Generating Socio-Political Awarenes through paid Media Advertisements

[santosh_30]

vsaksena................................$150 AND more as needed
gcby2020............................... $150
techy2468.............................. $100
santosh_30..............................$150 AND more as needed
belmont99............................... $100
mydearcard..............................$150 AND more as needed
anil007dc.................................$$$s not specified
lorestan...................................$$$s not specified
sunjoshi...................................$150 (UNCONDITIONAL ---YAY)
charlotteperson.........................$100
itsme1.....................................$100
neha_wal.................................$100
njrirlabor..................................$$$ not specified
hariani.....................................$150
Pwagaj………………………………………….$100
Zbd……………………………………………….$100 (assumed contribution)
EAin2005………………………………………$200 (up to)
Dval dpal………………………………………$200 (wants ad in AJC)
Sobers………………………………………….$200
Anshushelly………………………………….$200+ (Unconditional…yay!!))
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL so far ...................$2,400

 

[vsaksena]

Sticky done!

V, how come this post has not become sticky yet? Didnt the admin say she was going to do that?

Santosh.

Santosh, The thread is a Sticky as of today morning. First small objective accomplished.....

Any contact with Mr. Rajiv Khanna?

Santosh.

I have approached Mr. Khanna through the webmaster requesting his involvement with the initiative, Havent heard back yet, I am going to write him again through the contact form on his Law Office's website "www.immigration.com"
Hopefully that would work....

In the meantime does anyone on this thread/forum have the ears of Rajiv? Perhaps we can request to set-up a conference call thorugh Sprint or other Telecom provider? Does anyone have any info on this?

BTW it is heartening to see the response on this thread & the contribution pledges.... Great show.....

 

[sunjoshi]

jeeeeez AD in AJC?? Are u serious?? It is completely far left and no one in DC reads it. (not that anyone in ATL reads it either!!). GA has ALWAYS been a republican stronghold, and lawmakers even in GA don't read it.

It only serves the far left minority-strong areas of ATL (nothing wrong with that) and won't help our cause one bit.
I did much rather see the ad on Deccan Herald than in AJC

 

[santosh_30]

All:

Please refrain from using this thread to attack conditions and desirables people express when pledging their contributions. Everyone has a right to opinion. The objective in putting these ads is to get the GC faster and remove or significantly reduce retrogression and allow people to file for their 485 without a visa number so they can get AP/EAD. How the retrogression is removed...by recapturing visas.....by not counting family members......and what will be the content of the ad......that is of course important...but not at this stage. What is undisputed at this stage is that

WE NEED AN AD OF SOME SORT IN SOME SORT OF MEDIA OUTLET

So lets focus on that and vote in the poll and keep the pledges coming.....and send a link for this poll to your Indian and CHinese and philipino and even Other countries folks (if they care)

(This is scary....I am sounding like the NPR telethon folks)

And thanks for all the support.

Santosh

Here is a primer for why we are doing this....
_____________________________________________
22nd October 2005, 12:39 PM

Well... I wont re-hash my arguments about why a full-page ad in an elite publication (Washington Post/ NYT/TIMES/Economist) will be beneficil. The reasons are too obvious.

Instead I will focus on the content of such ads. The content should cover some of the inequities and injustice in the political and legal engine:

1) The cornerstone should be to give light to the plight of "Legal" immigrants.
2)Maybe show a comparison of how "easy" it is for illegal immigrants and compare to how law-abiding and hardworking legal immigants are
3) Yet how (historically) illegal immigrant are the ones granted blanket amnesty (like in 1986, sometime in 1990 and in 2001). Currently a legal immigrant would be in this country for 15 years or so and can get deported on some mere techniclaity. An illegal immigrant can stay....well....for ever.
4) How no one hears any complaints (or cries of help) of illegal immigrants since they are not as large a group as illegal immigants and dont have a big direct or indirect electorate base (like latinos).
5) How drawn out the legal immigration process is and how patient legal immigrants are and how they are squeezed by unfair requirements (e.g., inability or change employers and/or careers for years) and how it is an invitation for employers to "legally" violate all the precepts of labor laws and hold "legal immigrants" in literal indentured labor. Make an open call for the department of labor and as what provisions they have made in the labor laws to address potential exploitation arising out of such issues. What are the rights (if any) of an "legal" Immigrant. from what I know he cant even sue the employer since he will be deported due to lack of status (due to his employer firing him) before he even files the lawsuit.
5a) How the long waits does not allow "legal" employees to change careers or jobs or even go back to full time school, effectively discriminating against them by holding their life in limbo.
6) Highlight the fact that "illegal immigrants" are granted amnesty at the cost of legal immigrants. Like the 245i initiative that allowed illegals to apply for work permits and they ate up the quota for legal immigrants creating serious backlog issues (especialy for EB3).
7) Cite opinions lof people like Bill Gates and otheres who have spoken in favor of (legal) immigration and its importance to the countrys economy
8) Highlight some of the "self-perpetuating" inefficiencies in the legal process. One e.g. is the issuance of EAD and AP for pending applications and the requirement of their yearly renewal which in turns creates a tremendous workload for every pending application which in turn results in more pending applications.
9) Highlight some of the waits in the "secirity clearance" or "name check" process and how it can cause inordinate delays while at the same creating a security risk by giving questionable applicants the luxury of time to do their dirty deeds.
10) The insensitivity of the immigration machine and their lack of customer service to the plight of legal immigrants whose fees (mostly) keep the machine running. Maybe show some of the actual rude responses people have received from the immigration officers.
11) How legal immigrants have to suffer from having to live apart from family member because of technicalities in the immigration process.
9) Put some faces to our plight. People who are willing to volunteer. Or people who have got their green card after VERY long waits or a diffcult struggle caused by deficiencies in the immigration process. Show faces of family membrers who have had to live apart.
10) Lastly but most importantly highlight the retrogression and how it can create additonal waits over the years that people have already waited, now allow people to file for EAD/AP, not allow family members to look for employment, letting people get trapped in jobs for years. And suggest solutions for retrogression: recapture of visas, not counting family members, no "smilar job itle and job description" requirement, etc. etc.

We dont have an electorate base to persuade the politicians BUT WHAT WE DO HAVE IS MONEY (I THINK). Lets say some 1000 people in the forum are affected by and care about the effects of retrogression. I am willing to pay $100 (or more) if I can get my voice heard). And we can persuade others who are not on the forum to join and then contribute. This is a small price to pay for removing years of wait.

Santosh

 

[neocor]

What the heck here goes $100 for another cause.

The other was for Cricket which some smart a--e took and ran away.

Offcourse no-conditions here.. Beggers cant be choosers.
Think about it, there is no point putting any conditions here.

However if you ask me what the single most factor that would solve all our problems; Then its to put an Advt pushing for removal of the Labor Substitution rule.

It however seems that everyone here is convinced that just by increasing the number of Visas is going to solve the problem. Believe me it will never solve the problem even if they triple - quadruple the numebr of visas. The real problem is Labor Substitution, the day Labor Substitution is abolished the Priority dates will jump 5 years in one month.

The one big hurdle in going after abolishing of Labor Substitution is that not a single lawyer or employer will back us.

Having said this I still remain with my pledge just for the sake of getting something on the national dailies. Let us have some exposure. There are more battles to be fought. Let this be a massive begining. We should cover all the regions biggest dailies if possible.

Has soemone thought about the content?
I am sure we have a lot of smart (oxford educated) folks who can pen down the precise content for the advt.


neocor

 

[vsaksena]

Goal is to educate, publicize & get get empathy

All:

Please refrain from using this thread to attack conditions and desirables people express when pledging their contributions. Everyone has a right to opinion. The objective in putting these ads is to get the GC faster and remove or significantly reduce retrogression and allow people to file for their 485 without a visa number so they can get AP/EAD. How the retrogression is removed...by recapturing visas.....by not counting family members......and what will be the content of the ad......that is of course important...but not at this stage. What is undisputed at this stage is that

WE NEED AN AD OF SOME SORT IN SOME SORT OF MEDIA OUTLET


Santosh

Exactly...
Everybody is entitled to their opinions & preferences in what they think is the root of all evil (AKA -- Longa.. extended process in getting PR status --- till the cows come home)

In terms of what are the ways towards eradicating this "root of all evil", we should all welcome everyone else's opinions. And then collectively go with what the LEAST controversial/contentious remedies/solutions.
We can achieve this with a good healthy debate without attacking anyone, This would be a show of our maturity & smarts as we are never shy of claiming to the whole world.....

The need of the hour as Santosh said is

WE NEED AN AD OF SOME SORT IN SOME SORT OF MEDIA OUTLET

This will serve as a show of strength & signal to the policy makers that we are a group united & willing to demand our rights, As I have said earlier my friends This needs to be a coherently worded, smartly copy written & easily understandable powerful message.

 

[vsaksena]

Labor Substitution & Prelim content for the ad

However if you ask me what the single most factor that would solve all our problems; Then its to put an Advt pushing for removal of the Labor Substitution rule.

The real problem is Labor Substitution, the day Labor Substitution is abolished the Priority dates will jump 5 years in one month.

The one big hurdle in going after abolishing of Labor Substitution is that not a single lawyer or employer will back us.
neocor

What exactly is Labor Substitution,. Pardon my ignorance, not the sharpest knife on all issues here... Why would the lawyers & employers not support abolition of Labor Substitution?

Has soemone thought about the content?
I am sure we have a lot of smart (oxford educated) folks who can pen down the precise content for the advt.
neocor

Regarding the content I think what Santosh posted (I also copy/pasted here couple days ago) would be a good start. Who would want to volunteer?

 

[BostonGCVictim]

Labor(LC) substitution is the ability of the company sponsoring a green card case to request that a foreign national, other than the individual named as the labor certification beneficiary, be "substituted" into the labor certification as the beneficiary.

Many of the pre-2000 cases may be available for Labor substitution if the original employee was laid off and left the country during the recession. Now with the economy improving, the company may hire a new employee and use the old approved LC to file I-140 & I-485 for the new employee. This means the new employee gets to keep the LC and the priority date of the original employee. I think this process is unfair for the rest of the folks waiting for years and must be ended or limited substantially.

This process also gives an opportunity for unscrupulous elements to sell the LC for ridiculous amount of money. There was a move recently by the DOL to end LC substitution which was opposed by many companies and their lawyers and the move has been delayed.
http://www.murthy.com/news/n_endsub.html

 

[vivek444]

count me in for 200 dollars

 

[gcsince2002]

I am in

I am in with $100.

 

[vsaksena]

Labor(LC) substitution is the ability of the company sponsoring a green card case to request that a foreign national, other than the individual named as the labor certification beneficiary, be "substituted" into the labor certification as the beneficiary.

Many of the pre-2000 cases may be available for Labor substitution if the original employee was laid off and left the country during the recession. Now with the economy improving, the company may hire a new employee and use the old approved LC to file I-140 & I-485 for the new employee. This means the new employee gets to keep the LC and the priority date of the original employee. I think this process is unfair for the rest of the folks waiting for years and must be ended or limited substantially.

This process also gives an opportunity for unscrupulous elements to sell the LC for ridiculous amount of money. There was a move recently by the DOL to end LC substitution which was opposed by many companies and their lawyers and the move has been delayed.
http://www.murthy.com/news/n_endsub.html

Pardon my French here, but this is BS.... Which asinine socialist moron came up with this idea? This is just not fair!!! Why should somebody get a faster processing time than any other applicant?
The earliest PD in case of such inheritance of LC should be the date the LC substitution is applied for (& even there I am opposed!) This hurts all of us who have gone through each step with due dilligence based on our skills & qualifications, paid our dues, & lo behold someone flies in ahead of us & gets the GC.... BS again....

DOL should absolutely abolish this practice. No wonder this is being abused & sold to the highest bidder!!!

 

[nozdam]

Lc Substitution and Ad

I am a little confused here. I am not being negative, i just want some kind of explanation about this ad effort.

We plan on putting an AD in lets say the NY times, highlighting these difficulties. Now what is the plan? That the Citizens here read that news and do what? Now please dont get me wrong i am ALL for media awareness and alleviating this Retrogression possible as SOON as possible. What i am confused about is, that how is this media awareness going to help us? I mean a good number of us (and by that i mean abt a 100 people (max) on this website have contacted senators and we have heard abt 10-15 ppl saying that they got VERBAL responses saying that the Senate is looking into this, (so far atleast i havent seen any written communication from any Senator's office). Is the idea, to spread the news faster and in a greater proportion to anyone and everyone? Also from whatever i have seen so far, most Citizens seem to be against the H1B program, since it is taking jobs away from citizens. Do we really think that they will actually join us in saying "make all these H1B's (who are taking our jobs btw), permanent residents (so that we may be even more sc***ed)"? I know i am sounding like the negative voice of doom, and believe me i DO want the message out there, i just wonder sometimes, if, the newspaper ad is actually going to help. I DO agree with the voice that says, get ALL the affected communities involved, not just Indians. I also would like to know what this Ad is going to look like, i mean is it like a notice, or a normal article, i mean i dont need the exact words, just a peek at what this AD is. Right now i am just a lil confused with this concept. But guys, on that note, everyone here is doing a fab job of keeping up with the latest news etc.

Secondly, i keep hearing reports here that, due to LC substitution, Employers are actually "selling" these applications. How far is this true. If it is, it really should be brought to the notice of the authorities. Are these desi companies or is this true across the board?

If someone would be kind enough to clarify these 2 points, it would make us all aware.

Thanks

 

[Vellore99]

Good points, nozdam! Even I agree that we should make our plight known, but will spending money to post ads serve our purpose? Who is our target audience here? Definitely not the US "aam junta" who will be reading these ads. Even if they did agree that the process is unfair, I don't see them taking any proactive step for helping us out.

Thus, I would caution against a strategy that serves little purpose. Our target audience has to be junta that can make a difference: US senators, governors, corporate lobbies, and so on. Let's try to find out different and creative ways to reach out to these people instead of posting ads.

- v99

 

[gcby2020]

Spoke with Competeamerica

Guys,

I managed to speak with Mr Eric Thomas of Competeamerica today. Very fruitful and encouraging conversation. They are our best allies and unbeknownst to us (to me atleast) they have been lobbying on our behalf. They belong to a preofessional lobbying group and seem to have access to lot of senators. Here are the excerpts. I will try to be brief.

1) He also agreed that our target should be Senators and likewise we should target them specifically. Putting Ads in big newspapers like NY times and WSJ will be very costly with limited impact. He instead suggested focusing on DC area newspapers like Washington postLaheigh post, National Journal etc One very important newspaper is Roll Call which is read by all senators ( I didnt even know such a newspaper existed). I have already emailed them as to how much would they charge for a full page ad. It should be less than $10K. He does believe putting ads will have impact.

2) Meanwhile we should write to the editorials of the all the local newspapers all over the country. Per him, individual stories carry lot of weight in shaping up public opinion.

3) We should keep our fight seperate from that of illegal immigrants.

4) We should keep our message short and simple. For e.g. not counting family members in the quota, exempting all those who have US masters from the cap etc.

5) Competeamerica will allow us to use their material

6) They will will help us in putting up a ad interms of content, style and delivery

7) He has emailed me the letters that they have sent out to the Senators. I will post them in subsequent posts.

8) There is a urgency to support the Budget Reconiliation Proposal which has been pased by the Senate Judiciary Committee. It will be presented to the Senate next week. We need to act now!

All the immigration.com members should visit competeamerica.org to get a sense as to what they are doing.

Tide is turning in our favor.

 

[gcby2020]

Letter #1 from Competeamerica

Senate Immigration Proposal for Budget Reconciliation



Summary of Proposal

The Senate Judiciary Committee passed its budget reconciliation package by a 14 to 2 vote on October 20, 2005. The bill meets the Judiciary Committee budget reconciliation obligation of $300 million over five years and provides interim relief from the crisis-level shortage of employment-based immigrant visas and of H-1B temporary visas for specialty occupation professionals.

· The bill would take three interrelated steps to ease the shortage of employment-based immigrant visas:

> it would “recapture” employment-based immigrant visa numbers that were available by statute but unused in previous years, and make them available again at a rate of up to 90,000 per year;

> it would provide that employment-based immigrants, and not their spouses and children, would count toward the annual limit on employment-based immigration; and

> it would allow persons for whom an employment-based immigrant petition has been filed also to begin the next step in the process – filing an application to adjust status to permanent residence – at that same time, so long as the supplemental fee has been paid.

· It would impose a new fee of $500 on petitions for most categories of employment-based visas (that is, the first, second, and third preferences);

· It would “recapture” H-1B visa numbers that were available by statute but unused in previous years, and make them available again at a rate of up to 30,000 per year;

· It would impose a new fee of $500 on petitions for “recaptured” H-1B numbers; and

· It would impose a new fee of $750 on L-1 visas.

 

[gcby2020]

Letter #2 from competeamerica

Senate Budget Reconciliation Proposal:
Urgent Employment-Based and H-1B Visa Relief Needed!


Why Relief Is Needed Now. The United States is in a fierce global competition to remain the world leader in technological innovation. Other nations have stepped up their efforts to develop and compete for the world’s best and brightest talent, but the United States has started to exhibit signs of falling behind.

While the United States should continue to implement effective strategies for cultivating domestic talent, this is a much longer-term effort. To remain competitive today, American companies need access to highly educated individuals in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. If the U.S. fails to provide adequate visas for these individuals, who often create additional jobs in the United States, it only hurts our competitiveness. As other countries increasingly attempt to attract these talented individuals, the talent will migrate elsewhere, and the work will be performed largely outside the United States.

Is Immediate Relief Available? The interim employment-based (EB) and H-1B visa relief contained in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s submission for budget reconciliation is the only proposal to provide immediate access to the world’s best and brightest and should be enacted without delay.


How America Is Falling Behind . . .

· The number of engineering degrees awarded in the United States is down 20 percent from the peak year of 1985.

· In 2001, only 8 percent of all degrees awarded in the United States were in engineering, mathematics, or the physical sciences, which is a more than a 50 percent decline from 1960.

· The percentage of the American workforce that is foreign born and that held a bachelor’s, master’s or doctorate degree in science and engineering increased from 14 to 22 percent between 1990 and 2000.

· Today, more than 50 percent of all engineering doctoral degrees awarded by U.S. engineering colleges are to foreign nationals. However, since September 11, the number of students and highly skilled foreign nationals who have entered the United States has declined by 20 percent.

· In 2000, one-third of all science and engineering PhD holders in U.S. private industry were foreign born.

· “The looming problem lies in current trends that, if left unchecked, show the number of U.S. citizens qualified for science and engineering jobs will be level ‘at best.’” (National Science Foundation, May 4, 2004.)

 

[gcby2020]

Letter #3 from Competeamerica

October 25, 2005 DRAFT 1



The Honorable
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510

Dear Senator :

On behalf of Compete America, a coalition of the more than 200 corporations, universities, research institutions and trade associations, I am writing to urge you to support the Senate Judiciary Committee’s submission for budget reconciliation. The interim employment-based (EB) and H-1B visa relief contained in the proposal would provide American businesses with access to the talent they need to keep jobs and innovation in this country.

As we have warned before, arbitrary limits on temporary H-1B visas for highly educated foreign nationals, coupled with new federal regulations on EB visas (green cards) has created a “perfect storm” for U.S. employers and tens of thousands of our valued employees. All of the FY 2006 H-1B visas were gone in August 2005, and an ongoing and well-documented problem of green card backlogs and extensive delays seems only to get worse. This is not only disruptive to U.S. employers and our economy, but exceedingly unfair to hard-working, valued members of the American workforce, who may be forced to return home or seek employment in other nations.

Compete American supports the Senate Judiciary budget reconciliation proposal as a reasonable way to provide short-term and immediate relief to the pressing problem of visa shortages, but Congress must act now. U.S. employers cannot continue to wait while our foreign competitors are increasing their efforts to attract some of the world’s top talent – who are often foreign students graduating from U.S. universities. Without relief, U.S. employers will have a difficult time hiring the talent needed to remain competitive, and the world leader in technology and innovation.

Again, we urge you to act now and support the interim employment-based (EB) and H-1B visa relief contained in the Senate Judiciary budget reconciliation proposal. The worldwide race to innovate will not slow down. If America cannot keep up, foreign competitors will move forward while we fall behind. Please contact me at 202-637-3133 if I may be of any assistance.

Sincerely,



Sandra J. Boyd
Chair, Compete America

 

[vsaksena]

Great feedback!

This is excellent folks... exactly the kind of thought process churning we need!

Guys,

I managed to speak with Mr Eric Thomas of Competeamerica today. Very fruitful and encouraging conversation. They are our best allies and unbeknownst to us (to me atleast) they have been lobbying on our behalf. They belong to a preofessional lobbying group and seem to have access to lot of senators. Here are the excerpts. I will try to be brief.

1) He also agreed that our target should be Senators and likewise we should target them specifically. Putting Ads in big newspapers like NY times and WSJ will be very costly with limited impact. He instead suggested focusing on DC area newspapers like Washington post, Laheigh post, National Journal etc

Based on feedbacks from Compete America, AILA, TiE, and of course all of us on this forum, we can all work towards getting the maximum bang for our buck, in the most effective MEDIA.

One very important newspaper is Roll Call which is read by all senators ( I didnt even know such a newspaper existed). I have already emailed them as to how much would they charge for a full page ad. It should be less than $10K. He does believe putting ads will have impact

As gcby2020 says there exists a very important newspaper Roll Call which I had not known about (pardon my ignorance; I live up in the hills in the NE), Seems like this publication is read by ALL SENATORS, & aren't these Senators our DIRECT AUDIENCE?

gcby2020- I am sure I speak for all of us here; Pls get us the details on what it takes to advertise in Roll Call That is imperative, especially since Mr. Thomas at Compete America agrees ADs have an impact....

That being said this effort should not be exclusive of all of us pitching in at an individual level talking to our local Congressmen & our Senators, as both nozdam & vellore99 suggest.

From my interaction with them (paricularly my Congressman Charles Bass of the 2nd Congressional District, NH) they has been amazingly helpful & understanding of our needs; way much more cooperation than I have ever had/expected from politicans in my life (I have lived in 3 other countries apart from US in my life), to the extent of having their staff calling up the Regional as well as the District offices of USCIS multiple times per week & even every day in instances...

I am a little confused here. I am not being negative, i just want some kind of explanation about this ad effort.

We plan on putting an AD in lets say the NY times, highlighting these difficulties. Now what is the plan? That the Citizens here read that news and do what? Now please dont get me wrong i am ALL for media awareness and alleviating this Retrogression possible as SOON as possible. What i am confused about is, that how is this media awareness going to help us?

Also from whatever i have seen so far, most Citizens seem to be against the H1B program, since it is taking jobs away from citizens.

Let me take the liberty of narrating a true-life instance here. I work for a top 5 wholesaler in the country (right alongside Wal-mart & Kroger), I started here in the organization more than 4.5 yrs ago, (BTW I am not in the IT/MIS function) Since then we have built up on our IT group (that is our core diffrentiating offering; automated fulfillment within 24 hrs) and 50% of our IT group is made up of internationals/"legal" immigrants...
We had one of our Sr software engineers giving in his 2 weeks notice couple weeks ago (he is going to Chicago to pursue an MBA-got his GC earlier this yr) So tommorow we are going to all take off at 4:00pm & go have a last drink with him & I am talking many executives & other staff (Most of them American citizens) taking off to wish him luck....
None of these folks I am talking abt are against "legal" immigration, because they do not percieve that the international employees in my organization took any jobs away from anyone... We all value what this particular person brought to the table...
AND they empathise with us when we suffer because of USCIS's ham-handedness & stupidity....
AND this is excatly what this AD would accomplish, educate the common American public as well as the politicians, about our true worth, we do NOT take jobs away from anyone (hopefully NOT...)

Unlike some other countries/societies the US politicians HAVE to listen to their people... (Just keep an ear out tommorow morning on how the Oil companies get lynched)

An AD in a well read publication like e.g. Washington Post would not only provide visibilty to the senators & congressmen, but also go a long way towards rallying "SOME" of the public opinion in our favor....

 

[vsaksena]

Running total of the contribution pledges so far -$3.1K

vsaksena................................$150 AND more as needed
gcby2020............................... $150
techy2468.............................. $100
santosh_30..............................$150 AND more as needed
belmont99............................... $100
mydearcard..............................$150 AND more as needed
anil007dc.................................$$$s not specified
lorestan...................................$$$s not specified
sunjoshi...................................$150 (UNCONDITIONAL ---YAY)
charlotteperson.........................$100
itsme1.....................................$100
neha_wal.................................$100
njrirlabor..................................$$$ not specified
hariani.....................................$150
Pwagaj………………………………………….$100
Zbd……………………………………………….$100 (assumed contribution)
EAin2005………………………………………$200 (up to)
Dval dpal………………………………………$200 (wants ad in AJC)
Sobers………………………………………….$200
Anshushelly………………………………….$200+ (Unconditional…yay!!))
rvemuri....................................$300
neocor.....................................$100
vivek444..................................$200
gcsince2002..............................$100
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL so far ...................$3,100

Lets keep it coming folks (now I sound like the NPR telethon guys).... Hopefully very soon we should have enough to make a first strike at the ROLL CALL publication targetted at the Senators, Mr. Eric Thomas of Compete America suggested... (ref- gcby2020's post)

 

[gcby2020]

I have emailed to Roll Call. Lets see what they have to say. Anybody from DC area in this forum? CAn someone find out how much would it cost to put an ad in washington post? To all the nay sayers, we have lot more support than we think. We just have to present our case in a clear and concise way. And it doesnt have to be an expensive affair.