Normally, I don’t use my blog for RL related items, let alone political issues, but I strongly feel this should at least have your attention. With thanks to Moggs Oceanlane for drawing my attention to this on Plurk, and Harper Beresford for letting me steal her blogpost:

Eshi Otawara is still pending notification about her status in the US.
While recent news has been positive for her, things are not as good for all
widows of American citizens.

Brent Renison is a lawyer fighting the Widow Penalty in the US. Eshi
contacted Brent a few months ago after listening to a podcast both Crap Mariner and

I [Harper Beresford] told her about, and he agreed to help her with her case. At
the same time, Eshi met my friend Mike in SL. Mike also contacted Brent, and
they put together a case for Eshi.

Mike forwarded this letter to me and asked me to forward it on behalf of
Eshi and the other widows who have been unfairly penalized because their
American spouses died before they were able to get a fair hearing.

Please join us in assisting Brent and Eshi in this cause. Click through to
the website, read about, consider if it is something you support, and contact
your legislator.

And Brent’s e-mail:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~From: Brent Renison
Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2008 3:30 PM
To: brent@ssad.org

Subject: 60 Minutes Exposes Widow Penalty – from Brent Renison

Hello,

I promised to let everyone know when I would appear on CBS 60 Minutes. The time has come. Barring unforeseen circumstances, Bob Simon, the most honored journalist in international reporting, will expose the “Widow Penalty” to the nation this Sunday night, November 23rd on CBS 60 Minutes.

America is deporting widows of American citizens automatically and without appeal when their spouse dies during bureaucratic processing of the green card application. My sincerest desire is that, after watching the broadcast, Monday morning you will do something about this terrible practice. There are a number of ways you can help to end the widow penalty.

The most important is to tell your elected officials that a change must occur in the abysmal way that we treat widows of American citizens. Whether you effect a change in the way the current or future Administration handles the cases, or push through a legislative amendment signed by the President, this practice must stop. Click on the box to find out how you can help.

Please be a part of that change on Monday morning, and please forward this email to just one person whom you trust to do the right thing. Forward to more than one person at a time, and accountability is lost – people will delete the email, just as you might delete mine.

Brent Renison