It was reported by some news organizations yesterday that some of Nancy Pelosi's constituents were exempted from recent Minimum Wage legislation that passed the House of Representatives. How many news organizations are reporting it? Not many.
Updated: January 13, 2007 - Loophole intended to be closed.
Update: January 13, 2007. Spencer England provides insightful comments at the bottom of this post. I have also learned that Title 29 of the US Code apparently dictates Minimum Wage Laws in the US Territories. The Democrats have modified the Minimum Wage legislation to remove this loophole.
When I found out that Nancy Pelosi's own constituents were exempted from a Minimum Wage bill recently passed by the House of Representatives, I thought, this will be a good litmus test of the fair and balanced media. So I did a news search on Google. This is what I found (click image to enlarge):
Maybe it's a mistake, and Washington Times is reporting something that didn't really happen, but here's what they're saying:
House Republicans yesterday declared "something fishy" about the major tuna company in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco district being exempted from the minimum-wage increase that Democrats approved this week.
"I am shocked," said Rep. Eric Cantor, Virginia Republican and his party's chief deputy whip, noting that Mrs. Pelosi campaigned heavily on promises of honest government. "Now we find out that she is exempting hometown companies from minimum wage.
I was troubled to learn of this exemption," said Rep. Mark Steven Kirk, Illinois Republican. "My intention was to raise the minimum wage for everyone. We shouldn't permit any special favors or exemptions that are not widely discussed in Congress. This is the problem with rushing legislation through without full debate."
According to the article, Pelosi did not answer the charges. Here's what happened instead:
A spokeswoman for Mrs. Pelosi said Wednesday that the speaker has not been lobbied in any way by StarKist or Del Monte.
I decided to try my search on a different site. It didn't get any better at Yahoo (click on image to enlarge):
First, American Somoa is not in her district.
ReplyDeleteSecond, American Somoa has always been exempt from the minimum wage.
Third, it does not make any difference to Starkist that has one processing plant in american somoa where they pay wages higher than the minimum wage.
Fourth, the significant issue is that firms import Asian labor and pay them at Asian wage rates to manufacture clothing. But they put made-in-american labels on the clothing.
So, that's it, Frank?
ReplyDeleteYou jump on the "Pelosi is the Devil" Hanitty-wagon and, when Spenser refutes your ... typed spasm? (I certainly can't call it a point, or a collection of points), you blow it off?
Spencer,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the clarification. I was directed on another site to United States Code (Title 29) that deals with territorial Minimum Wage issues.
JM,
I don't even listen to Hannity. I consider him a scumbag. By the way, did your foot hit you in the face when your knee jerked?