BISHOP BLASTS USE OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS TO SUPPORT OUTSOURCING

Joins Laid-Off Communications Workers to Call for Suspension of Misguided Foreign Aid Program

PATCHOGUE, NY — Yesterday, Congressman Tim Bishop joined communications workers who lost their jobs in the recession to protest a program that would use approximately $10 million in taxpayer funds to help train workers in Sri Lanka for jobs in the outsourcing industry.

In a press conference at the New York State One-Stop Career Center in Patchogue, Bishop called on the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to drop its proposed pilot program that would help train 3,000 Sri Lankans in information technology, business process outsourcing, and call center support.  Following their training, the tech workers would be placed with outsourcing vendors in the region that provide offshore IT and business services to American companies looking to take advantage of low labor costs.

“This is simply outrageous; this is perhaps the dumbest and most counter-productive use of taxpayer money that I have encountered in the eight years I have been in office,” Bishop said, flanked by laid off members of Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1108 based in Patchogue.  “Whether its $10 million or one nickel, I will fight against any taxpayer funds being used to subsidize outsourcing.”

Bishop also wrote a letter to USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah urging him to suspend this program and any other programs that use American taxpayer funds to train foreign workers how to better take American jobs.  USAID’s proposed program “undermines assurances made by this Administration and Congress to the American workforce that we support policies to protect their jobs - and to US businesses that we support policies that make it more cost-effective to hire American workers,” Bishop wrote.

 “I want to thank Tim for taking on this issue… we have hundreds of members of CWA who are out of work,” said Michael Gendron of CWA Local 1108.  “I guarantee that all of our members would love to have had the opportunity to get IT training to give them a different career path, to help them find new work, support their families, and live the American dream.” 

 If necessary, Bishop is preparing to introduce bipartisan legislation with Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) that would amend the Fiscal Year 2011 State Department and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill to prohibit USAID from funding the program.

Lake Ronkonkoma Beach is Open to Bathing

James L. Tomarken, MD, MSW, MPH, MBA, FRCPC, FACP, Commissioner of the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, said today that the beach closure issued for Lake Ronkonkoma Beach in the Town of Islip has been lifted, as results of recent samples collected show the water quality to be within acceptable levels.

The following beaches will remain closed to bathing:  Tanner Park Beach in Copiague and Benjamin Beach in Bayshore on the Great South Bay.

For the latest information on affected beaches, call the Bathing Beach HOTLINE at (631) 852-5822, contact the Department’s Office of Ecology at 852-5760 during normal business hours, or visit the website link below and in the Popular Links box, click on “Beach Advisories Map” (http://www.suffolkcountyny.gov/health).

"The Google-Verizon pact isn’t just as bad as we feared — it’s much worse

 WASHINGTON — In response to Google and Verizon’s “policy framework” unveiled today, MoveOn.Org Civic Action, Credo Action, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, ColorofChange.org and Free Press, all members of the SavetheInternet.com Coalition, issued the following joint statement:

“The Google-Verizon pact isn’t just as bad as we feared — it’s much worse. They are attacking the Internet while claiming to preserve it. Google users won’t be fooled.

“They are promising Net Neutrality only for a certain part of the Internet, one that they’ll likely stop investing in. But they are also paving the way for a new ‘Internet’ via fiber and wireless phones where Net Neutrality will not apply and corporations can pick and choose which sites people can easily view on their phones or any other Internet device using these networks.

“It would open the door to outright blocking of applications, just as Comcast did with BitTorrent, or the blocking of content, just as Verizon did with text messages from NARAL Pro-choice America. It would divide the information superhighway, creating new private fast lanes for the big players while leaving the little guy stranded on a winding dirt road.

“Worse still, this pact would turn the Federal Communications Commission into a toothless watchdog, left fruitlessly chasing complaints and unable to make rules of its own.

“This is not real Net Neutrality. And this pact would harm the millions of Americans who have pleaded with our leaders in Washington to defend the free and open Internet. President Obama, Congress and the FCC should reject this deal, restore the authority of the agency that’s supposed to protect Internet users, and safeguard Net Neutrality once and for all.”

Cox Responds

CHRIS COX FOR CONGRESS CAMPAIGN RESPONDS TO DEMOS’ ‘NIXON VIDEO’

SMITHTOWN, NY — In response to the latest personal attack from the flailing campaign of George Demos, the spokesman for the Chris Cox for Congress campaign released the following statement:

 
“It is truly sad to see George Demos stray so far from Ronald Reagan’s ‘Eleventh Commandment.’  Apparently Mr. Demos believes that Chris Cox should not be proud of the many distinguished accomplishments of his family.  He is.  And he looks forward to representing Suffolk County in Washington,” said Jim Teese, Communications Director for Chris Cox for Congress.

SCPD Homicide Squad Detectives Ivestigate Death of Woman in Police Custody

Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad detectives are investigating the death of a woman who was found unresponsive in a cell at the Fourth Precinct in Smithtown early this morning.

A detention attendant at the Fourth Precinct, located at 727 Veterans Memorial Highway, was making routine checks of prisoners and found a woman unresponsive on the floor of the cell at 5:30 a.m. The attendant notified officers who administered CPR.

The victim, Brenda Gaines, 48, who is undomiciled, was transported by Hauppauge Fire Department to St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown where she was pronounced dead at 6:22 a.m. Her body was taken to the Office of the Suffolk County Medical Examiner for an autopsy.  Preliminary investigation indicates that the death appears to be medically related.

Gaines had been in custody for Petit Larceny. She was being held overnight for arraignment.