Let's just hope that this gentleman's wife agrees with his sentiments or.....he won't be getting any satisfaction, either, for awhile!
]]>Let's just hope that this gentleman's wife agrees with his sentiments or.....he won't be getting any satisfaction, either, for awhile!
]]>
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) released the following statement today in advance of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s plan to consider a massive $11 billion omnibus spending bill this weekend.
“Once the Senate completes work on a meaningful energy package that will help lower the price of gas and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, I would welcome a full and open debate on Majority Leader Reid’s election-year omnibus spending bill,” Dr. Coburn said. “However, I’m troubled that on the eve of the Majority Leader’s planned weekend debate he has so far declined to accept my offers to expedite consideration of his package of unrelated bills.”Dr. Coburn offered the following compromises to Majority Leader Reid in a July 17 letter.
I would strongly recommend that the underlying bill or the managers’ package would include offsets that would pay for the cost of any new spending authorized by the bill by reducing lower priority federal spending elsewhere as well as an explicit assurance that there would be no limitations on energy or mineral exploration resulting from the bill. This would be my preference and would require no amendments or lengthy floor debates. It would also set an important precedent that any new spending approved by Congress will be paid for rather than continuing Congress’ “borrow and spend” policies that have resulted in a $9.5 trillion national debt.
If there is no willingness to pay for the cost of the omnibus, then I would request a fair amount of time to debate the contents and have the opportunity to offer a fixed number of amendments to address cost and any other related negative impact of the bill.
Some potential agreements include:
· One related amendment and one hour of debate for each $1 billion authorized in new spending by the omnibus;
· One related amendment for each new government office, government program federal commission, park, heritage area, wilderness area, or museum created by the omnibus with at least 30 minutes to debate each amendment; or
· One related amendment for each of the individual bills wrapped into the omnibus with 30 minutes of debate for each amendment.
“Senator Reid has refused to agree to any of these common sense proposals, and he has failed to provide a CBO score of this bill, as he pledged to do in a letter,” Dr. Coburn said.
“The Senate has a nine percent approval rating because its current leaders prefer demagoguery over debate and politics over progress. Many of the bills in this omnibus package are case studies in the triumph of mindless partisanship and spin over common sense solutions,” Dr. Coburn said.
“For instance, Senator Reid and others continue to claim I am blocking civil rights legislation like Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act (S. 535) when they have voted against additional funds for this effort in order to protect their pork. These Senators also continue to block a common sense compromise I offered that would allow this bill to pass today,” Dr. Coburn said.
“Senate Democrats first blocked passage of this bill in 2006 after its
sponsor, Senator Jim Talent (R-MO), agreed to offset the costs of the
bill. Democrats objected to this agreement because they wanted to deny
Senator Talent a legislative victory in the midst of his re-election
campaign,” Dr. Coburn said.
“In October 2007, Senators Reid, Durbin, Dodd and Leahy all voted against an amendment I offered to increase funds for the Department of Justice’s effort to investigate these crimes by redirecting funds from less vital special interest pork projects. Unfortunately, each of these Senators put their own pork projects ahead of victims of civil rights cases. Senator Dodd voted to protect $450,000 for a submarine at the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut. Senator Leahy voted to protect $300,000 for the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium in Vermont for the ‘Eye-In-The-Sky’ Program. Senator Durbin voted to protect $300,000 for the Adler Planetarium in Chicago,” Dr. Coburn said. See related Amendment summary and Vote breakdown:
“Majority Leader Reid has now taken the step of effectively drawing a moral equivalence between legislation related to botanical gardens and victims of unsolved civil rights cases. The Majority Leader could pass the Emmett Till bill today if he brought it up as a stand alone bill with spending offsets I have already identified. Instead, the Majority Leader has linked the issue of unsolved civil rights cases to other causes that are unrelated and, in some cases, frivolous,” Dr. Coburn said.
“I have detailed reasons for asking for debate on each of the bills in Reid’s omnibus bill. In many cases, I support the bills in the package but believe the Senate should live within its means, like every American family, and pay for new programs by reducing spending elsewhere. Any Senator who can’t find offsets in a government that wastes $300 billion every year through fraud or duplication doesn’t deserve to be here,” Dr. Coburn said.
“Regarding the omnibus’ medical research component, I look forward to explaining why various bills in this package that could block entities like the National Institutes of Health from conducting life-saving medical research. The disease specific earmarks in the Reid’s omnibus would essentially put career politicians, congressional staffers and Washington lobbyists in charge of medical research in this country. Medical research dollars should be directed by trained scientists and physicians, not politicians, lobbyists and celebrity activists,” Dr. Coburn said.
“I hope the Majority Leader will give the American people what they deserve: legislation that allows us to live within our means, or at least a full and open debate that will allow him to explain why we should not,” Dr. Coburn said.
“Finally, what the Majority Leader defines as my unprecedented obstruction is my desire to see the number of bills that pass the Senate in secret with no debate, no amendment and no recorded vote be reduced by less than ten percent. I have supported 855 unanimous consent or ‘hotline’ requests in the 110th Congress while I am presently urging further debate on less than 80 bills. What is unprecedented, therefore, is not anyone’s obstruction but the Majority Leader’s secret spending and refusal to debate critical legislation,” Dr. Coburn said.
]]>The fantastic ladies over at The Frisky asked me to give them a list of nominations for their annual Hotness Awards, and just posted them up on their site!
I tried my hardest to not just list country music bands and lame answers like "I don't watch TV", and I'd like to think I nominated some pretty cool stuff. (Who would argue that the Rain vs Stephen Colbert Dance-Off wasn't the hottest scandal of the year?)
Click on this link and vote once a day for my entry. Because it takes a lot of money to go to school ...
http://www.declareyourstyle.com/view_photo.php?viewkey=8161a8cdf4ad2299f6d2
The McFreeds would like to share the following...
This is an excerpt from the New York Times interview from the June 13, 2008 issue.
Q: President Bush believes that gay couples should not be permitted to adopt children. Do you agree with that?
Mr. McCain: I think that we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no I don’t believe in gay adoption.
Q: Even if the alternative is the kid staying in an orphanage, or not having parents.
Mr. McCain: I encourage adoption and I encourage the opportunities for people to adopt children I encourage the process being less complicated so they can adopt as quickly as possible. And Cindy and I are proud of being adoptive parents.
Q: But your concern would be that the couple should a traditional couple
Mr. McCain: Yes.
]]>I was reading on MSN the other day about John McCain and Barak Obama's definitions on patriotism, sounds like there respective writers went to the same school. For two candidates talking about how different they are from other people that have run for president, they sure do sound like they came from the same political cookie cutter to me. I've only had the ability to vote in one national election thus far, but I've been scrutinizing candidates my whole life. I know this is kind of different from most people my age, but I feel it's what every responsible citizen should do.
For the record I am fundamentally a Republican. I don't wholly align myself with the republican party because I don't feel that they adequately represent my views. Democrats I have even less in common with. It's hard living in a state that votes democrat every time. It never really matters who I vote for because the state of Washington always goes to the blue team. But this year it seems to matter even less.
You see this year I don't want either candidate. On one hand we have a republican candidate that brags that he would be good for security, but he lobbies in favor of outsourcing military projects. That's a little backwards I think. He talks and votes like every other republican aside from that. Then we have a democrat that says he's totally different than the norm. The news loves writing about it too. They say it over and over, but really, what's different about him? If I never say a picture of Mr. Obama, never heard he was black and all I ever knew about him was how he votes, he'd be just another democrat. So apparently the only thing that qualifies him to be President is that he's black. He's had limited experience in politics, but he's black and that means he's different? He talks like just another politician. I haven't seen any real political differences.
This is just my opinion really, but it seems all we have is a republican and democratic candidate. Whoever wins, they'll vote right down party lines. We may get higher or lower taxes, fewer or greater social programs, but beyond that... Now I know why people quit voting, I'm tired of picking the lesser of two evils. The sad part is, I haven't been doing it all that long yet.
Back to patriotism, I love my country. I don't have any writers, and I really don't have anything really deep to say about it in order to define it. I can only express it with a prayer:
Whether its the red team or blue team, God bless America, we need Your love, mercy and guidance.
Another quick update to say that we've been shortlisted as 1 of 12 possible acts to open the main stage of this year's Summer Sundae Festival here in Leicester! Naturally this would be a fantastic gig for us as we'd be opening on the same bill as Supergrass among others. It'd also be great exposure ahead of the single release in September and album (hopefully now) in October!
But of course we need your help and support to win the slot! It's down to an online vote (isn't everything nowadays?) and so we need people to head along to the regional BBC site HERE, select 'Shortwave Fade' and press 'vote'. That really is it, no signup needed - you just click on the page and vote. It only takes a second....so please, help us out by voting TODAY as the vote closes tonight at 11.55pm GMT. Thank you!!
Right that's it - request over. In other news, the album is coming together now. Gavin has been working with the mixes and thinks are taking shape and sounding great! We're hoping to head back to the studio next week to tweak the mixes a little further and it should then be ready in a couple of weeks.... the release is going to be a little later than we'd originally planned but hey, that's always the way - right?! In any case, the 'Leave' single release is still going ahead on 8th September and we now have a bit more of a gap between that and the album release, which is actually a good thing...
We had a fun gig at The Purple Turtle in Camden a couple of nights ago. I believe that there may be some film of it floating around somewhere, which we'll try and track down and post at some point! We're also at Sumo in Leicester this Friday night for anyone in the area. It's our first hometown gig for.....so long - it's going to be great!
That's it for now. Going to post some mixes of the newer album tracks soon, hopefully after we return to the studio next week.....so erm, stay tuned!!
x
The McFreeds share the following letter from Barack Obama with you...
Dear Friends,
Thank you for the opportunity to welcome everyone to the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club's Pride Breakfast and to congratulate you on continuing a legacy of success, stretching back thirty-six years. As one of the oldest and most influential LGBT organizations in the country, you have continually rallied to support Democratic candidates and causes, and have fought tirelessly to secure equal rights and opportunities for LGBT Americans in California and throughout the country.
As the Democratic nominee for President, I am proud to join with and support the LGBT community in an effort to set our nation on a course that recognizes LGBT Americans with full equality under the law. That is why I support extending fully equal rights and benefits to same-sex couples under both state and federal law. That is why I support repealing the Defense of Marriage Act and the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy, and the passage of fully inclusive laws to protect LGBT Americans from hate crimes and employment discrimination. And that is why I oppose the divisive and discriminatory efforts to amend the California Constitution, and similar efforts to amend the U.S. Constitution or those of other states.
For too long, issues of LGBT rights have been exploited by those seeking to divide us. It's time to move beyond polarization and live up to our founding promise of equality by treating all our citizens with dignity and respect. This is no less than a core issue about who we are as Democrats and as Americans.
Finally, I want to congratulate all of you who have shown your love for each other by getting married these last few weeks. My thanks again to the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club for allowing me to be a part of today's celebration. I look forward to working with you in the coming months and years, and I wish you all continued success.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama
2008 MTV Asia Awards....
1 - Big Bang
2 - SNSD >_< (EHHH YABAI NE~!)
3 - SuJu
3 - Wonder Girls
Im so voting for SuJu so please vote for them also ne~
VOTE SUJU NOW! .. and every 10 mins hahaha
Arigatou!
ne~
xXx
]]>I just re-registered to vote with my new address. I'm also getting back together with an old flame--the Democratic Party. We broke up in the early nineties. Basically, we had grown apart, and I felt betrayed, really. I was still more or less the same person I'd always been, politically, with the same beliefs and concerns, but it got to where it felt like I couldn't even recognize the Party I'd joined. You know? Sometimes I would ask myself, What does this party stand for? And I didn't know the answer anymore. It seemed like the Party got more conservative and less trustworthy every day. It made me feel uncomfortable and unwanted. Disgusted, even. I remember very clearly in 1996 when the Party started dismantling welfare and going to wine tastings. Then, in '98, there were four or five different people trying to win the Party's endorsement for governor of California. But they all seemed exactly the same. All that talk about inclusion, for what? To play things so safe that it's not worth playing? I remember thinking, I don't even know this Party anymore.
All the things that had once been important to us didn't seem important to the Party anymore. I wondered if they ever had been. Was it all just talk? So one day I gathered up my courage and I left. It was scary, and I wasn't sure what the future would hold, but I couldn't see staying. While the Party had been out there playing golf and becoming unrecognizable to me, I was left at home, alone, to brood. And yes, after licking my wounds for a while, I started looking around. You're damn right I did. After all, I was still young enough to start over with a new Party. But I wasn't sure if there was another Party out there that was right for me.
However, it wasn't long before I became smitten with the Green Party. I was so happy in those early days! The Greens always seemed to know just what to say to win my heart. It was always what I wanted to hear, and I lapped it up after having felt so neglected for so long. But I have to admit that while I still love what the Greens stand for, I haven't been "in love" with the Greens for a long time. I stood by them during the whole 2000 election debacle, because I felt it was my duty--and I will still defend the Greens against all comers. But the reality is, it can be hard to be in a relationship with a small, idealistic party. I can remember so many times when I was on my way out the door, to work or running errands or whatever, and there would be the Green Party, still lying on the couch, dreaming about the future, or arguing endlessly on the computer over pointless details, or in the basement puttering around with the grow lights and home-brewing beer. I just felt like, Jeez, get a job, will you?
So, yeah. We were together for ten years. That's a long time, but I don't regret it. I learned a lot about myself and what's important to me. But when you take a long look at your life, and you see how you've been evolving, but your party is still the same party it was in 1993, well, that's not good. The truth is, the fire went out years ago, and we haven't been political bedfellows for some time. We've barely communicated the last few years. Really, we've been together in name only. As far as I'm concerned, I left the relationship a long time ago.
So when the Democratic Party started coming around again lately, flirting and wanting to go out for coffee, I have to admit, I started feeling those butterflies in my stomach again. The Party looked good. Really good. I'd been keeping tabs on the Party from afar, all that time, and I never could have predicted, even a couple of years ago, that we'd ever get back together. Seriously, there were so many times when I wanted to call up the Party and chew them out over one thing or another. But the most I ever did was cough up a couple of chilly e-mails and march in some anti-war protests.
But there's no denying that the Party isn't on the same path it was on when I left in all those years ago. Sure, I'm still wary. I know how this could turn out. But right now, I don't care. I never stopped loving the Democratic Party; I just couldn't live with it. But now, with this new candidate, it feels like the first time. No, better. It feels new. I'm in love again, and it feels good. Maybe I'm crazy, I don't know. Of course many of the things that bothered me before are still there, behind the new look. But I've made a commitment and I intend to stick with it.
Senator Barack Obama has ventured into a battleground that a year ago would have been a suicide mission for most Democrats particularly one with a voting record like his.
Tuesday, Senator Obama had an open discussion with Evangelical and Catholic leaders many of which did not support him or hold what is generally perceived to be his views.
How the world has changed when the Christian Right is looking left. A few years ago Senator John McCain has struggled to gain the confidence of the Christian Right after his tirade in 2000 where he screamed at this same group who he now needs to support him.
This year has been a year where there has been no major push from the Christian Right for any candidate in either party.
Senator Obama’s “first strike” in the Christian community is a smart move politically. He allowed the group to ask him the tough questions and he answered the questions. The reports so far from both supporters and those who oppose his views that attended were favorable.
The question again has to be; “Is the guy that the Evangelical and Catholic leadership the same guy who would show up in the Whitehouse?”
If the Christian Right is asking who is more of a churchgoer, it is hard to tell although far more has been said about Senator Obama’s going to church and Senator is still a Christian-hater in the minds of many believers. On the other hand, the press about Senator Obama’s Church attendance has not been favorable.
If asking who more represents the views of the Christian Right it is a toss up when you look at the voting records. I would probably give the advantage to Senator McCain.
Clearly from the how little outspoken support for Senator McCain has come from the Christian Right (traditionally considered to be Republican voters) up to this point there seems to be a sentiment of voting for the lesser evil.
The rumor mill has been turning all year about how the Christian right has lost it’s power and is dying and so on. I do not believe that is the case. It seems clear that out of all of the candidates in both parties who ran in the primaries there was not one candidate that represented the collective beliefs of this group. This is a huge failure on the part of both parties to exclude the desires of such a large segment of the population when putting up candidates (particularly along the Bible Belt).
This seems like it may be a big step forward for Senator Obama, but there is always that voting record that would scare anyone but the most left. I cannot say what this did for the Christian Right, but it must have been a huge step forward in winning over the Evangelical and Catholic Left and Moderates.
]]>Maine primaries today. Pictured: Pac Man has voted.
I'm pretty sure he is. Something about him screams Stella's Father. Anyway, I adore his pseudo-dedication to getting people registered to vote. It's such a fantastic cause and ideal and, I mean yeah, he turned it all into being about him like, "For my birthday on November 4th, I want you to VOTE," but clearly the DNC isn't paying him to say this shit, so it's a selfless cause. That's something I did, though, when I started at the high school - when a kid turned 18, I gave him or her a packet that told them how to register to vote. Just one of my pet projects.
California Assembly Bill 1819, is a plan to get sixteen and seventeen year old voters to preregister to vote. This means that these teens would automatically be registered and sent the sample ballots when they are eighteen. This bill has passed the assembly and is currently in the senate.
Here is the interesting part: The vote in Assembly split right down party lines with Democrats voting for it and Republicans voting against.
I listened to and read some of the debate for and against this bill and I see merit in both sides of the argument. I am still undecided on what I think of this idea.
The thing that struck me in all of this is that the Republican Party in California is in such fear of the late teen voters. I know that whoever it is that controls the youth controls the future. Judging by the results of this vote, I am left to wonder if the future holds a one party system for California.
It would seem that the Republican Party needs to do some kind if image make over if the general feel of the party (at least in California) is that an entire generation will be their undoing as soon as they decide to vote. I am also stunned at the fact that the only plan to combat this is to keep this whole group from voting as long as possible. That’s it, the whole plan?
The Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, seems to be doing okay and managed to get elected in the first place. I understand that he started as a public figure, but the state seems to be within the realm of a balance of power between the parties. It seems like with a little work the Republican Party could restore the balance. This work may be with those same youth that would be registering under what is outlined in this bill.
As a person who does not like the current party system and all of the partisanship, I have to admit that a one party system made up of one or the other of the major parties really scares me.
I am worried that one whole party is scared of the youth thinking about voting. I am still deciding what I think of this bill.
]]>
Just as everyone was beginning to hear a steady flow of media stating that it probably would not be a good idea for Senator Barack Obama to pick Senator Hillary Clinton as a running mate for the presidential elections the voters in the party have thrown a monkey wrench into the program. A CNN Opinion Research poll (which can be seen at - http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/06/06/majority-of-dems-want-clinton-to-be-vp-2/) states that 46% OF Democratic men and 60% of Democratic women think Senator Clinton should be Senator Obama’s running mate. Overall 54% of Democrats polled think that Senator Clinton should be Senator Obama’s running mate.
This changes the equation a bit. If Senator Obama would like to get the vote of the women voters of his party, ignoring the fact that a majority of them (a small majority, but a majority none the less) feel that she should be on the ticket might give him a great deal of trouble later on.
The key to this is the next month or so. These numbers may move, the question is in which direction? If people get less interested in her that would seem to be a clear indication that she is not the person that should share the ticket and has lost some of her political appeal through all of the antics of the past few months.
On the other hand if those numbers go up in her favor, Senator Obama’s camp would be foolish to ignore a large voting segment of the party without being able to convince them there is a really good reason for doing so. The key word in that sentence is “convince.” His task would not be to find and have a good reason, it would be convincing that voting block that it is a good reason that they agree with.
I suppose that this would be a good trend to keep an eye on. Which direction will the voters go? Tune in next time, Same election time, same election channel.
]]>DRUGMULE have been progressed into a Showcase on www.slicethepie.com and have a chance to win £15,000 to record, release and promote an album.
20 acts have been narrowed down from over 800 that entered and DRUGMULE are delighted to be one of the 20.
This is a great opportunity for DRUGMULE to get the promotion and exposure we think we deserve we think we deserve and a chance to increase our fan base and get an album into store up and down the UK.
To do this though we need your help! The showcase winner is decided by an online voting system and we need you to vote for us.
To vote simply follow the steps below
1. Visit https://www.slicethepie.com/Signup.aspx
2. Fill in all your details
3. Login to the site once your account it validated
4. Visit http://www.slicethepie.com/Showcase/ShowcaseDetail.aspx?SCN=126
5. Click Listen
6. Scroll down to Drugmule (about 11th down)
7. Click Vote
8. Confirm your vote
When you have voted you even get the chance to finance the album and get a free copy for just £5. Please feel under no obligation to do this unless you want to, we'd love you to do this but your vote alone is more than enough.
Please send this information onto as many people as you can, get your friends and family to sign up and do the same. If you have more than one email addresses please sign up with them all and vote with each acccount.
Thanks in advance for all your support, we'll keep you updated as to how we are doing.
Take it easy!
DRUGMULE
www.myspace.com/drugmule
The Democratic Party’s activities from this weekend should be convincing evidence (when combined with the past few years of what has been done by the Republican Party) that the current party system and those in power cannot possibly produce a good presidency out of this year’s voting. We need someone else and that person is nowhere to be found.
Let’s slow down and backtrack a bit to the Democratic National Committee mess.
The Hillary Clinton camp has completely lost its mind with desperation and Senator Barack Obama’s camp and the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws Committee are afraid to say so. The D.N.C. has agreed to seat the delegates from Florida and Michigan but to only give them half votes. The problem is that the Democratic Party has continued to allow Senator Clinton and her camp to go on with the outlandish demands she makes publicly hoping to create a big enough push by her supporters to force the party to give in to her unreasonable ideas.
The wildest of stupid suggestions I have heard was the idea the Clinton camp proposed to the D.N.C. that Senator Obama shouldn’t get any delegates from Michigan because his name was not on the ballot in that state. Are these people serious.
Let me get this straight. These states decided they were not important enough in the primary process so they were going to move their primary forward (the ironic thing is that with all of the ruckus to move primaries forward last year the states that came last turned out to be the ones who became more important). Other states also had done the same which would make their move less impacting. These two states decided they would move their primaries in front of the other states even though they knew it violated Democratic Party rules. The Democratic National Committee informed these states that this was against party rules and would lead to the punishment of not having their votes count for the primaries. These states moved their primaries anyway. The D.N.C. stuck to its guns and its rules and did not allow the votes of these states to count with the approval of the candidates. The candidates agreed also, not to campaign in these states and in Michigan some of the candidates (including Senator Barack Obama) pulled their names off of the ballot all together in support of the D.N.C.’s decision.
Senator Clinton wins both states, but all of the candidates, including Senator Clinton had already agreed that the votes would not count. Then Senator Clinton turned out not to be the untouchable candidate that she had thought she was by loosing a string of primaries to Senator Obama. All of a sudden the Clinton camp begins redirecting her campaign efforts to promoting how unfair it is that these votes are not being counted and a focus on getting them counted in her favor. Her supporters begin to threaten the party saying if things don’t go her way they will vote for the most likely Republican candidate, Senator John McCain.
Why is this even still being discussed? If the party as a whole cannot make rules that they can follow amongst themselves what business do these people have running our country.
Ave you ever bee in a grocery store or some such place and observed parenting that looks like this. Little Jimmy, starts touching something little jimmy should not be touching. Mom or Dad or both tell little Jimmy to stop. Little Jimmy doesn’t listen and keeps touching. The parent or parents keep telling little Jimmy and then move to threatening little Jimmy. Let’s say its “Jimmy if you don’t stop I am going to drag you out of this store and spank you!” Little Jimmy keeps on and eventually breaks whatever it is. The parent says something like “Now look what you did Jimmy” and rushes little Jimmy to another isle and tries to act like it never happened. Guess what little Jimmy starts doing in the next isle? Of course, Little Jimmy starts touching more things.
Can our entire country be run like this?
Do not get me wrong, I think that the Republican party has shown clearly over the past few years that they are not capable of running this country, but now we are seeing the Democrats are no more capable than the Republicans. But, are we content with simply picking the lesser of the evils.
The current Democrats in power are clearly swayed far too easily by pressure from powerful people (like the Clintons) to ignore what is right. The vote to fully seat the delegates from Florida as voted in January received twelve votes for it and fifteen against. These twelve people are the problem. If there is a clear rule and several warnings that say if you do something so and so will be the consequences and within your own party you cannot stand your ground what kind of wishy-washy government would one led by such people turn out to be.
If Senator Obama is not a strong enough leader to stand up to this sort of nonsense and not only say it is wrong, but get the general public to see it and turn on Senator Clinton for being so ridiculous, he is clearly not ready to be president either.
Of course, it seems obvious, that the fact that Senator Clinton and her supporters act so much like spoiled children who will do anything to win demonstrates that the country needs few things less than it needs this crazy Senator and her folks in office.
I have maintained and will continue to maintain that when you look at the voting records of these candidates and the actions of the three candidates we are flooded with information about, none of the three are a good option. It is becoming clearer and clearer that a large percentage of the population is voting not for what is best for the country, but for some ideal represented by one candidate or the other regardless of if the person is crazy or will make a terrible president. Someone somewhere has to come up with a better option for the American People and the good of the country.
Our country and its people are in far to fragile of a time in history right now to be putting a crazy person who has no business in the White House into the position that will most determine what happens to us for at least the next four years because they simply are Republican, Democrat, Black, White, a woman, a man, a veteran, upper-class, middleclass, he or she drinks beer and shots, he or she bowls or doesn’t bowl, that person’s pastor is crazy or not crazy. We need to find the person who can take the reigns and do what is right from day one and is clearly not what either party has been doing for at least the past few years.
None of these three are that person!
]]>There is bill (AB 2716) in California, that is due to go before the governor to mandate paid sick leave for all employees within the state. The argument over this bill seems to step from the costs that will be forced on small businesses. A similar requirement has been in place in San Francisco for a while (since February 5, 2007) and the small business have felt the squeeze and have had to make adjustments.
Some businesses, such as some restaurants have stated that they will have to cut holidays to have the resources to cover the added expense of all of this sick time. This struck me, not from the perspective of an economist or a Human Resources perspective, but from a simple logic and disgust perspective.
Did groups of restaurants just state that they would rather have their sick employees at work cooking for and serving food to my family and I? I have a problem with that idea. Actually, I would prefer that if I go to any business, the person I encounter there is not passing on some illness to me. Any incentive to keep your sick, half working, half alert, self home is a good thing.
There has been talk about the employees of these small businesses preferring to have raises rather than to have this benefit. That would be okay if sickness was something you could keep to your self. A sick person contaminates the entire workplace, the other employees, the clients of the business, the families of the other employees, the families of the clients of the benefits. These people, who will work instead of resting their bodies to allow themselves to heal, will end up with a need for more intensive medical treatment. The fact that some employee cares more about making a few dollars more rather than be concerned with the health and welfare of the people around them is exactly the reason a law like this is needed. It would seem that this would be common sense, but once it becomes clear that people who work in industries such as food services are resistant to allowing their employees to have sick time, it then becomes an absolute necessity for the government to step in.
The argument that it makes it harder to start or maintain a small business does not mean that it is not the right thing to do for everyone is involved. The businesses have had ample chance to use common sense and have clearly shown that they are not able to manage this themselves.
The idea that businesses small or large will, as a whole, govern themselves and do what is best for the welfare of their employees, the public, and the good of the country, is a foolish idea. I do believe in many of these cases the business need to have a chance to do what is best for their business and the welfare of others without government interference. But, at the point that the business world shows an inability to do what is right in some area, then it is the obligation of the government to serve the greater good of the people and the nation as a whole.
I am a strong advocate for small business tax breaks etc. and feel that if the economy is going to be stabilized, these businesses are a necessity. The problem is that I do not believe that we sacrifice the health of others to do this (even if shortsighted, self-centered individuals would rather get one to five more dollars a paycheck more than care properly for themselves, or respect the right to a healthy environment for their coworkers, families, friends, customers, and all of those these individuals encounter.
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