|
Immigration Explosion
Coming to America
IMMIGRATION TODAY RIVALS THE INFLUX OF A CENTURY AGO
BY ROD6ER DOYLE, Scientific American, June 05
The current wave of immigration, which rivals the
massive influx of 1880-1914, started with the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. Since then, about 27 million legal
immigrants have crossed the border. In addition, an estimated 10.3 million illegal ones live in the U.S. The net result
is that, as of 2004, there were 34.2 million foreign-born residents in the country. More than half are from Latin America
and about a quarter from Asia, which contrasts with the pre-World War I period, when the foreign-born were overwhelmingly
European.
Today's surge, like
its predecessor, is profoundly affecting the culture and economics of the U.S., particularly in southern Florida, southern
California and the New York metropolitan area. In 2004 the foreign-born accounted for 11.3 percent of the population,
and at their present rate of increase, this figure could exceed the record of 14.6 percent in 1890. The foreign-born
now account for half the growth of the U.S. population.
One reason that the
U.S. draws immigrants is the long-standing shortage of native-born workers. Too few Americans are acquiring scientific
and engineering skills: of the foreign-born, 3.3 percent of those 18 years of age and older hold higher degrees, such as Ph.D.s
and J.D.s, compared with 2.2 percent of the native-born population. At the ame time, the native-born shun many manual jobs. Farm labor, for
instance, is largely foreign-born. Several California industries, such as apparel and construction, depend almost exclusively
on immigrant workers. [Both propositions are shit on a stick. For one thing, the brain drain to this country can
and has always existed even with strict immigration quotas. The immigration laws have always given special considerations
to those with needed technicalskills. Secondly, with decent wages there was no shortage of native born farm workers
and trash collectors in the 1950s--jk.]
Another stimulus
to immigration is U.S. involvement abroad, which has led to waves of migrants from South Korea, Vietnam, Cuba and other countries.
Other triggers include civil conflict, as in Colombia, and hard times, as in the former Soviet countries.
Although some immigrants
are a burden on the welfare system, as a group they pay far more in taxes than they receive in government benefits, such
as public education and social services. A National Academy of Sciences study in 1997 found that immigrants had little
impact on the earnings of U.S.-born Americans, except for unskilled jobs, where native-born high school dropouts found their
wages going down because of competition from unskilled immigrants. According to the National Foreign Intelligence Board,
an advisory body to the Central Intelligence Agency, the more liberal immigration policies of the U.S. have given
it a competitive edge over Europe and Japan in industries such as information technology.
Rodger Doyle can be reached at rdoyle2@adelphia.net "
Our government listens to the business community
especially the Business Roundtable. They want an expanding and cheap pool of labor, which they got. It
was under Reagan that the enforcement of immigration laws became inordinately slack-, and since then the number of illegals
has increased nearly 4 fold.--jk
|
|
For a collection of articles on the last 2 stolen elections, plus the election in Mexico
#211 Section on stolen elections
Dishonorable
Mention
Chester Trent Lott
Sr. (born October 9, 1941) is a United States Senator from Mississippi and a member of the Republican Party. He served as Senate Majority Leader from 1996 to June 6, 2001, interrupted only by a brief period in January 2001, during which he held
the position of Senate Minority Leader. After Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont left the Republican Party to become an independent in June 2001, giving
the Democrats control of the Senate, Lott served as Minority Leader until his resignation from that position in December 2002 due to controversial
remarks. The remark in praise of Senator Strom Thurmond, an open racist, highlighted Lott’s own racist voting record. From 1981 to 1989 he was also a House Minority Whip. As Majority Leader
he played a prominate role in the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton.
David Bruce Vitter
(born May 3, 1961) is an American Republican politician, currently serving as the junior U.S. Senator from Louisiana. He is known for his opposition
to same-sex marriage and his support of abstenance sex education. . Vitter won a special election to Louisiana's 1st Congressional District in 1999, succeeding Republican
Congressman Bob Livingston, who resigned after an adultery scandal. Vitter in July of 2007 was
identified as a client of "D.C. Madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey's escort service in Washington, D.C. Vitter appeared
with his wife on television following this revelation. She stated that she forgave him.
New inductees into the Ethics Hall
of Shame:
Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa
Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W-Va)
Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Ca)
Updated June of 08
http://www.cleanupwashington.org/hos/ is a site dedicated
to the corruption and malfeasance of our congressional leaders.
Listed there with details
are Tom DeLay, Randal Duke Cunningham, Bob Ney, Richard Pombo, Conrad Burns, William Jefferson, and Jack Abramoff.
http://www.multiline.com.au/~johnm/religion/spurious.htm, about various bible sources, their lack of agreement
http://nofreelunch.org/reqreading.htm about drug companies influencing medical decisions.
Senator Ted Stevens (born November 18, 1923) who has served since 1968 was convicted on 7 counts
contected to handling of public funds.
From wikipedia.org:
On July 29, 2008 Stevens was indicted
by a federal grand jury on seven counts of failing to properly report gifts and found guilty at trial three months later (October
27, 2008). The charges relate to renovations to his home and alleged gifts from
VECO Corporation, claimed to be worth more than $250,000. The indictment followed a lengthy investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for possible corruption into Alaskan politicians and was based on his relationship
with Bill Allen. Allen, then an oil service company executive, had earlier pled guilty, with sentencing suspended pending
his cooperation in gathering evidence and giving testimony in other trials, to bribing several Alaskan state legislators,
including a disputed claim about Stevens' son, former State Senator Ben Stevens. Stevens declared, "I'm innocent," and pled
not guilty to the charges in a federal district court on July 31, 2008. Stevens asserted his right to a speedy trial so that
he could have the opportunity to promptly clear his name and requested that the trial be held before the 2008 election.
Home Remodeling and VECO
May 29, 2007, the Anchorage
Daily News reported that the FBI and a federal grand jury were investigating an "extensive" remodeling project at Stevens'
home in Girdwood. Stevens' Alaska home was raided by the FBI and IRS on July 30, 2007.
The remodeling work doubled the size of the modest home. Public records show that the house was 2,471 square feet
(230 m2) after the remodeling and that the property was valued at $271,300 in 2003, including a $5,000 increase
in land value. The remodel in 2000 was organized by Bill Allen, a founder of
the VECO Corporation, an oil-field service company and has been estimated to have cost VECO and the various contractors $250,000 or more. However, the residential contractor who finished the renovation for VECO, Augie Paone,
"believes the [Stevens'] remodeling could have cost ― if all the work was done efficiently ― around $130,000 to
$150,000, close to the figure Stevens cited last year.” In June, the Anchorage
Daily News reported that a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., heard evidence in May about the expansion of Stevens'
Girdwood home and other matters connecting Stevens to VECO. In mid-June, FBI agents questioned several
aides who work for Stevens as part of the investigation.[64] In July, Washingtonian magazine reported that Stevens had hired "Washington’s most powerful and expensive lawyer", Brendan Sullivan Jr., in
response to the investigation. In 2006, during wiretapped conversations with
Bill Allen, Stevens expressed worries over potential misunderstandings and legal complications arising from the sweeping federal
investigations into Alaskan politics. On the witness stand, "Allen testified
that VECO staff who had worked on his own house had charged 'way too much,' leaving him uncertain how much to invoice Stevens for
when he had his staff work on the senator's house ... that he would be embarrassed to bill Stevens for overpriced labor on
the house, and said he concealed some of the expense."
Bob Penney
In September, The Hill reported that Stevens had "steered millions of
federal dollars to a sportfishing industry group founded by Bob Penney, a longtime friend". In 1998, Stevens invested 15,000
in a Utah land deal managed by Penney; in 2004, Stevens sold his share of the property for $150,000.
Guilty verdict
On October 27, 2008, Stevens was
found guilty of all seven charges against him. He is the fifth sitting senator ever to be convicted by a jury in U.S. history,
and the first since Senator Harrison A William. (D-NJ) in 1981. His sentingcing
hearing is scheduled for Feb. 25. However, FBI Agent Chad in February 2009 filed a whistleblower
affidavit concerning gross government misconduct (FBI sending back to Alaska a witness who would have undercut their
case and other exculpatory materials were withheld), This was addressed in a hearing on Feb. 13. At
the hearing the Judge Sullivan held the prosecutors in contempt for failing to deliver documents to Steven's legal counsel.
If there lips are moving they are lying (said of politician)
To understand developments in our political system
(both parties) one must understand the role of neoliberalism. Any analysis which
misses this connection is grossly inadequate. (Neocons follow neoliberalism economic
policies).
We have an evil, evil system. Words such as imperialism, greed, corporate greed, neoliberalism, neoconservate, globalism, bought politicians,
control of media are descriptive. There are reasons why the labor movement
has collapsed. It is the politics of neoliberalism, an out growth of corporate
greed. Given how it opposes the public weal, we have devoted a section to expose
just what neoliberalism is—a thing that the five corporations which own broadcasting will not do.
THE BRINK OF ECONOMIC COLLAPSE
Things have gotten worse, the hole the neocons has dug
is much deeper. The economic stats are worse than bad: the trend is toward greater disparity of wealth and on top of that the U.S. is loaded with debt and imbalance of trade. The debt can through fiscal austerity can be paid off (as some of it was under Clinton), but the
trade imbalance will only grow due to the dismantling of are industrial base and the setting up of free trade agreements such
as NAFTA. The current foreign debt
is equaled to over 70% of GDP, a ratio unmatched by far among industrialized nations.
To find out what economics is called the dismal science and the role of neoliberalism.
|