An Article by:

Ben Tanosborn

Four presidential elections ago Democratic political-carnivore James Carville coined the phrase, “it’s the economy, stupid,” to denote Papa Bush’s failure to properly address the 1992 recession. The senior Bush was the idiot then… but all of us, Americans, may be jointly the idiot now. And maybe we shouldn’t be talking about a recession, but a true depression. You know, like back in the 30’s, with our McMansions but without apples.

It’s a natural human instinct: to narrow things down, to simplify things. And even people with extensive education and high professional stature succumb to any facile answers to the most difficult and intricate questions. Right now in this United States we seem to have major trouble accepting the “R” word when it is really the “D” word that should be worrying us. No, the economy is not just simply slowing down; it is tanking!

In the past year I’ve attended more than half dozen banks-sponsored presentations for their business customers (my clients) about the state of the economy – international, national and regional/local. A long time ago I reached the conclusion that most bank economists are but meaningless window dressing with no other value; after my latter experiences, I am now totally convinced.

At these state-of-the-economy breakfasts, during the closing “questions and answers” set aside period, I have been posing for all of three years the same questions dealing with the out-of-control real estate “fake market” and the parallel “bubblicious” stock market based on a totally unsustainable consumption-through-credit rate of growth. Questions to which I have been receiving the same idiotic stock answers; answers that you get to hear monotonously and often from the blokes and broads at CNBC: “Heck, our real estate prices aren’t really that high, only 4 or 5 times the annual household income; and that’s really comparable or even lower than the ratios in most European nations, where they can get as high as 7 times.” Also, they dismiss an overvaluation in world stock markets, perhaps of 5 to 10 trillion dollars, by saying that it isn’t much when measured against a combined world markets’ valuation of around 60 trillion dollars.

Aren’t we able to see that grotesque rationalization by our cadre of not very bright economists, Wall Street bulls-on-steroids, and don’t-give-a-damn politicians? Our socio-political system, unlike that of Canada, Europe or Japan, does not cater to the well-being of people – or at least not as much, as we see other nations with free higher education, universal healthcare, great public transportation systems and many other perks we don’t have – so a housing ratio comparison is totally out of place, absurd. If the Europeans are putting 40 percent of their income into housing, we probably should be aiming at nothing higher than 25 to 30 percent.

And it isn’t the crookedness of the sub-prime fiasco that got us here, but a runaway upsurge in values that had less to do with the workings of a free economy – the forces of supply and demand – and much more to do with greed… in great part selfishly promoted by the real estate industry itself. So here we are 2 or 3 trillion dollars in overvalued housing, some of it already spent in past consumption (equity loans), the rest in the pockets of crooks, house-flippers and agents who benefited from unnecessary, unwarranted commissions. A properly structured capital gains tax on short term real estate profits would have prevented this second onerous tulip festival.

As for that present valuation of 60 trillion dollars for the world stock markets… what would that value be if earnings decline by 25, 50 or 75 percent (something which a depression would bring about in short order); 45, 30, 15 trillion dollars (using same price/earnings ratio)… what then? Haven’t we in the US come to the end of the road as we consume more than we produce? Our grandkids can no longer collateralize our borrowing, and China is not likely to go along banking our diminishing-value dollars.

Americans have taken Norman Vincent Peal’s power of positive thinking several degrees beyond rationality. The made in America “something for nothing” syndrome, which has given us multi-level marketing and other get-rich-quick schemes have seen their day… even with the spiritual backing of those Christian mega churches that promote the Gospel of Greed instead of espousing a Love Thy Neighbor doctrine.

Uncontrolled predatory corporate practices, untaxed individual greed, and unrestrained consumer gluttony, together, are bringing this economy to its knees. Now, after the fact, the partner-in-crime government wants to bring about the establishment of some market controls… overhaul the system, they say; that after lower- and middle-class America have been fleeced – although the final realization of “poverty” is a few months away.

Well, we could all ask Dick Cheney to summarize the state of this predatory economy. Of course, we should expect another of his customary in-your-face responses: “so”?

Tags: Ben Tanosborn, corporations, corporatism, economics, economy, government
Categories: Commentary, Economics, government, Corporations, Ben Tanosborn
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An Article by:

Ben Tanosborn

Subprime loans, my foot!  That subprime fiasco, which is likely to mount losses between one-half and one trillion dollars, is just a small part of the true real estate problem which little by little is starting to take shape; a problem that Wall Street, politicians, economists, and the public at large have been unwilling to talk about, much less confront.  And that is, the multi-trillion dollar excess valuation of real estate in the nation, in both residential and commercial markets; something which for the next 3 to 5 years, at a minimum, will have the US immersed in a recession, a modified version of the one experienced in Japan throughout the 90’s and the first 2 years of the new millennium.

With that introduction, and my crystal ball over a table at center stage, I bring a vision that comes into focus as realities zoom in; a vision which could change drastically the way Americans will be looking at politics by mid-2008 with elections just four months away.  By then, there will be two candidates in place running for the White House, with an overwhelming majority of Americans wishing there was somebody else they could vote for, someone able to get them out of a snowballing real estate mess, then starting to accelerate.  Unfortunately, it will be too late, and we’ll be stuck with two candidates from two parties that always get us into these predicaments that economists and politicians simply dismiss as economic cycles that clear our capitalist system of these so-called excesses, what some describe as accumulated economic debris.

Economic cycles perhaps… but very definitely predictable and largely avoidable.  At least the government should advocate and adopt policies that can dampen, flatten that economic sine wave that dislocates not just capital, but people’s lives.  These cycles have less to do with the workings of a free market, and a lot more to do with lack of necessary governmental controls to curb irresponsible, illicit business conduct and also restrain greed out of control, as it’s always the case with real estate, creating what some may consider punitive levels of taxation.  But, of course, our love of predatory capitalism does not permit any tampering with the Wild West way of doing things.

Realtors throughout the country, in their ever present monopolistic ways and self-serving behavior – holding a good part of the blame in our present state of affairs – continue heralding their lies, forecasting that housing will buck up next year.  Never mind that prices have nowhere to go but down, 20 to 30 percent depending on which metro area or region.  They and those who suck from the same udder – the local newspapers for one – are inundating us with ridiculously optimistic articles and informational data skewed to tell us something they wish to be true, but that is not.

Polls tell us that most people feel that their houses are keeping their value.  Of course, that will always be the case until they have a true, non-speculative, “need” to sell; home prices, more so than commercial properties, have always been sticky, sliding down slowly in contrast with the exuberance exhibited on the way up during those greedy and obscene “flipping days.”  And now that we have reached the limits of affordability and have touched the ceiling, we simply have no room left to grow… just like the price of tulip bulbs in Holland almost four centuries ago.  Has it occurred to Realtors, or anyone else for that matter, that when you talk about housing costs you have to go beyond the mortgage payments and include all other associated expenditures including those of maintenance and energy costs required to keep livable those 2,000-3,000 sq. ft. palacettes?  Undoubtedly these things are known but kept in the hamper with all the other unmentionables, but laundry day has finally arrived. 

This past weekend, Portland-Oregon, an area touted as one of four in the nation where residential real estate prices “presumably” remain steady, was home to the largest homes-auction on record, 240; all owned by one builder.  There were 141 homes sold, all but 6 of them below the so-called “reserve price” which according to the builder, Pollock, represents “his cost”… which can mean just about anything – believe me, I know; that’s my field of expertise in an industry that I intimately know.

But I didn’t have to attend the auction. I already knew that prices in this metro area have decreased from 10 to 15 percent of those a year ago, although Realtors and builders tell us a much different story, drawn from flawed or skewed data, to prove a senseless argument that they are sure to lose.  And here in the Portland-Vancouver area we still have a long way to go, perhaps another 15 to 20 percent drop in prices… or more.

And with little or no equity in our homes, overnight we have become from “psyched rich” to “resisting poor”… with our ATM-homes unable to spit out any more funds, and our homes finally becoming what they always were: brick, mortar and a roof over our heads… and absolutely nothing else.

But these real estate ills are not all our wonderful Fed has bestowed on us in its desire to please the White House; as if that weren’t enough, they have marched us into an era of stagflation.

© 2007 Ben Tanosborn
www.tanosborn.com

Tags: economics, economists, economy, plastic, policy, politics, social responsibility
Categories: Commentary, Economics, Politics, social responsibility
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Countdown towards an economic bloodbath has already started!  For those required by their religion to accept the mystery of the Holy Trinity, some wisdom should come from the unraveling of the other (financial) “holy trinity”: debt, price of oil and value of the US dollar.  Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three distinct, different persons in one only God according to Roman Catholic dogma; while that god in doctrinal American capitalism is represented by debt, oil and a “fleeting dollar;” all distinct, different… yet, intertwined. 

A few contrarian-apprentices in Wall Street are beginning to question whether the sheer strength of our economy, and the globalization of our major corporations, will be able to sustain current Wall Street market figures, or even 2007 closings without any gains this year for the DOW, S&P 500 or the supremely and ever-volatile NASDQ.  Naysayers are still but few – or at least appear reserved in their comments – afraid they may be treated with similar disdain as those biblical prophets of doom who, although wise-appearing to generations in the future, often seemed as laughable goats to their contemporaries.  

Worry not, we are told; things are hunky-dory in every respect!  Yeah, we are surging in unstoppable ways, militarily and economically; if we don’t believe that, let’s ask the man who lives in the White House, our Soothsayer-In-Chief.  Things are just bushy-swell!  

Just four hours ago I was listening to Fed Chairman Bernanke giving Congress’ Joint Economic Committee another diluted version of things to come… from the same bucket of bullshit that his predecessor Greenspan often brought up from that Econophoria well during two decades.  Both always appearing so convincingly honest… except that what we are being fed by the Fed is nothing but a teaspoon of truth diluted in a large bowl of liquefied bullshit.  Bottom line: we are up to our waist in economic doo-doo; and making such declaration would be tantamount to a confession of persistent criminal silence and lies inflicted by our political leaders, and their advisers, for over a quarter of a century.  

All we seem to need is just another fix, or two, or three, or ten more… from that soother of pain, the Fed; another round of borrowing, or two, or three, or ten more… from our children, grandchildren, great-grandkids, and even those twice-great grandkids, so that merrily we may continue enraptured in our permanent state of blind Econophoria. 

Econophoria… the state of grace in which we, Americans, are born, naturalized into, or even “illegally” adopted.  Just as other poor souls are said to come into the world with an “original sin,” or all too often the curse of poverty, we’ve been born with an “original exceptionality” and blessed with self-multiplying wealth… as if manna from heaven. 

Now we are rolling the carpet of pain for the upcoming recession and putting the blame in the “sub-prime” problem of the housing market, and the inability of capitalism sans controls to police itself.  But that is only the beginning, the first layer of a putrid onion-market in housing and commercial construction that has added trillions of dollars of non-existing value to an economy that has cannibalized itself, or rather the future well-being of generations to come, asking them to pay for all the phony consumption-growth we’ve managed to have in the United States and, by imitation, in other parts of the world. 

We have been misusing most of the existing eleven leading indicators for domestic economic performance to the point of utter ridicule.  Does it make any sense to have our Gross Domestic Product overly inflated in terms of consumption?  Or, that the CPI and the way we measure inflation give not just an imperfect way to weigh what should be a representative bundle of goods, and a way to track rising prices, but an unfunny, crude joke?  Or, that the employment indicators measure raw numbers of ever lower paying jobs, instead of a change in payroll constant dollars relative to population?  Or, that the Consumer Confidence Index is totally meaningless for a population being kept ignorant, in the dark, or even lied to? 

And to top it all, we continue to live in the stupor of Econophoria! 

It remains to be seen whether or not we’ll be going into another series of rounds propping-up the economy, just keeping the faux façade for another year until the next presidential election is over.  But just how many generations can we enslave: two, three… a dozen?  Our good chairman of the Fed doesn’t seem to think there is any harm in shifting the wealth of the working class to keep the castles of cards of the super-rich from tumbling; or even switching corporate responsibility to additional government guarantees which would bankrupt this nation, leaving us with just one asset that we would fully, unencumbered, own: a nuclear stockpile to tempt us with mass suicide.   That brings up the question: would China be interested in buying this stockpile in exchange for all our treasury notes in their possession? 

Well, the sooner the economic bloodbath comes around, the sooner we’ll come to the realization of what this government is all about, bringing up the possibility of true reform: a true conservative domestic policy to march alongside a totally revamped foreign policy that can permit us to live in peace and harmony with all our global neighbors. 

© 2007 Ben Tanosborn 

www.tanosborn.com     

Tags: economics, economy, policy, politics
Categories: Commentary
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The attached list of amendments for ‘immigration Reform”

The attached list is extensive indeed. However, those whoa re interested should review those sponsored by the “Grand Bargainers” who we all recognize as Feinstein, Kennedy, McCain, Kyl, and Graham. You should also be interested in their cosponsors. These are the power brokers pushing this legislation. Of course in my opinion Mr. Reed is also a significant partner in the passage of this bill. He is in my opinion the “ram rod”.

So the task ahead is to evaluate just what these amendments do and what they do or don’ t do and how they impact Americans.

Now notice this. It is evident the large number of calls, emails and other notifications to Congress have and are making an impact to the extent that those who want this to ‘fly bye” are now urging “closure” which basically means it passed!

Read down the list or go to the web site and you have your answers.
In my opinion it matters not because those who want this past will do all they can to excerpt pressure to get it done. It is not about common sense, logic or really anything but what these people see as their thing to do. They are in my opinion in effect the taskmasters of old. [ Read my next article “Do as I say or else”.

Now these are “commendable people” as they say? So I offer to you this, just who and what now defines commendable or for that matter good? I am not a lawyer but I do hope we have some lawyers out there I do think you can find a bonanza using this new legislation as a defense.
1. S.AMDT.1146 to S.1348 to provide for the protection of unaccompanied alien children, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen. Feinstein, Dianne [CA] (introduced 5/21/2007) Cosponsors (3)
Latest Major Action: 5/23/2007 Senate amendment agreed to. Status: Amendment SA 1146 agreed to in Senate by Voice Vote.

2. S.AMDT.1148 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen. McCaskill, Claire [MO] (introduced 5/21/2007) Cosponsors (1)
Latest Major Action: 5/21/2007 Senate amendment submitted

3. S.AMDT.1149 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen McCaskill, Claire [MO] (introduced 5/21/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/21/2007 Senate amendment submitted

4. S.AMDT.1150 to S.1348 In the nature of a substitute.
Sponsor: Sen Kennedy, Edward M. [MA] (introduced 5/21/2007) Cosponsors (1)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Cloture motion on amendment SA 1150 presented in Senate.

5. S.AMDT.1151 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Inhofe, James M. [OK] (introduced 5/22/2007) Cosponsors (16)
Latest Major Action: 5/22/2007 Senate amendment submitted

6. S.AMDT.1152 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Baucus, Max [MT] (introduced 5/22/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/22/2007 Senate amendment submitted

7. S.AMDT.1153 to S.1348 To strike the Y nonimmigrant guestworker program.
Sponsor: Sen Dorgan, Byron L. [ND] (introduced 5/22/2007) Cosponsors (1)
Latest Major Action: 5/22/2007 Senate amendment not agreed to. Status: Amendment SA 1153 not agreed to in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 31 - 64. Record Vote Number: 174.

8. S.AMDT.1154 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Collins, Susan M. [ME] (introduced 5/22/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/22/2007 Senate amendment submitted

9. S.AMDT.1155 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Boxer, Barbara [CA] (introduced 5/22/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/22/2007 Senate amendment submitted

10. S.AMDT.1156 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Grassley, Chuck [IA] (introduced 5/22/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/22/2007 Senate amendment submitted

11. S.AMDT.1157 to S.1348 To strike title VI (related to Nonimmigrants in the United States Previously in Unlawful Status).
Sponsor: Sen Vitter, David [LA] (introduced 5/22/2007) Cosponsors (7)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment not agreed to. Status: Amendment SA 1157 not agreed to in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 29 - 66. Record Vote Number: 180.

12. S.AMDT.1158 to S.1348 To amend the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to facilitate information sharing between federal and local law enforcement officials related to an individual’s immigration status.
Sponsor: Sen Coleman, Norm [MN] (introduced 5/22/2007) Cosponsors (6)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment not agreed to. Status: Amendment SA 1158 not agreed to in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 48 - 49. Record Vote Number: 177.

13. S.AMDT.1159 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Coleman, Norm [MN] (introduced 5/22/2007) Cosponsors (3)
Latest Major Action: 5/22/2007 Senate amendment submitted

14. S.AMDT.1160 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Brownback, Sam [KS] (introduced 5/22/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/22/2007 Senate amendment submitted

15. S.AMDT.1161 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Alexander, Lamar [TN] (introduced 5/22/2007) Cosponsors (2)
Latest Major Action: 5/22/2007 Senate amendment submitted

16. S.AMDT.1162 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Alexander, Lamar [TN] (introduced 5/22/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/22/2007 Senate amendment submitted

17. S.AMDT.1163 to S.1348 To establish an award to recognize companies for extraordinary efforts in English literacy and civics.
Sponsor: Sen Alexander, Lamar [TN] (introduced 5/22/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment agreed to. Status: Amendment SA 1163 agreed to in Senate by Unanimous Consent.

18. S.AMDT.1164 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Alexander, Lamar [TN] (introduced 5/22/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/22/2007 Senate amendment submitted

19. S.AMDT.1165 to S.1348 To clarify rules applicable to aliens employed as dairy workers.
Sponsor: Sen Leahy, Patrick J. [VT] (introduced 5/22/2007) Cosponsors (3)
Latest Major Action: 5/23/2007 Senate amendment agreed to. Status: Amendment SA 1165 as modified agreed to in Senate by Unanimous Consent.

20. S.AMDT.1166 to S.1348 To clarify that the revocation of an alien’s visa or other documentation is not subject to judicial review.
Sponsor: Sen Grassley, Chuck [IA] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (2)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment agreed to. Status: Amendment SA 1166 as modified agreed to in Senate by Unanimous Consent.

21. S.AMDT.1167 to S.1348 To authorize the Attorney General to carry out a program, known as the Northern Border Prosecution Initiative, to provide funds to northern border States to reimburse county and municipal governments for costs associated with certain criminal activities, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Sen Cantwell, Maria [WA] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (6)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment agreed to. Status: Amendment SA 1167 agreed to in Senate by Unanimous Consent.

22. S.AMDT.1168 to S.1348 To provide local officials and the Secretary of Homeland Security greater involvement in decisions regarding the location of border fencing.
Sponsor: Sen Hutchison, Kay Bailey [TX] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (6)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Amendment SA 1168, previously agreed to, was modified by Unanimous Consent.

23. S.AMDT.1169 to S.1348 To reduce to 200,000 the number of certain non-immigrants permitted to be admitted during a fiscal year.
Sponsor: Sen Bingaman, Jeff [NM] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (4)
Latest Major Action: 5/23/2007 Senate amendment agreed to. Status: Amendment SA 1169 agreed to in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 74 - 24. Record Vote Number: 175.

24. S.AMDT.1170 to S.1348 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require individuals voting in person to present photo identification.
Sponsor: Sen McConnell, Mitch [KY] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (3)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Proposed amendment SA 1170, pursuant to the order of the Senate of June 5, 2007, having failed to achieve the required 60 votes in the affirmative was withdrawn in Senate.

25. S.AMDT.1171 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Hutchison, Kay Bailey [TX] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/23/2007 Senate amendment submitted

26. S.AMDT.1172 to S.1348 To ensure control of our Nation’s borders and strengthen enforcement of our immigration laws.
Sponsor: Sen Gregg, Judd [NH] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (3)
Latest Major Action: 5/23/2007 Senate amendment agreed to. Status: Amendment SA 1172 agreed to in Senate by Voice Vote.

27. S.AMDT.1173 to S.1348 To provide for minimum sentences for aliens who renter the United States after removal.
Sponsor: Sen Graham, Lindsey [SC] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (6)
Latest Major Action: 5/23/2007 Senate amendment agreed to. Status: Amendment SA 1173 agreed to in Senate by Unanimous Consent.

28. S.AMDT.1174 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Thune, John [SD] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (1)
Latest Major Action: 5/23/2007 Senate amendment submitted

29. S.AMDT.1175 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Thune, John [SD] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/23/2007 Senate amendment submitted

30. S.AMDT.1176 to S.1348 To establish commissions to review the facts and circumstances surrounding injustices suffered by European Americans, European Latin Americans, and Jewish refugees during World War II.
Sponsor: Sen Feingold, Russell D. [WI] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (2)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Senate amendment agreed to. Status: Amendment SA 1176 pursuant to the order of June 5, 2007, having achieved the required 60 votes in the affirmative, was agreed to in Senate by Yea-Nay. 67 - 26. Record Vote Number: 185.

31. S.AMDT.1177 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Bingaman, Jeff [NM] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/23/2007 Senate amendment submitted

32. S.AMDT.1178 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Kerry, John F. [MA] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/23/2007 Senate amendment submitted

33. S.AMDT.1179 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Lautenberg, Frank R. [NJ] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (10)
Latest Major Action: 5/23/2007 Senate amendment submitted

34. S.AMDT.1180 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Hagel, Chuck [NE] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (1)
Latest Major Action: 5/23/2007 Senate amendment submitted

35. S.AMDT.1181 to S.1348 To sunset the Y-1 nonimmigrant visa program after a 5-year period.
Sponsor: Sen Dorgan, Byron L. [ND] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (3)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment not agreed to. Status: Amendment SA 1181 not agreed to in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 48 - 49. Record Vote Number: 178.

36. S.AMDT.1182 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Thomas, Craig [WY] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (1)
Latest Major Action: 5/23/2007 Senate amendment submitted

37. S.AMDT.1183 to S.1348 To reclassify the spouses and minor children of lawful permanent residents as immediate relatives.
Sponsor: Sen Clinton, Hillary Rodham [NY] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (2)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Considered by Senate.

38. S.AMDT.1184 to S.1348 To establish a permanent bar for gang members, terrorists, and other criminals.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (2)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Considered by Senate.

39. S.AMDT.1185 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Obama, Barack [IL] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/23/2007 Senate amendment submitted

40. S.AMDT.1186 to S.1348 To exempt children of certain Filipino World War II veterans from the numerical limitations on immigrant visas.
Sponsor: Sen Akaka, Daniel K. [HI] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (6)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Amendment SA 1186, previously agreed to, was modified by Unanimous Consent.

41. S.AMDT.1187 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Allard, Wayne [CO] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/23/2007 Senate amendment submitted

42. S.AMDT.1188 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Allard, Wayne [CO] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/23/2007 Senate amendment submitted

43. S.AMDT.1189 to S.1348 To eliminate the preference given to people who entered the United States illegally over people seeking to enter the country legally in the merit-based evaluation system for visas.
Sponsor: Sen Allard, Wayne [CO] (introduced 5/23/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Senate amendment not agreed to. Status: Amendment SA 1189 not agreed to in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 31 - 62. Record Vote Number: 182.

44. S.AMDT.1190 to S.1348 To require undocumented immigrants receiving legal status to pay owed back taxes.
Sponsor: Sen McCain, John [AZ] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (3)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment agreed to. Status: Amendment SA 1190 as modified agreed to in Senate by Unanimous Consent.

45. S.AMDT.1191 to S.1348 To provide safeguards against faulty asylum procedures and to improve conditions of detention.
Sponsor: Sen Lieberman, Joseph I. [CT] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Considered by Senate.

46. S.AMDT.1192 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Hutchison, Kay Bailey [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

47. S.AMDT.1194 to S.1348 To modify the deadline for the family backlog reduction.
Sponsor: Sen Menendez, Robert [NJ] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (8)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Considered by Senate.

48. S.AMDT.1195 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Ensign, John [NV] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (1)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

49. S.AMDT.1196 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen DeMint, Jim [SC] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

50. S.AMDT.1197 to S.1348 To require health care coverage for holders of Z nonimmigrant visas.
Sponsor: Sen DeMint, Jim [SC] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Senate amendment proposed (on the floor)

51. S.AMDT.1198 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Boxer, Barbara [CA] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

52. S.AMDT.1199 to S.1348 To increase the number of green cards for parents of United States citizens, to extend the duration of the new parent visitor visa, and to make penalties imposed on individuals who overstay such visas applicable only to such individuals.
Sponsor: Sen Dodd, Christopher J. [CT] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (1)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Considered by Senate.

53. S.AMDT.1200 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Gregg, Judd [NH] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

54. S.AMDT.1201 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Allard, Wayne [CO] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

55. S.AMDT.1202 to S.1348 To provide a date on which the authority of the section relating to the increasing of American competitiveness through a merit-based evaluation system for immigrants shall be terminated.
Sponsor: Sen Obama, Barack [IL] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (1)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Considered by Senate.

56. S.AMDT.1203 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

57. S.AMDT.1204 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

58. S.AMDT.1205 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

59. S.AMDT.1206 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

60. S.AMDT.1207 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

61. S.AMDT.1208 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

62. S.AMDT.1209 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

63. S.AMDT.1210 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

64. S.AMDT.1211 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

65. S.AMDT.1212 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

66. S.AMDT.1213 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

67. S.AMDT.1214 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

68. S.AMDT.1215 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

69. S.AMDT.1216 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

70. S.AMDT.1217 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

71. S.AMDT.1218 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

72. S.AMDT.1219 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

73. S.AMDT.1220 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Gregg, Judd [NH] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

74. S.AMDT.1221 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cardin, Benjamin L. [MD] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

75. S.AMDT.1222 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

76. S.AMDT.1223 to S.1348 To establish the American Competitiveness Scholarship Program.
Sponsor: Sen Sanders, Bernard [VT] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment agreed to. Status: Amendment SA 1223 as modified agreed to in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 59 - 35. Record Vote Number: 179.

77. S.AMDT.1224 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Coburn, Tom [OK] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

78. S.AMDT.1225 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Levin, Carl [MI] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

79. S.AMDT.1226 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Levin, Carl [MI] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

80. S.AMDT.1227 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Levin, Carl [MI] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

81. S.AMDT.1228 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Levin, Carl [MI] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (7)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

82. S.AMDT.1229 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Sununu, John E. [NH] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

83. S.AMDT.1230 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

84. S.AMDT.1231 to S.1348 To ensure that employers make efforts to recruit American workers.
Sponsor: Sen Durbin, Richard [IL] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (1)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Senate amendment agreed to. Status: Amendment SA 1231 agreed to in Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 71 - 22. Record Vote Number: 183.

85. S.AMDT.1232 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Hutchison, Kay Bailey [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

86. S.AMDT.1233 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Hutchison, Kay Bailey [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

87. S.AMDT.1234 to S.1348 To save American taxpayers up to $24 billion in the 10 years after passage of this Act, by preventing the earned income tax credit, which is, according to the Congressional Research Service, the largest anti-poverty entitlement program of the Federal Government, from being claimed by Y temporary workers or illegal aliens given status by this Act until they adjust to legal permanent resident status.
Sponsor: Sen Sessions, Jeff [AL] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Considered by Senate.

88. S.AMDT.1235 to S.1348 To save American taxpayers up to $24 billion in the 10 years after passage of this Act, by preventing the earned income tax credit, which is, according to the congressional Research Service , the largest anti-poverty entitlement program of the Federal Government, from being claimed by Y temporary workers or illegal aliens given status by this Act until they adjust to legal permanent resident status.
Sponsor: Sen Sessions, Jeff [AL] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Considered by Senate.

89. S.AMDT.1236 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Baucus, Max [MT] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (1)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

90. S.AMDT.1237 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Bingaman, Jeff [NM] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

91. S.AMDT.1238 to S.1348 To increase the authorization of appropriations for the Border Relief Grant Program.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment agreed to. Status: Amendment SA 1238 agreed to in Senate by Unanimous Consent.

92. S.AMDT.1239 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Ensign, John [NV] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

93. S.AMDT.1240 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cochran, Thad [MS] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

94. S.AMDT.1241 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cochran, Thad [MS] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

95. S.AMDT.1242 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Lieberman, Joseph I. [CT] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (3)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

96. S.AMDT.1243 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Obama, Barack [IL] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (1)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

97. S.AMDT.1244 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

98. S.AMDT.1245 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

99. S.AMDT.1246 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

100. S.AMDT.1247 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

101. S.AMDT.1248 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Ensign, John [NV] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

102. S.AMDT.1249 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Cantwell, Maria [WA] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (3)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

103. S.AMDT.1250 to S.1348 To address documentation of employment and to make an amendment with respect to mandatory disclosure.
Sponsor: Sen Cornyn, John [TX] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Considered by Senate.

104. S.AMDT.1251 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Conrad, Kent [ND] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

105. S.AMDT.1252 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Feinstein, Dianne [CA] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

106. S.AMDT.1253 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Sessions, Jeff [AL] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

107. S.AMDT.1254 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Sessions, Jeff [AL] (introduced 5/24/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/24/2007 Senate amendment submitted

108. S.AMDT.1255 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Bond, Christopher S. [MO] (introduced 5/25/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 5/25/2007 Senate amendment submitted

109. S.AMDT.1257 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Domenici, Pete V. [NM] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (3)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

110. S.AMDT.1258 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Domenici, Pete V. [NM] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (3)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

111. S.AMDT.1259 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Domenici, Pete V. [NM] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

112. S.AMDT.1260 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Domenici, Pete V. [NM] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

113. S.AMDT.1261 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Domenici, Pete V. [NM] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

114. S.AMDT.1262 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Domenici, Pete V. [NM] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

115. S.AMDT.1263 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Domenici, Pete V. [NM] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

116. S.AMDT.1264 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Domenici, Pete V. [NM] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

117. S.AMDT.1265 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Domenici, Pete V. [NM] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (1)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

118. S.AMDT.1266 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Alexander, Lamar [TN] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

119. S.AMDT.1267 to S.1348 To remove the requirement that Y-1 nonimmigrant visa holders leave the United States before they are able to renew their visa.
Sponsor: Sen Bingaman, Jeff [NM] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (1)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Senate amendment proposed (on the floor)

120. S.AMDT.1268 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Bingaman, Jeff [NM] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

121. S.AMDT.1269 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Bingaman, Jeff [NM] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

122. S.AMDT.1270 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Bingaman, Jeff [NM] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

123. S.AMDT.1271 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Conrad, Kent [ND] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

124. S.AMDT.1272 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Schumer, Charles E. [NY] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

125. S.AMDT.1273 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Schumer, Charles E. [NY] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

126. S.AMDT.1274 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Schumer, Charles E. [NY] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

127. S.AMDT.1275 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Boxer, Barbara [CA] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

128. S.AMDT.1276 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Boxer, Barbara [CA] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

129. S.AMDT.1277 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Kennedy, Edward M. [MA] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

130. S.AMDT.1278 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Kohl, Herb [WI] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

131. S.AMDT.1279 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Reid, Harry [NV] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

132. S.AMDT.1280 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Leahy, Patrick J. [VT] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

133. S.AMDT.1281 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen McCaskill, Claire [MO] (introduced 6/4/2007) Cosponsors (1)
Latest Major Action: 6/4/2007 Senate amendment submitted

134. S.AMDT.1282 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Isakson, Johnny [GA] (introduced 6/5/2007) Cosponsors (1)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Senate amendment submitted

135. S.AMDT.1283 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Durbin, Richard [IL] (introduced 6/5/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Senate amendment submitted

136. S.AMDT.1284 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Durbin, Richard [IL] (introduced 6/5/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Senate amendment submitted

137. S.AMDT.1285 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Grassley, Chuck [IA] (introduced 6/5/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Senate amendment submitted

138. S.AMDT.1286 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Grassley, Chuck [IA] (introduced 6/5/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Senate amendment submitted

139. S.AMDT.1287 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Grassley, Chuck [IA] (introduced 6/5/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Senate amendment submitted

140. S.AMDT.1288 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Grassley, Chuck [IA] (introduced 6/5/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Senate amendment submitted

141. S.AMDT.1289 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Grassley, Chuck [IA] (introduced 6/5/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Senate amendment submitted

142. S.AMDT.1290 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Grassley, Chuck [IA] (introduced 6/5/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Senate amendment submitted

143. S.AMDT.1291 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Grassley, Chuck [IA] (introduced 6/5/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Senate amendment submitted

144. S.AMDT.1292 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Grassley, Chuck [IA] (introduced 6/5/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Senate amendment submitted

145. S.AMDT.1293 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Grassley, Chuck [IA] (introduced 6/5/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Senate amendment submitted

146. S.AMDT.1294 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Grassley, Chuck [IA] (introduced 6/5/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Senate amendment submitted

147. S.AMDT.1295 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Grassley, Chuck [IA] (introduced 6/5/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Senate amendment submitted

148. S.AMDT.1296 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Grassley, Chuck [IA] (introduced 6/5/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Senate amendment submitted

149. S.AMDT.1297 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Grassley, Chuck [IA] (introduced 6/5/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Senate amendment submitted

150. S.AMDT.1298 to S.1348 Purpose will be available when the amendment is proposed for consideration. See Congressional Record for text.
Sponsor: Sen Grassley, Chuck [IA] (introduced 6/5/2007) Cosponsors (None)
Latest Major Action: 6/5/2007 Senate amendment submitted

Robert T. Melaccio Sr. 2007 Copyright ©2007 Robert T Melaccio Sr.

Tags: bush, casual workers, citizens, economy, free trade agreements, immigration
Categories: Commentary
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An Article by:

Robert T. Melaccio Sr.

Now this is a very profound question that all Americans who love this nation as it is or I should say was should be concerned about. As we see this ‘Immigration” Bill which is really not an immigration bill for those who care and know, and I will say that again care and know the real truths. You see these truths are “self evident” for all who wish to find them. They are right there to be found yet people prefer to be told.

We find out that these Grand Bargainers met in secret to forge this Bill. They have threatened to get it passed one way or another and all the while they say the things Americans want to hear while in their heart of hearts they know the truth about the real purpose of this Bill. It is in my opinion just ignored because it does not meat their criteria and if they spoke the truth Americans would be outraged.

Yes, it was born in secrecy and it will be birthed in secrecy.

Now we realize in full, which in my opinion is the ignorance of many of our college “educated’ as to just what this is all about and here is the key, how it impacts them! Wow, how it impacts them! We even get to throw in their loved ones, children and future children. You see education will be for the preferred, the wealthy and the chosen and of course non-Americans. They warned me years ago in college they would shape their minds and they have been successful beyond their wildest dreams.

Now what will be will be because America, as it was, was the last bastion of real freedom. As I say again, the last bastion of real freedom. People came for the American dream and yes even more people seek that dream. They just chose to do it unlawfully. To say otherwise and to cover it in nice is just not truth.

Sadly, in my opinion, a great darkness has descended over this land. A land where lies, omission, deceit, falsehood and covetousness and greed take the place of honor, character, morals and what is just the plain truth, right and justice.

They can say what they want, they can call people what they want, but they know in their heart of hearts where only God looks the sin they hide in secret.

Just yesterday I received a polling call. The girl was from India, by nature of her accent but she lied and said she was in upstate NY.. Now it could be that she was here in America. I don’t know but her strong accent was sure Indian. . Now she asked me what language would I like to take the poll in and get this ‘Spanish” or English. I said I’m American so I will use the language of our nation. Once again she asked me the same question. I finally said English. Now what is the purpose of this? Well it is for you old timers who don’t use the internet much to remember this when your children ask you for help. Remember when they are laid off and have no hope, remember when the only jobs are dead end ones and last 89 days.

Yes, they say this is good for America and yes they mean the new America of the world and they really mean their America. So get used to it you who wear your old uniforms and carry the Flag and sing the Anthem be prepared to say it in Spanish and be prepared for a different flag for it will be and you will be the ones who look bewildered.

America, the land of the free is in my opinion no more. Sadly or unfortunately, the word of this century, we do not even recognize it is lost. To those who scoff, laugh and do not believe, I would rather you are right. However, if if you are not, just what will you do?

Copyright ©2007 Robert T Melaccio Sr.

click here to email Robert 

Tags: economy, immigration, media matters, power
Categories: Commentary
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We have had some difficultly with the publication of this article by Mr. Bliss, due to its length, which, apparently, exceeds the capacities of our server.  Therefore, this essay, which deserves better treatment that it has received will be published in successive entries, beginning with the introduction to Mr. Bliss’ work, which follows these remarks.  My apologies for both the inconvenience to the reader as well as to Mr. Bliss, whose work will from here on in receive the treatment it deserves.

Russell Cole

The second installment of Mr. Bliss’ essay can be found by clicking through the following link:

http://www.midwest-populistamerica.com/articles/part-ii-notes-on-the-first-death-tremors-of-the-petroleum-age/

NOW THE END HAS TRULY BEGUN: NOTES ON THE FIRST DEATH TREMORS OF THE PETROLEUM AGE

With the nation hopelessly dependent on automobiles and runaway inflation pricing fuel ever more beyond the reach of lower-wage workers, the apocalypse is already here.

I.

DENY IT AS VEHEMENTLY as you choose, the apocalypse is upon us. I have sensed its imminence since the still-unexplained regional power outage of 9 November 1965 — I was riding home on the Eighth Avenue Subway when the electricity failed, and I was the young man, later mentioned in a couple of news reports, who organized and led the evacuation of the A Train that had died three cars into West 14th Street station. “Join hands so nobody gets lost,” I said, “and just like we’re finding our way out of a cave, we’ll go to where the fresh air comes in.”

There was no mistaking the apocalyptic prophecy of what we all came to call “the Blackout.” Emerging from the coal mine darkness of the subway station and seeing the entire de-electrified City nearly as dark beneath an ominously smirking full moon gave me a chill more intense than anything I’d ever felt, and my hackles rose again minutes later when I learned the outage extended north from the Ohio River deep into Canada, west from the Atlantic Ocean well into Indiana and Michigan. It remains the largest such technological failure ever known. Here thanks to Life magazine photographer Bob Gomel is what Manhattan looked like.

(Click on the picture itself for maximum enlargement. Gomel’s view is eastward across the Hudson River; the bright lines in the foreground are the headlights of vehicles on the FDR Drive, and the greens and purples in the darker areas are due to a condition called reciprocity failure, a characteristic of the old High Speed Ektachrome under extended exposure.)

Having already thus glimpsed the future of what was then the greatest city on the planet, I merely nodded when I began reading the conclusions of the male and female environmentalist Cassandras a decade later. I am after all a Celt: I had sensed the laughter of the Crone when I emerged from the subway — note again that grinning moon — and now intuition was confirmed by science. Even then, though, the apocalypse remained hardly more than an abstraction, something that would occur long after I had died.

But last weekend I saw the apocalypse first-hand. I saw it in the distraught face of a young mother in a Fred Meyer parking lot telling her two elementary-school daughters that “no we can’t drive out to grandma’s tomorrow because momma has to save enough ($3.45-per-gallon) gasoline to get to work all next week.” I saw it the nearly palpable fear of a man at the gas pumps, filling his automobile with $3.45 gasoline just as I was filling my own — “quick before the goddamn price goes up again,” he said. I saw it in the body language at the bus stops, where people forced by the price of gas to abandon their automobiles now wait patiently for buses that run far too infrequently, their archetypically American faces — white, black, brown, Asian — united in dull-eyed resignation.

Most of all I saw it in my own huge gas-price anger at how the politicians have betrayed us to Big Oil and Big Automotive and — with their decades of untold graft safely pocketed and banked — have abandoned us to the socioeconomic and cultural equivalent of an everlasting Hurricane Katrina: the price of gasoline in now obviously permanent runaway inflation, the price increasing nearly a penny a day and sometimes much as five cents a day. By Memorial Day it will be close to $4 per gallon and maybe already above that. By Labor Day it could be $5 a gallon — possibly $6 (and maybe even $7). Though the price will occasionally drop a bit — another Big Lie tactic to falsely reassure us all is well — the days of affordable gasoline and diesel are ended forever.

Though the yuppie environmentalists are already applauding this latest atrocity against those of us who have to work to survive, think for a moment about the disaster $5 gasoline (or even $2 gasoline) inflicts on people who, by deliberate decades of political and economic betrayal, have been denied adequate public transport: literally all of us everywhere in the United States outside the five boroughs of New York City.

When an already bitterly exhausting day at the McJob suddenly jumps from 10 hours to 14 hours or even 16 (because now that you can’t afford to drive, you have to get up two or three hours early to ride buses to the sweatshop); when now because of the cost of gasoline you have to shop by bus rather than car (and the buses run so slow and seldom it takes the entire weekend rather than just half of Saturday); when your life deteriorates into permanent exhaustion you suddenly recognize will be relieved only by death because the price of gasoline will never come down again; when you suddenly understand the politicians’ sudden promise to provide the public transport you so desperately need is just another Big Lie — that now it will never be built because its costs are thrust ever more out of reach by fuel-price-driven inflation — that is the apocalypse.

Its details are reflected in the fact I spent nine hours and drove 102 miles this weekend shopping for necessities. I burned 7.14 gallons of $3.45 per-gallon gas at a cost of $24.56.(With nearly 260,000 miles on its odometer, my carefully maintained 1992 Ford Tempo V6 — a gift from a friend eight years ago — still manages 26 miles per gallon highway but gets only 14 in town.) To accomplish these same errands here by bus would have taken a minimum of three days: one of the stores at which I shopped is seven miles away on a fairly direct line, a 20-minute drive but a bus ride of an hour and ten minutes; another is only four miles away but across town: again a 20 minute drive, but by bus, a trip of nearly three hours that includes two transfers. And these are one-way trips; the actual to-and-fro drive time is double, and the bus time — given the unavoidable waits and the scheduled infrequency — is at least triple and often more. By bus, the weekend’s shopping chores would have required four single-bus-route journeys, 17 hours total round-trip time including shopping, plus three multi-route bus trips, total time 21 hours including shopping — 38 hours total. My three-day estimate of how long these chores would have taken by bus is thus no exaggeration at all.

In New York City, which has the only genuinely adequate public transport in the entire United States, I could have bought these same items with a $2 subway ride to Midtown Manhattan, spent at the very most two healthy hours of walking from store to store and then boarded the subway for another $2 ride back home, after which I would have had the rest of the weekend to spend as I chose, perhaps visiting museums and galleries with the eloquent, elegant and comely woman who is my once and future wife.

But here in arrogantly sprawling Pugetopolis — the ecofornicated region around Puget Sound, where the ruling class promises us “Sound Transit” but delivers nothing save rhetoric, frustration and ongoing enslavement by Big Oil and Big Automotive — we are afflicted with a pair of now-obviously-terminal illnesses, conditions that turn any sort of shopping into white-knuckled confrontation with societal collapse and political betrayal: i.e. the apocalypse.

One of the apocalyptic ailments is Mad Mall Disease, which is vectored by Big Oil and Big Automotive and causes the reflexive total destruction of all central business districts. While Mad Mall Disease is epidemic throughout the entire United States outside of New York City, here in Pugetopolis it is uniquely combined with another far more insidious but equally deadly local condition: Seattle Xenophobic Transit Obstruction, the radical anti-public-transport bigotry chronically frothed up by Seattle’s “stop-Manhattanization (we-don’-wanna-be-like-Jew-York)” xenophobes and “subways-are-for-criminals” racists, with the associated hatemongering secretly encouraged by turf-protecting bureaucrats and enacted into unwritten but now irrevocable law by mercenary politicians — again of course all vectored and financed by Big Oil and Big Automotive.

Consequently the initial tremor of the apocalypse — the runaway inflation of petroleum prices — is already destroying men, women and children and threatening many more people — myself included — with inescapable ruin. And the human destruction, though notably worse here in forcibly non-Manhattanized Pugetopolis, is to one degree or another a nationwide disaster anywhere outside the five boroughs of New York.

Cuba, a socialist state with a genuinely Marxist grassroots consciousness, has coped very successfully with the same sort of crisis by developing localized agriculture and supplemental public transport as well.

But America’s one embryonic effort at localized agriculture, the Los Angeles South Central Farm (from which an entire ideology of economic democracy and sustainable farming might have grown), has already been destroyed by the bulldozers and jackboots of the corporate state — a bitter lesson in brutally crushed dreams and aspirations that demonstrates beyond any question that such alternatives will be summarily destroyed anywhere else they might be attempted within the United States — and possibly (note for example the again escalating official hostility toward Cuba) anywhere else in the world too. (For additional information on this atrocity — the story was methodically suppressed by corporate media — Google “south central farm” and “los angeles urban farm“)

Moreover Cuba was never a nation where violently grasping consumeroids battled to the death over the newest baubles, bangles, beads and gew-gaws, nor was Cuba ever a place where most of the population — even many of the abjectly impoverished — had been hypnotized to cling defiantly to their ever-more-unaffordable gas-guzzling automobiles and rage in tantrums of Transit Obstructus any time someone suggested there might indeed be a better way. The Cuban solution to the petro-apocalypse — undoubtedly the most intelligent solution humans have yet devised — will therefore never be the U.S. solution. Most of us are far too viciously selfish, far too selfishly sociopathic — and now after decades of methodical moronation into the ultimate Moron Nation — we are simply too stubbornly stupid to abandon the privately owned automobile until Gaia herself pries it from our cold dead hands.

But make no mistake: the biggest obstacle to adequate public transport — never mind the Cuban-style socioeconomic transformation that might actually let us survive what is to come — is the U.S. ruling class: the people who keep the Transit Obstructus types agitated and inflamed. The Cuban solution demands true community and genuine sharing — from each according to ability, to each according to need. But that sort of thing will never be allowed here. The U.S. ruling class wants everything for themselves, with just enough left over to ensure the slaves are kept alive — and so desperately hungry we’ll obey our masters without question.

The apocalyptic optimists have a somewhat more hopeful vision of course.

But the ruling class has already made it clear by its behavior in Los Angeles and New Orleans that we in the United States will never be allowed such humanitarian (and implicitly democratic) options. Thus “I can have it all” is vanquished forever, replaced by “will work for food” — the emergence of the new American Dream.

Tags: economy, gasoline prices, government waste, oil
Categories: Commentary
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