Thread: STRIKE WHILE THE IRON IS HOT!

STRIKE WHILE THE IRON IS HOT!
TELL CONGRESS "DON'T PULL A SNEAKY TRICK LIKE THAT AGAIN!"

The "H1-B Defeat" is a phenomenal achievement by Americans against the massive and well-funded high-tech industry. Gates and company guessed wrong in expecting Americans to be asleep at the switch during the "lame duck" session--many of us had already predicted the H1-B increase (included in last May's Senate amensty bill) would be rerun just at this time.

In the past, even staunch anti-illegal immigration allies felt safe in giving corporate business what they want--high-skilled cheap labor. Looks like those days are gone.

You're welcome to send my letter below (either as is or adapted as you like) in let members of the 110th (coming) Congress know that they needn't expect to operate "business as usual."

For those with newly-elected House or Senate members whose offices aren't yet established, send to their "campaign websites" (e.g. google on "John Doe for Senate"). You can re-send the message after their offices are established on January 4.

Got to get these new ones started out on the right track.



http://www.federalobserver.com/archive.php?aid=11186
Americans tell Congress...
'Put lumps of coal in Bill Gates' Christmas stocking'
By S. J. Miller

I suspect Bill Gates is leading the massive and well-funded high-tech visa lobby with mutters of "Christmas! Bah, Humbug!" Instead of the H1-B jackpot their lobbyists bought and paid for, "high-tech" industry stockings will contain lumps of coal. Gates' demand for massive "high-tech" visas (known as "Bill's SKIL Bill") fell to defeat.

Their attempts to flood the US with "cheap labor" workers to take American jobs failed in the face of pressure on Congress by outraged Americans. Both last-minute, "dark-of-the-night" attempts by Texas senators John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchinson to increase H1-B "high-tech" visas were defeated in the final hours of the 109th Congress. House Majority Leader John Boehner (OH) joined the high-tech whores with his end-run attempt to hang the measure on a US-India trade bill, and was slapped in the face.

Both Gates et.al and Congress have learned that the days when Americans didn't know or care about H1-B visas are gone. Grass-roots activists can be proud of having achieved a defeat of H1-B increases during a lame-duck Congress when most of America is occupied with Christmas shopping.

But it's no time for resting on laurels; it's time to "strike while the iron is hot." E-mail or fax your 3 members of Congress warning them against trying to pull such a sneaky trick again. I'll include congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle: Senator Bill Frist, Senator Harry Reid, Senator Mitch McConnell, Speaker Dennis Hastert, Congressman John Boehner, Congressman Roy Blunt, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and Congressman Steney Hoyer.

Their e-mail addresses, fax numbers and "snail mail" addresses are on www.house.gov and www.senate.gov.

Use your own message, or feel free to copy and/or adapt the following letter:

Dear Senator _________/ Congressman ______________:



As a member of the 110th Congress, this is your notice that the "business as usual" of the past 6 years will no longer be tolerated.

No more of Senator John Cornyn's or Kay Bailey Hutchinson's strong-arm tactics for last-minute, “dark-of-night” H1-B increases. And no more hurried passage by "unanimous voice vote" as with Bobby Rush and Henry Hyde's HR 1285, the H1-C Bill for "nurses for disadvantaged areas."

The issue of "foreign workers (skilled or unskilled)" has now joined "Immigration" as one Americans insist be debated openly and publicly, with ALL votes recorded for public review.

Legitimate measures need not fear of open public debate and recorded votes. We've made that clear to Congress on the general immigration issue; the so-called "labor shortage that demands foreign guest workers" is no exception.

Just as we've discarded the myths of illegal immigration ("they do the jobs Americans won't do, we also reject the myths about the “need for foreign workers:"

America has no labor shortages. "Foreign guest workers" are demanded for two reasons:

(1) Business wants cheap labor, whether to pick tomatoes, program computers or nurse hospital patients.

(2) UStrade representatives need something to barter in their attempts to find new markets for US goods, and jobs inAmericaare one of the few remaining items in demand. US trade envoys regard loss of American jobs as nothing but "collateral damage" in the global economy.

Yes, we know that American jobs are just another chip on the Global Economy's poker table!

With the transfer of congressional power to Democrats, we expect increased accountability. We'll no longer tolerate elected representatives destroying working Americans' future when they think we're not looking. Nor will we tolerate American job giveaways concealed as amendments to "Appropriations/Spending bills" or the recent "United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act", also known as "Nukes for Mangos".

Senator Harry Reid, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders have the opportunity to show that they truly do protect the interests of American workers rather than moneyed special interests.

They would do well to remember what led to their "Democratic victory." Americans can issue a "voters' pink slip" to Democrats as easily as we did to Republicans.

We'll be watching,

(signed) Mr. or Ms. American Voter

P.S. Don't forget that we recognize AMNESTY as anything that allows illegal aliens to remain in the US. Don’t try to peddle AMNESTY as "path to citizenship," "earned legalization," "guest-worker plan" or other politically sanitized names. And no more 1986 measures which promised enforcement but never delivered.

First you must deliver sustained (over several years) enforcement of immigration laws that we can observe. Jobs will open to Americans that were previously closed, no more illegal aliens crowding hospital ERs for free medical care, a sharp reduction in the "No Hablo Ingles" population, and no more "Tower of Babel" ballots--ALL US election ballots printed English.

Bills passed by Congress and signed by the President MUST BE IMPLEMENTED IMMEDIATELY! We're speaking of the Secure Fence Act. DHS Secretary Chertoff doesn't hold veto power over Congress and the American people.

Only then will we allow any talk of allowing illegal aliens to remain simply by "paying a fine, keeping a job and learning English" while you insist “it’s not amnesty.”

As to your cry "What about the 11 million illegal aliens in the US—we can’t deport them all?"

Americans answer "Implement Attrition Through Enforcement" and watch them deport themselves.

And while we're at it, Bill Gates deserves a piece of the public's mind. Boycott Microsoft!

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1607 -- 12/11/2006 >>>>>

Microsoft sure didn't get its money's worth this year. According to lobby
filings they spent over $4.8 million and yet they came home empty handed.
They didn't get the what they paid for -- huge tax breaks and the Skil
Bill.

Microsoft is very angry because they aren't going to get a ticket to ride
the cheap labor market.

"Without an increase in the number of H-1B visa and green cards
issued each year, our nation loses the opportunity to benefit
from the contributions of highly educated and skilled workers
from around the world," Jack Krumholz, Microsoft's top lobbyist,
said in a statement."American businesses and society in general
will be worse off due to Congress' lack of action on this issue."

Jack Krumholz talked about the contributions of H-1Bs to Microsoft's bottom
line but failed to mention the $4.8 million worth of "contributions" he
gave to Congress on behalf of Microsoft to game the results. You can bet
that there was much more spent off the record.

The enormous sums of money that Microsoft is willing to spend to promote
the Skil Bill says a lot about how much money they expect to save by using
the cheap young blood of foreign workers.

To see the document signed by Krumholz goto this link:

http://sopr.senate.gov/cgi-win/opr_gifv ... 000242109|
19

Microsoft wasn't the only one to lose big time. The American Electronics
Association spent $1 million to buy Congress but got nothing in return.

"If they were going to get a grade, it would be an 'I' for failure
to complete all assignments," said John Palafoutas, senior vice
president and chief lobbyist for the American Electronics
Association, whose members include about 2,500 companies
Including Adobe Systems, Intel, Sun Microsystems and
Hewlett-Packard.


To see the lobby document signed by Palafoutas click this link:

http://sopr.senate.gov/cgi-win/opr_gifv ... 000230457|
18


++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +

http://weblog.infoworld.com/realitychec ... l_on_h1.ht
ml

SKIL Bill on H-1B visa increase tabled until next year

By Ephraim Schwartz

December 11, 2006

It looks like Senator Cornyn and co-sponsors in the Senate were unable to
bring Senate Bill 2691 to a vote last Friday as I reported last week.

However, with a strong lobbying effort from many high tech firms this is
probably only a temporary pause in the action. Washington insiders continue
to predict its passage.

You can track which high tech companies are paying what lobbyist firms, how
much they are paying them and what subjects they are paying them to lobby
for by going to this Federal Government link.


Click on Access the US Lobby Report Images for All Years and you will be
given search criteria. If you hold the CRTL key down you can search on
multiple criteria.

Once in the report see Item 16 for Lobbying Issues.

Please post in comments on any interesting discoveries.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-6142709.html

Congress and tech: Little to show
12 / 11 / 06 |

Politicians in Washington, D.C., spent the last two years promising new
laws on everything from Net neutrality to computer security and social
networking Web sites.
But when the 109th Congress finally adjourned over the weekend, ending 12
years of Republican rule of the the U.S. House of Representatives, few
technology-related bills actually had made it through the legislative
process.

"If they were going to get a grade, it would be an 'I' for failure to
complete all assignments," said John Palafoutas, senior vice president and
chief lobbyist for the American Electronics Association, whose members
include about 2,500 companies including Adobe Systems, Intel, Sun
Microsystems and Hewlett-Packard.

Legislative legacy
The 109th Congress approved only three of the following 12 bills:

APPROVED

Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act: Sent to president

Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act: Became law as part of
port security bill

Child Protection and Safety Act: Became law

FAILED TO ENACT

Deleting Online Predators Act: Approved by House, died in Senate

Network Neutrality Act: Amendment rejected

Global Online Freedom Act: Ignored

Data Accountability and Trust Act: Died in House

Electronic Surveillance Modernization Act: Died in Senate

Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act: Approved by
House, died in Senate

Internet Safety Act: Ignored in House and Senate

Patent Reform Act of 2006: Ignored

Audio Broadcast Flag Licensing Act: Ignored

One measure that was sent to President Bush on Friday night would make it a
federal crime to use fraudulent tactics to buy, sell or otherwise obtain
private phone record information--although it explicitly exempts police or
spy agencies like the National Security Agency.

"The practice of fraudulently obtaining a customer's phone records and
selling them over the Internet is wrong and must be stopped," outgoing
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said in a statement. "Consumers have a
right to expect that this information will be kept private, with very
limited exceptions."

Called "pretexting," the practice already is illegal in some states like
California and is probably prohibited by common law rules against fraud
that have existed for hundreds of years. Pretexting came to light this fall
in Hewlett-Packard's boardroom leak investigation that resulted in
journalists--including three CNET News.com reporters--having their phone
records accessed.

But the antipretexting bill was an exception. A review of outstanding
legislation shows both chambers of Congress approved only a handful of
technology-related items, leaving proposals on topics like data breach
notification, patent reform and Net neutrality to die in committee. Here's
a roundup:

H-1B visas: Because politicians went home for the holidays without voting
to raise the number of H-1B visas, tech companies didn't get a boost in the
controversial guest worker program they claim is necessary to fill critical
holes in their workforces.

"Without an increase in the number of H-1B visa and green cards issued each
year, our nation loses the opportunity to benefit from the contributions of
highly educated and skilled workers from around the world," Jack Krumholz,
Microsoft's top lobbyist, said in a statement. "American businesses and
society in general will be worse off due to Congress' lack of action on
this issue."

The H-1B program allows foreigners with at least a bachelor's degree in
their area of specialty to be employed in the United States for up to six
years. They're currently capped at 65,000 visas per year, with an
additional 20,000 visas set aside for foreigners with advanced degrees from
American universities, after peaking at 195,000 between 2001 and 2003.

Web censorship and filtering: Politicians' concern about children and sites
like MySpace.com reached nearly a fever pitch in 2006, with now-departed
Rep. Mark Foley introducing a bill in July that he described as protecting
"youth from exploitation by adults using the Internet."

The House did approve a proposal targeting social networking sites, but it
died in the Senate. Another bill protesting Chinese Web censorship expired
quietly in a House subcommittee. One measure that did become law makes it a
crime for Webmasters to use innocent words like "Barbie" but feature
sexually explicit content.

A Web labeling requirement stuffed into a massive spending bill was
narrowly avoided after Congress delayed a vote on it until February.
Similarly, Sen. John McCain's plan to force Web sites to report illegal
images is expected to resurface in the 110th Congress next year.

Net neutrality: A pitched battle between Republicans and Democrats over
network neutrality regulations--which say that broadband providers cannot
favor one site over another--was narrowly avoided.

First, the House definitively rejected the concept of strict Net neutrality
regulations in a 269-152 vote on June 8. Then a Senate committee, voting
largely along party lines, rejected a Net neutrality amendment backed by
Democrats by an 11-11 tie. (A majority vote was required.)

With the support of companies like Google and eBay, some Democrats had
pledged to try to insert that amendment during a Senate floor vote over the
broader bill, which would rewrite telecommunications laws. But that vote
never happened.

Copyright and digital rights management: After the Supreme Court's ruling
last year in the Grokster file-swapping case, neither the computer industry
nor the record labels and the Motion Picture Association of America have
shown much desire to seek new laws.

One exception has been the so-called broadcast flag, which started out as a
controversial form of copy-prevention technology for digital TV broadcasts
and then was expandedto digital radio . Copyright owners would like
politicians to make those flags mandatory for hardware makers, but no final
votes on the legislative proposals took place.

The broadcast flag for digital TV has, however, been inserted into a
telecommunications bill that's expected to resurface in the spring.

R&D tax credit: Technology companies had hoped that a popular tax credit
for research and development would be made permanent. It didn't happen.

As part of a broader tax relief package, Congress approved only a temporary
extension of the research and development tax credit. "Passage of a
(permanent extension) has been a critically important objective and is part
of our industry's agenda to promote innovation and enhance U.S.
competitiveness in the global economy," said George Scalise, president of
the Semiconductor Industry Association, whose members include Advanced
Micro Devices, Intel and IBM.


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Newsletter Homepage:
http://www.JobDestruction.com/shameh1b/ ... onNews.htm

Cornyn will try again. He did that with his give Mexico grants bill a few months back. He's tried to punch that one through twice. He's up for re-election in two years and he is being watched like a hawk, so is Hutchison.

We know they are OBL and we will give them Hell. They want to pass that crap, the public is going to rain down on them. They better watch their Ps and Qs because we want good people that will represent the voters to run against them. Their big contribution corporate backers can't save them from the voters. The days of the popularity and pretty pictures is over! You better be worth your salt or your out of there.

Dixie

Hi Kate,

Originally Posted by Kate

And while we're at it, Bill Gates deserves a piece of the public's mind. Boycott Microsoft!

For the record, Kate. A lot of people, like tens of millions, think it impossible to boycott microsloth. Not true. I have NO microsoft products anywhere on my property. My computer is 100% microsoft free.

I use a rare, unknown computer manufactured by a company nobody ever heard of.

Coto, go Mac, though maybe that's no better.

Better yet, convert to Linux operating system!

Sheesh, Kate.

Scroll up. I am using a Mac; and I kick microsoft's ass every time I boot up. You wanta get me started?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFtuNPTBZ2k