POS FBI!! I love that this is what we focus on in this country; not the KKK, not counter-intelligence. Nope, God forbid a foreigner even presumes to do anything in the U.S., particularly anything academic. Oh, but wait, we don't let folks in unless they fulfill specific academic standards. Hmmmm. Abhi, what are the odds that this apply to Danish or French researchers?

Excuse me while I go vomit.

Abhi, are you now or have you ever been a member of the Indian ethnic group?

Two observations:

1) Espionage happens--in industry, at universities, and in the military.

2) It is the FBI's job to stop espionage.

So how would you do the FBI's job? It seems to me a reasonable thing to do would be to approach potential targets of espionage and tell them about past scams you've seen, and how they've worked, and tell them to be vigilant. Is that terribly unreasonable?

Isn't Lockheed subcontracting to Boeing who is subcontracting to Lockheed who is further subcontracting to Boeing..which finally ends up with Kannan and Kumar writing the code for the microchip in the B-2?
So whats the big deal here? Do you really need to get your chuddies in a knot?

and some of them are communicating**
with the mother ship.

**re..Ian Frazier's meteorite piece(pun intended)

Camile,
The FBI is doing their job. They are not only focused on this, or looking at people who have Muslim names. Have you heard of the Gowadia case?

Rajesh, I'm familiar with the case. My point is that I doubt this is being applied across the board. Similar to the FBI advice on "how to identify a drug trafficker," their focus on a person's demographic obscures methods that have been found more effective, e.g. keeping one's eyes open to criminal behavior. There's a difference between watching "foreigners" and watching people who are behaving suspiciously.

Then, she returns to her home country—where she gets paid by that government to set up a business that competes with yours.

Is'nt giving an example of she something un-usual?

Then, she returns to her home country, where she gets paid by that government to set up a business that competes with yours.

Is'nt giving an example of she something un-usual?

Not all foreigners are should be considered potential terrorists. There's got to be a way for a desi to put himself above suspicion. Sure, the bar is going to be higher for a foreginer than for an American. But surely, what if we got some advanced degrees in the US and then worked hard and rose in our job to some good positions - that should provide some degree of comfort to others who are so jumpy. That puts me above board, right? Right? Er...

Oh wait, this is not just about foreigners. It's even foreign-born Americans?

Is'nt giving an example of she something un-usual?

Can nothing make you people happy?

With geniuses like this fighting America's war on terror, I fear for the safety of this country's people.

Qué Malo!

You starting to sound like one of those other immigrants.

Perhaps you are being negatively influenced...

You hire a foreign-born engineer who has been educated in this country. Over a 10-15 year period, she rises to mid-level management. Then, she returns to her home country—where she gets paid by that government to set up a business that competes with yours.

Free market, capitalism, competition... so what? I thought that was the stuff America was made of?

Oh, Federal Bureau of Investigation! Ha! Ha! Ha! You're so coy! Why don't you just come right out and say it:

"BROWN PEOPLE ARE A THREAT TO THIS COUNTRY."

There! Was that so hard? Or are you afraid that announcing your strategy will foil your efforts to win the War on Terror? Oh, c'mon now, it's not much of a secret! That's one of the many delightful principles this great nation was founded on, am I right?

The Bush Administration: Making you that much more ashamed of your country, since 2001.

*bangs head against desk repeatedly*

You starting to sound like one of those other immigrants.

We be the model/motel minority! We are Southies of a different kind.

Do not even think of confusing us for Mexicans just because we speak espanish! In fact, I pick up my spanish words from Telugu movie songs such as "Hey chiquita, como estas?". It's that Indian now.

I'm brown above in #16. I'm brown all over.

protect your businesses.
protect your defense systems.
protect your country from brown!

together we will conquer. be scared, be very scared.

Abhi, will you come to regret this post (and your rampant pot use in college) when you are passed over by NASA for the first wave of Mars colonizers?

Camile,
There's a difference between watching "foreigners" and watching people who are behaving suspiciously.

What you stated is exactly what the FBI does. Remember they are talking to employers asking them to do what they (FBI) are not allowed to do, thereby leaving no stone unturned to uncover someone or just be proactive.

The FBI is more restricted by rules, no profiling ect. This is because they operate within the USA. On the occasion that they go overseas they have to be invited and work through that country's law enforcement agency.

We in the military have no such restrictions since we do not operate domesticaly. Security is sometimes so high that people in uniform are physically checked by Marines and the like, regardless of rank. I can't go into detail eventhough I am retired. Nuf said.

Camille, I love that this is what this country focuses on, when New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are still a shambles. Good assministration priorities at work, baby.

I wonder how the FBI profiles someone like this.

I wonder how the FBI profiles someone like this

Maitri, this is for other employers, not the FBI. How much damage can a gun-loving, pro-life, uber-religious, white man do?

Actually the sub-text to me is, "Boys, if you really want to preserve your nuts, dont keep the foreign born wunderkind outside the executive suite. Keep Asok happy and grow with him. Piss him off is like groping a scimitar brandishing Kali. Here's what the industry is doing - send Asok off to India to set up the off-shore unit. That's a win-win for all.

When did the FBI go communist on us?

Thats a pretty simplistic solution to counter espionage. In so many words its another way of saying 'hire local'. Now thats a fool proof way to prevent spying and competition. Maybe they should outsource secret service to the Israelis.

Matri,
The FBI is not allowed to pofile, this is why they asked employers. What is your point on Hansen. He was was being watched for a long time. When the leak was discovered another FBI agent was wrongly accused. Yes they were focused on the wrong person also 'white'.

Disclaimer: this post is not to be taken to question my patriotism to America

Being a fan of Hollywood thriller movies - Come on lets be frank.....FBI is doing its jobs. The foreign born spies are doing their job just like their American counterparts ( read CIA ). How do you think the CIA collects foreign intelligence ? By reading Indian/foreign blogs ? It also operates effectively in foreign countries in the guise of diplomats, business leaders, NGO's, front companies, embassy attachees etc. etc. And btw read this interesting news on Indian CIA agent operating in India who ran away to America. Well btw what I fear most is if FBI starts putting everything abouts it tactics on its websites will it become more difficult for CIA to operate in foreign countries because then they can learn how to catch CIA agents in foreign lands

Rahul,
I am also a gun loving gun collecting Hindu redneck hillbilly, living in West Virginia. I love shooting.

Rajesh Harricharan said:

this @ #6:

The FBI is doing their job.

and this @ #20:

Camile, There's a difference between watching "foreigners" and watching people who are behaving suspiciously

In doing so, Rajesh, you neatly avoid the question, "Why is this a job for the FBI ?" Why must tax dollars be spent in persuading, convincing, or arm-twisting businesses into a dubious regime of policing research that is happening in the unclassified realm ? Presumably, businesses already know how to protect their R&D without subscribing to the paranoiacally xenophobic style that has come into vogue in the FBI these days. As for the lady "who returns to her home country..."; isn't it a touch paranoid to model Asian-born R&D executives as spies just because their home-country governments have decided to engage in venture-capitalism (a perfectly respectable thing, BTW) ?

I'm going to stick my neck out a bit and allege, Rajesh, that you are largely unaware of how science is done. The work that my colleagues and I do can be put to such uses as making a more powerful thermonuclear bomb, subverting the data-stream that keeps precision-guided munitions on course, designing systems that would paralyse submarine navigation, etc. But we prefer to regard our work as something that adds to human culture. Spying on foreign-born colleagues - even given the minor benefit of trapping a few bad apples - is widely regarded by professionals as an unacceptable drag on the task of adding to the store of human knowledge.

I am also FBI (Foreign Born Indian) and I am watching you...

I am also a gun loving gun collecting Hindu redneck hillbilly, living in West Virginia. I love shooting.

Really? I thought I was the only one. Except I like spying on all the IT-contract workers from Chennai who live in my apt. complex. They are obviously hiding trade secrets in their tubes of Neem toothpaste, which they carry back to their spymaster, code-name "Amma." I think this spymaster then gives them instructions, cleverly etched onto something called a "masala thosai"

With geniuses like this fighting America's war on terror, I fear for the safety of this country's people.

Right. Because as we all know, that webpage represents the sum total of all the FBI's activities in any field ever.

Speedy

Do you think the FBI just made up these scenarios out of whole cloth? These fictional scenarios are based on real spying cases. It is incredibly naive to think that these things don't happen. They happen all the time. The student scenarios are particularly true of Chinese students. The ChiComs are actively recruiting spies among the student populations. This is all in Jeff Gertz's book Enemies.

Hasn't anybody read James Bond? The Cold War was Euro-profile with a few Red Chinese in the mix, plus the odd Che Guevara-type. Indians have only recently entered the field.
While waiting to be fingerprinted for my badge in a government building, there were pictures announcing the downside of spying, namely sentences averaging 50 years. All the mug shots were of white guys, most of whom I had heard of. There is a profile they watch for among whites too. They don't really want to waste time and it is more often cultural ignorance than racism that drives certain policy, but individuals may be guilty. You'd think they'd have more Arabic and Urdu speakers. If they just knew more about who they were really looking for, we'd have much less unpleasantness. Now the Israelis seem to know what they doing, but offend countless people in the meantime.
btw, in contrast to the baroque profile of a gun-totin' West Virginian, that state only ranks 47 among 50 states in total crime index, 2005.
http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/wvcrime.htm

Wow, one of my news tips finally made it to being a post! *yay*

#10: " There's got to be a way for a desi to put himself above suspicion. "

Unfortunately the 'Indian doctors' involved in the British bombings have wiped away ALL our privileges. We used to be able to hide behind 'Hey, I might look middle-eastern, but I'm Indian ...' or 'Hey, I have a PhD .. i'm not a stupid terrorist' , but all that is gone, and it is terribly, terribly sad. :(

We must direct our anger towards the intelligent assholes from our country who screwed our name over... the FBI very often indulges in knee-jerk responses, but frankly, the terrorists have taken away all our reasons to protest the FBI anymore. They can now get away with doing whatever the hell they want, because well qualified doctors and aeronautical engineers from Bangalore attempted to blow themselves up in UK.

I have to agree with you Randomizer…its easy to direct our resentment toward the FBI, but really their first concern is national security…our security. As a Muslim and a foreign born citizen, I am ok with the extra precautions. I had relatives that died in the World Trade Center. The people who are plotting and committing mass homicide in the U.S. don’t really care what race, religion they kill, as long as it is American. Balancing political correctness and proper security measures is not easy, but so far I think the government has tried to handle it with some dignity. We have come a long way since the treatment of the Japanese after Pearl Harbor.

Unfortunately the 'Indian doctors' involved in the British bombings have wiped away ALL our privileges.

well, i'm not really sure that i had any flying privileges as a south asian male 18-33--however no facial hair and a sharp suit seems to reduce the chance of getting randomly selected.

We must direct our anger towards the intelligent assholes from our country who screwed our name over

Well this would work if we had magical jihadi-locator rings, perhaps located in my next box of cheerios. Outside of someone showing you a decapitation video and warning you to pray more regularly or else, I doubt there's any actual targets for the aforementioned anger.

The FBI's likely approach in these circumstances is infuriating because there's really no earthly way to find the next stereotype-busting terrorist.

Ditto: to vc and whyspy

The FBI's likely approach in these circumstances is infuriating because there's really no earthly way to find the next stereotype-busting terrorist.

after there have been whyte terr0rists, you would think they would be profiling american born whyte guys....oh...we wouldnt want to impinge on their liberties...

@muralimannered: "The FBI's likely approach in these circumstances is infuriating because there's really no earthly way to find the next stereotype-busting terrorist"

- I understand that being a walking terror suspect isn't the way we all were supposed to be living in America... It is far, far from the American dream, I know. But isn't this hightened scrutiny of our race more the fault of the actions of the terrorists, rather than the FBI?

While the FBI is definitely guilty of looking at every brown man as a terrorist and I have no excuses for them, I'm definitely a lot more pissed off at my 'fellow Indian' who put our nation and the wonderful city of Bangalore on the Terror map.

Right. Because as we all know, that webpage represents the sum total of all the FBI's activities in any field ever.

It doesn't have to be the sum total. A stupid idea like this being part of activities is bad enough. Look, what business does the FBI have protecting "Cutting edge U.S. management practices" (go the linked FBi site on Wired) and trying to scare companies that their competition in other countries will get ahead of them?

1) Know What Spies Want At the top of their country’s hit lists:

The inside skinny on our government’s policies and intentions towards their country.
Details on U.S. military plans and weapons systems.
The crown jewels of our economy: our nation’s best scientific and technological innovations and research, both public and private.
Cutting edge U.S. management practices, which themselves are a valuable asset.

2) Know Their Favorite “Disguises”

Representatives at supposed “research institutes”;
Visiting business professionals and scientists who want to tour your state-of-the-art plants and operations worldwide (a great place to take pictures and make friends);
Tourists or visitors on non-immigrant visas;
Diplomatic officials, the standard cover;
False front companies; and
Students and educators.

Look no one is disputing that the FBI should indeed try to stop terrorist s (and we should help any way we can). What are you guys reading in that article that makes you think this move is helping in any way? I feel that they are wasting their time by focussing on the wrong group!

Think about the fact that foreign-born Americans have not been excluded from this list. Does that bother anyone?

the fbi's advice encourages illegal discrimination based on national origin. Further, it assumes the impossibility of domestic terrorism.

But isn't this hightened scrutiny of our race more the fault of the actions of the terrorists, rather than the FBI?

Rajesh, you are more than welcome to believe that racial profiling is valid, but successful law enforcement groups would argue otherwise. The key is to look for suspicious behavior, and this behavior should not be dictated by one's assumptions around race or national origin because it ignores all the other factors that play a more significant role. I'm sure these anecdotes are based on reality, but the choice of anecdotes offers the underlying assumption that specific types of foreign-born citizens and immigrants promote these problems. They are not referring to Cold War-era hype. Did you see Germans placed in camps during WWII in the U.S.? No, it happened to the Japanese. Similarly, I am sure that employers are not looking at Lars when they envision this scenario. There is a reason for the legal protections that discourage race-based FBI-spying, and I think it is reprehensible to encourage employers to engage in an illegal activity because you are too lazy to do your job properly.

Similarly, I am sure that employers are not looking at Lars

Lars! I knew it was Lars! Speaking of which, I remember reading that one of the Metallica drummers did get stopped at an airport in the last couple of days because he had a scary looking beard.

Metalliban.

Thank you, Rahul. I kept trying to post a comment linking to that little tidbit yesterday, but the comment engine kept kicking it out.

To all the nutball FBI apologists out there: are you seriously going to try and convince people that it's a good idea for the FBI to encourage corporations to police their workers for terrorist activity?

Are you out of your tiny little minds? There's a reason why we entrust law enforcement to LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES. I mean, I barely trust most companies to find ways to make money. That's why I make a decent living as a consultant. You think they're going to do a bang-up job of finding terrists?

Look, if an executive or manager or employee finds reason to believe that he's working with a bunch of terrists, there's no barrier to calling the FBI. There never has been. But encouraging companies to buy into the nutty xenophobic group think that there are threats everywhere, and all we need to do is keep our eyes peeled for those terrible horrible H1B workers microwaving their rasam in the breakroom (chemical attack? hello?) who are clearly conspiring to kill everyone or at least take their jobs back to their homeland so they can set up a...a...what? A Home Depot? A McDonald's-style franchise? A search-engine company? An oil-exploration and refining operation? What the hell are they talking about?

It's legal for someone to come to this country, learn how to do business, and take that knowledge back home to their motherland. Americans may not like it...but it's legal. It's called "global competition" and it's what America is supposed to be in favor of, remember?

What

The Frontline article (posted by Priya #27) describes how the CIA mole in our very own RAW gave himself away:

“Rabinder Singh's energetic use of his office photocopier had attracted the attention of his subordinate staff…..�

1. LOL.- Ed.
2. Keep looking at the office photocopier bossman; besides the more salacious activities that happen in the copier closet, you might discover who’s been stealing your secrets – Lars or Asoke.
PS: Camille: why "Lars"? Perhaps the Scandinavians typify the blonde beast? :)

To all the nutball FBI apologists out there: are you seriously going to try and convince people that it's a good idea for the FBI to encourage corporations to police their workers for terrorist activity?

It is an extension of the "I am here; now shut the door behind me attitude." (I think I read that one-liner on SM. So here i am, adapting it to the current context).

In other words, I'm OK because of _____ (insert undisclosed, underlying reason(s) here), so I couldn't care less about others who actually may be more vulnerable than me.

Rabinder Singh's energetic use of his office photocopier had attracted the attention of his subordinate staff

What if he was just doing this?

It is an extension of the "I am here; now shut the door behind me attitude." (I think I read that one-liner on SM. So here i am, adapting it to the current context).

Maybe you are looking for apres moi le deluge?

Rahul,

I guess that's a new take on the phrase. Apres moi, le deluge brun. Fermez la porte!.

Salil, I don't parlez francais very bon. Thank goodness for Google Translate.

Maybe you are looking for apres moi le deluge?

What's that? After me, the flood?

Yeah, as long as some people think they sit on a moral high ground, they couldn't care less if the floods of suspicion wipe away all foundations of the land of reason.

How's that for a metaphor? :) Whether it makes sense or not.

Oh man. Don't nobody go in there fo' thutty, fowty-five minutes! Um...apres moi, le deluge brun.

>>You hire a foreign-born engineer who has been educated in this country. Over a 10-15 year period, she rises to mid-level management. Then, she returns to her home country—where she gets paid by that government to set up a business that competes with yours.

The highlighted piece clearly leaves out India/Indians as a part of this "conspiracy". Indian government does not pay individuals to set up a business - on the contrarty, Indians have to pay the Indian government babus left-right-and-center to set up a business!!

We all know which country is being alluded to in this stupid FBI notice...

M. Nam

Camille,
Some Italians were also interred at Ellis Island during WW11. I knew three of them when I lived in Brooklyn NYC long time ago. There was a good reason for the Japanese internment. Some were spies but because of cultural ignorance in the US gov't at the time could not filter them out like with Germans and Italians. Read In Defense of Internment by Michelle Malkin or you can just read several reviews and parts of the book.

I agree with you on behavioral profiling but I also believe that we have to use all the tools available. For example, there is a reason EL AL is the world's safest airline.

The fact that the FBI is doing this shows how desperate we have become, but can you blame them. It is the reality of the times. Everytime I get profiled I feel reassured, because although I am not a threat I feel someone is doing what I would do. Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.

by Michelle Malkin

That says all I want to know about the book.

An F1 is a non-immigrant visa. A student applying for an F1 visa at a US consulate, is expected to return to his / her country and not stay back. If he / she even hints at staying back permanently, the consular officer rejects his / her visa summarily. So the US government fully expects that these highly skilled, educated, trained people will one day return to their homeland to share that knowledge. Add to that the state of immigration laws in this country that discourage skilled people from migrating here in any case (H1B's have now become a lottery, and the average wait time for an MS to get a green card is between 6 -12 years). So why does the fact of people returning to their home countries, come as a shock to FBI? Or is it the classic case of FBI not knowing how the state department and the USCIS works?

Eternal vigilance

...makes me feel like i am back in the USSR (long lines and all), only with more consumer goods thrown at me to keep me adequately distracted

Rajesh, the conversation was over the moment you mentioned Michelle Malkin. I have read her book, and I not only find her rationale specious, I find her politics and her logic, in general, to be completely ridiculous and devoid of reality.

The fact that the FBI is doing this shows how desperate we have become, but can you blame them.

just hope that even more will realize that some of the "insecurity" we face is of our own making and that we really need to think of new ways to approach these problems instead of bringing up old Cold War-style McCarthyism, xenophobia, and racism

Thanks. If I magically disappear next time I travel, you'll know that the CIA is holding me in a secret prison.

The highlighted piece clearly leaves out India/Indians as a part of this "conspiracy". Indian government does not pay individuals to set up a business - on the contrarty, Indians have to pay the Indian government babus left-right-and-center to set up a business!!

We all know which country is being alluded to in this stupid FBI notice...

What the hell is he talking about?

I swear, some of the bullshit being uttered here lately...I wonder why your tongue doesn't jump outta your face and run screaming down the street.

Question to Ms. Malkin’s desi fanboys. Do you get to call her malkin -- in hindi?

Question to Ms. Malkin’s desi fanboys. Do you get to call her malkin -- in hindi?

When she looks at me like this, how can I deny Michelle, my belle?

I wonder why your tongue doesn't jump outta your face and run screaming down the street.

coach, this is a fantastic visual!

~Natasha~ You understand this issue with a clear head. Is this because of your relatives who perished in the WTC ? In my case it was my shipmates at the Navy Command Center at The Pentagon. They were all killed except for their commanding offcer who was away in another part of the building in a meeting.

I realize that this can be a drag on scientists doing defense research. This is too important to worry about offending someone. Security is primary. I say three cheers to the FBI for doing this.

1) Citizens should be considered citizens, no matter how or when they obtained their citizenship. I am a foreign born American, but here is the kicker. My father is from my country of birth (an Arab country) but my mother is American. I have been American since birth and yet my passport lists my birthplace (again, an arab country). I've posted a little rant about that here. So the singling out of the foreign born kinda rankles me. And it would rankle me even if I was not a citizen. This is not the way to improve security.
2) Regarding the comment on El Al security. I was pulled aside for extra screening in Tel Aviv one time, primarily because of my birthplace and the fact that I had spent time in the Palestinian territories. It's a long story, but to make it short, certain extra screenings that were planned (snap goes the rubber glove), and even a check of my hand luggage, were canceled because I told them that my mother is Jewish (true, but completely unproven and should be irrelevant given that the original reason for searching me was my time in the PT and that "someone may have put something in my bag without my knowing it"). It is the classic example of why ethnic profiling absolutely does not work.

Rajesh Harricharan at @ #66 said:

I realize that this can be a drag on scientists doing defense research. This is too important to worry about offending someone. Security is primary. I say three cheers to the FBI for doing this.

Since you use the words "drag" and "scientists", I'll assume that this is partially an allusion to my comment @ #29. "This" is not a drag on scientists doing defence research; it is a drag on the openness and transparencey that, above everything else, ensure that good science gets done. In reference to
comment #29, my colleagues and I are not defence scientists, but what we know and do has the potential to win wars. Nevertheless, not one of us has any issues with communicating what s/he knows or has learnt to a colleague -- whether Russian, Iranian, Albanian, or from "the West" -- if the colleague will cite this knowledge appropriately. That's how good science is done; it is not about "offending someone", for heaven's sake! Many in my profession -- myself included -- lost close friends in the attack on WTC, but it hasn't caused any of us to re-assess the core values of openness in research.

I think that your views are conditioned by your experiences of how the military thinks and works. There is a different world out there whose perspectives are different and, given the empirical evidence, as valid as yours.

We all know which country is being alluded to in this stupid FBI notice...

What the hell is he talking about?

I swear, some of the bullshit being uttered here lately...I wonder why your tongue doesn't jump outta your face and run screaming down the street.

Come on, coach. Just cuz its Moornam, you don't have to call BS immediately. In case you didn't really get what he meant, i think it he's saying its not India FBI cares about, its China.

"There was a good reason for the Japanese internment. Some were spies but because of cultural ignorance in the US gov't at the time could not filter them out like with Germans and Italians. " Rajeesh.

Actually Rajeesh (I don't know why you ditto'd me earlier) J. Edgar Hoover did not think interning the Japanese was necessary, and he was pretty sharp about such things. Maybe he liked wearing the kimonos.
Anyway, i would never argue in this day & age for racial profiling. I was merely pointing out that it has worked for some, in some places, some times. However, we as a society, are at a point where it no longer does. But quite frankly, I think some serious profiling is in order at the voting booths. Most of what we've got in government, both elected and appointed, is not healthy.

"When she looks at me like this,(picture link) how can I deny Michelle, my belle?"

Rahul, you demonstrate the primal mind that thinks in pictures and you unite it to modern technology. I look forward to every pictogram you produce. I feel I am at the birth of a new script....

Rahul, you demonstrate the primal mind that thinks in pictures and you unite it to modern technology. I look forward to every pictogram you produce. I feel I am at the birth of a new script....

*grunting in pleasure* Me happy. Me thanking you.

Whyspy,
I ditto'd your post #34. I saw nothing to disagree with that on #34 only, even though we both seem to be on the opposite ends of the political spectrum. The Name is Rajesh.

whyspy, Ome more thing. In reference to your post#34: The people here in West Virginia are friendlier and more polite tham other places I have lived. I know all my neighbors on my my street and have visited some of their homes. We do not lock our doors when we go out and most of us own more thn one firearm, a long-gun and a hand gun. This probably has something to do with the low crime rate here.

"grunting in pleasure* Me happy. Me thanking you."
well if you're that happy, give us a big smiley picture. But really, the pleasure is all mine.

sorry--Rajesh. My spelling. yeah,probably opposite ends politically, but I'm used to that where I work. I try to tread lightly on egg shells but they always break anyway.
I've heard W.Va. is a pretty nice place to live. It appears racist feeling is less there than you'd think but I've never tried it out. I worked with a lady whose parents had been farming there for generations. Her childless sister was thinking about adopting an Asian kid. Her dufus dad's only objection was, "where are we going to grow the rice to feed 'im?" I THINK he was kidding.

"grunting in pleasure* Me happy. Me thanking you." well if you're that happy, give us a big smiley picture. But really, the pleasure is all mine.

Here ya go!

well done. now me happy too.

Rahul,,
How did you find my picture ? Yea! I often describibe myself as a knuclke dragging, weapon wielding, cave man, :-)

Rajesh, sorry about blowing your cover. I hope you won't ask the FBI to be more vigilant about me now :-)