http://newsbusters.org/taxonomy/term/436

Quote :

"Nancy Pelosi Catch of the Day: The Pelosi-Samoa Connections May Be Even Deeper Posted by Tom Blumer on January 12, 2007 - 14:18. (SEE Editor's Note Below) ________________________________ Fishing around in the now widely-known Samoan exception to the recently passed Minimum Wage bill (where tuna industry workers there are apparently being paid $3.26 an hour), Andy's Angle cast a wide net and hauled in the following: The interesting thing, however, is that the largest employer in American Samoa is Del Monte Foods' StarKist Tuna, home to over 75% of the island's workforce. Del Monte Foods, as it turns out, is headquartered in the District of the new Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Smelling a whiff of impropriety, House Republicans have thrown up some serious questions about the exemption and who inserted it into the bill. NewsBusters points out that few in the Mainstream Media will cover this story given their breathless love for the new Speaker. FoxNews has picked up the story, questioning the potential influence Del Monte may have as a major player in the Speaker's District. Doing my own research, however, I've discovered that the impropriety is much deeper. Speaker Pelosi's husband Paul, it turns out, owns something to the order of $17 million in Del Monte stock! (Editor's Note -- The previous sentence is noted in Wikipedia and has not otherwise been verified. Commenter #3 at the related BizzyBlog post, claiming to be Tom Elliott of FunkyPundit, says he was told that no one holds more than $14 mil worth of DLM stock [except Heinz]. BizzyBlog Commenter #4 Kevin says that this item was entered into Wiki at 3:04 PM Jan. 12 [GMT, it is believed]; that link is here. The link claiming $17 mil in Del Monte ownership by Paul Pelosi goes to Nancy Pelosi's Wiki page. The Del Monte ownership interest is not claimed at that page. Thus, there is reason to believe that the claim of such ownership interest on the part of Paul Pelosi is suspect.) I wonder if he stands to benefit should StarKist avoid an additional $2 hike in hourly wages... (actually, for the Samoans, it would be a $3.99 hike from $3.26 to $7.25 -- Ed.) "

Here you go libs...here is your great leader who is going to have a transparent congress and clean things up...this woman makes me gag

someone please defend this

1/16/2007 6:38:03 AM

http://www.thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=455618

gg

1/16/2007 6:48:09 AM

well she's not the only one that voted for it

1/16/2007 7:04:17 AM

who ya gonna call?

1/16/2007 8:10:19 AM

Quote :

"well she's not the only one that voted for it"

You mean like the war in Iraq?

1/16/2007 8:12:57 AM

so what if she is not the only one to vote for it...she said she was going to clean up the house...and i partly believed her...and then this......

i want to see some criticism from the left...just be honest...thats all im asking..

1/16/2007 8:18:56 AM

THIS BILL DID NOT GET DEBATE TIME BECAUSE THE MAJORITY RUSHED IT THROUGH!

Sure she wasn't the only one to vote for it, but she got it through without debate. This is disgusting.

1/16/2007 8:30:03 AM

^agreed, the bill made exceptions and then didn't allow debate. This is the position she put the Congress in:

Vote for this and people will not remember it
Vote against this and you will be the asshole who hates the poor

Forget the exceptions. Of course, I don't think there should be a minimum wage at all, so the more exceptions the better, IMO.

1/16/2007 8:40:32 AM

lock

Quote :

"Editor's Note -- The previous sentence is noted in Wikipedia and has not otherwise been verified."

[Edited on January 16, 2007 at 9:26 AM. Reason : .]

1/16/2007 9:19:05 AM

I do love how you guys are attacking this based in part on only the bolded part Trikk posted? Did you read the part about how his statement is suspect information?

On another note, I don't agree with the Min. Wage Increase and I do find the exception of American Somoa to be odd to say the least, but that doesn't mean that I know shit about American Somoa or what impact an over 100% increase to the wages of 75% of the islands workers would have.

1/16/2007 9:23:17 AM

do some research...its not suspected information anymore

1/16/2007 9:25:58 AM

then get a new link

1/16/2007 9:26:58 AM

It would only make the problem worse. $3.26 is already too high as the island is already rife with unemployment and idleness.

1/16/2007 9:28:24 AM

But it doesn't stop there. CNMI is losing its excemption from the federal minimum wage. Why? Because the island has been historically friendly to Republicans.

Quote :

"Whether from careless ignorance, or calculated evil, Congress is about to drop a weapon of mass destruction on Saipan, the primary island of the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI), home to about 70,000 defenseless and innocent people. They will become the guinea pigs for an experiment every bit as destructive as a nuclear weapon, an increase in the minimum wage of 137%, from $3.05 to $7.25 in just four years. The US is every bit as tyrannical an imperial power over island colonies as any in history. Should the Congress proceed with this obscenity, let there be no more smug assurances that legal minimum wages do not cause unemployment and misery."

http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=1&newsID=64544

1/16/2007 9:36:15 AM

^So is it becuase they are friendly to repubs, or more likely, it is because the repubs want to be able to say "See, it fucked things up"

1/16/2007 9:42:12 AM

what? you mean politicians have agendas? SHOCKER!!!

1/16/2007 10:17:35 AM

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"do some research...its not suspected information anymore"

I did. All I saw was blog posts and rumors.

1/16/2007 10:46:20 AM

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"^So is it becuase they are friendly to repubs, or more likely, it is because the repubs want to be able to say "See, it fucked things up""

Seeing as the Amendment was floored by a Democrat and voted against by most Republicans, then I think it is the Democrats who want to be able to say "See, it fucked things up"

1/16/2007 11:18:45 AM

ok so....someone tell why pelosi isnt a huge hypocrite??

loneshark??

1/16/2007 12:15:56 PM

It looks like the minimum wage exception for Samoa has always been there. It's not like this is something new she's introducing, right?

1/16/2007 12:22:41 PM

^^ I wouldn't know. Don't know anything about her.

That said, owning stock in a company that pays below minimum wage and then voting for a raise in that minimum wage is not hypocrisy.

First, she is not running the company, the CEO is.
Second, the company is in compliance with the various markets it operates in. Philosophy over "living wage" does not enter into it, it is the pursuit of profits that maximize the benefits to mankind, not philosophy.
Third, it is perfectly possible that she accepts the fact that these island territories cannot handle a minimum wage as high as the rest of America. I would argue that not even America can handle such a high minimum wage. But if we assume setting a minimum wage is rational, it only follows that a different wage should be set for different places to account for trade flow conditions.

Now, what is hypocritical is to force some islands to adopt the high minimum wage and exempt other islands, as is being done in Congress. It is true Samoa has historically been exempt, but so have all the other island territories, which is coming to an end if this bill passes as written.

[Edited on January 16, 2007 at 12:26 PM. Reason : .,.]

1/16/2007 12:25:16 PM

right...so she's a hypocrite

1/16/2007 1:23:12 PM

Quote :

"It's not like this is something new she's introducing, right?"

Yes, it's always been there. So have other US territories (have been exempt from min wage increases). However, EVERY OTHER US TERRITORY had the increase this time around EXCEPT American Samoa. There lies the problem.

1/16/2007 1:29:32 PM

I CAN'T HEAR YOU! LALALALALALALALA. . .LA. . .la.

1/16/2007 1:33:29 PM

I'm not bothering to google, is Pelosi the one that raised the exception?

1/16/2007 1:39:06 PM

^ no way to know. the democrats drafted the bill then passed it without debate.

It's her house, her party. She leads it and I'm sure she was a primary source.

1/16/2007 1:41:41 PM

Did Samoa put up a larger fight to the increase than the other territories? Are they more organized and more influential?

I'm suspicious of anybody who has that much money invested in fruit. But that's just me.

1/16/2007 1:49:00 PM

^Democrats don't give in to political clout and protest. This living wage is necessary worldwide, consequences be damned.

1/16/2007 2:06:20 PM

^ lol, spot on analysis.

1/16/2007 2:10:56 PM

scoreboard:

dems - tuna worker controversy
republicans - iraq war

1/16/2007 3:02:48 PM

Quote :

"scoreboard: dems - tuna worker controversy republicans - iraq war"

correction


scoreboard:

dems - tuna worker controversy
republicans - iraq war (which almost all democrats voted for in the first place)

1/16/2007 3:10:48 PM

The Democrats provided the prewar intelligence and ran the occupation, too

[Edited on January 16, 2007 at 3:14 PM. Reason : .]

1/16/2007 3:14:04 PM

People, one crime against humanity at a time. Life is bad enough on these island territories without government mandated unemployment.

1/16/2007 3:16:52 PM

On a serious note: I don't like this. This is probably a case of the type of back-scratching that I wish wouldn't exist in politics.

But

For these Newsmax types to be like "omg Pelosi is totally a stock holder in X company, which has operations in Y area, blah blah blah" is hilarious, considering the "connections" between donations and favors that they've been completely dismissing for the past 6 years.

This is nowhere near the magnitude of the Pay-to-Play Congress we just had in office. If this is all the dirt they can dig up on the flood of bills passing through congress, I'd say things have really cleaned up.

1/16/2007 3:23:54 PM

Quote :

"For these Newsmax types to be like "omg Pelosi is totally a stock holder in X company, which has operations in Y area, blah blah blah" is hilarious, considering the "connections" between donations and favors that they've been completely dismissing for the past 6 years. "

do pelosi's connections bother you as much as connections of politicians of other parties over the past 6 years?

Quote :

"This is nowhere near the magnitude of the Pay-to-Play Congress we just had in office. If this is all the dirt they can dig up on the flood of bills passing through congress, I'd say things have really cleaned up."

you dont think its premature to say on 1/16/2007 that congress has "really cleaned up"?

1/16/2007 3:30:28 PM

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"republicans - iraq war (which almost all democrats voted for in the first place)"

I'm confused, what happened to the 21 Democratic Senators and 126 Reps that voted against it?

1/16/2007 3:56:42 PM

I'm confused. When did I say every?

1/16/2007 4:01:30 PM

that doesn't sound like "almost all" either.

1/16/2007 4:13:19 PM

majority.

1/16/2007 4:15:32 PM

abonorio smash

1/16/2007 4:17:58 PM

typea retard

1/16/2007 4:44:00 PM

Quote :

"Doing my own research, however, I've discovered that the impropriety is much deeper. Speaker Pelosi's husband Paul, it turns out, owns something to the order of $17 million in Del Monte stock! "

Having just come back from a tax policy session at our legislature, I can tell you that 99% the conversation went like this.

Nancy: This minimum wage bill is going through

Paul: That doesn't include US territories does it?

Nancy: Yeah, why?

Paul: Well, you know that company we own part of, Del Monte? They have a lot of workers in Samoa where the cost of living is really low. A minimum wage hike there would mean they would shut down the plant. They are the only employer in Samoa. The palce will just die if Del Monte pulls out.

Nancy: Crap, that sucks. Well, Samoa is small we can just write in an exemption for them.

Paul: Cool, pass the Corn Flakes.

[Edited on January 16, 2007 at 4:49 PM. Reason : foo]

1/16/2007 4:48:54 PM

Quote :

"scoreboard: dems - tuna worker controversy republicans - iraq war "

Don't forget the time frame. Republican control since '94

Democratic control since....like last week sometime?

1/16/2007 5:33:05 PM

Quote :

"For these Newsmax types to be like "omg Pelosi is totally a stock holder in X company, which has operations in Y area, blah blah blah" is hilarious, considering the "connections" between donations and favors that they've been completely dismissing for the past 6 years. This is nowhere near the magnitude of the Pay-to-Play Congress we just had in office. If this is all the dirt they can dig up on the flood of bills passing through congress, I'd say things have really cleaned up. "

what a hypocrite

1/16/2007 5:55:51 PM

I admitted that I don't like what Palosi's doing.

Then I pointed out that Republicans have been Palosix100,000 for the past 6 years

How does that make me a hypocrite? You're the one who's outraged over a small case of back-scratching, but for some reason didn't make any threads on Pay-for-Play-Delay these past couple of years.

1/16/2007 7:08:54 PM

yeah...28 for, 21 against...sounds like almost all to me...in case you didn't catch the sarcasm, you're a fucking moron

1/17/2007 1:58:48 AM

Please don't overlook these little trinkets, either: Pelosi and her husband own a vineyard in Napa Valley that employs only non-UFW harvesters. The Pelosis sell their grapes to the non-union wineries Liparita Cellars and Roche--some of these wines sell for more than $100 a bottle in restaurants. In addition, the Pelosis own stakes in two other wine enterprises--Ravenswood Winery and the Charlotte Wine Group (a consortium of smaller growers). Neither of these makes the UFW list as a "union-label" company.

1/17/2007 11:18:08 AM

^Well I'm all for that. I just wish she wasn't pretending she gave a shit.

1/17/2007 11:32:07 AM

yeah fuck the unions. Good for her.

1/17/2007 11:36:30 AM

^ She doesn't say "fuck the unions" when she takes their money--from union dues--and gives hypocritical speeches about the importance of unions. Yeah, it's only the mean old Republicans who are evil and greedy. Yet, the richest members of Congress are Democrats. Curious.

1/17/2007 12:08:13 PM