The citizens of this country are slowly sinking into the abyss from joblessness and this is what you're focusing on...and evidenced by this article you have zero support from the other side of the aisle...
WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats launched on Wednesday a new effort for comprehensive immigration reform, even though they so far have no Republican support for a bill that would allow some undocumented immigrants to gain legal status.
"Right now going down, figuratively, this long corridor of doors of the offices of Republican senators, and I'm trying every door to see if one door will open, and one senator will step forward and join us," said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).
Although Durbin, along with bill author Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and co-sponsor Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), acknowledged the tough odds of getting immigration reform through the Senate -- much less a Republican-controlled House -- they said it was important to offer a vehicle.
Really Senators... is this the best use of your time...? Something where at this point in time there is absolutely no political will, to make this happen. The Dream Act was just defeated a few months back...and that should have been an easy one. I mean seriously, when Democrats had the House and the Senate you couldn't get it done...so what makes you think it's going to happen now?
Let's look at some numbers...
Unemployment numbers that is...
Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey
Series Id: LNS14000003
Seasonally Adjusted
Series title: (Seas) Unemployment Rate - White
Labor force status: Unemployment rate
Type of data: Percent or rate
Age: 16 years and over
Race: White
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual
2011 8.0 8.0 7.9 8.0 8.0
Series Id: LNS14000006
Seasonally Adjusted
Series title: (Seas) Unemployment Rate - Black or African American
Labor force status: Unemployment rate
Type of data: Percent or rate
Age: 16 years and over
Race: Black or African American
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual
2011 15.7 15.3 15.5 16.1 16.2
Series Id: LNS14000009
Seasonally Adjusted
Series title: (Seas) Unemployment Rate - Hispanic or Latino
Labor force status: Unemployment rate
Type of data: Percent or rate
Age: 16 years and over
Ethnic origin: Hispanic or Latino
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual
2011 11.9 11.6 11.3 11.8 11.9
Series Id: LNU05026645
Not Seasonally Adjusted
Series title: (Unadj) Not in Labor Force, Searched For Work and Available, Discouraged Reasons For Not Currently Looking
Labor force status: Not in labor force
Type of data: Number in thousands
Age: 16 years and over
Job desires/not in labor force: Want a job now
Reasons not in labor force: Discouragement over job prospects (Persons who believe no job is available.)
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual
2011 993 1020 921 989 822
Now, looking at the numbers above is illegal immigration something that should be focused on right now with so many out of work and discouraged from looking for employment...my answer to that would be a resounding...No.
Now I'm sure there are some that would disagree...like Mr Guitterez as evidenced here...
In a meeting with bloggers last week, longtime immigrant rights advocate Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) said President Barack Obama should not count on Latinos to vote for him in 2012 unless he takes executive action to stop some deportations.
I wish the guy would make up his mind, just a few months ago he was singing the praises of Obama and his administration
Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., who introduced comprehensive legislation in the House in December and has been critical of the administration for not championing its passage, said he’s convinced the administration is finally taking immigration reform seriously.
“For months we have been demanding that this administration take action and be the lead on comprehensive immigration reform. And then, from the White House, we hear a president that’s committed and assertive and in command and in charge,” he said following the meeting. “So I think this Thursday we’re going to hear the president speak to the nation to have comprehensive immigration reform and why it’s important for him as a president.”
Gutierrez said the president intends to use the speech to outline details of his proposal for addressing the nation’s estimated 10.8 million undocumented immigrants, which is expected to include some form of a conditional path to legal residency.
I find some humor in Mr Guitterez statements, he seems to think that Obama is in possession of a magic wand that can make all issues that have plagued this country for decades go away and make the world a better place...never-mind he has 500 +/- others that have a say in the issue...and if he was in possession of such a wand I could think of at least 50 issues that need to be resolved before immigration reform on the behalf of the American people.
Understandably much of this is just political gamesmanship, to whip the Hispanic electorate in line and secure votes for 2012, ....but here's the thing Democrats held the House and the Senate and they had a opportunity to pass immigration reform they didn't, and again The Dream Act was recently defeated. So, what makes these Democrats on the Hill somehow believe that magically this is going to happen now...it's not...the realty is this is just more kicking the can down the road and not solving problems in this country.
This country doesn't need anymore shuffling of the deck chairs, we need solutions. Real ones
Why not focus on something that is more doable and realistic and my be more important or just as important as jobs to the Hispanic citizens of this country...like education as mentioned here especially with the war being waged on teachers and unions in places like Ohio and Wisconsin
When you make the kind of money these guys make and hold their position, you're supposed to solve problems and make the lives of the average American as hassle free as possible. This relaunch does neither, just more ducking your head in the sand and hoping all the bad things go way.
If you you want to relaunch something, why not relaunch efforts on this:
S.3816 - “Creating American Jobs and Ending Offshoring Act” as sponsored by Senator Durbin was designed to encourage employers to hire Americans. The bill included tax incentives such as a payroll tax holiday for companies that move jobs back to the United States and would have limited deductions and tax credits for companies who opted to move jobs offshore.
In my mind that has to be the best piece of legislation to come out of Congress in at least 20 years. I would think with some tweaking, you could more support for it start with whipping what I now call the corrupt moron brigade into shape.
Today, Senate Democrats tried to bring the Creating American Jobs and Ending Offshoring Act, which would give “companies…that shift overseas jobs to the U.S.” a special payroll tax holiday, to the floor for a full vote. Yet thanks to a united Republican filibuster and the defection of a handful of Democratic caucus senators — Max Baucus (MT), Ben Nelson (NE), Jon Tester (MT), Mark Warner (VA), and Joe Lieberman (CT) — the Democrats failed to achieve cloture and were unable to bring the bill up for a vote.
“Sanders: Chamber Would Rather Have Companies Pay Vietnamese 20 Cents An Hour Than Hire Americans“, by Zaid Jilani on Sep 28th, 2010
I would think if you could bring the moron brigade in line and some tax code magic you could bring some Republicans to the trough if it meant bring jobs back on shore...especially with the right messaging.
And while I'm on this subject what is the point of immigration reform and can we stop it with the guest worker meme...no matter how I slice these so called guest worker programs, as a descendant of slaves and share croppers, all I see is slavery, legalized chattel slavery and all attempts of that should be stopped.
It's just more of one class of people shitting on another. Ask yourself this... do you really want to see another migrant worker wiping his rear with his hand because he's scared to take a bathroom break, because he's getting paid by the piece and in turn spreading salmonella or some other infectious disease or another mother having her baby in the field all because you want cheap produce or more Indian workers holed up in a single apartment existing on curry and rice, working for a third less, all so Microsoft can make Office 2012 prettier ...is it worth it.
I'm not for amnesty, break the law and you should pay the price, jail or fine...we already jail enough in this country so make them pay a substantial fine, allow them to pay it off over a set amount of time.
But get away from the legalized slavery, this country was built on enslaved and exploited labor, it's time for it to stop. That's why I'm glad to see this stroke of right wing genius in Georgia failed. attempt to further exploit African Americans and the poor in their respective communities.
Conditions in the field are bruising, and the probationers didn't seem to know what to expect. Cucumber plants hug the ground, forcing the workers to bend over, push aside the large leaves and pull them from the vine. Unlike the Mexican and Guatemalan workers, the probationers didn't wear gloves to protect their hands from the small but prickly thorns on the vines and sandpaper-rough leaves.
The harvesters carried filled buckets on their shoulders to a nearby flatbed truck and hoisted them up to a dumper, who tossed the vegetables into a bin.
Temperatures hovered in the low 90s with heavy humidity Thursday, but taking off a shirt to relieve the heat invited a blistering sunburn. Tiny gnats flew into workers' eyes and ears. One experienced Latino worker carried a machete that he used to dispatch a rattlesnake found in the fields.
By law, each worker must earn minimum wage, or $7.25 an hour. But there's an incentive system. Harvesters get a green ticket worth 50 cents every time they dump a bucket of cucumbers. If they collect more than 15 tickets an hour, they can beat minimum wage.
The Latino workers moved furiously Thursday for the extra pay.
In todays society no one should have to work under those conditions for that little amount of money...it ridiculous, and all it does is continue to enable rich elite, to take advantage of the poor and unfortunate. It's lunacy.
There's really no need in the 21st century for that kind of work environment....everything that's grown in the ground, can be harvested by automation and if automation is not available, I'm sure John Deere can make it so, with enough interest. If they want to stay in business they need to make the investment and stop with the exploitation.
We have to demand more from our politicians and quit letting them engage in wasteful circle jerks that are an insult to a thinking persons intelligence.
It's time for realistic solutions, get America back to work and save the sideshow distractions for another time...