THE POLITICAL ARENA!!! Political Gladiators Inside!!

[lonewolf]

Right. Those damn people should stay in bed, or just die. Why in hell should the disabled be able to go anywhere.

Wait! I know, lets all chip in and buy them all handicap vans with elevator lifts!

They are free to go anywhere they damned well please. If they can't walk, let them or their family buy a used wheelchair until they can save enough for a Hoverround. No family? There are plenty of charities out there. Let them go on Facebook and raise the cash.

Medicare is bankrupt. We can no longer afford anything more than basic health care. Hell the whole government's bankrupt and they can't even afford to pay interest.

The other angle that you are not figuring on is that for every person who becomes part of or supports "entitlement nation", there is one less person with traditional American spirit, drive and fortitude.

Eventually, there will only be a few of us left to pay for all this shit.

I know, the current situation is that health care is a privilege. It should be a right, not a privilege.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and...a Hoverround

[Banned]

I know, the current situation is that health care is a privilege. It should be a right, not a privilege.

Bill, you have jumped health care too high in the hierarchy of needs.

Everyone should have the right to food and water first. Food and water should never be a privilege. You could not live without them.

So food and water rights first, and then a free house for everyone should come next. Everyone has to live somewhere, it is not a privilege.

Food, water, housing, then a job. Everyone should have a job with a fair wage, right? Not a privilege.

How to get from you free house to your fair wage job? Everyone should have the right to own a car. It is a necessity, not a privilege.

Now here is where health care rights come in IMHO. So lets summarize:

Food and water

House

Job

Car

Health Care

Once these basic rights have been taken care of, then you could work on down the hierarchy of needs. We could work on flat screen TVs, ipods, cell phones, free movies........

There is no limit to the rights one provide in the perfect socialist world.

[RobTheDrummer]

We already pay more for health care in this country than anything else, so you wanna pay more? How much of our budget should go to health care? 50%? 70%? For fuck sake, where in the constitution does it say the government is responsible for everyone's health? Also, the more the government pays for health care, the more they want to tell you what you can and can't eat, smoke, drink, or bite on. Heil Washington!

[Hawk]

We already pay more for health care in this country than anything else, so you wanna pay more? How much of our budget should go to health care? 50%? 70%? For fuck sake, where in the constitution does it say the government is responsible for everyone's health? Also, the more the government pays for health care, the more they want to tell you what you can and can't eat, smoke, drink, or bite on. Heil Washington!

You are right, but it's because the health industry is raking us over the coals. And Bush's catering to pharmaceutical companies. And the government's fault in this ? Giving insurance companies exemption to antitrust laws.

[lonewolf]

We already pay more for health care in this country than anything else, so you wanna pay more? How much of our budget should go to health care? 50%? 70%? For fuck sake, where in the constitution does it say the government is responsible for everyone's health? Also, the more the government pays for health care, the more they want to tell you what you can and can't eat, smoke, drink, or bite on. Heil Washington!

You are right, but it's because the health industry is raking us over the coals. And Bush's catering to pharmaceutical companies. And the government's fault in this ? Giving insurance companies exemption to antitrust laws.

Every issue the federal government gets involved with becomes a political football. With the big sack in 2010, the present democrat drive will probably end with a punt in 2012 and the republicans will go back on offense.

The republicans say they want smaller government and I don't believe a word of it. So that means all the issues will swing from really bad democrat ideas to really bad republican ideas--again. Even worse, they might compromise on some of these bad ideas and make things even more incredibly FUBAR. (See Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000)

...and the cycle goes on and on and on and the debt piles up and up and up...

The only way to break the cycle is to take the football away from the federal government.

[RobTheDrummer]

Yea Bill, just Bush did it.....

"Obama Gives BIG Pharma More of Your Money!


Source: Health & Healing, March 2011 issue

By, Julian Whitaker, MD

Incredibly, our government has decided to give taxpayer money, lots of money, to Big Pharma. As reported in The New York Times, "The Obama administration has become so concerned about the slowing pace of new drugs coming out of the pharmaceutical industry that officials have decided to start a billion-dollar government drug development center to help create medicinces. " Let's get some facts on the table.

1. The large drug companies are cash cows. According to Fortune 500 rankings, their mean profit margin is about 20 percent, compared to an 8 percent average across all industries.

2. The pharmaceutical industry makes the most dangerous products on the planet. Prescription meds are our fourth leading cause of death, and some of them have unthinkable side effects. Psychiatric drugs, for instance, have been linked to countless suicides, school shootings, and other bizarre acts of violence, such as mothers killing their own children.

3. These companies have limited liability for damages caused by their products. For example, if your child develops autism after receiving dozens of required inoculations, you'll have to sue the federal government, which has agreed to shoulder vaccine-related liability-with taxpayer money.

4. Big Pharma gets irrational sweetheart deals from the government. For Medicare prescription drug coverage, prices are not negotiable. They can charge the government what ever they want!

5. This industry spend nearly twice as much on advertising as they do on research and development. Direct-to-consumer advertising, which is allowed only in the US and New Zealand, has created unprecedent demand for medications, driven up usage and profits, and corrupted the doctor-patient relationship.

6. The US is broke! Do you really want your children and grand children to work overtime to "help" Big Pharma?"

[Banned]

Don't confuse Bill. All he knows is:

Bush bad.

Obama good.

[lonewolf]

I know, the current situation is that health care is a privilege. It should be a right, not a privilege.

Incorrect. The current situation is that health care is a service, as in goods and services.

Goods and services are not and cannot be considered human rights. You have the right to pursue goods and services, but you do not have the right to have them given to you. Just like you have the right to bear arms, but not the right to have the arms given to you. Even if the Bill of Rights had an amendment that stated: "The right of the people to have healthcare shall not be infringed", all that would do is prohibit the government from setting down laws that prevented you from having healthcare.

The word for guaranteed free or subsidized healthcare is entitlement.

[songsmith]

Credit default swaps and mortgage-backed securities were NEVER REGULATED. In order for something to be deregulated, it must first be regulated.

The act you mentioned only defined them as outside the realm of securities and futures, which only served to put the status quo into law.

Credit Default Swaps & derivatives, though not actually called that, caused the Depression of 1907. At that time, there were rows of gaming establishments called "bucket shops" in NYC where people placed bets on stocks without actually owning said stock. They all closed in advance of an upcoming law that would end them, and such bets were ILLEGAL under gaming laws. The final page of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act pre-empted the states from enforcing existing gambling laws regarding them. If something is illegal, I think that is considered regulation.
There were some fringe deals, such as one between JP Morgan and Exxon in the Valdez spill ordeal (Exxon might have needed $5B for settlement & fines, but they only paid $30M in the end, thanks to a GOP Congress), and there was quite a bit of interest in the idea, but CFMA is what turned it into a $62T market. It's still a $20+ trillion-dollar market, though most corps leave it alone.

[lonewolf]

Credit default swaps and mortgage-backed securities were NEVER REGULATED. In order for something to be deregulated, it must first be regulated.

The act you mentioned only defined them as outside the realm of securities and futures, which only served to put the status quo into law.

Credit Default Swaps & derivatives, though not actually called that, caused the Depression of 1907. At that time, there were rows of gaming establishments called "bucket shops" in NYC where people placed bets on stocks without actually owning said stock. They all closed in advance of an upcoming law that would end them, and such bets were ILLEGAL under gaming laws. The final page of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act pre-empted the states from enforcing existing gambling laws regarding them. If something is illegal, I think that is considered regulation.
There were some fringe deals, such as one between JP Morgan and Exxon in the Valdez spill ordeal (Exxon might have needed $5B for settlement & fines, but they only paid $30M in the end, thanks to a GOP Congress), and there was quite a bit of interest in the idea, but CFMA is what turned it into a $62T market. It's still a $20+ trillion-dollar market, though most corps leave it alone.

The "bucket shops" were selling what is now referred to as stock futures. Stock futures have nothing to do with CDS and derivitaves. Futures are perfectly legal and regulated under the CFTC.

I know that in some people's eyes, CDS are considered gaming bets, but in reality, the law does not view it that way. None of this stuff came about until the early-90s and were not illegal under any gambling or gaming laws like the "bucket shops".

Thanks, I got a little chuckle out of that.

[Banned]

More of our tax dollars wasted by Obama's Porkulus Schlush Fund....


"WASHINGTON -- At least $7 million in federal stimulus money intended to provide jobs to unemployed Oregonians instead paid wages to 254 foreign workers, federal investigators have concluded.

The money was for forest clean-up jobs in central Oregon where thousands of experienced workers were idle. When the contracts were announced in 2009, Oregon had the third-highest unemployment rate in the nation at 11.1 percent, with rates in the state's rural forest counties nearly 15 percent and higher. "

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/inde ... r_ore.html

Bill of course will blame Bush.

[songsmith]

The final page of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act pre-empted the states from enforcing existing gambling laws regarding them.

If CFMA, which deals with CDS's, specifically overpowers state gambling laws, what other reason would specify that? Could it be that Phil Gramm (R) was acting on orders from lobbyists for those who would benefit, perhaps even his wife? Could it be that those bankers knew that gambling laws prevented them from a highly-lucrative, albeit filthy, income stream? Do you believe they wouldn't have done it sooner, had it not been against the law? If so, your naivete has me chuckling, as well.

[Hawk]

More of our tax dollars wasted by Obama's Porkulus Schlush Fund....


"WASHINGTON -- At least $7 million in federal stimulus money intended to provide jobs to unemployed Oregonians instead paid wages to 254 foreign workers, federal investigators have concluded.

The money was for forest clean-up jobs in central Oregon where thousands of experienced workers were idle. When the contracts were announced in 2009, Oregon had the third-highest unemployment rate in the nation at 11.1 percent, with rates in the state's rural forest counties nearly 15 percent and higher. "

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/inde ... r_ore.html

Bill of course will blame Bush.

Joe, just how many right wing Emails do you get every week ? Thanks for posting this one anyhow !

Joe, why didn't you post the entire article? You know, where the contractors screwed us. Where the Democrat found out and ask for a federal investigation ? Perhaps you posted this Email without reading it ?



Brian Feulner/The OregonianTimber jobs were once a mainstay of the Oregon economy.
WASHINGTON -- At least $7 million in federal stimulus money intended to provide jobs to unemployed Oregonians instead paid wages to 254 foreign workers, federal investigators have concluded.

The money was for forest clean-up jobs in central Oregon where thousands of experienced workers were idle. When the contracts were announced in 2009, Oregon had the third-highest unemployment rate in the nation at 11.1 percent, with rates in the state's rural forest counties nearly 15 percent and higher.

Even so, the contractors told federal regulators they could not find enough local workers for the jobs.

That came as a surprise to local officials, who said they often got hundreds of responses to every job opening.

"This is a timber area and we hadn't been cutting trees for years," said state Sen. Chris Telfer, R-Bend. "It really ticked off a lot of people here."

In a report on the investigation this week, the Department of Labor's Inspector General found that contractors who brought in foreign workers violated no laws or regulations, but used legal loopholes to hire foreign workers.

While legal, the hiring practices appear to violate the spirit and purpose of the $840 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as the stimulus, which was designed to create jobs that would jumpstart the country out of recession.

"The goal of the stimulus bill was to put Americans back to work, not foreign nationals," said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., who asked for the investigation in September 2010.

"It is obscene that U.S. companies were rewarded for abusing our American workers and immigration laws to undercut competition and squeeze more profits out of contracts," DeFazio said. "Oregonians have been logging for over a century, our workforce is one of the best in the world, and these contracts should have been awarded to companies that hire Oregon loggers."

The federal investigation looked at 14 contracts to clear federal forests in central Oregon. The contracts were controlled by four Oregon companies: Medford Cutting Edge Forestry, Summitt Forestry, Ponderosa Reforestations, and G.E. Forestry. All hired foreign workers, according to the report, though they didn't all handle hiring in the same way.

The contractors applied for H-2B visas allowing them to hire workers for seasonal jobs, according to the report. In order to get clearance, contractors must prove the jobs can't be filled with local residents and that pay won't dilute local prevailing wages.

But there is a loophole. Under federal rules, notice of the job openings must be made where the job "originates." And while the bulk of the work took place in Oregon, smaller jobs originated in other states.

According to reports by The Bend Bulletin, which revealed the foreign hires in a series of stories last year that triggered DeFazio's call for an investigation, contractors advertised the jobs in tiny newspapers in California and Washington state for several days.

"Employers were not required to recruit U.S. workers in Oregon, and we were provided no evidence that they did," federal investigators said. "Workers in Oregon were likely unaware that these job opportunities were available."

In fact, although 146 U.S. workers were contacted for possible employment, investigators found that none was hired.

Contractors used another regulation to dampen response from Oregon residents, the report said. The visa regulations allowed the contractors to do all their hiring four months before work started. That made unemployed workers who needed jobs immediately reluctant to commit to temporary jobs four months later.

Despite the barriers, 29 U.S. workers learned of the jobs and asked about employment. The report did not say if they were from Oregon.

"We verified with the employers that none of these workers actually began employment with them," the report says.

The reason?

"We spoke with two workers who reported that the employer used discouraging language, such as references to age and inquiries about speaking another language, which are not valid conditions of employment," the report says.

The report does not address the nationality of the workers who were hired.

As required, the employers also notified state workforce agencies of the openings. But just as with obscure newspaper ads, the state postings were far-afield, with the notices sent to Arizona, California, Idaho, Washington and Wyoming.

The Labor Department did not respond to a request for comment, but agency officials have announced plans to revise regulations dealing with H-2B visas.

Congress is likely to act, too. Aides to DeFazio said he is closely monitoring the Labor Department's proposals for fixing the problems and is not ruling out other action. And in the Senate, Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden said he is watching as well.

"Right now there are 14 million job seekers in the U.S. and three million job openings." Wyden said. "Given those numbers, there is absolutely no reason why hard-working Oregonians should be passed over en masse for Oregon jobs in favor of foreign workers."

[lonewolf]

The final page of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act pre-empted the states from enforcing existing gambling laws regarding them.

If CFMA, which deals with CDS's, specifically overpowers state gambling laws, what other reason would specify that? Could it be that Phil Gramm (R) was acting on orders from lobbyists for those who would benefit, perhaps even his wife? Could it be that those bankers knew that gambling laws prevented them from a highly-lucrative, albeit filthy, income stream? Do you believe they wouldn't have done it sooner, had it not been against the law? If so, your naivete has me chuckling, as well.

There may have been a few squeaky wheels out there, but i'm not aware of anybody who ever considered or actually brought gaming charges against companies who traded CDS before the CFMA. Nobody even paid any attention to them until 2008. Let me know if you find anything. I'll give you a hint: include eliot spitzer in your search as NY is the only state that would even apply.

What I do know is that reputable firms were trading variations of these financial instruments out in the open from the early 90s forward and the SEC and CFTC both knew about it. Both agencies investigated and decided that they were not under their regulation.

[Hawk]

I know, the current situation is that health care is a privilege. It should be a right, not a privilege.

Incorrect. The current situation is that health care is a service, as in goods and services.

Goods and services are not and cannot be considered human rights. You have the right to pursue goods and services, but you do not have the right to have them given to you. Just like you have the right to bear arms, but not the right to have the arms given to you. Even if the Bill of Rights had an amendment that stated: "The right of the people to have healthcare shall not be infringed", all that would do is prohibit the government from setting down laws that prevented you from having healthcare.

The word for guaranteed free or subsidized healthcare is entitlement.

Semantic spin. Bottom line is if you can afford health care you are privileged. If you can't afford health care you have no right (proper access) to it. I find that despicable in today's American society.

[Banned]

More of our tax dollars wasted by Obama's Porkulus Schlush Fund....


"WASHINGTON -- At least $7 million in federal stimulus money intended to provide jobs to unemployed Oregonians instead paid wages to 254 foreign workers, federal investigators have concluded.

The money was for forest clean-up jobs in central Oregon where thousands of experienced workers were idle. When the contracts were announced in 2009, Oregon had the third-highest unemployment rate in the nation at 11.1 percent, with rates in the state's rural forest counties nearly 15 percent and higher. "

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/inde ... r_ore.html

Bill of course will blame Bush.

Joe, just how many right wing Emails do you get every week ? Thanks for posting this one anyhow !

Joe, why didn't you post the entire article? You know, where the contractors screwed us. Where the Democrat found out and ask for a federal investigation ? Perhaps you posted this Email without reading it ?



Brian Feulner/The OregonianTimber jobs were once a mainstay of the Oregon economy.
WASHINGTON -- At least $7 million in federal stimulus money intended to provide jobs to unemployed Oregonians instead paid wages to 254 foreign workers, federal investigators have concluded.

The money was for forest clean-up jobs in central Oregon where thousands of experienced workers were idle. When the contracts were announced in 2009, Oregon had the third-highest unemployment rate in the nation at 11.1 percent, with rates in the state's rural forest counties nearly 15 percent and higher.

Even so, the contractors told federal regulators they could not find enough local workers for the jobs.

That came as a surprise to local officials, who said they often got hundreds of responses to every job opening.

"This is a timber area and we hadn't been cutting trees for years," said state Sen. Chris Telfer, R-Bend. "It really ticked off a lot of people here."

In a report on the investigation this week, the Department of Labor's Inspector General found that contractors who brought in foreign workers violated no laws or regulations, but used legal loopholes to hire foreign workers.

While legal, the hiring practices appear to violate the spirit and purpose of the $840 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as the stimulus, which was designed to create jobs that would jumpstart the country out of recession.

"The goal of the stimulus bill was to put Americans back to work, not foreign nationals," said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., who asked for the investigation in September 2010.

"It is obscene that U.S. companies were rewarded for abusing our American workers and immigration laws to undercut competition and squeeze more profits out of contracts," DeFazio said. "Oregonians have been logging for over a century, our workforce is one of the best in the world, and these contracts should have been awarded to companies that hire Oregon loggers."

The federal investigation looked at 14 contracts to clear federal forests in central Oregon. The contracts were controlled by four Oregon companies: Medford Cutting Edge Forestry, Summitt Forestry, Ponderosa Reforestations, and G.E. Forestry. All hired foreign workers, according to the report, though they didn't all handle hiring in the same way.

The contractors applied for H-2B visas allowing them to hire workers for seasonal jobs, according to the report. In order to get clearance, contractors must prove the jobs can't be filled with local residents and that pay won't dilute local prevailing wages.

But there is a loophole. Under federal rules, notice of the job openings must be made where the job "originates." And while the bulk of the work took place in Oregon, smaller jobs originated in other states.

According to reports by The Bend Bulletin, which revealed the foreign hires in a series of stories last year that triggered DeFazio's call for an investigation, contractors advertised the jobs in tiny newspapers in California and Washington state for several days.

"Employers were not required to recruit U.S. workers in Oregon, and we were provided no evidence that they did," federal investigators said. "Workers in Oregon were likely unaware that these job opportunities were available."

In fact, although 146 U.S. workers were contacted for possible employment, investigators found that none was hired.

Contractors used another regulation to dampen response from Oregon residents, the report said. The visa regulations allowed the contractors to do all their hiring four months before work started. That made unemployed workers who needed jobs immediately reluctant to commit to temporary jobs four months later.

Despite the barriers, 29 U.S. workers learned of the jobs and asked about employment. The report did not say if they were from Oregon.

"We verified with the employers that none of these workers actually began employment with them," the report says.

The reason?

"We spoke with two workers who reported that the employer used discouraging language, such as references to age and inquiries about speaking another language, which are not valid conditions of employment," the report says.

The report does not address the nationality of the workers who were hired.

As required, the employers also notified state workforce agencies of the openings. But just as with obscure newspaper ads, the state postings were far-afield, with the notices sent to Arizona, California, Idaho, Washington and Wyoming.

The Labor Department did not respond to a request for comment, but agency officials have announced plans to revise regulations dealing with H-2B visas.

Congress is likely to act, too. Aides to DeFazio said he is closely monitoring the Labor Department's proposals for fixing the problems and is not ruling out other action. And in the Senate, Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden said he is watching as well.

"Right now there are 14 million job seekers in the U.S. and three million job openings." Wyden said. "Given those numbers, there is absolutely no reason why hard-working Oregonians should be passed over en masse for Oregon jobs in favor of foreign workers."

]

Did your long post change the fact that our tax dollars were wasted on foreign workers???????????? That is what happens when central socialistic planning. The USSR failed because it was socialistic and relied on central planning. The USSA is doing the same thing now. Only difference is that you defend the United Socialistic States of America.

BTW, I never heard of Oregonlive.com. I certainly did not know it was right wing. I did not think anything in Oregon was anything but left wing.

You seem to know so much about this source. Do you know of any good libertarian sources in Oregon?

[lonewolf]

I know, the current situation is that health care is a privilege. It should be a right, not a privilege.

Incorrect. The current situation is that health care is a service, as in goods and services.

Goods and services are not and cannot be considered human rights. You have the right to pursue goods and services, but you do not have the right to have them given to you. Just like you have the right to bear arms, but not the right to have the arms given to you. Even if the Bill of Rights had an amendment that stated: "The right of the people to have healthcare shall not be infringed", all that would do is prohibit the government from setting down laws that prevented you from having healthcare.

The word for guaranteed free or subsidized healthcare is entitlement.

Semantic spin. Bottom line is if you can afford health care you are privileged. If you can't afford health care you have no right (proper access) to it. I find that despicable in today's American society.

The bottom line is that whether they can afford it or not, people cannot be denied medical services at a hospital.

Now, if you are talking about a "go to the doctor free" card, that's another story.

And, BTW...details are everything, including semantics. If you cannot say what you mean, how can you ever hope to mean what you say?

[Hawk]

More of our tax dollars wasted by Obama's Porkulus Schlush Fund....


"WASHINGTON -- At least $7 million in federal stimulus money intended to provide jobs to unemployed Oregonians instead paid wages to 254 foreign workers, federal investigators have concluded.

The money was for forest clean-up jobs in central Oregon where thousands of experienced workers were idle. When the contracts were announced in 2009, Oregon had the third-highest unemployment rate in the nation at 11.1 percent, with rates in the state's rural forest counties nearly 15 percent and higher. "

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/inde ... r_ore.html

Bill of course will blame Bush.

Joe, just how many right wing Emails do you get every week ? Thanks for posting this one anyhow !

Joe, why didn't you post the entire article? You know, where the contractors screwed us. Where the Democrat found out and ask for a federal investigation ? Perhaps you posted this Email without reading it ?



Brian Feulner/The OregonianTimber jobs were once a mainstay of the Oregon economy.
WASHINGTON -- At least $7 million in federal stimulus money intended to provide jobs to unemployed Oregonians instead paid wages to 254 foreign workers, federal investigators have concluded.

The money was for forest clean-up jobs in central Oregon where thousands of experienced workers were idle. When the contracts were announced in 2009, Oregon had the third-highest unemployment rate in the nation at 11.1 percent, with rates in the state's rural forest counties nearly 15 percent and higher.

Even so, the contractors told federal regulators they could not find enough local workers for the jobs.

That came as a surprise to local officials, who said they often got hundreds of responses to every job opening.

"This is a timber area and we hadn't been cutting trees for years," said state Sen. Chris Telfer, R-Bend. "It really ticked off a lot of people here."

In a report on the investigation this week, the Department of Labor's Inspector General found that contractors who brought in foreign workers violated no laws or regulations, but used legal loopholes to hire foreign workers.

While legal, the hiring practices appear to violate the spirit and purpose of the $840 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as the stimulus, which was designed to create jobs that would jumpstart the country out of recession.

"The goal of the stimulus bill was to put Americans back to work, not foreign nationals," said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., who asked for the investigation in September 2010.

"It is obscene that U.S. companies were rewarded for abusing our American workers and immigration laws to undercut competition and squeeze more profits out of contracts," DeFazio said. "Oregonians have been logging for over a century, our workforce is one of the best in the world, and these contracts should have been awarded to companies that hire Oregon loggers."

The federal investigation looked at 14 contracts to clear federal forests in central Oregon. The contracts were controlled by four Oregon companies: Medford Cutting Edge Forestry, Summitt Forestry, Ponderosa Reforestations, and G.E. Forestry. All hired foreign workers, according to the report, though they didn't all handle hiring in the same way.

The contractors applied for H-2B visas allowing them to hire workers for seasonal jobs, according to the report. In order to get clearance, contractors must prove the jobs can't be filled with local residents and that pay won't dilute local prevailing wages.

But there is a loophole. Under federal rules, notice of the job openings must be made where the job "originates." And while the bulk of the work took place in Oregon, smaller jobs originated in other states.

According to reports by The Bend Bulletin, which revealed the foreign hires in a series of stories last year that triggered DeFazio's call for an investigation, contractors advertised the jobs in tiny newspapers in California and Washington state for several days.

"Employers were not required to recruit U.S. workers in Oregon, and we were provided no evidence that they did," federal investigators said. "Workers in Oregon were likely unaware that these job opportunities were available."

In fact, although 146 U.S. workers were contacted for possible employment, investigators found that none was hired.

Contractors used another regulation to dampen response from Oregon residents, the report said. The visa regulations allowed the contractors to do all their hiring four months before work started. That made unemployed workers who needed jobs immediately reluctant to commit to temporary jobs four months later.

Despite the barriers, 29 U.S. workers learned of the jobs and asked about employment. The report did not say if they were from Oregon.

"We verified with the employers that none of these workers actually began employment with them," the report says.

The reason?

"We spoke with two workers who reported that the employer used discouraging language, such as references to age and inquiries about speaking another language, which are not valid conditions of employment," the report says.

The report does not address the nationality of the workers who were hired.

As required, the employers also notified state workforce agencies of the openings. But just as with obscure newspaper ads, the state postings were far-afield, with the notices sent to Arizona, California, Idaho, Washington and Wyoming.

The Labor Department did not respond to a request for comment, but agency officials have announced plans to revise regulations dealing with H-2B visas.

Congress is likely to act, too. Aides to DeFazio said he is closely monitoring the Labor Department's proposals for fixing the problems and is not ruling out other action. And in the Senate, Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden said he is watching as well.

"Right now there are 14 million job seekers in the U.S. and three million job openings." Wyden said. "Given those numbers, there is absolutely no reason why hard-working Oregonians should be passed over en masse for Oregon jobs in favor of foreign workers."

]

Did your long post change the fact that our tax dollars were wasted on foreign workers???????????? That is what happens when central socialistic planning. The USSR failed because it was socialistic and relied on central planning. The USSA is doing the same thing now. Only difference is that you defend the United Socialistic States of America.

BTW, I never heard of Oregonlive.com. I certainly did not know it was right wing. I did not think anything in Oregon was anything but left wing.

You seem to know so much about this source. Do you know of any good libertarian sources in Oregon?

Don't you get it again ? The corruption you hate was in the private sector, where you think the private sector can do no wrong.

I said nothing about the site being right or left wing. I ask how many right wing Emails you get weekly ?

[Hawk]

Yea Bill, just Bush did it.....

"Obama Gives BIG Pharma More of Your Money!


Source: Health & Healing, March 2011 issue

By, Julian Whitaker, MD

Incredibly, our government has decided to give taxpayer money, lots of money, to Big Pharma. As reported in The New York Times, "The Obama administration has become so concerned about the slowing pace of new drugs coming out of the pharmaceutical industry that officials have decided to start a billion-dollar government drug development center to help create medicinces. " Let's get some facts on the table.

1. The large drug companies are cash cows. According to Fortune 500 rankings, their mean profit margin is about 20 percent, compared to an 8 percent average across all industries.

2. The pharmaceutical industry makes the most dangerous products on the planet. Prescription meds are our fourth leading cause of death, and some of them have unthinkable side effects. Psychiatric drugs, for instance, have been linked to countless suicides, school shootings, and other bizarre acts of violence, such as mothers killing their own children.

3. These companies have limited liability for damages caused by their products. For example, if your child develops autism after receiving dozens of required inoculations, you'll have to sue the federal government, which has agreed to shoulder vaccine-related liability-with taxpayer money.

4. Big Pharma gets irrational sweetheart deals from the government. For Medicare prescription drug coverage, prices are not negotiable. They can charge the government what ever they want!

5. This industry spend nearly twice as much on advertising as they do on research and development. Direct-to-consumer advertising, which is allowed only in the US and New Zealand, has created unprecedent demand for medications, driven up usage and profits, and corrupted the doctor-patient relationship.

6. The US is broke! Do you really want your children and grand children to work overtime to "help" Big Pharma?"

I'm having trouble finding out what the hell you're talking about.

None of the points have anything to do with Obama. GW made the deal listed in #4.

What "officials" are they talking about ? Government officials ? Pharma officials ?

This is all I could find on the subject:

By Ann Compton
Oct 31, 2011 6:01amObama to Sign Prescription Drug Executive Order
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Using the legal force of an executive order, President Obama is taking action on the health care front as part of his pressure on Congress for action on his jobs plan.

White House officials say at a midday signing ceremony in the Oval Office, the president will address price gouging and the availability of prescription drugs. He will also endorse what he describes as bipartisan legislation awaiting action.

“The shortage of prescription drugs drives up costs, leaves consumers vulnerable to price gouging and threatens our health and safety,” an administration official says.

Obama is to sign “an Executive Order directing the FDA to take action to help further reduce and prevent drug shortages, protect consumers and prevent price gouging. The White House will also announce the President’s support for bipartisan legislation (S. 296 and H.R. 2245) that will give the FDA new tools to prevent drug shortages,” the White House says.

[Hawk]

I used absurdity to point out the stupidity in your posts. In your opinion, what should employers pay their employees?

As I understand it (to lonewolf - that means correct me if I'm wrong) the ratio of company profits to job pay is wider than it has been since prior to the Great Depression.

[lonewolf]

I used absurdity to point out the stupidity in your posts. In your opinion, what should employers pay their employees?

As I understand it (to lonewolf - that means correct me if I'm wrong) the ratio of company profits to job pay is wider than it has been since prior to the Great Depression.

Thats mostly just high-visibility gigacompanies. Most small to midrange companies are not nearly as bad.

In a free society, its nobody's business but the shareholders'.

[RobTheDrummer]

Here's a question:

So where does it end anyway? How much government is too much? How much is too little? What is just right, in your opinion?

[songsmith]

Did your long post change the fact that our tax dollars were wasted on foreign workers???????????? That is what happens when central socialistic planning.

Did you even notice that the FedGov handed out monies to the state (at that state's request, they didn't exactly return it) THE STATE disbursed those funds to PRIVATE BUSINESSES, who then hired FOREIGN (read CHEAPER) labor? Do you know WHY they did that? Obviously, we have to consult our business and finance guru here, but I'm guessing that when you buy labor cheap and sell it at a higher price, that's called PROFIT, otherwise known as "right-wing patriotism."
Did the fact that your anti-socialist repost turn out to highlight the faults of state disbursement and corporate dirty pool change the fact that our tax dollars were wasted on foreign workers? Spin fail.

[songsmith]

Here's a question:

So where does it end anyway? How much government is too much? How much is too little? What is just right, in your opinion?

This is possibly the best question ever asked of the small-government-types here. I can't wait for the responses.

[Banned]

I ask how many right wing Emails you get weekly ?

None. Why would I, I am not a right winger. How many communist emails do you get weekly?