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| 5/24 |
| 2006/4/4 [Politics/Domestic/Election] UID:42664 Activity:kinda low |
4/4 John McCain is apparently offering $50/hr to pick lettuce. Where
do I sign up?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060404/ap_on_go_co/mccain_booed_4
\_ I'm disappointed he too offers the "jobs Americans don't want".
He lost my vote.
\_ McCain has changed from "maverick" to "tool of Bush/hard
right" in record time. Um, if you paid people $50/hour
to pick lettuce you would have 100X as many applicants as
jobs. McCain is losing it.
\_ If you think McCain is "hard right" or "on the right of
the right wing" as someone says below you're *waaay*
left and/or completely uninformed. McCain has been a
centrist moderate for many years. The man is working
with Kennedy who can't be described as anything but far
left. He's been pissing off the right since before
2000. If McCain is the hard right then what about the
50+ other (R) Senators more right than he is? Sheesh.
\_ He always has been hard right. The one thing he had
going for him was his work on campaign finance. I still
respect him for that. But he's _always_ been on the
right of the right wing.
\_ His campaign 'non-reform' bill should have been
called the 'incumbent protection bill'. If you
truly want real campaign finance reform, you should
be very very glad his ideas went no where.
\_ Not quite, he's gone from saying Jerry Falwell is
a lunatic to embracing Jerry Falwell.
\_ Not quite, he's gone from saying Jerry Falwell is
a lunatic to embracing Jerry Falwell.
\_ I think the reason they all chant that mantra is they
want you to think that. They don't want people to "want"
those jobs because then they'd have to legitimately
address the conditions and standards and wages of them
and address the illegal immigrants etc. which would
raise costs of the associated business interests.
\_ BINGO! We have a winner!
\_ I'd rather make $100,000/yr ($50/hr) doing manual
labor outside than a soul-destroying office monkey
job for $30,000/yr.
\_ I've picked wine grapes in the fall in Paso
Robles (for free, I might add) and it doesn't
*have* to be crappy. Like any job, it can be
if they underpay, underhire, and are assholes
to boot. If you work for a good person who
expects a reasonable amount of work at a fair
wage then it's not a terrible job. Grapes are
not lettuce, of course. Some crops are
physically harder to harvest than others.
\- and live in the central valley? and go to work
at 5am? i dont think that's what i'd pick ...
no pun intended. why dont you take on of those
no pun intended. would you take one of those
alaskan fishing jobs. there are a reaonable number
\_ Picking lettuce is HARD but saying that for $50/hr
you still would get only illegals is totally
ridiculous. Would I prefer it to office work?
No way! - !pp
of grunt jobs that make dencent money. how much
money to oil rig workers make?
money to oil rig workers make? at $50/hr i think
\_ $300-400/day, and you have long hours.
you get a lot of people doing it for a couple of
days to make some quick cash, but i dont think
you'ld necessarily get a lot of long term employees.
\_ I paid my way through college fishing in Alaska.
Not only did it pay well, and was largely fun, I
learned useful skills that have since helped me
in my technical career. There are grunt jobs,
like working the slime line on a processor, but
being a deck hand or engineer is not a low skill
job by any means. I certainly know people who've
worked in that industry for their whole lives,
although the guys who keep working on deck into
their 50's are usually totally nuts. The smart ones
are driving their own boat by the time their 40(and
spending the winter in their condo in Hawaii by the
time they're 50.)
\- just out of curiousity, do you think a large
percentage of say 18-30 year olds would not be
able to do the AK FISH JOB regardless of pay,
e.g. they dont have the strength, endurance,
would be to scared etc, or do you think
it is mostly about willingness rather than
ability?
\_ You have any idea how actual poor people live and
work in this country? $50/hr is more than most of
them will ever see no matter what happens to the
inflation rate. Have you ever met a real poor
person? Maybe they brought one in to your
sociology class once?
\- um, if you are talking to me, it is highly
likely i have vastly more experience living
say without running water or continual
electricity than you do. my point is that
there would certainly be many people willing
to do the job for 50/hr full time, but a
problem you would have as an employer would
be "weeding out" the people looking to make
say $2k and then quitting and then living
cheaply for a while. i did stuff like that
for a while ... bill $100/hr for say a
two week programming job and then live off of
that for a large part of the year.
anyway, one point is that some hourly or
"piece rate" jobs dont neatly turn into
annual salary jobs by just multiplying by
2000. where did this irrelevancy about
the inflation rate and such come in?
\_ if he had karl rove, he would have been smart enough to say $5/hr
\_ "McCain insisted none of them would do such menial labor for a
complete season." For heaven's sake, my father's summer job in
HS was picking melons in Bakersfield.
\_ So how much will the price of lettuce be on store shelves?
And how many would be willing to pay that price? |
| 5/24 |
|
| news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060404/ap_on_go_co/mccain_booed_4 click here "If you like, I will leave," McCain told the AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades Department, pivoting briefly from the lectern. "OK, then please give me the courtesy I would give you." It was a colorful and contentious session, producing as many laughs as boos, that tested McCain's commitment to the straight-talking, wisecracking image he honed during his failed 2000 presidential bid. An underdog six years ago, the Arizona Republican is expected to seek the 2008 GOP nomination as a front-runner. I love mixing it up like that," McCain said after the speech to a Democratic-leaning crowd of several hundred. He did seem to enjoy the back and forth that began minutes into his address, when he mentioned campaigning on behalf of California Gov. The crowd booed the reference to Schwarzenegger but laughed at McCain's self-effacing joke that followed. He said somebody came up to him at the Schwarzenegger event and said, "Do people tell you look like John McCain?" Later, the senator outlined his position on the Senate immigration debate, saying tougher border enforcement must be accompanied by guest-worker provisions that give illegal immigrants a legal path toward citizenship. "I've heard that statement before," McCain said before threatening to leave. Afterward, the senator said he offered to cut his speech short "because I wanted to be heard." In the speech, McCain also argued that withdrawing US troops prematurely from Iraq would turn terrorists loose on the United States. This time, there was no booing -- though one audience member cursed from the back of the crowd. McCain got another laugh when he finished the speech and asked whether anybody had "questions, comments or insults." The first questioner seemed to challenge his commitment to organized labor. When McCain started to praise a particular labor group in Arizona, the crowd booed again. But he took more questions, including a pointed one on his immigration plan. McCain responded by saying immigrants were taking jobs nobody else wanted. He offered anybody in the crowd $50 an hour to pick lettuce in Arizona. Shouts of protest rose from the crowd, with some accepting McCain's job offer. McCain insisted none of them would do such menial labor for a complete season. Some in the crowd said they didn't appreciate McCain questioning their work ethic. "I was impressed with his comedy routine and ability to tap dance without music. But I was impressed with nothing else about him," said John Wasniewski of Milwaukee. Others said McCain showed some moxie, if not the best political judgment. "Most of us don't agree with him on immigration, but I give him credit for trying," said Chris Schoenbeck of Milwaukee. With his profile rising, a growing number of Democrats are accusing McCain of flip-flopping on issues to court conservative GOP primary voters. McCain denied that charge later Tuesday -- after addressing the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a GOP-leaning group that backs his immigration views. Just laughter, and at the end of his remarks, a standing ovation from the Hispanic leaders. Yet McCain's mind was still on the labor activists and their prickly reception. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. |