H1-B Visa program, the scourge of American software programmers and other professionals, has reached its cap of 65,000 within seven days of opening the gates for fiscal 2009.

Most likely, the cap was reached on April 1 itself although the official announcement from USCIS came today.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said today that it had received enough H-1B petitions to meet the congressionally mandated cap for fiscal year 2009. 

USCIS said it had also received over 20,000 H-1B petitions filed on behalf of persons exempt from the cap under the “advanced degree” exemption.

Before running the random selection process, USCIS will complete initial data entry for all filings received during the filing period ending on April 7, 2008. Due to the high number of petitions, USCIS is not yet able to announce the precise day on which it will conduct the random selection process.

USCIS will carry out the computer-generated random selection process for all cap-subject petitions received.  USCIS will select the number of petitions needed to meet the caps of 65,000 for the general category and 20,000 under the “advanced degree” exemption limit. USCIS will reject, and return filing fees for all cap-subject petitions not randomly selected, unless found to be a duplicate.   USCIS will handle duplicate filings in accordance with the interim final rule published on March 24, 2008 in the Federal Register.

The agency will conduct the selection process for “advanced degree” exemption petitions first. All “advanced degree” petitions not selected will be part of the random selection process for the 65,000 limit.

While Microsoft, Intel, Google and Continue Reading…

Most folks would be loath to join the U.S. armed forces in the midst of a war where soldiers are getting their limbs, heads and bodies blown off in a faroff land, right?

So, what does the U.S. Army do?

In desperation, the U.S. Army has been forced to hire criminals, convicts, high-school failures and the like or pay hefty bonuses to retain existing soldiers.

As Steve Coll writes in the latest issue of New Yorker (April 14, 2008 P.21):

In 2006, the Army granted eight thousand three hundred and thirty “moral waivers” to new recruits, meaning that it had accepted that number of volunteers with past criminal  charges or convictions. The percentage of high school graduates willing to serve is falling sharply from year to year; so are the aptitude-exam scores of new enlistees. To persuade soldiers and young officers to reenlist after overlong combat tours, the Army’s spending on retention bonuses increased almost ninefold from 2003 to 2006.

Wonder if the U.S. Army will turn to the 20 million illegals in the country next because the Iraq war is unlikely to end anytime soon.

U.S. teenage girls have a high rate of venereal disease a.k.a. sexually transmitted infections (STI).

One in every four teenage girls in U.S. has at least one of the most common venereal diseases, according to a recent study conducted by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Based on the study, the authors conservatively estimate that 3.2 million American teenage girls are infected with VD. The authors say that the total number might actually a bit higher since venereal diseases like Syphilis, HIV and Gonorrhea were not included in the analysis.

The four common venereal diseases included in the study are human papillomavirus (HPV), chlamydia, genital herpes and trichomoniasis.

The study was conducted among girls aged 14-19.

Besides the overall venereal diseases or STI prevalence, the Continue Reading…

What’s wrong with America?

In the supposedly richest country in the world, 47 million Americans are uninsured and have no access to even basic healthcare. Even those with health insurance are routinely denied treatment by greedy insurance companies.

Now comes more disturbing news.

The U.S. has been ranked last in providing effective healthcare to its citizens, according to a new study of 19 industrialized countries by Commonwealth Fund.

In a study of amenable mortality (i.e. potentially preventable deaths from certain causes before the age of 75 with timely and effective healthcare) published in the Jan/Feb issue of Health Affairs, the authors estimate that 75,000-101,000 deaths could have been averted each year in the U.S. if it had achieved the average of all countries analyzed (except U.S.) or the average of three top-performing countries.

The study included a total of 19 countries. Besides U.S., the survey Continue Reading…

American voters in the Iowa caucuses made a clear choice for change on Thursday by handing Illinois Senator Barack Obama a solid victory in the Democratic primaries.

The African American Obama’s message of change and hope has resonated with the people of Iowa.

Whether Obama can succeed in winning the Democratic primaries and then the Presidency remains to be seen.

As Indian-Americans, we hope Obama wins the primaries and the White House in the November 2008 Presidential elections.

Obama got 38% of votes in Iowa compared to 30% for John Edwards and 29% for Hillary Clinton.

In his post-victory address, Obama told a cheering crowd of supporters on Thursday night:

At this defining moment in history, you have done what the cynics said you couldn’t do….Something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it and fight for it.

A young man in his mid-40s, Senator Obama has an authenticity Continue Reading…