mr_genius

QUOTE (jasonxctf @ Sep 4, 2009 -> 12:30 PM) being the good journalist that he is, i'm sure drudge posted the rising approval numbers on his website.. right. QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Sep 4, 2009 -> 12:33 PM) In extra huge font too!

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Sep 3, 2009 -> 05:41 PM) Happy birthday! Remember when opening gifts to lift and then pull.

I'm thinking about pitching a new TV show to FOX. "When Healthers attack" Now I just need to get some good footage. I would use that same narrator guy from the "When animals attack" show. Same type of editing too and stuff. What do you guys think? A ratings hit?

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Sep 3, 2009 -> 11:41 AM) KTLA has a somewhat different story. Seems the pro health care guy was hit first. But my favorite part of the story is that the Ventura County sherriff says that the man who had his finger bit off has Medicare. This is ridiculous, sad and hilarious all rolled into one. http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-fing...0,7135717.story lol EDIT: looks like the article removed their source, 'Karoli from DrumsnWhistles' whom was the eye witness defending the finger biting Healther.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 3, 2009 -> 11:35 AM) The healthers are out of control. indeed

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090903/ap_on_..._finger_severed Disgraceful. The Democrats need to stop encouraging this type of behavior.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Sep 2, 2009 -> 10:43 PM) Meh, I ain't worried, I never watch that network. In fact, you couldn't pay me to watch it, even unemployed. if someone paid you enough you would watch MSNBC.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 2, 2009 -> 09:40 PM) Really you had to go with the misogynist one? But it's even funnier when it is applied to MSNBC's male viewers. anyways, since when are you so sensitive? always talking in about 'tea bagging' and 'birthers'

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Sep 2, 2009 -> 09:30 PM) MSPMS

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 2, 2009 -> 07:12 PM) I'm not going to find the Madoff thread, but this would have been great. gold.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 2, 2009 -> 01:01 PM) I don't know anything about HCL, but yeah, that is out and out dumb. They're fairly big. A number of major US corporations use them.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 2, 2009 -> 12:54 PM) Actually though, companies like Wipro DO hire Americans here in the States, believe it or not. Not very many. I worked with that company once and out of about 75 employees I saw the time working along side the company, all were all Indian. They are throwing a fit over a proposed bill that states they can't get any more H1b's until they use 50% US workers to work on projects in the US. If wipro hires Americans, it's few and far between. I know the CEO of HCL technologies openly stated he won't hire American graduates. That's a pretty bold, and stupid, statement to make at a technology conference.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 2, 2009 -> 12:30 PM) OK, so then those aren't employees of US firms. You are talking about contractors, who I suppose you could call outsourced staff. But the contracting trend goes well beyond foreign visa workers - a lot of companies were getting big into that for a while. I think I see what you are saying now - you mean consultants and contractors doing work for US companies but ultimately working for foreign companies. Outsourcing does not always mean overseas, that would be offshoring. Wipro ,Tata, ect openly refer to their services as outsourcing services even when the work is done in the US. The problem is the Indian companies do not hire locals for work. But you are correct, the visas are often used for the endgame of offshoring the work. maybe we should split the thread, don't want a H1b hijack of health care

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 2, 2009 -> 12:24 PM) You are using a strange definition of outsourcing. Outsourcing, to me, means using resources outside the company, and more specifically, outside the area (often out of the country). H1B and L1 are not that at all - what they are is just cost-cutting moves, usually. Outsourcing means you don't give them visas, you leave them where they are. Actually the main users of the visas are outsourcing companies such as Infosys and Wipro. The visa program has become the window to offshoring; first bring in visa workers to learn the job then ship it overseas. I saw it done a lot. Rank Company Headquarters Primary Employment Base H-1Bs received 2006 1 Infosys Bangalore, Karnataka, India India 4,108 2 Wipro Bangalore, Karnataka, India India 4,107 3 Microsoft Redmond, Washington US 3,517 4 Tata Consultancy Services Mumbai, Maharashtra, India India 3,046 5 Satyam Computer Services Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India India 2,880 6 Cognizant Teaneck, New Jersey[44] India 2,226 7 Patni Computer Systems Mumbai, Maharashtra, India India 1,391 8 IBM Armonk, New York US 1,130 9 Oracle Corporation Redwood Shores, California US 1,022 10 Larsen & Toubro Infotech Mumbai, Maharashtra, India India 947

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Sep 2, 2009 -> 11:53 AM) Tex, so are you upset that more people aren't calling out the Indian programmers and doctors here than they are the MExican meat plant workers? I would say that you are not talking to the right people then, as most of my college friends all went into programming and/or IT and half are out of work, and blaming outsourcing or cheaper foreign talent. And again, you have 2 different arguements here, beacuse the people here on the H1B are here LEGALLY, while the 'undocumented' workers in various businesses are not. The H1b program was supposed to be used to fill positions which needed rare talents. It morphed into a program to generate visas used mainly to outsource. The L1 program is even worse, at a company I used to work at these visas were used 100% or the time to lower wages and outsource; that is how the L1 works everywhere in the US. The H1b was only used, in my estimation, about 90% of the time to lower wages and outsource. I would estimate around 10% of the H1b's actually had top notch skills that are hard to find; I completely support the visa programs to bring in doctors and top skills but not to replace US workers. Your friends have a legitimate complaint. I do know that the Dept of Labor has been denying a ton of H1b visas this year, over 20% of the visas were found to be fraudulent for a number of reasons. QUOTE (Tex @ Sep 2, 2009 -> 07:27 AM) What we need is a guest worker program that makes it easier for American businesses to hire minimum wage labor from overseas and much, much, harder to hire skilled labor from overseas. The guest workers should have very limited benefits, and most of those should be tied into what benefits America the most. I know that Sen Durbin introduced a bill to address the H1b/L1 visa programs; it's bill S.887 I believe. It seems like a pretty good bill. You may want to read up on it if you are interested in reforming those programs.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Sep 1, 2009 -> 04:01 PM) If we went after the corporations who, time and again, violate the law by providing the employment supply that fuels undocumented immigration - we would go a longer way to solving that problem and the "illegals getting healthcare" problem than any healthcare reform bill could do. But the truth is, generally when it comes to enforcement of the law - government is too often in the service of protecting money over the law. they can buy into any program they want that is not subsidized by the US government.

Gives the dodgers a DH for a potential world series matchup.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 31, 2009 -> 09:01 PM) I think this should depend on the visa. Someone here on vacation, aka a tourist visa, probably should not be required to get insurance, as its just not practical. You at least need to provide emergency medical care to them. BUT, they COULD buy travel insurance. Sort of a grey area. I was talking about work visas

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Aug 31, 2009 -> 09:51 AM) It's a smart move to shoot for August, wait for the protests and then shift the goalposts til December and bet that the protests will dissipate before October... so far its proven to be a pretty sound bet. I don't see this happening.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Aug 31, 2009 -> 06:52 PM) But they pay the same taxes as citizens. So? If insurance is mandated their employer needs to either pay an extra fee to enable the government to monitor the guest workers' health care coverage or the employer pays for the coverage. A lot of visa workers (such as those on L1 visas) are in and out of the country for months at a time and it would be costly for the government to set up new systems to make sure that when they are here they have health insurance. Otherwise we are back to paying for uninsured emergency room visits. Back to square one with them. Now, if you are advocating visa workers should qualify for 'extreme economic hardship free health care', that makes no sense. If they are making that little their employer is violating visa laws.

QUOTE (Tex @ Aug 31, 2009 -> 05:51 PM) There are no group policies under this plan. What is the difference if the green card or Visa person takes their salary and pays their premium, or the company pays it direct? if they set up a program that tracks all visa and green card holders insurance status to make sure they purchase coverage, it's going to cost more money. if a company wants to bring in outside labor the tax payers should not be subsidizing it. Or have a larger visa fee to increase monitoring of the visa programs. Doesn't matter to me.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Aug 31, 2009 -> 05:14 PM) why not people here on visas and greencards? Because they are not US citizens, their employer needs to cover them. Way too much room for abuse otherwise. They should be getting market pay rates anyways, so them being in the program would be visa fraud as they wouldn't meet a hardship requirement if actually paid market rates. We already have over 20% fraud rates in the visa programs, no need to encourage even more.