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The Progressive Geek

The corporate power grab of the U.S. government is the major source of most of the ills that have fallen on the American middle class and the working poor.Outsourcing to other countries in search of cheap labor, insourcing of cheap foreign workers, union busting, the decline of protections for workers' rights, poor medical coverage becoming poorer, H-1B visa abuse, and other guest worker abuse. Are you concerned about any of these issues? Wondering why it is getting harder to find a job with good pay and good benefits, even though the economic pundits are saying the economy has never been better? Listen to the Progressive Geek Podcast!

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Episodes

Episode 31 – How Well Educated, Hard Working Americans are Treated in America Sun, 13 Sep 2009 20:59:54 +0000 Comments Listen Here it is, the long awaited 31st episode.  This is a big episode packed full of audible goodness.  In this episode I share stories of American IT workers who are jobless, homeless, or are on the verge of being homeless.  Here are links to items discussed within this episode: Shyiak still UAA coach despite ad [...]

Mad in America Tue, 26 May 2009 23:10:48 +0000 Comments Listen Mad in America

WashTech video, effects of H-1B and Outsourcing Fri, 27 Feb 2009 08:03:02 +0000 Comments Listen This is a WashTech video featuring Priyanka Joshi reading emails to WashTech from distressed tech workers.

Episode 30 – The GM Bridge Loan / Will Restructuring Really Save the Economy? Fri, 26 Dec 2008 05:13:54 +0000 Comments Listen Winter Solstice / Christmas '08 episode. The Free Traders are getting the economy that they have been wishing for: cheap labor, disappearing unions, a killer trade deficit, and runaway corruption due to the lack of regulation and Laissez-faire economics.

Episode 29 – A Tale of Two Medical Device Companies Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:39:14 +0000 Comments Listen 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 it was that they [...]

Bill Gates was in DC for another push for more H-1B VISAs Sun, 16 Mar 2008 19:46:41 +0000 Comments Listen 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 DC where he repeatedly stabs [...]

Episode 28 – A Funny Skit, Christmas, and Praying to the Visa God Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:05:11 +0000 Comments Listen 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 against it, in which I [...]

Video Episode 2 – Front Yard Flood Tue, 04 Dec 2007 04:59:14 +0000 Comments Listen 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 Emergency, which is good, [...]

Episode 27 – U.S. DOL Throwing Citizens Out On the Street / The Fear Mongering TSA Mon, 22 Oct 2007 16:12:38 +0000 Comments Listen   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 of the [...]

Video Episode 1 – Pro H-1B Governor Chris Gregoire ignores plight of U.S. Technology Wokers Thu, 04 Oct 2007 21:05:17 +0000 Comments Listen 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 cheap labor, namely that there [...]

‘Real American for Kucinich’ – by True Spirit Sat, 25 Aug 2007 15:03:38 +0000 Comments Listen Great, freely distributable song from http://www.realamerican.us. My Odeo Channel (odeo/970fa7f4af1edc24) My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-4efaa44722c96c05c08ef23da4b5cea8}

Episode 26 – DLC is a bad 3-letter word Wed, 22 Aug 2007 16:40:33 +0000 Comments Listen 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 down a poll [...]

Episode 25 – Halo 2 for the PC / Google can’t find enough people on the planet to hire / My wife’s battle with thyroid cancer Mon, 06 Aug 2007 07:21:44 +0000 Comments Listen 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 to hire. [...]

Episode 24 – How To Hire Cheap Foreign Workers – A Lawyer’s Guide Mon, 25 Jun 2007 11:25:09 +0000 Comments Listen 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 American technology workers and from [...]

Episode 23: What the hell is TAA and why is the Ways and Means Committee talking about it? Sun, 17 Jun 2007 18:13:49 +0000 Comments Listen 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 Committee). Listen to this [...]

Episode 22: It’s not easy being over 30 Mon, 28 May 2007 20:36:06 +0000 Comments Listen 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

Episode 21 – Not So Free Speech Radio News / Possessed by a spirit from the Netherworld Fri, 25 May 2007 10:03:31 +0000 Comments Listen 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 [...]

Episode 20 Addendum Mon, 21 May 2007 17:19:23 +0000 Comments Listen 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” of understanding. A group [...]

Episode 20 – Democratic Leaders Betraying American Workers Mon, 21 May 2007 09:05:20 +0000 Comments Listen 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

Episode 19 – Reporters, Rich Capitalists, and Technology Workers Tue, 08 May 2007 11:20:33 +0000 Comments Listen 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/

Episode 18 – Back from Atlanta Mon, 23 Apr 2007 10:18:31 +0000 Comments Listen 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 the middle class. [...]

Episode 17 – Progressive Geek and the Manager Tue, 10 Apr 2007 09:10:55 +0000 Comments Listen 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

Episode 16 – PG on Lou Dobbs Mon, 02 Apr 2007 09:24:52 +0000 Comments Listen 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.

Episode 15 – Bill Goes to Washington (D. C. that is) Thu, 15 Mar 2007 16:57:05 +0000 Comments Listen 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.

Episode 14 – Finally, a Job / Hillary Clinton / Friends on Podomatic Sun, 25 Feb 2007 06:58:35 +0000 Comments Listen 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.

Episode 13 – Robotics and an interview with my son Sat, 24 Feb 2007 02:37:08 +0000 Comments Listen 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 the gnomes with a [...]

Episode 12 – Yeah for the UK!/More Angry/More job search/Surge on my house Wed, 07 Feb 2007 14:35:03 +0000 Comments Listen 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

Episode 11 – More from Angry / My Quest for a New Job Sun, 28 Jan 2007 14:24:55 +0000 Comments Listen 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 new job [...]

Episode 10 – Dumb as a box of rocks? / Of coffee and culture Mon, 22 Jan 2007 04:29:43 +0000 Comments Listen 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 the Chamber of [...]

Episode 09 – George Carlin for President! Sun, 24 Dec 2006 12:37:28 +0000 Comments Listen 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

Episode 08 – Canada Invasion? Tue, 19 Dec 2006 14:42:13 +0000 Comments Listen 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 heavy [...]

Episode 07 – Short term victory against H-1B increase Tue, 12 Dec 2006 09:27:15 +0000 Comments Listen 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.

Episode 06 – Tech worker shortage in India? Tue, 05 Dec 2006 11:50:09 +0000 Comments Listen 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

Episode 05 – Microsoft supports corrupt Republicans Wed, 29 Nov 2006 14:40:02 +0000 Comments Listen 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 [...]

Episode 04 – Police brutality becoming the norm? Wed, 22 Nov 2006 09:02:50 +0000 Comments Listen 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 database of jobs [...]

Episode 03 – Jobs for Americans … in China Mon, 20 Nov 2006 08:35:55 +0000 Comments Listen 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 read in [...]

Episode 02 – H-1B Visa 101 Fri, 17 Nov 2006 08:00:41 +0000 Comments Listen 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

Episode 01 – Intro and IPod troubles and tips Wed, 15 Nov 2006 20:31:38 +0000 Comments Listen 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.

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