This'n'That;February 13th[J-Mac;H-1B;E-Verify;Nero;Porkulosi]

Has It Really Been Three Years?

Jason McElwain leaped from his chair and high-fived players on the bench Wednesday night when senior Willie Pantoja made a 3-pointer in the first quarter for Greece Athena. It was "Senior Night" again at Athena and the Trojans went on to edge rival Greece Arcadia, 46-44. Nearly three years ago, McElwain was the star in the most memorable Senior Night of all. He was the team manager with autism, the kid who finally got his chance to get into a game. He scored 20 points in just four minutes, making six 3-point shots that had the fans jumping up and down and making a memory that has been seen by millions. ESPN jumped on the story. He appeared at the NBA Finals. He met President George W. Bush. This season McElwain has been back on the Athena bench as a "program assistant" for the junior varsity and varsity teams. He yells and cheers. He coaches and urges players to do their best. People still call him J-Mac. Strangers still want his autograph. But other than once-a-month speaking engagements and the occasional call from a company such as Gatorade, which asked him to appear in a Super Bowl commercial with Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning, Jason McElwain probably would be living the same life he does now if he had never gotten into that game and never scored a basket on Feb. 15, 2006. Now 20, McElwain is 6-foot-2 and 160 pounds, four inches taller and about 20 pounds heavier than the boy fellow students hoisted on their shoulders and carried off the floor after those four minutes of magic. Most weekdays after his Wegmans' job, after he works with Athena JV coach Mike Setzer and his team, which went 17-1 and won the league title, McElwain heads to the YMCA to lift weights and play basketball. "He's like the Mayor of the Y," said his father, Dave McElwain, an audit manager for the state tax department. "His life has changed ... but it hasn't." The biggest difference might be how much better Jason communicates. Although he didn't speak his first words until age 5, Jason loves to talk. Even before that big night, he'd talk hoops — high school, college, NBA — with anyone who would listen. "A lot of times before he'd just ramble on about nothing," said his brother, Josh, 21, a senior studying math/education at State University College at Geneseo. "Now he speaks more maturely." Jason listens better. He responds with better answers in his deep voice. Semi-celebrity has "given him the self-confidence that he lacked," said his mother, Debbie, a dental hygienist. "He had never been proud of himself." Growing up, Josh always tried to include Jason in sports he did such as tennis, swimming, bowling and skiing. "If it wasn't for Josh, there would be no J-Mac," Debbie said, fiercely and proudly.

The [ANTI-]U.S. Chamber of Commerce

[Below is the transcript of Lou Dobbs' Thursday Evening show on CNN. It illustrates how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce feels about the United States as a whole; the American worker in particular. Judge for yourself just how the Chamber seeks to oust the American worker and substitute foreign [read: lower paid] workers.]

DOBBS: Some good news on the economy tonight, retail sales unexpectedly rising one percent in the month of January, that after six straight months of decline. The jump in retail sales, by the way, is the biggest increase in more than a year. Of course, you probably won't hear a lot of this amidst all of the dire talk by a lot of leading elected officials talking about catastrophe, disaster, depression. Well, homeowners tonight have some good news as well. Foreclosure filings nationwide were down 10 percent in January from the month of December. Business special interests tonight, because we've got millions and millions more of Americans who are losing their jobs, the business interests want more foreign worker visas. The business lobbyists are fighting proposals that would require banks, for example, receiving bailout money to hire American workers first-how about that-!! A renewed push for H-1B workers is underway in Washington led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, lobbying against a requirement that banks or other financial institutions receiving bailout money hire American workers ahead of foreign guest workers and effectively preventing the banks from hiring guest workers, immediately after or before large- scale layoffs of Americans.

The amendment's co-sponsor is appalled. SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT: Just think at this moment, we're in the middle of a deep recession. We're losing half a million jobs every month. The financial industry has laid off itself 100,000 American workers and their response is, gee, maybe we can get cheap labor from abroad. TUCKER: We called the Chamber for an explanation or a comment. It declined. However, "New York Times" writer Tom Friedman argues that such restrictions would be stupid. For evidence, he points to a new study from the Harvard Business School trying to examine the impact of H-1B workers from 1995 to 2006, on applications for patents. The study concludes that a 10 percent increase in the H-1B visa program result in a one to two percent increase in patent applications by people with Indian or Chinese surnames residing in the U.S. And when there's a decline in the number of visas, there's also a drop in the number of patent applications. Norman Matloff, an ardent critic of the H-1B program and this Harvard study says the study is seriously flawed.

NORMAN MATLOFF, UNIV. OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS: It's got lots of math in it. It's got lots of references. It's from Harvard no less. A lot of people on Capitol Hill are going to pay attention to this study, but they shouldn't. They shouldn't be fooled.

TUCKER: That's because the study does not prove that H-1B workers or even foreign-born workers were the recipients of the patents. It establishes a correlation of patents being granted to recipients with non-English names. The study's author says he understands and welcomes the arguments surrounding his study.

BILL KERR, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: This is a very, very sensitive program and there's both sides of this debate have lots of arguments and both sides can point to places where there are very adverse effects of the H-1B program there and are also very beneficial effects of the program.

TUCKER: Now Kerr says he'll be happy if the impact of his study is to generate more research into the H-1B program. As for the U.S. Chamber and its lobbying efforts against American workers, well Lou we still don't know if they are successful or not whether they killed the Grassley/Sanders Amendment because as Dana reported up at the top of the show, that bill just started getting printing, so nobody knows what's going on.

DOBBS: We know what -- you know, the Senate, this House are the tools of the Chamber of Commerce and that hasn't changed with an election. But let's go back to Harvard...

TUCKER: Yes.

DOBBS: That's the Harvard Business School...

TUCKER: Right.

DOBBS: ... we're talking about, not Harvard University. That's Harvard Business School. It's not entirely clear how the funding for that grant worked out for that study. Harvard Business School paid for it with funds from whom? Do we know that? TUCKER: No... I talked to the author. He said 100 percent of the business school, he accepted no sponsorship money.

DOBBS: Oh OK and did -- I wish he would have accepted one thing and that was probably a lesson in methodology because to extrapolate from non-English surnames that someone is automatically an H-1B visa holder is utterly...

TUCKER: It's flawed.

DOBBS: It's not a flaw, it's stupid. It is utterly ridiculous. You know look, I mean I -- business has to follow what the Chamber of Commerce tells it, but I'd like to see at least some intellectual integrity, particularly at Harvard Business School. Thank you very much.

TUCKER: You're welcome.

Definition of the "H-1B Worker:" The H-1B is a non-immigrant visa in the United States under the Immigration & Nationality Act, section 101(a)(15)(H). It allows U.S. employers to employ foreign guest workers in specialty occupations. The regulations define a “specialty occupation” as requiring theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge in a field of human endeavor including, but not limited to, architecture, engineering, mathematics, physical sciences, social sciences, medicine and health, education, law, accounting, business specialities, theology, and the arts, and requiring the attainment of a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent as a minimum. Likewise, the foreign worker must possess at least a bachelor’s degree or its equivalent and state licensure, if required to practice in that field. H-1B work-authorization is strictly limited to employment by the sponsoring employer.

obama Versus The American Worker

Pushing for passage of the stimulus package, obama said, "The workers who are returning home to tell their husbands and wives and children that they no longer have a job... they need help now." The same day the obama administration quietly delayed implementation of a rule designed precisely for that purpose: the requirement that federal contractors use E-Verify. E-Verify is the federal government's system that enables businesses to hire legal workers. It is a sure way to protect jobs for US citizen and legal immigrant workers alike, and ensure their jobs aren't stolen by illegal immigrants. This voluntary program is currently used by more than 100,000 employees across the nation. And more are signing up every day. A Department of Homeland Security evaluation found 96 percent of participating employers did not believe it overburdened their staffs. And the National Federation for Independent Business supports a bill that would make E-Verify mandatory. E-Verify immediately confirms 99.4 percent of work-eligible employees. Of the less than 1 percent who had issues to resolve, 95 percent said their problem was resolved with the Social Security Administration in a timely, courteous and efficient manner. More than 6 million queries have been made using the program, all at a minimal cost. But the program runs the risk of expiring a little more than a month from now. In the last term of Congress, the House passed a long term extension of E-Verify by an overwhelming 407-to-2 bipartisan vote. But the bill was held up by a few senators. This week, as part of the economic stimulus bill, the House once again passed a multiyear extension of the program, as well as new provisions requiring any business that receives funding from the stimulus program to utilize E-Verify. [Those items that have been eliminated from the Porkulus package are telling a completely different story about the "Era of Fluff." It is so "in-your-face" evident that obama is mimicking a ruler of the long ago Roman Empire. Nero is that ruler. He "fiddled while Rome burned;" much like obama is "fiddling" with porkulus while the American economy "burns!!" NERObama's fiddling has allowed the democrat senate to quietly strip the E-Verify requirement from the porkulus. That provision would have required that any businesses receiving federal stimulus cash to use an easy computer program called E-Verify to make sure that the jobs they generate go to American citizens or documented foreign workers, not illegal immigrants.]Nero was not a fiddle player, but a lyre player. Nero played the lyre while Rome burned..... As with Nero-nerobama seems well-versed in "lyreing."

Awards More Important Than US Economy

Nancy Porkulosi, Speaker of The House, has to catch a 6PM flight tonight. Ms Porkulosi has to fly to Europe this evening to award some potentate with some award for something, probably far more important than the entire American economy!! She's insisting that the Porkulus Bill be voted on this afternoon: Friday, the 13th!! [The date says something about the Porkulus to me!!] The Porkulus Bill is the greatest "transfer of wealth" in American history and those voting on it WILL NOT HAVE TIME TO READ IT!! Hopefully, at least some of the spineless democrat and RINO creatures will stand up to Porkulosi and the vote will not happen until all have read the bill.....Any bets??

Til Nex'Time....