Factory Jobs Gain, but Wages Retreat

This isn't the solution to the job problem in America. And the danger is that this will be used as a model for other industries. Not mentioned in this story is benefits and medical insurance. What does that entail? The solution is penalizing companies that outsource while rewarding those that keep jobs at home. We should also negotiate with countries that import into the U.S. products made from cheap labor. American labor should not have to compete with third word wages. Trade is good but it shouldn't be at our expense:

Manufacturers are hiring again in America, softening a long slide in factory employment. But for a new generation of blue-collar workers, even those protected by unions, the price of employment is likely to be lower wages stretching to retirement.

That is particularly true of global manufacturers like General Electric. With labor costs moving down at its appliance factories here, the company is bringing home the production of water heaters as well as some refrigerators, and expanding its work force to do so.

The wages for the new hires, however, are $10 to $15 an hour less than the pay scale for hourly employees already on staff — with the additional concession that the newcomers will not catch up for the foreseeable future. Such union-endorsed contracts are also showing up in the auto industry, at steel and tire companies, and at manufacturers of farm implements and other heavy equipment, according to Gordon Pavy, president of the Labor and Employment Relations Association and, until recently, the A.F.L.-C.I.O.’s director of collective bargaining.

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Fox apologizes to Jews for Facebook poll on Jesus

FOX is fond of excoriating Democrats, the left for attacking Christianity and Israel. Here we have something which is as bad as anything they have criticized:

Fox Latin America has apologized for a poll on whether Jews killed Jesus Christ that one of its staffers put on a Facebook page promoting the National Geographic Channel's Christmas special.

The poll asked readers who they think is responsible for the death of Christ: Pontius Pilate, The Jewish People or the High Priests.

The Simon Weisenthal Center in Buenos Aires calls it a defamatory reference to Vatican propaganda that "resulted in the persecution and murder of Jews for two millennia."

The Jewish group says it's outraged that Fox would perpetuate an idea that the Vatican annulled back in 1965.

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Video: Kahlil Byrd Explains What is "Americans Elect"

This organization might be an answer to the corrupt two-party system that is destroying this country. Kahlil Byrd, CEO of Americans was interviewed on the Dylan Ratigan Show. If you haven't heard about Americans Elect please view this video. It might just get you thinking before you waste your vote on the same old sham next November:

Egyptian raids on rights groups draw fire

Egyptian raids on rights groups draw fire - CNN.com - http://pulse.me/s/4t93L

Young People More Likely To Favor Socialism Than Capitalism: Pew

Young People More Likely To Favor Socialism Than Capitalism: Pew - The Huffington Post

Rick Perry: Abortion Okay If Woman's Life At Risk

Didn't Perry attack Romney for his flip-flopping on issues, including abortion? Maybe he's positioning himself for New Hampshire. Or maybe he's seen the light on the abortion issue. It's hard to believe a politician would do something on principal:

Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry said Wednesday that he has "always struggled" with his position on abortion and clarified remarks he made a day earlier to indicate he would allow abortion if a woman's life were at risk.

The Texas governor, campaigning hard in the final week ahead of Iowa's lead-off Jan. 3 caucuses, had told a pastor Tuesday that he had undergone a "transformation" on abortion rights after meeting a woman, Rebecca Kissling, who said she was conceived during a rape. She was featured in former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's anti-abortion documentary, "The Gift of Life," and Perry attended its Iowa premier.

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WTC First Responders Face Tough Decision Over 9/11 Health Fund

WTC First Responders Face Tough Decision Over 9/11 Health Fund - NY1.com

Krauthammer: "Embarrassing Candidates" Making Obama Look Presidential

Krauthammer: "Embarrassing Candidates" Making Obama Look Presidential | RealClearPolitics - http://pulse.me/s/4sB89

Government of the Rich, by the Rich and for the Rich

But we are going to re-elected most members of Congress. Why? How much more evidence do we need that this government does not represent us. They are laughing at us because they can do whatever they want without repercussions. It's up to you and me. Either we through the bums out or we get what we deserve--more of the same greed, corruption and failure:

According to a study reported Tuesday, nearly half the members of the United States Congress are millionaires. Of the 535 legislators (100 members of the Senate and 435 members of the House of Representatives), at least 250 are millionaires and the median net worth is $913,000.

Sixty-seven senators are millionaires and the median wealth of the body’s 100 members is $2.63 million.

While the Senate has long been known as a millionaires’ club, the transformation of the House is a relatively recent phenomenon. The median net worth of members of the House of Representatives, excluding home equity, has more than doubled over the last 25 years, from $280,000 in 1984 to $725,000 in 2009 in inflation-adjusted dollars. During that same period, the median net worth of an American family fell from $20,600 to $20,500.

[...]The median wealth of members of Congress rose 15 percent from 2004 to 2010, despite the financial collapse that devastated working people and for a time drove down the median wealth even of the financial aristocracy. In part, this was the result of congressional turnover—the incoming “Tea Party” Republicans were on average far better off than the Democrats or “establishment” Republicans they replaced, with a median net worth of $864,000 for the 106 members of the supposedly “populist” freshmen class of 2010.

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Is Obama Really a Democrat? (12-29-11)

This was in Americablog:

Glenn Greenwald has a nice observation in The Guardian that's worth noticing.

His key point — Obama is so far to the right, especially on national security, that no GOP candidate can get to his right and look credible.

 This poll shows the American people think that Obama is liberal...mildly, though:

On a scale of 1 to 5 -- with 1 being very liberal and 5 being very conservative -- respondents rated themselves as a 3.3 ideologically, slightly to the right of center.

They perceive Obama to be a 2.3, to the left of center.

[...]When it comes to the president, Gallup reported, "a majority of Americans, 57%, perceive Obama to be liberal, with 23% describing his views as moderate and 15% as conservative."

[...]Obama's mean ideology rating four years ago was 2.5, essentially the same as now, and he was perceived to be slightly more liberal (with a score of 2.2) immediately before the election. Americans' own ideology ratings in December 2007 (3.2) and October 2008 (3.3) were essentially the same as now, and closer to John McCain's (3.4 in December 2007 and 3.7 in October 2008) than Obama's.

Doesn't quite make the case that Obama is the extreme liberal he is made out to be by the Right. Only 57% think he is liberal. In fact, his 2.5 rating in 2008 is right down the middle, neither left nor right. Might explain his success in the Presidential election that year. Not exactly what Obama's supporters thought they were getting. They thought he was a progressive. He's proven not to be one; far from it.

The President does everything for political reasons. He talks the talk but betrays his words with his actions:

That news was sealed in The Washington Post this week with a story that didn’t see much light of day, published as it was on Christmas Day. The Post reported that politics, not policy, has been largely behind the President’s green jobs program:

Meant to create jobs and cut reliance on foreign oil, Obama’s green-technology program was infused with politics at every level, The Washington Post found in an analysis of thousands of memos, company records and internal e-mails. Political considerations were raised repeatedly by company investors, Energy Department bureaucrats and White House officials.

Ron Paul Praises Occupy Wall Street

Could Ronnie be planning an independent run? Because he certainly not going to help himself with the Republican establishment by praising Occupy. Unless he's delusional and thinks the Occupy movement is following his example by attacking the financial system. Or maybe he's just recognizing that Occupy Wall Street is right. Certainly many of Paul's devoted followers are very sympathetic to OWS:

While campaigning in Iowa on Wednesday, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul praised the Occupy Wall Street movement, comparing it to the Tea Party movement. "In many ways, I identify with both groups," Paul said. Both groups are fed up with problems in Washington and "the two-party-system," Paul said while speaking at an insurance company in Des Moines.

Praising the left-wing Occupy Wall Street movement is an unusual move for a Republican presidential candidate, but Ron Paul is, of course, an unusual Republican presidential candidate. He jumped to first place in the Iowa caucus polls partly because of support from people who aren't Republicans. His comments that members of the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street are unhappy with the "two-party system" could fuel speculation that Paul will make a third-party bid of his own--something he has not ruled out.

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No Photo ID Required to Vote in GOP's Iowa Caucus

Great observation. It proves that the photo id issue is for the purpose of suppressing the African-American vote:

For all of their years of claims that massive voter fraud is going on at the polling place, such that Photo ID restrictions are required to ensure the integrity of the vote, you'd think that when Republicans have a chance to run their own elections, they'd be sure to want it to be as "fraud" free as possible.

Nonetheless, despite onerous polling place Photo ID requirements now passed into law in about a dozen states where the GOP controls both the legislative and executive branches, voters will be able to cast their ballot in next Tuesday's "First-in-the-Nation" Republican Iowa Caucuses without bothering to show a Photo ID --- even though the Republican Party itself sets their own rules for voting there.

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Republican campaign hinges less on issues

Republicans don't have a message other than to attack Obama:

Mitt Romney has a 59-point economic plan. Newt Gingrich promises "very big solutions." But to a large and increasing extent, issues aren't driving the fight for the Republican presidential nomination.

With Iowans about to cast the first votes of 2012, issues have declined in importance as a factor in the campaign, according to a recent national opinion survey of Republicans. Instead, the GOP contest reflects an intensifying search by voters for the candidate they believe has the strongest chance of unseating President Obama next November.

That's a departure from some past elections, when policy positions split the party.

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Protesters file for permit to “Occupy Congress” Jan. 17

Protesters file for permit to “Occupy Congress” Jan. 17 - The Buzz - The Washington Post

Muslims upset by NYPD to boycott mayor's breakfast

Man has a problem understanding the rights of citizens in a free society:

Religious leaders upset at police efforts to spy on Muslims plan to skip Mayor Michael Bloomberg's annual year-end interfaith breakfast, saying Bloomberg shouldn't be defending the tactics.

The imams and activists from a variety of faiths said in a letter to Bloomberg that they're disturbed at his response to a series of stories by The Associated Press detailing New York Police Department intelligence-gathering programs that monitored Muslim groups, businesses and houses of worship. Bloomberg has defended the department, saying last week it doesn't take religion into account in its policing.

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