family emergency....

Dear folks,

As you may have noticed, I have been missing in action since 8th Sept this year from the list.

The reason is because, on the morning of the 8th Sept at 6am, I got a call from my sister informing me that my dad had fainted at home and was transported to the hospital. Hours later, we learned that he had a brain hemorrhage and had to have an operation to relief the pressure in his brain.

As he was in critical condition, I left San Francisco immediately to fly back to Singapore with Mickey, my husband and Alicia, our 2 yo daughter.

His condition initially imporved then deteriorated and for the past one and a half months, and he has never regained consciousness. Mickey and Alicia had to return home while I stayed back to take care of my dad and mom and help my mom settle down.

I was due to head back to SF a couple of weeks back but his condition again took a turn for the worse.

I left San Francisco feeling really fortunate that I was able to do soin such a short notice… because if this had happened to any same sex binational couples, many of them would be forced to make a really hard decision. We have friends who have been in this situation, but were
not able to be with their family because they would not be allowed to return to the US. I am also thankful that, during this economic recession we're experiencing, Mickey and I have some resources to help us through this difficult time and allow me to take an extended leave.

I have not been online much; since I have been running from home to hospital and back to home just to rest (and my parents do not have internet connection…).

I should be back in San Francisco soon but as the condition of my dad deteriorates, I might have to reschedule again or if I am already back in town, we might have to make another emergency trip back to Singapore.

However, I just want to say a BIG thank you for Kathy for stepping up in helping manage the group, as well as Erik, Chris, Gina and I am sure I am going to miss someone… but thank you all for stepping up while I am gone and continuing the work to get more support to stop the discrimination faced by same sex binational couples through the passage of UAFA.

We really need UAFA to pass and be history… while I was fortunate enough to be able to leave at a moment's notice, not everyone have that ability… and the fact that we cannot sponsor our foreign partner for a green cards just adds additional hardship to our relationship
and our daily lives. This must change!

Election is coming next Tuesday and to all of you who can vote, please vote!!!! I know we are all disappointed at the progress this country has made in the last two years but please do not sit out this election…. we need to make sure those who supports our issue and supports LGBT equality continues their work!

Yours sincerely,
Amos Lim

Don’t Leave LGBT Families Out of Immigration Reform - New America Media

I wrote a blog on the request of Mr Sandip Roy, host of New America Now.... here it is...

Don’t Leave LGBT Families Out of Immigration Reform - New America Media

Help Us Get More Support Locally for Equal Immigration Rights for Same Sex Binational Couples

crossposted at Out4Immigration's Blog and Pam's House Blend

As you all know, the Senate Democrats introduced a framework for Comprehensive Immigration Reform 2 weeks ago (April 29th, 2010) and LGBT Families were included in that framework.  This small acknowledgement of our relationshipshas given hope to thousands of same-sex binational couples who have been struggling with discriminatory immigration laws.

Yesterday, Rep Gutierrez changed his mind and has thrown his support behind an INCLUSIVE Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill, one that includes LGBT Families. Rep Gutierrez, Rep Quigley & Rep Polis, all cosponsors of the Uniting American Families Act, held a press conference announcing this and Rep Gutierrez said: "“The cornerstone, the bedrock of any comprehensive immigration bill is family unity and family reunification,” Gutierrez said. “And those children and those partners must be guaranteed the same rights as heterosexual couples under our immigration law.”

Out4Immigration's Tom Tierney has been working with local members and allies across the country to try to get more support for the passage of the Uniting American Families Act as well as ensure that LGBT Families will be included in the drafting of and the final version of any Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill.

So far, we have gotten really great responses to our appeals for support on the ground. While most of the people who volunteered to help us locally were a bit anxious or nervous in the beginning of the process, they found that taking part turned out to be really empowering as they met with their local representatives or spoke publicly at city council meetings.

Here are some of their personal accounts:

Tim K in Cleveland, OH

Peter F. in Connecticut

Debbie Ellis speaking in front of the Campbridge MA's City Council

Now more than ever, we need your help! We need you to come forward and volunteer to talk to you local city council, LGBT organizations, Civil Rights groups and other Organization to see if they are willing to:

• sponsor a resolution to put their cities, county and state on record as supporting the passage of UAFA as well as its inclusion in CIR;
• write a "Dear Colleague" letter to their Congressional representative urging support and action for Equal Immigration Rights for Same- Sex Binational Couples;
• have their organization take a position on Equal Immigration Rights for Same- Sex Binational Couples by supporting the passage of UAFA.

And if you do not believe us, below are some examples of the support we have secured. If you can spare a few hours and take the lead (we will help you with materials, how to make contact and support), please let us know. Contact Tom at tom@out4immigration.org today.

Don't forget to join our weekly letter writing campaign at change.org too.

Resolutions and Dear Colleagues letters in support of the passage of Uniting American Families Act and its inclusion in CIR.

Arizona

• State Representative Ken Cheuvront's (District 15) Dear Colleagues's letter to Sen McCain and Sen Kyl.
• State Representative Matt Heinz's (District 29) Dear Colleagues's letter to Sen McCain, Sen Kyl and Rep Gabrielle Giffords.
• State Representative Matt Heinz's (District 29) Dear Colleagues's letter to Sen McCain.

Arkansas

• State Representative sent letters to Sen. Lincoln and Sen. Pryor (waiting for copies)

California

• CA State Assembly passed a resolution, AJR15, in support of the passage of Uniting American Families Act and its inclusion in CIR. The Senate will be holding a hearing and voting on the Resolution in the next few weeks.
• City and County of San Francisco's resolution in support of the passage of UAFA
• City of West Hollywood's resolution in support of UAFA
• San Francisco's Immigrant Rights Commission resolution in support of UAFA
• San Francisco's Human Rights Commission's letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Leader Harry Reid
• Assemblyman Jim Beall's letter to Sen Dianne Feinstein in support of UAFA and its inclusion in CIR
• City of West Hollywood's letter to Sen Dianne Feinstein in support of UAFA and its inclusion in CIR
• City of Santa Clara's letter to Rep Honda, Rep Eschoo, Rep Lofgren & Rep McNerney in support of UAFA
• City of Santa Clara's letter to Sen Dianne Feinstein in support of UAFA
• City of Santa Clara's letter to Sen Barbara Boxer in support of UAFA
• City of Los Angeles passed resolution in support of UAFA (copies pending)
  

Colorado

• State Senator Pat Steadman's letter to Sen. Udall
• State Rep Ferrandino's Dear Colleague Letter to Sen. Udall
• State Rep Ferrandino's Dear Colleague Letter to Sen. Bennett

Connecticut

• State Rep Mazurek's Dear Colleague letter to Rep Murphy urging passage of UAFA
• Hartford, CT passed resolution in support of UAFA and its inclusion in CIR (pending copies)

Delaware

• General Assembly of Delaware's letter to Sen Carper, Sen Kaufman & Rep Castle in support of UAFA and its inclusion in CIR

Florida

• Orlando City Commissioner's letters to Sen. Bill Nelson & Rep. Corrine Brown in support of UAFA and its inclusion in CIR 
• Mayor of Broward County's letter to Sen. Bill Nelson in support of UAFA and its inclusion in CIR 
• City of Miami Beach passed resolution in support of the passage of UAFA and its inclusion in CIR

Illinois 

• City of Chicago passed resoltion in support of UAFA and its inclusion in CIR

Massachusetts

• Campbridge, MA passed resoltion in support of UAFA and its inclusion in CIR

Maryland

• Mayor of Salisbury sent letters to Sen. Mikulski and Rep. Kratovil (waiting for copies)
• Mayor of Takoma Park sent letters to Sen. Mikulski and Rep. Van Hollen (waiting for copies)

Michigan

• Ferndale, MI passed resolution in support of UAFA and its inclusion in CIR (copies pending)

Minnesota

• City of Minneapolis passed resolution in support of UAFA and its inclusion in CIR

Missouri

• St. Louis passed resolution in support of UAFA
• State Rep Oxford's (MO District 59) letter to Sen. Bond in support of UAFA and its inclusion in CIR
• State Rep Oxford's (MO District 59) letter to Sen. McCaskill in support of UAFA and its inclusion in CIR

New York

• State Assembly member Daniel O'Donnell's Dear Colleague letter to Sen Schumer urging passage of the Uniting American Families Act
• Follow up letter from State Assembly member Daniel O'Donnell's Dear Colleague letter to Sen Schumer urging passage of the Uniting American Families Act
• Assemblywoman Sayward's (NY 113rd District) letter to Rep Murphy urging passage of UAFA
• Assemblywoman Sayward's (NY 113rd District) letter to Sen Schumer urging passage of UAFA
• Assemblywoman Sayward's (NY 113rd District) letter to Sen Gillibrand urging passage of UAFA
• Assemblywoman Sayward's (NY 113rd District) letter to Rep Owens urging passage of UAFA
• Assemblyman Sweeney's (NY 11th District) letter to Sen Schumer and Sen Gillibrand urging passage of UAFA
• Assemblyman Brodsky's (NY 92nd District) letter to Sen Schumer urging passage of UAFA
• Assemblyman Hoyt's (NY 144th District) letter to Sen Schumer urging passage of UAFA
• Councilmember Haag's (Rochester, NY) letter to Sen Schumer urging passage of UAFA
• Councilmember Haag's (Rochester, NY) letter to Sen Gillibrand urging passage of UAFA
• Troy, NY passed resolutions in support of UAFA and its inclusion in CIR (copies pending)
• Binghamton, NY passed resolutions in support of UAFA and its inclusion in CIR
• New York, NY passed resolutions in support of UAFA and its inclusion in CIR

Rhode Island

• State Rep Ferro (RI - district 22) sent letter to Senator Reed in support of UAFA and its inclusion in CIR

Washington

• State Rep Upthegrove's Dear Colleague Letter to Sen Cantwell
• Seattle passed resolution in support of immigration which included support for LGBT families (copies pending)

Me... at the San Francisco Immigration March/Rally

Oscar Predictions

Oscar is on in 2 hours and this is my ballot... I did not vote on the technical category because seriously they confuse me... like what is the difference between sound editing and sound mixing

Best Picture:
Will Win: Avatar
Should Win (my choice): The Hurt Locker

AVATAR is an awesome movie with special effects that blows us away but The Hurt Locker is a much better movie, IMHO.

Best Actor:
Will Win: Jeff Bridges
Should Win (my choice):Colin Firth

I have always admired Jeff Bridges and loved his movies from starman to the fabulous bakers boy to a fisher man to the big lebowski and I am actually surprised that he has not won an academy awards at all.... this seemed to be his year to win for his performance in Crazy Heart but Colin Firth was so fantastic in A Single Man... I challenged anyone that watch that movie to not be totally moved by the scene where he received the phone call from a relative of his partner.... that scene alone was not showy and just showed what an awesome actor he is... I really hope that Colin will win but would be happy if Jeff is finally recognized too.


Best Supporting Actor:
Will Win: Christoph Waltz
Should Win: Cannot say since I did not see any of the movie listed here... :)

Best Actress:
Will Win: Sandra Bullock
Should Win: Meryl Streep

This is a very tough category.... all the actresses are awesome!!! They all brought something to the role that made the movie so much better. I especially like Gabourey's Precious, Meryl's Julia and Carey's Jenny in An Education. I think Sandra was also exceptional in The Blind Side which probably elevated a lifetime movie into an Oscar contender. That said, I would loved for Meryl to finally get a win... she SHOULD HAVE won last year for Doubt but her protrayal of Julia Child was fun, light and her chemistry/interplay with Stanley Tucci was magic.

Best Supporting Actress:
Will Win/Should Win: Mo'Nique

This is Mo'Nique's night... she is absolutely awesome in this movie and if you watch her stand up/talk show on BET... Her portrayal of Mary was scary, heart breaking... she makes you hate her as well as feel sorry for her at the same time and that is difficult to pull off.

Best Animated Feature Film
Will/Should Win: Up

PIXAR once again score with Up.... an absolute gem of a movie. Alicia and I have watched this movie at least 20 times since it has been released and we both still loved every minute of it.... (she has since moved on to Finding Nemo....) the first 10 minutes of the movie is also absolutely amazing - using just music with little conversation, it established the back story for Carl (the old man) and Ellie (his wife).... that segment was both heart breaking and just soooo touching... the story then kick into full gear with Russell, the little boy scout, Doug, the talking dog and the bird.

If I had to choose, i would also wish that this movie could win Best Picture because I think it is that good....


Best Director:
Will/Best Win: Kathryn Bigelow
It is about time a woman win the Best Director Trophy.... and she should win this because she deserves it... The Hurt Locker is an awesome movie... it does not take sides in the Iraq War but just present it from the viewpoint of the Bomb Disposal Unit.


Best Original Score
Should Win: Up
Will Win: Avatar

I love the movie AVATAR but the score sucks!!! It made me feel that I was watching the sequel to Titanic instead of a new movie. That said, I love the score to Up... it is so light, so fun and completely immersed you in the movie as oppose to bring you out of the movie.... The composer of the movie, Michael Giacchino, was also the composer for the other PIXAR movie, Ratatouille - another movie that I love..... I do hope he win for Up though.

Best Original Song
Will Win: Crazy Heart "The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett
Should Win: The Princess and the Frog, "Almost There", Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Randy Newman has written music and score for all of the early Pixar movie (as well as a lot of other movies) - from "You've Got a Friend in Me" in Toy Story 1 & 2 to "If I didn't have you" in Monsters, Inc (which he finally won an Oscar)... I think T Bone Burnett (who also did the music to "O Brother, Where Art Thou") is a shoo-in for his crazy heart song but who knows? Maybe the academy will surprise me. :)

Best Adapted Screenplay
Win Win: Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

What can one say - it was an awesome screenplay and an awesome movie although I think Jason Reitman might squeak out a win with "Up in the Air" though.

Best Original Screenplay
Will/Should Win: The Hurt Locker

I think Mark Boal deserves to win for The Hurt Locker.

Hyphen Magazine - Spring 09 Issue

The Lim Family was featured in Hyphen Magazine's spring 09 issue and we made it into the centerfold... :)

Click on the picture below to see a full screen version of the picture.

Alicia just looked gorgeous in the pictures!

DADT blog swarm: contact HRC to publicly demand the President to take the lead on repeal in 2010 (-)

I would not call myself a blogger... but all the same, I have a blog which I try to regularly blog about stuff happening in my life...

Today, the blogsphere is creating a swarm of post to get HRC - the Human Rights Campaign - to step up and demand that President Obama take a lead to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell in 2010.... It is about time! Don't ask Don't tell needs to be repealed immediately.

THE MESSAGE TO HRC IS SIMPLE:

Publicly demand that President Obama take the lead in getting DADT repealed this year.

1) That means the President needs to state publicly that he wants Congress to repeal DADT this year; and

2) The President needs to take the lead in working with Congress to make sure the repeal happens.

HRC Front Desk: (202) 628-4160
TTY: (202) 216-1572
Toll-Free: (800) 777-4723

HRC Web site comment page.
General membership email at hrc: membership@hrc.org

Some may say that there is little the President can do, or that this is up to Congress now. That is simply untrue. The President can send a powerful signal that he wants the repeal done this year. He can include the repeal of DADT in the Defense Budget he sends to Congress in the next few months. If the President is serious about keeping his promises to our community, now is his chance to prove it.

You can read more about this blogswarm at pamhouseblend.

(that said, I also feel that the administration needs to step up and demand an inclusive Comprehensive Immigration Reform that includes LGBT Families. And if not, he needs to demand that congress pass the Uniting American Families Act!!!)

The Fabulous Jon Stewart

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is one of the MUST SEE in my family especially now when we can get the east coast HD feed at 8pm instead of 11pm (sorry, most days I cannot stay up that late.... ).

He did another awesome segment about the Democrats yesterday and was spot on... here's just a short transcription of what he said (for the full impact, watch the segment embedded below)

"If this lady loses, the health care reform bill that the beloved late senator considered his legacy, will die. And the reason it will die... is because if Coakley loses, Democrats will only have an 18 vote majority in the Senate, which is more than George W. Bush ever had in the Senate when did whatever the fuck he wanted to...It's not that the Democrats are playing checkers and the Republicans are playing chess. It's that the Republicans are playing chess and the Democrats are in the nurse's office because once again they glued their balls to their thighs."

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
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