memberships

P

Pippi

Registered Users (C)
How much of a member do you need to be? Attended a couple of meetings? Paid dues? Subscribed to newsletter? Was a member in college but lost touch or group may no longer exist?

How official does the association / organization need to be? Registered charity? Has bank account / PO Box? Or even an informal group like our local Peace Vigil - which has no formal "membership" or organizational structure but which I would like to mention if possible as it serves to document my opposition to war.

I myself can make a sound judgement as to which groups were important but I don't want to be accused of hiding something, hence asking. Sample cases in question would be

Students for Environmental Action
Club W (feminist discussion group)
Black Students' Union (though I am Asian / brown)

which I took part in in college. I dont know if mentioning these would raise questions or if not mentioning these would be considered concealing informaton.
 
i put down habitat for humanity, big bro big sisters (volunteer orgs) and ieee, nsbe (professional orgs) etc..I think they want to make sure you are not a part of some terrorist or nazi org..or anything that might cause or raise an alarm
 
Pippi said:
Students for Environmental Action
Club W (feminist discussion group)
Black Students' Union (though I am Asian / brown)

which I took part in in college. I dont know if mentioning these would raise questions or if not mentioning these would be considered concealing informaton.
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I say forget about these. It won't make any difference if you list them except that it just wastes your own time and USCIS's time and thus everyone's time
 
I dont think anyone here knows (may be I am generalizing too much) the definitions of those terms as USCIS sees them. I have been member of too many internet groups like yahoo groups, google groups, mailling lists - mostly technical. I have donated some money to ACLU. I didnt mention any of it. I did bring the ACLU renewal notice to interview and showed it to IO when the question of membership came. It was not big deal except IO made comment saying some people may think ACLU is communist organization.

Some discussions on these forums did say that you probably want to mention organizations, groups that you are part of, where you have atleast some control, held a position or influenced the groups direction in some way.
 
In the US, even anything located right in centre of the political spectrum is possibly a communist organisation. It's ridiculous.
 
absrao said:
I did bring the ACLU renewal notice to interview and showed it to IO when the question of membership came. It was not big deal except IO made comment saying some people may think ACLU is communist organization.
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Your IO is an idiot. If the ACLU is a communist organization, the US under Bush II was a facist abomination...wait a minute. ;)
 
sh1996 said:
Your IO is an idiot. If the ACLU is a communist organization, the US under Bush II was a facist abomination...wait a minute. ;)
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What can I say ? I wasnt going to get in discussion with IO if and why some may think of ACLU like that :)
 
absrao said:
What can I say ? I wasnt going to get in discussion with IO if and why some may think of ACLU like that :)
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When the IO said "some people may think", then he must be one of them or has friends who believe ACLU is too socialistic...just like how Palin and gang tried to portray Obama as socialist during the campaign. They're people of "negative" IQ :D:D

These morons talk about less government and more people's choice..then when it comes to abortion...they're hardliners against "pro choice" and want Govt to put restrictions on people's lives... Then they talk pro-life loud in public and then go for hunting to "kill" poor animals from the helicopters.......only people of negative IQ can argue like that...
 
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milk said:
When the IO said "some people may think", then he must be one of them or has friends who believe ACLU is too socialistic...just like how Palin and gang tried to portray Obama as socialist during the campaign. They're people of "negative" IQ :D:D

These morons talk about less government and more people's choice..then when it comes to abortion...they're hardliners against "pro choice" and want Govt to put restrictions on people's lives... Then they talk pro-life loud in public and then go for hunting to "kill" poor animals from the helicopters.......only people of negative IQ can argue like that...
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I think you hit the nail on the head with that one. I completely agree.
 
You guys definitely don't come from Western Europe where the Govt takes care about everything and then you get taxed over 50% to have lousy and inefficient services.
Obama is a socialist, nothing wrong with that (most of W. Europe is like that). It's just that I thought that I came to this country to be rewarded based on my merit and my hard work and instead while every week I put 80+ hours I see people who don't even bother looking for a job that get everything for free. Let's do some math...I make exactly the same money who people with half of my salary (but half of my hours) make. Yet I'm taxed at a higher marginal rate, no tax credit whatsoever (last year I couldn't even deduct $8000 of interest paid on my wife's student loans), people buy a house now and they get a nice $8000 back, not us, and so on.
Frankly, I'm tired of that BS.
And when it comes to vote, I will have to choose between 18th century-like bigots (most of Republicans) and socialist parasites who want the less-than-50% hard working people to pay for all of the more-than-50%. I never win. Unfortunately, we will never have a liberal republican or a fiscally-conservative democrat in power because they will never win their primaries.
 
sarrebal said:
You guys definitely don't come from Western Europe where the Govt takes care about everything and then you get taxed over 50% to have lousy and inefficient services.
Obama is a socialist, nothing wrong with that (most of W. Europe is like that). It's just that I thought that I came to this country to be rewarded based on my merit and my hard work and instead while every week I put 80+ hours I see people who don't even bother looking for a job that get everything for free. Let's do some math...I make exactly the same money who people with half of my salary (but half of my hours) make. Yet I'm taxed at a higher marginal rate, no tax credit whatsoever (last year I couldn't even deduct $8000 of interest paid on my wife's student loans), people buy a house now and they get a nice $8000 back, not us, and so on.
Frankly, I'm tired of that BS.
And when it comes to vote, I will have to choose between 18th century-like bigots (most of Republicans) and socialist parasites who want the less-than-50% hard working people to pay for all of the more-than-50%. I never win. Unfortunately, we will never have a liberal republican or a fiscally-conservative democrat in power because they will never win their primaries.
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Be thankful....

:)
 
sarrebal said:
You guys definitely don't come from Western Europe where the Govt takes care about everything and then you get taxed over 50% to have lousy and inefficient services.
Obama is a socialist, nothing wrong with that (most of W. Europe is like that). It's just that I thought that I came to this country to be rewarded based on my merit and my hard work and instead while every week I put 80+ hours I see people who don't even bother looking for a job that get everything for free. Let's do some math...I make exactly the same money who people with half of my salary (but half of my hours) make. Yet I'm taxed at a higher marginal rate, no tax credit whatsoever (last year I couldn't even deduct $8000 of interest paid on my wife's student loans), people buy a house now and they get a nice $8000 back, not us, and so on.
Frankly, I'm tired of that BS.
And when it comes to vote, I will have to choose between 18th century-like bigots (most of Republicans) and socialist parasites who want the less-than-50% hard working people to pay for all of the more-than-50%. I never win. Unfortunately, we will never have a liberal republican or a fiscally-conservative democrat in power because they will never win their primaries.
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Well, I come from India where one has to expect "0" service from Govt. You are better off getting lousy/inefficient "some" service in Europe. Indian Govt works efficiently and effectively for only few people (read: rich and powerful)

Yes, I know the taxation here in US is flawed and the more you make the more you have to pay in taxes (% wise) ...but you have to understand that you (as a high income earner) will be entitled to several other credits that a low income person can not take..mortgage interest for example...you still have several avenues to save on taxes...and obviously people look at the negative things more often than the positive things....high taxes for high earners can NOT be labeled as pure socialism. My 2 cents.
 
milk said:
Well, I come from India where one has to expect "0" service from Govt. You are better off getting lousy/inefficient "some" service in Europe. Indian Govt works efficiently and effectively for only few people (read: rich and powerful)

Yes, I know the taxation here in US is flawed and the more you make the more you have to pay in taxes (% wise) ...but you have to understand that you (as a high income earner) will be entitled to several other credits that a low income person can not take..mortgage interest for example...you still have several avenues to save on taxes...and obviously people look at the negative things more often than the positive things....high taxes for high earners can NOT be labeled as pure socialism. My 2 cents.
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IMO, the best taxation would be a flat rate for everybody with no deduction.
But I'm ok with the progressive taxation, as long as it's fair.
Right now it's not fair, especially with how the tax credit work. They're even making them refundable, so people could actually make money off the tax system. It's just crazy. On top of that, I live in NYC where a high income anywhere else is just middle class and where State and City taxes are high too.
 
sarrebal said:
IMO, the best taxation would be a flat rate for everybody with no deduction.
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This will be worse for the rich (high imcome). They currently have higher tax rate but more deduction options to compensate. a flat rate would still translate into the rich paying relatively more, much more.....

:)
 
formerf1 said:
This will be worse for the rich (high imcome). They currently have higher tax rate but more deduction options to compensate. a flat rate would still translate into the rich paying relatively more, much more.....

:)
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First of all, who do you think the "rich" are?
Second of all, it would be the fairest system and it will be practically impossible to cheat. Obviously the rate must be low, like 20%..
 
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