Another shocker: Repubs kill minimum wage increase!
The good news: Republicans in the Senate seem determined to provide their foes (read: all sane people) with all the evidence and substantial issues needed to defeat nearly every single one of them. The bad news: the vast majority of citizens in this country will continue to get screwed over repeatedly every time anything comes to a vote in this Congress. The latest crime against the populace: the Kennedy bill to raise the minimum wage was defeated last week by a vote of 52-46 in favor (it needed a supermajority of 60 to pass). The federal minimum wage--a paltry $5.15/hour--is adhered to in over 1/2 of the states in the country, in addition to most of our territories as well. The fact that a full-time worker making the minimum wage still falls below the poverty line (the gross pay would equal $10,712. Subtracting 7.65% for FICA leaves $9892.53, while the official poverty line is listed at $10,160) apparently means nothing to those who opposed the passage of the bill, but that anyone would actually fail to recognize the political message this sends the country is amazing. Unless, that is, you don't care what the country thinks, of course. And that is the real lesson here: the Republicans in power don't care about you or anyone else but themselves and their rich cronies and backers.
That they would make their ardent arrogance and apathy so apparent to absolutely anyone paying attention is a testament to their overweening callousness. Ahh, but there's the rub: who's paying attention? Surely those making the minimum wage must have had their ears to the ground on this matter, right? Unless, that is, they've been too busy working their asses off trying to get by. It's up to those of us who are privileged enough to only have to work one job to alert those dedicated (and most likely, very tired) Americans that the Republicans--and only the Republicans--are successfully keeping them poor, weary, ill-fed, and underinsured. It simply sickens me that hard working people, who truly believe in this system, are getting treated so shabbily, but it frightens me that these people have been sold on the fact that their voice goes unheard, or that their vote doesn't count (although they might have a point there. See Florida 2000 [among others] and Ohio 2004 [among others].), or that it doesn't matter who they vote for. Every Democrat, from Russ Feingold (who is, by the way, among those Senators who routinely give back their raises that Congress automatically receives as cost of living increases) to Joe Lieberman, voted for the Kennedy bill. Every. Single. One. A scant handful of Republicans, looking to retain their façades as the designated "moderates", joined them, but gee, not enough to actually come close to passing the legislation. I wonder how that happens, don't you?
Grrrr.
Must. Overcome. Urge. To. Kill. Republicans. In. Power.
That they would make their ardent arrogance and apathy so apparent to absolutely anyone paying attention is a testament to their overweening callousness. Ahh, but there's the rub: who's paying attention? Surely those making the minimum wage must have had their ears to the ground on this matter, right? Unless, that is, they've been too busy working their asses off trying to get by. It's up to those of us who are privileged enough to only have to work one job to alert those dedicated (and most likely, very tired) Americans that the Republicans--and only the Republicans--are successfully keeping them poor, weary, ill-fed, and underinsured. It simply sickens me that hard working people, who truly believe in this system, are getting treated so shabbily, but it frightens me that these people have been sold on the fact that their voice goes unheard, or that their vote doesn't count (although they might have a point there. See Florida 2000 [among others] and Ohio 2004 [among others].), or that it doesn't matter who they vote for. Every Democrat, from Russ Feingold (who is, by the way, among those Senators who routinely give back their raises that Congress automatically receives as cost of living increases) to Joe Lieberman, voted for the Kennedy bill. Every. Single. One. A scant handful of Republicans, looking to retain their façades as the designated "moderates", joined them, but gee, not enough to actually come close to passing the legislation. I wonder how that happens, don't you?
Grrrr.
Must. Overcome. Urge. To. Kill. Republicans. In. Power.
posted by bryduck at 11:22 AM
1 Comments:
State and local governments make the feds look increasingly crass and out of touch with the average citizen. Living Wage laws have been popular and somewhat effective across the US, in many cases ensuring that the working poor can scrape by on just one backbreaking job—not exactly a windfall for those in poverty's clutch, but it's a hell of a lot better than taking a second 40-hour job to make ends meet.
Now the feds want to prosecute medicinal marijuana users who live in states where such use is perfectly legal and who have prescriptions saying that it's their only source of relief from chronic pain during terminal illness. Have the feds really nothing better to focus their attention on than prosecuting the terminally ill? Christ, look around, asshats, and address the real problems!
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