TED KENNEDY Has The Audacity To Claim He Supports American Workers

[John Barrett]

I believe Ted Kennedy is a hypocrit. He claims to support American workers in his speeches and on his web site while he has consistently done everything in his power to ensure that big business continues to have an unlimited supply of illegal immigrant cheap labor. This labor not only reduces pay to American workers, but it forces Americans in good paying construction and other jobs out of work.

[still_one]

1. can you provide something specific?

[Coexist]

2. don't bother - the McCain Kennedy amendment of 2005 belies this.

[still_one]

6. Thanks, I forgot about that

This was their answer to illegal immigration, but does NOT answer the bigger question, American Jobs

It is the same thing with the H1B visas and the off-shoring of American jobs

The government is run by the corporations. It is up to the people to take back their government, otherwise it will only get worse.

Eventually when enough people are affected something will be done, we can only hope it will NOT be too late

[monktonman]

5. Yeah, specific.....

[still_one]

7. I was just trying to focus on the issue

[monktonman]

10. I was just trying to agree with you.

This guys rant sounds like something I've heard on AM radio or cable netwok news or something if you get my drift.

[still_one]

11. cool

Kennedy has always been sympathetic to people who have the least

[John Barrett]

30. That's soon us.

"Kennedy has always been sympathetic to people who have the least"

Yeah...The way this country is headed that will soon include most of the former middle class in this country.

[manic expression]

34. And why would that be?

If you knew anything about the subject, you'd know that this is due to outsourcing, it is due to the widening gap between the ultra rich and everyone else, it is due to the struggling economy, it is due to many factors that don't include immigration. It is also due to a wide range of factors that have nothing to do with Kennedy. Promptly get a clue, or stop spewing nonsense.

[John Barrett]

36. Did I Step On the HOLY GRAIL?

Jeez ....One would have thought my criticsm of Ted Kennedy was like stepping on the Holy Grail. Sorry but for most Americans, his position on this issue deserves to be critized.

Our increasingly economic struggle by American workers is due to a lot of things, but make no mistake about it, illegal immigration is MOST DEFINITELY one of them.

It's due to irresponsible war in Iraq that takes capital away from the USA.

It's due to CEOS that earn obscene and unjustified compensation.

It's due to a government that spends irresponsibly, and with a trade policy that benefits only other countries and multi-national corporations.

It's due to the resulting squeeze on US corporations that then cut benefits for workers.

It's due to stores like Wal-Mart that have lost any allegiance to the USA. When Wal-Mart is doing well, the USA is getting screwed.

And its due to consumers that refuse to save and spend more than they earn, and one of the reason for earning less is the relentless pressure from globalism and illegal immigration.

[manic expression]

38. No

but your criticisms on a specific person are completely unwarranted and unreasonable. That is the problem.

I agree with your points on the economic direction of the US, but why would that ever need a thread on Ted Kennedy? He's not at fault here, and illegal immigration is a problem that is not easily solved.

[still_one]

39. I think we are all on the same side

we just have different perspectives. One issue does not necessarily make a person good or bad, it is the total spectrum

Most of the democrats in Congress have not represented us very well the last six years. In fact they pretty much rubber stamped everything that bush sent to them. They did NOT represent themseleves as an opposition party.

You are right about the corporations, but Kennedy in general has fought for the little guy. Yes, there is a problem with illegal immigration, and that is a fair point to debate, but I do NOT believe that is where the worker is getting sold out here. I think the worker is getting sold out by h1B visas and off-shoring of jobs. Corporations are having us make less and less things here. We are moving to a service industry, and that is dangerous

[karynnj]

45. Kennedy is not the person your looking for

Kennedy was against the Iraq war, is against the tax cuts for the wealthy (there is nothing the government does to set salaries), he has a health care plan for all and has been concerned with the under priviledged forever.

He is the most liberal Senator. Aren't there others you can blame first?

[John Barrett]

47. I disagree with him on that issue....sorry

<<<Kennedy was against the Iraq war, is against the tax cuts for the wealthy (there is nothing the government does to set salaries), he has a health care plan for all and has been concerned with the under priviledged forever.

He is the most liberal Senator. Aren't there others you can blame first?>>>


My criticsm of Kennedy was targeted at this one issue, upon which I feel he is being hypocritical. On this issue I'd like to see him support Americans first. On the others I totally agree with him.

[BigYawn]

49. AGreed on all points EXCEPT one....

Wal-Mart is NOT hurting the lower income folks.
They would be screwed without access to cheap goods
from W-M. And there are 100 times more of them than
there are employees of W-M who may also be getting
screwed but not sure about that. Why don't the
employees of W-M vote in unions? They must like
working at W-M in present conditions, obviously.

Ofcourse the unions hate that passionately since
W-M is the biggest employer in the country and
probably soon to be, in the world.

[Breeze54]

51. Walmart IS the reason many jobs are GONE!!!

Walmart is hurting everyone!!!
:wtf:

Please READ!!!!
http://walmartwatch.com/

--------

or Watch this!
http://www.walmartmovie.com/

"By the final credits you may want to picket Sam Walton's grave."
-Boston Globe

"'The High Cost of Low Price' makes its case with breathtaking force."
-New York Times

An "investigative outcry driven by stringent reporting rather than attitude."
-Entertainment Weekly

"The free market functions effectively only when consumers have all the facts.
A brilliant new film by Robert Greenwald tells the real story of the corrosive effects that
Wal-Mart wreaks upon the communities in which it operates and the men and women it employs."
-Rob Reiner

--------
http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/facts/

Why Wal-Mart Must Change

Snip-->
The truth is that Wal-Mart has let America down by lowering wages, forcing good paying
American jobs overseas, and cutting costs with total disregard for the values that have
made this nation great. Wal-Mart has needlessly exploited illegal immigrants, faces the
largest gender discrimination lawsuit in history, forced workers to work in an unsafe
environment, and -- incredibly -- broken child labor laws.

The Real Facts About Wal-Mart

Our tax dollars pay for Wal-Mart's greed!!

* The estimated total amount of federal assistance for which Wal-Mart employees were eligible
in 2004 was $2.5 billion. <“Harper’s Index,” Harper’s Magazine, Vol. 310, No. 1858, 3/2005>

* One 200-employee Wal-Mart store may cost federal taxpayers $420,750 per year.
This cost comes from the following, on average:

o $36,000 a year for free and reduced lunches for just 50 qualifying Wal-Mart families.
o $42,000 a year for low-income housing assistance.
o $125,000 a year for federal tax credits and deductions for low-income families.
o $100,000 a year for the additional expenses for programs for students.
o $108,000 a year for the additional federal health care costs of moving into state
children's health insurance programs (S-CHIP)
o $9,750 a year for the additional costs for low income energy assistance.

THE HIDDEN PRICE WE ALL PAY FOR WAL-MART, A REPORT BY THE DEMOCRATIC STAFF
OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE, 2/16/04

Your tax dollars subsidize Wal-Mart's growth

* The first ever national report on Wal-Mart subsidies documented at least $1 billion
in subsidies from state and local governments.
* A Wal-Mart official once stated that “it is common” for the company to request subsidies
“in about one-third of all projects.”
This would suggest that over a thousand Wal-Mart stores have been subsidized.

“Shopping For Subsidies: How Wal-Mart Uses Taxpayer Money
to Finance Its Never-Ending Growth,”
Good Job First, May 2004

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maybe it should be renamed USA-MART?? Or MAO-MART?
Get a clue!!!
:banghead:

[guidod]

52. What do you have

against unions?

[Greyhound]

59. Really? And which way did the good Senator vote, over the last

25 years on taxes, corporate welfare, GAAT, NAFTA, WTO, welfare 'reform', H1-b and L-1 visas, immigration, and all the other issues that brought us a sinking standard of living, and shrinking middle-class, the dissolution of our education system, corporate monopolies, etcetera, etcetera?

[Zapatero]

27. Yes It Does Sound

Like Lush Limbaugh Rant

[danalytical]

3. Ted Kennedy

is one of the best friends us Democrats have. There is no harder working Liberal senator.

[still_one]

8. on most every social issue that is true

[danalytical]

12. It is also true on this one

Kennedy has been fighting for the little guy for a couple decades now. I think originally he was just a political hack with a drinking problem, but as he aged he seems to have become a champion of the little guy.

[Doctor_J]

22. That's right - he could've ended up like Smirk -

a drunken, coke-addled, elitist, miserable failure. But instead he got his life turned around and has waged a fight for real Americans. Probably alot like what his brothers' lives would've been like.

[John Barrett]

23. BUSH Is Selling Us Down The Creek

This country is being sold down the creek by Bush's fiscally irresponsible, pro-corporate, pro-globalist, pro have-more agenda and the Democrats continue to flounder around seemingly without a mission or will to fight this.

The Democrat mission should be a "Contract With America" that clearly states its mission and plans to bring back fiscal responsibility, security, and especially economic well being for working class Americans.

Someone said Democrats and Kennedy stands up for those less fortunate which is great....except if someone doesn't start standing up for Americans (and not just the CEOs and the rich), we're going to ALL fall into that category of "less fortunate". Our country is quickly headed in that direction with a huge underclass.

We're almost 9 trillion dollars in debt. We're not the strong country we were 50 years ago. We need a party that CLEARLY Stands up for the American working class. That's how the Democrat Party got its start for those who don't remember. If it does that, it will start to win elections again as voters will see a clear cut advantage in voting their economic interests. At present I have no idea what this Party stands for in this regard, and especially when I hear Kennedy and others with their often conflicting opinions and positions that only end up screwing working Americans.

[Sparkly]

25. "Democrats and Kennedy"

I don't understand what your problem with Kennedy is. He has a record of "standing up for Americans (and not just the CEOs and the rich)." Of all people to pick on! Why Kennedy?

[Telly Savalas]

29. It's called "stirring up shit to make trouble"

[lumpy]

44. It seemsRandi Rhodes also is a problem

with this poster. She is a bad girl for showing video of Limbaugh getting shouted down, no high standards. And Kennedy is such a hypocrite! The woodwork is oozing.

[area51]

32. "Democrat Party"?

There is no such thing as the "Democrat party".

Methinks I smell something.

[beaconess]

46. And he doesn't have to be doing this

Ted Kennedy could be spending his golden years relaxing on his porch in Hyannis Port, but day after day after day he hauls himself up to the Capitol and works his ass off fighting for the little guy.

I love that man.

[0007]

4. I think you're offensively confused!

[Doctor_J]

9. Did LImpballs send these people over here?

WTF is with all of the elepahnt droppings the last few days?

[annarbor]

15. Did the forum rules change?

I thought that you had to have at least 50 "Replies" before you could post your own topic? If not, perhaps I should suggest this to Skinner. It will probably reduce the number of visitors.
I know I don't have a load of posts, but I've been here for several years and I know better than to post some of the inflammatory shit that the "Visitors" with low post counts do.
The anti-Ted Kennedy posts, and the "RU-486 killed two women posts, and the more recent, "Randi was mean to Rush Limbaugh" post is a bit over the top!

Ann Arbor

[Lefty48197]

19. They stick out like a sore thumb don't they A2?

Peace from Ypsi.

[annarbor]

24. Hey Lefty 48197!

I just recently moved to Ypsi Twp!
Good to see some I've got some neighbors here!

As far as sticking out like a sore thumb...don't they though?
It pisses me off because I come here to get away from the "Anti-Liberal, Bush is the Greatest" bullshit, only to find that we're being infiltrated by Freepers!
I used to think that I was imagining things, and perhaps reading too much into the posts, but I can spot them a lot better than I used to. I'd swear that we've been bombarded in the past three days or so.

Ann Arbor

[mac56]

18. Elephant droppings! That's it exactly!

Tons of 'em here lately.

[Doctor_J]

20. I swiped this from another DUer

ca't find the other post I stole it from though.

Seriously, all this OP needed was a reference to Chapaquidick.

[Sparkly]

13. What "everything in his power" are you talking about?

From a tribute to Senator Kennedy:

First and foremost amongst Senator Kennedy’s legislative achievements is his ongoing fight for workers’ rights and protections. One of the most basic principles upon which our nation was founded was fairness, and Ted Kennedy has done everything he can to promote that in the workplace.

He has fought successfully to improve workplace safety and conditions, and continues to fight for ergonomics standards today. He has fought successfully to raise the minimum wage, and lift working families above the poverty line. Additionally, he has stood on the lines with workers across the state to demand a fair wage for their work. His reputation as a trusted negotiator with both workers and management has allowed Senator Kennedy to quiet disputes and bring all sides to the table for a fair and equitable resolution during sometimes hostile labor disputes. In 1999, he intervened in the nurses strike at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Worcester, and all sides came out winners when the nurses returned to work with new restrictions on mandatory overtime which improved the safety and quality of care for patients.

Senator Kennedy has fought to ensure that all workers are paid an equitable wage, regardless of sex, race, or sexual orientation. He fought successfully for passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, which allows workers to take unpaid leave to care for members of their family when they are ill.

Senator Kennedy believes in the power of education, and knows that it is essential to providing children and adults alike with the opportunity to succeed. In today’s marketplace, employers require a higher level of skill and training than ever before. That is why Senator Kennedy’s efforts to expand opportunities for job training centers and career counseling services have had such an impact for workers who have been laid off, or who are looking to take the next step in their careers.

More here:
http://www.house.gov/lynch/Newsroom/2002_02/2_24_02_tribute_emk.htm

Kennedy on border security:
http://www.tedkennedy.com/content/655/securing-americas-borders-and-ports

So what's the "everything in his power" he's been doing to undermine American workers?

[John Barrett]

28. Do All Democrats Favor ILLEGAL Immigration?

""So what's the "everything in his power" he's been doing to undermine American workers?""

OK so maybe that was a little strong. But he has consistently fought efforts to tighten illegal immigration and has received very low marks in that area from immigration groups that favor tighter borders. All I'm saying is that illegal immigration hurts American workers, and there was a time when the Party consistently stood tall for American workers.

Maybe it's that confusion why many voters are no longer voting their economic interests. When there is confusion on the economic interests then voters start to look at other factors. That might be why someone earning $15K at Wal-Mart and struggling to make ends meet votes GOP. Think about it.

[Mass]

33. He does not favor illegal immigration - He refuses that those who have

been brought here and exploited by American citizens (corporations, but also small businesses and private citizens hiring an illegal to do housecleaning or gardening) be the ones who suffer.

You want to fight illegal immigration, push for bills that strike companies and bosses, not the poor guy that tries to make a living.

[John Barrett]

41. Agreed

I agree that it's the greedy employers that have caused this problem.

Without a carrot the illegal immigrants wouldn't come here. There are other carrots like free healthcare and supplemental payments and anchor babies, that Americans earning less and less must inevitably pay for. As much as I would like to see us help other countries to the best of our ability, this problem only diminishes our ability to help.

Sorry....though I'm sympathetic to plight of illegal aliens wanting to make a better living, I'm not when it takes away from the living standards of Americans who are already suffering from declines in living standards and increased expenses.

The chimp has assured that we are no longer the broad based affluent country that we used to be.

[lumpy]

43. Those immigrant peons are still

working in the fields and orchards, bedpan shuffling, moping floors and cleaning bathrooms, baby sitting, picking weeds just as they always have.

[John Barrett]

48. What Do You Do For A Living?

You obviously don't work in a field where they have been taking jobs and cutting wages....upon that I will most assuredly wager...do you?

And the jobs they are taking now are much more than those that you mentioned. Jobs in construction that gave high school graduates a start in a fairly well paid career like construction like framing, drywall, electrical, roofing, plumbing and in other areas like landscaping, food processing, etc..

As George Bush likes to remind us repeatedly...they do jobs Americans won't do. But, he forgets to add "for my
well-to-do business friends at wages Americans won't accept".

[John Barrett]

56. Still waiting lump

There is always a common thread behind the scenes in those that claim that illegals are needed and have a right to be here, and it is either greed or immunity from the associated wage/job pressure. Specifically they usually fall into one of the following:

1. They are in business and want the ability to exploit cheap labor from people that can't cry foul or sue them.
2. They are comfortably positioned in a job that is immune from wage pressure from illegal immigration thus able to voice an opinion that offers no personal risk
3. They are currently using illegal workers as cheap domestic help, etc.
4. They see some potential political advantage

Unless you are one of the millions of low wage Americans that are DIRECTLY and NEGATIVELY affected by illegal immigration, you have no moral right through your policy views to force even lower wages and fewer benefits on these American citizens.

[lumpy]

60. What do you do for a living, Mr Barrett?

I fail to see what difference it makes what I have done for a living. Are you implying that I use imported labor for my own ends? If you really musy know, I have been retired for quite some years.
Ok I will give you a list of the low paying jobs I have done over my lifetime:
My first job was as a bank messenger
I then was a dental assistent for some years,had a child,husband in college on GI bill
Back to banking as a bank teller/bookkeeper
House wife raising 4 kids on husbands middle class living for several years
At 50 I took a job as a nursing assistant; worked 12 years until retirement
I am now a divorced retiree living on a most minimum income

As a nursing assistant, my fellow workers were immigrants of all colors, kids just out of highschool, young women aspiring to become RNs and older woman who, like me, appeciated the opportunity to contribute care to the elderly for low pay. The most taxing job I ever had, but I loved caring for our elderly.
I think of the fact that this country has relied for a couple of hundred years on immigrant labor to do the low paying jobs that many Americans would scorn. Businesses and indivuals have used immigrant labor with or without green cards. Now states like Texas, California, etc. are crying the blues because they have come to the realization that those immigrants have taken advantage and have established a foothold in our society. Blacks, Orientals, Browns have been exploited in the past and the chickens have come home to roost. I am one of those people who believe that immagration laws should have been effectively processed long ago, and would have been but for corporate and indiviual greed. Serfdom and slavery just doesn't work. We'll see how many people will be willing to pick fruit if the US economy sinks lower into oblivion.

[sheelz]

14. Do you have any facts to back up your claim?

[Rose Siding]

16. John, John, John, John, John

May I call you John?

Welcome to DU.

It's so much easier to get along with centrists (or liberals or socialists or libertarians or meter readers) when they don't pee on the carpet.

[kentuck]

17. You must be the only person in America that doesn't blame the Repubs..?

for the total failure of an immigration policy. They have been in charge, you know?

[John Barrett]

26. Lou Dobbs Says It ALL

In my humble opinion the things that Lou Dobbs talks about are the things that the Democratic Party should be running with right now as their political issues. Dobbs has captured the essence of what most people believe is wrong with this country....whether they be a Democrat or Republican. Anecdotally I know many people in the huge political center that are registered Democrats, Ind or Repub that buy into his arguments. I look at the Democrat Party as the only hope to break the stranglehold that multi-national business (with no allegiance) has on America.

[Telly Savalas]

31. By following Dobb's path...

we can break the stranglehold that multi-national business has on America and replace it with a stranglehold that American business will have on America.

Dobbs is a right-winger. His isolationism may be unfashionable among the conservative in-crowd, but he's still a right-winger. If the Democrats go the way of Dobbs, then we'll have two right wing parties and nobody representing moderates, liberals, or left-wingers.

[PassingFair]

35. "I look at the Democrat Party"

Your phraseology indicates that you "look at it" from the outside in....

"Democrat Party" indeed!

Pass it on to your hive members: It's the DEMOCRATIC party!

[Doctor_J]

37. Democrat Party?

If you want to be listened to, you should drop the RustySpeak when posting. We'll sniff you out quickly anyway, but you might get in a few digs before you get tombstoned.

[Lefty48197]

21. Speaking of audacity to claim...

.

[AtomicKitten]

40. wow ..... just wow

[Vickers]

42. Oh yeah? Well Ted just called and said you can hum his left nut.

Hope this helps.

:eyes:

"hypocrit"

"Democrat party"

etc.

I detect a pattern here. :spank:

[Rainscents]

50. Last time I checked on the map... AZ and TX has the most illegal

problems and the last time I've checked, they're representation is mostly "Republicans!" If these states really want to do something about the problems, they would of and as of today, I haven't seen any actions coming from them... McCain and Delay why aren't they raising issues and taking action??? Of course, lets blame it on Liberal Senator from Mass, the state that has least amount of illegal problems. Give me a fucking break!

[Nutmegger]

53. Is this a hit-and-run thread?

:boring:

[Rainscents]

54. Yup... Another tread of hit and run.

Been seeing lot of these lately, trolls are either desperate or is bord over at the freepervill!

[Nutmegger]

55. I know! I can't count how many of these post have been cropping up

this past week.

They must be jealous of our journals. :evilgrin:

[Armstead]

57. You are using a very inaccurate broad brush

Whatever you may disagree with about Ted Kennedy on this particular issue, you are singling out the wrong guy for your sweeping attack.

Criticism him on this issue in actual detail if you wish. But to use terms that dismiss his whole career, his record and his role is absolutely ridiculous.

Overall Ted Kennedy is probably the single member of Congress who has been fighting longer and harder than anyone to protect American workers and maintain the safety net for those who need help.

Period. End of Story.

[Name removed]

58. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[rasputin1952]

61. Locking

Inflammatory.