstanding oceans, water slides, restaurants at the Freeport. The Stocking Island Beach facilitates you with a rented scooter or bike to explore the beach differently.

Apart from the scenic splendor, Bahamas is also admired for its ecstatic nightlife. The casinos, discos, bars, restaurants all are meant to keep up your spirits even at night. The casinos on the islands of Nassau and Freeport like Atlantis Resort, Marriott Crystal Palace Resort or the Bahamas Princess casino offer you all types of gambling games. Be it slots, Caribbean stud poker, slot machines, roulette etc. the casinos have them all. There are games for kids too at the Atlantis casino situated at the Paradise Island.
The means to Reach Bahamas, the people, the culture and some do’s and don’s-
There are two ways to reach this land of water. You can take either take a plane or the sea route. You can choose amongst a private jet or a relaxing Mailboat, which takes just $35 a trip. Cruise liners are also a pleasant idea to reach Bahamas.

Once you reach the place you might not have problems in interacting for the language spoken there is English. You will start having the wonderful fragrance of the place the moment you step there for Bahamians are too keen to warmly and whole heartedly welcome their guests. The perfect time to go to Bahamas is between September and May when the temperature of the place is around 70 to 75 degrees. Bahamas has something different to offer like its dress codes which is a little strict in the capital but benign at the Out Islands. Most of the Bahamians are West Africans. They are amiable, gentle and generous people who are too social and fun loving.

While heading for this ravishing place, do not forget to bring a photo identification proof besides your passport. It can be your license, Identity card or any such proof. There is an immigration form to be filled before stepping in Bahamas. Your luggage will be carefully checked before you move out of the island. There are several taxes like $15 departure tax, 10% tax for commodities over $600 (the duty free granted merchandise). The currency that runs is Bahamian dollars but US dollars are readily accepted.

So pack your bags and explore the allure of the land of islands and crystal blue beaches---Bahamas.

Are you visiting America for the first time? It is exciting and thrilling isn't

it? Can't blame you for that good feeling because if you have been issued travel

documents to enter the US, you are one of the lucky ones!

Imagine, there are millions of people all around the world who wish to visit the

United States of America but more than two-thirds of those who applied for a US

visa are denied for some reasons! So congratulate yourself that you have your US

visa.

Always remember that having a visa is not the end of your struggle to have one.

It is just the beginning of more thrills ahead. For one thing, as you enter the

United States of America, you will go through the port of entries where

immigration officials will still determine if you can come in through the doors of

the country. If you got your visa fraudulently, you can be caught and be

deported!

If you are coming to the US as a tourist, the immigration officers at the port of

entry will also determine how long you will be granted to stay in the US.

Legally, you are only allowed to stay in the US only on the amount of time you are

granted by the immigrations officers. If you overstay, you become an over staying

alien and would be subject to possible deportation. However, you may apply for an

extension of stay. Your application for extension, however, does not guarantee

approval.

Remember, if you come to the US only as a tourist, you are simply regarded as a

visitor. Having a tourist visa does not grant you a working permit. This means

that a tourist is never allowed to work anywhere in the US.

Since you are visiting the US as a tourist, enjoy your vacation as there are lots

of places to go where you will really enjoy. When you go places, if you have a

credit card, you can make an online hotel

reservations. All you need is an access to a computer with internet access.

If you plan to have long travels within the US, public transportation is available

either by bus or air transportation. In the US mainland, the Greyhound Bus

Company provides interstate bus transportation. The only exception is if you plan

to go to Hawaii or Alaska.

If going by air, a lot of airline companies are available. An airline reservations is also possible online. Air travel can bring you to any of the 50 states of the USA.

Well, welcome to America!

---------------------------------------------

A brief travel guide is also available at www.yourcheaphotels.com.

An attorney, judge, prosecutor, or any public defender cannot assume full responsibility over whole phase of legal work. Even with their outstanding and brilliant minds, they still cannot carry on without any assistant. With their hectic and extremely tight schedules, preparation for their legal duties must be given attention by an assistant before they can proceed with the formal proceedings. This is where paralegals come into the scene. And who are these paralegal assistants? These are the persons who had backgrounds in paralegal profession.

First, what is paralegal and who are these paralegal persons? Paralegal is called a profession, which endures most interesting aspects of legal activities like variety of tasks of legal community. Within the bounds of paralegal profession encompasses diverse range of responsibilities, projects, environments, and functions in legal industry. A paralegal may not assume the legal work of the lawyers, however they carry in their own hands tasks such as whole segment of trial preparation or case management. Their key duties include: analyses of documents and data in relation to legal proceedings of the cases, compiling, organizing, then presenting the newfound information to the lawyer. Presentation is carefully condensed into an outline with case history, plan of actions plus relevant notes that will help construct any precedents, case, hearings, or laws matters.

Among countless agencies where a paralegal assistant will be found are: courts, state and government agencies, corporations, finance companies, banks, accounting firms, engineering firms, consumer organizations, legal aid offices. Some of the commercial firms where a paralegal can provide services are: entertainment production outfits, public relations agencies, advertising companies, insurance agencies, or real estate agencies. Flexibility of paralegal profession may also be seen in surroundings like civil rights and criminal law, civil litigation, health care, family laws, environmental protection, corporate law, immigration, and others.

Rendering services for paralegal jobs does not really require a specific academic education. So, how does one become a paralegal? There are some who have only gone on-the-job-training. Many have formal education for paralegal studies like bachelor’s degree or two-year course for paralegal education while others have completed different paralegal certificates. Some paralegal certificates can be completed by merely a matter of months from a paralegal school. There is also a post-baccalaureate paralegal certificate offered by some paralegal education courses. Paralegal schools offer paralegal programs.

Paralegal studies are offered for students to bring them up into the rewarding careers of paralegal professionals. In paralegal training, each would be aided by lawyers in the legal industry. Paralegal courses will initially supply students with substantial knowledge so that they could be fully prepared to practical skills and meet high standards of industry in terms of proficiency, academic excellence, and professional integrity. Paralegal studies institutes are widely spread to meet solutions for the escalating demands of paralegal or legal assistants. Paralegal schools made it particularly practical and efficient by offering online paralegal studies for the students. If a student does not have the means to render much time to complete paralegal studies, he can opt for the online paralegal schools. Paralegal studies online are a flexible way to complete paralegal education such as paralegal certificates program, paralegal bachelor’s degree program, and paralegal post-bachelor’s certificates.

Responsibilities of paralegal positions have been increasing gradually that they are already running out of resources how to curtail the equally elevating workload of attorneys and lawyers. With this concern, paralegal schools now offer paralegal training courses in many paralegal certification programs. A student can search through online for the best paralegal schools that offer these courses.

African Aid
By
William Cate

Africa, like everywhere else in the world, has its fair share of honest, intelligent; hardworking people who want to see their families have a better standard of living. Unfortunately, most of these people are living below the poverty line. The reasons that Africa, with all of its natural resources, is an economic basket case are complex. They start with the 16th Century Africans' failure to adopt an effective immigration policy. The result was the European immigrants divided up the continent without regard to historic tribal boundaries. The modern result has been tribal wars waged with modern weapons from the Sudan to Rwanda.

After WWII, the West's development schemes have been a long litany in stupid projects. A few of my favorite examples include:
1. The British Groundnut Project: After WWII, the British found themselves with lots of heavy equipment that needed a use. The British shipped it to Africa and cleared thousands of hectares of tropical jungle. The idea was to grow peanuts and export them back to Britain. Nobody considered the fact that the soils in a jungle are lateritic and, once the jungle was cleared, the exposed areas quickly evolved into concrete parking lots. Not one peanut ever reached England.
2. The Americans Built Highways to Nowhere: After WWII, the Americans built four lane roads in countries with less than one hundred cars. The local Government owned most of the cars. Years later, I sat at a roadside food stand and counted three cars passing in the five hours it took the only bus to travel that road to pick me up.
3. If you think stupidity is limited to English speakers, consider that the Norwegian Government granted US$25 million to build a fish-freezing plant in rural Africa. After the plant was built, someone noticed that the local people don't catch or eat fish. They herd goats.
4. The Soviets built a milk bottling plant in North Africa. The local people don't drink bottled milk and there is no way to ship the milk elsewhere. The plant has yet to ship its first bottle of milk.
5. In East Africa, the Yugoslavian Government built a factory to can mangos. The factory has a capacity that exceeds the entire world's trade in canned mangos.
6. The Italians built a banana processing plant, but the quantity of bananas needed for the plant to breakeven exceed the entire country's banana production.
7. The Americans designed and the Soviet's build the Aswan Dam. Before it was built, studies showed that by 2006, the amount of new irrigation agriculture developed above the dam would be offset by the salinization of the Nile River Delta below the dam. Meanwhile, the Egyptian population would grow and the result would be a constant threat of national starvation. The studies were right.

Everywhere, politicians and bureaucrats produce nothing. In Africa
and elsewhere, the political system runs on the axiom: What's mine is mine. What's yours we'll share. In all but four countries, upon independence a one party political system evolved with a single ruler. The result was instant corruption. When Mobutu Sese Seko left office, he had accumulated a $10 billion dollar fortune. He could have written a check and paid off Zaire's $7 Billion foreign debt and still had enough to get by amply in the West. It isn't simply the fact that almost all African leaders are corrupt and dictatorial, it's the fact that most opposition party leaders are seeking office to rape the country. The result is a political vacuum that makes it nearly impossible to help the honest, hardworking Africans create a middle class and stabilize their country.

Today, Prime Minister Blair wants to make another attempt at saving African Swiss-Bank Socialism. His plan is to forgive the debt of the poorest African countries. I'd agree, since this debt will never be repaid. Tying it to countries "on the road to economic reform" is nonsense. Mr. Blair's plan is to double aid from rich nations' taxpayers to US$25 billion each year and US$50 billion annually starting in 2015. The Gnomes in Switzerland must be licking their chops. . Mr. Blair's proposal confirms that the Swiss banks can keep their African clients' accounts and expect to see those accounts grow annually by billions of dollars.

Thanks to the Prime Minister, President Bush has added US$674 million for humanitarian assistance of which US$414 million will go to food aid in the Horn of Africa. Certainly everyone realizes that starvation is a terrible way to slowly die. Unfortunately, due to Global Warming, the 21st Century epitaph for the Horn of Africa will be pending starvation.

Sending money to NGOs (Non-Government Agencies) does see some of that money converted into help for the local people. However, the taxpayer rarely gets fair value for the money sent to any third party. I think funding the eradication of assorted African diseases is in everyone's best interests. >From ridding the continent of River Blindness to finding a way to remove schistosomiasis from Africa's waterways, without damaging the environment, is everyone's social obligation. The West has started to address the issue of African AIDs. We are finding ways to ensure that everyone who is HIV positive has access to modern drugs. Better health for everyone in Africa is a key to allowing a large middle class to evolve.

Mr. Blair and the G8 leaders should realize that trickle down aid is the source of African Swiss-Bank Socialism. If the Prime Minister wants to help the honest, intelligent and hardworking people of Africa, he should take his lead from the women of West Africa. A group of women each put some money into a pot. Then one of the women uses the collected funds to buy something to start a business. As her business prospers, she repays her debt and the next woman, using the same risk capital, starts her business. Eventually, all the women are in business. Usually, about this time along comes a local bureaucrat seeking bribes to allow the women to remain in business. What if the West supplied the local pots of loan capital? What if the local tribal elders had the power to expose corrupt officials seeking bribes? What if the G8 required laws to protect the small businesspersons so that they could prosper? Sadly, none of these options needs to be considered as long as the West thinks African Swiss-Bank Socialism is the way to African Economic Growth. It isn't.

Given African reality, if I were an African businessperson, I'd follow the lead of African politicians and move my money offshore. My family would soon follow.

The Future and Your Family
By
William Cate

We're on the Titanic. The iceberg has been visible for over fifty years. Governments have done little to avoid the collision. Do you have a lifeboat for your children?

The World Economy Is An Illusion

Governments manipulate the economy to achieve short-term political stability. For instance, most Government statistics have a strong bias in favor of leaving the populace with a favorable view of the present economy. While special interest groups and many politicians may disproportionately benefit from the ongoing economic manipulation, the goal is to keep the electorate content. In general, Government manipulation has succeeded since the 1930s. However, the short term illusion has deferred long term problems. It hasn't solved them.

Fiscal conservatives argue that U.S. Government debt financing of over $5.7 trillion isn't in the public interest because it creates currency inflation. Over time, inflation destroys the populace's faith in the currency and the economy fails. What these fiscal conservatives fail to realize is that the trillions in debt financing creates jobs today in both the Government's growing bureaucracy and in the private sector that supplies whatever goods and services the government seeks. It creates a rosy now for a dark future.

At the end of WWII, the Bank of America introduced the first VISA credit card. The credit card industry has evolved into a multi-trillion dollar consumer-lending program. If you combine credit card debt and mortgages in the U.S, consumer debt is greater than Government debt. You can borrow your way to temporary happiness. You can't borrow your way to solvency.

Built upon this unstable Public/Private multi-trillion dollar debt structure is the multi-quadrillion dollar Derivative's Market. It puts at risk more than thirty-six times the value of all the currencies in the world. Banks and Hedge Funds are betting that governments can maintain their economies against growing debt. It's a bad bet.

In The Great Contraction by Milton Friedman and Anna
Schwartz, they argue that the Great Depression was the result of monetary forces. Applying this thesis the results are the Depression started when one Austrian bank failed. Within months, ten thousand banks failed. Unemployment was rampant for years. Extremists rose to power. WWII resulted. The Depression ended when debit spending for WWII created sufficient jobs. The success of debit spending paved the policy path for governments after 1945.

Today, the Public/Private debt structure is far worse. Derivatives put the world banking system at extreme risk. National economies are integrated. The first time a major government stumbles, the Mother of All Depressions will result. It will be global.

The Environmental Danger

Environmental issues are long term economic issues. From the Paleolithic to the present, technological advancement usually means increased population and reduced biodiversity. As any observant caver or aquarium owner realizes, the simpler the ecosystem, the more likely it is to fail.

The Industrial Revolution gave mankind the ability to destroy the global ecosystem. Most scientific research supports the fact that we are doing a very efficient job in increasing the world's population while reducing the ability to sustain that population over time. The results will be a multi-century Depression of unbelievable hardship.

Consider the Romans. Their technology produced no more than a quarter horsepower of power. Using their limited technology, they converted Southern Europe and the Mediterranean into arid agricultural land. Like wheat farming in Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle during WWI that resulted in the dustbowl of the Depression, the Romans soon learned that the resulting farms weren't profitable to work. Farmers fled the land for the cities. The Romans passed laws to keep the farmers on the land. These laws tying the poor farmers to the land formed the basis for the serf system of the Dark Ages that followed.

Global Warming

Global warming is reality. Ocean levels will rise. Low-lying countries will disappear. River deltas, like the Nile, will either be covered with salt water or salt water will invade the groundwater table making irrigation agricultural impossible. Since deltas are a major source of food production around the world, food supplies will diminish. Climatic zones will move North and South from the Equator. While the North American wheat belt will go north, it will take centuries for the Taiga soil to evolve to the point where it can support commercial wheat production. As global warming continues and the population grows, the food production will fall. Within thirty years, there won't be any food exporting countries. The economic bubbles that are India and China will have burst and the struggle will be to feed people not to export goods to the West.

There are scores of environmental problems whose bills will become due in the next fifty years. We lack the resources and technology to meet the challenges of these costs. The Mother of All Depressions will be followed by a Multi-Century Dark Ages.

Your Family's Lifeboat Options

If you're over 50 years of age and without descendants, you need not worry too much about the future. You won't be around when things really turn bad. If you have a family and want to see your children survive the future, there are some steps you should consider taking now:

1. If you live in a country that is likely to have severe economic and environment problems in this Century, immigrate now. Canada or New Zealand should be your first choices. You should consider Australia, Western Europe and the United States. Immigration is difficult, but it is certainly possible.

2. Anyone under 40 years of age should have some skill that would be needed in a Depression where the local currency has become worthless. For instance, if your profession is in construction, agriculture or medicine, you have such barter skills. If you are a store manager or a bureaucrat, you should consider developing a useful hobby, like gardening, canning, or fishing, into a barter skill. You should encourage your family members to do the same.

3. Globalize to Survive. While governments discourage their citizens from moving assets offshore, it is essential to do it for the long-term survival of any family. If your children must move to another country, having the money to do so is essential to making a success of life in their new home. It's not that difficult to open an offshore bank account or create a foreign corporation. It's a wise insurance policy against an uncertain and probably bad future.

If you disagree with my view of the future, make a copy of this article and read it again in twenty years. If you believe that the preponderance of evidence supports my vision of the future and want more detailed advice on how to function in a world gone mad, email me at: Beowulfinvestments@Earthlink.net

A powerful consumer market with annual spending power exceeding $350 billion, Hispanics—or should that be Latinos?—have become the largest minority group in the United States, and a marketplace well-worth looking into and with plenty to see--once you get the labels straight.

So which is it, “Hispanics” or “Latinos”?

Hispanics and Latinos have hotly debated that question for years, and apparently, picking one answer over the other means drawing political, social, and generational lines in the sand.

I’ll explain later, but for now let’s get some numbers on the table.

Hispanic Database – The Numbers Tell the Story

It made headlines! Hispanics are now the largest minority group in the U.S., outnumbering blacks by nearly 1 million (37 million v. 36.2 million).

That may have been news, but demographers and advocacy groups saw it coming; those population estimates merely confirmed it. With extensive immigration from economic basket case, Latin America--and a robust birthrate among predominantly Catholic Hispanics--this gap is expected to grow. By 2020, the Hispanic population could easily double to 70 million, or 21% of the U.S. population; by 2050 expect people of Hispanic origin to number more than 100 million. Hispanics are 11.4% of today’s work force, a figure that could easily double in a ten years.

• Over 7.6 million Hispanic households in the U.S. average 3.6 people per household.

• U.S. Hispanic households have 2 or more people employed full time; 58% of Hispanics over 18 are employed full time.

• About 1 million Hispanic households in the United States have incomes of $50,000 or more

• The average Hispanic household spends $31,013 annually.

• Hispanics are a young population. The median age of U.S. Hispanics is 26.5 compared to a median age of 32.2 for non-Hispanics

• 12.8 million Hispanics were foreign-born; of this number, 1 in 4 were naturalized citizens.

• Among foreign-born Hispanics, 43% entered the U.S. in the 1990s, while 27% entered before 1980.

• Although 74% of those who entered the country before 1970 had obtained citizenship by 2000, only 7% of those who entered between 1990 and 2000 had become citizens. (Becoming a naturalized citizen requires five years of residence in the U.S.)

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau 2000 Census of Population and The Hispanic Population in the United States, March 2000, Roberto Ramirez and Melissa Therrien.

Flexing Economic and Political Muscle

Today, the 7.6 million-plus Hispanic households in the U.S. boast higher educational levels, greater access to credit and capital, and more finely tuned technological skills than ever. Consequently, with buying power exceeding $350 billion, the current generation of Hispanics is an economic powerhouse.

That Adds up to Prime Marketing Potential

More than half of all Hispanics in the U.S. are between ages 18-49, which means most of them are getting married, buying homes, starting families, launching careers, and in many cases, opening their own businesses.

A strong entrepreneurial streak runs through this market, with Hispanic-owned businesses in the U.S. totaling 1.2 million firms employing over 1.3 million people and generating $186.3 billion in revenues in 1997, according to a report released this year by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau. Indeed, Hispanic-owned companies made up 6% of the 20.8 million non-farm businesses in the nation and 1% of the $18.6 trillion in receipts for all businesses.

Market Positioning Pays (As Always)

The longer Hispanics live in an area and the more prosperous they are the more invisible they become, and many school districts are having marked success with “immersion” English-language training among Hispanic grade school students. Yet assimilation may never be complete. In most Hispanic communities in the U.S., strong cultural identity persists, and that can affect how you market to them. So though the times are indeed a-changing (to borrow a phrase), you’ll still find that a fundamental understanding of Hispanic culture and working knowledge of Spanish are assets in this market—make that markets, since Hispanic communities are no more homogeneous than others.

Like any group, Hispanics in a community typically become reconfigured into distinct market segments—small-business owners, professionals, agribusiness, and so on—with all the usual qualifying characteristics: Common identity and accessibility; Common characteristics; Identifiable wants, needs and objectives; active communications networks.

Where is Home?

“The Southwest and Northeast still have the heaviest concentrations of Hispanic communities, but Latinos are changing the look, sound and feel of more and more cities across the nation that have not traditionally been home to Hispanics,” reports Gigi Anders in Hispanic Magazine, adding that Hispanic communities are developing at a record-breaking pace in other nontraditional states such as Arkansas, Oregon, Nevada, and South Carolina.

And Georgia!

Yolanda Rodríguez, writing in Hispanics Online: “In 1996, the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce had 180 members and now has 931, ranging from multimillion dollar companies to small mom-and-pop operations.”

Business owners and professionals who understand that will enjoy a competitive edge in this marketplace and find it easier to build productive relationships with receptive Hispanic prospects and clients.

So, What is it: Hispanic or Latino?

We’re back to that question…

Those who call themselves Hispanic are typically more assimilated (or acculturated), politically conservative, and younger than those who use the term Latino, who, conversely, tend to be liberal, older, and at times, more radical.

“A recent presidential tracking poll by Hispanic Trends, Inc., a polling firm associated with Hispanic Magazine, wanted to put the identity issue to rest once and for all by asking registered voters which term they preferred--Hispanic or Latino?” Concludes Ms. Granado, “The result was something of a surprise: A majority prefers the term Hispanic.”

There, does that straighten the picture on the wall?

Reference Sources:

1. U.S. Census Bureau, Census of Population.

2. www.HispanicsOnline.com. This website is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to learn more about Hispanic culture, lifestyle, economics and demographics.

3. “Surveys Reveal Hispanics’ Family Concerns,” Humberto Cruz, The Savings Game, Tribune Media Services, 1/5/03

4. “Family Is Priority for Many Hispanic Workers,” Carol Kleiman, Tampa Tribune, 12/24/02

5. The Allied Media Publication Network allows you to target this market through publications whose editorial focus is directly linked to Hispanic culture.

6. “Bilingual Yellow Pages to Embrace Hispanics,” Rafael Morales, Tampa Tribune, 10/25/02

7. “Small Business Research Summary’s – Analysis of Hispanic-Owned Companies,” David Birch September 2000. Cognetics Marketing Services, Inc.

8. “The Hispanic Market Continues To Grow Everywhere!” Alex López Negrete, President/CEO, López Negrete Communications.

9. “The Hispanic Population in the United States, March 2000,” Roberto Ramirez and Melissa Therrien.

10. “Top 10 Cities For Hispanics 2002,” Gigi Anders, www.HispanicsOnline.com

11. “Hispanics Living in the Peach State,” Yolanda Rodríguez, www.HispanicsOnline.com

12. “'Hispanic' vs. 'Latino’: A New Poll Finds That The Term 'Hispanic' Is Preferred,” Christina Granado, www.Hispaniconline.Com

Want More? Send questions and comments to w.willard3@knology.net

BRITAIN AND BOOTY:

The bulk of this chapter will be taken from a book about the War of 1812. I must deconstruct the generalities and interpret the meaning as it relates to our investigation of hegemony and cronyism or Synarchy. Officers in the wars of these times got a percentage of the booty their underlings took. They also were frequently aligned with the enemy or other side as you can see in the movie Braveheart. The Black Market in modern wars has a lot of the same kind of thing. This incentive to go to war has a lot of impact on us still. The British had just taken about 2,000 slaves or ‘runaways’ from near Baltimore to be part of the workforce in the Canadian Maritime Provinces. As we have noted already, the American Enlightenment Experiment had come about when Nobles in America saw their British cousins were freeing their slaves. It was not the only reason to secede but it was probably more important than the reasons usually presented in American immigration exams or schools. Sometimes it is cheaper not to have to care for your workforce if you have a system that keeps them in place.

“New Orleans, located a hundred miles up the Mississippi River, was a particularly tempting target. With a population of almost 25,000, it was the largest city west of the Appalachian Mountains. It was also the principal outlet for western commodities, and millions of dollars of produce was blockaded in the port. Scottish naval officers like Cochrane were known to have a keen eye for booty, and the British brought large cargo ships with them to carry off their plunder. (1) Indeed, British prisoners of war and deserters claimed that the watch-word and countersign on the morning of the Battle of New Orleans was ‘beauty and booty’. (2)

Initially British officials saw this campaign as a means of taking pressure of Canada. But by the time the operation got under way, the objective had changed. General Ross—who was supposed to lead the expedition—was instructed ‘To obtain command of the embouchure [mouth] of the Mississippi, so as to deprive the back settlements of America of their communication with the sea’ and ‘to occupy some important and valuable possession, by the restoration of which the conditions of peace might be improved, or which we might be entitled to exact the cession of, as the price of peace.’ Ross was to encourage the free inhabitants to revolt but was to make no binding promises about the future. ‘[Y]ou must give them clearly to understand that Great Britain cannot pledge herself to make the independence of Louisiana, or its restoration to the Spanish Crown, a sine qua non of peace with the United States.’(3)

As a preliminary to the main expedition, in May of 1814 Cochrane dispatched a shipload of arms to Indians on the Apalachicola River in Spanish Florida.” (4)

So we are able to ask a lot of questions at this juncture I hope.

We know that the race card was being used by Britain in this war and there are reasons to think that the founding of the United State had more to do with slavery in the first place than any Tea Party or taxes. Britain had outlawed slavery a decade before the US was created. Slavery in Greece was worse than at any time in the US or elsewhere, although Columbus (an agent of the Holy Alliance and Hibernian or Alumbrados forces) certainly did more than most Greek states in this regard. He was engaging in mass genocide on purpose so I do not consider it mere slavery.

That is not the whole reason for the creation of the United States and there could be a good argument made for the forces of the so-called New World Order acting to make the US what it has become. I have shown the Indians are often agents for the Synarchists or elite and secret societies in many books and you can find the Sioux acting on behalf of them in this book. Joseph Brant and Sitting Bull are part of the same continuum including the Mediwiwin Society which was Masonic before the arrival of the explorers and some people think Abraham Lincoln was a Melungeon. I think the Bairds are similarly connected to the Huguenots we will see a religious Baird of the 19th Century wrote extensively about. But all of this intrigue is just the icing on the cake or superficial factoids of public sensationalism. The fact is far more sophisticated and the forces of power are using a ‘play both ends against the middle’ or Hegelian Dialectic.

The British were able to enter Pensacola with the assistance of the local Spanish officials. But the Spanish did not like Major Nicholls recruiting slaves and calling on all slaves to rebel against their ‘imbecile governments’. He then tried to take Mobile which had been taken by the Americans in 1813. I ask you to think long and hard about Jean Lafitte and his role as a Spanish agent at this juncture. Was he really just a businessman engaged in slavery? Why did he work with the Americans and were the Spanish not unlike the French in their sale of the Louisiana Purchase at a high level? I remind you that the Spanish Government was a mere vassal state for the Vatican since long before Rodrigo Borgia held the Papal Bull addressing incest over the heads of Isabella and Ferdinand.

Most important to consider is a secret arrangement between Britain and Rome that apparently was last expressed at the Treaty of Verona. This agreement is called the Holy Alliance and some people think the Maritime Laws are part of it. I am sure they are a mere and simple example of the whole gambit however. It is connected with the Treaty of Tordesillas and the make up of the New World Order. The elite have in fact managed both sides for far longer than this and therir are certain families who have used nations as mere fronts for a very long time. It goes back long before what we call history. Same people - all the time - in every century for at least the 5,000 years James Joyce referred to as a 'nightmare' as quoted by Campbell in Gimbutas' Language of the Goddess.

I have learned some new things in the last two days and thought I would share them with my readers. I am just a simple and humble columnist and op-ed writer. I usually don't try to write about anything too hard. There are your sophisticated writers and then there are your humorous writers like that guy, what's his name, who works for the Miami Herald but who is taking a small sabbatical (May he never return—I want his job.) I fall somewhere in the middle. Anyway.

New term: Ideological Imperialism.
Definition of term:

1.Ideological: Concerned with or suggestive of ideas.

2.Imperialism: A policy of extending your rule over foreign countries or a political orientation that advocates imperial interests.

I cannot say that I have coined this term. I think minds more mighty than my (feeble) own have thought this through and coined this term or phrase.

What got me to thinking about this is that recent business with the African-American Ideological Imperialists Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. They got their boxer shorts all twisted into a knot over President Vicente Fox's most innocuous statement about Mexicans doing jobs that even American blacks will not do—referring to the Mexican migrant worker issue.

In the Mexican mind, in their cultural context, it was an innocuous and harmless statement. I should know because I live in Mexico and am exposed to this daily. Mexican mothers affectionately call their lighter-skinned children Blanquito and their darker-skinned ones Negrito.

Nevertheless, all political correctness hell has broken loose with the African-American branch of the American Ideological Imperialists, Jesse and Al, with Warp engines at maximum and PC phasers at the ready.

Even as I write these words, the African-American Imperialist, Lord Jesse Jackson, is in Mexico City giving President Fox and earful of his ideology of what is Politically Correct and what is not as applied to African-Americans. Jackson will not leave this alone.

Let me tell you why this is a prime example of American Ideological Imperialism.

Jackson and his ilk have an ideology of what should and should not be said when referring to people of the black color. Or, for that matter, what should be said, thought, or felt. He is here in Mexico, right now, "extending his rule over Mexico with his political orientation that advocates imperial interests".

Jackson's imperial interest: Force the rest of the world to adhere to his African-American Political Correctness.
Do you see this? Are you getting what I am trying to say? Jackson, Sharpton, and their organizations are not alone.

American Ideological Imperialism applies to the Jackson and Sharpton blacks, the Gay Agenda Activists, the Feminists, the Abortionists, you name it—if there exists an American ideology about ANYTHING there will someone trying to force it down the throats of the rest of the world.

This is a major reason, I believe, why the world hates America! Why can't America get that? America engages in Ideological Imperialism, they will not stop, and the rest of the world recognizes this as the height of super-arrogance.

Americans apparently believe that their views, and no one else's, on issues of race, homosexuality, economics, terrorism, Mexican migrant workers, immigration, Homeland Security, feminism, and whatever else under the sun are the only right views!

"It's my way or the highway!"

And they seek to ram their ideology of human existence down the throats of the world—a.k.a. Jesse and Al, in Mexico. God only know what they are saying!

Ideological Imperialism—memorize it!

According to the September 2004 issue of the Nilson Report, around $588 billion dollars worth of debit cards were bought in the United States in 2003. By 2008 that volume is expected to grow to $1.231 trillion putting a significant dent in the nation’s use of pure credit cards as consumers continue to favor the use of prepaid debit cards. If you are among the nation’s millions who are currently using prepaid debit cards or are among those considering their use, you need to know two things that may detract and enhance your use of the prepaid debit card.

First, know what you’re getting. Most people understand the prepaid debit card as the retail gift card. Others know that such gift cards can be purchased through their local bank. What some consumers don’t know is that those purchased through their bank can come with hefty fees attached, and those fees can come in a myriad of disguises from up-front purchase fees to various administration fees including replacement costs account maintenance fees and fees for checking the balance. Such fees are currently being debated in the courts, but until a fair resolution is offered, it is up to the consumers to be aware of what they are buying.

Second, despite consumer and fair trade concerns, some applications of the prepaid debit card are both innovative and convenient. For example, there are now some tax preparation services offering what is known as the “stored value” card. In other words, in lieu of waiting for your refund to arrive, you can simply tell your tax preparation service that you would like to have your refund loaded onto your prepaid debit card. Once you have your prepaid debit card “loaded” you can make arrangements with your bank to assign it a routing number so that you may use it just like a checking account. Another new use of prepaid debit cards come from the currency exchange companies, better known as remittance services. The usual remittance companies such as Western Union and MoneyGram are facing new competition from small companies who are targeting the immigration population by offering speed and convenience in sending money on-line using a bank account, a credit card or a PayPal account. The customer simply electronically “loads” the desired amount onto a Visacard which is then mailed to the beneficiary.

With the help of the internet, the potential to send money via “loaded” cards is without precedent. The ease, speed and convenience of such services are becoming so popular that many companies are aggressively marketing prepaid debit cards to consumers through customization. Visa, for example, has a prepaid debit card marketed exclusively to teens, know as Buxx. American Express has the TravelFunds Card marketing “for people on the go” and MasterCard has its I-Gen MasterCard marketed to those who prefer to either forego traditional checking accounts or keep only a minimum amount while “loading” their card with the cash their budgets dictate they can spend.

Panama’s program for retirees is said to be the best in the world. There is no age limit to qualify for the Tourist Pensionado Visa Program. You need only to be able to prove a monthly pension or retirement income of US$500 from a government or corporation, plus US$100 for each dependent. Legally, you could be as young as 18 to retire in Panama.
You will need documentation proving your pension income, certified and stamped by the Panamanian embassy in your country of origin, plus a valid passport and a clear police record for the past five years.
If you don’t have a pension, you can still qualify by depositing sufficient funds in the National Bank of Panama to generate $750 a month. This amount covers any number of dependents. Alternatively, you could start a qualified tourism-related business, or invest in a forestry project.
You must use a Panamanian immigration lawyer, pass a medical on arrival in Panama and be tested free of HIV. Your legal representative will shepherd you through the immigration office, once to register various documents and a second time to have your photograph taken and be presented with your identity card (carnet).
Carry this card with you at all times. You can be fined for not doing so. Prior to receiving your carnet, carry your passport or a photocopy of it.
Legal expenses and fees can vary depending on size of family and complexity, but should be around $1,500 for one person, or $2,000 for a couple.
The immigration process must be started before you leave your home country. Once you arrive in Panama as a tourist, you will be able to stay for up to 90 days. This can be extended for a further 90 days if needed.
Qualifying for permanent residence takes from 30 to 60 days, depending on the time of year and the availability of certain key immigration officials. Given all the public holidays, November and December are good months to avoid.
Although not required, it will be helpful for you to obtain letters of good standing from your bank or banks and any other financial institutions. Do not close your bank accounts. You will need at least one, and preferably two, open bank accounts somewhere in the world before you will be able to open an account here.
Also, keep at least some credit cards. Getting credit cards in a new country ranges from difficult to impossible. One bank here, HSBC, offered the writer a card with a $5,000 credit limit provided $10,000 was placed on deposit.
Finally, go to your local automobile association and get an international driver’s license. Your own license is good here for 90 days, but there is no limit on an international license. (Expect lots of puzzled looks from local traffic police as they thumb through the multi-page document written in several languages.)

The city of Cape Town is situated on the south western tip of the African continent, in one of the most beautiful natural locations in the world.
The original inhabitants of the Cape region were the Khoi San people whose ancestry can be traced back thousands of years, through the discovery of fossils and artifacts, to the origins of humanity in Central Africa.

The "Mother City" as Cape Town has become known over the years was the first South African port established by European settlers in the 16th century.

Dutch sailors working for the VOC - Dutch East India Company set up a refreshment station at the Cape. They also established the Company Gardens in the city which was used to provide passing ships on route to the West Indies with fresh produce. The gardens still exist and have been cultivated and transformed into a place of relaxation for Capetonians.

Early Culture and language.
The first Muslim slaves were brought in to the Cape from Madagascar in the 17th century to help run the refreshment station. This immigration continued until 1834 and was expanded to include slaves from African countries such as Angola and Mozambique, the West Indies and Sri Lanka.

Various languages were spoken in those early days but the most predominant was Malay. Gradually the Afrikaans language, a simplified form of Dutch containing elements of Malay and originally used for communicating with their masters, took over among the slaves. It spread inland throughout South Africa when descendants of Cape Dutch and French settlers trekked north to colonise the interior and eventually establish the Afrikaner nation.

The Cape Malays of today with their unique Muslim cultural heritage, and the Christian 'coloured' community descended from mixed blood unions between the early settlers, the indigenous Khoi and the slaves who brought their African Indian culture into the Cape.

In the 17th century British settlers arrived and annexed the Cape declaring it a British Colony. They developed the city of Cape Town using slave labour. Slavery was eventually abolished in the 19th century.
The British went on to develop and colonise South Africa. Elements of their influence in the Cape are still visble in the architecture of many buildings in the surrounding coastal towns eg. Simonstown

Cape Town Attractions.
The ancient Table Mountain often draped in swirling cloud and flanked by its attendants Devil's Peak and Lion's Head, forms an impressive backdrop to the sprawling city of Cape Town and is a well known subject for many postcards and photographs. It stands at the head of a chain of mountains forming the Cape Peninsula National Park which follow the line of the Peninsula to Cape Point.

On the eastern slopes of Table Mountain lie the well known Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens the largest of its kind in South Africa, and home to thousands of varieties of indigenous plants. The oldest wine farm in the country, Groot Constantia, established in the 17th century is situated on the lower slopes of the "Back Table" Its modernised winery is in full production.

The rugged Cape coast is dotted with upmarket suburbs, quaint fishing villages and stretches of sandy beaches separated by massive rocky outcrops - remnants of the original geological formations from which Table Mountain developed. The well known extensive Winelands and historic Cape towns such as Stellenbosch and Paarl, interspersed with rugged mountain ranges are situated an hour or two away, inland.

Cape Town is known for its historic and unique architecture which is still apparent in the city and many of the surrounding communities. It has developed from a number of diverse influences such as Cape Dutch, British and Muslim.

The original stone fort, oldest building in South Africa, now significantly upgraded and known as the Castle, was built on the early shoreline by the Dutch in about 1670 to repel invaders. Another well known city landmark is the Groote Kerk (big church) built around 1700.

Cape Town's location at the juncture of the Atlantic and Indian oceans, and the influence of the nearby mountain ranges on prevailing air currents means that the Cape experiences a Mediterranean type climate with dry warm to hot summers cooled by south easterly winds, and cool wet winters. The Atlantic sea temperature off the west coast is generally a few degrees colder than that of the Indian Ocean.

The commercial centre in the city bowl comprises modern high rise office blocks and hotels often sandwiching smaller historic buildings built in the original Cape Dutch style. The new Cape Town Convention Centre on the Foreshore is a popular venue for trade exhibitions and music festivals.

The thriving upmarket Cape Town Waterfront is a major attraction for tourists and locals alike. It has developed into one of the most popular venues in the country with its combination of modern retail outlets, artistic markets and laid back entertainment, and is crowded throughout the year

Your Nike shoes that cost you 150 dollar and your 70 dollar pair of Levi Strauss jeans were most likely made by a young person from the age of 5-14 living in Indonesia, Honduras, China or Haiti. They are forced to work with no benefits, low wages, long hours, and unsanitary conditions. They are basically slaves. Some factory management assault, rape, and abuse the workers.

Children are the majority that dies from this immoral exploitation. According to http://www.solidaritycenter.org Children are forced to work up to 15 hours a day, seven days a week in factories and in fields. These children are deprived of schooling, beaten, sexually abused, engorged and forced to work in dangerous unsanitary conditions. The children are sold to employers who pay families for the use of their child.

211 million children from the ages of 5-14 work worldwide in sweatshops. The U.S. government estimated that, 50,000 to 100,000 each year women and children are trafficked in the United States, half of which are trafficked into domestic servitude and sweatshop labors from various countries. Trafficking is a slavery-like practice that must be eliminated. Trafficking in women and children is now considered the third largest source of profits for organized crime, behind only drugs and guns," An estimated 200,000 Bangladeshi women have been trafficked to Pakistan over the last 10 years, the majority being young women.

According to a Press Release March 2005

With an estimated 600,000–800,000 people trafficked worldwide in 2004 alone, human trafficking is a $5.7 billion a year industry The Lawyers Committee for Human Rights urges you to take the following actions:

"Help End Sweatshop Practices" Action Alert on http://www.lchr.org

US Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MN), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced a comprehensive legislation to tackle the violations of human rights in the context of the trafficking of persons, particularly women and children, for purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. Please send the following message to your state representative asking him or her to support the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. To review the Act, go to; http://thomas.loc.gov and type in the following Bill Number: S. 2449.

Dear NAME OF YOUR SENATOR HERE:

I write to you as a concerned citizen and I am asking for your support. Each year thousands of persons are trafficked into the US and are held under slave like conditions. This is a gross and escalating human rights violation and a worldwide problem that must be addressed in the US, even as the US government continues to fight it on the international front. I therefore ask you to support the Bill S.2449 by Senator Wellstone to combat trafficking of women and children. The Trafficking Victims Act 2000 strikes at a domestic and international problem which has been neglected for too long. In a recent report on trafficking, the CIA estimated that every year more than 50,000 women and children are brought to the United States and are forced to work as prostitutes, forced laborers or servants. Worldwide, trafficking affects up to 2 million persons each year. This is a gross human rights violation.

The Bill S.2449 by Senator Paul Wellstone aims to prevent trafficking in persons, provide protection and assistance to those who have been trafficked, and punish those responsible for trafficking. It will ensure that the State Department and U.S. law enforcement agencies are fully engaged in the issue, that our immigration laws do not encourage rapid deportation of victims, and that trafficking victims receive needed services and safe shelter. In addition, the Bill toughens criminal penalties, and provides substantial resources to programs assisting victims at home and abroad.

I urgently ask you to sign on as a co-sponsor for Senator Wellstone's Bill and to vote in favor of it.

Sincerely,

Your Name

Your Address

Free the Children is an international network of children helping children at a local, national and international level through representation, leadership and action. Co-op America's Sweatshops.org aims to end sweatshops and child labor; supports fair trade, international human and labor rights. Download “Ending Public Subsidies of Sweatshop Abuses: A Guide to ‘Sweatfree’ Procurement Laws,” a manual by the group No More Sweatshops!

Children are being stripped of their rights and forced to work long hours in harsh sweatshop conditions for wages of 20-30¢ an hour. It's time to work together and end child labor. You can get lists of companies using sweatshop labor from The Just Shopper's Guide.
Resources for this article:

http://www.ncjw.org/html/News/PressReleases/050304/
http://shell.ihug.co.nz/~stu/shoppersguide.htm
http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/
http://www.freethechildren.org/

Here they are, our Ladies of Mercy and Divine Benevolence. Petitioning the Saints for Special Favours has been a big subject in the chat rooms lately, so in the spirit of Christmas and the Goddess energies associated with these martyrs and popularized pagan deities, I have compiled a list that tells you how to use candle burning to request favours.
When you ask the Catholic Saints for help, it is common to write your request on a piece of paper and place it on the appropriately coloured candle. If a totem animal, emblem or object is suggested, you can also place that item, or a picture of that item on her altar as well. If you can find a picture of the Saint in a religious store and place it on the altar that is even better.
Saint Agnes
Burn a white or blue candle on a Friday to ask for her help to: keep a husband faithful, find a soulmate, or reveal dishonesty in a relationship (find out the truth about someone). Her animal is the lamb.
Saint Ann (also known as Anne and Ana)
Burn a white candle on a Monday to ask her for a peaceful and happy home. She is the patron Saint of grandmothers, housekeepers, housewives, mothers and women in labour. Petition her for help with the deaf and the blind.
Saint Barbara
Burn a red candle on a Saturday to drive a way evil, to protect your relationship from rivals, to protect yourself from meddling in-laws, to clear your path of obstacles, to help someone be released from prison and for protection from storms. She is also the patron saint of wives whose men are at war. Her emblem is the Tower.
Saint Maria Goretti
Burn a pink candle on a Friday to ask for fidelity in marriage, help with an abusive or battering male partner and a pardon from the death penalty.
Saint Brigid of Kildare
Burn a yellow candle on a Sunday to ask her: to become fertile, for healing, for happiness and health of pets and farmyard animals, to assist with breeding livestock, for inspiration, for literary gifts (especially poetry) and the gift of prophecy. Her symbol is a cow.
Saint Clare of Assisi
Burn a white candle on a Monday for protection against astral attack and for help overcoming addiction to drug and alcohol.
Saint Catherine of Alexandria
Burn a yellow or white candle on a Saturday to petition her for beauty, fertility, a peaceful death, confidence, seductiveness and confidence when public speaking. Her symbol is the wheel.
Saint Dymphna
Burn a blue candle on a Monday for help with nervous disorders, mental afflictions, epilepsy, insanity, obsession and astral attack. Her symbol is a sword pointed downwards.
Saint Cecilia
Burn a green candle on a Wednesday for success in a career in the arts, particularly if you are a musician, poet or singer. Her emblem is an organ.
Saint Francis Xavier Cabrini
Burn a white candle on a Sunday to help with matters of immigration, with moving to another city or state or for matters pertaining to health, education or insurance.
Saint Helen of Jerusalem
Burn a pink or red candle on a Friday to ask for the return of a strayed lover and to overcome sorrow, obsession and unhappiness. Her emblem is a cross.
Saint Joan Of Arc
Burn a grey candle on a Tuesday to petition her for spiritual strength, freedom from prisons of all kinds (emotional and otherwise) and for ways to overcome rivals and energies.
Saint Lucy
Burn a white candle on a Wednesday to ask her to help with insoluble or impossible problems, depression, and protection from the evil eye or astral attack, to help you to find the right lawyer and to conquer temptations or addictions.
Saint Martha
Burn a green and/or a white candle on a Tuesday to ask for aid with financial problems, the necessities of life, to bring a lover closer, to keep a husband or boyfriend faithful, to subdue or conquer romantic rivals or enemies or bring a new love. Her symbol is a dragon.
Saint Philomena
Burn a pink or green candle on a Saturday to help with desperate situations, problems with children, unhappiness in the home, the sick, selling real estate, food for the poor and mental illness. Philomena is a favourite of single mothers. Her symbol is an anchor.
Saint Rita of Cascia
Burn a white candle on a Sunday to assist with an abusive relationship, to relieve loneliness, for deliverance from evil and for spiritual fortitude and strength
Saint Therese of Liseux
Burn a yellow candle on a Wednesday to be loved by all, for popularity, for help with addiction and alcoholism, for protection from black magick and to restore faith. Her emblem is a bouquet of roses.

HI would like to share with you a ritual I do every New Year's that is quite involved and requires a lot of thought and meditation time. It is derived from an ancient Greek ritual for prosperity and fertility. As you may recall, ancient Mediterranean Kings and Queens used to wear garlands of bay leaves (as well as olive leaves) as crowns. Bay leaves, and often bayberry leaves, are often used in Alexandrian magic as well, as well to draw success in business and finances. I like this ritual because first of all it is very "white" and it also involves the writing down of your wishes. The writing down of your wishes on 108 bay leaves works in the same way as a positive affirmation. The stating of your goals and desires allows you to properly manifest them in real life. Every year I pull out my old bay leaves and sort through them and I am always astounded by how many of my wishes have actually been granted.
For this you will need:
a blank check
a gold or silver pen (but a green will do if you can't get those colours)
Cinnamon incense
a green, an orange or a yellow or GOLD candle (whichever colour attracts you the most)
Orange oil, bergamot or success oil or Horn of Plenty oil
a package of bay leaves (whole)
an envelope
pretty ribbon
This ritual is for multiple wishes and is best done when you have at least two hours to spare in meditation and quiet. It is best done within ten days before or after the New Year's. After the New Years or on New Year's Day is preferable.
First of all, take a bath in your favourite bubbles (Calgon, take me away!) and put yourself in a calm and peaceful state. You can play some steady rhythmic music if you like - anything that puts you into a bit of a trance (chanting, new age.)
The first thing you are going to do is light the cinnamon incense. Cinnamon is related to the planet Mercury and symbolizes communication and quick results. Then I want you to scratch your name and birth date on the side of the candle. Put the candle plate that is wrapped in tin foil (to represent the moon).
Then I want you to take the blank cheque and write the amount of money that you think you would like to make this year or the amount you need to get out of trouble using a gold or silver pen. Make the cheque payable to the order of yourself and be sure to add a few more bucks in there as fun money.

The idea here is to make this cheque as pretty as possible. Decorate it with lucky symbols such as dollar signs, hearts and flowers so this money is brought to you with a sense of joy. Once you are happy with your cheque, and have signed and endorsed it and everything, I want you to anoint all four corners of the cheque with one or more of the oils mentioned above. To make it even more person adds a dab of your personal perfume.
Place the cheque you wrote to yourself under the dish. Light the candle and say:
"In the name of the I Am that I Am I pray to the Archangels and their legions of light, I pray to the blessed Virgin and her angels of compassion for the following assistance and blessings"
Now open the package of bay leaves. There are two ways of doing this spell -- in a really BIG way or in a more efficient manner. It depends how much time you have. When I did this on my birthday I used 108 bay leaves (or fragments of leaves because sometimes they crumble in the package) but you can use less if you like. I used 108 because it is a real magic number, but you can just do as many bay leaves as you can.
As the candle burns and the incense is burning too, I want you to write on each bay leaf, a single word that represents each thing you would like to happen in the near future. For instance, if you are looking for immigration status thing write the word "Citizenship" on the bay leaf. If you owe the dentist money write, "dentist bill paid". If you would like a lover to return write "lover returns". Each leaf has a wish written on it. On the leaf after write "high paying job", on the next one "safety", "security", "soulmate"... Place the leaves in a circle around the candle in the shape of wreathe so that it looks pretty and keep on doing this until you are all wished out. Your candle should be circled by bay leaves each with a wish written on it.
This usually takes most people quite a while, and before they know it, the candle has burned down.

If you finish writing the leaves early that is ok too, keep burning the candle down to the bottom (so don't get a candle that is too big.) After you have written a wish too, it helps if you "let go of it" and resign your self to the fact that the higher powers are taking care of it.
After you are done writing all of your wishes, I want you to say:
"I consider this done in this hour, in full power according to the will of God, helping all and harming none Amen."
After the candle burns out, I want you to take the leaves and the cheque and put them in an envelope. Seal the envelope, wrap it with a nice ribbon, kiss it and put it in a safe place. Don't look at this again for a year. Just rest assure that all is unfolding in the Universe as it should.
Blessings to all of you this New Year. xxx Samantha

Ever wondered how to go about emigrating to Australia and go about getting an Australian visa? Wondering what the various options were and how to go about the different schemes without too much red tape or expense? There are lots of ways to emigrate to australia from the UK. This article spells it out in 9 easy stages. Like everything else, applying to emigrate to australia need never be difficult if you plan your route in stages.

1. There are many ways you can start off getting help to emigrate
to Australia. The Australian economy has never been stronger and the Australian government are particularly looking out for skilled people with a specialisation in many business and trade areas. In order to emigrate you could go the route of an expensive lawyer, or you could get the advice of specilist Australian immigration consultants to see if you qualify for Australian immigration eligibility.

2. If you are wondering about work skills needed to emigrate to
Australia or qualifications needed to emigrate to Australia then it's
worth bearing in mind that there is a points system for applying for
what is known as the Skilled Visa. You can fill in an online form to
see if you satisfy the Australian immigration points system as set out by the Australian Department of Immigration and Multicultural
Affairs (DIMIA). A positive assessment does not guarantee eligibility but it does satisfy the basic criteria.Other types of visa are also available. If you want to see how many points do you need to emigrate to australia then you can quickly seek the help of an online Australian immigration visa service.

3. An Australia working visa. Managers, qualified professionals and skilled tradespeople are especially in demand under the Skilled Visa program. Schemes are available for skilled visas on a permanent or temporary basis, and are all based on points needed to emigrate to Australia as set out by the Australian Immigration Department. With the Australian job market advertising over 150,000 jobs each week and unemployment at its lowest in 10 years, being eligible for an Australia work visa has never been more possible. There is a huge demand in the plumbing, security, printing and the building trades in particular. However, despite the huge demand across the board there was a shortage of candidates for jobs in 2004.

4. An Australia working holiday visa. These are exactly what they
sound like. There are many people who dream of being able to emigrate to Western Australia or, more specifically, emigrate to Perth Australia for the amazing weather and facilities there. If you are
between 18 and 30 and are looking to spend 12 months in Australia then you may qualify for one of the many Australian working holiday visas that are available every year. This visa only permits you to work in a temporary or casual vocation. You may not enter into employment with one employer for a period of longer than 3 months. Also known as an Australia travel visa.

5. Family Visa. If you have an Australian partner, or members of your immediate family are permanently based in Australia then you may qualify for one of several family stream visas. Your application to emigrate to Australia can be done online. The Government of Australia encourages emigration in order to bring families together. Under the Family Visa Emigration Programme, migrants considering emigration must be sponsored by a close family member or fiancé(e) living in Australia. There are 4 schemes to choose from in order to find out if you are eligible for emigration. Select the one that best describes your situation. The sponsor must be either an Australian citizen, permanent resident or eligible New Zealand citizen, and would usually be 18 years of age or older.

6. Visitors and tourists. All travellers, except New Zealand citizens, must obtain a visa or travel authority before they travel to Australia. But now there is no need to worry about visiting the Australian Embassy or High Commission to get your visa. You can now get your visa online. If you are planning to travel to Australia as a
visitor or even on a business trip then you may need either a visa or
an ETA (Electronic Travel Authority). An ETA will allow you to spend up to 3 months in Australia and you are free to travel anywhere you like.Find out whether you meet the criteria by taking a free online visa assessment. With the introduction of the ETA you are able to apply online; there is no need to even leave your desk or home.

7. Business and investment visas. If you have had a successful
business career either at a senior executive level or as an owner of
your own business you may qualify for one of several visas under the Australian business visa program. Under the two-stage arrangements introduced on 1 March 2003, business migrants are granted a Business Skills (Provisional) visa for four years and, after establishing the requisite level of business presence required by the DIMIA or maintaining their minimum investment, are eligible to make an application for a Business Skills (Residence) visa. There are 4 schemes available under which a business applicant may emigrate to Australia. Choose the one that best describes you by taking a free online assessment.

8. If you are an employee who is head-hunted or moved to your company's Australia office then you can apply under the Australia
sponsored work visa. Your employer can effectively sponsor you for this by becoming your Australia Immigration Sponsor. Under this system, if you are an established professional, you can emigrate to Australia without a degree.

9. Retirement visas. If you wish to emigrate to Australia on retirement then you may be eligible for an Asyralia retirement visa
given each year. If you are financially secure and would like to
spend some of your retirement years in the warmer climates of
Australia, find out if you qualify with our free online assessment.
Under this system retired people may also choose to work part time if they so wish, so there is a degree of built-in flexibility.

There has never been a better time to emigrate to Australia or to
apply for an Autralia Work Permit or Australia visa application.
Review the above points and see which approach you are best
suited to.

"Ouvea is everything you'd expect in a South Pacific island. Twenty kilometers of unbroken white sands border the lagoon on the west side of the island and extend far out from shore to give the water a turquoise hue. The wide western lagoon, protected by a string of coral islands and a barrier reef, is the only of its kind in the Loyalties. On the ocean side are rocky cliffs, pounded by surf, but fine beaches may be found even here. At one point on this narrow atoll only 450 meters separates the two coasts. Traditional circular houses with pointed thatched roofs are still common in the villages."

Those words appeared in the 1985 edition of my South Pacific Handbook after a visit in 1983. Just over 20 years later I returned to Ouvea to discover that little had changed in this large French colony east of Australia.

Most Ouveans still live in traditional thatched case (houses) and the beach is as dazzling as ever. On my first evening there, as I watched the red fireball set slowly across the lagoon, I felt a strong affinity with my previous visit.

Yet something terrible had happened in my absence. On May 5, 1988, 300 French elite troops stormed a cave near Gossanah in northern Ouvea to rescue 16 gendarmes captured two weeks earlier by Melanesian freedom fighters.

Nineteen Kanaks (the collective name used by the indigenous peoples of New Caledonia) died in the assault, including several who suffered extrajudicial execution at the hands of the French police after being wounded and taken prisoner.

None of the hostages had been harmed. Thus began one of the final chapters of what is now known as the evenements (events) of the 1980s. Three years earlier independence leader Eloi Machoro had been murdered in cold blood by police snipers as he stood outside a rural farmhouse near La Foa, on New Caledonia's main island, Grand Terre.

By 1987 France had 14,000 troops stationed in its mineral-rich Melanesian colony, one for every five Kanaks. The independence movement was to be crushed one way or another.

When I tried to visit the cave at Gossanah on my recent trip, I was told that the area was taboo to allow the spirits time to rest.

Instead I was permitted to visit the grave of Djoubelly Wea in Gossanah and allowed to take pictures of his home. My host on Ouvea told me the story. Evidently, the hostages had been taken by young Kanak activists from other parts of the island, and the captive gendarmes were brought to Gossanah only because the cave was considered remote.

Residents of the area weren't involved. Yet when the French police arrived in search of their comrades, they rounded up the people of Gossanah and assembled them on a football field in front of the village church.

There they were tortured for information, and Wea's father was among those who died of shock. Later 33 Ouveans were sent to prison in France, Djoubelly Wea among them.

These events chastened Kanaks and French alike, and the heads of the main political parties, the Kanak leader Jean-Marie Tjibaou and the representative of the French settlers Jacques Lafleur, were called to Paris by Prime Minister Michel Rocard to negotiate and eventually sign a peace treaty known as the Matignon Accords.

A referendum on independence was promised in 1998, and massive economic aid was to be channeled into the Kanak regions. An amnesty was granted to all those arrested during the troubles, and no investigation into the Ouvea massacre or the murders of several dozen other Kanaks by French settlers or troops would be required.

Fast forward to May 1989, as the top Kanak leaders Jean-Marie Tjibaou and Yeiwene Yeiwene arrive on Ouvea for a commemorative ceremony exactly one year after the massacre.

As the leaders are being received at the chefferie (chiefly house) of Wadrilla near the center of the island, Djoubelly Wea steps forward and shoots the pair dead at point blank range. Wea was reflecting a feeling still palpable in New Caledonia that Tjibaou had sold out to the French and derailed the struggle of independence.

Tjibaou's bodyguard killed Wea, the final shot of the evenements. Today the chefferie of Wadrilla is much the same as it was in 1989, a large thatched case surrounded by a palisade of driftwood logs.

Across the coastal highway, a large monument has been erected to the 19 Kanak martyrs of 1988. Designed with two curving white walls to resemble a cave, the monument bears the photo, name, and date of birth of each victim.

Their traditional war clubs have been placed on the back side of the monument and their remains are interred below.

No memorial to Jean-Marie Tjibaou exists on Ouvea but the French have constructed a massive cultural center to his memory in their stronghold Noumea.

In fairness, it must be said that Tjibaou only considered the Matignon Accords a temporary stop on the road to independence. His assassination froze the agreement into a sort of permanent solution which the French have used to justify continuing colonial rule ever since.

The promised 1998 referendum was never held. Instead an updated treaty called the Noumea Accord was signed. This postponed the referendum for another 15 or 20 years and promised many things the French government has yet to deliver.

For example, a key provision creating a special New Caledonian citizenship status intended to control immigration from France was declared unconstitutional by a French court in 1999.

Metros (metropolitan French) continue to flood into the territory (in violation of United nations resolutions on the norms of conduct for colonial powers in non-self-governing areas) and Europeans may soon from a clear majority of the population.

Toward the end of my stay I visited the Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center in the Tina Peninsula, 12 kilometers northeast of New Caledonia's capital Noumea. Designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano, it was built by French contractors between 1994 and 1998 at a cost of over US$50 million. The center opened on May 4, 1998, 10th anniversary of the assassination of Jean-Marie Tjibaou.

No visitor can help but be impressed by the spectacular botanical garden interwoven with references to Kanak legends which encircles the center's three villages.

A contemporary art gallery, temporary and permanent exhibitions of Kanak and other Pacific art, a library, an audiovisual room, indoor and outdoor theaters, and a large ceremonial area are only some of the center's outstanding features.

Yet the Tjibaou Cultural Center presents Kanak culture as a regional folklore rather than a national tradition.

Events such as the Ouvea Massacre and the other murders of the 1980s are barely mentioned. A room in Village Three provides photos and texts on the life of Jean-Marie Tjibaou, but there's no explanation as to why he was assassinated or the background of his assassin.

The 19th century land seizures and the muscle flexing and maneuvering that have prevented independence are carefully avoided. The highlight for me was an amazing three-meter-high bronze statue of Tjibaou himself, clad in a Roman toga, on a hill overlooking the center.

Tjibaou was the last real Kanak leader, and in a land where the spirits of the dead have an important role in the lives of the living, his soul must be suffering.

The Department of Labor (DOL) recently published the regulations for its Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) program after two years. The regulations will take effect on March 28, 2005.

February 16, 2005- The Department of Labor (DOL) recently published the regulations for its Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) program after two years. The regulations will take effect on March 28, 2005.

The PERM regulations were first proposed in May 2002. They were created to help streamline the permanent labor certification system, thus providing an answer to the current labor certification backlog.

PERM is an electronic process that will be used for filing and processing labor certification applications for permanent employment-based immigration.

One of the most significant changes to the process, under the new PERM regulations, would be the 45-to-60-days-period of processing for electronically submitted applications through PERM. This means that DOL expects that files submitted will be decided within 45-60 days. Current situation can take up to three (3) years of processing for labor certification applications. With the new PERM regulations, DOL contends that it will definitely speed up the process and provide for the means to get the present backlog done in no time.

Employers will be able to file a form electronically via DOL's website when the rule takes effect in March. In addition, employers can also file labor certification applications by mailing them directly to the centralized processing center available. A listing may be viewed at http://www.workforcesecurity.doleta.gov/foreign.

Some of the key features of the new PERM regulations include:

1.The employer must pay the sponsored employee at least 100% of the prevailing wage for the position as determined by DOL.
2.The employer must provide the following requirements for recruitment: (a) advertisement to two Sunday newspaper editions; (b) undertake at least three additional means of recruitment as alternate forms of advertising. For positions that require experience and an advanced degree, the employer is advised to substitute an advertisement in a national journal or publication for one Sunday newspaper advertisement; and (c) place a 30-day job order with the DOL for the offered position.
3.The employer is required to provide a conduct of recruitment for disqualifying candidates, layoffs, and audit, among others.
4.Employer with 10 or fewer employees must document any family relationship between its employees and sponsored employee.
5.The DOL may question whether or not the position is open to US workers if the employee is "required" to pay legal fees.
6.Employers are allowed to withdraw and re-file Labor Certification Applications, while preserving the original filing date. However, applications found not to have "identical job opportunity" will be withdrawn and re-filed under a new filing date.

In today’s society, the world really is getting smaller. As we leap from one technological breakthrough to the next, we find that within micro-seconds we can transfer information from one side of the earth to the other. We can live on one continent and be employed by a company on another. Air-travel means that many people are part of a global workforce that commutes around the globe attending meetings in every international outpost of the company.

This minimizing the world is filtering slowly down through the professional world, and into our personal lives. No longer are we of the mind set that we will one day grow up and marry the boy next door. It happens, but it’s just as likely to marry the boy in the next State, or next country …….or the one who lives on the other side of the world. The Internet is probably the biggest influencing factor on current day international dating.

Throughout history there have been mail-order brides. From the women who were sent to the colonies, to the women who answered small ads from ranchers out west, and more recently, the Russian (and I’m sure other nationalities) who place ads of their own looking for a partner outside of their homelands. Despite this history, finding a mate through some form of media has maintained a “desperate” image – as if the person seeking is unable to find someone to have them locally. The Internet, even with its reputation for “adult” sites has somehow managed to remove some of the stigma, and there is now a healthy and steadily growing international dating scene.

The big question is always “Can international dating lead to anything permanent”? The answer to this is a resounding YES! Many people are prepared to take a chance on love, and move themselves and their lives to be closer to their overseas loved one. Those who do this find that they are suddenly face-to-face on a daily basis with the name they’ve been typing too for a period of time, learning how to co-habit with someone who is physically a stranger, whilst at the same time learning how to handle living in a new country. By far the worst of this is being removed from family, and taking the place of communicating with your partner online, you now spend your time communicating with your family online instead!

There are still many people who regard international dating as desperate, and deem any relationship that comes of such an enterprise to be a failure waiting to happen. Ok, so it might happen, but there are never any guarantees in the love and romance game. Even if you shared a sandbox with the partner you marry, there’s no guarantee that the flame wont go out and one day you’ll wake up and find you have nothing in common with the person who shares your life, your home, your bed. In the best of situations, things go wrong. If the relationship came from an exercise in internet dating, the fallout is messier because then someone is left in a strange country with little by way of personal support system. They then face the situation of either toughing it out in their new country if the local immigration laws permit, or they can return to their homeland and face unemployment amidst the “I told you so” looks of friends.

For every naysayer on whether international dating can turn into a permanent loving relationship, there are two people who can stand together and say “It can work. We are proof of it!”

Whether you’re looking for a long-term relationship, or just a little cultural difference, internet dating can offer you the opportunity to meet up with potential partners who may just be the person you’ve spent your life seeking!

Successful Canadian Immigration

One of the most disheartening things I hear about Canadian Immigration is the stories of families who return to their original country after unsuccessfully attempting to settle in Canada. One of the main reasons for the failures, it seems, is that the principal member of the household that normally supports everyone financially is unable to gain meaningful employment in their chosen profession or trade.

Many of these stories state that once in Canada it is quickly discovered that the foreign qualifications do not meet Canadian standards and so they cannot find employment without extensive retraining. Most of these cases may have been avoidable if the prospective employment requirements had been thoroughly researched well in advance of landing. Canada has an extremely high standard of education and many other systems simply don’t measure up against theirs – a degree program is 4 years for instance. So the chances are you will have to retrain, recertify or normally as a minimum, start again at the bottom. This may seem crazy but it’s the way it is – at least once your experience is apparent you may well soon find yourself rising up the ranks.

When my wife and I moved to Canada I believe we had exceptional luck, but we had also spent two years thoroughly researching our respective occupations in the Province of our intended destination. When I realized that my qualifications would not suffice I had to make alternative plans and so set about working towards qualifications that would be attractive to any employer – not just my “niche”.

A first aid at work course run by the St Johns ambulance will only cost 2 days of your time and around $150.00 and will instantly make you slightly more attractive to any employer – most Provinces have Laws requiring employers to train their staff. Being computer literate with a variety of applications is almost imperative. Anything that makes you stand out and will reduce the cost and time needed to train you, will be a massive boost to your Resume. Also, employers are the same the world over – everyone prefers people who are keen to self improve and make themselves more employable.

The first step is to decide which Province you wish to settle in as each has its own educational assessment agencies and occupational regulators. The Federal application for skilled trades bases your trade on the National Occupation Classification (NOC) list. However, some “Red Seal” trades are regulated in such ways that they transfer between Provinces, but the majority of trades and professions do not, which means recertification if you ever move.

Once you have an idea whereabouts in Canada you want to settle, contact the agency that will carryout your educational assessment and follow their instructions. Once you know what your qualifications equate to you will have a good point from which to start. Then using the PROVINCIAL regulators find out exactly where you stand with regards your intended field of expertise. The International Credential Assessment Service (ICAS) in Ontario provides a service that evaluates educational documents to provide a Canadian equivalent that can be used for employment, immigration or further education. ICAS also has information and advisory services for all types and levels of education - elementary, secondary, postsecondary and technical. I would definitely recommend contacting them well in advance for some professional advice. You can find the contact details on our website “Job search” and “Ontario Immigration assistance” pages at http://www.onestopimmigration-canada.com.

If you only need to complete a few exams or courses to change over to the Canadian system then great, if not, make plans so that you can support yourselves during the time it takes to recertify. Also, try to make sure that there will be a good chance of employment available once you’ve qualified.

Definitely have a back up career chosen or identify anything you could easily cross over into as things rarely work out as you intend. If you read the “Our Story” page on our Canadian Immigration information website http://www.onestopimmigration-canada.com , you’ll see that events transpired that meant my Plan A and Plan B both went wrong. Luckily some earlier research paid off and I managed to “the right job” within 6 weeks.

To close this article, DO NOT rely on your settling funds to last – I would thoroughly recommend working anywhere to start with – our budget gave us 6 months without work but in reality we’d have been in trouble in 4!!!! A servers or Bar job can be very lucrative but even $1,000 a month means that your money will last longer or help with retraining costs. My wife, Andie, worked in the local movie store almost straight away and apart from the money it means you meet people and start making contacts. As the saying goes “it’s not what you know it’s who you know”.

Whatever you decide about your Canadian Immigration adventure, please ensure you fully research your employability – http://www.onestopimmigration-canada.com is packed full of great FREE information about Canadian Immigration and if it’s not on the site, there’ll be a link to the relevant authority.

GOOD LUCK

Dave Lympany

The author immigrated to Canada in 2003 and has constructed a free information website
http://www.onestopimmigration-canada.com about Canadian Immigration based on his family’s experiences.

GLOBAL HEALTH AND ITS IMPACT ON INDIAN HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY PROJECT & RESEARCH BY :
KAUSHIK. V. PANDYA
CELL: +91 9825414144
Email: kaushik_pandya@hotmail.com POPULATION IMPLOSION AND ITS IMPACT ON HEALTHCARE The Old World
Percent of Population 65 and Above
(Projected)
Country 2000 2025
Algeria 4.0 7.1
Brazil 5 3 11.3
China 7.0 13.5
Ethiopia 2.8 2.7
India 4.6 7.8
Iraq 3.1 4.3
Saudi Arabia 2.6 5.6
South Africa 4.8 9.6
Germany 16.2 23.1
Japan 17.0 27.6
Russia 12.6 18.5
Spain 16.9 23.5
United States 12.6 18.5

Source: U.S. Bureau of the Censes, International Data Base
AGEING GLOBAL POPULATION & FALLING FERTILITY RATES
•Mainland China Facing Aging Population Problem. Due to its one-child policy, China's number of elderly people may triple from 130 million to 400 million over the next five years, Currently one young person in mainland China supports an average of four elderly people.
•All five East Asian tigers--Hong Kong, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and Taiwan--have reported sub replacement fertility levels
•Experts predict that Italy's population will shrink 28 percent to 41 million by 2050
•The immediate result of "below replacement fertility" is population aging. As the older population grows to retirement age, they must rely on rapidly expanding social security and medical systems.
•Europe: 35 nations are dying in both Eastern and Western Europe.
•20 European countries now fill more coffins than cradles.
•Europe's population is expected to decrease from 728 million now to 658 million by 2050, due to declining birth rates. Europe registers the world's lowest growth rate at 0.03 percent. In the region of Eastern Europe, population growth is -0.2 percent
•Germany could easily lose the equivalent of the current population of what was once East Germany over the next half-century. . The home healthcare market in Germany is the third largest in the world and the largest in Europe. It was valued at euro 14.62 billion in 2003.
•Russia's population is already contracting by three quarters of a million a year.
•Japan: Incentives Offered To Reverse Falling Birthrate. The average birthrate for a Japanese woman was just 1.38 in 1998, Japan's record low and among the lowest in the world.
•50 Years From Now, It'll Be a Grey India. By 2051, only 19% of the country's population would be up to the age of 14 years. Currently this group constitutes almost 38% of the population. The median age will rise by 17 years from 21 years now to 38 years in 2051. Couples are opting for one child, or at the most two - and with advancement in health services, about 15% of the population will be over the age of 65 by 2051. The total fertility rate - number of children per woman) in India would is expected to come down to 2.52 between 2011 and 2016, and is expected to reach 2.1 in 2026.
•Canadians are becoming an endangered species," with the Canadian fertility rate at an all-time low. Canada's fertility rate stands at an all-time low of 1.5 children per woman, far below the 2.1 stand-still replacement rate, with an overall population growth of just 4.3 per cent.
•Mexico fertility rates have dropped so dramatically, the country is now ageing five times faster than the US.
•Fertility rates are falling faster in the Middle East than anywhere else on earth, and as a result, the region's population is ageing at an unprecedented rate.
•Would a depopulating planet be a planet of wheelchairs--of increasingly infirm and brittle senior citizens with correspondingly escalating demands for medical services and care from the rest of society?

Uninsured America
•45 Million Uninsured Americans
•How large is 45 million?
45 million uninsured Americans is more than...

• All Americans age 65 and older (35.9 million).

•12 million more than the population of Canada (32.2 million).
•Nearly five times more than the number of Americans living with cancer.
There are...
• Nearly 150 uninsured Americans for each physician in America
• Nearly 7,500 uninsured Americans for each hospital in America
• Over 84,000 uninsured Americans for each Member of Congress
•People without insurance are less likely to seek health care when needed
•97 percent said uninsured patients are having a more difficult time getting access to primary care and therefore are coming first to emergency departments.
•94 percent said uninsured patients often have medical conditions that have persisted or worsened because of a lack of early intervention or preventive care.
•71 percent said uninsured patients tend to be sicker and have more serious medical conditions than patients with health coverage.
•95 percent said uninsured patients are less likely to receive recommended health screening services.
•93 percent said uninsured patients lack regular access to medications needed to manage conditions like hypertension or diabetes.
•93 percent said it is more difficult arranging or securing follow-up care for an uninsured patient with a serious medical problem than for a patient with health coverage.

•Hospitals have become dangerous places. A recent article in Consumer Reports, "How safe is your hospital?" reports on the increase in medication errors, hospital acquired illnesses and inadequate administration of pain relief medication.
•Almost 1 million (902,000) persons between the ages of 62 and 64 were uninsured.

•In the US, the number of persons aged 60 years or older is estimated to be 60 million.
The Medicare prescription drug bill needs to be completely overhauled.


•Every day in the United States another 6,000 people reach the age of 65.
•In the US for example, the dramatic increases in obesity and sedentary lifestyles are already causing disability rates to rise among the population 59 and younger. Researchers say that this trend will cause a 10 to 20 per cent increase in the demand for nursing homes over what would otherwise occur from mere population ageing, and a 10 to 15 per cent increase in Medicare expenditures on top of the program's already exploding costs. With shortages of service industry workers and health care personnel to care for older people
•"You want security in your old age? Then you don’t put dollars into Social Security – you put in babies."
•Accordingly, in another 20 years, the US will be no more able to afford the role of world policeman than Europe or Japan can today. Nor will China be able to assume the job, since it will soon suffer from the kind of hyper-ageing that Japan is already experiencing.
•Demand for inpatient services, due in part to an aging population, will increase and stimulate building and expansion in some markets. A greater demand for chronic care capabilities may result in long-term acute care units and more skilled nursing, adult day care, and assisted living options. Hospitals will increasingly offer premier and niche services and give patients more control of their room environment. They will face recruitment and retention problems and struggle with their ability to embrace new technology.
•Healthcare costs are projected to double by 2007.New and better diagnostic and therapeutic interventions were developed. And everyone demanded access to the best regardless of cost.

The demand for beds in U.S. hospitals is projected to increase by as much as 46% in the next 25 years, according to a new study published by Solucient. This increase of an additional 238,000 beds is expected to result from long-term demographic shifts in the U.S. population, which could drive up demand for inpatient acute care through 2027. The new long-term forecasts also show that total acute care admissions are projected to increase by 13 million cases during that same time frame—a 41% increase from the current number of national admissions. Such forecasts come at a time when many acute care hospitals nationwide are experiencing increases in hospitalizations, resulting in capacity constraints, and an unprecedented boom in hospital construction and expansion projects. “To achieve long-term success, capital-intensive projects must not only relieve current capacity issues in the market,” says Paul Presken, “but also anticipate future demand for care over the next five to 25 years.” Several demographic factors are likely to contribute to the 25-year growth in inpatient care, including the aging of the baby boom generation, increasing life expectancy, rising fertility rates, and continued immigration. These factors, however, will not affect each market equally.
JCI MANTRA
Health care should be safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitableWHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR INDIA IN THE GLOBAL HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY?
STRENGTHS
•POTENTIAL TO EARN Rs 1000 CR PER ANNUM IN FOREIGN EXCHANGE, GROWING AT 25% PER ANNUM.
•POTENTIAL TO EARN ATLEAST THE SAME BY TOURISM AND TRANSPORT INDUSTRY.
•FOREIGN TOURISTS ACCUSTOMED WITH INDIAN DOCTORS IN THE US & UK.
•LARGE CONCENTRATION OF NRI,S & NRG,S IN AMERICA & UK MAKES IT EASIER FOR INDIA TO PROMOTE QUALITY HEALTHCARE.
•LEADING EDGE TECHNOLOGY AT MOST CORPORATE HOSPITALS IN INDIA.
•EXCELLENT I.T SUPPORT FOR MAINTAINING ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS.
•INTERNATIONAL ACCREDITATION (JCI) BY MANY CORPORATE HOSPITALS.
•Health care professionals have credentials from some of the India’s leading medical schools and teaching centers.
•MEDIUM OF SPOKEN ENGLISH AND MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY WIDELY ACCEPTED BY FOREIGNERS.
•POSITIVE APPROACH BY GOVT.TO REMOVE HURDLES RELATING TO TRANSPORT, INFRASTRUCTURE, IMMIGRATION, AND SECURITY.
•CONTINUOUS PRESSURE ON HEALTHCARE FACILITIES IN MAJOR COUNTRIES IN EUROPE AND AMERICA DUE TO AGEING.
•UNPRECEDENTED GROWTH IN HEALTHCARE COSTS IN EUROPE AND AMERICA.
•UNAFFORDABLE HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS.
•TREMENDOUS SHORTAGE OF DOCTORS, NURSES AND PARA-MEDICAL STAFF.
•LESS THAN 1% OF INDIAN POPULATION COVERED UNDER MEDICLAIM INSURANCE.
WHAT HAPPENS EVEN IF THERE IS A POPULATION EXPLOSION IN EUROPE AND AMERICA? HEALTHCARE FACILITIES ARE ALREADY UNDER PRESSURE AND HEALTHCARE COSTS ARE GOING THROUGH THE ROOF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PROJECT & RESEARCH BY :
KAUSHIK V PANDYA
CELL: +91 9825414144
Email: kaushik_pandya@hotmail.com

When delving into an American Family History, there are certain advantages and certain disadvantages to learning about the people who immigrated to a new country in the New World. There are usually a great many records of the people once they are in America, but collecting an American family history can often be difficult for certain regions and can be more difficult for learning about families before they left their native lands.

When assembling an American family history, the first place to start is, of course, with the still-living relatives. They can provide a wealth of information about one's ancestors. As they have memories of parents, grandparents, and sometimes even great-grandparents, they can offer names, a few descriptions, and perhaps some memoirs and memorabilia. Your surviving ancestors are an excellent place to start your investigations into the history and people of your family. And these living links to the people and places of bygone years can often provide you with important research materials and memoirs that will get your search off to a roaring start.

Next, it is time to check government records. These can be a wealth of knowledge about names, dates, places, and times of death and birth for your American family history. With birth records listing the names of people and the names of their parents, your search can expand both upwards and outwards. With the names of parents, you will be able to learn the names of their other children. And with records of death, one can learn where these people wound down the remainders of their lives.

However, birth and death records are not the only records that can add information to your American family history. There are also deeds, land grants, court papers, patent records, copyrights, and, of course, immigration papers. These are very important for delving into your family history, as they will allow you to understand who these people were and where they lived. With each little piece of information, you can start to develop a picture of your family, its history, where it went and how it got there.

Unfortunately, there are going to be some difficulties when trying to assemble an American family history. This is particularly true in families of African descent whose ancestors were sold as slaves. The record keeping was often rather thin both during and after the years of slavery. And attempting to learn where the original members of your family came from is next to impossible. Sub-Saharan Africa is a very large place.

As well, for almost any family the record-keeping in the rural South and Appalachia was thin at best. Often, the records do not exist at all. Attempting to find information about your family, even births and deaths, can be like trying to grab the brass ring on a merry-go-round with your eyes closed. For families such as these, your family members will be of much more use than government records when compiling an American family history. With a few memoirs you can piece together some information. But many times the data will be rather loosely conjectural.

As well, another difficulty with collecting and American family history is figuring out anything about your family before it immigrated. Many immigrants arrived with only a suitcase and the clothes on their backs. Some did not even have the suitcase. Thus, their arrival was a clean break from distant lands to start an entirely new life here in America. Learning anything about your ancestors in the home country is difficult when one tries to look back through the murky past.

Though compiling an American family history can be difficult at times, it is far from impossible. With a little time, a little tenacity, and a few bits of luck that can arise with consistent effort, you can construct a picture of your ancestors that will find a place of pride amongst your heirlooms. So feel free to start your investigations and learn just where your name came from and how it eventually ended up with an entirely unique treasure: you.

Copyright 2004 by http://www.organicgreens.us and Loring Windblad. This article may be freely copied and used on other web sites only if it is copied complete with all links and text intact and unchanged except for minor improvements such as misspellings and typos.
Exotic diseases are "in" these days. In the past year we've had a flesh-eating bacterial disease, pneumonic plague and now Ebola fever of Zaire, which is not only making international headlines, but is also the subject of a best-selling novel, The Hot Zone, and a new Dustin Hoffman film, Outbreak. Within the last few decades, scientists have identified several viruses originating in Africa, perhaps in line with Pliny's ancient Greek saying: "Out of Africa, always something new" (in reference to animals interbreeding at water holes). The prophesy might apply to Ebola virus, named for a river in northwestern Zaire, and one of the most recently identified of a class of viruses that cause hemorrhagic fevers. It is responsible for the recent outbreak in the city of Kikwit in Zaire, so far having caused 205 cases and 153 deaths.
Hemorrhagic fevers are zoonoses (diseases of animal origin) that spread to humans from various animals - from rodents (Bolivian and Argentinian fever), from sheep (Rift Valley fever) or from monkeys (Marburg disease). Among the more recently uncovered causes of hemorrhagic fever, the Marburg virus, transmitted to humans from Ugandan monkeys, caused several deaths among German laboratory workers in 1969. Ebola virus of Zaire, one of the deadliest, with a fatality rate of about 75 per cent, is also thought to have been transmitted to humans from some animal (as yet unidentified). More familiar hemorrhagic fevers include dengue fever, Lassa fever and yellow fever - a known danger among ancient seafarers and visitors to West Africa. Despite an effective vaccine against it, yellow fever continues to smoulder on in tropical Africa. Environmentalists believe the spread of disease from animals to humans, as with the hemorrhagic fevers, poses an emergent threat because deforestation and other drastic practices have disturbed the biological harmony of ancient ecosystems.
Like other hemorrhagic fevers, Ebola virus kills by attacking the lining of blood vessels, making them "leaky" and destroying blood-clotting power, which leads to severe internal bleeding. Symptoms, which surface about 10 days after infection, include flu-like malaise (headache, sore throat, joint pains) and abrupt onset of fever. Later, in about 5 days, there may be a rash, severe stomach pains and the hemorrhagic signs - bleeding from the orifices (ears, nose), gastrointestinal bleeding and vomiting black blood. Death can follow rapidly from shock and kidney or liver failure.
Although Ebola fever is a fearsome disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) officials who studied earlier outbreaks concluded that it's not easily transmitted. The virus spreads from person to person by direct contact, mostly via face to face closeness and through blood and body fluids (saliva, urine) and is often passed from ill patients to those nursing them, especially if precautionary measures aren't up to scratch. Ebola fever does not seem to be an airborne disease and simple infection control measures such as wearing gloves and masks, using disposable needles, and strict body-fluid precautions, often suffice to prevent transmission.
Experience from earlier Ebola fever outbreaks gives no cause for alarm in Canada. The first known outbreaks of Ebola virus disease occurred almost simultaneously in 1976 in northern Zaire and southern Sudan, in centres about 200 km apart. A second Sudanese outbreak three years later provided much of the information available about its symptoms and spread. In both the Zaire and Sudan outbreaks, action was remarkably swift. Patients were tracked, villages quarantined and the epidemic halted within eight weeks.
However, modern air travel could zip the Ebola virus from Africa to downtown Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver in 24 hours, hence public worries about it. In Canada, despite reassurances from public health officials, who have firmly stated that there's no threat of an Ebola epidemic here, one traveller who arrived by air from Zaire was detained, and call-in TV shows have been abuzz with people worrying that Ebola virus might get a toehold in this country. Officials reiterate that this is highly unlikely as it's not easily transmitted, and our stringent "universal precautions" practiced in hospital, with effective use of masks, gloves and gowns, can prevent spread.
Although Ebola virus was first discovered 20 years ago, there is still no vaccine or effective cure. Outbreaks have been confined to certain parts of Africa and the infection has never been detected in humans outside that continent. Although outbreaks tend to involve serious illness, milder infection might also exist and confer immunity. Public health officials repeat that, based on everything known about it, an Ebola virus epidemic in Canada is highly unlikely. Theoretically it is possible for an infected person from Africa to arrive here on a plane and spread it, but it's improbable as people must be ill with the disease to be infectious and they would likely be picked up by immigration officials, or too sick to travel.

With elections on the horizon and Blair looking tired and increasingly defensive, just what is likely outcome of the next election? The New Labour adoption of Tory plans and policies has created an almost parallel party in terms of the Conservatives and Labour. Many people are confused and find it hard to tell them apart. The Labour Party will struggle to retain the loyalties of the staunch labour support it has enjoyed over the decades.

The wind of change is in the air. Does this mean that the defeat of labour is a foregone conclusion in the next election? Far from it – the Labour Party, whilst certainly experiencing a rapid decline in popularity is far from defeated. They are still likely to win the next election - but a week is a long time in politics.

Labour candidates will admit that Blair’s popularity is well down on previous levels prior to the Iraqi war. The recent doubts over the proposed new terror laws allowing suspects to be detained without trial has not helped. The accusations and continued exchanges between Tory and Labour over the NHS have not helped matters, any more than Blair’s attempts to win over the people with his misguided Television fiasco.

The Labour party have acted like true blue Tories in many respects. The very rich have got much richer under Labour. The gap between rich and poor, normally associated with a Tory government is very obvious under New Labour. People have noticed this. Old long term Labour supporters and their loyalty towards the Labour Party is starting to crumble.

Looking back over the last few months it is difficult to see what Labour have managed to get right. The National Education Targets for raising standards in our schools have been all but abandoned as Labour realise that this is neither an election winner or remotely likely of ever being achieved. The Iraqi war continues to be as unpopular as ever and with little chance of any quick fix. Leading up to the next election the bitterness between Tory and Labour leaders is likely to get worse rather than better.

Labour promised a better NHS and an improved education system. After years of Labour, the general perception is that nothing has changed. If anything it has got worse. These are serious issues for the Labour government that will cost them dearly in terms of votes. This election could be a close run thing after all.

So what is wrong with Britain? What are the big issues? Crime is still seen as a big problem in the UK. The NHS is in a mess. In some hospitals the number of nurses from overseas outnumber those from the UK. Our public transport is amongst the most dangerous and expensive in the world, the rich get richer, the minimum wages stay pitifully low and the number of immigrants show no real signs of decreasing in any great numbers. The immigration issue is already a political hot potato which will cost Blair even more votes.

So, who will you vote for when the time comes? If you stay at home then you can’t complain about who wins – Voting at least gives you that right!

The dawn of the DNA test

How does a home DNA test work?

What else can a DNA test do?

How to choose a DNA laboratory

Enjoy piece of mind

The immigration reform Web site "NoInvaders.Org" recently saw an escalation of Internet traffic on February 9, with an increase from 9 visits a day to 275 visits, and is maintaining a high traffic count daily thanks mostly to a press release sent in January to over 100 newspapers nationwide. The portal takes on the unenviable task of publishing six directories including complaints of immigration violations, those who hire illegal aliens, and a "Good Employer" directory for those who use the Basic Pilot Verification program to screen employee candidates for legal residency.
A substantial number of visitors are identified as U.S government employees, and most notably, the Department of Homeland Security, whose e-mail addresses end in "dhs.gov". Responses have been over 90% positive with many discussion board postings, recommended media sources, articles, and a plethora of "Bad Employer" contributions were made using the employer sanctions database from cis.org. No threats were received but are anticipated as they are "protocol" for immigration reform Web sites. As founder and sole employee, I was interviewed by George Putnam on January 31 on L.A. radio's "Talk Back" and hope to pursue many radio interviews in the future, as talk radio seems to be infatuated in reporting the truth about illegal immigration. Dozens of people have signed up for my newsletter, who could be asked to e-mail radio personalities like KFI Los Angeles hosts "John and Ken" in order to request a future interview.
Recent changes to the Web site were made on the "Form a Posse" page to clarify crimes that permit citizen's arrests in pursuit of punishing immigration law violators, to quell the temptation for vigilante justice. An affiliate program was added so affiliates can earn 50-100% commission on the sale of "Good Employer" advertising space and the reports/complaints surfers upload concerning illegal dwellers and their employers.
I will attend the Minute Man Project demonstration in Naco, Arizona, April 1-2, and hope to promote my Web site there. Please point your browser to http://www.NoInvaders.Org for details.

For nearly thirty years, Michigan's Lake Superior State
University has released an annual List of Banished Words, a brief
inventory of the year's most annoyingly popular expressions, with
the recommendation they be "banished from the Queen's English for
mis-use, over-use and general uselessness."

This year, the tiresome "metrosexual" and the insufferable "bling
bling" were deservedly condemned, as were several war-inspired
entrants such as "embedded journalist" and "smoking gun." I was
disappointed that none of my three choices for this annual
dishonor made the cut, however. My nominees for banishment were:
"Guest worker program," "Matching willing workers with willing
employers," and the worst offender, "Work Americans won't do," as
in "our economy needs illegal immigrants because they do work
Americans won't do."

Combined, these three Orwellian phrases are calculated to convey
the impression that there are certain occupations so inherently
dangerous or otherwise disagreeable that we lazy, self-indulgent,
American crybabies must rely on hardy immigrant stock to roll up
their sleeves and get the job done for us. Tell that to a
Pennsylvania coal miner!

Although it's true that less glamorous jobs are frequently filled
by illegal aliens, the jobs themselves are not intrinsically
unacceptable. Rather, the ready supply of illegal labor has
resulted in many perfectly satisfactory jobs becoming
unacceptable. In short, illegal aliens will work under unsanitary
and unsafe conditions for minimum wage or even less, thereby
lowering standards, and as long as employers can fill jobs by
exploiting illegals, there will simply be no incentive to improve
wages or working conditions.

A recent piece by Nancy L. Othón and Mike Clary in the South
Florida Sun-Sentinel illustrates this principle in action with
the story of Gregorio Ruiz Aviles and Lauro Marquez Hernandez,
two young Mexican illegal alien construction workers crushed to
death in the collapse of a three-story building on which they
were working. Five other men were injured in the accident. The
Florida company which employed them was fined $2.4 million for
having no workers' compensation insurance, but according to Othón
and Clary, "five months after the deaths of Ruiz and Marquez, few
public officials, employers, workers and immigrant advocates
express much hope that change would come soon in an industry
where undocumented workers willingly take any job they can get."

Worse still, employers who play by the rules are easily underbid
by their unscrupulous rivals, and the downward pressure on wages
and safety intensifies. And this phenomenon is certain to worsen
-- not lessen -- under any program which would legalize the
process. Why? Because a "documented" worker is easier to deport,
and will therefore be more likely to do "work Americans won't do"
to avoid unemployment and ineligibility. A guest worker program
will therefore simply institutionalize the current gray market
for employees who will tolerate the intolerable.

It's a tenuous doctrine, that American workers are so expensive
that even American companies can't afford them, and the plan to
extricate ourselves from this invented predicament by pinning our
hopes on the newly legendary Mexican work ethic is flimsier
still. And yet, there is some evidence that muddleheaded
Americans are being persuaded by the hypnotic repetition of
immigration Newspeak issuing from the White House, the Congress,
and the major news media. A February 2004 Gallup Poll found that
46% of Americans support President Bush's plan to legalize
Mexican nationals currently living here illegally, "as long as
they hold jobs that no U.S. citizen wanted to do."

George Orwell famously observed that political speech is
"designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and
to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." What else can be
said of a phrase such as "undocumented worker" which presupposes
the subject is working, and transmutes the violation of our
borders into an apparent paperwork mixup? Will we now refer to a
bank robbery as an "unauthorized withdrawal?" And what shall we
call the children of undocumented workers? Undocumented students?

Orwell forewarned us more than fifty years ago that sloppy
language begets foolish thinking -- and vice versa -- and it's as
true today as ever. Purposely misleading expressions such as
"work Americans won't do" are solid proof that big lies still fit
neatly into short phrases.

It's time we banished them.

By Rebecca Sandles

With the clocks going back, millions of British workers will be heading home this evening in the dark. Depressing? Yes, but there could be a good reason for why we get the winter blues.

When Jenny Simmonds had her first bout of SAD 20 years ago, the doctors said it was postnatal depression. But then her spirits slumped again the following winter.

"She was depressed two years after the birth," says husband Jon. "I'm no doctor, but I thought, 'this isn't postnatal'. It happened again the next year, and the next. For 10 years we were told it was a chemical imbalance."

Eventually, the couple heard about seasonal affective disorder. Jenny got a name for her condition, and began looking for ways to deal with it, that didn't involve an annual sojourn at her local hospital.

Seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, is now a recognised psychiatric condition. Miserable weather, a bunged up nose every two weeks, not forgetting a seasonal rise in household burglaries, well, it's hardly a recipe for fun, is it?



And what the dark days do is mess with the balance of chemicals that affect a person's moods.



The lack of decent daylight leads to a drop in the body's levels of serotonin and a rise in melatonin. Put bluntly, serotonin makes us livelier, melatonin makes us sleepy.



"How do birds know when to leave the country?" asks Jon Simmonds. "In the autumn, trees change colour, animals hibernate, yet we're expected to carry on as normal!"



It's estimated that 3% of UK adults suffer SAD to a clinically significant degree. Some of those will be affected to such an extent that going to hospital is the only option. A further 10% will endure milder symptoms.



It all adds up to millions of Brits spending dark, moody months suffering loss of libido, anxiety, irritability and social withdrawal. But what must it be like for those who live even further north, where winter days are even shorter? Surprisingly, it's not nearly so bad.



Countries such as Iceland or Finland, which are endowed with snow and have little history of mass immigration, may not get many hours of sunlight, but chances are they'll get clear skies and plenty of light reflecting off the snow.



It helps explain why British folk find rejuvenation not only in winter holidays to far-flung sun-drenched beaches, but also from visiting a frosty mountain top for a week's skiing.



And the immigration? One theory goes that it's all about genetic build, natural resistance developed over the centuries. Once immigrants arrive from lands closer to the equator, not used to dealing with seasonal drops in sunlight, the resistance weakens, and the winter misery rises.



Dr John Eagles, from Royal Cornhill Hospital Aberdeen believes evolution may also play its part. One indicator of this is that women of a child-bearing age are statistically at the highest risk of SAD.



In a recent paper on the condition, the consultant psychiatrist writes, "At one stage, it may have been advantageous to have been energetic and to require little sleep in the summer and to be anergic and sleepy in winter.



How to beat SAD



"This may have applied especially to women and their offspring, since it would be optimal to become pregnant in summer, resulting in childbirth in spring, when food is more plentiful and the weather is becoming warmer."



So if you've got the winter blues, and your boss will neither sanction, nor finance, your three-month break in the sun, what options are available?



For mild symptoms, exercise is a key recommendation along with a decent diet. That means trying not to over indulge those chocolate urges. But if you must, go for dark chocolate.



An increasingly popular option is to sit in front of a lightbox for an hour or so a day.



"I thought light therapy was the biggest load of cobblers", says a once sceptical Jon Simmons. "My wife used it over one winter period and didn't become ill. I thought that was psychosomatic. "When it helped the next winter too, I thought, well, maybe it works!"



Cambridge-based company Outside In has been selling lightboxes since 1991.



"Treatment plan A is to move to the south of Spain," says founder and MD Steve Hayes. "Plan B is to introduce artificial light, when nature isn't providing. That sends a signal to part of the brain saying it's daytime now. The natural response is to stop producing melatonin and increase serotonin productions."



Steve says demand for the lights is pretty consistent across the UK, the one possible exception being Aberdeen where sales are "extraordinarily big".



"It's north, it's cloudy and it's full of Texans who can't believe what's hit them!"



Source: BBC News UK Edition - Monday, 1 November, 2004, 11:10 GMT, By Rebecca Sandles



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When planning your travels or buying your airline tickets, you have probably come across definitions and terms that might have seemed strange to you. Granted, many of the definitions and terms become more understandable as you become familiar with the industry as a frequent flier. While there are many terms for hotel room types, car types, and travel amenities, the area that we shall attempt to define would be tours.

Tour operators try to make their brochures and websites as attractive, informative and understandable as possible; however, in reading this information you will undoubtedly encounter some terminology that is new and unfamiliar. To assist you, here's a glossary covering some of the terminology you will most most frequently find in brochures, fliers, and on websites.

Accommodations:

* Single Room: A room with one bed for one person.
* Twin Room: A room with two beds for two people.
* Double Room: A room for two persons with a double bed.
* Triple Room: A room for three persons, usually consisting of twin beds (or double beds, plus a rollaway bed.
* Ocean Front: A room directly facing the ocean. Usually it is on the first floor with a door that exists onto the beach.
* Ocean View: A room from which it is possible to view the ocean, whether the room is on the first floor, the 12th floor, or on a hillside.
* Service Charges/Taxes: Service charges are a fixed percentage automatically added to room and meal charges. The city, state or federal government sets taxes.

Air Transportation:

* Add-on Fare: The cost of air travel from a domestic city to another domestic city from which the tour/vacation package originates and vice versa.
* Baggage Allowance: The weight or volume of baggage that may be carried by a passenger without additional charge.
* Connecting Flight: A segment of an ongoing trip, which requires a change of aircraft, but necessarily a change of airline.
* Direct Flight: A flight on which passengers do not have to change planes, but may involve one more stops enroute.
* Non-stop Flight: Service between two points with no scheduled stop enroute.

Car Rental:

* Drop-off Charge: Fee charged by a car rental company to defray the cost of returning the vehicle to its original location.
* Value Added Tax (VAT): Tax imposed by governmental authority.

Charter Travel:

Thanks to improved Federal regulations and a new generation of operators, air charters have become the preferred way to reach many of the world's most popular vacation destinations for reasons of value and convenience. Here's how they work: The tour operator rents an airplane and sells the seats, often in combination with a hotel package and perhaps other ground components. The result is a substantial savings.

Conditions:

* Force Majeure: An event or effect that cannot be reasonably anticipated or controlled (such as storms or war).

Consular Information Sheets: Governments issue Consular Information Sheets for every country of the world. They include such information as location of the U.S. embassy or consulate in the subject country, unusual immigration practices, health conditions, minor political disturbances, unusual currency and entry regulations, crime and security information, and drug penalties. If an unstable condition exists in a country that is not severe enough to warrant a Travel Warning, a description of the condition(s) may be included under an optional section entitled Safety/Security.

Documents:

* Passport: An official government document certifying identity and citizenship and granting permission to travel abroad (overseas).
* Visa: An official authorization appended to a passport permitting travel to and within a particular country.

Escorted Tours:

The most traditional tour product is also the most misunderstood. The options are so varied that it's easiest to identify the few elements they share: Group travel, usually by motor coach but sometimes by ship, or train; a set itinerary, with lodging, activities, and most meals included and a tour director to coordinate, guide, and manage the trip. Traveling on an escorted tour provides a measure of security and peace of mind. And today, more tour operators build in free time on group tours, giving travelers the best of both worlds.

Independent Travel:

There's no group on these trips, no guide and no fixed itinerary, unless the client wants one. The sole difference between this and fully independent travel is that by booking through a tour operator from its available inventory, your clients get the advantage of group buying power, without the group.

Package Travel:

Like group tours, packages tend to have fixed itineraries, with ground transportation and hotels booked in advance. But like independent travel, there's no organized group; clients are on their own, free to do as they please at each destination, but they still have the convenience and reliability that come with booking through a tour operator.

Public Announcements:

Public announcements (PAs) are a means to disseminate information about terrorist threats and other relatively short-term and/or trans-national conditions posing significant risks to the security of American travelers. The PAs are made when there is a specific threat that cannot be countered. In the past, Public Announcements have been issued to deal with short-term coups, violence by terrorists and anniversary dates of specific terrorist events.

Tours:

A group of people traveling together who follow a pre-planned itinerary. Most tours include accommodations, a number of meals, sightseeing, land transportation, and/or other transportation, plus the services of a professional tour manager or escort who accompanies the group.

Travel Warnings:

Travel warnings are issued when the State Department decides, based on all relevant information, to recommend that Americans avoid travel to a certain country. Countries where avoidance of travel is recommended will have Travel Warnings as well as Consular Information Sheets. You may also want to review specific country Background Notes.

Vacation Packages:

Vacation packages are designed for those traveling independently. They include a combination of two or more travel services (e.g. hotel accommodations, car rental, air transportation) that are offered at a package price. Many vacation packages offer a choice of components and options, thereby enabling you to customize the package to your tastes, interests and/or budget.

Vouchers:

Documents issued by tour operators to be exchanged for accommodations, sightseeing and other services.

© MMIV, Etienne A. Gibbs, MSW

White sand beaches, clear blue waters, tax breaks, real estate and property; the Bahamas never looked so good. And yes, I said real estate. Bahamian real estate is hotter than ever.

In 1993, the International Persons Landholding Act was put into motion to encourage foreigners to purchase a second home in The Bahamas. And it couldn’t be simpler. If a foreigner buys a single family dwelling or vacant land to be used in the construction of such a dwelling, then he no longer needs to obtain a permit from the Government prior to the purchase. He only needs to register the acquisition later with the Investments Board. Permanent residents of the Bahamas and foreigners who inherit property in the Bahamas don’t have to obtain a permit before acquiring land but must register afterward.

However, there are cases where a permit will be needed for Bahamas real estate. First, if the property is undeveloped land and of five acres in size or larger. Secondly, if the property is not a private residence, or it is not intended for development as such, a permit is needed.

In dealing with mortgages, the act is not meant to be a road block. In fact, it provides that licensed banks, trust, and insurance companies who acquire an interest in or take possession of property under a court order must register that acquisition. An acquisition by way of foreclosure under a mortgage or of land acquired by an authorized foreign state will not require a permit but must be registered.

With leases, foreigners are not required to obtain permits, register leases, or letting agreements unless they are for trade or business purposes and the term can exceed 21 years.

Not only has the government made owning a second home easy for foreigners, they have also included a condition so that a foreigner no longer pays a double rate of stamp duty; he now pays the same single rate as a Bahamian.

The stamp duty is a tax that is payable on the delivery of all real property based on the value as follows: Stamp duty starts at 2% for real estate valued under $20,000 US, but increases to 10% for real estate over $250,000 US. Payment of this tax is usually shared equally between the seller and the buyer. There is also a 1% stamp duty on mortgages paid by the borrower. The usual practice in the Bahamas is for the tax to be shared equally between buyer and seller unless otherwise agreed upon.

If you are entering the Bahamas, you must fill out an embarkation-disembarkation card which is usually provided by your travel agent, the airline, or the ship you are traveling on. A visa and passport is not required of you if you are a Canadian citizen or subject of the United Kingdom unless the stay exceeds three weeks. U.S. citizens on regularly scheduled airlines, pre-cleared for return at U.S Customs and Immigration at Nassau International Airport also do not require a visa (though proof of citizenship is required).

You are allowed a maximum stay of eight months with proper documents which includes a return ticket and evidence of financial support. If you would like to stay longer, then you have to apply for temporary residency to the Director of Immigration. If, however, you would like to make the Bahamas your permanent residence by way of Bahamas property investment, then you will have to apply for permanent residency. If you plan on working in the Bahamas, a work permit must be applied for separately.

There are different levels of residency. The first is permanent residence which requires a purchase of a residence of more than $500,000, subject to a $10,000 one-time payment. Another level of residence is that of a homeowner where no minimum purchase is required, however, your card must be renewed every year for a fee of $1000. And the last level of residence is an annual residence where, again, no minimum purchase is required but you must renew every year for a fee of $1000.

Owning Bahamas real estate sounds spectacularly easy and that’s because it is. But there are some things to keep in mind when making an investment of this size. Here are a few guidelines to help you out when buying Bahamas property:

Think location: Depending where you buy, prices will vary. On the main islands such as New Providence and Grand Bahama, prices are more than double the prices in Florida. If you’re looking for an investment property, these would be good choices. If you’re looking into buying a quiet retreat, consider something on the family islands as they are less expensive.

Have a look: Once you have decided where you would like to buy a property, the next step is to have a look at more than one property so you can get an overall picture of the market.

Take a second look: It’s a good idea to get a certified professional to look over the property just in case there are hidden surprises!

So whether you’re making an investment or buying a vacation home, the Bahamas will welcome you with open arms. All you have to do is make your ticket to paradise!

White sand beaches, clear blue waters, tax breaks, real estate and property; the Bahamas never looked so good. And yes, I said real estate. Bahamian real estate is hotter than ever.

In 1993, the International Persons Landholding Act was put into motion to encourage foreigners to purchase a second home in The Bahamas. And it couldn’t be simpler. If a foreigner buys a single family dwelling or vacant land to be used in the construction of such a dwelling, then he no longer needs to obtain a permit from the Government prior to the purchase. He only needs to register the acquisition later with the Investments Board. Permanent residents of the Bahamas and foreigners who inherit property in the Bahamas don’t have to obtain a permit before acquiring land but must register afterward.

However, there are cases where a permit will be needed for Bahamas real estate. First, if the property is undeveloped land and of five acres in size or larger. Secondly, if the property is not a private residence, or it is not intended for development as such, a permit is needed.

In dealing with mortgages, the act is not meant to be a road block. In fact, it provides that licensed banks, trust, and insurance companies who acquire an interest in or take possession of property under a court order must register that acquisition. An acquisition by way of foreclosure under a mortgage or of land acquired by an authorized foreign state will not require a permit but must be registered.

With leases, foreigners are not required to obtain permits, register leases, or letting agreements unless they are for trade or business purposes and the term can exceed 21 years.

Not only has the government made owning a second home easy for foreigners, they have also included a condition so that a foreigner no longer pays a double rate of stamp duty; he now pays the same single rate as a Bahamian.

The stamp duty is a tax that is payable on the delivery of all real property based on the value as follows: Stamp duty starts at 2% for real estate valued under $20,000 US, but increases to 10% for real estate over $250,000 US. Payment of this tax is usually shared equally between the seller and the buyer. There is also a 1% stamp duty on mortgages paid by the borrower. The usual practice in the Bahamas is for the tax to be shared equally between buyer and seller unless otherwise agreed upon.

If you are entering the Bahamas, you must fill out an embarkation-disembarkation card which is usually provided by your travel agent, the airline, or the ship you are traveling on. A visa and passport is not required of you if you are a Canadian citizen or subject of the United Kingdom unless the stay exceeds three weeks. U.S. citizens on regularly scheduled airlines, pre-cleared for return at U.S Customs and Immigration at Nassau International Airport also do not require a visa (though proof of citizenship is required).

You are allowed a maximum stay of eight months with proper documents which includes a return ticket and evidence of financial support. If you would like to stay longer, then you have to apply for temporary residency to the Director of Immigration. If, however, you would like to make the Bahamas your permanent residence by way of Bahamas property investment, then you will have to apply for permanent residency. If you plan on working in the Bahamas, a work permit must be applied for separately.

There are different levels of residency. The first is permanent residence which requires a purchase of a residence of more than $500,000, subject to a $10,000 one-time payment. Another level of residence is that of a homeowner where no minimum purchase is required, however, your card must be renewed every year for a fee of $1000. And the last level of residence is an annual residence where, again, no minimum purchase is required but you must renew every year for a fee of $1000.

Owning Bahamas real estate sounds spectacularly easy and that’s because it is. But there are some things to keep in mind when making an investment of this size. Here are a few guidelines to help you out when buying Bahamas property:

-Think location: Depending where you buy, prices will vary. On the main islands such as New Providence and Grand Bahama, prices are more than double the prices in Florida. If you’re looking for an investment property, these would be good choices. If you’re looking into buying a quiet retreat, consider something on the family islands as they are less expensive.

-Have a look: Once you have decided where you would like to buy a property, the next step is to have a look at more than one property so you can get an overall picture of the market.

-Take a second look: It’s a good idea to get a certified professional to look over the property just in case there are hidden surprises!

So whether you’re making an investment or buying a vacation home, the Bahamas will welcome you with open arms. All you have to do is make your ticket to paradise!

White sand beaches, clear blue waters, tax breaks, real estate and property; the Bahamas never looked so good. And yes, I said real estate. Bahamian real estate is hotter than ever.

In 1993, the International Persons Landholding Act was put into motion to encourage foreigners to purchase a second home in The Bahamas. And it couldn’t be simpler. If a foreigner buys a single family dwelling or vacant land to be used in the construction of such a dwelling, then he no longer needs to obtain a permit from the Government prior to the purchase. He only needs to register the acquisition later with the Investments Board. Permanent residents of the Bahamas and foreigners who inherit property in the Bahamas don’t have to obtain a permit before acquiring land but must register afterward.

However, there are cases where a permit will be needed for Bahamas real estate. First, if the property is undeveloped land and of five acres in size or larger. Secondly, if the property is not a private residence, or it is not intended for development as such, a permit is needed.

In dealing with mortgages, the act is not meant to be a road block. In fact, it provides that licensed banks, trust, and insurance companies who acquire an interest in or take possession of property under a court order must register that acquisition. An acquisition by way of foreclosure under a mortgage or of land acquired by an authorized foreign state will not require a permit but must be registered.

With leases, foreigners are not required to obtain permits, register leases, or letting agreements unless they are for trade or business purposes and the term can exceed 21 years.

Not only has the government made owning a second home easy for foreigners, they have also included a condition so that a foreigner no longer pays a double rate of stamp duty; he now pays the same single rate as a Bahamian.

The stamp duty is a tax that is payable on the delivery of all real property based on the value as follows: Stamp duty starts at 2% for real estate valued under $20,000 US, but increases to 10% for real estate over $250,000 US. Payment of this tax is usually shared equally between the seller and the buyer. There is also a 1% stamp duty on mortgages paid by the borrower. The usual practice in the Bahamas is for the tax to be shared equally between buyer and seller unless otherwise agreed upon.

If you are entering the Bahamas, you must fill out an embarkation-disembarkation card which is usually provided by your travel agent, the airline, or the ship you are traveling on. A visa and passport is not required of you if you are a Canadian citizen or subject of the United Kingdom unless the stay exceeds three weeks. U.S. citizens on regularly scheduled airlines, pre-cleared for return at U.S Customs and Immigration at Nassau International Airport also do not require a visa (though proof of citizenship is required).

You are allowed a maximum stay of eight months with proper documents which includes a return ticket and evidence of financial support. If you would like to stay longer, then you have to apply for temporary residency to the Director of Immigration. If, however, you would like to make the Bahamas your permanent residence by way of Bahamas property investment, then you will have to apply for permanent residency. If you plan on working in the Bahamas, a work permit must be applied for separately.

There are different levels of residency. The first is permanent residence which requires a purchase of a residence of more than $500,000, subject to a $10,000 one-time payment. Another level of residence is that of a homeowner where no minimum purchase is required, however, your card must be renewed every year for a fee of $1000. And the last level of residence is an annual residence where, again, no minimum purchase is required but you must renew every year for a fee of $1000.

Owning Bahamas real estate sounds spectacularly easy and that’s because it is. But there are some things to keep in mind when making an investment of this size. Here are a few guidelines to help you out when buying Bahamas property:

Think location: Depending where you buy, prices will vary. On the main islands such as New Providence and Grand Bahama, prices are more than double the prices in Florida. If you’re looking for an investment property, these would be good choices. If you’re looking into buying a quiet retreat, consider something on the family islands as they are less expensive.

Have a look: Once you have decided where you would like to buy a property, the next step is to have a look at more than one property so you can get an overall picture of the market.

Take a second look: It’s a good idea to get a certified professional to look over the property just in case there are hidden surprises!

So whether you’re making an investment or buying a vacation home, the Bahamas will welcome you with open arms. All you have to do is make your ticket to paradise!

Holistic Junction's featured School of the Week: American Association of Naturopathic Medical Colleges (AANMC)
by C. Bailey-Lloyd

Holistic Junction's featured school of the week is the distinguished American Association of Naturopathic Medical Colleges (AANMC). The AANMC believes that "...Naturopathic medicine is a wonderful profession if you want to make a difference..."

Comprised of five member schools, the AANMC offers Bastyr University - just ten miles from Seattle, Washington. Firmly planted on fifty acres of beautiful landscaping and on the northeast shore of Lake Washington, Bastyr's 186,000 square foot academic facility is adjacent to miles of scenic wooded trails that wind through natural habitat and secluded beach in St. Edward State Park.

Bastyr's University's Mission is to "...educate future leaders in natural health education, research and clinical services, we improve the health and well-being of the human community."

AANMC's Bastyr University includes rewarding amenities like their facility Library which offers a comprehensive collection on complementary & alterative medicine books, journals, publications, a massive video and audiotape collection and valuable online resources as well. In addition to its library, Bastyr University also has a bookstore, natural foods cafetaria, and even an onsite chapel.

Bastyr University is a leading academic center for educational progression in natural health sciences and carries many accreditations: the Commission on Colleges and Universites of the Northwest Association of Schools & Colleges; the Council of Naturopathic Medical Education; the American Dietetics Association; the Washington State Department of Health; Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine; and is approved by the US Immigration and Naturalization Service to accept and enroll foreign non-immigrant students as well.

AANMC's Bastyr University offers multiple academic degree programs in Naturopathic Medicine, Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, Nutrition, Herbal Science, Health Psychology, and Excercise Science & Wellness. Additionally, AANMC's Bastyr provides even more programs, such as CAM, and and various Certification programs in Chinese Herbal Medicine, Japanese Acupuncture, Naturopathic Midwifery, Natuopathic Medicine Residency and much more.

AANMC's Bastyr University extends education and training to students so they may one day become natural health practitioners. Bastyr University's conception and growth is based on the principles of Dr. John Bastyr's teachings and examples. Renowned to "listen with his heart," Dr. Bastyr had a simple philosophy: "...the patient, not the doctor, does the curing...," and was revered as a pioneer and promoter in the field of natural medicine. AANMC's Bastyr University assures that his principles and beliefs will be a curriculum mainstay.

To learn more about or to enroll in AANMC's Bastyr University, please visit: American Association of Naturopathic Medical Colleges (AANMC)
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The next member of AANMC, is the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine which rests in beautiful Toronto, Ontario, Canada. AANMC's Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine is an established college which affords Canada's only accredited four-year, full-time Doctor of Naturopathic (ND) program. "The Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, since its beginning 25 years ago, has continued to provide scientific, academic and clinical training that has proven its leadership in the educational community. We are committed to ensuring that this education is accessible to all qualified applicants..."

Students at AANMC's Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine receive more than 4,200 classroom and clinical training hours. Three major areas of study Basic Medical Sciences (including courses in anatomy, histology, physiology, biochemistry, microbiology and immunology); Clinical Disciplines (physical & clinical diagnosis, differential and laboratory diagnosis, radiology, naturopathic assessment and orthopedics); and Naturopathic Disciplines (Oriental Medicine/Acupuncture, botanical medicine, clinical nutrition, homeopathy, physical medicine, lifestyle counseling and prevention).

AANMC's Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine additionally has an onsite Naturopathic clinic (Robert Schad Naturopathic Clinic) whereby students are afforded the opportunity to observe and perform certain treatments. Having a hand-on instructional environment with patients, Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine allows students to apply academic knowledge to attain vital experience in their pathway to becoming a competent and respected naturopathic doctor.

Additionally, Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine has a 'Learning Resource Centre' which is comprised of hundreds of natural health books and journals, and gives automatic accessibility to over 3,000 medical journals throught its own electronic databases.

Accredited by the Council on Naturopathic Medical Education (CNME) through the US Department of Education, AANMC's Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine additionally extends co-ed accommodations which conveniently parallels its main campus.

To learn more about or to enroll in AANMC's Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, please visit: American Association of Naturopathic Medical Colleges (AANMC) American Association of Naturopathic Medical Colleges (AANMC)
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National College of Naturopathic Medicine, situated in placid Portland, Oregon is AANMC's is yet another important member. The National College of Naturopathic Medicine meets or exceeds all pertinent regulatory standards, and is accredited by many organizations including: the State of Oregon's Office of Degree Authorization; the Council on Naturopathic Medical Education (CNME); the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (ACAOM); and the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). National College of Naturopathic Medicine believes in "...supporting the future of Natural Medicine..."

AANMC's National College of Naturopathic Medicine follows a curriculum that emphasizes the holistic spirit of classical teachings of Oriental Medicine. Founded on the healing wisdom of many cultures, National College of Naturopathic Medicine "...seeks to preserve and convey the classical modalities of naturopathy and honor the principles that guide naturopathic care:

The healing power of nature
Treating the whole person
First do no harm
Identify and treat the cause
Prevention is the best cure, and
Doctor as teacher..."

National College of Naturopathic Medicine offers versatile educational programs including four-year degree programs for Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine, and Classical Chinese Medicine Practitioner. Additionally, AANMC's National College of Naturopathic Medicine extends residency programs and continuing education series as well.

To learn more about or to enroll in AANMC's National College of Naturopathic Medicine, please visit: American Association of Naturopathic Medical Colleges (AANMC)
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AANMC's Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine mission is "...preparing students to become naturupathic physicians educated and trained in the principles and practice of naturopathic medicine. To serve the public by providing quality education, research and natural medcial care in the science and art of health promotion, disease management and prevention based upon these principles."

Located in Tempe, Arizona, Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine is comprised of six-acres. Accredited by the Council on Naturopathic Medical Education (CNME) and the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools; Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine has a refreshing, art deco-style campus, where students can tour its herb gardens, play tennis and peruse its library.

Founded in 1992, AANMC's Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine '...educates in the art and science of naturopathic medicine to prepare students to be conscientious and caring health care providers.' Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine offers a 4-year Naturopathic Medical Degree Program (ND); and non-degreed, educational programs including Historical Use of Plants as Medicine; Introduction to Homeopathic Medicine; Homepathic Materia Medica & Case Taking; Principles of Hydrotherapy; History of Medicine; Philosophy & Practice of Naturopathic Medicine; and much more.

Students at AANMC's Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine are trained in 'all modalitites and methods of treatments, including botanical and homepathic medicine, nutrition, acupuncture, manipulation and mind/body medicine.' Offering over 100 off-site and extended site experinces in clinical training, Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine affords students with an integrative course to medicine 'while encompassing natural philosophies and emphasizing the practical information necessary to establish a successful practice.'

In addition, AANMC's Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine includes a Medical Center, widely known as the 'green clinic' for its exemplary promotion of true health and environmental consciousness.

To learn more about or to enroll in AANMC's Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine, please visit: American Association of Naturopathic Medical Colleges (AANMC)
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The American Association of Naturopathic Medical Colleges' final, prestigious member is the University of Bridgeport. The University of Bridgeport's mission is to '...offer career-oriented undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees and programs for people seeking personal and professional growth. The University promotes academic excellence, personal responsibility, and commitment to service. Distinctive curricula in an international, culturally diverse supportive learning environment prepare graduates for life and leadership in an increasingly interconnected world. The Universtiy is independent and non-sectarian.'

University of Bridgeports' 50-acre campus is located where else, but in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Situated near Seaside Park and Long Island Sound, its desirable location extends a myriad of advantages to its University community. Comprised of seventy-five buildings, University of Bridgeport includes the Arnold Bernhard Arts and Humanities Center, the John J. Cox Student Center; the Charles A. Dana Hall of Science; the Harvey Hubbell Gymnasium; the College of Chiropractic Building; the Magnus Wahlstrom Library and many others.

AANMC's University of Bridgeport is accredited by multiple organizations including the Council of Dental Education of the American Dental Association; the Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology; the Commission on Accreditation of the Council on Chiropractic Education; the Connecticut State Department of Education; the New England Association of Schools and Colleges; the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs; and finally the Connecticut State Bar Examining Committee.

Offering numerous Graduate and Undergraduate programs, University of Bridgeport is an excellent choice for those looking for an extensive academic and professional base. Including Undergraduate majors in accounting; biology; business administration; computer applications; martial arts studies; and multiple others. AANMC's University of Bridgeport also affords students with Graduate programs including doctoral programs such as Chiropractic (D.C.), Education Leadership, (Ed.D.); and Naturopathic, (N.D.). Furthermore, University of Bridgeport also incorporated Masters Programs in Acupuncture (M.S. Ac.), Education (M.S.), Human Nutrition (M.S.) and many, many more opportunites for students to excel in their chosen field of study and profession. As an added bonus, University of Bridgeport's School of Continuing and Professional Studies and its Office of Distance Learning gives students additional opportunites through a variety of online courses and certificate programs as well.

An internationally - recognized university, University of Bridgeport is a broad and comprehensive university, '...with award-winning academic programs.' AANMC's University of Bridgeport is by all means, a multi-versatile school that not only extends an extensive variety of curriculur programs, it is followed up by its athletic department which encompasses athletic University teams in basketball, soccer, swimming and volleyball in which students may actively engage.

University of Bridgeport also offers housing options that include four residential halls. In addition to this, AANMC's University of Bridgeport extends health services, International Student Services, counseling services, career services and recreational activities.

Promoting an education experience for students from seventy-five countries from around the world, AANMC's University of Bridgeport is a leader in the advancement of educational opportunities.

To learn more about or to enroll in AANMC's University of Bridgeport, please visit: American Association of Naturopathic Medical Colleges (AANMC)

Holistic Junction is honored to have the American Association of Naturopathic Medical Colleges (AANMC) on board and salutes its quality standards for being one of society's vital pioneers and promoters in Natural Health Instruction.

To learn more about our, many listed, healing arts schools, visit Healing Arts School Directory

© 2004 - Holistic Junction's Featured School of the Week: American Association of Naturopathic Medical Colleges (AANMC)
by C. Bailey-Lloyd
aka. Lady Camelot
Public Relations Director
& Staff Writer
www.holisticjunction.com
www.mediapositiveradio.com

Human trafficking and people smuggling are multi-billion dollar industries. At least 50% of the 150 million immigrants the world over are illegal aliens. There are 80 million migrant workers found in virtually every country. They flee war, urban terrorism, crippling poverty, corruption, authoritarianism, nepotism, cronyism, and unemployment. Their main destinations are the EU and the USA - but many end up in lesser countries in Asia or Africa.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) published the following figures in 1997:

Africa had 20 Million migrant workers, North America - 17 million, Central and South America - 12 million, Asia - 7 million, the Middle East - 9 million, and Europe - 30 million.

Immigrants make up 15% of staid Switzerland's population, 9% of Germany's and Austria's, 7.5% of France's (though less than 4% of multi-cultural Blairite Britain). There are more than 15 million people born in Latin America living in the States. According to the American Census Bureau, foreign workers comprise 13% of the workforce (up from 9% in 1990). A million have left Russia for Israel. In this past century, the world has experienced its most sweeping wave of both voluntary and forced immigration - and it does not seem to have abated.

According to the United Nations Population Division, the EU would need to import 1.6 million migrant workers annually to maintain its current level of working age population. But it would need almost 9 times as many to preserve a stable workers to pensioners ratio.

The EU may cope with this shortage by simply increasing labour force participation (74% in labour-short Netherlands, for instance). Or it may coerce its unemployed (and women) into low-paid and 3-d (dirty, dangerous, and difficult) jobs. Or it may prolong working life by postponing retirement.

These are not politically palatable decisions. Yet, a wave of xenophobia that hurtled lately across a startled Europe - from Austria to Denmark - won't allow the EU to adopt the only other solution: mass (though controlled and skill-selective) migration.

As a result, Europe has recently tightened its admission (and asylum) policies even more than it has in the 1970's. It bolted and shut its gates to primary (economic) migration. Only family reunifications are permitted. Well over 80% of all immigrants to Britain are women joining their husbands, or children joining their father. Migrant workers are often discriminated against and abused and many are expelled intermittently.

Still, economic migrants - lured by European riches - keep pouring in illegally (about half a million every year -to believe The Centre for Migration Policy Development in Vienna). Europe is the target of twice as many illegal migrants as the USA. Many of them (known as "labour tourists") shuttle across borders seasonally, or commute between home and work - sometimes daily. Hence the EU's apprehension at allowing free movement of labour from the candidate countries and the "transition periods" (really moratoria) it wishes to impose on them following their long postponed accession.

According to the American Census Bureau's March 2002 "Current Population Survey", 20% of all US residents are of "foreign stock" (one quarter of them Mexican). They earn less than native-born Americans and are less likely to have health insurance. They are (on average) less educated (only 67% of immigrants age 25 and older completed high school compared to 87% of native-born Americans). Their median income, at $36,000 is 10% lower and only 49% of them own a home (compared to 67% of households headed by native-born Americans). The averages mask huge disparities between Asians and Hispanics, though. Still, these ostensibly dismal figures constitute a vast improvement over comparable data in the country of origin.

But these are the distant echoes of past patterns of migration. Traditional immigration is becoming gradually less attractive. Immigrants who came to Canada between 1985-1998 earn only 66% of the wages of their predecessors. Labour force participation of immigrants fell to 68% (1996) from 86% (1981).

While most immigrants until the 1980's were poor, uneducated, and unskilled - the current lot is middle-class, reasonably affluent, well educated, and highly skilled. This phenomenon - the exodus of elites from all the developing and less developed countries - is called "brain drain", or "brain hemorrhage" by its detractors (and "brain exchange" or "brain mobility" by its proponents). These metaphors conjure up images of the inevitable outcomes of some mysterious processes, the market's invisible hand plucking the choicest and teleporting them to more abundant grounds.

Yet, this is far from being true. The developed countries, once a source of such emigration themselves (more than 100,000 European scientists left for the USA in the wake of the Second World War) - actively seek to become its destination by selectively attracting only the skilled and educated citizens of developing countries. They offer them higher salaries, a legal status (however contingent), and tempting attendant perks. The countries of origin cannot compete, able to offer only $50 a month salaries, crumbling universities, shortages of books and lab equipment, and an intellectual wasteland.

The European Commission had this to say last month:

"The Commission proposes, therefore, that the Union recognize the realities of the situation of today: that on the one hand migratory pressures will continue and that on the other hand in a context of economic growth and a declining and aging population, Europe needs immigrants. In this context our objective is not the quantitative increase in migratory flows but better management in qualitative terms so as to realize more fully the potential of immigrants' admitted."



And the EU's Social and Employment Commission added, as it forecast a deficit of 1.7 million workers in Information and Communications Technologies throughout the Union:



"A declining EU workforce due to demographic changes suggests that immigration of third country nationals would also help satisfy some of the skill needs [in the EU]. Reforms of tax benefit systems may be necessary to help people make up their minds to move to a location where they can get a job...while ensuring that the social objectives of welfare systems are not undermined."



In Hong Kong, the "Admission of Talents Scheme" (1999) and "The Admission of Mainland Professionals Scheme" (May 2001) allow mainlanders to enter it for 12 month periods, if they:



"Possess outstanding qualifications, expertise or skills which are needed but not readily available in Hong Kong. They must have good academic qualifications, normally a doctorate degree in the relevant field."



According the January 2002 issue of "Migration News", even now, with unemployment running at almost 6%, the US H1-B visa program allows 195,000 foreigners with academic degrees to enter the US for up to 6 years and "upgrade" to immigrant status while in residence. Many H1-B visas were cancelled due to the latest economic slowdown - but the US provides other kinds of visas (E type) to people who invest in its territory by, for instance, opening a consultancy.

The UK has just implemented the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme which allows "highly mobile people with the special talents that are required in a modern economy" to enter the UK for a period of one year (with indefinite renewal). Even xenophobic Japan allowed in 222,000 qualified foreigners last year (double the figure in 1994).

Germany has absorbed 10,000 computer programmers (mainly from India and Eastern Europe) since July 2000. Ireland was planning to import twenty times as many over 7 years - before the dotcoms bombed. According to "The Economist", more than 10,000 teachers have left Ecuador since 1998. More than half of all Ghanaian medical doctors have emigrated (120 in 1998 alone). More than 60% of all Ethiopian students abroad never return. There are 64,000 university educated Nigerians in the USA alone. More than 43% of all Africans living in North America have acquired at least a bachelor's degree.

Barry Chiswick and Timothy Hatton demonstrated ("International Migration and the Integration of Labour Markets", published by the NBER in its "Globalisation in Historical Perspective") that, as the economies of poor countries improve, emigration increases because people become sufficiently wealthy to finance the trip.

Poorer countries invest an average of $50,000 of their painfully scarce resources in every university graduate - only to witness most of them emigrate to richer places. The haves-not thus end up subsidizing the haves by exporting their human capital, the prospective members of their dwindling elites, and the taxes they would have paid had they stayed put. The formation of a middle class is often irreversibly hindered by an all-pervasive brain drain.

(continued)

The inscrutable Malaysian Immigrations Officer at Kuala Lumpur International Airport caused me a moment’s consternation with his question until I realized that he was just making small talk whilst manically trying to stamp all the bits of paper that I had placed on his otherwise spotless Formica top. I had just finished six weeks work in Kuantan, Malaysia and was eager to get home; he was just starting his 8hr shift and was bored already.

He started off by asking me where in Malaysia I had been working and for how long. He then asked me if all of that time had been spent onboard one vessel! His next question heralded the real start of his small talk, “what sort of life is that” was his opening gambit. Initially thinking that he had suspicions over my activities for the last six weeks, my heart started to pack its bags for the rapid journey to my mouth. But then realizing that he was just asking a simple and friendly question I told my heart to stop hammering like an out of balance washing machine and to remain where it was.

It took me a while to register his question and by the time I had thought up a reply he was massaging his aching elbow and viewing up his next customer with weighted suspicion.

But I most certainly did not forget his untimely question. In fact his query prompted me to write this article. And to rethink my whole way of life and more than anything else it has made me reconsider my future career path.

I have in all truthfulness been looking for an alternative job for nearly fifteen years. Yep, none of these spur of the moment career searches that peter away to nothing when faced with an awesome pile of possibilities that would take an archivist a full year to locate the elusive ‘needle in a haystack’ job that might or might not be the one. I was not looking for a job via a casual glance through a Sunday newspaper whilst sitting out in the garden with a freshly brewed cup of coffee and mulling over mowing the lawn. My fifteen year search for employment has been ongoing, intricate and in-depth. My search for the ideal future job, the one that would take me away from the sea and onto land has been energetic and involved, persuasive and of course very demanding upon my soul and time.

For fifteen years I have been looking for a shore-based and long term career anywhere in the world. And for all of that time I have remained working at sea and onboard ships.

My Malaysian Immigration Officer through his well meaning and casually uttered question has made me realize that one of these fine days I will have to accept a job that has been offered to me. It sounds daft now that I write it down on paper, but in these endless years of bewailing the fact that I want to leave the sea but cannot because nobody will offer me a job, I have turned down many a wonderful offer.

Before I met this paper bashing, uniformed stamping machine at the departure terminal in the International Airport in Kuala Lumpur I believed that I couldn’t get a job on land because nobody would employ me. But the real reason is that it has been a subconscious ploy to remain at sea, to earn a more than sufficient tax free income, to visit strange and wonderful lands, to get absolutely drunk at seemingly frequent intervals and to be paid to see the world in style. And now why would anybody want to put a halt to that? And so during my heart rendering searches for a land based career that I have applied myself to with my usual vigor, enthusiasm and energy that I typically give to all projects in my life, some unmentionable companies have upset the applecart by offering me positions on land. Certainly looking back these serious offers of employment have placed a spanner in the works and have left me stumbling at the start line, unsure which way to run.

How dare they actually offer me a job when all I am doing is looking for one and then leaving me lurching in unknown territory trying to work out how to turn down the job without actually refusing the offer!

But my new found Malaysian Official has put into perspective all that has dictated my past existence for so long. I love the sea, I love earning loads of cash, I love adventure and exotic places and I love the fresh air of the sea and all that surrounds it (more sea). And in actual fact the last thing that I want to do is sit behind a desk, day in day out, staring at a screen and dreaming of what life used to be like on the high seas.

But that is what I have to do now. I have to find a steady career on land because if I leave it for much longer I will be too old to start a new life. I have to do it now because my first son is about to enter the world. And I have to leave the sea because my wife hates me being away. I have to leave the sea, I have to find a job on land and I have to do it now. Thanks Mr. Malaysian Immigration Officer at Kuala Lumpur International Airport departure terminal, you have made me realize that the next time somebody offers me a job on land I am going to have to accept it.

Well, see what happens in the next fifteen years anyway!

Illegals Cost Feds $10 Billion a Year; Amnesty Would Nearly Triple Cost

The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) has just released a new report, "The High Cost of Cheap Labor: Illegal Immigration and the Federal Budget." The report estimates that households headed by illegal aliens used $10 billion more in government services than they paid in taxes in 2002. C-SPAN covered the release of the new CIS report last week, but it has not re-aired the coverage since then.

WASHINGTON (August 25, 2004) — A new study from the Center for Immigration Studies is one of the first to estimate the impact of illegal immigration on the federal budget. Based on Census Bureau data, the study estimates that households headed by illegal aliens used $10 billion more in government services than they paid in taxes in 2002. These figures are only for the federal government; costs at the state and local level are also likely to be significant. The study also finds that if illegals were given amnesty, the fiscal deficit at the federal level would grow to nearly $29 billion.

The study, entitled The High Cost of Cheap Labor: Illegal Immigration and the Federal Budget, is on line at http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscal.html

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly Immigration and Naturalization Services, INS) continues to rollout its immigration information by appointment system called InfoPass, with three new USCIS districts added last week. Atlanta, Boston and Houston are the newest additions, making the system now available in almost all major metropolitan areas with large immigrant populations. These areas include Los Angeles, New York and Miami.

Along with the Case Status Online service (allows user to check the status of some pending applications, e.g. green card applications) which was made available earlier this year on the Internet, and the electronic filing of the 12 most popular immigration forms, (accounts for more than 50% of all immigration benefit applications filed each year) InfoPass is the newest effort intended to reduce long lines and speed up the processing backlog of services provided by the USCIS.

InfoPass allows anyone who is living in a serviced USCIS district and seeking immigration benefits to schedule an appointment with immigration officers via the Internet. The simple to use online system allows users to discuss complex immigration issues with USCIS officials, while avoiding the long lines.

The secure Internet site offers service in 12 languages and is organized in a series of prompts, asking the user to enter their name, zip code, address, phone number and a desired appointment date. Once all the information is entered, the system will generate an appointment notice. Appointments are offered in two-week blocks. The notice will provide the address of the USCIS office and any information regarding required identification and/or additional documentation, such as a green card or work permit, to be presented at the appointment.

© 2004 gggems.com All rights reserved.

Gem adventure of the Swiss twins. ( Novel ). literature best seller.©

June 26, 1988.
The plane landed early – something extremely rare on the AirMad
line serving Tananarive. Mrs. Nory was standing on the airport's
tarmac, right next to a gendarme. Her son, her brother the
airport's director and some vague relationship accompanied her.

She welcomed her daughter Tina coming back from Belgium. The nine years she had spent there,had metamorphosed the young lady,
she almost became vazaha. "foreigner, in Madagascar language."


Tina caught the stair's metallic fence. Her blue dress was floating in the overheated air, sweeping
the black tarmac. She saw some familiar silhouettes far away. The young woman showed
a movement of retreat, perhaps, her diploma of chemist engineer, acquired recently, would help her
blur the vindication of the assistance who came here to meet her, she thought .
John and Alain followed the lady. She had met the twins during the stop over in Rome and got
acquainted with them. This meeting was not fortuitous, because it was her mother who arranged it.

Readjusting her scarf, Mrs. Nory moved on. - I see her, she is not in a hurry to go down, she said.

The lady did not take of her black glasses to kiss her daughter. This coldness, intrigued Alain.
And, Tina introduced her new friends, the precious stone experts, waited impatiently in
Tananarive.
Then, Alain noticed a certain ambiguity and even some condescension from the clever lady with her daughter.

Both vazaha precipitated towards a wooden shelf. They filled in the immigration forms.
Details on their origin, the goal of their visit, the exact sums imported was explicitly asked to them.
Then, a police officer gave them a lined sheet to be made plug to each hotel in which they would go down.

Charged of cumbersome parcels, Alain painfully cut through the crowd.
The twins separately took seat in two cars brought here to pick up them. John went up in
the roomy BMW with the mother. And the prodigal girl took seat right next to Alain, in the Peugeot.
Driving fast, compressed against the door, Alain noticed a black Mercedes coming in opposite
direction.
- This is my uncle, the president of the national assembly, shouted Tina, She then added that the
man - a famous reverend - had the habit to harp virulent Marxists sermons to his flocks.
The hearse color limousine disappeared behind enormous billboards marking out the road of the dike.

---------------------------------------

- To the Terminus! Ordered John to the taxi driver.
The hotel Terminus was located at the center town, opposite to the railway station at the corner of the Independence Avenue.

Large house plants decorated the hall. It was a building of the purest colonial style.
Inside, the atmosphere of the Twenties was perpetuated. A large staircase of brown wood
led to the rooms, the employees - flexible and trained - waxed it several times per day.
The owner, an old and little vulgar settler, directed her staff with an iron hands.
By derision, the employees called her "tara shambo", as the Madagascans named former colonists
who were too late to take the last boat to the decolonization . Mrs. Morvan - her real name -
was everywhere at the same time. Like a sheepdog, she was ready to bark her sheep at the
least prank. It should be said that the staff had of it the attitude. Always dressed in white
immaculate blouses, she had kept this subjected position which characterized the relationship
that natives had with their Masters during colonial times.
All were bare footed. Their miserable wages guarantee calm and rest to the establishment's
customers.

A porter ran into the lobby. He relieved the twins of their two larger bags and invited them to follow
him. John, climbing the stairs, slipped on the soaped steps. He hung up again himself to the fence.
– This is Holiday one ice, he launched to his brother desperately trying to follow the guide.
- You know, Al, it'll be necessary that you call Coco without too much delay, he recommend, as if
this hitch had shake his meninx.
Coco was not a parrot and even less a vazaha! In Madagascar, one called everyone by his first
name and even more readily by his small name...

Alain Darbellay GGGEMS.COM

Alain Darbellay is looking for an editor in order to publish his novels in USA.

literature best seller. Extracts of the novel.

© 1987 - 2004 gggems.com All rights reserved.

In this “special report”, I want to pose a few important “philosophical questions” to my readers. Firstly -- our Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan, addressed the effects and implications of our aging population on things such as Social Security again in a speech that he made last Friday. Readers may remember that I also briefly mentioned this issue in my June 24th commentary. I urge you to keep this worldwide phenomenon of the aging population firmly on the back of your minds. If you are like most people, then you earn you living by producing a certain thing – such as a consumer good, or a service that the masses want. Let’s face it – how many people really “struck it rich” by being pure traders or investment managers? The stock market and other financial markets are definitely very important to us investors/traders but this “super secular trend” of the aging of the worldwide population will impact every aspect of our lives, whether it is losing our relative competitiveness on the world arena, increasing pension and healthcare costs, or even a potential fundamental change of our political system.

The second question that I want my readers to think about is the potential end to the era of cheap energy prices – an era which we have basically enjoyed for the last two decades without thinking of the long-term repercussions. The United States, with less than five percent of the world’s population, currently consume approximately 25% of the world’s energy each year. Supply is maturing while demand continues to surge – as exemplified by the surging in demand from China and India. In the meantime, spare energy-producing capacity and inventory levels have been at all-time lows – potential for a perfect storm?

Finally, I want to ask my readers the following question: What kind of investor are you? What investing style do you adopt and what investing style are you most comfortable with? Can you be a contrarian and buy when the crowd is selling or are you merely a follower who is only comfortable if you fit in? These are straightforward questions – but these are questions that you really need to ask yourselves in order to truly make money in investing over the long run. If my readers take the time out to thinking about these three questions or issues – and ultimately have a firm grasp of even just one of the issues – then you will be in a much better economic situation than most Americans five to ten years from now.

To begin, what are the potential implications of the “aging population” phenomenon? Readers my recall that in my June 24th commentary, I stated: “Assuming that the current level of benefits remain into the future and assuming the level of taxes is not raised, then public benefits to retirees would dramatically increase going forward. On the extreme end, Japan and Spain will see a more than 100% increase in their outlays to retirees. Clearly, this is not sustainable. Either things such as defense or education spending will need to be cut, or the above countries will need to raise their taxes. Neither of the two scenarios is optimal. Borrowing more of their funds is not a long-term solution. Cutting funding in defense and education will comprise a country’s future, and raising taxes will place a huge social and financial burden on the population of the developed world – where taxes are already at a historically high level. Think about this: If you were a bright, young, French industrialist and you were forced to pay 60% of your income as taxes to support the elderly, what would you do? Why, you would vote with your feet and relocate to another country that is more tax-friendly and business-friendly – and so will other great talent that may have been a great contribution to the French economy. The governments of the developed world recognize this – but there are no easy solutions.”

“This picture gets grimmer when one takes note of a study that was done by the Bank Credit Analyst. In that study, the BCA predicts that by the year 2050, the percentage share of the developed countries of the global population will drop from over 30% in 1950 to less than 14% -- or about equal to the population of the Islamic nations of the world. Similarly, Yemen will be more populous than Germany in 2050; while Iraq will be 30% more populous than Italy (Iraq is less than 40% the size of Italy today). Russia’s population is projected to continue to decrease – at a rate such that the population of Iran will be even higher to that of Russia’s in 2050. India will be the most populous nation in the world, and Pakistan will only lag the U.S. by approximately 50 million people. If the developed countries of today do not choose to work harder or become more efficient, then they will ultimately lose their comparative advantage, as the younger population of the world is inherently more hard-working, energetic, innovative, and creative. In today’s globalized world, this will be a killer for the average worker in the developed countries – the more so once the language barrier is eliminated (the successful commercialization of universal language translators is projected to happen in ten to fifteen years). I am generally more optimistic, as the elimination of the language barrier will greatly enhance business opportunities and efficiencies, but a person such as the average American worker will loss his or her comparative advantage in the global workforce. The availability of a huge supply of labor should also drive down wages in the global marketplace – and most probably increase the maldistribution of wealth in today’s developed countries.”

Like I have mentioned before, there are no easy solutions. If the average American sees an increase of 10 years in his or her life expectancy, can he or she reasonably or logically retire at the current normal retirement age of 65 (which was determined during the Roosevelt administration during the 1930s) without placing an undue burden on the system? The answer is most probably “no.” Applying the same working-years-to-retirement-years ratio to his or her new life expectancy, then the average American should probably work around five to six years more – thus giving a revised normal retirement age of 70 or so. Moreover, all this analysis is based on the outdated population distribution in the form of a pyramid – where the younger and more able workers represent a majority of the population (and where the elderly represents only a small minority of the general population). The pyramid distribution has historically facilitated government support of the elderly – as the monetary and social burdens have been shouldered by a relatively large younger population. The current experience of Europe and Japan suggests a more uniform distribution in the population of those countries going forward – as the birthrate in those countries are now dismally below the replacement rate of the population. The situation in the United States is not currently as drastic (given our relatively lax immigration policy) but we are heading towards the same direction. Thus to maintain the current standard of living at retirement, my guess is that the general population will not only have to work longer, but work longer hours in the present (and save more) as well.

The situation is more alarming when one considers that the combined population of China and India makes up over 1/3 of the world’s population. The number of unemployed workers in China is greater than the entire labor force of the United States. The competition for relatively unskilled jobs will continue, and it promises to accelerate going forward. The average American who does not stay ahead of the curve or does not keep pace of the trend will find his or her job being outsourced – not to mention the average wage being driven down by global competition. I, for one, believe that this continuing trend of globalization will make the world a better place, as hundreds of thousands of people will finally be empowered as they climb out of absolute poverty (again, over half of the world’s population currently live on less than two dollars a day) – and as the prices of consumer goods are driven down still further. The average American will probably disagree, but the trend of globalization and “offshoring” will not stop. The last time the United States adopted economic and military isolationism we had a Great Depression and subsequently, World War II. I sincerely do not think that this was a coincidence.

The trend of the general aging population and globalization will have a profound impact on all Americans. Ultimately, I think all Americans will benefit – although it may not be clear to people who are losing their jobs today. For the initiated and nimble, you will not only survive but thrive in these “interesting new times.” Imagine a market for your product that is over ten times the size of the population in the United States. China and India has historically disappointed – as the citizens of those countries have historically been too poor to consume much U.S. goods and services. Globalization and offshoring will change all these. A world more equalized economically will also mean a much more secure and less conflictive world.

Now, I want to address a similar concern of all Americans – as the era of cheap energy (basically the cheap energy prices as experienced by Americans for the last twenty years) comes to a close. While I think oil prices will decline in the short-term (i.e. for the next few months), I am longer-term bullish on both oil and natural gas prices (I will only discuss oil in this commentary). Consider the following:

• The world supply of oil is flattening out. Readers may not know this, but the United States today still produce enough oil to satisfy approximately 40% of total domestic demand. The United States also had 22.7 billion barrels of proved oil reserves as of January 1, 2004, eleventh highest in the world. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), the United States produced around 7.9 million barrels per day during 2003. This is down sharply from the 10.6 million barrels averaged in 1985. The peak of domestic oil supply occurred sometime during the 1970s. Today, total domestic production is at 50-year lows – and still falling.
  
• While Saudi Arabia (the world’s top exporter and contains 25% of the world’s reported reserves) has claimed that there are and will be no supply problems for the next few decades, they have not been transparent with their reserves data. According to Simmons & Company International, five to seven key fields in Saudi Arabia produce 90% to 95% of its total oil output – all but two fields are extremely old – with the last major find reported in 1968. The last publicized reserves data was in 1975 – when Saudi Aramco was still managed by Exxon, Mobil, Chevron and Texaco. In that report, the world’s best experts determined that all the key fields at that time contained 108 billion barrels of oil in recoverable reserves. If this holds true, then the peak of supply in Saudi Arabia will come soon. Moreover, if the report is correct, then there is really no “plan B” (unlike during the 1970s when the center of power shifted from the Texas Railroad Commission to OPEC due to the peaking of supply in the United States) – crude oil prices will soar.
  
• The “last frontier” for the production of oil (namely the North Sea, Siberia, and Alaska) is now aging. Most companies are now struggling in order to even maintain their current production levels.
  
• World oil demand continues to grow. Oil demand in the early 1990s stayed relatively flat (at around 66 to 68 million barrels per day) but over the next ten years to today, world oil demand increased 14 million barrels per day. Today, total world oil demand is greater than 82 million barrels per day. The energy “experts” who in the early 1990s predicted a flattening of oil demand growth and who wrote off demand growth in developing countries were dead wrong.
  
• No new refineries have been built in the United States for the past two decades, even as refineries have been closing every year during that same time period. Refining capacity from 1981 to the mid 1990s also dropped drastically (this author estimates a drop of approximately 6 million barrels per day in refining capacity during that time period). Since 1994, however, an expansion in refining capacity at existing refineries has contributed to an increase in refining capacity from 15.0 million barrels per day to 16.7 million barrels per day (as of today). Despite this expansion, however, domestic refining capacity is still stretched to the limit, as utilization at U.S. refineries is now averaging nearly 90% -- leaving no cushion room if something unforeseen happens.

My name is William Freeman, Jr. In April of 2000 Interpol arrested me at my home in Guadalupe, Costa Rica for charges that stemmed out of Wyoming in 1991. The charges were Conspiracy to Distribute Cocaine. Costa Rican law and the Costa Rican Constitution do not have a provision for conspiracy laws; therefore, I decided to fight the Extradition.I was arraigned in Court and appointed a Public Defender. was advised of my rights under he laws of Extradition and also under the Constitution of Costa Rica.I was then transferred to San Sebastian Prison in San Jose, Costa Rica where I was confronted by a group of inmates at knifepoint. They wanted the clothes I had brought with me. I refused to relinquish my clothes and suffered the consequences with a broken arm.The unit I was placed in was equipped with 80 beds, yet there were 324 inmates in this unit, most of which were sleeping on the floor. I did sleep on the floor for the first couple of days until I was able to purchase a bed for $200. The prison does not supply you with clothing, dishes, hygiene products or bedding. This, you must have delivered to you from the outside if you, in fact, have someone to do this for you. The prison does not have hot water, nor does it have water for toilets. There were two faucets with cold running water which the inmates used for showers. I made arrangements to have bedding delivered to me, along with the many other items I needed, including the delivery of food. Without this outside assistance, I would never have survived the 15 months I spent there. The prison unit was dark, filthy, over-crowded and filled with disease, rats, and daily violence that resulted in the deaths of other inmates.My public defender was at first very confident that I would win the Extradition and be set free. According to her, it was just a formality that I must go through and we must wait the formal filing of charges by the United States Embassy. She was certain that they would not file these charges in 60-day time period allotted by the courts in accordance with the Bi-lateral Extradition treaty between the United States and Costa Rica. Late in the afternoon of day 60, the United States Embassy did file the formal charges. I decided that I would continue to fight the Extradition to the United States. For those of you not familiar with Extradition law, you have only three days to appeal the court’s decision.While I was awaiting a decision from the court, my attorney stopped taking my calls and would not respond to my inquiries. I knew that the court would be rendering a decision at any moment and my attorney’s failure to communicate with me had me quite concerned. It was at this time I decided to write my own appeal for a court decision I had not yet received. I feared that the court would decide against me and allow the United States to extradite me and that my attorney was working in conjunction with the United States Embassy. I was correct in this assumption, as the Court had in fact decided in favor of the United States to extradite me. But because I had anticipated this, I had a friend of mine hand-deliver the blanket appeal I had prepared to the court. This allowed me time to prepare another appeal that would answer the court’s decision. Had I not filed my appeal prior to receiving the court’s decision, the time allotted for appeal would have lapsed and I would have been extradited.To my amazement, when I read the court decision, the Judge had taken my one conspiracy charge and made two charges out it to fit a similar charge of distribution of cocaine under the laws of Costa Rica. To be extradited from another country, both countries must have the same exact law. According to the laws of Extradition, if the country you are residing in does not have a similar law, then you are not extraditable. Due to the fact that Costa Rica does not have conspiracy laws, I would not have been found. Therefore, the judge changed my charge from conspiracy cocaine to distribution of cocaine, now justifying my Extradition, as the laws are now the same in both countries.I decided it would be in my best interest to continue studying the law and I made arrangements to have the Costa Rican law books purchased for me and delivered to the prison so that I may study for my defense. I was doing a much better job than the attorney I had and my appeal had been accepted. This allowed me more time to study and submit another appeal. I am fluent in Spanish and this was of great assistance to me in my studies of the law and preparation of legal briefs. Through my studies, I also had studied the conventions that govern Extradition law and I was becoming very knowledgeable in law which related to Extradition, the Bi-Lateral Treaty, and the Constitution of Costa Rica.As I had been preparing everything in Spanish, the court assumed that I had had legal assistance of some sort. I then learned some very important things that directly related to my case. The first one was that my rights had been violated because all the documents I had received to date were in Spanish. Due to the fact that I am American and my native language is English, the court violated my rights by not having an interpreter present during the court proceedings and that the documents I had been receiving were not translated into English. I filed an appeal with the Tribunal Appeals Court which decided in my favor and had the Extradition proceedings suspended until an interpreter was appointed and all the documents were translated and prepared in the English language. This bought me time to prepare my case on appeal. I also learned that due to the fact that I was looking at a sentence of ten years to life, it was a violation of the Costa Rican Constitution. Costa Rica does not allow indeterminate sentences. This now required that the United States provide the Costa Rican Government a judicial promise the I would not receive an indeterminate sentence. The problem with this is that the judicial system in the United States will not allow a judge to make any type of promise to another country, nor can he make a promise on a case that has not yet been tried in a United States court of law. I had the United States in a “Catch 22” on this point. Under Costa Rican law, there is a five-year statute of limitations to arrest and convict a person. My charges stemmed from a 1991 charge so I was protected under this law. It was at this time that I noticed that Article 16b of the Extradition Treaty was unconstitutional under the Costa Rican Constitution which states that once a person is extradited, the United States can also charge a person with other crimes that were not included in the request for Extradition. With this information at hand, I began to prepare my defense what I believed to be a winning defense. I also decided that I needed a defense attorney to present my arguments. It was at this time that I hired my own attorney to do this for me. When he came to visit me at San Sebastian Prison and read the documents I had prepared, he was confidant the I would be set free. My new attorney accompanied me before a panel of a three-judge appeals court tribunal. The United States Embassy was also present for these proceedings. As I began to present my arguments, it was very apparent that the Judges were not listening to me and that they, in fact, were once again trying to twist the laws. When I argued that the statute of limitations had expired, they responded by saying that there is no statute of limitations in the United States. But Extradition laws clearly state that Extradition laws of the country of residence shall govern the Extradition proceedings. I could see that I was not being listened to and, therefore, finished presenting the arguments I had prepared. I then returned to San Sebastian Prison to await the decision.During the days that followed, I tried to contact my attorney to inquire if he had any response from the court and to get feedback from him. Once again, I ran into the prior problem I had with my public defender; he would not answer my calls. I had a friend of mine try to call him and his calls also went unanswered. I then had someone go to his office, only to find that he had moved. When a friend on mine finally located him at his new office, he informed my friend that he had been confronted and told to drop my case if he had any political ambitions for he future. Once again, I found myself without an attorney. It was at this time that I decided to file an appeal with the Supreme Court of Costa Rica. I filed the appeal stating that (1) the statute of limitations had lapsed; (2) the United States had to provide a judicial promise, stating that I would not receive a indeterminate sentence; and (3) that conspiracy does not exist in Costa Rica; therefore, these proceedings should be dropped. The Supreme Court issued an order to the United States Embassy, The Costa Rican Courts and immigration that I was not to be touched by anyone and that I could not be removed from Costa Rica.I then had another public defender appointed for me and she was, at first, very confidant that I would be set free. But I had been studying the law that pertained to Article 16b of the Treaty that allowed other charges to be filed against a person that was extradited. I had been visiting with another private attorney who was knowledgeable in Extradition law and together we prepared an argument to submit to the Sala IV, the Costa Rican Supreme Court, challenging the Bi-Lateral Extradition Treaty between the United States and Costa Rica, stating that Article 16b of the Treaty was unconstitutional and that the Treaty needed to be ratified to reflect this unconstitutional article. I had to submit the argument two times. The first time, the Sala IV returned my argument, stating that the argument had merit but I lacked the proper stamps that must be submitted with a brief and that I must follow their established format. They asked me to rewrite the brief and resubmit it, at which time they would make their decision. In the meantime, all Extradition proceedings would be suspended, not only against me, but also against any other persons that may be awaiting Extradition to the United States.With this filed in the Sala IV and having been accepted, along with the Sala IV order stating that I could not be removed from Costa Rica Territory, I was confident I would go free. Legally, I had won on every point of the law and I was not extraditable. I needed only to wait for the ruling to be handed down that would set me free in Costa Rica.On May 9, 2001 my name was called in the San Sebastian prison. I was put into a prison van and brought to the airport, where two United States Marshals were waiting for me, along with a judge I had never seen, and representatives from the United States Embassy. With my Supreme Court order in hand and under protest, I was illegally taken from Costa Rica and brought to the United States, where I was eventually sentenced to five years in a federal prison for Conspiracy To Posses With Intent to Distribute and to Distribute Cocaine. I completed my sentence on November 21, 2003.For those of you wishing to contact me, please forward your inquiries to william_freeman_109@hotmail.comWritten by: William Warren Freeman Jr.