September 2010 Archives

This year the Freehold or Monmouth County Latino Festival will introduce latino inspired films as part of the celebration of Latino heritage. The film festival will run from Friday, October 1st evening until Sunday, October 3rd in the afternoon.  Seating is limited so get there early, buy a snack and enjoy some Latino culture.  

The 6th Annual Latino Festival will celebrate with a day of dancing, games and entertainment on October 2^nd in downtown Freehold Borough at the Hall of Records Parking Lot starting at 12 - noon and concluding at 7 p.m. The celebration coincides with Hispanic Heritage Month.

The weather forecast for this weekend is 68 degrees and mostly sunny - so let's hear it for the "luck of the Latinos" on planning this day of celebration.  A cool breeze, a pisco sour and some latina dancing - what better way to spend a fall weekend in New Jersey. 

“Every year the festival gets bigger and better not only with the variety of acts, but with our efforts at community outreach and inclusion.  says the Festival Committee.  “This year we are especially excited about the film festival and our new partnership with Center Players. This introduces an important cultural aspect that people have been requesting for several years.”

LIVE ENTERTAINMENT

Local artist and celebrity Veronica Kole, of Freehold Township, will open the festival with the National Anthem and will perform a set of her original material in the middle of the day.

The confirmed performers this year are DJ Lady C. “La Comái Buena” and entertainment director, MC Nelson Rodriguez, the Alborada Spanish Dance Theater (flamenco dancing), RockNRoll Chorus, Grupo Caribe (salsa and merengue band), Zumba Party with Elcira, Mariachi Instrumental de México, Cimarrones/Run Away Slaves (Puerto Rican Folkloric group), Diverse (Zack and Eddie), Cassidy Molina from Howell High School and Tenor Luis Pacheco.

COMIDA

As for cuisine, we have Salsa Latina Restaurant, Bahia de Acapulco, Grill and Things, and others.  Freehold has several top shelf restaurants in the event you cannot satisfy your hunger at one of the participating vendors.

There will be dozens of organizations present at the event to provide information about services to the community.  The DNA Lady is reaching out to healthcare providers and immigration couselors in the community to get the word out about convenient, private DNA Testing to confirm family relationships.  Many in the Latino community find the subject of DNA testing a private matter, not wanting to expose their family's business in court, in the hospital at time of birth or in the process of sponsoring a "family" member via Family Based Visas.  Often times they will ask their local healthcare provider for a private referral in order to clear up rumors or doubts. 

The Latino Festival started in 2005 at the Park Avenue Elementary School in Freehold Borough with just a few volunteers. The first festival attracted about 800 people. Last year’s festival was attended by between 4,000 to 5,000.  With fantastic weather, a larger network of supporters and vendors - this year's event is sure to be attended by twice that of last years. 

Here's what everyone has been waiting for - the Latino Film Festival Schedule:

FILM

All Films will be shown at the Center Players, 35 South Street, Freehold.  There a film for everyone's liking - from SciFi to heartwarming to heartwrenching to the now timely topic of consumers dependence on oil.  Get there early, grab some tortillas and salsa and enjoy. 

Friday, October 1

     7-9 pm Sleep Dealer - Science Fiction, rated PG13 (http://www.sleepdealer.com/synopsis.html)

Saturday, October 2

    11 am to 1 pm The Perfect Game - Family, rated PG (http://www.theperfectgamemovie.com/) - Based on a true story, The Perfect Game tells the story of a group of boys from Monterrey, Mexico who become the first non-U.S. team to win the Little League World Series.

     3-5 pm Whisky - Comedy, Not Rated (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0331370/) - Jacobo Koller is an unsuccessful and lonely middle-aged man who owns a failing sock factory in Montevideo, Uruguay. When Jacobo's mother dies, his younger, successful brother, Herman, comes to visit. To prove that his life has amounted to something, Jacobo enlists his co-worker, Marta, to pretend to be his wife. On a weekend break together in the sea-side town of Piriapolis, the trio reveal their true colors.

     7-9 pm Buena Gente - Drama, rated R (http://www.buenagentemovie.com/) - Set in Washington Heights, NY, Buena Gente (Official Selection for the 2009 Queens Int’l Film Festival) tells the story of Chris Gil (Nick Talentino) who has commitment issues and compromises his relationship with his girlfriend, Desiree Madera (Yomaris Maldonado). After Desiree leaves him, Chris finds out she's put in a life-threatening situation and must save her.

             *** Fabián Báez, the creator of the film Buena Gente will be attending the festival on Saturday (along with one of the film's actors) to introduce the film and participate in audience Q&A after the showing.

Sunday, October 3

     2-4 pm Crude - Documentary, Not Rated (http://www.crudethemovie.com/press-room/) - Crude is the award-winning documentary that presents the story of the legal fight between 30,000 indigenous Ecuadorian rainforest dwellers and the U.S. oil giant Chevron. The plaintiffs claim that Texaco – which merged with Chevron in 2001 – spent three decades systematically contaminating one of the most biodiverse regions on Earth, poisoning the water, air and land. Crude focuses on the human cost of our addiction to oil and the increasingly difficult task of holding a major corporation accountable for its past deeds.

After a day of celebrating your Latino heritage, if you want to dive further into your true Ancestry, have  your DNA collected to determine your true ancestral origins.  The movement of populations in modern times is both voluntary via a migration within one's region and involuntary via a slave trade, trafficking in human beings and ethnic cleansing.  Migration to the Americas, according to a Wikipedia article, took place about 20 - 15 millennia ago.  The Age of Exploration and European Colonialism led to an accelerated pace of migration to the Americas.  Find out your genetic regional affiliation with databases from 15 anthropological regions around the world. 

The U.S. Embassy in Accra, Ghana has provided some valuable contact information and answers to over 25 Frequently Asked Questions.  To begin with, depending on where you are in your application to immigrate to the United States here are email contacts:

If your inquiry is regarding American Citizen Services, please send an email to acsaccra@state.gov.  If your inquiry is regarding non-immigrant visas, please send an email to NIVAccra@state.gov.  If your inquiry is regarding an adoption , please send an email to accraadoption@state.gov and finally, if your inquiry is about U.S. citizenship and immigration services, please send an email to uscisaccra@dhs.gov.  Always use  your Case Number and Beneficiary's name in the subject of the email. 

Before sending an email to any of the above addresses, please send an email directly to ivdvaccra@state.gov to receive an automated response with a list of the questions easily answered.  Below I have outlined just a few of the simple questions and answers.

What is the status of my case?

Look at the email address information above and send an email to the appropriate office with the beneficiary's name and case number beginning with ACC.  The Embassy advises they will respond within 5 - 7 business days.  It is always a solid suggestion to put a "received and read" receipt on any emails you send.  While their system may not support receipts - you will still receive an email notification that the message was delivered.

How Can My Family Join Me in the United States?

If you are a U.S. citizen or Permanent Resident and want to obtain Immigrant Visas for your family to join you in the United States, you must first file a petition with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.  Have all your original documents readily available, ie, birth certificates, marriage and death certificates, police certificates and take photocopies for your own records. Those applying for family based visas should also bring along any evidence such as family photographs marking milestone events such as birthdays, religious holidays, school events and graduations etc., correspondence between family members, phone call records, school report cards, healthcare records, etc anything that demonstrates the relationship exists between you(sponsor) and the petitioner or beneficiaries.  If the relationship and/or documentation is questionable you may be asked to undergo a DNA test to confirm the biological relationship.  Your local AABB accredited DNA collector can assist you in this process.   Based on current experience, biological relationship confirmation via DNA testing can take up to 6 or 7 months to complete.  We've collected a Sponsor in the USA in January 2010 and his beneficiaries were not collected until August 2010.  So act fast and if you know your documents are questionable, old, unclear, filed in an untimely manner, not in English - volunteer for the DNA test option and put the process in motion as quickly as you can. 

How Can I Schedule an Appointment for my Adoptive Child?

Our only information is that you send an email to accraadoption@state.gov.  One suggestion might also be to have the child undergo a DNA test in Accra, Ghana and then upon arrival to the United States, have the same child submit to another DNA Test - this avoids any possibility of children leaving the country illegally and entering other countries for human trafficking.  Make sure to use the same lab to test in Accra and test in the United States.  Additionally, if available, have the child's birth mother/father undergo DNA Paternity and/or Maternity testing in Accra, to insure the right people are surrending or terminating their rights to parenting.  A predictive genetic test on the parents may help an adoptive child in the future with their own health initiaves. 

For answers to these and many other questions related to DNA Testing and the process of immigration, please check the various websites.  DNA collections are performed at the U.S. Embassy in Accra, Ghana by appointment only.  U.S. Embassy in Accra, Ghana is open Monday to Thursday 7:30 am to 5pm and Friday from 7:30 am to 12:30 pm.  The U.S. Embassy is closed on U.S. and Ghanaian holidays. 

What do I need to Do to Prepare for my DNA appointment?

In this United States, the sponsor needs to contact an AABB accredited DNA collector or laboratory to set up the process.  The sponsor's DNA, identification and Immigration Casework number will be collected in the United States.  The AABB accredited facility in the United States will then contact the Embassy in Accra, Ghana to have your beneficiary come in for an appointment.  The U.S. sponsor needs to provide accurate and clear phone and contact information for the beneficiary - home address etc., Your beneficiary will need to bring in his/her passport and two photos.  The U.S. laboratory will provide a FEDEX waybill so that the beneficiary's sample can be returned to the US laboratory for testing.  Your beneficiary is only charged a local collection fee, all charges for the DNA analysis are paid by the sponsor in the United States.  Please inform your beneficiary and anyone attending a DNA collection that they may not bring with them weapons of any kind or size, sharp metal or glass objects, razor blades, liquids, bottles powdery substances, umbrellas and electronic or battery-operated equipment (including cell phones, radios, tape recorders, cameras, personal digital assistants) food, drinks or pre-mixed baby formula.  There are no lockers available in which to store these items -  you will not be allowed into the building. 

How Do I check My Priority Date?

The Department of State publishes the list of current priority dates every month known as the Visa Bulletin.  You can find the current one, as well as archived bulletins at http://travel.state.gov/visa/frvi/bulletin/bulletin_1360.html.

The Diversity Visa Season ends September 30 of each year.  No further visas are issued from the previous Diversity Visa program year after this date. 

Says Caroline Manzo of NJ Housewives infamy as they tour a pig slaughter house in Italy.  I have to admit I'm behind on my Housewives shows and have only recently seen the fun filled trip to Italy and then the hormone filled finale on BravoTV with Andyboy Bacala.  I can't help think - which "pig" was Caroline talking about.  It seems that Theresa needs a percocet as much as any pig about to be slaughtered.  Four girls under the age of 12, a husband that spends money like a drunken sailor and has the mood swings to match, the real or unreal fact that her house is in foreclosure her belongings are up for auction and she still has time to write a book about Skinny Italian food.  Her outbursts on the finale - most probably hormoned or stress fueled - were a disgraceful display of a bully and nothing more.  How proud she will be in the future when she sees her daughters mimicking her behavior.  Wait for it Theresa because it is coming.  If I were Danielle Staub, I would not have felt safe without Theresa in cuffs.    Danielle is troubled and should be left to lick her wounds and clean up her mess ( her life). 

Jackie is simple and sweet and blends in when she needs to but there's just something about her passed that is missing...  I forget the Zen housewife's name but it appears she got out of the limelight before any garbage could be put on the table about her - that leaves me wondering it must have been good garbage but at least she had the brains to remove herself and her daughter from the slaughter.

I only caught interest in the show recently, when I heard yet another housewife was in search of her biological roots - didn't we go through this on Housewives of Atlanta with Nene, and Housewives of D.C. as well.  Is this the only way, the housewife can gain recognition a.k.a. "airtime" on the show by putting her tearful search for family on the air?  How many biological moms or dads really want to be connected to anyone on these shows?   I have to give these women credit for getting so far (financially) in life, while not knowing the very core of themselves - who they are and where did they come from?  I cannot imagine a life without the very foundation of "I am a insert religion" and "I am of insert descent" - from there almost everything in my life was defined until the age of 18.  Not knowing who your biological mother or biological father has to define your life is so many ways, I cannot imagine.  Thank God for the ease of use of DNA tests today. 

To all the housewives in NJ, Atlanta, DC and wherever - you can do DNA testing on almost any family member and we can determine if there is a biological relationship. So while you may not find your biological mother or father - if you find their biological children or biological sisters or biological brothers - call me and I'll explain what type of DNA test can be done to define if there was a genetic relationship.

Back to the housewives and Andy - wow - he really likes to stir the pot with the women and he has no boundaries or mercy when pushing for answers to questions.  How does it feel to humilate these women?  Is that like a gay thing?  Does it make you feel better about yourself?  Since Theresa, Jackie, Kim and Daniel have all had some kind of PS - why doesn't Caroline just opt for some fat sucking surgery and stop worrying about diet and exercise?  She can then eat only the Skinny Italian food in Theresa's book.  Danielle, your a hot mess, as one of my favorite new talk show hosts likes to say and I agree.  Leave your children to be children - don't involve them in your "grown up" issues. Find some adult friends whom you can trust - I don't think Wayne, NJ should be your hunting grounds for friends.   Kim G or D - the old one with the new face and teeth - come on - using your boy to get a lunch with Caroline - you are a pathetic, lonely old woman.  Do you really want your best day depicted as screaming from the steps of a restaurant in New Joisey while Danielle scurries down the steps to a waiting car - your giving them what they ask for but what are you going to get in return?  Does your son come home and say "Ma, that was great - do it again we didn't hear you say the "f" word enough".  Caroline - trying your hardest to be the matriach of the family and the one to set things straight - it didn't work because you were not sincere.  What is it about Danielle that stings everyone so much?

By the way Andy, you said something about the Housewives of NJ putting NJ on the map - I think that it was the Soprano's that put NJ on the map first.  Although I'm not Italian I don't think either show - Sopranos, Housewives, or Jersey shore does anything for the image of New Jersey or that of Italians.  

I think a new show should be "Real Ladies of" and instead of these back stabbing, jealous, catty, foul mouthed, souless women who value big boobs, big hair, big white teeth (Ok I'd like to have a big white toothed smile but that comes from my own mother's preoccupation with dental health) and continue to set poor examples for the new generation - let's bring back the idea of being a lady.  You probably won't find them in Wayne, NJ.  When was the last time you complimented someone for their kind behaviour instead of their Jimmy Choo's.    By the way, after that great big ostentatious Christening for Theresa's new baby - has Theresa been back to church yet?  Has any of the clan of Housewives of NJ been back to church? 

Having said all this - it's great to see other people's lives are such a mess and so wrapped up in garbage.  Makes my life seem like a breeze.

There is an entity, the Executive Office for Immigration Review, (EOIR) within the Department of Justice that under delegated authority from the Attorney General, immigration judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals interprets and adjudicates immigration cases according to United States immigration laws.

In the current atmosphere of "eye on the illegal", suppose your client is being held or deported for minor confrontations with the law but he or she is the sole provider for a family here in the United States.  Perhaps proving the biological relationship between your client and the dependent family would allow the judge some leniency on behalf of your client.  When birth certficates are incomplete or not available, when marriage and death certificates are unreliable or unavailable, a prompt Chain of Custody DNA Test can provide indisputable proof to a judge that your client is biologically related to a person here in the USA.  DNA Tests are routinely used to confirm paternity, maternity, grand paternity, siblings and avuncular relationships.  Proof of biological relationships assist families in obtaining benefits that would otherwise go under utilized (or back to the employer) if biological relationships were not properly declared at birth. 

An EOIR immigration judge conducts administrative court proceedings in immigration courts located throughout the United States.  In New Jersey, the immigration Judges are:

Honorable Dorothy Harbeck

Honorable Mirlande Tadal

Both Immigration Judges conduct hearings at 625 Evans Street, Room 148 A, Elizabeth, NJ   07201.  You can also contact the Court Administrator Yolanda English at 908-787-1390 for assistance. 

In Newark, NJ there are quite a few more Immigration Judges available for hearings.

Honorable Annie S. Garcy

Honorable Frederic G. Leeds

Honorable Eugene Pugliese

Honorable Margaret R. Reichenberg

Honorable Alberto J. Riefkohl

Honorable Susan Roy

970 Broad Street, Room 1135, Newark, NJ   07102.  The Court Administrator is Charlene McLaughlin at 973-645-3524. 

These judges can determine whether foreign born individuals - who are charged by the Department of Homeland Security DHS) with violoating immigration laws should be removed or be granted relief from removal and be permitted to remain in this country.  What better reason to allow a man or woman to stay in this country, if they are the provider of a family in need and if a biological relationship exists and can be proven using today's most up to date technogy - the DNA Test.  Perhaps a young man or woman is the sole provider and/or family member of an elderly parent or grand parent.   Non-invasive DNA Tests can confirm grand paternity and   

The Board of Immigration Appeals primarily reviews appeals of decisions by the immigration judges.  EOIR's Ofice of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer adjudicates immigration-related employment cases.  EOIR is committed to ensuring fairness in all of the cases it adjudicates.  The Executive Office is located at 5107 Leesburg Pike, Suite 2600,  Falls Church, VA 22041.  703-305-0289 Phone.

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia.  It is, currently, incurable, degenerative, and terminal.  Generally, Alzheimer's is diagnosed in people over 65 years of age, although the less prevalent early onset Alzheimer's can occur much earlier.

In the United States, there are currently 5.3 million Americans living with Alzheimer's disease, including their caregivers.  Over the next 40 years, with the expected aging of the U.S. population, Alzheimer's disease will exact a significant toll on the United States, both in terms of health care costs and number of people diagnosed with the disease.

A simple DNA test can evaluate your risk of an Alzheimer's diagnosis.  As mentioned above, today there is no cure for Alzheimer's but an Alzheimer's Association report demonstrates that small and perhaps more readily available treatments to delay the onset or slow the progression of the disease are available.  Small steps taken today may help to improve the quality of life of the person diagnosed with the disease as well as lessen the emotional and financial cost on the family.

It is estimated that Medicare costs are three times higher for the Alzheimer's patient and private health insurance premiums are 26% higher.  Having a DNA test performed by a private DNA collector, (as opposed to your insurance company's designated laboratory) will not impact your health insurance premiums as the report is confidential and only available to the participant.    I don't know about others, but lately I've received "informative pamphlets" from my private health insurance company regarding my health which is obviously based on blood work and/or prescriptions.  I pay them a monthly fee to keep my costs down, not to get involved in my private health issues.  I can't shake the feeling that someone (other than my doctor) is reading my private laboratory reports and compiling information about me that will somehow impact my future. (Perhaps I won't be allowed to live in a "assisted living faciltiy" or an "over 55 community" based on today's tests.)

If you participate in a private DNA test and the results indicate you carry a higher lifetime or genetic risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimers, it is certainly recommended that you  consult with your physician.  You have the option of letting your private health insurance know about your condition by limiting the tests your doctor orders.  Your physician can do an initial assessment of symptoms and determine whether you actually have the disease or it has not yet developed.  It is important to understand that a genetic risk does not necessarily mean the disease will fully develop in certain individuals.  There are significant environmental factors over which you do have control in order to either delay onset or avoid onset.    

Congress is currently reviewing an act to develop a federal plan to address the future impact of Alzheimer's disease on the U.S. population.  (H.R. 4689).  For more information, you can contact the National Alzheimer's Project Act via email at advocacy@alznj.org.