famsearch has left 540 comments

famsearch comments on is elmo still alive??

no, i'm not elmo. i'm not *that* old... lol been busy, working, married life, getting the last of the paperwork out of the way. we should be getting an appt date for the biometric stuff soon.

famsearch comments on I-751 paperwork sent in on 8/18

thanks! my wife is happy now that this latest batch of paperwork is under way.

famsearch comments on Visa time table from PBH members..

as for my wife and i, we were married in december of 2004, started the paperwork around january/february of 2005, she had the interview and got the visa in august of 2006, and we flew her here in november of 2006.

famsearch comments on I-134 Evidence for a K-3

my wife is on the checking acct, the lease, health and life insurance policies, taxes, etc, if that's not enought, oh well....

famsearch comments on Colombian uncle/tio

just a measure of respect....

famsearch comments on 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of depleted uranium seized

chris, depleted uranium is usually used in armor piercing rounds for tanks...

famsearch comments on 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of depleted uranium seized

i would say that if ap, bloomberg, afp, and the london daily telegraph report it, one would think it's pretty much true...

famsearch comments on 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of depleted uranium seized

Colombia Investigates Uranium Find By FRANK BAJAK – 1 hour ago BOGOTA (AP) — The Defense Ministry said Thursday it was investigating whether 66 pounds of uranium found buried by a roadside in southern Bogota was material being sought by leftist rebels. Colombian authorities said earlier this month that they were worried by a document found in the laptop of a slain rebel that indicated the guerrillas were trying to obtain uranium. It wasn't clear, Vice President Francisco Santos said at the time, whether the rebels sought to create a radioactive weapon. The document made it appear as if the insurgents were seeking to resell uranium at a profit. The two uranium chunks found Wednesday were described by Colombia's military chief as "impoverished." Only uranium enriched through processing — something most countries, including Colombia, are not equipped to do — can be used to make nuclear weapons or power reactors, scientists say. Two informants who had contact with a Bogota arms dealer led authorities to the uranium, said Sgt. Elizabeth Filigrana, a spokeswoman for armed forces chief Gen. Freddy Padilla. Their identities were not made public. "It appears they were the custodians of the uranium," she told The Associated Press. She said authorities were investigating whether rebels of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces, or FARC, were trying to purchase the heavy metal. "Uranium is not particularly radioactive. The fact that you can dig it out of the ground and it's been there for 5 billion years tells you that it's not terribly radioactive," Ivan Oelrich, an expert with the Federation of American Scientists, said by phone from the United States. Tons of natural uranium are mined annually, with the biggest mines in Africa and Australia, and it costs about $70 a pound, he said. Oelrich said that if the FARC, which has been fighting Colombian governments for more than four decades, were truly interested in creating a radioactive dirty bomb — a crude device wedding explosives with radioactive material — it would be looking to highly radioactive isotopes. Colombia Probes FARC Ties to Uranium Seized in Bogota (Update3) By Joshua Goodman March 27 (Bloomberg) -- Colombian authorities are investigating what the country's biggest guerrilla group planned to do with 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of depleted uranium seized in a raid on the outskirts of Bogota. General Freddy Padilla, head of Colombia's armed forces, said in a news conference yesterday that authorities were led to the buried cache by informants linked to an arms dealer named on the computer of slain rebel leader Raul Reyes. The find supports intelligence that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, were trying to get uranium since 2005, Padilla said. ``It's exactly the same material listed on Reyes' computer,'' Padilla said. ``Why the FARC were so anxious to obtain this material we still don't know.'' The seizure of the uranium underscores the value of intelligence gleaned from a half-dozen laptops the military captured from the FARC this month and shows how the underground operations of the 44-year-old insurgency are crumbling. Colombia used data from Reyes's hard drives, taken after a lethal cross- border raid into Ecuador, to implicate the governments of Venezuela and Ecuador in supporting the rebels. Colombia's Vice President Francisco Santos said earlier this month that evidence on the laptops showed the FARC was seeking 50 kilograms of uranium to build dirty bombs, conventional explosives used in conjunction with radioactive materials. Health Risk The depleted uranium, found yesterday in a rural area outside the city, poses no health risk and can't be used to build a dirty bomb, said Charles Ferguson, a nuclear affairs analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. A video released by the Colombian military showed the metal had a slow radiation rate of 1.5 Microsieversts per hour, he said. ``You could stand next to this material for days and nothing would happen to you, unless you dropped it on your foot,'' said Ferguson. Possible uses for the FARC might include making armor- piercing conventional weapons or an ingestible poison, Ferguson said. Less likely, the metal could be used as a shield while handling more potent radioactive materials that would be used to make a dirty bomb. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Nicole Thompson said the U.S. is ``deeply concerned'' by the seizure. ``We hope Colombian officials conducting this investigation will be able to determine the FARC's intended use of the uranium,'' she said. The U.S., Canada and the European Union classify the FARC as a terrorist group. `Stronger Rocket' Mario Ballesteros, head of the state-run geology institute Ingeominas, said a study of the uranium, its possible uses and health risk would be presented on Friday, EFE news agency reported today. ``The FARC may have wanted this material to build a stronger rocket that destroys the president or a minister's armored car, not create a weapon of mass destruction,'' said Cesar Restrepo, from Bogota's Security and Democracy Foundation. Padilla said informants he didn't identify, who are close to an alleged arms supplier Reyes called ``Belisario,'' led the military to the uranium. Authorities are investigating the origin of the material, he said. Embossed on the two metal lodes, in English, was the warning ``Caution: Radioactive Material. Depleted Uranium,'' according to the military's video. The computer files already led authorities in Costa Rica on March 17 to uncover $480,000 in cash at a guerrilla safe house. Authorities said the files were also useful in tracking down in Thailand suspected Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. ``Reyes's computers are proving to be a gold mine, everything listed on it that President Hugo Chavez says are lies is proving true,'' said Restrepo. Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has said evidence on Reyes's computers showing he funneled $300 million to the FARC was a fabrication. ``This computer could say anything,'' he said during a visit today to Brazil. To contact the reporter on this story: Joshua Goodman in Bogota at Jgoodman19 at bloomberg.net Last Updated: March 27, 2008 19:03 EDT Colombia says uranium find points to FARC's dangerous ambition 4 hours ago BOGOTA (AFP) — Colombia's FARC rebels may have intended to use low-grade uranium in a "dirty bomb" to bill themselves as international terrorists, the government said Thursday after announcing it found a stash of the radioactive material. The Colombian Defense Ministry said 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of uranium were found along a roadside in a Bogota slum after two rebels tipped authorities to their whereabouts. On Tuesday, a laboratory said a sample it analyzed was depleted uranium. The find confirmed earlier government reports that the rebels were looking to buy uranium, after computer files seized in a rebel camp inside Ecuador yielded messages to that effect. The files were captured in a Colombian cross-border raid on March 1. Armed with the computer evidence, Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos, a few days later at the UN Disarmament Conference in Geneva, accused the rebel group of seeking radioactive material "to make dirty weapons to destroy and terrorize." National Police Chief Oscar Naranjo said "FARC are taking crucial steps in the world of terrorism to make themselves known as a great international, global aggressor. "We're not just talking about a domestic guerrilla group," he said, before calling for a "continental effort ... to neutralize FARC's terrorist activities." The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the country's largest rebel group, has been fighting to overthrow the Bogota government for more than 40 years, and recently struck a relationship with leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Chavez, who backed Ecuador in its week-long row with Colombia over the cross-border raid, sympathises with the FARC, which he claims have legitimate "belligerent status," instead of the terrorist label the United States, Europe and Colombia give it. After Colombia's cross-border raid, which according to Bogota was carried out with US intelligence support, Chavez accused the United States of provoking the crisis. On Thursday, Chavez during a visit to Brazil dismissed the uranium find, and implicitly referring to the United States warned that "there are still some flames flickering (from the earlier crisis). "We're certain there are powerful interests wanting to destabilize our regions ... we're still getting statements ... provocations," he said, noting with irony that the information on the uranium stash had conveniently come from "that magical computer." The director of the Ingeominas laboratory, Mario Ballesteros, said a proper reading of the radioactive level of the seized uranium would come over the weekend, adding that the population was not at risk from the mere presence of depleted uranium. Depleted uranium can be used in a "dirty bomb" to disseminate cancer-causing radioactivity, although France's Institute of International and Strategic Relations Director Georges Le Guelte said: "Nobody really knows how efficient a device of that sort can be." The material is a residue of the enriching and reprocessing of uranium. It has a low-level of radioactivity and can be used to make missiles capable of penetrating armor and then bursting into flame. The two informants who led Colombian authorities to the uranium were close to a rebel leader known as "Belisario," who is also mentioned in the captured computer belonging to FARC's second-in-command Raul Reyes, said Armed Forces Commander General Freddy Padilla. Reyes was killed in the March 1 raid. A FARC statement issued after the raid dismissed Bogota's uranium allegations. "Only developed countries like the United States and others have the required conditions and technology to process uranium, and not a guerrilla group that is still fighting for the dignity of a people with rifles and even sticks," it said. Colombia seizes 60lb of depleted uranium By Jeremy McDermott in Medellin Last Updated: 1:19am GMT 28/03/2008 Colombia's government has claimed that Leftist rebels were plotting to make a "dirty" radiological bomb after security agents seized 60 lb of low-grade depleted uranium. The radioactive material was found buried by the side of a main road near Bogota, the capital. The seizure comes weeks after the Colombian air force bombed a guerrilla camp in Ecuador, killing Raul Reyes, the "public face" of the Farc revolutionary group. advertisementThe government claimed that three computers seized after the raid showed that the guerillas were looking to acquire uranium in order to make a dirty bomb. While depleted uranium cannot be used to make a nuclear weapon, it could be mixed with explosives to spread radiological material. The government also said the computers showed that Venezuela and Ecuador were supporting the Farc. But presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Rafael Correa of Ecuador both insisted that the Colombian military was telling lies to justify its bombing of Ecuadorean territory. "It is now so hard to believe anything the Colombian government says, there have been so many lies," said Wellington Sandoval, Ecuador's defence minister. A defence attaché at an embassy in Bogota also cast doubt on the claims, believing it unlikely that the Farc had the know-how to make a bomb. Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited and must not be reproduced in any medium without licence. For the full copyright statement see Copyright

famsearch comments on Colombian Ambassador addressing OAS RE: Venezuela, FARC and Ecuador

where can i get a text copy of that statement. all i can say is, wow...

famsearch comments on Colombian ancentor´s astronaut will give Uribe a Flag he took to the moon.

after reading the article, this astronaut has only been to the iss, not the moon.

famsearch comments on venezuelan anti semitism....

could guyana be the next sudetenland?

famsearch comments on germany/austria venezuela/colombia

i was thinking more along the lines of austria being annexed to germany as part of a "greater germany", and the possibility of chavez, through manipulating the colombian political system, of merging the two into a version of the old "greater colombia".

famsearch comments on our Hugo, hat in hand.... Venezuela swallows rhetoric, buys American food

well, he can't be too nasty towards us, the u.s. is about the only country that has the capacity to refine the low grade crude that they export.

famsearch comments on our Hugo, hat in hand.... Venezuela swallows rhetoric, buys American food

you can be certain that he's not crowing too loudly about having to feed his country by buying from el diablo... lol

famsearch comments on Planning a Wedding In Medellin for Jan 2009.......have no freaking idea where to start!!

i'll see if i can find the information from our wedding. we rented a finca for the weekend, and had the reception there.

famsearch comments on Happy love stories

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famsearch comments on WAY PUTA

my wife won't let me use even the smallest of what she calls groseros.

famsearch comments on

i ran into this once. my wife saves up her change in an old wine bottle. after it got to be full, i told her that i would count it for her. well, as i was seperating the coins, she had called my sis in law. my sis in law said that (i guess for colombians) it was bad luck to count it out. we're on our way to filling a second bottle.

famsearch comments on Happy love stories

y'know john, i've been around here for about 6-7 years now, and i don't think i've heard anyone here come even close to saying "a Colombiana worked flat on her back or on her knees before she met up with a gringo.". now first you insinuate either i'm lying, or my wife is cheating, and now, since i'm a gringo, and my wife is a colombiana, and we have met up, that she worked on her back, or her knees before we met?

famsearch comments on Happy love stories

telling me to lighten up doesn't answer the question john. which is it? shouldn't be throwing out statements like that...

famsearch comments on Happy love stories

you're either saying that i'm lying, or my wife is cheating, which is it john?

famsearch comments on what is it about colombians and coca cola??

if i remember correctly, my wife made that rice with coca cola for our anniversary.

famsearch comments on Happy love stories

lets see if this qualifies. met up in august of 2001, proposed august of 2003, married in december of 2004, worked the immigration paperwork from january 2005 until august of 2006, been together again since november of 2006, and have had a lot of fun since then.

famsearch comments on

if clyde has to chide, in order to find himself a ride, could be that clyde, has something to hide.

famsearch comments on What's the Usual Time frame of having the (fiance) visa in hand, after the interview?

my wife interviewed (finally) on a thursday, and picked it up friday morning.

famsearch comments on Thanks Chavez!

Guerrilla Nation The arrest of FARC terrorist Ricardo Granda sheds new light on Hugo Chavez's ongoing support of terrorism. by Thor Halvorssen 01/26/2005 12:00:00 AM Increase Font Size | Printer-Friendly | Email a Friend | Respond to this article Caracas SIMON TRINIDAD is the nom de guerre of Ricardo Palmera, a high-ranking terrorist of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC), the deadliest and largest terrorist organization in the world. Thanks to Colombia's president, Alvaro Uribe, Trinidad was extradited to the United States last month. He now awaits trial for a lengthy list of crimes involving the recent kidnapping and murder of American citizens in Colombia. Trinidad's capture was a victory in the fight against global terror (see Note, below), but it is unlikely that the FARC terrorists will be defeated as long as Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez continues to use his government to harbor, equip, and protect them.

famsearch comments on how long does a k 1 visa take

we filed for the spousal visa, and it took almost 2 years before we got the visa. but then again, that was shortly after they stopped processing in nebraska, and sent them all to california.

famsearch comments on CANADIAN PR VISA NOT SUFFICIENT TO FLY THROUGH U.S.

hmm, you trusted an airline for visa info? why didn't you check with the american consulate first, then buy your tickets? you also say "I know of people with resident visa,s in the u.s. that visit canada (u.s. immigrants)and if they have residence in the u.s. they don,t require a special visa.", could it be that because they had the american visa, that they would have no problem reentering the u.s.?

famsearch comments on FARC says: Uribe kidnapped Emmanuel (no, I'm not joking)

pot calling the kettle black...

famsearch comments on

strobers pretty much hit it on the head. my wife and i are pretty solid. in my own situation, it was 2 years (yes, years) before i proposed, another year before the wedding. if you can't take the time to get to know someone, you shouldn't even be thinking marriage. after that, it was another 2 years of paperwork hassle getting her here. if that isn't the acid test of a relationship, i don't know what is. we've spent the last year making up for all the laughs we missed out on during those 2 years.

famsearch comments on our 3rd anniversary

thanks! it's already happened, we've got about a foot or so on the ground now. i've heard her talking with one of her friends back in colombia about the "mountains of snow" here. i think what she was describing was what was plowed up on the curb after the streets were plowed.

famsearch comments on Do I trust the Post Office?

we sent 2 packages to colombia this year with usps. one made it there, and i found out the other day that the other didn't. using usps is a bit of a crapshoot.

famsearch comments on hi everyone . . . this hit home!

i know how it goes too, my wife and i were apart for our first couple of christmases. but then again, i did send her money to pick out a gift on both occasions, and now that i think of it, i did it on the occasions before and after we were engaged. so, i must have gotten the rare good one, because even now, she's still a little embarrassed to ask me to buy her something.

famsearch comments on Medellin hotels

only hotel i had ever stayed in while in medellin, was the hotel nutibarra. a pretty good hotel, in the old school sense. about 60 yrs old, and polished marble all over the place. we got a 1 br with the living room/bar for around $81, and that was with the complimentary flowers and champagne. but then again, that was about 3 yrs ago, so not sure what the rates are now.

famsearch comments on Rent a Car

with all those taxis at your beck and call, why rent a car?

famsearch comments on TUGS MUST GO

boy, if this is the kind of reaction a tug gets, i'd hate to see what happens when there's a nudge... =)

famsearch comments on sharing the happiness...

at first it was all spanish, but gradually its about 60/40 spanish/english. she's at it for a good 4-5 hours a day.

famsearch comments on happy turkey day for you gringos

hey, those ridges are decoration!!

famsearch comments on sharing the happiness...

well, that's the date she arrived. our real anniversary is in december, and that will be our third. we don't pay anything for rosetta stone. it was set up by someone with a lot of $$ and probably a guilty conscience. it was both english and spanish packages, the only catch he had, was to make it available for free online with a library card. it's the full package. at first it was hard, but now she looks at those first lessons and is amazed at how easy they really were. pretty soon i'll have no peace in 2 languages... lol

famsearch comments on sharing the happiness...

i've seen it going for around $200. we lucked out in that we can access it online through the local library while at home. all that's needed is a county library card.

famsearch comments on sharing the happiness...

i know, it can be fun and drive you nuts at the same time! but it's the little things. when i get home from work, there's something still warm on the stove for me. before i get ready for work, she asks what i'm planning on wearing, and when i get out of the shower, everything is ironed and ready to go. she thinks it's disgraceful of me to leave with a shirt that's even slightly wrinkled. not that it's all one sided, i do stuff for her too. the latest was to build a writing desk for her, so she can work on improving her handwriting, and practice writing in english.

famsearch comments on sharing the happiness...

can't hold her back john. between rosetta stone and a classroom type instruction series, she's learning everything she can. she keeps reminding me to speak english to her.

famsearch comments on sharing the happiness...

thanks guys! she's adapting very well and soaking up english like a sponge. she says that she loves the fall here in minnesota. well, in less than a month, we will have been married for three years. where does the time go....

famsearch comments on por que no te calles

i thought it was funnier than hell. especially after i asked my sis in law if what the king said was polite or not.

famsearch comments on F/

sounds exactly like what i did one morning during my first time in colombia. we were in bello, just outside of medellin, and i just sat on the bench in the little courtyard in front of the mother in law's house, and just watched the day start. from the #%^& roosters all over the barrio, the kids on the way to various schools in their uniforms, locals starting up their trucks for another day's work. then it was the propane guy with his helper ringing the bell to let everyone know he was around. not to forget the fruit and vegetable guys, especially the onion and potato guy, and his sing-song, papaaaas rojo! papaaaas blanco! dos mil pesos por kiiilllooo!

famsearch comments on How much did it cost and how long did it take?

someone fails to see the humo(u)r by being too literal...

famsearch comments on Cider

now hold on a second here. apple cider on it's own has no alcohol, that's why it's sold in grocery stores and such. what i think all of you are talking about is hard cider, where a little bit of yeast has been thrown in, and has been allowed to ferment, and applejack is basically distilled hard cider.

famsearch comments on Does anyone know where pesos can be bought in New York? Thanks

i'm sure you can find them at either jfk or laguardia airports

famsearch comments on How much did it cost and how long did it take?

nope, not from the south, unless you count minnesota being part of southern canada. always remember the plural of y'all is all y'all.

famsearch comments on K1 or K3 visa? which should I choose?

that's why i went with the spousal visa. all the good stuff is wrapped up in it.