First Monday in October

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 01 October 2012 07:24:27 PM. © Docudharma - Front Page

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow GazetteThe 2012 term of the US Supreme Court traditionally begins on the first Monday in October. If the 2011 session is any indication, this term should be even more interesting as the court considers some of the most[...]

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Private Security Force Arrests Supporters of
Striking Walmart Warehouse Workers

post from Firedoglake on 01 October 2012 07:11:17 PM. © Firedoglake

Community, faith and labor organizations mobilized this afternoon for a rally and civil disobedience action in support of thirty-eight workers on strike at a Walmart warehouse in Elwood, Illinois. They marched down to this distribution center, and, at[...]

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Will You Join Us

post from Talking Points Memo on 01 October 2012 07:01:24 PM. © Talking Points Memo

As I first announced last week, TPM is launching TPMPrime, a new members section of TPM for our most passionate and dedicated core readers. Do you visit TPM multiple times a day? Is it a critical part of your news diet? Is TPM important to you? Then[...]

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Companies Claim Not Enough Qualified Americans
For IT Jobs

post from Crooks and Liars on 01 October 2012 07:00:08 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Bill Gates testified before Congress in 2009 about a tech worker shortage.

These New York Times reporters are either dumb -- or lazy. Here's a story about how tech companies are training up a new generation of workers because of a shortage of technical talent. They never even bother to investigate whether there's a discrepancy between what companies tell them, and the qualifications of laid off workers:

There are likely to be 150,000 computing jobs opening up each year through 2020, according to an analysis of federal forecasts by the Association for Computing Machinery, a professional society for computing researchers. But despite the hoopla around start-up celebrities like Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, fewer than 14,000 American students received undergraduate degrees in computer science last year, the Computing Research Association estimates. And the wider job market remains weak.
?People can?t get jobs, and we have jobs that can?t be filled,? Brad Smith, Microsoft?s general counsel who oversees its philanthropic efforts, said in a recent interview.
Big technology companies have complained for years about a dearth of technical talent, a problem they have tried to solve by lobbying for looser immigration rules to accommodate more foreign engineers and sponsoring tech competitions to encourage student interest in the industry. Google, for one, holds a programming summer camp for incoming ninth graders and underwrites an effort called CS4HS, in which high school teachers sharpen their computer science skills in workshops at local universities.

Anyone who's been around the IT industry knows what a bunch of horse hockey this is. From the Global Affairs blog:

The so called "shortage" is a self made shortage by the companies who want to hire the knowledge at cut rate prices. Individuals in their 40s and 50s find themselves increasingly locked out of jobs they can easily do because the company doesn't want to pay them for that experience. Even when individuals are desperate for that job, and are willing to take any pay just so they can work, it's a rare occurrence indeed to be even granted an interview. And the longer one is unemployed, the worse it gets as now the company will claim that you've been out of the field too long and aren't current on today's technology.
So the next time you see some CEO crying about how it's so damned difficult to fill their spots, stop and think about what they're really saying. What they really mean is they're unable to find some kid who can do the job for peanuts and don't want to hire anyone out of the existing glut of unemployed tech experts who would kill for just an interview.

Norman Matloff, a professor of computer science at UC Davis, puts it this way:

But won't those laid-off HP engineers be snapped up by the booming tech sector? Many will not.
The tech job market is excellent for younger workers, but many of those who are laid off and over 35 will find the market less welcoming. They're perceived as too expensive. The HP layoff will consist disproportionately of older workers. Indeed, jettisoning the veterans is often the hidden agenda in mass layoffs. It's no coincidence that many of the U.S. core engineering openings at HP have titles like Recent Graduate, Intern and Post Doc, all aimed at the younger crowd.
The difficulties of older techies have been investigated statistically in studies at American University and the National Research Council, but a very public human face was placed on this recently in an online town hall meeting with President Obama.
The wife of electrical engineer Darin Wedel explained to the president that her husband has never found a permanent job after being laid off by the electronics giant Texas Instruments. Granted, family issues restricted him to the Dallas area, but if the hype regarding a seller's market for engineers were true, Wedel should have been able to find something in that region, which sadly has not been the case.

We've seen it over and over. Tech companies insist Americans can't fill their positions (at slave wages), so they push for more H-1B visas for workers who are willing to work for much lower salaries. And so it goes in our brave new world.

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Today on The Stars Hollow Gazette

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 01 October 2012 06:42:09 PM. © Docudharma - Front Page

Our regular featured content-On This Day In History October 1 by TheMomCatPunting the Pundits by TheMomCatAnd these featured articles-Pique the Geek 20120930: Sodium -- You Can Not Get Away from It by: Translator"The smartest bankers we got" by: ek[...]

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The Carter Surprise

post from The American Prospect on 01 October 2012 06:41:12 PM. © The American Prospect

Ask Americans about Jimmy Carter, and the most popular response may well be: ?Um. Wait. Was he a president or something?? After all, the man left office more than three decades ago, long before many voters were born. Unlike the Reagan years, there was nothing definitional about Carter?s presidency?which was one of its problems. And unlike Bill Clinton, the Man from Plains didn?t preside over a boom time?which was another one of his problems. He?s been a swell ex-president, but normal people don?t pay much heed to ex-presidents, especially the ones who run around doing fine things for humanity (yawn). Sure, to some politicos, ?Jimmy Carter? is still synonymous with a gloomy and failed presidency. But for everybody else, Jimmy Carter was yesterday?s news 20 years ago.

But he?s about to make a dramatic comeback, if the Romney campaign has anything to say about it. At Salon, Craig Unger reported today on the grand turnaround strategy that Team Romney is ?chortling with glee? about: ?to portray Obama as a helpless, Jimmy Carter-like president and to equate the tragedy in Libya with President Carter?s failed attempt to rescue American hostages in Iran in 1980.? They?re calling it the Jimmy Carter Strategy, or the October Surprise. It hinges on releasing some intelligence that purports to show Obama knew about plans to attack the U.S. embassy in Libya before it happened?and then using it to paint Obama as ?weak on terrorism,? just like Carter.

Of course, folks like Karl Rove and Paul Ryan?and Romney himself, in his far-too-soon critique of Obama while the crisis was still roiling?have already been howling about Libya. And the mixed-up messages of Obama and his aides, who still can?t seem to decide on what really happened, has certainly put a small chink in the president?s formidable terror-fighting armor. Potentially damaging stories are starting to trickle out about the pre-attack intel. But the idea that Jimmy Carterizing the president is the magic bullet that the Romney campaign has been waiting for? It gives new meaning to ?grasping at straws.? Even if Obama=Carter somehow caught on like wildfire, as the Romney folks are betting, there?s no history of October Surprises working wonders; today, Kevin Drum at Mother Jones has a history of Surprises dating back to the 1940s that suggests they?re about as likely to turn an election as the mythical ?debate bounce.?

So They Say

?In debate, @MittRomney should ask Obama why autobiography states, ?born in Kenya, raised in Indonesia.??

?Donald Trump?s idea of a great debate ?zinger? for Romney

Daily Meme: Our Guy Stinks

With the first presidential debate only two days away, both sides are spinning like mad to lower expectations for their own guy. As Dan Amira points out, "Their efforts so far are more amusing than convincing, however."
Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul said of her boss's opponent, ?President Obama is the most gifted speaker in modern political history, so it is hard to imagine anyone outscoring him in debate points.?
Senior adviser Beth Myers wrote last week that "Obama is a uniquely gifted speaker" who "is widely regarded as one of the most talented political communicators in modern history."
Chris Christie went off-script, though, saying that Romney is going to hit it out of the park.
Obama?s team is united in its determination to poor-mouth their man's debating skills. Spokesperson Jen Psaki says that Obama's answers just might be too substantive to work well in the debate.
DNC spokesperson Brad Woodhouse reminds everyone that Romney beat Newt Gingrich in the Republican primary debates. How are they supposed to compete with someone who managed that feat?
Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm said of the president, ?First off, he?s obviously a brilliant man, but the president is Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.. You know it, you saw him hemming and hawing in debates four years ago.?
Even Obama joined in the debate race to the bottom at a campaign rally on Sunday: ?Governor Romney, he?s a good debater. I?m just OK.?
"All things considered,? writes Mike Tomasky, "we should consider it a win if the president even manages to remember Jim Lehrer?s name. Really.?
Another big edge for Mitt: Apparently he?s been preparing "zingers and special lines" for months.
Let?s hope they are better than his zingers of debates past.

What We're Writing

Paul Waldman asks: Why are 3,000 journalists traveling to Denver so they can watch the debate on TV?
Steve Erickson scripts a debate answer that could clinch the election for Obama.

What We're Reading

At The New Yorker, Chrystia Freeland probes the ?super-rich irony? of billionaires feeling victimized by Obama.
McSweeney?s has a fabulous mid-season review of ?Hit Television Series, American Election 2012.?
Some foreign leaders look to The West Wing to understand how American democracy works. Yair Rosenberg explains why they shouldn?t.
David Horowitz claims that Grover Norquist is a ?practicing Muslim.?
Would Obama?s re-election be more transformative than his first victory? Touré and Andrew Sullivan think so.
Gee, thanks a lot: Hugo Chavez says he?d vote for Obama if he could. Team Obama couldn?t be more delighted.

Poll of the Day

Sixty-seven percent of voters can pinpoint Mitt Romney as the progenitor of the "47 percent" comments dominating election coverage the past few weeks, while 29 percent don't know who said those things. Fifty-five percent of those who know it was Romney report a negative reaction, while 23 percent of respondents react positively. When you split the reactions by party, not surprisingly, the differences grow stark?54 percent of Republicans find positive connotations (!) in the secret video remarks, while 88 percent of Democrats react negatively.

For more polling information, go to the Prospect?s 2012 election map.

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Michele Bachmann is getting more unhinged

post from Daily Kos on 01 October 2012 06:30:04 PM. © Daily Kos

Michele Bachmann is slowly devolving into a mean parody of herself, and considering where she started from that is saying something. Here are her "thoughts" on the president's last speech to the U.N.

It almost sounds like he?s trying to speak as ??Emperor of the World,? telling the world what to do, as opposed to being the President of the United States who should be adamant and say it?s outrageous that these Islamist countries should be calling on the United States to take away the constitutional protections of the American people. This is very important to think that the United States would restrict speech of Americans. Now the president did talk in his remarks about the fact that we do have a constitutional right to free speech but really the only focus of that speech should have been under no circumstances will the United States ever subvert the Constitution to Sharia law. We didn?t get that kind of a forceful statement from our President.

I'm trying to imagine, here, a president going up in front of the United Nations and devoting an entire speech to the notion that America and our Constitution was under attack by forces bent on establishing Muslim religious rule, but that this would not stand. I'm not seeing any scenario in which the president (any president) would not come off as a freaking crazy person.

It seems that Bachmann is getting more unhinged by the week. I'm not sure if her new invisible-Muslims conspiracy is something she honestly believes or if it's just some sort of Glenn Beckish performance art meant to keep the worst of her base happy, but she's gone off the deep end either way. It's not even parody material at this point, it's just ... unhinged.

Well, whatever. Hopefully her district is getting as sick of her as the rest of her party seems to be. Please donate $3 to Jim Graves, who has an uphill climb in unseating this crackpot.

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Treasury Rumors: Replacements for Geithner on
Either Side a Fairly Sorry Lot

The next Administration, whoever it may be, will feature a new direction on policies around economic and finance issues. That's because, even if Barack Obama wins re-election, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has announced that he would leave his[...]

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Did warrantless wiretaps increase under Obama

Should we be worried by the ACLU claim that 'warrantless' wiretaps increased under Obama? Yes, if it were true. But is it?The post Did ‘warrantless’ wiretaps increase under Obama? appeared first on AMERICAblog.

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New York Attorney General Sues JP Morgan Chase
Over Alleged Mortgage-Backed Securities Fraud

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) has filed a civil lawsuit against JP Morgan Chase alleging “widespread fraud in the sale of mortgage-backed securities,” the Wall Street Journal reports. The suit is the first action brought by the Obama administration’s mortgage fraud task force, which Schneiderman chairs. According to the Huffington Post’s Mark Gongloff, [...]

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gress0Borg0Ceconomy0C20A120C10A0C0A10C9388710Cnew0Eyork0Eattorney0Egeneral0Esues0Ejp0Emorgan0Echase0Eover0Emortgage0Ebacked0Esecurities0Efraud0C/story01.htm