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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: steve harris who wrote (232529)	5/13/2005 12:15:39 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1574485

The real scandal of Tom DeLay Monday, May 9, 2005 Posted: 12:14 PM EDT (1614 GMT) WASHINGTON, D.C. (Creators Syndicate) -- Forget the freebie trips across the Atlantic and the Pacific. Forget the casinos and the allegedly illicit contributions -- they represent only degrees of avarice. To grasp the moral bankruptcy of the public Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, you only have to know about Frank Murkowski and Saipan. Today, Frank Murkowki is the governor of Alaska, but from 1980 to 2002, he was a conservative Republican senator from Alaska. How conservative? His voting record earned him zero ratings from organized labor's AFL-CIO and the liberal Americans for Democratic Action, and perfect 100s from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Conservative Union. But as chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Frank Murkowski became furious at the abusive sweatshop conditions endured by workers, overwhelmingly immigrants, in the U.S. territory of the Northern Mariana Islands, of which Saipan is the capital. Because they were produced in a territory of the United States, garments traveled tariff-free and quota-free to the profitable U.S. market and were entitled to display the coveted "Made in the USA" label. Among the manufacturers that had profited from the un-free labor market on the island were Tommy Hilfiger USA, Gap, Calvin Klein and Liz Claiborne. Moved by the sworn testimony of U.S. officials and human-rights advocates that the 91 percent of the workforce who were immigrants -- from China, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh -- were being paid barely half the U.S. minimum hourly wage and were forced to live behind barbed wire in squalid shacks minus plumbing, work 12 hours a day, often seven days a week, without any of the legal protections U.S. workers are guaranteed, Murkowski wrote a bill to extend the protection of U.S. labor and minimum-wage laws to the workers in the U.S. territory of the Northern Marianas. So compelling was the case for change the Alaska Republican marshaled that in early 2000, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Murkowski worker reform bill. But one man primarily stopped the U.S. House from even considering that worker-reform bill: then-House Republican Whip Tom DeLay. According to law firm records recently made public, lobbyist Jack Abramoff, paid millions to stop reform and keep the status quo, met personally at least two dozen times with DeLay on the subject in one two-year period. The DeLay staff was often in daily contact with Abramoff. DeLay traveled with his family and staff over New Year's of 1997 on an Abramoff scholarship endowed by his client, the government of the territory, to the Marianas, where golf and snorkeling were enjoyed. DeLay fully approved of the working and living conditions. The Texan's salute to the owners and Abramoff's government clients was recorded by ABC-TV News: "You are a shining light for what is happening to the Republican Party, and you represent everything that is good about what we are trying to do in America and leading the world in the free-market system" Later, DeLay would tell The Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin that the low-wage, anti-union conditions of the Marianas constituted "a perfect petri dish of capitalism. It's like my Galapagos Island." Contrast that with what then-Sen. Murkowski told me in a 1998 interview: "The last time we heard a justification that economic advances would be jeopardized if workers were treated properly was shortly before Appomattox." The "Made in the USA" label means standards of quality and standards of conduct. But more important than how a product is made is how the people who make that product are treated -- as human beings with innate dignity -- who are free to organize and entitled to a living wage. Did somebody say something about moral values? cnn.com

To: steve harris who wrote (232529)	5/13/2005 12:17:47 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1574485

DeLay Donations to U.S. Lawmakers Build Loyalty in Ethics Fight May 13 (Bloomberg) -- House Majority Leader Tom DeLay gave more money to U.S. congressional candidates than any lawmaker in the last decade. That investment may now be paying off as Republican colleagues stick by him in the face of ethics questions. Since Republicans ended a 40-year drought and took over the House of Representatives in 1995, the Texas representative has contributed $3.5 million to 432 congressional candidates, Federal Election Commission records show. That's almost $1 million more than House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois gave. Three of every four House Republicans now serving received donations from DeLay. Those donations have helped Republican candidates win their congressional races, enabling the party to retain its House majority and building goodwill for DeLay among his colleagues. ``Tom DeLay has been instrumental in achieving and maintaining majority status,'' says Representative Sherwood Boehlert of New York, who has received $10,000 from DeLay. ``We are allies in a common cause in maintaining the majority.'' Only two House Republicans suggested DeLay resign as majority leader after he was admonished three times last year by the ethics committee and became the subject of media reports that he violated House rules by accepting lobbyist-sponsored trips continued.......... bloomberg.com

To: steve harris who wrote (232529)	5/13/2005 12:20:09 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1574485

Good News! for the Dems. ******************************************************* Latest Poll: Congress Job Approval Takes Nosedive** by Joe Gandelman It'll be interesting to see what happens to Congress' approval ratings if the "nuclear option" to eliminate judicial filibusters is triggered as predicted next week — because the latest Gallup poll shows it has fallen to an 8 year low: These are not good days for Congress. The latest Gallup survey shows that only 35% of Americans approve of the way Congress is handling its job, and almost 4 in 10 say most Republicans and, separately, most Democrats in Congress are unethical. When asked about members of Congress going on a trip funded by a lobbyist, an action that has caused House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to come under severe criticism and possible investigation by the House ethics committee, more than 8 in 10 say it is at least a "moderately serious" ethical problem. Overall, the public's low esteem of congressional members holds about equally for both Republicans and Democrats. The latest survey on Congress' approval rating was conducted May 2-5, 2005 showing that 35% of Americans approve and 57% disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job. That is the lowest approval rating and highest disapproval rating for Congress since July 1997. Will the "nuclear option" drive the polls up? And note this: Ratings of Congress are highly related to people's party affiliation. But even Republicans — whose party controls both the House and the Senate — approve of Congress by only a slim 49% to 45% margin. Independents and Democrats strongly disapprove — by margins of 62% to 28%, and 66% to 26%, respectively. Why does Gallup think this is happening? It is impossible to determine the exact causes for this continuing slide in the public's approval rating of Congress, but the recent wrangling over the filibuster rule, intervention in the Terri Schiavo case, and charges of unethical conduct lodged against DeLay almost certainly have all contributed. To quote the great thinker Aristole: "Duh....." If there's any good/bad news for members of Congress, it's that people of both parties seemingly agree on one point: In a survey conducted at the end of April, 56% of Americans said that most Republicans in Congress are ethical, and 38% said they are unethical. Regarding Democrats, the pattern was almost identical — 55% said most Democrats in Congress are ethical and 39% said most are unethical. Of course, the bottom line is that the phrase "Republican controlled Congress" is out there and is a key theme in constant news reports. If swing, centrist, and independent thinking Democrats and Republicans (versus campaigning party-liners) count, this poll could be a warning sign of worse things to come if the nuclear option is triggered and generates backlash. This poll also raises the questions: (1)is there a "middle" in 21st Century politics, and are the consequences for going over that line, and (2)is there a genuine realignment of parties going on, where all older definitions of the "the center" and general consensus are now inoperative? themoderatevoice.com