• Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for July 30th on 14:01

    These are my links for July 30th from 14:01 to 21:24:

  • American Debt Linit,  American Economy

    The White House and GOP Have Reached a Tentative Deal on the Debt Limit

    According to ABC News.

    ABC News has learned that Republicans and the White House have struck a tenative deal to raise the debt ceiling before the Aug. 2 deadline. It’s not done yet, but here is the framework of the tentative deal they have worked out, according to a source familiar with the negotiations:

        Debt ceiling increase of up to $2.8 trillion
        Spending cuts of roughly $1 trillion
        Vote on the Balanced Budget Amendment
        Special committee to recommend cuts of $1.8 trillion (or whatever it takes to add up to the total of the debt ceiling increase)
        Committee must make recommendations before Thanksgiving recess
        If Congress does not approve those cuts by late December, automatic across-the-board cuts go into effect, including cuts to Defense and Medicare.

    A senior White House aide pushed back against the idea that a deal was struck.

    “Talks continue, but there is no deal to report,” the aide said.

    There is some push back from Democrats and Republicans on Twitter.

    Senate majority leader Harry Reid has postponed a vote on his plan in the Senate until 1 PM (EDT) tomorrow.

    Stay tuned…..

  • E-Verify,  Illegal Immigration

    Farmers Opposing GOP Sponsored E-Verify Legislation



    Mexican-American farm workers harvest broccoli March 12, 2009 near El Centro, California


    This is NOT really a shocker.

    Farmers across the country are rallying to fight a Republican-sponsored bill that would force them and all other employers to verify the legal immigration status of their workers, a move some say could imperil not only future harvests but also the agricultural community’s traditional support for conservative candidates.

    The bill was proposed by Representative Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican who is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. It would require farmers — who have long relied on a labor force of immigrants, a majority here without legal documents — to check all new hires through E-Verify, a federal database run by the Department of Homeland Security devised to ferret out illegal immigrants.

    Farm laborers, required like other workers to show that they are authorized to take jobs in the United States, often present Social Security numbers and some form of picture ID. Employers, many of them labor contractors providing crews to farms, have not been required to check the information and are discouraged by antidiscrimination laws from looking at it too closely. But it is an open secret that many farmworkers’ documents are false.

    Supporters of E-Verify, an electronic system that is currently mandatory for most federal contractors but voluntary for other employers, argue that it would eliminate any doubt about workers’ legal status. But farmers say it could cripple a $390 billion industry that relies on hundreds of thousands of willing, low-wage immigrant workers to pick, sort and package everything from avocados to zucchini.

    “This would be an emergency, a dire, dire situation,” said Nancy Foster, president of the U.S. Apple Association, adding that the prospect of an E-Verify check would most likely mean that many immigrant workers would simply not show up. “We will end up closing down.”

    You know, California agricultural interests have been getting a subsidized ride for decades in using illegal immigrations, primarily from Mexico, for harvesting their crops. Crops which pay them BIG MONEY.

    Here is how it works.

    The illegal immigrations who are migrant and with no papers are allowed to use either forged “Green Card” documents or NO documents in order to work in the fields for below market wages or at least really low wages for back-breaking hard manual labor. They receive in some cases housing and very little in the way of employee benefits that most of us receive. This all to the benefit of the wealth land owners and often corporate agricutural interests.

    They can sell their crops for a cheaper price but, of course, their profit is good – very good.

    When these illegal folks need health care or education for their children (who are born here as American citizens), the government provides them – not the employer.

    In a May letter to the members of the Judiciary Committee, Bob Stallman, the president of the American Farm Bureau, cited a Labor Department survey placing the percentage of illegal workers in the fields at more than 50 percent. Other groups say the figure is closer to 70 percent. Denying farmers that labor supply, Mr. Stallman wrote, would cost them $5 billion to $9 billion annually.

    Mr. Smith’s bill has attracted more solid support from nonagricultural business leaders, opening a divide between them and agricultural interests. Many nonfarm businesses have concluded that some form of employee verification is inevitable.

    National organizations of restaurant owners and home builders gave their backing. The San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which unites Latino businesses in Mr. Smith’s district that have often been at odds with him, is leaning toward endorsing the bill, said Ramiro A. Cavazos, the president of the chamber.

    It is time for the Congress to pass E-Verify and end the BIG subsidy to the agricultural interests. If they cannot staff their fields with LEGAL workers, then they have some remedies.

    One remedy would be increased mechanism and efficiency in the fields. Maybe if illegal immigrants did not work in the fields at such low wages, the AG interests would invest in machines to do the harvesting without the back-breaking labor.

    Also, the Agricultural folks could seek Guest-Worker legislation in the Congress that identifies and returns workers to their country of origin after a period of time of working in the United States. Costs associated by these workers would be paid up front by the AG interests. Children born of these workers in the United States would NOT be considered native born citizens (although there might be a time consuming Constituional issue here) and would have to return with their parents after a period of time.

    The prospects of a E-Verify mandate passing in the House this year is good. In the Democrat controlled Senate, not so good and I am positive President Obama would veto the legislation anyway.

    Then, there is the pressure from the AG interests on the Republicans.

    Mr. Smith’s E-Verify bill also includes a three-year grace period before growers would have to comply. But such caveats have done little to quell opposition from farm groups, who have been pleading for years for an overhaul to allow a legal immigrant work force.

    And that discontent could manifest itself in elections, farm representatives warn.

    “Most of our folks are Republicans,” said Paul Wenger, the president of the California Farm Bureau. “But if the Republicans do this to them without a workable worker program, it will change their voting patterns or at very least their involvement in politics.”

    Democrat and Republican Members of Congress have turned a blind eye to illegal immigration and agriculture for decades, since before World War II. Money talks in politics and the AG folks spread their money around and have donated a lot to Republicans.

    But, American voters understand that these farming companies are prospering to the detriment of the taxpayer and we now have huge social/financial costs dealing with the generations of illegal immigrants that have been allowed to come into this country.

    The time to enforce immigration law is long past.

    Unfortunately, it will not occur with mandatory E-Verify until after the 2012 Presidential election or even 2016, if Obama is re-elected President.

  • Day By Day,  Election 2012

    Day By Day July 30, 2011 – Principles Balance



    Day By Day by Chris Muir

    The American public are sick of the discourse coming from DC on the debt-limit crisis. They are saying a POX to all of the incumbents – both Democrats and Republicans.

    Americans are finally understanding that the POLS in Washington and their state Capitols are addicted to spending. They also understand that the debt is ruining this country.

    The 2012 election WILL be the intervention.

    Previous:

    The Day By Day Archive

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for July 30th on 05:00

    These are my links for July 30th from 05:00 to 11:03:

  • Twitter

    @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-07-30

    • Heartland Dental Care Grows to 305 Offices Nationwide http://bit.ly/nsE3P6 #
    • California Citizen’s Redistricting Commission Releases Final Ventura County Congressional District Map http://bit.ly/qN45uq #tcot #catcot #
    • California’s Online Marketers Hit Hard by Amazon Internet Sales Taxes | Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog http://bit.ly/qscZzg #
    • DOCUMENT: Latest Versions of Boehner, Reid Bills – National Journal Staff – NationalJournal.com http://bit.ly/ol7TcB #
    • Flap's Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: July 29, 2011 http://bit.ly/rm27al #
    • Flap’s Links and Comments for July 29th on 07:59 http://bit.ly/ntvYqX #tcot #catcot #
    • @Wodego Or send NO bill at all and live within our means #
    • Hey #TeaParty folks latch onto @BarackObama and Tweet the fine GOP Sens and Reps to VOTE No on Boehner and Reid #tcot #
    • RT @JRubinBlogger: @thehill obama at this point is pathetically trying to inject himself. #
    • California’s Online Marketers Hit Hard by Amazon Internet Sales Taxes http://bit.ly/necsBA #tcot #catcot #
    • If House GOP #TeaParty Caucus members think the revised Boehner Plan w/ BBA will insulate them from a primary challenge = think again #tcot #
    • U.S. Capitol switchboard on overload = antiquated system anyway. As long as Twitter and GMail don't go down -GOP Reps will get the message #
    • RT @nationaljournal: National Journal has obtained the latest version of the Boehner bill. READ: http://njour.nl/pHcwrN #
    • The Morning Drill: July 29, 2011 http://bit.ly/pIPZUk #
    • Club for Growth selling out the #TeaParty Caucus with BBA amendment tied to the Boehner Plan says fox News – Bleh #
    • @Wodego then the bill goes back to the Senate and is tabled again. So, why bother with the Boehner Plan with BBA? in reply to Wodego #
    • Is @JeffFlake flaking out and supporting Boehner because of the BBA. Just say NO Jeff #
    • A Balanced Budget Amendment as a sweetener in the Boehner Plan is so much BULL – Reid will merely strip it out – come on House GOP get real #
    • Poll Watch: American Public Schools Have Near Record-Low Confidence http://bit.ly/mWtLX6 #tcot #catcot #
    • @jameskhedley Did you watch the presser? I wouldn't call that type of lecturing leadership. Obama has no plan and no leadership on the issue in reply to jameskhedley #
    • Obama delivers another campaign address and news update but nothing more = standard #
    • @jameskhedley I don't want or need a lecture. I desire leadership = what the President is meant to do. It is lacking in Obama in reply to jameskhedley #
    • Again, Obama lectures, updates the debt limit news and offers NO specific plan. Another typical Obama exercise #
    • Is Obama giving a news update or what? #
    • Obama going on air to lecture the House GOP and the American voters again #
    • Obama to say: Happy Friday everyone – I am going to the links – oh and buy gold. #
    • Just what we need: another Obama speech and lecture #tcot #
    • Day By Day July 29, 2011 – Skin Job http://bit.ly/n00rFD #tcot #catcot #
    • The House GOP Leadership should just pull the Boehner Plan and move on to other business. Let Reid try to get his plan through the Senate #
    • Dingy Harry will file cloture on his debt limit plan this evening if Boehner Plan does not move. Fine his plan is DOA in the House. #
    • Harry Reid ridiculing House GOP Leadership on floor of the Senate – OK Harry, House GOP should DEFEAT Boehner Plan – vote on your plan #tcot #
    • Why the Boehner Debt Limit Plan MUST Fail http://bit.ly/p9V1X1 #tcot #catcot #
    • Flap’s Links and Comments for July 28th through July 29th http://bit.ly/oSaUTU #tcot #catcot #
    • @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-07-29 | Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog http://bit.ly/nj5ezb #
    • Flap’s Links and Comments for July 28th on 20:53 | Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog http://bit.ly/ot8QVI #
    • @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-07-29 http://bit.ly/pDyS8V #tcot #catcot #
    • Ron Paul: "Default Is Coming" http://bit.ly/pIt356 #
    • We've Been Played for Saps, Folks: Boehner Bill Will Become Reid Bill http://bit.ly/qJ237g #
    • Debt ceiling vote postponed by Boehner, who will try again Friday http://politi.co/qXz2Ag #
    • Flap’s Links and Comments for July 28th on 20:53 http://bit.ly/q0aesr #tcot #catcot #
    • Flap’s Links and Comments for July 28th on 10:37 http://bit.ly/pOoh35 #tcot #catcot #

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