Month: December 2010

A reader writes:

My Spanish (erm, Catalan) fiancé and I met at Columbia five years ago and since since suffered a double whammy of senseless U.S immigration policy.

Even though he graduated into a strong job market from a top program, he was unable to obtain an H1-B visa to stay and work in the U.S. The following year I left the U.S. to work in London, availing of the dual Irish citizenship I was lucky to obtain because of my Ireland-born grandmother. I've been out of the U.S. ever since and find it difficult to return to a place where my relationship is so pigheadedly rejected.

Furthermore, should we seek to marry in the U.S. (where he enters as a tourist and marries me there) it is possible to run afoul of his visa-waiver entry, because he can't declare intent to enter to marry a US citizen on a tourist visa. But there is, of course, no visa that covers this.

The only option we have to legally live in the U.S. together is for me to apply as an Irish citizen for a J-1 student visa and bring him as a partner without work privileges. But that would provoke an immigration status schizophrenia greater than I want to imagine. So here we are, two educated people with international experience who the U.S. has lost because of these discriminatory policies.

I honestly don't think even many equality-minded people are aware of this problem. Anyone I mention this to thinks that marrying in one of the legal jurisdiction will just magically produce a green card. So kudos to you for raising awareness, and many thanks to Joshua and Henry for going public with their fight. I think that this issue is one of the ugliest public faces of DOMA and deserves wider attention.

Another writes:

Hardly anybody pays attention to this issue. Hardly anybody even knows of it. A Human Rights Campaign worker who hit me up for donations on a Manhattan street last May had never heard about it.

Having exited my American homeland because of this, and preparing for permanent expatriation from here on out, I find Americans dumfounded that it could be true, as if it mars their very concept of their country. I can sense them thinking, That can't be right; your partner must have done something wrong.

Thank you for being the first commentator I have seen use the word "contempt" in characterizing Washington's posture toward me and others, because whenever I bother to look, I spot that contempt whooshing at me. To defuse it, I have made the unforeseeable realization that the United States is simply overrated, which might sound rash but holds up under scrutiny when one carefully mulls this issue. It's the tiny issue that reveals much.

On the bright side, it has sent me on a great multi-national adventure. But it took me years to embrace that thought, and it's mind-boggling that somehow, a former Little League second baseman who wrote an unassigned booklet in fifth grade titled "This Great Country" and grew up dreaming of New York, will march a few years hence into some U.S. Embassy and renounce.

Dana McCourt nitpicks an earlier reader.

A reader writes:

"Whale Song" is not only a preachy and syrupy affront to Top 10 AM radio, it is an affront to bubblegum television. You know that a teen idol TV vehicle has jumped the shark when it features the stock-in-trade evil entrepreneur/capitalist who will exploit a stranded whale for his own advantage. The telegenic family publicizes the sad plight of this whale, whales in general, and the whole environmental mess of the 1970s – clad in velvet and ruffled jumpsuits with the whale singing along. The world is enlightened and a whale is saved – in 30 minutes! (counting, um, commercial breaks)

But no song at all to the ones who won't hear
And if people don't listen, and if people don't know
Might the song of the man be the next song to go.

We know what song needs to go.

A reader writes:

Coincidentally, I just returned from a trip to England, where I was able to enjoy the amazing pubs in London and in some of the smaller towns in Shropshire. While I can't speak to the regulations or culture in DC and New York, I believe I do have an insight as to why there are no corner pubs in the rest of the country: Most of America is suburban, and in suburban America we don't have corner anything. Pub culture is town and city culture. It's walking culture. A pub that everyone has to drive to is no longer a pub. It's a piece of kitch that sells drinks and hamburgers.

Another writes:

Actually, America did have a pub culture just like that of England today.  It just disappeared over time. 

If you look at any city that had a huge influx of immigrants from Eastern Europe 100 years ago, places such as Buffalo, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, you can still see remnants of what it was like: neighborhood bars on virtually every block, places you just walked to from your home or right after work.  (For example, the town of Depew, NY, just outside of Buffalo, was once in the Guinness Book of World Records in the 1940s for more bars per acre than any other place in the world.  That's because a major railroad coupling factory was just down the street, and the men would stop by for a beer or three after work every day.)

Many still exist, but barely hang on.  Washington never had an immigrant culture from that part of the world and so never developed it. My grandparents operated several bars of this type, so I know exactly what had happened.

What changed?  The flight to the suburbs, of course.  Suburbs are far less dense than urban area, so bars are spread out over a greater distance.  Any new bar would have to open in a strip plaza or other new construction, meaning that the rent is at a premium.  Premium rents mean you can't survive unless your bar is packed on the weekends.  Additionally, once you are settled in a suburban house, you now have to drive to get to a bar, and that makes is a hassle just to get there.

If you want more, read Verlyn Klinginborg's book, "The Last Fine Time," which describes the exactly the culture you hint at.  He married a woman from Buffalo who was in the tavern business, and his book is perfect about what we have lost.

Another:

I think we'd see a lot more corner pubs if most people didn't commute to the city from the suburbs by car.  When I lived in Australia, another country with lots of pubs, I would often stop for a pint or two after work with my mates before catching the train home.  I rarely, if ever, do that now that I'm back in the U.S. because I have to drive for 45 minutes and don't want to be impaired.

Another:

While researching for an article on lagers and ales, I came across an interesting statistic that might help explain the lack of corner pubs in America.  In the UK, 80% of beer is consumed in pubs and other public accommodations, with the remaining 20% is consumed in the home.  In the US it is the exact opposite, with 80% of beer being consumed in the home, and only 20% in public bars.

Another:

America's corner pubs are on just about every corner. Conveniently, they all have the same name: Starbucks.

Craig Ferguson testifies (in dance) to the enduring appeal of Dr Who.

Maybe not:

Pending home sales jumped in October. The National Association of Realtors Pending Home Sales Index increased by an impressive 10.4% during the month. Even with this rise, however, demand remains relatively weak. … As noted yesterday, housing was pretty much the only dim spot in an otherwise great month for the U.S. economy in October. Even if demand doesn't approach astronomical levels, a relatively healthy number of sales may be enough to keep the broader economic recovery moving confidently in the right direction.

Calculated Risk explains how to read the new housing numbers. An earlier look at the housing market here.

Politifact notes John McCain's total reversal from his previous, oft-stated position on DADT. How much bitter can be compressed into one soul before it implodes?

David Frum counters Will Wilkinson in three posts (one, two, three). In his final post Frum explains how he would like to change DREAM:

Here would be my three main suggestions:

1) Lower the age of entry into the US. Even the new versions of the law extend amnesty to people who entered the US up to age 16. That allows too many people who entered on their own impetus rather than as part of a family group – and too many people whose first language will never be English. I’d lower to 12, to ensure we really are talking about children who have spent half or more of their lives in the US.

2) False statements in the application should be prosecutable. As written, lying on the forms is still a good one-way option: it might help, and it can’t hurt.

3) For those who choose enlistment rather than college, I’d require honorable discharge rather than 2 years service as a prerequisite for regularization. For those who choose college rather than enlistment, I’d like to see some measure- I’m not sure how to write such a rule myself – to prevent the emergence of a huge industry of fly by night institutions that will enroll (and keep enrolled) all paying customers regardless of how terribly they perform. As the law is now written, that last is an all too likely consequence.

With those changes, DREAM could be genuinely useful as part of a package of immigration reforms …

 

Actually, a half-dozen of them.

A reader writes:

You can too take a date out on a bike, especially if he or she also rides a bike.  In fact, going for a bike ride is a great date in and of itself.  The lack of imagination of car-centric people in this country makes me crazy.

Another writes:

I wooed my wife on my bicycle.  My bike accommodates an adult passenger, and I rode her up Capitol Hill after taking in some art at the Hirschorn.

Another:

Living in Portland, a city well-designed and continuously improved for bike commuting (we even have a fantastic, well-respected blog dedicated to news about biking and the riding community), I have to agree with the reader's list of ways that having a car is helpful. However, the other readers' comment about taking a date out on a bike is less true all the time; I had one of my best days out with the dog, the sweetie and a rented cargo bike.

Another:

Dates by bike are liberating – no car to park, the freedom to have a couple of drinks with no remorse, the endorphins of a little exercise, and, in our case, extremely intimate when we ride tandem. (Here's a photo of one of our rigs.) There's time to talk and enjoy your surroundings together. Plus, like a convertible, the top is always down on a bike. With the right bike, even dressing up for the symphony or theater is not a problem. A midnight ride home on a warm summer night is about as alive as you can feel. With the right clothes, even a little inclement weather can't stop the fun. 

Another:

Several years ago I was working outside the town of Parma, Italy. I met a wonderful woman whose terrible English matched my terrible Italian. But we liked each other, and after some strained conversation, she asked if I "like bicycles," to which I said, "Yes," and that evening found us on a pair of bikes, flowing down the streets of Parma. A few days later we parted ways for good, but that date stands as one of these most idyllic in my young life. I remember every cobblestone and streetlight.

Tis the season for kick-ass Christmas lights: