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View Full Version : The Good Ol' GOP Congress


Judy G. Russell
June 21st, 2006, 03:32 PM
The GOP sure showed their colors this week in Congress, didn't they? The Civil Right Act renewal was stalled and a bid to raise the minimum wage for the first time since 1997 failed (a minimum wage worker working 45 hours a week and 52 weeks a year makes $12051 a year...).

Geez...

Lindsey
June 21st, 2006, 04:59 PM
The GOP sure showed their colors this week in Congress, didn't they?
Let's hope that we can make people remember that when they go to the polls in November and that they aren't distracted by the prospect of married gay terrorists burning flags.

--Lindsey

Judy G. Russell
June 22nd, 2006, 12:00 AM
Depends on how well Karl Rove is doing this fall...

Lindsey
June 22nd, 2006, 10:42 PM
Depends on how well Karl Rove is doing this fall...
Eventually, the people at large are going to get wise to Rove, and they're going to develop immunity to his fear and smear campaigns. Eventually. I hope "eventually" is very soon.

I cannot help but believe, though, that the horrific news that is coming out of the Middle East every day, not to mention the growing threats in Iran, North Korea, and now even Miami and Chicago, fer cryin' out loud (so much for "we're fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them at home") -- that all of that is going to pose such a stark contrast to the picture the Bushies keep trying to paint of "Everything is just great! We're making progress! We've turned the corner! They're gonna love us in the end!" that an awful lot of people are going to be deeply angry at being played for fools.

--Lindsey

Judy G. Russell
June 22nd, 2006, 11:26 PM
an awful lot of people are going to be deeply angry at being played for fools.I certainly hope that's true.

MollyM/CA
June 23rd, 2006, 07:29 PM
Maybe the Feds will hire some people to help minimum wage workers apply for food stamps, a la Walmart.

Lindsey
June 23rd, 2006, 08:18 PM
Maybe the Feds will hire some people to help minimum wage workers apply for food stamps, a la Walmart.
I certainly hope that people remember that almost in the same breath after voting down an increase in the minimum wage, the House voted to all but eliminate the estate tax. Anything for those at the top of the heap, and nothing at all for the ones at the bottom. :mad:

--Lindsey

Judy G. Russell
June 24th, 2006, 10:55 PM
Maybe the Feds will hire some people to help minimum wage workers apply for food stamps, a la Walmart.They sure as heck QUALIFY for food stamps, and WIC, and everything else in between.

MollyM/CA
June 25th, 2006, 06:04 PM
What scares me is that our minimum wage for practically anything but people that work in brick and mortar retail is now competing with those in the third world --and according to a lot I read, the wages in some factories/ countries aren't enough to put food on the table even with the long hours and galley slave working conditions. Which reminds me, are you thinking of doing a Nation cruise this year?

Judy G. Russell
June 25th, 2006, 08:46 PM
What scares me is that our minimum wage for practically anything but people that work in brick and mortar retail is now competing with those in the third world --and according to a lot I read, the wages in some factories/ countries aren't enough to put food on the table even with the long hours and galley slave working conditions.Too true... and scary, isn't it? All those tax cuts for the wealthy, all those spending sprees on things like unnecessary wars, and ordinary Americans squeezed to death in the middle.

Which reminds me, are you thinking of doing a Nation cruise this year?Lindsey is the one who does the Nation cruises. Me, I do the genealogy cruises!

Lindsey
June 25th, 2006, 09:53 PM
Which reminds me, are you thinking of doing a Nation cruise this year?
I had decided early on to opt out of the cruise this year because I wanted to do a genealogy workshop that the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society was putting on this spring, and I just didn't feel I could do both, not after having done two of those cruises in the last two years; I needed some time to let my bank account recover.

As it turned out, the timing of this year's cruise would not have worked out for me anyway -- it's the week leading up to Christmas, and there's just no way in the world I can plan to be gone that week and still be ready for Christmas day. Not to mention that air travel is likely to be much more expensive that week. As it turns out, some friends of mine who were also on the last two cruises have also decided to opt out this year for the same reasons: the timing, and because they have some other places that they would like to travel this year.

But oh, I did feel a great twinge of regret when I saw the updated speaker list a couple of weeks ago: not only is Molly Ivins on the list, but so is Joe Wilson, and I would dearly love to be part of a seminar he was participating in! But some things just will not work out the way you would have them work.

If you can swing the timing, though, I'd encourage you to consider going. It's a very interesting group to hang out with for a week. Yeah, there are always the wing nuts in any group like that, but just a chance to sit down at the table one night with someone like Robert Scheer or David Corn or Katrina vanden Heuvel, or Calvin Trillin or -- if you're really, really lucky -- Molly Ivins or Joe Wilson, for me, that's enough to make the entire trip worth it.

Do go with someone if you go -- a husband or a friend. It's not just that it cuts the per-person expense down, but the great negative to taking that trip as a single is that you tend to get stuck at a "singles table" every night, and that means that you see a lot of the same people every time, and it's likely going to be a table with 6 women and 2 men.

Oh! I meant to include a link to the cruise info page:

http://www.nationcruise.com/

--Lindsey

ktinkel
June 27th, 2006, 02:02 PM
I had decided early on to opt out of the cruise this year . . .I thought of you at once when I saw that roster — really good this year.

But the timing is dumb.

Lindsey
June 28th, 2006, 12:05 AM
I thought of you at once when I saw that roster — really good this year.

But the timing is dumb.
Yeah, the roster of speakers is absolutely fabulous. <sigh>

I can only think that they must have gotten some complaints or suggestions from people who wanted a cruise at a time when schools were on semester break, either because they were involved in teaching (I know Robert Scheer teaches somewhere), or because they wanted to make it a family trip -- though that's a rather expensive option for a family trip!

--Lindsey

earler
June 28th, 2006, 11:43 AM
Worse for the men, such a table than for the women.

-er

ktinkel
June 28th, 2006, 07:08 PM
. . . because they were involved in teaching (I know Robert Scheer teaches somewhere), or because they wanted to make it a family trip -- though that's a rather expensive option for a family trip!Or because The Nation got a bargain at that time.

Too bad, in any event.

Are you drowning down there?

Lindsey
June 29th, 2006, 06:39 PM
Are you drowning down there?
No, not at all. We had a good bit of rain Tuesday night, and a little bit on Wednesday, but here in Richmond it has not been too bad. One of the summer school programs in the central Virginia area closed down today because of flooding -- King and Queen County, I think. That's about it.

--Lindsey