Thursday, March 15, 2007

(short) politics rant

can you believe this?

"The federal minimum wage bill has been folded into the Iraq war spending legislation now before Congress. Whatever the political maneuvers that led to this situation, it is clear Congressional leadership has lost sight of the value of working men and women in our nation who have gone too long without a raise. " (read the rest here)

is it any wonder people (like me) are cynical about the political process? it seems near impossible to do justice. i am a long way from home right now but i hope (and trust) this has stirred some interest and passionate disgust in the US.

5 comments:

Blue November said...

Yet another case for putting Libertarians in congress.

Two simple rules that could change government:

1) Congress shall limit legislation to a single issue per bill.

2) Congress shall read the legislation they vote on.

geoff and sherry said...

CG,
i love those simple rules but i'm not sure i want libertarianism (i have a lot of baggage from listening to AM talk radio)...can't we just call it "the new democracy"?
missing you, neighbor.
geoff

lauraemily said...

a bit of encouragement:
KY state house and senate have passed and sent a wage increase bill to be signed by Fletcher. The wage only goes up a bit upon passage ($5.85), but moves up to $7.25 July 09. Unfortunately, the amendments to the original bill submitted brought the initial rise from $7 to $5.85, took away the yearly cost of living review and wage adjustment, and included a clause that allows companies that get a tax incentive to be in KY to keep the minimum until July 2008. Hopefully we see a federal hike sooner.

lauraemily said...

link for anyone else who likes to read legislation in the middle of the night: http://www.lrc.state.ky.us/record/07RS/HB305/bill.doc

Anonymous said...

As Laura has mentioned this is an area where the states are probably going to have to continue taking the lead. The political scene in Washington seems to almost continually languish in captivity to special interests, or perhaps it is just plain apathy. I think that federal government definitely has a role to play, but these days it seems like they're so unaccountable and riven by partisanship that they've lost sight of the real issues facing many Americans. Are they really concerned about the common person or just trying to say what they think needs to be said to hold onto or gain power? It is hard for me to believe that they do...God help me in my unbelief!