June 25, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
CHENEY THE TORTURER
As we learn more and more about the nefarious Dick Cheney, you have to wonder how the United States allowed monsters like George W. Bush and Dick Cheney to acquire so much power. We allowed them to steal a presidential election in 2000. Congress rolled over like a puppy dog and let them whatever do they wanted after the attacks on 9/11. Suddenly, all that the United States had ever stood for wasn't applicable anymore. We didn't have to observe international treaties. We could "preemptively" attack countries. We could kidnap people who were suspected terrorists, no matter where they were in the world. And we could torture. The Geneva Conventions and habeas corpus were so quaint. This article by Barton Gellman and Jo Becker is at www.washingtonpost.com:
Cheney and his allies, according to more than two dozen current and former officials, pioneered a novel distinction between forbidden "torture" and permitted use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading" methods of questioning. They did not originate every idea to rewrite or reinterpret the law, but fresh accounts from participants show that they translated muscular theories, from Yoo and others, into the operational language of government.
A backlash beginning in 2004, after reports of abuse leaked out of Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo Bay, brought what appeared to be sharp reversals in courts and Congress -- for Cheney's claims of executive supremacy and for his unyielding defense of what he called "robust interrogation."
But a more careful look at the results suggests that Cheney won far more than he lost. Many of the harsh measures he championed, and some of the broadest principles undergirding them, have survived intact but out of public view.
REPUBLICANS' CROCODILE TEARS FOR WORKERS
When there has been talk of raising the minimum wage Republicans suddenly find themselves concerned about workers and small business. "It will cost jobs!" they'll claim, even though the historical evidence doesn't support that claim. Republicans opposed even non-paid leave for employees to deal with family emergencies. And Republicans love to demonize unions. Unions, to hear them tell it, are the root of all evil. Unions, in fact, are largely responsible for many of the benefits American working people have earned, everything from the eight hour day, to time and half for overtime, to paid vacations, sick days, and pension plans. Now the Republicans in Congress are using the same old malarkey to try to scuttle the Employee Free Choice Act, which would give workers greater freedom in forming unions. It's time to send a resounding "No!" to Republicans and their make-the-fat-cats-fatter economics. This article by Bob Geiger is at www.smirkingchimp.com:
The bill would make it easier for workers to get a living wage and decent benefits and, hey, this is America and everything, so who in the world would have a problem with that?
You guessed it -- the same crew that worked like crazy to keep the minimum wage at $5.15 an hour for the rest of our lives or until a Democratic Congress came to town and got a raise passed.
But what's interesting -- or not, if you're accustomed to watching the Republican party's fear-and-smear approach -- is how much concern GOP Senators suddenly seem to have for workers and how afraid they are that employees will lose their right to unionize via secret ballots. And of course, Republicans love to raise the possibility that these poor workers will also be subject to intimidation by big bad union bosses, hell-bent on forcing them into higher wages and better benefits.
The usual GOP suspects came out strong on Friday in debate about the legislation. Here's Mike Enzi (R-WY), who's voted against working families on the minimum wage more times than Mitt Romney changes his political views:
Showing posts with label workers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label workers. Show all posts
Sunday, June 24, 2007
June 24, 2007
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
MAKING THEIR OWN REALITY
The Bush administration has been an astounding mix of arrogance, incompetence, hypocrisy, and greed. The administration didn't like the reality about Iraq, so they created their own reality, even using forged documents to suggest Iraq was buying enriched uranium from Niger. They didn't like the fact Al Gore really won the election in 2000, so they used the Supreme Court to invalidate the will of the American people. If they don't like legislation, Bush will sign the bill and then use a "signing statement" to say he's not really going to enforce the legislation. We have Dick Cheney making the astonishing claim that the Vice President is not a part of the executive branch and not subject to the laws governing the executive branch. This editorial is from www.newyorktimes.com:
President Bush is notorious for issuing statements taking exception to hundreds of bills as he signs them. This week, we learned that in a shocking number of cases, the Bush administration has refused to enact those laws. Congress should use its powers to insist that its laws are obeyed.
The Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan arm of Congress, investigated 19 provisions to which Mr. Bush objected. It found that six of them, or nearly a third, have not been implemented as the law requires. The G.A.O. did not investigate some of the most infamous signing statements, like the challenge to a ban on torture. But the ones it looked into are disturbing enough.
In one case, Congress directed the Pentagon in its 2007 budget request to account separately for the cost of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was a perfectly appropriate request, but Mr. Bush issued a signing statement critical of the rule, and the Pentagon withheld the information. In two other cases, federal agencies ignored laws requiring them to get permission from Congressional committees before taking particular actions.
OVERWORKED AMERICANS
In one of his more infamous gaffes George W. Bush told a woman who was working two jobs, "How uniquely American." Bush seemed to think that having to work multiple jobs was a good thing. While right-wingers chirp about "family values," they have no problem with people working weeks more in the United States than workers do in other industrialized countries, often being denied paid vacation time or sick leave or holidays. Right-wingers even objected to unpaid family leave so people could attend to family emergencies. The United States needs to start treating working people humanely with better wages, health care, vacation time, and holidays. This article by David Moberg is at www.inthesetimes.com:
Why do workers in other rich countries have more paid time off? Mainly because laws demand employers provide it. The European Union requires its members to set a minimum standard of four weeks paid vacation (covering part-time workers as well). Finland and France require six weeks paid vacation, plus additional paid holidays. Most countries require workers to take the time off and employers to give them vacation at convenient times. Some governments even require employers to pay bonuses so workers can afford to do more than sit at home on vacation. On top of that, unions in Europe and other rich industrialized countries—whose contracts cover up to 90 percent of the workforce—typically negotiate additional time off. Meanwhile, the standard workweek is slightly shorter in many European countries, and workers retire earlier with better public pensions.
Until the early ’70s, European and American workers logged similar hours. But the pattern then drastically diverged, with Europeans getting more vacation time, around the same time that U.S. income inequality began growing. In the United States, corporations gained the upper hand against workers and their declining unions, and the Democratic Party started shifting away from working class concerns. In Europe, stronger unions and left political parties pushed for shorter work hours. In some cases, as jobs were lost when traditional industries restructured or work was outsourced, unions saw reduced work time as a way to share work. But more often, unions were continuing the battle to share wealth in the form of more leisure, which had started a century earlier with the movement for an eight-hour day—the goal of Chicago protestors in May, 1886, that ended in the Haymarket Massacre, repression of the labor movement, and creation of May 1 as the international workers’B holiday.
IMPEACH BUSH
IMPEACH CHENEY
MAKING THEIR OWN REALITY
The Bush administration has been an astounding mix of arrogance, incompetence, hypocrisy, and greed. The administration didn't like the reality about Iraq, so they created their own reality, even using forged documents to suggest Iraq was buying enriched uranium from Niger. They didn't like the fact Al Gore really won the election in 2000, so they used the Supreme Court to invalidate the will of the American people. If they don't like legislation, Bush will sign the bill and then use a "signing statement" to say he's not really going to enforce the legislation. We have Dick Cheney making the astonishing claim that the Vice President is not a part of the executive branch and not subject to the laws governing the executive branch. This editorial is from www.newyorktimes.com:
President Bush is notorious for issuing statements taking exception to hundreds of bills as he signs them. This week, we learned that in a shocking number of cases, the Bush administration has refused to enact those laws. Congress should use its powers to insist that its laws are obeyed.
The Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan arm of Congress, investigated 19 provisions to which Mr. Bush objected. It found that six of them, or nearly a third, have not been implemented as the law requires. The G.A.O. did not investigate some of the most infamous signing statements, like the challenge to a ban on torture. But the ones it looked into are disturbing enough.
In one case, Congress directed the Pentagon in its 2007 budget request to account separately for the cost of military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was a perfectly appropriate request, but Mr. Bush issued a signing statement critical of the rule, and the Pentagon withheld the information. In two other cases, federal agencies ignored laws requiring them to get permission from Congressional committees before taking particular actions.
OVERWORKED AMERICANS
In one of his more infamous gaffes George W. Bush told a woman who was working two jobs, "How uniquely American." Bush seemed to think that having to work multiple jobs was a good thing. While right-wingers chirp about "family values," they have no problem with people working weeks more in the United States than workers do in other industrialized countries, often being denied paid vacation time or sick leave or holidays. Right-wingers even objected to unpaid family leave so people could attend to family emergencies. The United States needs to start treating working people humanely with better wages, health care, vacation time, and holidays. This article by David Moberg is at www.inthesetimes.com:
Why do workers in other rich countries have more paid time off? Mainly because laws demand employers provide it. The European Union requires its members to set a minimum standard of four weeks paid vacation (covering part-time workers as well). Finland and France require six weeks paid vacation, plus additional paid holidays. Most countries require workers to take the time off and employers to give them vacation at convenient times. Some governments even require employers to pay bonuses so workers can afford to do more than sit at home on vacation. On top of that, unions in Europe and other rich industrialized countries—whose contracts cover up to 90 percent of the workforce—typically negotiate additional time off. Meanwhile, the standard workweek is slightly shorter in many European countries, and workers retire earlier with better public pensions.
Until the early ’70s, European and American workers logged similar hours. But the pattern then drastically diverged, with Europeans getting more vacation time, around the same time that U.S. income inequality began growing. In the United States, corporations gained the upper hand against workers and their declining unions, and the Democratic Party started shifting away from working class concerns. In Europe, stronger unions and left political parties pushed for shorter work hours. In some cases, as jobs were lost when traditional industries restructured or work was outsourced, unions saw reduced work time as a way to share work. But more often, unions were continuing the battle to share wealth in the form of more leisure, which had started a century earlier with the movement for an eight-hour day—the goal of Chicago protestors in May, 1886, that ended in the Haymarket Massacre, repression of the labor movement, and creation of May 1 as the international workers’B holiday.
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