John Edwards promises to expand H-1B

Date: Monday, August 06, 2007 10:25 PM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1738 -- 8/06/2007 >>>>>

It didn't take too long for John Edwards to follow Clinton, Obama, and John
McCain to the big pile of cash in Silicon Valley. All he had to do is to
grovel in front of the corporate lobbyists and promise that he will expand H-
1B visas if he is elected president.

On August 1, 2007 John Edwards officially became a _ho_ when he spoke to the
"Silicon Valley Leadership Group". Click here to see a list of the companies
that this organization represents:

http://www.svlg.net/about/members.php

The cbs5 link below has a video clip with excerpts of the Edwards speech.
Unfortunately it doesn't show his statements specifically about H-1B. The
second video, which they show automatically after you watch the first, does
have a lot of talk by Edwards on the "innovation agenda".

The "innovation agenda" may sound familiar to you. That's because John McCain
and Hillary Clinton also love to use that cute little catch-phrase.
Innovation is the new code word that politicians and corporatists are using in
place of saying "H-1B". Don't let talk about education or skills distract you
from the meaning of the codeword -- all of that talk is used just to throw
reporters off, and it works almost every time.

There are plenty enough news articles to substantiate what Edwards said even
without a video or transcript but none of the news got to the YearlyKOS; who
were totally duped. Check out this quote from the YearlyKOS website that was
written just 3 days after he gave his speech to SVLG.
YearlyKOS is an organization of pro-labor liberals that apparently don't read
or watch the news, and oddly enough they don't seem to have a problem with H-
1B even though it is used to destroy the jobs of thousands of American
workers:

http://johnedwards.com/news/press-releases/20070804-lobbyist-donations/

"Today, I challenge not just my fellow Democratic presidential
candidates, but all federal officeholders and candidates from all
political parties to join me in sending a message to all of the
lobbyists in Washington: Your money is no good here, and we re
not going to take it anymore."

It's important to note that the following comment wasn't made by Edwards, it
was written by whoever wrote the article on the YearlyKOS website.

John Edwards is the only candidate in the race who has never taken
a dime from federal lobbyists or political action committees and
he never will.

The title of the second article in this newsletter pretty much says it all as
far as Edwards is concerned: "Edwards, McCain Raise Money In Bay Area".
It could be argued that Edwards isn't taking money directly from lobbyists in
Washington DC because the checks will be signed in California. More
importantly, Edwards never actually said that he isn't up for sale like his
Democratic opponents. Edwards is after all a lawyer and that's the kind of
language tricks they like to play.

YearlyKOS got seriously snookered, but they aren't the only ones -- so did Lou
Dobbs! Edwards said this today on Lou Dobbs and was never challenged:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0708/06/ldt.01.html

EDWARDS: Well, we will start with some simple just process things.
No. 1, these big multinational corporations have huge presence
through Washington lobbyists, which you know as well as I do, and
most of Americans do, are the insiders that rig this game against
the American people.

One of the things that I've proposed is that all presidential
candidates -- in fact, all candidates, Democratic or Republican,
agree starting today that we're not taking any money from these
people. Now, I haven't done it in the past, but I'd like to see
all of us do it and make a statement that we're going to give
the government back to the country.

This is lawyer talk again. Notice that he never denied taking corporate money,
but he is suggesting all the Democrats should pledge not to whore themselves.
He clearly implies that he has pledged not to put his hand in the corporate
piggy bank even though his hand is stained green. This is a very clever tactic
used by lawyers to mislead the jury. In this case YearlyKOS took the bait and
Dobbs gave him a free pass.

Just how does Edwards intend on making this pledge after taking the loot from
Silicon Valley? Actually he never will have to make the pledge and he knows
it, because none of the other Democrats will either -- especially Clinton and
Obama. Edwards won't get away with this if Clinton or Obama ever ask him how
much he took from high-tech employers, but of course they would be setting
themselves up for the same question. This is a classic stalemate.

So far I haven't been able to locate a transcript or video of the Edwards
speech. That made me a little suspicious so I figured the best way to find out
what Edwards has to say on H-1B was to go to his website.

http://johnedwards.com/

I planned to do a search for the keyword "h-1b" but there is no website search
engine. Hmmmmmmmmmm! That's no problem though because thanks to Google's
advanced search feature the entire website can be scanned. Results were
negative except for a few people who have made some blog entries, none of
which were written by Edwards and I'm sure he hasn't read the ones that are
against H-1B. There aren't many comments about H-1B so it's fair to assume
that the webmaster deletes every one he finds, either that or none of the
people that post on the Edwards site have heard of H-1B.

Next step was to read his official platform on H-1B so I pushed the "issues"
link.

http://johnedwards.com/issues/

Hmmmmmmmmmm! He doesn't even list immigration as an issue. That's RED FLAG
time folks!

Immigration is a subject that Edwards is avoiding like the plague, but he does
provide a link for the codeword "Innovation".

http://johnedwards.com/issues/innovation/

Hmmmmmmmmmm! Nothing substantial there either. There is some blabber about how
lousy science education is in the U.S, and how ignorant Americans are compared
to Asians and Europeans because our minority kids don't have high speed
internet. So among other things, Edwards wants corporate welfare for companies
like AT&T and AOL by promising to provide universal broadband to every
American. He didn't say what he would do if some of those Americans don't have
computers -- perhaps he wants to provide universal laptops.

I found just the computer for Edwards' new universal broadband concept -- it's
a $199 Chinese laptop made by Lenovo:

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/90774.html

Next step was to check his press releases. This one from August 1, 2007
bragged that Edwards talked to the Silicon Valley Leadership Group but it
doesn't have anything about his promises to the corporatists to raise H-1B.
Since when did it become fashionable for Democrats to give private speeches to
corporatists?

http://johnedwards.com/news/press-releases/20070801-21st-century-plan/

Surely his speeches link would have a transcript, right?

http://johnedwards.com/news/speeches/

Ooops! I'm sure it's just a slight mistake that they skipped August 1st :-).
There is a list of his speeches but the one he made to the Silicon Valley
Leadership Group is conspicuously missing. According to this list Edwards was
silent between July 26 to August 6. August 1st didn't happen according to the
Edwards website.

Smarter Trade that Puts Workers First - Remarks as Prepared
for Delivery - Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Aug 6, 2007

Restoring Economic Fairness - Remarks as Prepared for
Delivery - Des Moines, Iowa
Jul 26, 2007

Just to be fair, I decided to check out the McCain and Clinton websites to see
if they are more candid about their support for H-1B.

>> McCain's website:
http://www.johnmccain.com/

On the issues there is nothing about innovation, but he does have a link to
"border issues". Nothing there hinted about H-1B. I used the on site search
engine and found no documents for H-1B or H1B.

>> Clinton's website:
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/

Hate to sound repetitive, but Clinton's website is the same deal -- nothing
about immigration, but I did find a page where she commits to increasing
H-1B:

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/speech/view/?id=2305

So I am reaffirming my commitment to the H1B visa and
increasing the current cap.

Give Clinton credit -- at least she is honest and open about her desire to
sell out the American middle class. McCain and Edwards need to come clean on
this one just like Clinton did.

***** CONCLUSION *****

John Edwards is determined to avoid alerting the public about his immigration
platform because he knows that supporting H-1B isn't popular.
Neither is amnesty. You can bet that his positions on other aspects of
immigration are just as bad. This is very cowardly behavior for a person that
wants to become President of the USA.

Edwards seems to intend to be silent on H-1B unless he is addressing lobbyists
at private meetings. Everything points to Edwards deliberately avoiding the
subject of H-1B in order to deceive his supporters. He could prove me wrong by
posting a transcript of the speech on his website, which I just asked them to
do,

I used this contact form:

http://johnedwards.com/about/contact/form/

If you wish to request a transcript and a video of the Edwards speech, be sure
to give them the exact dates of the event so they will know what you are
referring to:

"Silicon Valley Leadership Group"
August 1, 2007
Santa Clara, California

Materials Included

http://cbs5.com/politics/local_story_213145503.html
John Edwards Pushes Tech Agenda In Silicon Valley

http://www.nbc11.com/news/13802289/detail.html
Edwards, McCain Raise Money In Bay Area

http://johnedwards.com/news/press-releases/20070804-lobbyist-donations/
Edwards Calls on All Candidates for Federal Office to Join Him in Rejecting
Donations From Federal Lobbyists

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://cbs5.com/politics/local_story_213145503.html

Aug 1, 2007 8:45 pm US/Pacific

John Edwards Pushes Tech Agenda In Silicon Valley

Slideshow: 2008 Presidential Hopefuls

(AP) SANTA CLARA Presidential contender John Edwards promised to keep
political ideology out of science as he outlined Wednesday a technology agenda
to promote innovation.

At a speech in Silicon Valley, a region he considers the world's epicenter of
innovation, the Democratic former North Carolina senator said he would work to
reverse the Bush administration's politically driven policies, which he thinks
have hampered America's competitive edge in the global economy.

From imposing limits on stem cell research to overriding agencies'
scientific findings, Bush presides over "the most anti-science administration
ever," Edwards said before some 200 members of the Silicon Valley Leadership
Group.

The trade group, which represents the region's employers, recently hosted
other events where political opponents Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen.
John McCain similarly emphasized their commitments to foster technological
innovation.

"We must respect science, and we must let science take us to where we want to
go," Edwards said.

Under his plan, Edwards said he would:

--Insulate scientific research from politics by eliminating political litmus
tests for government scientists.

--Make permanent the research and development tax credit.

--Increase funding and lift "stifling research restrictions" for the National
Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health.

--Modernize the nation's 50-year-old patent laws.

--Start a "New Energy Economy" Fund that would invest in clean, renewable
energy products and technologies and create 1 million jobs.

--Institute a national policy to bring broadband Internet service to all U.S.
homes and businesses by 2010.

--Improve science and math education by investing more in teacher pay and
training and providing one year of public college tuition for more than 2
million students.

The Democrat also reiterated his plans for a universal health care system and
his support for so-called H1B visas for educated workers -- an immigration
program that Silicon Valley companies rely heavily on to sponsor thousands of
software engineers from Russia, India, China and other countries.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.nbc11.com/news/13802289/detail.html

Edwards, McCain Raise Money In Bay Area
Edwards Speaks In Silicon Valley, McCain At Stanford

POSTED: 6:45 pm PDT August 1, 2007
UPDATED: 7:03 pm PDT August 1, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO -- Democrat John Edwards Wednesday became the latest
presidential hopeful to use Silicon Valley as the backdrop to present a plan
for the future of science and technology in the U.S.

Edwards, the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2004, followed fellow
Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain in presenting a science
and technology plan during an appearance before the Silicon Valley Leadership
Group.

Edwards' plan contains many similar elements to those of Clinton and McCain.

All three candidates favor expanding the H1B visa program to allow Valley
companies to hire more foreign engineers and programmers.

They all favor expanding science and technology education in the U.S. to train
more American citizens to become the next generation of innovators, and they
all favor the federal research and development tax credit.

McCain also visited the Bay area for his own campaign events Wednesday.

Silicon Valley Leadership Group CEO Carl Guardino said it is no surprise that
candidates from both parties are making similar proposals in the technology
field.

"Their responses should be similar because they're going to provide jobs and
improve the economy," he said.

Without mentioning Clinton or Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., by name, Edwards
contrasted himself with and subtly criticized his leading Democratic opponents
by saying he has been the first candidate to articulate specific policy
proposals on the major issues of the 2008 campaign.

The former senator from North Carolina told the audience of more than 200
Valley executives and government leaders that the region is vitally important,
not only to the U.S. but to the world.

"We need you engaged. We need you involved," Edwards said.

Edwards got his only interruption by applause of the morning when he
criticized President George W. Bush for his handling of the Iraq War and the
fight against terrorism.

"We have less allies and more terrorists, very simple. We're not safer,"
Edwards said.

Following this morning's appearance in Santa Clara, Edwards was scheduled to
go to San Francisco for a rally and then travel to Los Angeles, according to a
campaign spokesman.

McCain Visit

Republican Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., spoke at an open forum at Stanford
University Wednesday.

McCain later traveled to a fundraising dinner in Santa Clara.

According to a campaign representative, McCain was scheduled to fly back to
Washington, D.C., Wednesday night. He is expected to vote Thursday on a major
ethics reform bill.

The vote forced McCain to cancel a fundraising stop in Seattle, originally
scheduled for Thursday.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://johnedwards.com/news/press-releases/20070804-lobbyist-donations/

Edwards Calls on All Candidates for Federal Office to Join Him in Rejecting
Donations From Federal Lobbyists

Challenges Democratic Party to Lead the Way in Not Accepting Washington
Lobbyist Money From This Day Forward

Chicago, Illinois -- Speaking today at the YearlyKos Presidential Leadership
Forum, Senator John Edwards issued a bold challenge for all candidates for
federal public office to join him in not accepting campaign donations from
federal lobbyists from this day forward.

"Right now the system in Washington is broken -- it s rigged to serve the
interests of those with the most money to throw around, rather than the best
interest of the American people. The type of change America needs will never
be achieved if we just replace the insiders from one party with the insiders
from another party. That s why the Democratic Party must lead the way in
taking a bold step toward reform that will return the power in Washington back
to where it belongs.

"Today, I challenge not just my fellow Democratic presidential candidates, but
all federal officeholders and candidates from all political parties to join me
in sending a message to all of the lobbyists in Washington: Your money is no
good here, and we re not going to take it anymore."

John Edwards is the only candidate in the race who has never taken a dime from
federal lobbyists or political action committees and he never will.
His campaign stands as proof that that the American people will stand up in an
effort to take back their government by contributing to campaigns that walk
away from Washington lobbyists. Edwards today said that by accepting his
challenge, his fellow candidates would send a powerful signal to the American
people about whose support really matters to them and whose interests the
Democratic Party truly serves.

"Let's show the world that the Democratic Party is the party of the people.
We don t need to wait for a law to be passed. The Democratic Party can decide,
right now, to put an end to the money game in Washington by simply refusing to
accept any form of campaign donation from federal lobbyists going forward.
It s really just that simple. And we should challenge the Republican Party to
join with us, or else expose, once and for all, who they really represent."

Edwards will echo his remarks at a breakout session, following the candidate
forum. His breakout session is one of the few to be packed to capacity with
nearly 350 YearlyKos convention attendees, the maximum crowd size mandated by
convention organizers.

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