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Last week, I drove up the mountain to the town of Los Alamos, birthplace of the bomb, along Trinity Drive past Oppenheimer Road near the National Nuclear Weapons Labs. I was there for a very unusual speaking invitation -- to talk about peace and disarmament to a group of students at Los Alamos High School. I approached the doors with a vague sense of dread, but left exhilarated. These bright young students gave me hope.

Why does our government insult, demean and frustrate people who want to visit America?

I have fresh experience to testify that the USA has institutionalized bureaucratic discourtesy and distain for prospective foreign visitors. For tourists and students, the process of obtaining a non-residential visa is extremely and unnecessarily tedious.

Recently when I was filling out an application for my niece in Medellin, Colombia to come to Houston, I found that the US Embassy web site had no comprehensive list of requirements. At first, I filled out the visa application and thought that was the end of it. By accident on another part of the web site, I found that my niece needed much more [a police report and a medical certificate among other things]. One can diligently search the US government web site and not find all the information necessary to file a complete and proper application.