NoCalMike

I guess I now know why the Democrats never win. They were voted into power to end the war, and they just bent over and took it in the ass. Of course they will say "it's so we could raise minimum wage" but that is a line of bullshit, because raising the minimum wage had overwhelming support of the american people and could have been passed without piggybacking onto a bill about war funding. I am so dissapointed and frustrated.

Well the idea is for wages to go up. To have some sort of standard. When the labor market is flooded and over-crowded with cheap labor, it breaks unions and drives down wages. Illegal Immigration allows wages to fall. This notion that "americans won't do these jobs" is false. The truth is American Companies won't pay american's to do these jobs because it might take away from profit margins. Also, when you support companies hiring illegal immigration you are also supporting labor exploitation that we are trying to be a better country about. A lot of day laborers are not being paid minimum wage and labor laws are not being upheld, but this is really what big business has wanted all along, to send our good paying jobs overseas where they can pay people less, and then import cheap labor on the homefront to keep wages down here too. People talk about illegals representing the low-level unskilled work force, but excuse me, working in construction should be considered "un-skilled labor" I don't want un-skilled people building houses where you have to get repair work done a year into moving in because the people working on it were inept and unskilled. How is that a good thing for anybody but the developers that want cheap labor? This whole notion that the "economy is great" is a crock. It is great for the people in charge, while low-wage workers' salaries have not gone up at all and illegal immigration is a part of that.

EDIT: Oops

NEW LONDON, Conn. - President Bush portrayed the Iraq war as a battle between the U.S. and al-Qaida on Wednesday..... --------- Umm yeah I would have posted the rest of the drivel in the article....but the opening line pretty much sums it up.... On an unrelated but related note....... Why we're in Iraq

Too long, which is another thing about this immigration bill that sucks. If you're asking me if there should be a faster path to citizenship, then I would agree.

The problem is that the Democrats are not communicating that cutting off the funding to the war means THE END OF THE WAR, it doesn't mean(as republicans are being fucking intellectually dishonest about) that the soliders will be running around in Iraq without guns and bombs and help, it means they will come home.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush won a battle over nearly $100 billion to fund the Iraq war as congressional Democrats on Tuesday abandoned troop withdrawal efforts for now but pledged to try again in July. ADVERTISEMENT Instead of setting schedules for withdrawing U.S. troops, it appeared the Democratic-run Congress and the Republican White House agreed for the first time to include conditions prodding Baghdad to make better progress toward quelling violence or risk losing some U.S. reconstruction aid. "We've been led to believe that that is the language that is likely to be in the final version," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell (news, bio, voting record) of Kentucky told reporters. That provision passed the Senate last week, with a few Democrats supporting it. At the time, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) of Nevada said of the language crafted by Virginia Republican Sen. John Warner (news, bio, voting record): "If you look in the dictionary under 'weak' the Warner amendment would be listed under it." White House spokesman Tony Snow said the measure would provide "the funding and flexibility the forces need. That's what we've wanted all along." On May 1, Bush vetoed Congress' first version of this year's emergency war funds bill because it set an October 1 deadline for starting to pull most of the 147,000 soldiers out of Iraq, a goal of anti-war Democrats. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (news, bio, voting record), a Maryland Democrat, said lawmakers were putting the finishing touches on a new bill, and acknowledged the political realities. "The president has made it very clear he's not going to sign timelines (for withdrawing troops). We can't pass timelines over his veto," he told reporters. DISAPPOINTMENT FOR SOME DEMOCRATS That will be a disappointment for some Democrats who say they won control of Congress last November largely because voters wanted to see an end to the 4-year-old war in Iraq. But it was welcome news for Republican leaders who have argued Congress should not be "micro-managing" the war. "Democrats have finally conceded defeat in their effort to include mandatory surrender dates in a funding bill for the troops," said House Minority Leader John Boehner (news, bio, voting record) of Ohio. Some Democrats have predicted for months that it would take longer to force troop withdrawals. They argue that even with a weaker bill, they have ended four years of "rubber stamp" war funding bills of the previous Republican-run Congress. Hoyer and Reid said Democrats would continue pushing for a "change in direction" in Iraq, where at least 3,420 U.S. soldiers have been killed and more than 34,000 wounded. "Certainly we'll do it in July when Mr. Murtha's bill is on the floor," Hoyer said. In the meantime, Democrats are fully funding Bush's war financing request. Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record) has led efforts in the House of Representatives to end U.S. combat in the Iraq war. In July, Murtha will shepherd a military funding bill through the House for the next fiscal year, starting October 1. Bush and most Republicans have argued that setting dates for withdrawing U.S. troops would rob military commanders of the flexibility they need to conduct the war. Despite those charges, even some congressional Republicans, Boehner among them, have spoken of autumn as the timeframe for reassessing progress in Iraq and possibly producing "Plan B." Under the Democrats' latest strategy, the war funding bill will pay for combat in Iraq and Afghanistan through September. Aides said there would be benchmarks for measuring Iraq's progress toward stability and setting up a competent army. There would also be consequences for Iraq not meeting the benchmarks, the aides said -- likely to be limits on about $1.6 billion in reconstruction aid, as in Warner's proposal. -Wow, I guess these pussys want to lose in '08.

Ok so what are you saying, that you support the exploitation of immigrants? If they indeed come in here legally they would in fact be collecting social security. I am not anti-immigration. We do need a certain amount of it. However we need to let the labor market dictate what we can handle. I just want to know, from the people that are pro-illegal immigration, if they think ANYTHING about immigration should be monitored/regulated? Should we even have laws about people coming across the border at all? Or should it just be a free for all? I am trying to find a middle-ground but the problem I have encountered, is the pro-illegal immigration side, seem to say the word "reform" when once you get them to be honest, what they really are saying is that they think anyone should just be allowed to come over the border at any time. If that is the case, then just say so, and say you want immigration laws off the books. Just don't be intellectually dishonest about the issue. If you want to better understand my stance on this issue in more detail, read the article found here: http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0705-23.htm and here http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0329-21.htm , oh and here http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0308-20.htm

Damn....I know Cotto is a rising star and all, but does Zab Judah still even have enough in the tank to warrant being the Main Event on PPV?

Like.....? I think the actual problem if you want my honest opinion, is that immigration laws in general, just aren't enforced. Right now, too many people/companies benefit and those benefits are enough to outweight the very real problems, unchecked and unregulated immigration present. I guess the meat of the issue will continue to be one of those cases where, more laws aren't needed, but the existing laws need to be enforced. Every time someone has a problem with illegal immigration, they need to be able to make a valid point, and not be shouted down as "hating brown people" I live in CA, Mexican culture is engrained in my everyday life. Everytime I leave my house I am emersed in it. Do I care? No. Am I offended? No. Do I enjoy a lot of what it has to offer? Hell Yes. However, Is that a completely seperate issue than Illegal Immigration? Yes.

Right but here is what happens as well. When you outsource jobs that occupy the middle class, they end up having to compete for those lower-end jobs that now are being taken by illegals because they are willing to work off the books for less money. Also, these people are not paying into Social Security and other programs that are counted on by our taxes. Not that I am blaming the immigrants themselves, it is a problem with the businesses willing to do this to save a buck. This is also another reason why "the economy is rolling" is another line of bullshit, because the economy is only rolling for the Top 2% that are reaping the awards of low-wage workers that went from making 40-50k, to now making 20-30k. When someone loses a good job, but a month later gets hired at Wal-Mart as a cashier, that still gets counted, as if that medial income is somehow making up for the previous salary. If you think this isn't an issue, then just wait for Bush, before he leaves office, to approve of Mexican trucks having free access to our roads without having to abide by safety and/or enviornmental regulations. You will see our trucking industry dissapear faster then our auto industry.

Well we just learned that every match at ONS 3 will be Extreme Rules.

I don't think the fans would crap all over CM Punk if they do some type of post-match "respect" moment.

THis cop HAD TO ghost ride her whip.......

The question is: Good for who?

It has an ID-4 vibe to it, but at least we know ahead of time that the robots and transformations look fucking sick, while with ID-4 the alien beings finally being seen on screen was quite the dissapointment.

All the $50 seats are gone......FUCK. Time to tune into the radio and try and win a contest.

Well yeah, either that or Cena actually beats him once or twice first but we get the "It Never Happened.....Arghhh" or the "Beating me once proves nothing" or the "A fluke is a fluke" promo from HHH the night after the PPV.

This Cena push reminds me a lot of the initial face push Hogan got when he went to WCW. They kept lining up opponents for Hogan, without feuds. As soon as he beat someone, the next guy in line would run in the following Nitro, beat him down, proclaim to be this and that and go on to do a uber-job at the following PPV. If Vince wants Cena as THE GUY, then fine whatever, but right now they are just showing some lazy fucking booking. There is nothing compelling about Cena or his opponents right now. This is the second straight opponent he has had that was built up as some big fucking unstoppable monster, that basically went on to job to some kicks and punches. Why are they not mapping out matches that have Cena have to do something extra, or hell maybe have one of these "MONSTERS" go psycho on Cena at a PPV and get themselves DQ'd to extend the feud a bit.....these one and done "extravaganzas" are tired. They belong on RAW, not on PPV.

Well, I have it now...how much is the delay?

So yeah, I was washing my car and running some errands....kinda late to the thread.........any chats I can join with PBP?

All this bickering about it being RVD's fault is really nonsense. It seems quite clear RVD wanted out and was just a matter of time. If his demands were ludicrous then maybe he knew that was the way to get out, as we all know from history Vince hates giving guys time off, especially extended time off, which makes it kind of curious as to why RVD kept insisting on it. RVD being released early or not is a moot point anyway, because the sheer stupidity of not using the most OVER worker on your card to put someone like CM Punk, or hell even give Lashley another rub was surely the way to go if you are serious about not only the ECW Brand, but the workers themselves. To act like RVD had nothing left to offer before his contract was up, or that they couldn't simply "find something for him to do" is probably the most ingenuine statement made about this whole situation.

My god was Taylor/Spinks awful........I hope Pavlik either beats Taylor or brings this "beast" out of him we keep hearing about....!?!

Well if it does one thing, it re-affirms my utter lack of interest in Die Hard 4 aftering see the trailer for it(and learning of it's PG-13 Rating)......John Rambo all the way!!!

Immigration is one of those issues that will never be resolved because both parties in power are basically owned by Major Corporations. The emphasis with immigration will ALWAYS be about "border security" yet any fool knows that you can build a 100ft high wall, with electrified barbed-wire, but as long as companies here are willing to hire illegal immigrants to save a few bucks, they will FIND A WAY to cross the border to make more money then they do in Mexico, and every other country people are fleeing. In my opinion, the emphasis needs to put on the companies hiring these people. These companies know what they are doing is against the law, and not only are they ignoring the law to save a few bucks, but in a lot of cases they are exploiting the workers by paying them extremely low wages which are often off the books, which means nothing goes to Social Security and other taxed programs. This hogwash that "they do the jobs american's won't do" is a goddamn crock. Sure, American's won't do it for $1.00 an hour and work 16 hour days, but for minimum wage and a 40 hour work week, as soon as my kid turns legal age to work, I would surely have no problem sending him to scrub dishes in a resteraunt to learn about making money and the responsibility that comes with it. We should let the labor market dictate how many immigrants we can handle. Also, cheap labor often equals cheap fucking results, which in the end cost the consumer more anyways. Craftmanship in this country has gone away. No one prides themselves anymore on learning a craft over the years and mastering it, all anyone is interested in is finding the cheapest person with a hammer hanging from their belt that can do some work on the fly. There is a reason for licenses in this country and I wish you had to have them for things like building houses.