Over the years we’ve discussed the complicated issue of immigration. This article is well worth the time spent reading it. It begins with the fact we all learned recently — nearly four hundred Olympians who this year represented other countries went to school in the U.S., and many other foreign athletes live and train here — and shows that isn’t a phenomenon confined to the Olympics. It discusses U. S. immigration policy which makes it difficult for highly skilled immigrants to stay and work here. Results of several studies are presented showing how keeping these highly skilled, American taught, motivated immigrants would strengthen our economy.
(from the link): Since the nineteen-sixties, U.S. immigration policy has been designed to encourage the immigration of family members rather than of skilled workers. In 1990, the number of employment-based permanent visas was capped at a hundred and forty thousand a year. Astonishingly, that number hasn’t changed since, even though the U.S. economy is now sixty-six per cent bigger, and, with the rise of India and China, the supply of global talent has grown sharply. We also cap the visa allocation for each country, regardless of size, at seven per cent of the total number of visas, so only a fraction of the applications from China and India get approved. (The number of temporary work visas is also capped, at eighty-five thousand a year.) As of 2006, according to one study, more than half a million highly skilled immigrants were waiting for permanent visas, and the backlog in some visa categories was decades long. Other countries, meanwhile, have positioned themselves to benefit from the talent we’re turning away. Australia allows in almost as many skilled workers annually as the U.S., despite having a fraction of the population, and Canada has aggressively courted the highly skilled, nearly quadrupling the percentage of permanent visas it grants for employment.
Today is the 49 year anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It was one of the largest political rallies for human rights in United States history and called for civil and economic rights for African Americans. It took place in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, August 28, 1963. Martin Luther King, Jr., standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech advocating racial harmony during the march.
Humans. Doing the same things, over and over, for eons. And somehow, very little changes and what does change, does so slowly enough that it appears, from generation to generation, not to have changed much at all.
Oh, what I’d give for the optimism of the sixties or even the oblivion of the seventies before we knew the eighties would bring the wrath of reagan and it’s aftermath.
This was in 1963? The Mormon Church did not even recognize blacks as leaders in their church until 1979. And the guy running for president is a bishop in this Church and has now butt kissed every Fundy Evangelical Christian and Catholic Priest he can find – in order to get votes.
But…….I dont’ remember Romney kissing up to any black leaders in any group – has he?
And the guy running for president is a bishop in this Church and has now butt kissed every Fundy Evangelical Christian and Catholic Priest he can find – in order to get votes. ( there is some reassuring about that though. He is about as sincere about any of it as some one you pay to say I love you.
Change is not always up to the brave… it is not always up to the masses…Change is only up to one person and that person is when you finally say enough is enough and no more of that!
Rosa Parks comes to mind. Harvey Milk comes to mind. Cesar Chavez comes to mind. I’m sure there are many more. But they were each only one person who said “basta!”
I watched this interview on CBS News this morning. I had a miscarriage – so I know what all that entails. But the more Ann Romney talked, the more I got the feeling that this woman is something else.
And then when Mitt said that he had not even heard this story about their youngest son – Ann said he was about 10 or 11 yrs old at the time – and I really just sat there and asked myhuband – is this woman for real?
I’ve been in the Fundy Chrch crowds before – and this kind of story is exactly what these people eat up like cotton candy.
But – on so many levels – I have to ask – if the youngest son was that emotionally upset about the lost baby – then his own Dad did not know about until NOW??
This entire scenario that Ann Romney painted made me think about the story of Barbara Bush showing that fetus in the jar to George W. Bush – and this is when GWB became passionately pro-life.
Or the reported story about the Santorums taking their dead baby home with them to be with the other children and their family.
I realize that everybody grieves in their own way – but a theme is running through these stories – that Pro Life supporters just love to hear…..and that is what bothers me.
Besides – if Republicans get their way on legislating women’s health rights – any miscarriage would be viewed as an abortion – wouldn’t it? And wouldn’t those women be put under scrutiny?
Or do certain ‘right’ women get a free pass?
I remember my miscarriage – it was horrible. I also remember the medical term that was used on the medical record – a spontaneous abortion.
Hearing stories likes the one Ann Romney told makes me feel uneasy……not because of the subject. But because, if it is only being used to gain political points – then doesn’t that cheapen the sanctity of life?
Certain ‘right’ women have always been given a pass. Everyone knows that, everyone except the willfully ignorant acknowledge it.
Women of means have always had safe abortions with doctors in attendance in a place that is clean. They were called something different.
What about: “An ectopic pregnancy is a pregnancy that occurs outside the womb (uterus). It is a life-threatening condition to the mother. The baby (fetus) cannot survive”? Republicans doom the mother to die even when there is no chance the fetus can survive, and then they proudly brag they are pro-life. Did any of them ever read a science book?
Read the Bible — Numbers 5 is a place to begin the study of abortions in Biblical times by drinking ‘the bitter water.’
Do the smorgasbord evangelicals choose to follow this scripture?
My wife had two “spontaneous abortions” (which I understand to be the medically correct term). The first was somewhat traumatic, the second less so. IMHO, this is NOT a subject for political points, but hey, what do I know?
When I had a miscarriage, the actual loss of the baby was termed a spontaneous abortion. The procedure the doctor performed when he took me to surgery was the D & C – Dilation and Curretage (sp?) . This was done to make sure that everything had been removed and to ‘clean me out’ as my doctor told me in laymans’ terms.
I was rather taken back when I saw the medical records and the terms spontaneous abortion was written in black and white.
But then, I had alot of bleeding at home before getting to the hospital – so maybe, if there is no evidence of a baby, then that is where the spontaneous abortion term comes into play?
This was in 1981……
I msut say, the miscarriage hit me pretty hard. I had just given birth to my son in November of 1980 – and here I was pregnant in July of 1981.
I was on birth control pills – but the dose was too low to be effective.
I learned I was pregnant one day and then less than 10 days later, I miscarried. The hardest part for me was the fact that my mind and body was not ready for another pregnancy. But, by the time I finally got my mind wrapped around the idea of another child coming – BOOM – the miscarriage happened. So – it was traumatic in that sense.
I cannot imagine what my mental state would have been if I had been subjected to some sort of investigation or inquiry as to whether my miscarriage was anything but of natural causes. That – I think – would have made my trauma even worse.
Which is why – I think Republicans go way too far with their extreme views on Pro-Life.
Some things just happen. My doctor told me that my body was not ready for another baby, or there was something wrong with this fertilized egg, so this is Nature’s way of making things right.
And that made sense to me….. Some things are just out of our hands..
Gee, Indy, your first miscarriage sounds very much like my wife’s, with similar trauma. Her second occurred before we knew she was pregnant, so I suspect that made it less traumatic for her. And a big hug to you from someone who was but an observer. You most certainly deserve it.
I know….I know…..this is wrong of me to post. But I just saw this on another blog and it made me laugh.
But – in the spirit of Romney thinking his birther joke was just a littl ehumor in the campaign – I post this joke in the same spirit – just a little humor.
Ryan said to Romney – do you wasnt to out and shar a cole one toniht?
Romney respoleid – I don'[t think Ann is into soemthing like that.
I warned you…….I know this is bad of me to post – but could not resist.
Now I must go pray to the ‘right’ God for forgiveness – because, after all, if we’re not praying to the ‘right’ God – then we’re just wasting our breath because Liberals are all a godless bunch – don’t you know.
This is how far down the tubes politics has taken us….
The guy who is the presumed Republican Presidential nominee in 2012 has not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, but 17 former Bush White House aids/advisers on his campaign staff currently. The guy who is the presumed Republican Presidential nominee in 2012 wants to make America great again by bringing it back to the SAME retreaded Bush policies that WRECKED the country.
One thing to note – after Katrina hit, the federal government gave $14.5 billion to the Army Corp of Engineers to build the necessary pumps, leveees and whatever else is needed to not have another Katrina catastrophe.
Maybe Mother Nature – or Lady Karma – has this lesson in mind for the Republicans in Tampa at their GOP shindig? While these Republicans continue to demonize the ‘evil government’ – the reality will be shown on the split screen as to how the government’s money helped to avoid the catastrophioc damage from 2005.
All those Republicans that think they build something all by themselves (even when they did use government money/programs to start and continue their businesses) – this will be a lesson that some things are not to be looked at the same way a private equity firm such as Bain Capital would look at it.
I doubt very much if any public project like these levees and pumps to the tune of $14.5 billion would be a money-maker for any capitalist – vulture or otherwise.
So – when Republicans demonize the govenrment – let’s remember what the government does do right – and should continue to do right.
P.S. – the guy from the Army Corp of Engineers did state that two administrations gave them the money upfront to do what they needed to do. So, I assume it was Bush and Obama administrations.
This guy also said that what was in place before Katrina hit was a patchwork of levees and pumps – and it was just not adequate.
So – why the patchwork job? I would be interested to know if there was government money appropriated for it and somehow the money got lost on its way to the project?
Kinda like that border fence. California got their fence built but yet Arizona did not get theirs done – why?
Oh, why am I so worried about these ‘you people’ in Romney World. As long as the Corporate Elitist gets what he wants – ‘you people’ should just be grateful for whatever crumbs fall from that infamous cake.
Count on King Rush to come out with another stupid comment. Jeez…wouldn’t you think that one big bag of wind would show another bag of wind (the Hurricane Issac) mutual respect?
As everybody should know – weather forecasting is not exactly 100% accurate.
But, I’m sure King Rush knows this – but his minions don’t know..and don’t care.
And, he promises to give even bigger tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires than Bush2 did. Where are the jobs those tax cuts created? Seems ‘republican thinking’ is the biggest oxymoron!
According to New Hampshire U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte the corporaate tax rate is unfair and Obama is hurting small business. Truth is he has given EIGHTEEN tax cuts for small business while in office.
Confusing, isn’t it? Doesn’t the GOP want the USA to go back its “glory years?”
PrairiePopulistsAndProgressives.net 
The Real Romney Good for a smile.
The best laughs come from satire built around facts. From David Brooks, no less. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Over the years we’ve discussed the complicated issue of immigration. This article is well worth the time spent reading it. It begins with the fact we all learned recently — nearly four hundred Olympians who this year represented other countries went to school in the U.S., and many other foreign athletes live and train here — and shows that isn’t a phenomenon confined to the Olympics. It discusses U. S. immigration policy which makes it difficult for highly skilled immigrants to stay and work here. Results of several studies are presented showing how keeping these highly skilled, American taught, motivated immigrants would strengthen our economy.
(from the link): Since the nineteen-sixties, U.S. immigration policy has been designed to encourage the immigration of family members rather than of skilled workers. In 1990, the number of employment-based permanent visas was capped at a hundred and forty thousand a year. Astonishingly, that number hasn’t changed since, even though the U.S. economy is now sixty-six per cent bigger, and, with the rise of India and China, the supply of global talent has grown sharply. We also cap the visa allocation for each country, regardless of size, at seven per cent of the total number of visas, so only a fraction of the applications from China and India get approved. (The number of temporary work visas is also capped, at eighty-five thousand a year.) As of 2006, according to one study, more than half a million highly skilled immigrants were waiting for permanent visas, and the backlog in some visa categories was decades long. Other countries, meanwhile, have positioned themselves to benefit from the talent we’re turning away. Australia allows in almost as many skilled workers annually as the U.S., despite having a fraction of the population, and Canada has aggressively courted the highly skilled, nearly quadrupling the percentage of permanent visas it grants for employment.
THE TRACK-STAR ECONOMY
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2012/08/27/120827ta_talk_surowiecki
Today is the 49 year anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It was one of the largest political rallies for human rights in United States history and called for civil and economic rights for African Americans. It took place in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, August 28, 1963. Martin Luther King, Jr., standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech advocating racial harmony during the march.
Humans. Doing the same things, over and over, for eons. And somehow, very little changes and what does change, does so slowly enough that it appears, from generation to generation, not to have changed much at all.
Oh, what I’d give for the optimism of the sixties or even the oblivion of the seventies before we knew the eighties would bring the wrath of reagan and it’s aftermath.
This was in 1963? The Mormon Church did not even recognize blacks as leaders in their church until 1979. And the guy running for president is a bishop in this Church and has now butt kissed every Fundy Evangelical Christian and Catholic Priest he can find – in order to get votes.
But…….I dont’ remember Romney kissing up to any black leaders in any group – has he?
Hmmmm……do you think we’ve come very far?
And the guy running for president is a bishop in this Church and has now butt kissed every Fundy Evangelical Christian and Catholic Priest he can find – in order to get votes. ( there is some reassuring about that though. He is about as sincere about any of it as some one you pay to say I love you.
Change is not always up to the brave… it is not always up to the masses…Change is only up to one person and that person is when you finally say enough is enough and no more of that!
Good Point, R.D.
Rosa Parks comes to mind. Harvey Milk comes to mind. Cesar Chavez comes to mind. I’m sure there are many more. But they were each only one person who said “basta!”
Good point R.D. – change starts with the man/woman in the mirror.
I watched this interview on CBS News this morning. I had a miscarriage – so I know what all that entails. But the more Ann Romney talked, the more I got the feeling that this woman is something else.
And then when Mitt said that he had not even heard this story about their youngest son – Ann said he was about 10 or 11 yrs old at the time – and I really just sat there and asked myhuband – is this woman for real?
I’ve been in the Fundy Chrch crowds before – and this kind of story is exactly what these people eat up like cotton candy.
But – on so many levels – I have to ask – if the youngest son was that emotionally upset about the lost baby – then his own Dad did not know about until NOW??
This entire scenario that Ann Romney painted made me think about the story of Barbara Bush showing that fetus in the jar to George W. Bush – and this is when GWB became passionately pro-life.
Or the reported story about the Santorums taking their dead baby home with them to be with the other children and their family.
I realize that everybody grieves in their own way – but a theme is running through these stories – that Pro Life supporters just love to hear…..and that is what bothers me.
Besides – if Republicans get their way on legislating women’s health rights – any miscarriage would be viewed as an abortion – wouldn’t it? And wouldn’t those women be put under scrutiny?
Or do certain ‘right’ women get a free pass?
I remember my miscarriage – it was horrible. I also remember the medical term that was used on the medical record – a spontaneous abortion.
Hearing stories likes the one Ann Romney told makes me feel uneasy……not because of the subject. But because, if it is only being used to gain political points – then doesn’t that cheapen the sanctity of life?
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57501470/ann-romney-speaks-out-on-her-miscarriage-trauma/
Certain ‘right’ women have always been given a pass. Everyone knows that, everyone except the willfully ignorant acknowledge it.
Women of means have always had safe abortions with doctors in attendance in a place that is clean. They were called something different.
What about: “An ectopic pregnancy is a pregnancy that occurs outside the womb (uterus). It is a life-threatening condition to the mother. The baby (fetus) cannot survive”? Republicans doom the mother to die even when there is no chance the fetus can survive, and then they proudly brag they are pro-life. Did any of them ever read a science book?
Read the Bible — Numbers 5 is a place to begin the study of abortions in Biblical times by drinking ‘the bitter water.’
Do the smorgasbord evangelicals choose to follow this scripture?
DNC is what they were called when there was an abortions and not called an abortion.
My wife had two “spontaneous abortions” (which I understand to be the medically correct term). The first was somewhat traumatic, the second less so. IMHO, this is NOT a subject for political points, but hey, what do I know?
When I had a miscarriage, the actual loss of the baby was termed a spontaneous abortion. The procedure the doctor performed when he took me to surgery was the D & C – Dilation and Curretage (sp?) . This was done to make sure that everything had been removed and to ‘clean me out’ as my doctor told me in laymans’ terms.
I was rather taken back when I saw the medical records and the terms spontaneous abortion was written in black and white.
But then, I had alot of bleeding at home before getting to the hospital – so maybe, if there is no evidence of a baby, then that is where the spontaneous abortion term comes into play?
This was in 1981……
I msut say, the miscarriage hit me pretty hard. I had just given birth to my son in November of 1980 – and here I was pregnant in July of 1981.
I was on birth control pills – but the dose was too low to be effective.
I learned I was pregnant one day and then less than 10 days later, I miscarried. The hardest part for me was the fact that my mind and body was not ready for another pregnancy. But, by the time I finally got my mind wrapped around the idea of another child coming – BOOM – the miscarriage happened. So – it was traumatic in that sense.
I cannot imagine what my mental state would have been if I had been subjected to some sort of investigation or inquiry as to whether my miscarriage was anything but of natural causes. That – I think – would have made my trauma even worse.
Which is why – I think Republicans go way too far with their extreme views on Pro-Life.
Some things just happen. My doctor told me that my body was not ready for another baby, or there was something wrong with this fertilized egg, so this is Nature’s way of making things right.
And that made sense to me….. Some things are just out of our hands..
Gee, Indy, your first miscarriage sounds very much like my wife’s, with similar trauma. Her second occurred before we knew she was pregnant, so I suspect that made it less traumatic for her. And a big hug to you from someone who was but an observer. You most certainly deserve it.
Here’s the latest on our wacko part-time Secretary of State —
Kobach likens same-sex unions to drug abuse
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2012/aug/27/kobach-likens-same-sex-unions-drug-abuse/
Kansas. As Bigoted as You Think.
same-sex unions same as drug abuse?
This makes as much sense as that Pennslyvania Republican guy saying that a pregnancy from rape is like haivng a baby out of wedlock.
Clearly – these Republican men just do not get it……
Maybe Women need to use their Neanderthal clubs and hit them upside their head a few times?
Naw……just a good showing at the voting booths across this country in November will be sufficient.
Beginning scene of the new HBO series The Newsroom
Six Ways the GOP Platform is Bad News for Women’s Bottom Line
http://www.forbes.com/sites/brycecovert/2012/08/28/six-ways-the-gop-platform-is-bad-news-for-womens-bottom-line-republican-convention/
I know….I know…..this is wrong of me to post. But I just saw this on another blog and it made me laugh.
But – in the spirit of Romney thinking his birther joke was just a littl ehumor in the campaign – I post this joke in the same spirit – just a little humor.
Ryan said to Romney – do you wasnt to out and shar a cole one toniht?
Romney respoleid – I don'[t think Ann is into soemthing like that.
I warned you…….I know this is bad of me to post – but could not resist.
Now I must go pray to the ‘right’ God for forgiveness – because, after all, if we’re not praying to the ‘right’ God – then we’re just wasting our breath because Liberals are all a godless bunch – don’t you know.
This is how far down the tubes politics has taken us….
wow – my typos are horrible…..trying to type too fast.
Once more:
Ryan said to Romney – do you want to go out and share a cold one tonight?
Romney replied ….. I don’t think Ann is into something like that.
The guy who is the presumed Republican Presidential nominee in 2012 has not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, but 17 former Bush White House aids/advisers on his campaign staff currently. The guy who is the presumed Republican Presidential nominee in 2012 wants to make America great again by bringing it back to the SAME retreaded Bush policies that WRECKED the country.
If we don’t remember – if that Hurricane hits anywhere near New Orleans – the people will be reminded – very fast.
Aug. 29, 2005 — seven years tomorrow since Katrina made landfall…
One thing to note – after Katrina hit, the federal government gave $14.5 billion to the Army Corp of Engineers to build the necessary pumps, leveees and whatever else is needed to not have another Katrina catastrophe.
Maybe Mother Nature – or Lady Karma – has this lesson in mind for the Republicans in Tampa at their GOP shindig? While these Republicans continue to demonize the ‘evil government’ – the reality will be shown on the split screen as to how the government’s money helped to avoid the catastrophioc damage from 2005.
All those Republicans that think they build something all by themselves (even when they did use government money/programs to start and continue their businesses) – this will be a lesson that some things are not to be looked at the same way a private equity firm such as Bain Capital would look at it.
I doubt very much if any public project like these levees and pumps to the tune of $14.5 billion would be a money-maker for any capitalist – vulture or otherwise.
So – when Republicans demonize the govenrment – let’s remember what the government does do right – and should continue to do right.
P.S. – the guy from the Army Corp of Engineers did state that two administrations gave them the money upfront to do what they needed to do. So, I assume it was Bush and Obama administrations.
This guy also said that what was in place before Katrina hit was a patchwork of levees and pumps – and it was just not adequate.
So – why the patchwork job? I would be interested to know if there was government money appropriated for it and somehow the money got lost on its way to the project?
Kinda like that border fence. California got their fence built but yet Arizona did not get theirs done – why?
I wonder if the Republicans will go back to the belief that ‘Reagan proved deficits don’t matter’ if Rommey manages to win in November?
Especially when Romney has already stated he wants to go to war with Iran.
Can we make it a law that everyone that votes for Romney needs to start packing their bag now for front-line combat duty in Iran?
Or what about when Russia and China get their fill of Mitt? And we all know – that day will come sooner than we think.
If something is mandatory for employees but now the corporate big shot is trying to say no one was force to attend – how is this possible?
Mandatory means having to attend…..so I guess by using the word ‘forced’ to attend makes it something similiar to forcible rape?
I dont’ get these REpublicans’ use of words…
But – it was acknowledged that nobody got paid that day – well, these workers anyway. I wonder if the big shots got their pay?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/28/century-mine-romney-ohio-mandatory_n_1836674.html
Oh, why am I so worried about these ‘you people’ in Romney World. As long as the Corporate Elitist gets what he wants – ‘you people’ should just be grateful for whatever crumbs fall from that infamous cake.
Count on King Rush to come out with another stupid comment. Jeez…wouldn’t you think that one big bag of wind would show another bag of wind (the Hurricane Issac) mutual respect?
As everybody should know – weather forecasting is not exactly 100% accurate.
But, I’m sure King Rush knows this – but his minions don’t know..and don’t care.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/28/rush-limbaugh-isaac-obama-convention_n_1835674.html
OXYMORON defining: Calling someone who made his fortune closing business and killing of jobs.
The next Great job creating President!
Yep.
And, he promises to give even bigger tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires than Bush2 did. Where are the jobs those tax cuts created? Seems ‘republican thinking’ is the biggest oxymoron!
According to New Hampshire U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte the corporaate tax rate is unfair and Obama is hurting small business. Truth is he has given EIGHTEEN tax cuts for small business while in office.
Confusing, isn’t it? Doesn’t the GOP want the USA to go back its “glory years?”
While you listen to them brag about all they are and all President Obama isn’t, here’s a fact you won’t hear at the Republican National Convention —