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Lqskdiver
01-13-2007, 11:10 AM
GOP hits Pelosi's 'hypocrisy' on wage bill

By Charles Hurt
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
January 12, 2007



House Republicans yesterday declared "something fishy" about the major tuna company in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco district being exempted from the minimum-wage increase that Democrats approved this week.
"I am shocked," said Rep. Eric Cantor, Virginia Republican and his party's chief deputy whip, noting that Mrs. Pelosi campaigned heavily on promises of honest government. "Now we find out that she is exempting hometown companies from minimum wage. This is exactly the hypocrisy and double talk that we have come to expect from the Democrats."
On Wednesday, the House voted to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour.
The bill also extends for the first time the federal minimum wage to the U.S. territory of the Northern Mariana Islands. However, it exempts American Samoa, another Pacific island territory that would become the only U.S. territory not subject to federal minimum-wage laws.
One of the biggest opponents of the federal minimum wage in Samoa is StarKist Tuna, which owns one of the two packing plants that together employ more than 5,000 Samoans, or nearly 75 percent of the island's work force. StarKist's parent company, Del Monte Corp., has headquarters in San Francisco, which is represented by Mrs. Pelosi. The other plant belongs to California-based Chicken of the Sea.
"There's something fishy going on here," said Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, North Carolina Republican.
During the House debate yesterday on stem-cell research, Mr. McHenry raised a parliamentary inquiry as to whether an amendment could be offered that would exempt American Samoa from stem-cell research, "just as it was for the minimum-wage bill."
A clearly perturbed Rep. Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who was presiding, cut off Mr. McHenry and shouted, "No, it would not be."
"So, the chair is saying I may not offer an amendment exempting American Samoa?" Mr. McHenry pressed.
"The gentleman is making a speech and will sustain," Mr. Frank shouted as he slammed his large wooden gavel against the rostrum.
Some Republicans who voted in favor of the minimum-wage bill were particularly irritated to learn yesterday -- after their vote -- that the legislation did not include American Samoa.
"I was troubled to learn of this exemption," said Rep. Mark Steven Kirk, Illinois Republican. "My intention was to raise the minimum wage for everyone. We shouldn't permit any special favors or exemptions that are not widely discussed in Congress. This is the problem with rushing legislation through without full debate."
A spokeswoman for Mrs. Pelosi said Wednesday that the speaker has not been lobbied in any way by StarKist or Del Monte.

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20070112-120720-2734r.htm

Sgt Schultz
01-13-2007, 07:22 PM
I am shocked SHOCKED I say

Nickdfresh
01-13-2007, 07:35 PM
Are you two going to make-out now?

Interesting, but...


Seriously, why is the Moonieton Times the only paper running with this story?

And don't sell me the "liberal media" crap either...

Sgt Schultz
01-13-2007, 08:22 PM
A Speaker with good taste?
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/today.parcol11.0011.ImageFile.gif
In its old "Charley the Tuna" ads, Starkist used to say that it doesn't want tuna with good taste, but rather tuna that taste good. To the extent that Starkist doesn't want House Speakers with good taste, it seems to have what it wants in Nancy Pelosi.

The conglomorate that owns Starkist, Delmonte, is headquartered in Speaker Pelosi's district in San Francisco. Starkist processes large amounts of tuna in American Samoa. Apparently, 75 percent of the island's workforce is employed by Starkist.

It happens that American Samoa is the one territory exempted from legislation passed by the the House that will raise the minimum wage over time from $5.15 hour to $7.25. The reach of that law extends even to the islands of the Northern Marinas, but not to American Samoa, where Nancy Pelosi's giant constituent will be able to keep paying its workers $5.15 an hour.

UPDATE: Reader Bret Lee writes:

American Samoa already had one of the last remaining exceptions to the federal minimum wage in place. The minimum wage there is determined by a panel of industry leaders, and is about $3.30 an hour for most people who work in a tuna cannery. The panel has to match increases in rates from the mainland, but does not match the federal minimum wage. Starkist never had to pay workers there $5.15 an hour [as I mistakenly said in my original post].
Starkist has one of the two canneries on the island, and the Department of Labor says under 5,000 are employed between the two canneries, or about 36% of the island's workforce. About 60% of the workforce is employed in a tuna related field, like harbor workers or on ships based out of the area. Most of the rest are government employees, go figure. So it is certainly not 75% of the workforce working for Del Monte, like some papers report.

At any rate, the industry there is already falling apart to competition from Asia and problems with opening tariffs, and even at three bucks an hour is one of the highest paying jobs in the region. Needless to say, a jump up to the proposed minimum wage would be the last nail in the coffin of the tuna industry there.

I think the exception is not due to any patronage by Del Monte to Pelosi, but rather continuing a policy already in place that American Samoa does not need to match the minimum wage, since the wages there are already high for the region, and there is no way the industry there could survive a hike. I got all this from the Department of Labor website.

These are good points that cast the situation in a different light. But is American Samoa the only jurisdiction where a $7.25 minimum wage would cause hardship to an industry? What about the islands of the Northern Marinas and its low-wage clothing workers, about whom PBS and Pelosi's fellow Bay area respresentative George Miller tried to raise a stink when Jack Abramoff lobbied to keep wages low?

My view is that in a free market economy employers in all industries should have the right to set their wages and, in all events, minimum wage laws should not extend outside the 50 states. But if you have a minimum wage, and special exemptions are carved out by Congress, then you're immediately thrust into "the culture of corruption" as industries lobby powerful members of Congress to obtain, or in this case retain, exemptions.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/today.parcol11.0011.ImageFile.gif

Nickdfresh
01-13-2007, 09:05 PM
Oh look --no link!!

http://blog.koehntopp.de/uploads/20040203-spam.jpg

LoungeMachine
01-13-2007, 09:48 PM
FAUX has it on good authority.......


:)

Nitro Express
01-14-2007, 11:06 AM
Someone should throw a bunch of rotten tuna fish on Pelosi.

Politicians are all the same. The majority of them are corrupt and for sale. That's what motivated them to run for office in the first place.

To me it's all a game of chess. President Bush was the queen who was running all over the chess board devistating everything. So we had to throw in a Pelosi to check that bastard, so he wouldn't wipe the whole board clean.

The problem is the Bush piece is still plenty powerful and will run amok again if the Democrats don't play smart.

Nitro Express
01-14-2007, 11:08 AM
If you live in San Francisco are you going to run on the Republican ticket? Hell no! The beef is being a Democrat there. Maybe if Pelosi lived in Utah she would be a Republican. Hell, she looks just like a Mormon Relief Society president. She would fit in just fine there if she changed her agenda a bit.

BigBadBrian
01-14-2007, 05:31 PM
Originally posted by Nickdfresh



Seriously, why is the Moonieton Times the only paper running with this story?



So you deny this, Nick?

Interesting.

Nickdfresh
01-14-2007, 06:14 PM
I'm not denying anything. But I'm wondering if they left out some key facts...

I mean, not like that paper goes out of its way to pander to GOP-partisans...

Warham
01-14-2007, 09:44 PM
And the NY Times goes out of it's way to pander to liberals, but that's never stopped you from posting from that source.

FORD
01-14-2007, 10:57 PM
Originally posted by Warham
And the NY Times goes out of it's way to pander to liberals, but that's never stopped you from posting from that source.

How the Hell can you even say that jokingly after Likud spy Judith Miller used her position at the Times to help PNAC manufacture their false case for invading Iraq?? :confused:

Warham
01-14-2007, 11:24 PM
There's always a black sheep in every family, FORD...

FORD
01-15-2007, 01:27 AM
There must be at least two in that family, because there's another piece of shit beating the Iran war drum at the Times now. I forget the asshole's name, but I'm sure one of you neocons will post one of his articles (filled with Likud propaganda) eventually.

Nickdfresh
01-15-2007, 05:51 AM
Originally posted by Warham
And the NY Times goes out of it's way to pander to liberals, but that's never stopped you from posting from that source.

Bullshit. Comparing the New York Times to the Moonie Times papers is like comparing Charles Dickens to romance novels...

LoungeMachine
01-15-2007, 09:43 AM
Originally posted by Nickdfresh
Bullshit. Comparing the New York Times to the Moonie Times papers is like comparing Charles Dickens to romance novels...

An analogy sure to go right over WarBOT's head....

BigBadBrian
01-16-2007, 08:08 AM
Originally posted by Nickdfresh
I'm not denying anything. But I'm wondering if they left out some key facts...

I mean, not like that paper goes out of its way to pander to GOP-partisans...

C'mon...ALL news organizations are biased...even the ones you libs pander to. You just don't want to see the light.

BigBadBrian
01-16-2007, 08:10 AM
Originally posted by Nickdfresh
Bullshit. Comparing the New York Times to the Moonie Times papers is like comparing Charles Dickens to romance novels...

With all the BS that's happened to the NYT in the last few years, you actually think it's the leader in the news field it ONCE was?

Hardly.