I don't know about VISA stamps, but I can say thank fuck I'm not American. I have a passport application pending still, and I get responses from the Canadian embassy same day. I guess I'm getting a limited validity passport, so good.

If I was American and sent a message to the embassy, I'm assuming I'd just get an auto-reply saying they're not working or processing passport applications right now, because they don't have any money to pay their staff. heh, that's crazy for the world's most powerful nation.