Zalatix
Zalatix's JournalA teachable moment for Sharon Osbourne?
The woman who said "I do think it's quite fabulous" in response to an innocent man getting his penis cut off by his wife Catherine Kieu, recently blew her lid over her son being fired over what she calls a case of discrimination.
Perhaps this will teach her that it's wrong to sit around and laugh at other people's horrific misfortunes? Victimization is always funny when it's not happening to you or yours. Maybe it's not funny when it happens to others, either?
Here's a lesson about who the police really serve...
If you hear someone breaking down your door with an axe and you call the cops, how long will it take for the cops to respond?
If you interrupt a politician or a corporate executive during a speech at an expensive luncheon, how long will it take for the cops to respond?
You can't stop the evolution of automation, but you can put a complete end to the working class.
Myth: increased automation will make life better for everyone, and reduce the need for work.
Reality: more people will be put out of work. No jobs means no income for 99% of the unemployed. No income means no food. Automation won't come for free - you won't get robots given to you for free to take care of you. That, and you need to own or rent land in order to have a standard of living. (Homeless people can't farm or build shelters on someone else's property.) Without a job, 99% of people cannot rent or buy property. Without a pot to piss in, nobody's going to let someone squat on their land and let robots create a living for these landless folk. Logically speaking the bridge is out and there is no way to complete the path from the real world to the fantasy world of automation and high productivity leading to a better life for all.
Over the next decade unemployment is projected to rise to from 200 million to 600 million. There are CURRENTLY 1.1 BILLION people either unemployed or working yet living in poverty. They are not, and will not ever share in the benefits of increased automation. Automation is not creating any jobs for them. Yet worker productivity is skyrocketing.
The going argument is that automation and improved productivity will create more jobs and raise everyone's standard of living. No sane person can say that history has ever shown this to be true, except for SOME of the people who still have jobs. The exploding number of global unemployed and poor people, are living testaments to the fact that this argument isn't panning out in reality.
It's not working. To hide behind the "Luddite" word as a means to avoid talking about the fact that the great automation and productivity dream isn't working, is outright intellectual dishonesty. It is a deliberate act of deception. And screaming "You want us all to go back to horses and carts" is a deliberate attempt to bury the plight of the over 200 million global unemployed and declare it irrelevant.
The Religion of Total Automation and Infinite Productivity is based on utopian theories - aka fantasies and myths. Technology is not God; it can be questioned, and limits are a legitimate concept.
Stepping on millions of workers in the name of progress is NOT A LIBERAL POSITION.
Paul Krugman, former defender of offshoring, delivers a steel-toe boot to its Smeagol-like face.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/06/opinion/off-and-out-with-mitt-romney.html?_r=1Tell you what, I would not want to take a hit like the one Paul Krugman just inflicted right here.
The H1B issue: Yes, American workers, YOU DO QUALIFY FOR THAT JOB.
This is a direct response to this thread that dishonestly and unfairly attacks American workers. This is an exercise of my God-given right to defend American workers.
Firstly, I will kick this off with that which would usually be put off to the end as a conclusion: the only thing that disqualifies Americans for jobs that H1B visa holders are getting, is Americans won't work for peanuts.
Second of all, I'm going to address the core half-truth that was used to support the argument that "No, you don't qualify for that job":
17.6% of the population holds a bachelors degree.
7.2% holds a masters degree.
1.9% hold a professional degree.
1.2% hold a doctorate degree.
To this, I present a counter point: that counter point being reality.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/mee-the-brainiac-homeless-man-with-a-ph-d-that-cant-find-a-job/
Now we must get to the other central argument:
It is illegal to pay H1B Visa workers wages that are lower than the prevailing wage.
Reality: It is also illegal to steal cars, but 1 million are stolen every year. Likewise:
It has been 17 months since Jack B. Palmer first made a quiet complaint through internal channels at Infosys, the giant Indian outsourcing company he works for, saying he suspected some managers were committing visa fraud. Since then, Mr. Palmer says, he has been harassed by superiors and co-workers, sidelined with no work assignment, shut out of the company’s computers, denied bonuses and hounded by death threats.
DES MOINES, Iowa – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested 11 individuals in six states on Wednesday as part of an investigation into suspected visa and mail fraud. Matthew G. Whitaker, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa, announced the operation, which was carried out by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in Iowa, California, Massachusetts, Texas, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and New Jersey.
Hint: these workers weren't paid a prevailing wage.
BUT WAIT!!!! There's more! This goes way beyond just H1B's! Take a look at what's happening with J1 visa holders:
PALMYRA, Pa. — Hundreds of foreign students, waving their fists and shouting defiantly in many languages, walked off their jobs on Wednesday at a plant here that packs Hershey’s chocolates, saying a summer program that was supposed to be a cultural exchange had instead turned them into underpaid labor.
The point? H1B visa holders are being imported as cheap labor, while Americans holding DOCTORATES in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) related fields are going without jobs.
Next, I will point out this:
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And let us also examine this, the shortage of jobs for engineers. The going pro-free trade argument of the day is that America needs more H1B workers because we don't have enough engineers. Even a cursory examination of the situation in America shows that this is bullshit.
The alleged "shortage" of US engineering graduates is inconsistent with reports from Duke University that 30 to 40 percent of students in its master’s of engineering management program accept jobs outside the profession. About one-third of engineering graduates from MIT go into careers outside their field. Job outsourcing and work visas for foreign engineers are reducing career opportunities for American engineering graduates and, also, reducing salary scales.
Read that last part, DUers. REDUCING SALARY SCALES.
If we need more engineers then why are engineering salaries going down? Who ever heard of a wage stagnation in an industry where workers are in short supply?
How many unemployed engineers do we have?
For a complete review of the American Community Survey, including a table containing detailed employment figures for specific engineering degrees, visit the Center for Immigration Studies website at: http://cis.org/obama-and-engineers
The 2010 American Community Survey shows:
There are 101,000 U.S.-born individuals with engineering degrees who are unemployed.
There are an additional 244,000 U.S.-born individuals under age 65 who have a degree in engineering but who are not in the labor market. This means they are not working nor are they looking for work, and are therefore not counted as unemployed.
In addition to those unemployed and out of the labor force, there are an additional 1.47 million U.S.-born individuals who report they have an engineering degree and have a job, but do not work as engineers.
President Obama specifically used the words “highly skilled.” In 2010, there were 25,000 unemployed U.S.-born individuals with engineering degrees who have a Master’s or Ph.D. and another 68,000 with advanced degrees not in the labor force. There were also 489,000 U.S.-born individuals with graduate degrees who were working, but not as engineers.
Yes, folks, there are thousands of US born highly qualified engineers who do not have jobs. Master's and PhD degree holders, folks.
"No, you don't qualify for that job"?
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Unless someone wants to argue that Americans with Master's or PhD degrees in engineering are idiots.
Now why, you must ask yourself, would corporations be pushing these lies? Profit, of course. Cheaper labor means more profits. The path to cheaper labor is to bring in H1B's. How bad is this situation? Well, how's this for bad?
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Corporations are whining and crying about the low H1B visa limits - something like under 80,000 per year. Perhaps they should be hiring those 1.47 million American workers who have engineering degrees but aren't working as engineers?
YES, AMERICAN WORKERS, YOU ARE QUALIFIED FOR THAT JOB!
Now get out and use force to make your voice heard. VOTE. Kill the H1B visa program. Kill it dead.
Globalization is about the RACE TO THE BOTTOM. Why should we NOT oppose it?
Why should American workers NOT oppose a system that is designed from scratch to impoverish them and enrich the 1%?
Basic question. Why should we make sacrifices that no one else is making?
Workers in other countries aren't losing their jobs to Americans, their wages aren't going down, their unemployment isn't going up, their middle class isn't shrinking.
The 1% isn't making any sacrifices. Their wages aren't going down and they're not losing their jobs.
Only one group is making any sacrifices, and big ones at that - America's working class.
So what place does anyone have to tell us that we should continue this?
Take this question and pass it onto your neighbor: Globalization is about the RACE TO THE BOTTOM. Why should we NOT oppose it?
Billboards with dummy on noose shock Vegas drivers... it's about time someone did this!!!
http://news.yahoo.com/billboard-dummy-noose-shocks-vegas-drivers-152639429.htmlNevada Highway Patrol Trooper Jeremie Elliott says the 911 calls started coming in as the sun came up early Wednesday, with drivers worried the stiff, black-suited dummy swaying at the end of a rope along Interstate 15 near Bonanza Road was a real person.
"It's a publicity stunt, obviously done in bad taste," said Elliott, adding that officials were focused on getting it down quickly to avoid distracting drivers during the morning commute.
The graphic display along the interstate was one of at least two unauthorized signs spotted Wednesday morning in the Las Vegas area. Another found on Highland Avenue and Desert Inn Road was white with black lettering that read, "Hope You're Happy Wall St.," and a similar mannequin hanging off the edge.
What does the Democratic Party stand for? What are our values?
One day we are against extrajudicial killings, the next a sizeable faction forms an e-mob to defend drone killings while no one calls them on their silence about innocent bystanders being killed.
One day we're in favor of fighting for workers' rights, the next we're bashing people who fought for relief from 110 degree temperatures at an Amazon warehouse. Then there's the rampant union-bashing.
One day we're hating on the big banks and Wall Street's excesses, the next we're pouncing on Occupy Wall Street for getting out and protesting against these things, and in a naked show of ignorance, accusing them of being ineffective.
These are but a small slice of the big pie of Right Wing ideas that have managed to creep their way into acceptance.
Supposedly, the Democratic Party is not the party of the Left. Okay. So what does the Democratic Party actually stand for?
Left hook, right hook, left hook, right hook- Obama: "Romney Hood will take from poor, give to rich"
Ever see that silly cartoon Dragonball Z where the yellow haired guy drops hailstorms of fist on his enemy faster than a camera can show it? Well, Romney is the guy taking hits, and he is looking quite cartoonish while doing so.
Case in point.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-warns-romney-hood-poor-rich-231818045.html
Obama warns ‘Romney Hood’ will take from poor, give to rich
President Barack Obama told cheering supporters at a fundraiser in Connecticut on Monday that Mitt Romney's tax plan would raise taxes on middle-class Americans to pay for a tax cut benefiting the very rich: "It's like Robin Hood in reverse. It's Romney Hood." His remarks drew laughter and applause.
Obama pointed to a recent study of Romney's approach by the independent Tax Policy Center that speculated that, to pay for his proposed tax cut on the wealthiest Americans, the former Massachusetts governor would have to end popular measures like the mortgage and child deductions and the Earned Income Tax Credit — which chiefly benefit middle-class and poor Americans.
"He'd ask the middle class to pay more in taxes so that he could give another $250,000 tax cut to people making more than three million dollars a year," Obama said.
"They have tried to sell us this trickle-down, tax-cut fairy dust before. And guess what? It does not work. It didn't work then, it won't work now," the president said. "It's not a plan to create jobs, it's not a plan to reduce our deficit, and it is not a plan to move our economy forward."
"You didn't build that"... Democrats are failing to spine-up!!! Damn it.
WaPo: 'You Didn't Build It' Comment Damaging Other Democrats
President Barack Obama’s weeks-old comment that business owners “didn’t build that” by themselves is haunting him and fellow Democrats on the campaign trail.
Wherever Obama goes, a local paper or TV station seems to drag up the comment and get local entrepreneurs to trash his statement.
It happened in Colorado when Obama visited this week. “I did build my business, Mr. President, you didn’t,” Martin Mendez of Splash Publications told Denver’s CBS affiliate.
Uh, Martin Mendez, you didn't build SHIT without the help of your workers.
And if Government went away, what you did build would have been wiped out within days by criminal gangs.
Why aren't the Democrats blitzing the airwaves with this?
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