StarKis(t)ing Nancy Pelosi [[Kathryn Jean Lopez.....]

National Review ^ | Kathryn Jean Lopez

[Sub-Driver]

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 islands of the northern marinas but it exempts American Samoa which is the only U.S. Territory not subject to minimum wage laws.

BRIAN KILMEADE: What's the big deal about that?

DOOCEY: It covers all islands except American Samoa. Why American Samoa?

GRETCHEN CARLSON: It just so happens Steve that Star Kist tuna ploys 75% of the island's work force. They are making a lot of tuna there. Apparently then that is shipped off to San Francisco in a district where Nancy Pelosi is from. And now her people are saying that, you know, she has never been influenced by Star Kist at all but other people are saying, hey, this is a little bit of hypocrisy because how can this particular group of people benefit by not having to pay the new minimum wage which is almost $2 more an hour before.

[Howlin]

I swear. I just swear.

[maggief]

Bill Clinton's Tuna Salad Sandwich Recipe

recipe is ready in < 30 minutes Ready in: < 30 minutes
recipe difficulty 2/5 Difficulty: 2 (1=easiest :: hardest=5)

Serves/Makes: 2


Categories:
--Tuna Sandwich Recipes
--President's Day Recipes

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

Good tagline!

I'm going 'moderate' for a while. (No tagline)

Or at leat until Samoa gets Union wages. By the way, somebody call the AFLCIO!.....

[afnamvet]

Pelosi is about to be phised.

[concerned about politics]

Bill Clinton's Tuna Salad Sandwich Recipe

recipe is ready in < 30 minutes Ready in: < 30 minutes
recipe difficulty 2/5 Difficulty: 2 (1=easiest :: hardest=5)

Serves/Makes: 2

Be sure to save the left over DNA in a small sink for later use. It makes good gravy.

[italianquaker]

yes I read that

[Republicus2001]

what did Pelosi know and when did see know it?

when do the hearings start?

[HawaiianGecko]

_hg 

Further information...

http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?newsID=64701&cat=1

Saturday January 13, 2007

 

Why is American Samoa exempted from wage hike?

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 umbrella of U.S. labor law, accusing the island's government and its industry leaders of coddling sweatshops and turning a blind eye to forced abortions and indentured servitude.

Samoa has escaped such notoriety, and its low-wage canneries have a protector of a different political stripe, Democratic delegate Eni F.H. Faleomavaega, whose campaign coffers have been well stocked by the tuna industry that virtually runs his island's economy.

Faleomavaega has long made it clear he did not believe his island's economy could handle the federal minimum wage, issuing statements of sympathy for a Samoan tuna industry competing with South American and Asian canneries paying workers about 67 cents an hour.

The message got through to House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Calif., the author of the minimum wage bill who included the Marianas but not Samoa, according to committee aides. The aides said the Samoan economy does not have the diversity and vibrance to handle the mainland's minimum wage, nor does the island have anything like the labor rights abuses Miller claims of the Marianas.

The wage bill coming to a vote this Wednesday (Thursday on Saipan) would raise the federal minimum from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 over two years, the first such increase since 1997. The 10-year stretch between wage increases is the longest since the mandatory minimum was created, and passage is expected to be overwhelming.

By including the Northern Marianas, Democrats say they hope to put an end to abusive sweatshops, especially in the garment industry. “I have been trying to fix the deplorable situation in the Northern Marianas since I first held hearings on the issue in 1992, 15 years ago,” Miller said. “But under Republican control, the House never even held a hearing.”

American Samoa has had a smattering of its own negative publicity, and an Education and Labor Committee aide said Monday that Miller probably will seek a review of the island's labor relations.

Last month, the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii upheld the conviction of a Korean sweatshop owner, who held 17 workers in involuntary servitude in American Samoa, imprisoning them in his garment factory compound.

But in American Samoa the tuna industry rules the roost. Canneries employ nearly 5,000 workers on the island, or 40 percent of the work force, paying on average $3.60 an hour, compared to $7.99 an hour for Samoan government employees. Samoan minimum wage rates are set by federal industry committees, which visit the island every two years.

Faleomavaega's aides said Monday that the delegate was in American Samoa for the opening session of the island's government and would not comment.

When StarKist lobbied in the past to prevent small minimum wage hikes, Faleomavaega denounced the efforts.

“StarKist is a billion dollar a year company,” he said after a 2003 meeting with StarKist and Del Monte executives. “It is not fair to pay a corporate executive $65 million a year while a cannery work only makes $3.60 per hour.”

But after the same meeting, Faleomavaega said he understood that the Samoan canneries were facing severe wage competition from South American and Asian competitors.

Department of Interior testimony last year before the Senate noted that canneries in Thailand and the Philippines were paying their workers about 67 cents an hour. If the canneries left American Samoa en masse, the impact would be devastating, leaving Samoans wards of the federal welfare state, warned David Cohen, deputy assistant secretary of the interior for insular affairs.

 

[Howlin]

I am just sitting here, stunned by this; how did she EVER think she could get away with this?

How many little mistakes has she made so far? She's a greedy bitch who obviously thinks she does no wrong and she's having a power thang going on.

What is her STAFF doing, other than laughing at this country?

[OESY]

The Culture of Corruption list expands:

Daschle fights forest management legislation, but gets an environmental exemption for South Dakota.

Kerry wants full disclosure of Bush's military records, but refuses to release his own.

Hillary opposes tax breaks for small businesses, but lobbies for tax credits for rebuilding downtown Manhattan.

Schumer wants stiffer federal oversight, but balks at investigations into his wife's mismanagement re: the NY ferry crash deaths.

Pelosi pushes the higher minimum wages and ethics reforms, but wants her own corporate campaign cash contributors exempted.

[NonValueAdded]

It is equally pathetic that the Republicans can take it, but can't dish it out.

Ain't that the truth! Great tagline material bump.

[Wuli]

The blogosphere can now look-up the election campaign donations of Star Kist executives, Star Kist corporate and employee pacs and donations from Star Kist to third party pacs, and see how much "Star Kist" money landed in Perilosy's pockets and reveal her..................CULTURE OF CORRUPTION!!!!!

[OESY]

The Culture of Corruption list expands:

Kennedy wants more alternative energy windpower sites, except off of Hyannisport.

Gore wants clean rivers, except where his family owns a zinc mine in eastern Tennessee.

[Wolfie]

“It is not fair to pay a corporate executive $65 million a year while a cannery work only makes $3.60 per hour.”

Really? Most FReepers think its just fine.

[Carolinamom]

None of the Pelosi vineyards, hotels, etc. employ union workers either.

For another blatant Dem example of hypocrisy, go to NYPost on line and see the description of Two Americas John Edwards' multiple buildings on his 100 acre spread in Chapel Hill, NC. (You will not believe what your read, but it's true 'cause I read it in the papers. LOL)

[Alberta's Child]

It is equally pathetic that the Republicans can take it, but can't dish it out.

Sure they can. They never do it from positions of power (i.e., when they are in the majority in Congress), but as an opposition party in the past the GOP has done just fine.

Some of us remember 1993-94 as one of the most entertaining periods in U.S. politics, as well as the heyday of talk radio in this country.

What the GOP needs to do here is focus on these points to develop a rational, politically popular reason for the president to veto a bill like this.

[Carolinamom]

poor syntax....that's "blatant hypocrisy"

[jrooney]

< DU is that way, and the Kos playground is that way >. This is where normal people hang out.

[Sunsong]

Pelosi's husband is an invester. I wonder if he owns any Star Kist stock?

[nina0113]

Anyone find it pathetic that Liberals can dish it out, but can't take it in return.

They don't HAVE to take it in return - nobody on the GOP side is willing to dish it out, and the MSM sure won't.