Posted on 10/14/2004 4:07:43 PM PDT by Earl B.
During the debate last night, the President pointed out that Senator Kerry, in his 20 years in the Senate, had authored only five bills which ever became law. The bills have been listed on other threads, and most were pretty self-explanatory. But one stuck out a bit as being more mysterious:
A bill for the relief of Kil Joon Yu Callahan.
This is a private bill. I was curious as to who Kil Joon Yu Callahan was. So I did a little research. Kerry introduced this bill during the 99th Congress in 1986, but it died at the end of that Congress. He re-introduced it at the beginning of the 100th Congress in 1987. Here is an excerpt from the Congressional Record that explains what this bill was about. Remember, this is one of only five laws that Senator Kerry got passed in 20 years.
Friday, May 8, 1987;
(Legislative day of Tuesday, April 21, 1987)
100th Cong. 1st Sess.
133 Cong Rec S 6263
REFERENCE: Vol. 133 No. 74
TITLE: RELIEF OF KIL JOON YU CALLAHAN
SPEAKER: Mr. KENNEDY
TEXT: The Senate proceeded to consider the bill (S. 423) for the relief of Kil Joon Yu Callahan.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I want to express my strong support for S. 423, a private relief measure introduced by my distinguished colleague from Massachusetts [Mr. Kerry], and recently reported from the Senate Judiciary Committee.
S. 423 would allow Kil Joon Yu Callahan, a resident and citizen of Korea, to immigrate to the United States with her United States citizen husband and 5-year-old son. David Callahan, a former resident of Hudson, MA, and Kil Joon Yu met while he was teaching at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. They were married in 1979 in Seoul and their son, Alexander was born in April 1982. However, when the Callahans attempted to return to the United States, Mrs. Callahan's visa request was denied due to a conviction for possession of a small amount of marijuana that occurred in 1976. Although Mrs. Callahan has served out her sentence of probation and the Korean Government has expunged the offense from her record, subsequent appeals on her behalf have been denied and all existing administrative remedies available to Mrs. Callahan have been exhausted.
For many years Mr. Callahan has sought to bring his wife and child back to his home in Massachusetts, but because of the rigidity of the immigration exclusion provisions of the law has been unable to do so.
Mr. President, the Senate passed this bill in the 99th Congress, and rarely have I known of a case that merits private legislation as this bill for the relief of Kil Joon Yu Callahan. I urge my colleagues to read the report filed by the Senate Judiciary Committee outlining the merits of this case and I hope the House Judiciary Committee will finally give it the consideration it deserves.
The bill (S. 423) was considered, ordered to be engrossed for a third reading, read the third time, and passed; as follows:
S. 423
BE IT ENACTED BY THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED, That, notwithstanding section 212(a)(23) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, Kil Joon Yu Callahan may be issued a visa and admitted to the United States for permanent residence if she is found to be otherwise admissible under the provisions of the Act.
Sec. 2. The foregoing exemption shall apply only to grounds for exclusion of which the Department of State or Department of Justice had knowledge prior to the enactment of this Act.
But if this is one of your very few accomplishments in 20 years as a United States Senator, you aren't Presidential material.
Kill who??????
And it took 2 Congressional Sessions and Ted Kennedy to get the thing done.
It's probably the best he has offer. At least he did something good for a change.
Kill Bill. I saw it at my video rental store.
I tend to agree, but I'll bet it cost a bundle for Mr. Callahan to get help from either of those Mass. hustlers.
Kil Joon, Volume 1.
}:-)4
It not was Me.
I vaguely remember a "Crazy" Callahan on the Jackie Gleason show
Isn't that the movie Benny & Joon translated for the asian market? Or maybe it's kimchi and seafood prepared with Irish cabbage and potatoes. Or that guy from Sixteen Candles with the long duck thing.
illegitimate, half-Korean son of "Dirty" Harry Callahan?
That was Crazy Guggenheim
Kerry was probably the dealer who sold the weed to Kil Joon Yu. It was the 70's.
Why? is the germaine question here. Maybe just a need to show himself as doing something humanitarian, maybe some hidden agenda. Any thoughts?
That would be "Crazy Guggenheim" (played by Frank Fontaine), not Crazy Callahan.
Callahan is a relative of Dirty Harry, a San Francisco cop.
The Mass callahans and the SF callahans are liberal to the core.rY
Isn't that the new Quentin Tarantino movie?
If I was cynical, I'd check out the husband's record of financial support to Democratic causes in the mid-to-late 1980's. But I don't have time to be that cynical right now.
Congressmen and Senators do this stuff all the time, mainly to show their constituents they're working for the folks back home. Taken by itself, it's a humane jesture. When it's one of the 5 bills that Kerry introduced in the Senate in 20 years it's not too impressive.
Since it's an act for a constituent that doesn't affect the rest of the nation it reduces his sum total of significant legislation with his name on it by 20%!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.