Could the Stimulus Package Prevent Americans From Working?
(Originally posted on Daily Kos.)
Now that the Senate has passed its version of the economic stimulus package, by a 61 to 37 vote today, representatives from each legislative chamber will meet to try and work out the differences between the two pieces of legislation. One significant difference the Washington Legislative Office will have its eye on is a troubling provision mandating the use of electronic employment verification systems (E-Verify) for any recipient of stimulus funding.
The ACLU is troubled by E-Verify because it is known to keep innocent Americans from working. The system checks individuals' citizenship status against their records with the Social Security Administration, a government agency plagued with errors and massive backlogs. This then leads to delays in the hiring of workers, which is harmful to both the employer and the employee. This is not what Americans, nor our economy, need during a time of financial turmoil.
E-Verify was included in the House package, an amendment proposed by Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), but was not added to the Senate version. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) was emphatic about proposing similar language, but was not given the opportunity for an amendment vote. This difference in packages will surely be a point of contention for those meeting this week to iron out the two versions, in hopes of having agreed upon legislation sent to President Obama before the President's Day recess next week.
The stimulus package is supposed to put Americans to work, not keep them from it. If E-Verify is part of the legislation sent to President Obama, the stimulus could end up having the very opposite, and very negative, effect.
Feb 11th, 2009 at 3:37am
TEAM OBAMA MUST BE CALLED OUT ON CIVIL LIBERTIES AFFRONTS LIKE THIS.
FIRST STATE SECRETS. NOW E-VERIFY. REMEMBER EARLIER VACILLATIONS ON FISA/WIRETAPPING, GUN CONTROL, EXPANSION OF DEATH PENALTY.
NOW, WHAT ABOUT THE ONGOING BUSH-ERA 'EXTRAJUDICIAL PUNISHMENT NETWORK'?
(NOTE: The comment below elicited an apparently bogus "held for blog owner" message when the writer tried to post it today to The Washington Post's "The Fix" political blog (prior restraint?). It is relevant to this discussion:)
NO JOKE HERE -- RADIATION WEAPONS TORTURE CONTINUED LAST NIGHT IN BUCKS COUNTY, PA...
...A COMMUNITY 'GANG STALKING' CAPITAL OF THE EAST.
...AND, NO DOUBT, ELSEWHERE IN THE USA WHERE THE RULE OF LAW HAS GIVEN WAY TO FEDERALLY-FUNDED VIGILANTISM.
AUTHORITIES SAY THERE IS NOTHING TO INVESTIGATE.
SEN. LEAHY, THE BUSH-CHENEY 'EXTRAJUDICIAL PUNISHMENT NETWORK' IS STILL TERRORIZING AMERICAN CITIZENS.
PRESIDENT OBAMA, THIS IS NOT LOOKING BACK.
Team Obama, this is no "State Secret."
You MUST immediately join with GOP defenders of the Constitution to dismantle the nationwide extrajudicial punishment network...
...authoritarian bureaucrats and security/intel officers and their nationwide network of citizen vigilantes fronted by federally-funded volunteer programs.
This nationwide, Gestapo-like operation has made a mockery of the judicial system for the past eight years and has claimed many unjustly "targeted" victims from all strata of society.
Crimes against humanity are being committed across the nation via the use of so-called "directed energy (radiation) weapons" which the Bush D.O.J. recently confirmed are being widely deployed to police forces nationwide.
These RADIATION weapons emit silent, pulsed bursts of various forms of radiation -- degrading and damaging the health of those on the receiving end as well as their operators.
This weaponry has NO PLACE in civilized society -- much less in the hands of security personnel who interact with the public.
The widespread deployment of this weaponry virtually assures its misuse.
Imagine if rogue actors tried to use its silent, deadly force to induce illness or to disorient, prematurely age, sicken or disable our political leaders.
Perhaps they already have.
Victims of this extrajudicial punishment network also see their finances and livelihoods expropriated and destroyed by coordinated "multi-agency action" "programs of personal destruction" that deny them due process of law while degrading their lives and destroying their families.
The IRS, under Bush-Cheney, has been transmogrified into an ideological weapon of social control and recrimination by these covert "multi-agency actions."
Obama administration officials must address these abuses IMMEDIATELY, before these affronts to the Constitution destroy more American families -- and subvert the Obama presidency.
The bureaucrats and officers behind these "programs of personal destruction" remain entrenched. They cannot be co-opted or reformed. They must be removed from power and brought to justice.
*******************************************
IT IS DAY 23 OF THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION.
DO YOU *REALLY* KNOW WHAT YOUR 'MULTI-AGENCY ACTION CENTER' IS UP TO?
http://my.nowpublic.com/world/gestapo-usa-govt-funded-vigil ante-network-targets-terrorizes-u-s-citizens
http://my.nowpubli c.com/world/domestic-torture-radiation-weaponry-americas-horrific-sham e
OR (if links are corrupted):
http://My.NowPublic.com/scrivener
Feb 12th, 2009 at 5:07pm
While I have no specific knowledge of assaults via radiation weapons (I do not have the background or expertise necessary to speak to this issue),I would not rule anything out. I do not discount what Mr. Livingston writes -- I take him at his word. What I do know is this.
There is, without a doubt, an extrajudicial system of justice operating in these United States (and elsewhere, I've been told). It is evil, pernicious, and sadistic. Its victims must be taken seriously. These crimes against humanity must be stopped.
This is the United States of America and human rights abuses against its citizens cannot be tolerated. Someone must step up to the plate to end what is, unquestionably, a form of genocide.
Feb 13th, 2009 at 1:08pm
For all - the eVerify provisions were stricken completely from the bill in question. No more conspiracy theories here.
Feb 20th, 2009 at 1:45pm
The ACLU is against E-verify because it works in keeping illegal aliens from taking jobs from legal citizens. It is cheap, easy, and effective (99.6%).
The open border crowd (US Chamber of Commerce and groups such as LaRaza, etc) do not want anything used that would prevent illegal aliens from getting work in the U.S.
Contrary to the above comments, striking E-verify will work against legal American citizens since at least 1 in 7 construction jobs are held by illegal aliens.
Facts are so inconvenient while conspiracies sound so interesting.
Feb 25th, 2009 at 10:00pm
I just want to share my horror, FIRED FOR PTSD
When asked about the "war on terror" phrase by CNN's Anderson Cooper, Obama said, "Well you know, I think it is very important for us to recognize that we have a battle or a war against some terrorist organizations … Words matter in this situation because one of the ways we're going to win this struggle is through the battle of hearts and minds."
I think we should start looking what the war is doing to us here, how our country is starting to put us veterans back on the streets, just like Vietnam
I am sending you my story with the hopes of high lighting the nation to some things that are going on. With the terror attacks at 911 to the shooting at VCU you would assume that this Country is “Gun Shy” towards our veterans when it comes to PTSD. This letter is not sent on behalf of just veterans, but this letter is sent on behalf of all that suffer from this disability of PTSD, the rape victims, the police officer, or the child that is being abused. Our economy is bad that is for sure but you may have a job (I DID NOT DESERVE THIS FOR WHAT I HAVE GIVEN UP FOR YOU, MY COUNTRY), and I rest on the edge of homelessness. Do you know what is like to fight tooth and nail to try to get back into your children’s lives? Deployment after Deployment after Deployment. Do you know what it is like to fly in from Bosnia to Germany, your son in distress and the doctors tell you to get ready and 7 minutes later your wife is cut open and bam, “You Have a Son!” Do you know what it is like to have to leave and not come back until six months later? Do you know what it is like to see you dad in a coma, have to leave, two days later he wakes up tells everyone good bye, dies, and you miss it due to duty?
Do you know what it is like to be layered with trauma over time as Aaron Glantz describes in his book, "The War Comes Home?" This does not make me dangerous. If I was fired because I had no leg would the nation be outraged? Because I am what the positive employment success the Department of Labor intended to occur but was never given reasonable accommodations is the nation as outraged or am I a stigma of Rambo a Killer? Now look at me fighting to maintain some sort of hope in life. Is this how you want to treat veterans? How come there is not one single mention about care for returning veterans in the Stimulus package? Is this how you want my sons to see their daddy, the way I saw my dad this past Christmas in a grave or would you prefer them to see me alive but homeless and unemployed. These numbers are staggering (300,000 with TBI and 300,000 with PTSD, more Vietnam solders have committed sucide then where killed in the war, 18 soldiers are committing sucide a day). I must be heard, what has happened is wrong. For the first time in 20 years I was rebuilding my life with my sons.
Sec 12112 of the Americans with Disabilities Act states No covered entity shall discriminate against a qualified individual with a disability because of the disability of such individual in regard to job application procedures, the hiring, advancement, or discharge of employees, employee compensation, job training, and other terms, conditions, and privileges of employment. PTSD is a disability.
I did not ask for the disability of PTSD nor did I ask for wrongful termination, discrimination, or the emotional trauma that the Virginia Department of Transportation and the State of Virginia has put me through. I am writing you because the numbers of veterans with PTSD will grow more and more and this disability must get recognized as a disability that can be controlled, can be accommodated, and employment can be part of rehabilitation. Termination based off of ignorance or reluctance is just adding to the grim numbers of our veterans.
Could the Stimulus Package Prevent Americans From Working? Based on what I know and have seen, it does not address some very important issues that need to be addressed. Some issues that our country has forgotten.
We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude!
Mar 27th, 2009 at 11:10am
I hope the stimulus works.
http://stimulus-stimulus.blogspot.com
Aug 3rd, 2009 at 7:32pm
How can this group CLAIM to care about Americans and be against everify?
Americans need to get back to work. We have enough illegals. We don't need anymore.
Aug 3rd, 2009 at 7:35pm
ACLU HAS PROVEN THEY ARE CLASSLESS. SIDING WITH ILLEGALS OVER IT'S OWN CITIZENS?
TAKE YOUR CRAPPY GROUP AND GO TO MEXICO!
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