http://progressivegeek.com A Progressive Cast for the Working Caste. News and views on the labor movement, offshoring, insourcing, and everything that ails the middle class today. Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:39:14 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en In this episode, I talk a little about the current economy and comment on how the mess today is actually the result of economic and trade policies that began with Reagan. I also talk about job interviews that I had at two different medical device companies.  It is amazing how obvious ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/78 I went in for an interview for a job last week for which a recruiter from a local recruiting firm had submitted my resume.  The recruiter had already placed someone from India in this particular downtown Seattle company about a month before.  In fact, the Indian made note of all the interview questions that he was asked in order ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/77 You may wonder why congressmen and senators seem to be so out of touch with the reality that middle and lower class Citizens face each and every day.  In fact, you may wonder why they seem to completely ignore any message you try to get to them via email, phone calls, ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/75 Bill G was in Washington DC for his periodic fawning of his ego from congress.  He was also there to traitorously push for more cheap foreign labor to harm the already struggling American technology worker even more.  See the enclosed clip for a Lou Dobbs report on Gates' visit to ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/74 As reported in this article "Greenspan: U.S. economy on edge of recession", Greenspan, like many economists, are warning of an impending economic downturn. However, as I had pointed out in my interview with Adam Geller (see article), the economy, particularly for technology workers hasn't been that great for several years.  ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/71 What is it with the super wealthy in this country?  They make their billions in this country and instead of just retiring and disappearing, they keep pushing economic policies that continue to run the middle class into the ground?  And they continue to do this even though the economy is ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/73 Here is a real non-answer email from one of my “centrist” senators - Patty Murray. It also kind of disgusts me lately on how they use your address to punch in your city into the last line of their emails: “I hope all is well in [insert city here]”. If she ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/72 There is confusion in Washington State over what is different between the Caucus and the Primary, and which you should care about.  It is also different according to which Party you subscribe. The short of it is: If you are a Republican, both the Primary and the Caucus are important. If you are ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/70 Everyone with half a brain knows that Fox News is a joke.  I can't stand to watch Fox News, and I just cringe when I am waiting at the doctor's office, or some other public place, and they have a TV tuned to cable Fox News.  However, I stumbled upon ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/68 Great article! It is written by a conservative, but it makes some very important points. Sure it's nice that the candidates talk about health care and other social issues. But it will be impossible to fix those issues because this globalist "Free [for the corporations] Trade" agenda pulls the rug out ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/67 This episode opens with a skit with the help of Bill from The Florida Soapbox podcast.  Bill also has a new podcast titled The World News Review which will be coming out in January. Next, I discuss the Christmas resolution that passed in congress and my full support for Jim McDermott who voted ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/66 ...or so says Shelly Burroughs in a voicemail left at my home today.  Of course, being The Progressive Geek, with my intense distrust of our anti-American dysfunctional government, the first thing I did was to search the Internet for more information on this "highest honor" (as described in the voicemail) that ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/64 Heavy rain and snow caused major flooding in Washington State. Flood waters filled many of the local creeks and rivers. Woodinville, which is south of me, had major streets flooded out. I spent the day at home since my bridge in my driveway washed out. Governor Gregoire declared a State Of ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/62 In response to Governor Gregoire's empty letter after she had promised me a "good job with a good employer" at the Town Hall meeting, I wrote this letter to Karen Lee, who is the person that Gregoire said could get me that job.  I also sent a copy of the letter ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/61 Well, a response from her staff anyway.  Earlier in October, I went to the Seattle Town Hall meeting to question Gregoire about her role in the letter signed by 13 governors to the U.S. congress calling for the H-1B cap to be raised.  Among the things that she promised was a job "with ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/60 The online DFA poll results are in and Kucinich is on top with nearly 32% of the vote.  Al Gore, who said that he is not going to run for President, came in second with nearly 25% of the vote.  John Edwards is in 3rd place, solidly over 15%.  Hillary is where she belongs, ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/59   An aritcle in Highland Community News analyzes the Department of Labor's Strategy Plan where the department states that it is OK to give preference to foreign workers over American workers.  The Progressive Geek provides his own analysis of this section of the Strategy Plan. Your reading assignment: On the Need for Reform ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/56 Who needs Corporate Neo-Cons to destroy the American working class when you have democratic candidates like Obama, Clinton, and Edwards?  David Sirota blogged on the recent announcement by Obama that Obama supports expanding NAFTA.  The only candidate that actually wants to abolish NAFTA and start all over with FAIR trade agreements ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/55 Chris Gregoire, at one of her Town Hall meetings in downtown Seattle, was challenged on the fact that she and 12 other governors signed a letter urging congress to pass legislation to raise the H-1B cap.  Her response consisted of talking points that Bill Gates uses in his quest for ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/54 Great, freely distributable song from http://www.realamerican.us. My Odeo Channel (odeo/970fa7f4af1edc24) My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-4efaa44722c96c05c08ef23da4b5cea8} http://progressivegeek.com/archives/6 The Progressive Geek responds to listener questions regarding the Democratic Presidential Candidates' support for H-1B and L-1 VISA programs. Dennis Kucinich is the only candidate who really understands the plight of the middle class and has proposals on how to correct the direction that this country is taking. ABC News keeps taking ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/7 Microsoft tries to improve Windows Vista sales by making Halo 2 for the PC run only on Vista and not on Windows XP. EFF (Electronic Fontier Foundation) needs your help in combing through released FBI documents. Federal Express wants to ship your company to India. Google can't find enough people on the planet ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/8 Lawrence Lebowitz, director of marketing for the Pittsburgh law firm Cohen & Grigsby is shown in a YouTube video in a seminar to their corporate clients describng how to beat the H-1B system to hire cheap foreign labor instead of American Citizens. This video has created quite a backlash from ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/10 What is TAA? TAA (Trade Adjustment Assistance) is a band-aid that is meant to compensate for the awful free trade policies that the United States has been pursuing. This episode contains clips from the hearing held by the House Ways and Means Committee (also known as the Ways to be Mean ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/11 Men in 30s earn less than dads did Sinister Reasons for Boosting H1b Visa Limits? H-1B FEDERAL IMMIGRATION BILL: Reforms to the work visa program are a small part of the overall debate -- except in Silicon Valley; Everyone agrees it's flawed, but how to fix it? Music by Alana Sweetwater http://progressivegeek.com/archives/12 The Not-So-Free Speech Radio News and My body is possessed by a spirit from the Netherworld. ***** Post production note I just listened to the FSRN story. It finally came out today (Friday). I ran it by the Programmers Guild and they pointed out several technical errors in the story. The general reaction is that it ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/13 http://www.workingassetsblog.com/2007/05/secret_trade_deal_day_10_bush.html The White House now says the secret trade deal between a handful of Democratic congressional leaders and Bush administration officials will most likely not mean adding labor and environmental standards into the core text of trade agreements, but instead will mean merely unenforceable NAFTA-esque "side agreements" or even weaker "letters" ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/14 Democratic leadership and the Bush administration have been secretly working on a "free-for-the-corporations" trade deal that is sure to hurt the American middle class. Article: http://www.workingassetsblog.com/2007/05/secret_trade_deal_moyers_speci.html Editorial: http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/16754.asp Badong (music): http://www.myspace.com/badong1 http://progressivegeek.com/archives/15 A talk with Tom Abate. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/author?blogid=19&auth=65 David Sirota: Questioning the Planet's Richest Man To His Face http://www.workingassetsblog.com/2007/04/questioning_the_planets_riches.html 10 Reinvigorating Facts About Microsoft's Profits http://biz.yahoo.com/seekingalpha/070430/33932_id.html?.v=1 IBM to layoff 150,000? http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/5/4/163139/0653 http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20070504_002027.html One Day You’re Gonna Wake Up http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/05/04/962/ http://progressivegeek.com/archives/16 Back from Atlanta where the FIRST World Festival took place. Our team, the Gothic Lawn Gnomes, did not take a trophy home from fhe FLL Robotics competition, but they did have a lot of fun and did very well for a rookie team. http://gothiclawngnomes.org David Sirota writes about John Edwards Stance FOR ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/17 David Sirota visits Microsoft and interviews several contract workers, including myself. He writes an article titled "Windows Into Populism's Rise". A Microsoft manager reads the article and writes an email to David Sirota. Now things start getting interesting... Links: http://davidsirota.com http://washtech.org http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/03/30/EDGRJN7CFB1.DTL http://progressivepodcastnetwork.org http://progressivegeek.com/archives/18 Progressive Geek's spot on Lou Dobbs. Clips from Workers' Independent News and Ecoshock News. Shoutouts to Wakeup AM, Lifted Lorax Show, and Sooner Thought podcasts. http://progressivegeek.com/archives/19 Bill Gates goes to Washington D.C. to persuade senators to let in more H-1B workers. How many more? An infinite number, of course. Included in this episode is more commentary from The Last Angry Man, plus a good helping of humor as well. http://progressivegeek.com/archives/20 News from the job front: H-1B and outsourcing impacted my job finding efforts. However, I did land a contract job. A discussion with the Last Angry Man about Hillary. A discussion about having "Friends" on Podomatic. Can you have too many friends? Music from the podsafe music network. http://progressivegeek.com/archives/21 In this special episode, I interview my son who is a member of the FIRST Lego League Team - The Gothic Lawn Gnomes. The team took the 1st Championship in the Washington State FLL robotics competition. The Gothic Lawn Gnomes website can be found at http://gothiclawngnomes.org If you can, please support ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/22 More on my Job search and much more from The Last Angry Man. Very funny stuff in this episode including a "surge on my house". Articles regarding an immigration law change in the UK: http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newsid=38701&newstype=local http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/15318.asp http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Disenfranchised_Indians_take_to_streets_in_London/articleshow/msid-1142198,curpg-2.cms http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/World/Rest_of_World/MPs_join_Indians_HSMP_battle/articleshow/1067325.cms http://progressivegeek.com/archives/23 In this episode, I feature music by Kevin Cory, AKA Kevin Benedict. You can visit his website at: http://www.greatsong.com His music is terrific, and some of his tunes are quite humorous. I also have another message from The Last Angry Man. Very funny! Also in this episode, I discuss my hunt for a ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/24 Yes, I am back with episode 10 after recovering from the flu. Speaking of the flue, I discuss in this episode why I never get the flu shot. Also in this episode, a message from The Last Angry Man. His podcast is at http://thelastangrymanspodcast.podomatic.com I play a clip from the president of ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/25 More Christmas music, 1 article by 2 Democratic Senators, and a clip from George Carlin. Washington Post article: How Free Trade Hurts http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/22/AR2006122201020.html http://progressivegeek.com/archives/27 A must hear episode! In this episode, I discuss an article from a conservative publication regarding the H-1B Visa program. http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=18532 I discuss and play excerpts from "The Visa Scene" podcast - a pro-immigration podcast from Canada. http://jryan.libsyn.com/ PNW Cool Place is the Bodies Exhibit in Seattle. http://www.bodiestheexhibition.com/ Included are some humor and some ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/28 A short and sweet episode regarding the technology workers success in blocking an H-1B cap increase last week. I also discuss what American Workers lost in last week's lame-duck session. http://progressivegeek.com/archives/29 In this episode I discuss 2 articles and an India economic report. Links: http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2006/062606musthaler.html?page=1 http://www.techsunite.org/news/display.cfm?ID_Content=5116 http://www.laborradio.org/node/4621 The Pacific Northwest Cool Place is the Pacific Science Center, where the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit is currently showing through early January. http://www.pacsci.org Dead Sea Scrolls Speaker Forum Podcast: http://kuow.org/podcasts/speakers/speakers_forum.asp http://progressivegeek.com/archives/30 In this episode I tell a humorous story from my Thanksgiving weekend. I also discuss an article: http://www.techsunite.org/news/display.cfm?ID_Content=5115 regarding Microsoft wanting to keep Republicans in control of congress. I include a new segment: Cool Places in the Pacific Northwest. In this episode, the cool place is the Maltby Cafe: http://maltbycafe.com I also play some music ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/31 This is my "angry" episode where I discuss injustices, such as police on horses trampling janitors in Houston who were protesting for a living wage. I also explain why this is important to all of us, not just janitors in Houston. I also discuss the web site: http://www.myvisajobs.com which has an extensive ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/33 In this episode, I discuss an email that I received regarding a job in China. I also discuss the Skill Bill that is waiting to be slid into an omnibus spending bill that will destroy what we have left in American technology jobs. Stop the Skill Act web site: http://stopskillact.ourprofile.org/ Article that I ... http://progressivegeek.com/archives/34 In this episode, I discuss the H-1B visa and how it is being abused. I also describe and give an example of "shortage shouting". I also discuss an article that reflects what is really happening. Shortage shouting article: http://inhome.rediff.com/money/2006/nov/16spec.htm Maine Today article: http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/immigration/060925imm2.html Zazona FAQ: http://zazona.com/ShameH1B/H1BFAQs.htm http://progressivegeek.com/archives/35 This is the first episode of the Progressive Geek Podcast in which I introduce myself and describe the goals of the podcast. I also discuss the podcast wisdom that I have gained since buying my video IPod. http://progressivegeek.com/archives/36