Larry Dighera ) wrote:
: On Fri, 22 Apr 2005 13:36:31 GMT, "Mike Rapoport"
: wrote in
: .net::
:
: He is pandering to commercial interests. That makes him a whore.
:
: Right. Our congressmen are supposed to represent the will of the
: people of this nation, not inanimate corporate entities.
:

Don't forget India...

http://www.usindiafriendship.net/con...ds/friends.htm
Friends of India in the US Senate

"U.S. Senate India Caucus
by Aziz Haniffa in Washington DC (March 31, 2004)

A new bipartisan organisation called 'Friends of India' has been
formed in the US Senate, similar to the 10-year-old Congressional
Caucus on India and Indian Americans in the US House of Representatives.

This is the first time in the history of the US Senate that a
country-focused caucus has been constituted and announcing its
formation was the driving force behind the move Senator John Cornyn, a
freshman Republican Senator from Texas who recently visited India.

Cornyn, who was the keynote speaker at the Second Annual Capitol Hill
Gala Dinner of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin
on Tuesday night following AAPI's two-day legislative conference, said
co-chairing 'Friends of India' in the US Senate would be Democratic
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

He said that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Tennessee Republican
and Minority Leader Thomas Dachle,South Dakota Democrat had also
agreed to become members of the Friends of India group and so had 18
other Senators from both sides of the aisle.

Cornyn said he 'undertook the job of creating an India Caucus in the
US Senate, because of the incredible experience I had in India and
because of the importance of US-India relations'.

"The response has been really outstanding across the political
spectrum to the formation of such a Caucus and to me that says a lot
to work on the good relationship we have in the Senate toward
promoting ties between our two democracies," he said.

Cornyn acknowledged that it was unfortunate that over the years, and
particularly during the Cold War years, despite both the US and India
being democracies with so much in common 'did not have good
relations', and described it 'as an accident of history', which has to
be put right. "We have to make up for lost time," he said.

Indian Ambassador Lalit Mansingh who has been promoting the idea of
the Friends of India Caucus in the US Senate among Indian American
groups said he was ecstatic over the news.

Mansingh, who was also present at the AAPI dinner, as Cornyn was
announcing the launch, said he had been in touch with the Senators and
others over forming such a group. He told rediff.com: "I have to
commend all the Indian leaders of the Indian American community that
finally made this happen."

"Cornyn came back very charged after his trip to India and said 'I
want to do something to promote US-India relations' and so we said
'this is something you can do'," Mansingh said. "So we were in contact
with him."

"Even though he was aware of the formation of such a group I wanted
them to say it," Mansingh said. He said there would be a formal
launch.

It is believed that some of the most powerful and influential
lawmakers like Senator Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, Charles Grassley, head of the Finance Committee, Thad
Cochran,chairman of the Appropriations Committee -- all Republicans --
and leading Democrats like Senators Paul Sarbanes, Joe Lieberman, and
Edward M Kennedy have all enthusiastically agreed to be part of the
'Friends of India' Caucus.

Members of Senate Caucus

John Cornyn, Senator Who Made the Difference"


--Jerry Leslie
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