Dem Debate "Love-In" a WIN for the Party!

CNN Transcript Summary:

Iraq: Both Obama and Clinton said they support ending the war.

Healthcare: "It is so important that as Democrats, we carry the banner of universal health care"

Immigration: Both support Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR):

1. tighten our borders

2. crack down on employer who exploit workers, both those who are undocumented and those who are here as citizens, or legal, if we can do more to help local communities cope with the cost that they often have to contend with, if we do more to help our friends to the south create more jobs for their own people, and if we take what we know to be the realities that we confront.

3. For the 12 to 14 million people here:

a. come out of the shadows

b. register everyone. if felonious criminal, deport.

c. Vast Majority, path to legalization by paying fine, pay back taxes, learn English, wait in line.

d. Against MASS Deportation: "Voices from the other side of the aisle... are living in some other universe, talking about deporting people, rounding them up...Don´t Agree!"

Once we have those conditions met.. then, they will not be in a labor market that undercuts anybody else's wages.

Differences:

1. Driver´s License Now: Obama Yes, Hillary No - wait for CIR

2. Impact to African American wages: Obama - "All poor are feeling economically insecure right now. Attributing Innercity poverty to immigrants is scapegoating." Hillary - "employers who exploit undocumented workers and drive down wages, there are job losses...So, I know that what we have to do is to bring our country together to have a comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) solution."

Best One-Liners:

. "It did take a Clinton to clean up after the first Bush, and I think it might take another one to clean up after the second Bush," she said.

. The Republicans are going to call you "tax-and-spend" liberal Democrats, and that's a charge that's been effective in the past. How are you going to counter that charge? OBAMA: "Well, first of all, I don't think the Republicans are going to be in a real strong position to argue fiscal responsibility, when they have added $4 trillion or $5 trillion worth of national debt. I am happy to have that argument."

. CNN's Wolf Blitzer noted that many Democrats have said they'd like to see a Clinton-Obama or Obama-Clinton ticket in November. (Neither ruled out the possibility of selecting the other as a running mate. )

Prez Pushes Free Trade in Colombia, Panama & South Korea

Is Free Trade good for the economy? Should more US Companies GO GLOBAL?
GW, speaking at a helicopter plant in Torrance, CA, asks Congress to approve FREE TRADE Agreements with Colombia, Panama & South Korea. Prez sez deals will create jobs in U.S.
LA Times reports:
Bush pushes three trade agreements
By James Gerstenzang, LA Times Staff Writer January 31, 2008 Declaring that "free trade means good-paying jobs for Americans," President Bush used the nation's largest helicopter manufacturer as a backdrop Wednesday to pressure Congress to pass three trade agreements that are among the top priorities of his final year in office.Singling out a proposed trade agreement with Colombia, Bush said its approval would mean jobs for Americans and support for an ally battling drug crime and political insurrection.
Bush made his comments at Robinson Helicopter Co. in Torrance, a firm thriving on the strength of its international business.Frank Robinson, who started the company in 1973, said the firm was selling 70% of its products overseas.But Robinson has not been shy about pointing out the benefits that his company has found in the cheap dollar -- a reality Bush ignored as he and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger toured the spotless plant... He coupled his cross-country sales pitch with events to raise money for Republicans. At a luncheon at the Bel-Air home of venture capitalist Elliott Broidy and at an early dinner in Hillsborough in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bush expected to raise more than $3.2 million for the Republican National Committee, a party official said. Bush also plans fundraising stops today and Friday in Nevada, Colorado and Missouri. Bush, promoting trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea, could hardly have found a better example of the effects trade can have on a company than Robinson Helicopter. The president's backdrop was a collection of orange, red, yellow, gold and blue two- and four-seat helicopters, each a shiny symbol of the company's sales growth.Robinson produces more helicopters than better-known manufacturers Sikorsky and Bell combined, and has service centers in 50 countries, including China and Russia. Nor could Bush have found a better advertisement for the beneficial effects of the low-value dollar.When prices are set in dollars, stronger foreign currencies reach further -- and can buy more American goods. That is the flip side of Washington's oft-stated goal of a strong dollar, which makes it cheaper for American consumers to buy imported goods.
Bush pointed out that the proposed Colombia free-trade agreement would eliminate that nation's tariffs on helicopters, currently as high as 10%, and its 5% duty on helicopter parts." It matters to our economy, and it matters to the jobs right here," Bush said. In Washington, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over trade, promised to hold up the agreements until a new program was approved to aid U.S. workers who lost their jobs because of foreign competition. "I simply cannot support, or consider moving, these agreements in the Senate until we realize the goal of expanded and reauthorized trade adjustment assistance," Baucus said in a speech at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Baucus, like other leading Democrats, cited other concerns about the trade agreements. He questioned whether Colombia had "made sufficient improvements in the apprehension and prosecution of persons responsible for the killing of labor leaders." And he has indicated he will hold up the South Korea agreement until the nation lifts its ban on U.S. beef. The Panamanian agreement is also in trouble with lawmakers from both parties because the country's legislature elected a leader who is wanted in the slaying of a U.S. soldier. But Bush praised efforts by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to fight drug lords, and he emphasized that the U.S. needed allies in the region."If we reject this opportunity to support a friend with good economic policy, if we turn down this free-trade agreement, it will hurt our relations in South America," he said."It will give the voices of false populism something to say," he added, referring to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez."It is in our strategic interests that we support democracies in our neighborhood. And it's in our strategic interest and our economic interest that the US Congress passes this free-trade agreement with Colombia." As much as lowered tariffs would mean Robinson's helicopters would cost less overseas, the real price advantage has come from the falling dollar."We love to see the dollar get as low as possible," Robinson said in the fall.The math is simple: The lower the dollar, the cheaper his $400,000 R44 Raven II helicopters are for foreign customers, who buy about two-thirds of the 800 commercial helicopters his company makes each year.Regardless of the role of the cheap dollar, Bush said, "You can't tell the people at Robinson Helicopter that trade isn't good. "When 70% of that which you manufacture gets sold somewhere else other than the United States, they ought to have a sign walking in here and say, 'Trade is not only good, it is great; and we want the federal government to make it easier for us to sell products.' "

PHOTO GALLERY - Helicopter Plant - GW & Friends

Michigan´s Conflicting Economic Story: Losing Auto & Manufacturing "Union Pay Scale" Jobs; Workers leave State vs taking Low Wage Jobs!

As I study the Economic News about Michigan, I can only be heart-broken. I am a Michigan girl at heart, born and raised in the shadow of the Capital. What is curious to me are the conflicting stories. Below I am sharing three articles. The first two focus primarily on the Auto Industry, GM laying off thousands of workers and staffing new jobs at half the salary. The third about the AgJobs Labor Shortages and Michigan´s quest to immigrate in migrant laborers from Texas and Mexico.

My question is, if the ROOT CAUSE is Business Profitability and Government policies, and we compound this with there are in fact jobs Americans won´t do (e.g. AgJobs, Manufacturing Jobs at Non Union Scale), then what will be the impact if there are no more manufacturing jobs in the U.S. at Union Scale?

Newsweek Reports: ECONOMY - Driving Towards Disaster By Keith Naughton Newsweek Web Exclusive - Jan 28, 2008 Michigan has been an economic wasteland for virtually the entire decade. Its fortunes riding shotgun with America's ailing auto industry, Michigan has lost more than 400,000 manufacturing jobs since 1999. Its unemployment rate, 7.6 percent in December, has been at or near the highest in the nation since 2003. FOR SALE signs dot the landscape, even in the neighborhood of GM chairman Rick Wagoner. But there are few buyers: Foreclosures have quadrupled in the last two years, according to the Web site RealtyTrac.com. The Sunday Detroit Free Press recently printed a 121-page section listing thousands of homes facing foreclosure. And in the last year, 30,500 people have left Michigan, Census officials estimate. "Michigan is the worst economy in the country, by far," says economist Mark Zandi of Moody's Economy.com. "But the financial pain Michigan is suffering now will become evident in many other parts of the country by this summer." ...Sure, the auto industry is to blame for Michigan's malaise. (Just last week, Ford, which lost $15.3 billion in the last two years, offered buyouts to all 54,000 of its U.S. factory workers). But many of the factors that drove Detroit into the ditch--$100-a-barrel oil, the credit crisis, globalization--also are preying on the rest of the nation.

WSJ Article: Ford Looks to Trim Up to 13,000 More Jobs One of Ford's goals with the latest buyouts is to replace many workers with new employees who will earn a lower wage under terms of its recently negotiated labor agreement. New hires will earn a little more than $14 an hour, about half of what current union workers earn.

From Dispatch.com:

Michigan officials seek to attract Hispanic farm workers
Associated Press - Friday, February 16, 2007 7:02 AM
Michigan officials are trying to lure more migrant farm workers to the state this year, hoping to avoid labor shortages that hurt the agriculture industry last harvest. The marketing pitch is "Venga a Michigan", which is Spanish for "Come to Michigan." The slogan is part of a promotional effort that Michigan's Department of Labor and Economic Growth is using to try to lure potential workers to the state. Department officials last week visited nine sites throughout Texas, targeting areas with large Hispanic populations that also have high unemployment rates. The goal was "to promote Michigan agriculture and the various services available," Rick Olivarez, a state monitor advocate, said during a meeting this week of the Michigan Interagency Migrant Services Committee. The Michigan group met with 400 to 500 families, according to The Muskegon Chronicle. State officials are planning a similar recruiting trip to Florida later this winter. Agriculture is the second-largest industry in Michigan. According to state census estimates, approximately 90,000 migrant laborers -- including their families -- come to Michigan each year. State officials want to avoid a repeat of last year, when some employers had difficulty finding enough migrant workers, Olivarez said.

Mainstream Media´s Slobbering Over Obama Takes Votes Away from Obama!

Chris Matthews makes me sick!

As I have stated a NUMBER of times, I am NEUTRAL between Obama vs Hillary. I will vote for the Democratic Candidate in November, 2008.

It is obvious the Mainstream Media (MSM) is supporting Obama and they HATE Hillary.

This OFFENDS Me!

Every day, I watch MSNBC, Fox and CNN to keep up to date on the issues. Every day, Chris Matthews slobbers over Obama while throwing daggers at Hillary. It is disgusting! What on earth is his Hate Affair with Hillary? He is like a scorned lover. It just gets on my nerves. Today, that big xxx Tweety - Matthews said any newspaper that supports Hillary is showing favoritism. He is such an ignorant idiot! Even Pat Buchanan called him on this! Shame on him!!!

My message to Obama: The MSM slobbering over you does NOT HELP YOU! Today, I just removed my membership off of the Kerry and Kennedy sites. Their slobbering just got on my nerves!! (BTW, Teddy reminds me of Matthews. They both spew spittle off the sides of their mouths! Watch them and see for yourselves! I am not being offensive, just factual!)

I am like every other voter in America. I study the issues. I am informed. Your pandering and slobbering DOES NOT INFLUENCE me. In fact, it does the opposite. (you get on my last nerve!)

Obama, I still like you. Don´t let these foul panderers divert your message. Please!

PS: Hillary, Congratulations on Florida! You Go Girl!! ;-)

ANTIs Bogus Arguments Attempt to Stir Up Antagonism between Hispanics and African Americans!

I have been participating on a few political and immigration blogs this weekend. On a few of the blogs, the ANTI side continues to blame the illegal immigrants for lower wages for African Americans. They cite various wage studies, however they never blame the true culprits, the greedy employers. To understand this, we should look at a very real and current example. Let´s look at what is happening in Detroit right now.

GM and Chrysler just had massive auto worker layoffs. I suggested to one ANTI responder on the Reich Blog to "READ THIS AND WEEP then try, in your farthest fetched imagination, to try and blame Illegal Immigrants for Reduced Wages of African Americans!! I wonder how Professor B will work this into his figures!"

US auto workers denounce UAW betrayal at Ford “The union is so intertwined with the company they are giving away the whole store”By Jerry White, 6 November 2007Ford workers reacted with disgust and anger Monday as they learned further details about the four-year labor agreement that the United Auto Workers union reached with Ford Motor Company over the weekend. The new contract covers 54,000 workers employed by the second largest US automaker.The concessions go even further than the historic rollbacks granted to General Motors and Chrysler. The contract will allow Ford to accelerate its plans to eliminate tens of thousands of jobs and replace higher-paid workers with a smaller, more brutally exploited workforce, making half the wages.

Another Article - Wall Street Journal: Ford Looks to Trim Up to 13,000 More Jobs

One of Ford's goals with the latest buyouts is to replace many workers with new employees who will earn a lower wage under terms of its recently negotiated labor agreement. New hires will earn a little more than $14 an hour, about half of what current union workers earn. That was a key cog in the deal that helped Ford to narrow its competitive cost-gap with nonunionized Asian rivals such as Toyota Motor Corp. The number of these so-called second-tier wage workers is capped at 20% of Ford's work force under terms of the new pact.Ford hopes to replace all workers at its Rawsonville and Sterling plants outside Detroit with lower-wage hires, a person familiar with the matter said. Those jobs don't count toward the 20% cap on lower-wage workers under the labor accord.

Oklahoma´s New Restrictive Immigration Laws Creating Massive Labor Shortages

Oklahoma Newspaper Tulsa World is reporting:

Builders' Hispanic workers leaving

By ROBERT EVATT World Staff Writer 1/24/2008
The crackdown on illegal immigrants creates a labor shortage, they say. Hispanic construction workers who are illegal immigrants have been leaving their jobs and the state since July because of fear rooted in House Bill 1804, says Dave Kollman, president of Flintco Cos. Inc., a major Tulsa contractor. Now, even legal Hispanics are vanishing due to the effects of the Oklahoma law that cracked down on illegal immigration, he said. "There's a scare component running through the Hispanic community," Kollman said. "Even if they're legal, they're leaving because they're family-oriented, and people they know are leaving." Kollman spoke during a discussion of H.B. 1804 at a Wednesday breakfast sponsored by the Tulsa chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. Also sharing their experiences with the law, which took effect Nov. 1, were Jake Nabholz, vice president of Nabholz Cos.; and Ray Miller, president of Fleming Building Co. Miller said he's lost good men due to the law and hasn't been able to replace them. "I've had employees for 15 years who are good, hard workers," he said. "They're not taking anybody's jobs. The kids graduating from high school don't want to go into construction." Nabholz said fallout from the law continues to grow. "There's a lot of fear, and it'll get worse as the days come," he said. All three said the labor shortage requires builders to pay more overtime, which allows them to meet schedules but drives up costs. Nabholz said builders might not be able to rely on overtime if the loss of workers accelerates. "At some point, overtime won't be enough," he said. Kollman said Hispanics' fear of being conspicuous has generated other expenses. He cited, for example, how construction crews from Tulsa might drive to a place such as Stillwater to work on a project. "It used to be everyone would pile in one vehicle and drive there together, but now they're driving up on their own in separate cars," he said. Rising labor costs, combined with higher prices for construction materials, have driven up building costs significantly in this decade, Kollman said. The panelists said they would like to see some way to streamline the citizenship process for workers, which now takes up to five years.

2nd ARTICLE - MSNBC reports: OKLAHOMA LAW BLAMED FOR HISPANIC EXODUS

The law, billed by its backers as the toughest U.S. legislation against illegal immigration, took effect Nov. 1. It bars illegal immigrants from obtaining jobs or state assistance and makes it a felony to harbor or transport illegal immigrants. "The sad part of it was the child didn't have to die if House Bill 1804 didn't ever come around," said Laurie Paul, who runs the clinic where Edgar was finally taken. "It was a total tragedy because the bill was there to create the myths and untruths and the fear." ...While it is difficult to characterize which U.S. state has the toughest immigration-related law, Oklahoma's goes beyond most because it includes the clause about harboring and transporting illegal immigrants, said Ann Morse, program director for the National Conference of State Legislatures' Immigrant Policy Project. "What I think these laws may have are unintended consequences on the general public," Morse said recently. "How does the law get implemented? Who is the target?"...The crackdown and its consequences: The crackdown has caused Hispanics to leave for neighboring states, with as many as 25,000 leaving northeastern Oklahoma alone, according to the Greater Tulsa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. The law's fallout also can be seen in struggling businesses, worker shortages and widespread fear among immigrants who say they are afraid to drive to church or the market because police might pick them up..."I feel like I'm in some kind of Nazi country where if they see your color, you'll be stopped" ... Leaving Oklahoma all together: Even workers with proper paperwork are leaving for jobs in neighboring states rather than split up their families. "My guy who runs my framing crew, he had 70 workers, and as of Nov. 1, he lost 35 of them," said Caleb McCaleb, who runs a homebuilding company in Edmond. "My painter has lost 30 percent of his work force, my landscaper has lost 25 percent of his work force." Some in Terrill's own party doubt the wisdom of his legislation. "We've removed not only those here illegally and working, but those who are here legally," said state Sen. Harry Coates, a Republican who voted against 1804 and wants to repeal portions of the bill. "I'm not the smartest person in the world, but I understand economics." Vicente Ruiz, a 47-year-old legal immigrant who runs his own electrical contracting business, put it more bluntly: "It's all about making money, and if everybody moves away, the whole state is going to suffer."

McCain´s Communication Director is Juan Hernandez? ANTI SITES ARE IN AN UPROAR!!

Michelle Malkin is reporting:

“Hispanic Republicans here in Nevada had a chance to speak by conference to Sen. John McCain and many of us were appalled to learn that his National Director of Hispanic Outreach is none other that Dr. Juan Hernandez, notorious for his open borders stance. How can McCain reconcile the fact that he says he “learnt his lesson w/the American people” with choosing as his Hispanic Ntl. Dir. someone whose views and interests are so clearly anti-security and not in the interest of the American people or for that matter us legal Hispanic immigrants. Can someone question him directly on this?”

...Hernandez was a close advisor to Vicente “Welcome to North America” Fox and headed up a Mexican bureaucracy called the “Presidential Office for Mexicans Abroad.” It was designed to allow Hernandez to travel across the country, meddling with local, state, and federal immigration enforcement on behalf of millions of illegal aliens in America. He lobbied for illegal alien driver’s licenses and Mexico first, defended Mexican bus operators carrying illegal aliens to the USA, and promoted extending banking privileges to illegal aliens.

The ANTI websites are in an UPROAR over this! Here is what they are saying:

ANTI COMMENTS:

. Sorry I am so pissed I misspelled the word Traitor.

. McCain at this point I would almost say is an agent of the mexican govt He is activly working to subvert this country and annex it to mexico

. Traitor is an understatement!

. Help get this dusturbing News development regarding the McCain campaign out to newspapers and talk radio, Patriots!!!

. Good info we can use. We have to stop McCain now.

These ANTI sites are sending mass, form emails to all the Florida and major newsites calling JM a traitor and not to vote for him.

Hmmmmm..... I thought he was the Leading Republican Candidate.

What will come of this?