Now that Michelle Obama has given a truly astounding and moving speech, I can hardly wait to hear her counterpart, Cindy McCain, tell us about the story of John and Cin and their families of origin, and how they met and courted, and the kids, and the love and values they have.
But why wait? Why don't we draft that speech here?
Shall we start with the warmth of her family of origin, her beloved half-sister, a half-sister she loved so much she did not want her to have to suffer from contact with the evils of money and how it can pervert you. So Cin - or is it Sin ? - decided to go ahead and keep her dad's filthy lucre to herself, condemning herself to a life of more houses than can be counted, being forced to fly in a private jet rather than in the company of her fellow Americans, and having to live with a guy whose response to: "Could you puh-leeeze remember to put the toilet seat down?" is "Well, when I was a POW . .. ."
You can take it from there, while I tag this "family values."
You've seen the "good" news headlines on Yahoo:
"Number of uninsured drops; poverty holds steady" link
But there's a catch: the number of people covered by private plans actually dropped again in 2007, as it has in most recent years. The only reason the number of uninsured people declined was because government health insurance programs more than made up the difference.
I know, can you imagine the CIA - lying to the public? This lie, like so many others during the last 6 years, was promulgated to save the White House further embarrassment over its rush to war in Iraq. The lie concerns a high-ranking Iraqi defector whom the Bush administration prefers to pretend it knows little about.
You have probably signed one of them. They are everywhere, and your only choice is: Take it, or leave it. You may not even realize what you have lost. Yes, predispute arbitration agreements are everywhere these days. Fill out a job application, and it likely says that you have waived your right to a trial over any dispute that arises out of employment or your application. They may be buried somewhere in your employment manual. And whether you rent a movie or move, the price of getting service is signing an "agreement" that you waive your right to a trial.
In its place you get some form of alternate dispute resolution. Sounds nice and friendly, but, believe it or not, in some cases, the person who arbitrates your termination is the HR director or equally biased adjudicators.
Or to get to ADR, you must agree to pay thousands of dollars to pay an arbitrator. In a trial, you do not pay the judge and if you are poor, you fees are waived. Arbitrator fees are so high, you may decide to just walk away.
. . . or are they losers? It's hard to say when you get wonderful prizes because you had the boss from hell. At least, the annual contest by Working America certainly has some theme appropriate prizes:
The House Labor Committee has a map to "approximately 10% of deaths that have occurred in U.S. workplaces during 2007. It is not a comprehensive report, but it demonstrates the need to strengthen worker safety protections." link
If it seems to you that things have been very quiet around the Bush White House, keep in mind the horror movie adage: "It's quiet. Maybe just a little tooooooo quiet."
The sound of nothing you hear is not that the Bushies have all given up the ghost and decided to take an extended summer vacation through, say, January 20, 2009. No, they have gone underground and are busily producing stealth rules, including Occupational Safety and Health rules, that will make our workplaces much less safe.
And, the best part about this is that the reason they give for making these changes is? . . .
I must have missed the switch, but apparently the Secret Service is no longer part of Treasury. Instead, it was shifted to DHS.
Given that the traditional mission of the SS is to investigate crimes related to finances and to safeguard the country's financial stability, DHS seems an odd placement. And given that its other mission is to safeguard presidents, vice-presidents, and their families, DHS seems to be an odd placement if you want the job competently performed.
Way back in the Clinton Administration, Harry and Louise helped kill national health care coverage . . . and no doubt helped kill a lot of real people. They seem to be older and wiser now that they have a friend who has just been diagnosed with cancer and has no health care coverage.
Or a lesson on what a telecom industry shill should not do when ham-handedly reaching out to bloggers after doing everything in their power to kill net neutrality.
Please allow me to introduce myself..."
On a personal level, I have been blogging about pop culture for three years (and occasionally posting comments on blogs) under the name The Pop View . At my day job, I have been working for a few years to get the National Cable & Telecommunications Association and the cable industry to engage with the blogosphere. I am pleased that such efforts have been fruitful lately, as our business slowly learns to listen to and talk with bloggers.
Good for Californians. They have decided to stick their thumbs in the Administration's Eye and refuse to go along with the Bush Administration's heartless demand that states deprive poor kids of health care coverage . . . in order to ensure that private insurance companies are protected. Link
The spree of lawlessness undertaken by the three conservative appointees to the NLRB - popularly referred to as the "Bush Board" - is regularly being shown up for what it was: a failure to apply the law and a willingness to violate the norms of legal analysis. Court after court has overturned these decisions, and not just overturned them. The courts have scolded and mocked the majority and all but called them renegades. Here is an overview of one of those cases, a case which has now been resolved, with the good guys winning.
Unbossed was founded in 1897 by poor, but honest, immigrants. It flourished during the turn of the century -- marching with the suffragists and helping organize labor unions -- only to wither during the Great Depression.
