Latinohoosier

As if the debate over immigration and guest worker programs wasn’t complicated enough, now a couple of robots are rolling into the middle of it. Vision Robotics, a San Diego company, is working on a pair of robots that would trundle through orchards plucking oranges, apples or other fruit from the trees. In a few years, troops of these machines could perform the tedious and labor-intensive task of fruit picking that currently employs thousands of migrant workers each season.

Farms Fund Robots to Replace Migrant Fruit Pickers

technorati tags:robots, replace, migrant

Although little noticed by the press, the 2005 Economic Report of the President – which was submitted to Congress on February 17, 2005 – prominently highlights the critical importance of immigration to the U.S. economy. The fact that the report devotes an entire chapter to the topic of immigration underscores both the extent to which immigration has become a driving force in the economy and the degree to which immigration policy affects the nation’s economic prospects.

ILW.COM – immigration news: The Economics Of Necessity: Economic Report Of The President Underscores The Importance Of Immigration

technorati tags:2005, Economic, Report, President

Roberto Harrison is the author of Counter Daemons (Litmus Press), Os (subpress) and Elemental Song (Answer Tag Home Press), all published in 2006. He was born in Corvallis, Oregon, in 1962, to Panamanian parents. A few months after his birth, he and his family moved back to Panama, where they lived until he was seven. In 1969, he and his family moved to Delaware.

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Bob Teixeira decided it was time to take a stand against U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

So last fall the Charlotte musician and guitar instructor spent $1,200 to convert his 1981 diesel Mercedes to run on vegetable oil. He bought soybean oil in 5-gallon jugs at Costco, spending about 30 percent more than diesel would cost.

His reward, from a state that heavily promotes alternative fuels: a $1,000 fine last month for not paying motor fuel taxes.

He’s been told to expect another $1,000 fine from the federal government.

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Pittsburgh Officer Tom Jacques writes violations after pulling aside a truck and trailer off the Parkway West on Thursday. Six of the eight men in the truck were undocumented immigrants from El Salvador and Honduras who were employed by a Verizon Inc. subcontractor laying fiber optic cable.

Despite so few immigrants here, legal or illegal, opposition is fierce

technorati tags:immigrants, verizon

People who argue that immigrants are just taking jobs that Americans won’t accept are, after all, basically claiming that Americans don’t want those jobs at the rates industry is offering. If they paid higher wages, they’d attract American workers, and charge higher prices. Whether that’s an exchange that’s acceptable is worth discussing, though the debate is rarely put in those terms.

Thoughts from Kansas : Repealing Taft-Hartley to fix immigration