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01-23) 04:00 PST Washington -- Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her House Democrats plan to push through legislation Wednesday that would increase the size of the 435-member House on most matters by giving votes to delegates from four U.S. territories and the District of Columbia. Republicans are outraged by the plan, referring to it as a "greedy power grab'' in a statement from the office of Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio. But they are probably powerless to stop it. The proposal would allow the elected members from Washington, D.C., American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands a vote...

A tuna has been sold at auction in Tokyo's fish market for 16.28 million yen ($175,000, £109,000), the highest price paid in Japan for nine years. The bluefin tuna weighs 232 kg - nearly four times as much as the average Japanese man. "http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44882000/jpg/_44882731_-21.jpg" It was caught off the northern tip of Japan's main island of Honshu, in waters famed for high quality fish. Tuna is prized in Japan, where people eat it raw in sushi, but there is concern that stocks are dwindling. The record-breaking tuna was put on the block in the first auction of the new year...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8, 2007 — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., today responded to Republican critics who have accused her of making unreasonable demands on the Pentagon for a luxurious airplane her Republican predecessor never requested. Pelosi charged that the Pentagon is treating her request for a military plane differently than that of her predecessor because she is a woman. ..... But while the C-20 could fly to Hastert's Aurora, Ill., district, which is slightly more than 700 miles from Washington, D.C., without stopping to refuel, Pelosi's home district is in San Francisco, more than 2,800 miles from the nation's capital,...

Now that The Dems have taken the tiller in Congress the goodies are being dispensed. From Maine to The Maldive Islands minimum wage workers will soon see their incomes soar from $5.15 hour to $7.25. Their fryolaters overfloweth. Everywhere except American Samoa, that is. Amercan Samoa is a U.S. protectorate popularly known as the source of thyroidal sports freaks and mountainous movie henchmen, but it has another export: Starkist Tuna. Fully two-thirds of the Island’s industry is devoted to canning the delectable ocean dwellers, most of whom are paid a piddling top rate of $3.30 an hour. What’s that you...

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- Fending off charges of favoritism, House Democrats say a just-passed minimum wage bill will be changed to cover all U.S. territories — including American Samoa — before it reaches President Bush's desk. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters she has instructed the House Education and Labor Committee to help get the bill changed to "make sure that all of the territories have to comply with the U.S. law on minimum wage." Her remark Friday followed accusations from Republicans a day earlier that American Samoa, which is not now covered by the $5.15 an hour federal minimum...

Heard on the radio this morning that the federal minimum wage increase the house passed affects every state and territory except American Somoa. The largest employer on American Somoa is StarKist tuna. Their home office is in Nancy Pelosi's district. How could she have over looked this injustice on the poor people of American Somoa. Or was she taking care of big business in her backyard?

WASHINGTON-Republican leadership aides are accusing the Democrats of using a double standard by imposing the higher minimum wage on the Northern Mariana Islands-considered a Republican protectorate-while continuing to exempt a Democratic territory, American Samoa. Under a Democrat-backed legislation that is now before the House of Representatives, employers on the Northern Mariana Islands would have to pay workers the federal minimum wage. American Samoa and the tuna industry that dominates its economy would, on the other hand, remain free to pay wages less than half the bill's new mandatory minimum. Democrats have long tried to pull the Northern Marianas under the...

While I was quite amused by Barney Frank's takedown of Patrick McHenry on the House floor, I was left wondering what the hell it was all about. McHenry, the designated Republican attack dog and the heir apparent to Gingrich and DeLay, was attempting to ask a question about whether American Samoa was exempted from the stem cell research bill that passed the House yesterday. McHenry is apparently completely ignorant of parliamentary procedure, or perhaps he just wanted to get the words "American Samoa" on C-SPAN. Because there's a growing shitstorm over a similar "exemption" for American Samoa in the recently...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), dogged by Republican charges of a double standard, said yesterday that American Samoa may join the Northern Mariana Islands as U.S. territories that would have to comply with a higher federal minimum wage. Under the minimum-wage increase approved by the House this week, employers on the Northern Marianas would for the first time have to pay their workers the minimum wage, which would rise from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour. For years, Republicans -- with the help of convicted lobbyist Jack A. Abramoff -- have fended off efforts to bring the islands under federal labor...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday said Democrats will close a loophole in the House-passed minimum wage increase that exempts American Samoa -- an action taken after it was revealed that one of the U.S. territory's main employers is based in her congressional district. "I have asked the Education and Labor Committee as they go forward with the legislation to make sure that all of the territories have to comply with U.S. law on the minimum wage," Mrs. Pelosi said. The decision follows criticism over the exemption, reported earlier this week by The Washington Times, to allow tuna canneries in American...

"House Democrats say a just-passed minimum-wage bill will be changed to cover all U.S. territories – including American Samoa – " "Spokesmen for Pelosi and Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, the author of the minimum-wage bill, said it excluded American Samoa at the request of nonvoting Delegate Eni Faleomavaega, a Democrat who represents the Pacific island territories in the House. Raising the federal minimum wage would devastate the local tuna industry, Faleomavaega said in a statement last week, adding that American Samoa's economy is “more than 80 percent” dependent on Chicken of the Sea and StarKist."

January 16, 2007 PELOSI'S TUNA SURPRISE Economists of every political stripe agree that a higher minimum wage will cost some low-skill workers their jobs, says the Wall Street Journal. Even Speaker Nancy Pelosi seems to understand this. Despite leading efforts to pass minimum wage increases, she granted a reprieve to American Samoa, which has a big fish and tuna canning industry, specifically operations run by StarKist and Chicken of the Sea. Both companies are headquartered in California, and StarKist's parent is located in none other than Speaker Pelosi's own San Francisco district. Democrats rediscovered the eternal economic truth that a...

Video link on foxnews website, www.foxnews.com left side of the screen.. According to FoxNews, pelosi now says Samoa is INCLUDED.. Her trickle-up theory apparently won't go over very well with the people there, as their representative had this to say (pay attention to para 2) regarding the devastation of the Samoan economy if this goes through: "In a statement in response today, Faleomavaega (American Samoa delegate) said "despite recent claims made by the Washington Post which suggest that American Samoa is exempt from the federal minimum wage process, I wish to set the record straight." He says since 1956, the...

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."

As part of their first 100 hours plan, Democrats are pushing a hike in the minimum wage. It's going to happen, with several Republicans and even President Bush prepared to go along with it. But did you know that American Samoa...a Democrat stronghold...is being exempted from the minimum wage increase? And just what are the reasons being given for this? According to the chairman of the House, Education and Labor Committee, Democrat George Miller of California, the economy of American Samoa doesn't have the ability to handle the United States' minimum wage and should be exempt. Nice try...want to know...

StarKis(t)ing Nancy Pelosi [Kathryn Jean Lopez] There are some real stars in the 110th minority. Among them, Eric Cantor and Patrick McHenry. They called out some Nancy Pelosi fishy business earlier this week. Here’s the story, as relayed by the Fox and Friends gang: STEVE DOOCEY: We teased you with this a moment ago. On Wednesday the U.S. House passed a bill that says the minimum wage in this country will rise over time from $5.15 an hour to $7.25. Now, here's the thing. Included in the small print is the fact that the minimum wage will now include the...