Saturday Forum

A New York Reader Says Empire State Building Is Major Foe In War Against Christmas; etc.

From: Joe Collins (e-mail him)

Re: Today’s Letter: A New York Reader Notes Two Victories In The War On Christmas---At Unlikely Places

I read Dan Hayes’ December 20^th letter about two Christmas victories.

However, a big battle we're losing in New York is the Empire State Building’s lighting scheme. Below is a copy of its December and January lighting schedule as taken from its website. As you can see the colors for Chanukah extend over the entire weekend before Christmas.

Look how the color scheme is mixed during Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the days immediately following Christmas. Chanukah gets equal billing

I find this odd given that New York’s Jewish population is significantly lower than its Christian population and makes up only three percent of the overall U.S. population.

I sent the Empire State Building an email (use the “Contact Us” form at the bottom of the Home Page) but have not gotten nor do I expect a reply.

Over the years, I have witnessed the deterioration of the Christmas presence throughout the city as measured by the Empire State Building lighting format.

How much more do these people want to extract from Christmas? What is their endgame? Is it total removal of traditional Christmas colors from the building during December? Unbelievable!

Anyway, Merry Christmas to VDARE.COM and all its readers!

Dan Hayes (e-mail him) replies: “Regarding the Empire State Building, I stopped looking at it years ago when the lighting scheme was lavender in honor of Gay Pride Week. (VDARE.COM note: the ESB recently announced that it would be lit “Muslim green” green every year during Eid.) Unfortunately what’s happening at the Empire State Building is not “unbelievable”. It’s part of the continuing and successful effort to denigrate Christianity, and at the same time brown-nose so-called minorities who actually control today’s culture.

“I am glad that Collins is making the good fight against the ESB. Unfortunately things will only change when we go through a super-Depression that will make our hair curl. And I personally don’t want to be around when that happens.”

Hayes adds that he “serves in the bureaucratic bowels of one the world’s premier socialist entities, the city government of New York. When I entered city government, I was a Conservative. Then I became a Libertarian. And after seeing what goes on here over the years, I’m now an anarchist.”

His previous letters about “conservative” talk radio host Larry Kudlow, misguided Roman Catholic leadership and John F. Kennedy are here, here and here.

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Randall Burns Says To Slow Down K-1 Fiancée Visa Abuse, Raise The Fees

From: Randall Burns: (e-mail him)

Re: Joe Guzzardi’s Column: Marriage Visa Fraud---More Evidence But It Was All In A Nicole Kidman Movie!

The guidelines outlined by David Seminara to minimize K-1 visa fraud in his Center for Immigration Studies backgrounder: “Hello, I Love You, Won’t You Tell Me Your Name? Inside the Green Card Marriage Phenomenon.” to which Joe Guzzardi referred in his column, are reasonable and would be effective.

But I would add this:

The fees on spousal visas should be substantially raised. I suggest that between $10,000-15,000 is reasonable. I base that rate on the prices I have heard paid to gay men in San Francisco to marry Chinese women.

Significant and in some cases prohibitive increases in the consumer price would substantially reduce frivolous or fraudulent marriages.

Keep in mind that I also recommend a $300,000 fee for employment-related green cards.

Basically the minute someone gets a green card, there are very real financial benefits. In my column Immigration Policy Squanders The Value of Citizenship I put citizenship’s value at $450,000

Higher fees would lead to an overall reduction in the numbers of applicants. Consequently, less fraud, spousal abuse, etc

The main thing to remember, however, is that when it comes to immigration restriction, sponsoring relatives (a component of the K-1) is the biggest source of higher immigration. We need to think realistically how to deal with that. Immigration of spouses and minor children will be the hardest to reduce.

In the end, our ability to limit the movement of young, attractive women is going to be limited. Part of primate biology is that young attractive women are inherently mobile.

However, we can make the public cost more apparent to society as Guzzardi and Seminara have done with their K-1 visas articles.

Burns is a member of the VDARE.COM editorial collective. He holds a degree in Economics from the University of Chicago. He works in the information technology sector and is a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University. Burns has been active in furthering the introduction of immigration, trade, and tax realities into the progressive agenda. In 2004, he helped create Dennis Kucinich’s campaign position paper on H-1b/L-1 visas.

Burns’ columns and blogs are archived here.

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A California Reader Wonders If The Immigration Control Gods Agree With Joe Guzzardi About The K-1 Visa

From: Jack Ellis (e-mail him)

The immigration control gods have come down hard on 45-year-old American Scott Napper.

Just as Napper was about to marry 22-year-old Leafil Alforque, an Internet bride from the Philippines who had recently arrived in the U.S. on a K-1 visa, her life came to a tragic end. [Bride-to-be Vanishes Near eskowin Beach, by Desiree Aflleje, The Oregonian,, December 3, 2008]

As Napper prepared to pop the question at the well-known Proposal Rock near Oregon’s Neskowin Beach,, a large wave appeared and pulled his-bride to-be under.

Said Napper: “That’s the last I saw of her.”

Joe uzzardi comments: This is either a suspicious case that one day Forensic Files will expose or a very sad tale. Either way, it’s the not outcome we hope for in our quest to eliminate K-1 visas. Thinking back on all the mail I’ve received pro and con from grooms about their Internet brides, most—like Napper—seem sincere but sophomoric in their lofty expectations from their foreign-born wives.

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