Our fat schmucks and bra-burning feminists in the Congress have done it again!

Here's just a further example of how far our country has gotten from our early foundations of personal responsibility and freedom.

As many of you know, over the last several years more and more American men have married women from foreign countries.  By far the majority of those marriages have been successful.  In fact much more so than the average U.S. marriage.

So the latest example of our elected politicians, who for the most part act like they're supposed to 'rule' us rather than represent us...the latest example of their meddling is The International Marriage Broker Regulation Act of 2005 (IMBRA), Public Law No. 109-162, Title VIII, Subtitle D,

This act/law was surreptiously inserted into another larger law called “The Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005”, which although honorable in intent is probably (in my opinion) just another effort of those clowns in congress to appear to be earning their exorbitant pay and undeserved retirement programs.

The gist of it is that this IMBRA is going to make it virtually impossible for dozens of legitimate and honest agencies (like the one owned by my friend Sam and Consuela Smith... http://www.ilovelatines.com and http://www.barranquillabeauties.com ) to stay in business because of all the restrictions and regulations they will be burdened with.

My friend Sam has an attorny named Gary Bala.  Mr. Bala is also the attorney for another large agency in that business, http://www.tlcworldwide.com .....so he knows the industry pretty well.  Gary has a blog, click here, which has an excellent overview and analysis of this new law and it's flaws.

Pay special attention the the part down near the bottem of the article where Mr. Bala wrote...:

This new IMBRA law however misses the mark. It basically punishes all men regardless of their background (good, bad and indifferent) by “branding” them all abusers, as Wendy McElroy put it in her recent "iFeminist" Op-Ed piece at Fox News:

See: Mail Order Bride Law Brands All American Men Abusers

and then:

In lawyer’s language, what are some of the legal and constitutional flaws? .....after which he goes on to list specific examples of how unfair the law is.

So ....my friends....you know how I get excited about 'causes'.  I think this is one that merits attention.  Go ahead and read the article Gary Bala wrote and, if are so inclined you can communicate with your Congressional representatives.  I'm not saying it'll do any good but if you have beliefs about what's right and wrong then you owe it to yourself to act upon them.  If you don't, then in the long run you suffer in more ways than one.

I think it's a terrible thing that we've got a country where neither political party seems to give a 'rip' about the illegal immigrants coming over our border every day yet they make it more and more difficult for people (in this case women) who want to come legally for a legitimate purpose and become an important part of our society and culture.  It's pretty obvious to me that all they really want is more cheap labor...period.

I realize probably none of you guys ever thought about marrying a woman from another country but the point here is that we need to send a message to Washington to get out of our private lives.  Isn't it strange that they'll allow a teenager to have an abortion without telling her parents and they'll allow land developers to literally confiscate a private homeowners land and judges will let known child rapists off with as little as 90 days in jail (recently happened up in New Hampshire, I think is there) yet now they're trying to tell us that we can't marry the woman that we want to?

What are they going to tell us we can't do next?  Don't be surprised if someday they try to tell us that we can't hve 'winners' at the salsa congresses because it makes the supposed 'losers' feel bad.

Comments

[BobT]

I am one of those "mail-order bride" clients. I met my Philippine wife 13 years ago and we have been happily married ever since. We have two beautiful children, live in a nice suburban community and are both professional. Neither of us has ever considered the other a "commodity", like the stooges at the Tahirin Justice center so elegantly claim.

I've read the posts in response to some of the feminist articles on this law, and it is the most hate-filled, narrow-minded dribble I've ever read in my life. They would have you believe that the act of seeking romance in another country is *itself* a crime against humanity, akin to the 19th century recruitment of African slaves. One person wrote: "I have to remind myself not to click on 'mail order bride' links at work because I can't jump in the shower to wash off the pathetic". These people call themselves mature adults and want us to respect them for their inner qualities. I don't see many inner qualities there!

There is no justice in this law. It is a criminal assault on the freedoms of American citizens; an ever-growing nanny society that puts Orwellian controls on people to promote its agenda and engineer its own social structure. This is not the America that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, et. al., created, or that Abraham Lincoln preserved nearly a century later. This law is akin to prohibition in the 1920s. It will suffer the same abuses, create the same underground criminal culture (moonshiners and "bootlegers"), and will put more people in danger than it protects. How many women will be smuggled here illegally to be with their romance partners? How many will live here illegally, without the protection of legal green-card holders, because their relationship wasn't IMBRA compliant? If the TLJ thinks they can keep out foreign romance seekers they can think again. All they have to do is go to Mexico and swim across the Rio Grande! If we can't keep out 40 thousand Mexicans a day, how are we going to prevent a few thousand more a year who want to be with their love partners? Meanwhile they're at the total mercy of those who brought them here illegally, possibly being abducted and sold into prostitution, ending up on the streets, joining gangs, etc., just to survive. Is this what you want, Ms. Layli?

I hope this atrocious law gets repealed, and I hope it doesn’t take as long to do so as it did prohibition.

[Chris]

Tahirih Hysteria

There is no shred of evidence demonstrating a higher rate of violence in cross-cultural marriages facilitated by the IMBs. In fact, Tahirih Justice Center (the main proponent of IMBRA) even states, "It is important to note that there are no national statistics reflecting what the prevalence of abuse is in the "brokered" marriages, specifically." http://tahirih.org/legal/docs/Top10IMBRAFAQs(Final).pdf

With no scientific evidence of higher prevalence of abuse to support its claims, Tahirih Justice Center has been forced to manipulate facts and create hysteria to maintain support for IMBRA. One example that comes to mind is the case of David Dickerson, who was the victim of fabricated claims of rape and abuse alleged by his immigrant Latvian wife. http://wbal.com/news/story.asp?articleid=47814 When the news broke, Layli Miller-Muro, the executive director of Tahirih Justice Center, promptly appeared in this case and raised hysteria about immigrant women abuse ("30 to 50 percent are abused..." - clearly, a fabricated data). Here is the Tahirih hysteria for your viewing. http://video.wjla.com/wjla/candidate0725.wmv

The WJLA video (Baltimore) has become rather well-known - it was meant to serve as a propaganda piece for Tahirih, but clearly it backfired and is now the source of considerable embarrassment for this radical feminist organization.

[Chris]

Online-dating relationships essentially involve three distinct, progressive stages:

1. Stage One is the Introduction Stage, in which people first greet each other ("hello"), exchange letters, e-mails, phone calls, etc.

2. Stage Two is the Courtship Stage, in which people actually meet, get to know each other better and advance their relationship. If the couple met via an International Matchmaking Organization (IMO), the gentleman usually travels to meet the lady in her native country.

3. Finally, Stage Three is the Consular Visa Stage. At this time, the couple is engaged (or married), and the lady applies for a fiance(e)/spousal visa so she can move to the U.S. to join her partner (if her visa is approved).

IMBRA imposes two extensive criminal background checks on all U.S. male clients of IMOs:

1) at the Introduction Stage (at the level of initial contact) and

2) at the Consular Visa Stage (during fiance(e)/spousal visa application)

The two current lawsuits against IMBRA challenge the mandatory background checks at the Introduction Stage, but not at the Consular Visa Stage.

It is very important to emphasize that there has been no documented cases of violence against foreign women (by American men who met them via IMOs) during the Introduction and the Courtship Stages of online-dating relationships. This suggests that for foreign women, there is virtually no risk of physical abuse at these stages. Therefore, it is completely senseless to require unilateral disclosure of personal and criminal information of all American male clients of IMOs at the Introduction Stage (level of initial contact).

Foreign women will be adequately protected by having extensive criminal background check done on their fiance(e)s/spouses at the Consular Visa Stage, before they immigrate to this country.

The Tahirih Justice Center (the main proponent of IMBRA) have failed to give any reasonable explanation as to why mandatory background checks must be done at the Introduction Stage, even though there is no risk of harm (to foreign women).

What is also very disturbing about IMBRA is that Domestic Matchmaking Organizations (DMOs) are completely exempted (from having to do any background checks on male clients), despite numerous cases of brutal murder, rape and torture of women that have occurred as result of contacts "facilitated" by these agencies..... Furthermore, what I find most appalling is that the Tahirih continues to desperately defend these exemptions in Courts, even though eliminating them will help prevent many cases of murder, rape and exploitation of women.

[Chris]

IMBRA And Scorned American Feminists

I want to inform modern American feminists of this new reality: most American men do not want you. They do not want to date you and they certainly do not want to marry you. Do you know why? Because any relationships with you pose too much legal and financial risks to American men. The enormous risks of divorce and financial insolvency that men face when they marry you is no longer justified by paltry (often minimum) rewards that you bring to a marriage. Thus, you are being scorned and ignored by a growing number of affluent American men who prefer more feminine and traditional foreign women who offer youth, beauty and loyalty, the qualities you lack. These men realize that by marrying foreign women, they incur lower risk of divorce and greater probability of successful marriage and happiness. Therefore,... many of you will never marry or have children... you will end up like one of your own, Maria Cantwell - old, un-married, completely childless, living with mommy... You need to understand that by depriving and denying your biological instinct to create, love and nurture a family, modern feminism has created a royal road to oblivion that ends with your emptiness, bitterness and despair. Whatever traits or value you carried in your genes will stop with you. No children, no legacy... When you die, you truely die.

A growing number of men now make no apologies for rejecting any modern feminist women. The enormous risks incurred in marrying an American feminist are simply not justified by minimal or no rewards that these relationships bring. An American gentleman now has to walk through a minefield of risks including false abuse claims, financial bankrupcy (from divorce), and denial of child visitation rights. Thus, any intelligent and self-respecting man would reject this modern feminist paradigm of marriage.

[Lestat]

I have travelled widely to Europe and Asia and I want to share this well-known observation - American feminist women have a terrible reputation among men around the world. They are widely perceived as obese, selfish, spoiled, boorish and emotionally demanding. They are also considered rather overbearing and hysterical. It's well known amongst expat communities around the world that American feminist women are shunned by men outside of U.S.A.

On the contrary, decent and well-off American men are generally viewed as the "cream of the crop" - highly coveted and desirable.... These gentlemen enjoy a great reputation among foreign ladies who perceive them to be respectful, nurturing, responsible, well-educated and financially secure. In addition, these women believe that American men make great husbands, especially in contrast to native men, who are often disrespectful, abusive and unfaithful.

The problem in this country is that the "best in the world" are often paired up with the "worst in the world".... a complete mismatch. It's like a highschool Prom King dating an ugly, domineering and boorish girl. It's very unlikely that this type of relationship will work out. Sadly, this seems to be the case, as the marriages "made in America" have a higher divorce rate (55 to 60 percent) than in the cross-cultural marriages (15 to 20 percent). So why is the risk of divorce so much lower when an American gentleman marries a "mail-order bride"? In a nutshell, it's because our Prom King is marrying a Prom Queen, who is beautiful, intelligent, feminine, appreciative and devoted.

A growing number of affluent American men are rejecting American feminist women and going overseas to embrace loverly, young foreign brides. A nearly fourfold increase in foreign women entering the U.S. on fiance(e) visas (over the last 7 years) supports this contention. It's no secret that by pursuing foreign women, men can find much younger, more attractive and devoted partners than what's available at home.

Take Tiger Woods, for example. This man has essentially rejected all American women and instead, he went overseas and married a lovely Swedish woman. Tiger is a one very smart gentleman.... I bet he knows (that) marriage to a foreign lady would mean a lower risk of future divorce!

Let me tell you about the relationship between my loverly Russian wife and myself. Despite our 21 year age difference, our relationship is based on mutual love and admiration.... our love is real and valid. Also, our bond is strengthened by our common interests, continual romance and mutual respect for each other. As with most Russian women, my wife is independent and has a strong will. Our relationship is a 50-50 equal partnership. There is no control and no domination.

My experience, as described above, is very typical of most marriages to "mail-order brides" - in contrast to many marriages "made in America", there are no bitchiness or nagging, no hysteria or drama and no belligerant or confrontational behaviors.... only mutual love and admiration.

Therefore...., when a decent and affluent American gentleman marries a young, loverly foreign bride, what's created is truely, a match made in heaven - the best matched with the best....

And IMBRA is really a scornful feminist response to this growing international romance.

[J. DeFabritis]

You folks should get the ACLJ's lawyers to help you with this. Goto ACLJ.org and be sure to explain the following point to them:

It is us conservatives who Bush has injured here. The fact is that Liberals dont want marriage! They are totally anti-family and so they much prefer to fornicate! Conservative family men are the real losers here! What a stupid move by G.W. Bush the guy who stabs marriage in the back!

By the way Mr. Bush, just where are the freakin' line-item vetos we were promised in the first campaign in 1999 so that this assinine attachment could have been vetoed by itself without hurting the rest of the bill? WE WANT COMPETENT REPRESENTATION!

That is why we all need to support the libertaian candidates! Go to www.LP.org for more info or call: 1-800-ELECT-US

[Mark]

I am married to a Filipina lady for 16 years. I happen to agree with this law. You guys who are so sternly against it are only looking at things from your narrow perspective. Every day, thousands of foreign ladies are trafficked here by "online dating" services and sold into sexual slavery. Worse yet is the situation where a man who has no idea what he is getting himself into (cultural differences are a major strain) brings a woman here only to have the relationship fall apart in two years. Now a young lady is here, with no family, probably no resources, and no way to take care of her self is suddenly tossed out, or even worse the relatonship turns ugly. Other parts of the law establish her rights and resources in cases like this.

The point is, if you are sincerely looking for a foreign bride, you would do what is required to make it happen. If you're not a sex offender, then what do you have to worry about? I think they are reaching too far to try to protect these women though.

The argument could swing either way. Protect the rights of the foreign lady, or protect the rights of a registered sex offender. Because if you're not a sex offender, then you should have no problem with the agency looking that information up.

As far as the requirement to provide marital history, I think thats a bit invasive. The law could do its job without this clause.

[Tom]

My Wife and I started and used to own Love of Asia Vietnam. We became the only legal online penpal,dating services in Vietnam after being heavily scrutinized by the government there for the first couple of years in business. We are proud of the fact we created a sort of bridge between hearts of thousands of miles away and a number of good men and women met because of our service and we are unaware of any breakups or bad relationships.
We moved to the US and in less than 3 years being here, the US government enacted this law. We sold the website .
What a shame.

[Anthony Fennell]

I happen to be a Eagle scout and a Martial arts instructor.I am 25 and I am not ugly or morally corrupt. Maybe the ladies who created thsi law are just upset that they can't force men like me to marry them. I'm still going to marry my natalia. She has a sense of honro in being amother and inderstands the noble cause of raising a child. I simply blame the crime and moral collapse of this country on the fact that families are being attacked. what I can't stand is that havebeen writing a lady from ukraine for 14 months. I speak an read Russian and now my agency tells me I can't have her information now that i can write her on my own and must continue to go through their site which costs me money gobs of money. ON TOP OF THT THEY RAISEDTHEFEE AND IHAV ENO OPTION BUT TO PAY THEM WHATEVER THEY WANT ORLOSE MY NATALIA! I only make about $25,000 a year, but I live free off ebay sales :) So let me aks a direct question to any feminist. How is a Lady contacting a 25 year odl eagle scout with high moral standards a bad thing? Oh yeh i forgot Boy scouts aren't gay. so you consider that bad. I HAVE NO RECORD! I AM A INCREDIBLE PERSON! Once this is over and we win I am not letting up. I am going to confront you for the rest of my life. Long live the USA AND OUR CONSTITUTION! As for me, I would be honored to lay my life down for it's defence!

[Bob Thompson]

I agree with you 100%. I think the feminists in ths country have gone too far this time. I married my lovely Filipina wife through "Cherry Blossoms" 13 years ago, and we have a fantastic relationship and two beautiful kids. I am not a stalker, an abuser, or any of those ugly labels the feminists have branded us with! Even the label "mail order bride" is insulting to those of us who just want a better alternative to the "bar scene", local clubs or singles groups and dating services. I don't care about this law for myself, because I am happily married, but as a concerned citizen I care about the freedoms of all those single men out there who are like I was 15 years ago. This law actually makes it easier for a man to marry another man than for a man to marry a foreign woman. Think about that for a minute! I've known for a long time this day would come, so I am not surprised! What scares me is that if this law had passed 15 years ago, I might be alone today. I can only hope that efforts to abolish this ridiculous law are successful.

[steve]

Yes, America has lost it's way. Another useless law that further restricts a man's right to free speech. A law that requires him to turn over his complete personal history to a foreign woman he has never met before he can say hi. A law that leaves him open to scam artisits looking for personal information on anyone they can find. A law that sends the message to the world that American men are dangerous and must be regulated.

But what the hell, the National Organization of Women said it was a good idea so it must be ok. I am now getting emails from them almost every day, reminding me that I am a "pimp" and a "flesh trader" for providing contact information on ladies.

I have learned a great lesson in all of this. When special interests groups have an agenda it does not matter what the facts say, the only thing that matters are the sensational sound bites they keep playing over an over again.

These groups cannot stand is when you bring up the fact that they sold out to the match.coms, yahoo personals and the rest. When you ask them why these dating giants got a free pass, they have no answers. I have an answer. The law makers new that this law would spring about 500 lawyers into action and the law would be laughed out of court.

But when you go after a few hundred small sites (with the full support of the giant dating sites) the small sites will collapse faster than a house of cards. Then all the politicians can put a feather in their cap and the Walmarts of the dating world can move in and soak up the market.

In this case, I think N.O.W. may have underestimated the growing movement of webmasters that are fighting back. For some (like me) you reach a point in your life where you say enough is enough. You are violating my constitutional rights. I will not close my site over this law, I don't care if I never make another dime. Now I am dedicating my website and all of my free time to fighting this law.

[Tom]

Enjoyed your blog/comment. I hope it is ok to post our link here. We are small but have a lot of fight in us.

http://filipinalady.org/international-marriage-broker-regulation/

Gary has posted on the forum several times.

Thanks again for your comment on the subject. I couldn't agree more that this law is biased and unjust. The ironic thing is the bigger traffic sites like yahoo, match.com, etc are exempt from the law. The reason is because yahoo like sites primary focus is not international dating. However, even if only 5% of yahoo personals is about international dating, that 5% is more members and traffic then all the smaller international sites put together whose primary focus is international dating. How can one take the law seriously about protecting immigrant women when they exempt the bigger sites from having to comply -- yahoo.com, match.com, etc. Not only doesn't this law protect women, it is implemented an unfair business practice that smaller sites will suffer for.