Andrew at NPI just posted about an emergency rally for tomorrow to protest the flawed minimum wage bill:
HR 5970, which has passed the House and is now heading to the U.S. Senate, contains two cynical provisions inserted by Republicans serving their corporate masters:
- Permanent cuts to the estate tax for very wealthy estates – exempting up to $5 million per person or $10 million per couple
- Invalidation of state laws providing a minimum wage for restaurant and other tipped employees, a provision that will affect thousands of workers here in Washington
HR 5970 hurts the thousands of workers in our state who receive tips by invalidating our state law that sets the minimum hourly wage for tipped employees at the same minimum wage as all other employees. Washington is one of only seven states with such a law. Not surprisingly, though, Washington’s 3 Republicans – Dave Reichert, Doc Hastings, and Cathy McMorris – voted for HR 5970.
Reichert voted to hurt low wage employees in his district? Go figure.
The rally will be held at the Seattle Center tomorrow at 2:15 PM at the base of the Space Needle. Speakers will include Jay Inslee (the organizer) and Darcy Burner. (Note to Wingnuts: the Seattle Center is not in the 8th District. In fact, it is not in Inslee’s 1st District, either. But this isn’t a campaign event now, is it? The Seattle Center is a great place for people in the entire region to gather and protest.)
If you can make it tomorrow, please do! Either way, be sure to contact your Senators and express your concern about this cynical Republican stunt disguised as legislation.
Update: Those of you interested in an alternative to the low-wage-employee-hating Rep. Doc Hastings can tune in to KUOW 94.9 FM tomorrow at 9:00. Congressional candidate Richard Wright will be Steve Scheer’s guest on Weekday.
Update II: Correction…Richard Wright will be on KUOW 94.9 FM on Thursday, August 3rd at 9:00 AM.
Hate to say it, but if the Dems leadership were planning to make the minimum wage a Big Deal in the campaign this fall, they’ve just had it taken away from them.
It’s a no-win situation. If they vote for it, they’re handing the right their holy-grail “rich spoiled brats relief act of 2006”. If they vote against it, the Rovian Spin Machine will hammer the hell out of them for “voting against the minimum wage increase”.
It’s possible that this is another one of those crap bills the House leadership slammed through to a floor vote before anyone had a chance to read it. If not, the lopsided vote would suggest that the Democrat reps are already scared shitless of the scenario I’ve described above.
I say let’s vote for it and when we take over the White House we’ll pull a Bush and just gut the parts of the law that make Bill Frist a billionaire. By the way, he’s stands to make hundreds of millions of dollars if this passes so you can bet he’ll do anything in his power to get it passed. Of course RubberStampReichert will be on the phone to his daddy Bush asking him what he should do.
Where in Seattle Center? Base of the Space Needle, apparently.
Darryl, your link to Andrew’s post doesn’t go to Andrew’s post.
C’mon you guys… don’t fuck around with minimum wage of 7 or 8 bucks an hour. Get all outraged and demand at least $20 per hour. Shit, that’s only $40k/year, and a person could only barely live on that.
If you’re serious about this issue, that’s what you’ll do. I’ll be watching and reporting.
Fucking hypocrites…
RonK,
Link fixed…location updated.
Thanks!
Nah… vote against it. Its the right thing to do and it works against the Republicans anyway.
The biggest thing the Republicans have had going for them is that people think they stand for something. (Of course if you are looking for limited government, fiscal responsibility or sound management you seriously need to look anywhere BUT the Republican Party)
So Democrats vote against the bill and if Republicans try to label the Democrats as against the minimum wage you reply with Paris Hilton cash giveaways and Republicans playing games with legislation while the country burns.
If the Republicans think going for the Paris Hilton cash giveaway is going to win them votes among the poor tied in with a small minimum wage increase, let them try and make the case.
They are just playing politics and everyone knows it. They have been running gimmick bills through the House for the past six months. Don’t overthink it.
I’ll betcha Reichert doesn’t get any more free donuts.
I thought politics was about compromise. Are you saying the Democrats should get something they want (minimum wage increase) for free? Politically speaking, of course.
Con@ 8
It may have been at one time, but somewhere in the 90’s (Gingrich anyone?) the radical right has decided that politics should be played as all out war.
Frankly, I would not trust most any Republican in a political deal. You guys simply lie. We could go down the list of good faith deals that Democrats have made in just the past few years with Republicans where suddenly the elephant forgot his honor.
Lets just start with Sen. Roberts promises about conducting full investigations of Bush’s manipulation of pre-Iraq invasion intelligence. Democrats made a deal with him in committee to put it off until after the 2004 election for the good of the country.
But suddenly it didn’t become important after teh election and was never done. Gee… wodner why that was?
Raise the minimum wage to 50 bucks an hour!! Plus car and benefits! [Oh, when all the private sector leaves your state, don’t bitch to me!!!] Atlas has Shrugged, JCH]
I found some new voters for Dean Logan to register in LA. Here they are:
http://tinyurl.com/gz9ek
sgmmac, got a “page not found” when I clicked on your link.
Looks like Goldy strikes again! He got mentioned on Ch 5 as being part of the reason Alaska’s US Senate candidate Mike McGavick is being sued by a Safeco shareholder. Wonder if Pope-A-Dope will have to shut up about this now. I have all his partisan ramblings from earlier posts on this issue. I bet he’s worried people will find out what he said and be forced to shut up. I guess that’s one good thing to his latest loooooosing campaign. For a while, he’ll have to shut the fuck up!
It works for me, but for some reason in the link above the blue isn’t covering all of the characters…….
http://tinyurl.com/gz9ek
Ach, it did it again.
It will work for you if you go to the end of the word headlines and click your mouse and hold it all the way up to and including the h and right click and then copy it and paste into your browser………
It is what is aggravating the average worker who busts his butt for years to feed and clothe his family.
Nindid @ 9 hit the nail on the head. The Republican leadership has consistently double-crossed recent Democratic efforts to compromise. The attitude of the Republicans is summed up by Grover Norquist, who has stated point blank that bipartisanship is the equivalent of “rape.”
Paul Krugman argues that the Democrats have been rolled so frequently because they have failed to recognize that the Republican Party is now controlled by “revolutionaries.” Krugman draws a parallel with pre-revolutionary 19th Century Europe, where the power elite did not see the handwriting on the wall:
“Lulled by a period of stability which had seemed permanent, they find it nearly impossible to take at face value the assertion of the revolutionary power that it means to smash the existing framework. The defenders of the status quo therefore tend to begin by treating the revolutionary power as if its protestations were merely tactical; as if it really accepted the existing legitimacy but overstated its case for bargaining purposes; as if it were motivated by specific grievances to be assuaged by limited concessions. Those who warn against the danger in time are considered alarmists; those who counsel adaptation to circumstance are considered balanced and sane. . . . But it is the essence of a revolutionary power that it possesses the courage of its convictions, that it is willing, indeed eager, to push its principles to their ultimate conclusion.”
Oddly enough, this quote is from Henry Kissinger’s doctoral dissertation.
Interesting, in the story I read the little shareholder claimed that the Democratic party didn’t know about the lawsuit.
It also said that she is suing SAFECO and MIKE!
Nindid,
How do you know that the analysis was never done?
Mac, if you’re talking about the pre-Iraq invasion intelligence investigation, a Republican leader recently suggested that — surprise! — it might not be done by after the 2006 elections.
This is par for the course. Look back on any recent major legislation put over the top with Democratic votes — in each instance, one can point to a Republican double-cross of one kind or another, e.g., cutting a deal in committee and then welshing once the bill gets to conference committee.
In addition, the Republican leadership has been exceptionally aggressive in abusing its agenda-setting power, e.g., withholding draft language on bills until right before a vote.
The wingers will, of course, argue that Republican behavior has not been out of the ordinary. That is simply not true. You’d have to go back 100 years to find equivalent abuses of power.
sgmmac,
I fixed your links. For future reference, http://tinyurl.com is a great tool for putting links into comment threads. It is exceptionally easy to use.
Darryl,
Thank you….. I only know how to copy and past. But since you have a PHD, maybe you can explain why Microsoft needs my computer’s hard drive serial number and why my damn computer is running Msn update everytime I turn it on/off??? In other words do you know any secrets or workarounds about WGA or DRM?
Totally agree with you lefties on this. If a CEO steals from shareholders, and the Board of Directors don’t stop the con, sue them all. Criminal charges as well.
I agree since most of the Safeco board members are republican let’s sue em.
Top Democrats are increasingly concerned that they lack an effective plan to turn out voters this fall, creating tension among party leaders and prompting House Democrats to launch a fundraising campaign aimed exclusively at mobilizing Democratic partisans. At a meeting last week, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) criticized Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean for not spending enough party resources on get-out-the-vote efforts… [……..Another 10 million votes from ilegal aliens might help. And don’t forget to have the Democrat New Yorkers from Looooooooonnnnnnnggggggggg Island vote in NYC as well as Palm Beach and Miami.]
23, Left Turn, No politics here. If the CEO and Board of Directors fucked the shareholders, sue them all for triple damages and “pierce the corporate vail”. Take their houses, cars, and kid’s trust funds. The owners [shareholders] deserve no less.
Left Turn, Very odd we agree. These corporate scum are criminals. Nothing more.
“Today we march, tomorrow we vote!” marchers shouted in the immigrant rights rallies that filled the streets of U.S. cities this spring. Trying to motivate Latinos to flex their political muscle, popular Spanish-language DJ Renán Almendárez Coello, known to his estimated 35 million listeners as El Cucuy or “the boogeyman,” began a national voter registration drive Monday in San Jose.
The Democrat illegal voting campaign begins.
Today they march, tomorrow they vote and eventually they might even become citizens. Then they can legally register as Democrats and vote many times.
you gotta send the immigrants home too, if you want any chance to enact this…
sorry, Kennnedy,
You forgot that Dean Logan is down there in the listening area. They are already registered many times, it’s what Dean’s good at with lots of name variations thrown in.
hey goldy
I’ll give you a vote for minimum wage,,,, if you give me maximum tax limit….
yeah, i knew you couldn’t swallow that one
Sargeant – You can also use this to test links:
http://www.w3schools.com/html/.....html_links
1
Democrats should vote against this bill, then blame Republicans for refusing to raise the $5.15 minimum wage — because that’s the truth! The GOPliars know these “poison pill” provisions are deal-killers. That’s why they put them in.
A new InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion poll for the Democratic primary runoff in Georgia’s 4th Congressional district shows challenger Hank Johnson maintaining his lead over incumbent U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney by a full 15 percentage points as the runoff election looms closer.
McKinney’s totals moved up from the last poll late last week, but she still sat well behind former DeKalb County Commissioner Johnson.
Hank Johnson – 49 percent
Cynthia McKinney – 34 percent
Undecided – 17 percent.
The tracking survey of 300 likely voters was conducted the evening of July 31, and has a margin of error of plus or minus six percent.
McKinney has picked up some ground against Johnson from a similar survey a week ago, when she was behind by nearly 25 percentage points.
“There has been some shift in African American voters in McKinney’s direction,” said InsiderAdvantage CEO Matt Towery. “However, the black vote remains split with local black leaders endorsing Johnson, who is trouncing McKinney among eligible white voters.”
The winner of the August 8 runoff election will go on to face Republican challenger Catherine Davis in the November general election. […………OK, Voting against Cynthia McKinney is racist!!!!!! Oh, wait…………………………………………………Mr. Johnson is black? [Never mind.] Rosanna Rosanadana [SNL]
Mac @ 29:
When you make wild-ass charges like that with no attempt to provide any facts then folks may start thinking that you’re a mindless flame thrower like JCH.
Are you?
33, Good to see you are back to being a rabbit; your posts as Daddylove were getting weird.
“pedophilia” is a 20th century psychological construct. Your short sight is showing.
Commentby Daddy Love— 7/29/06@ 2:40 pm
Green Thumb,
No, I’m not really a flame-thrower, I just felt like being a smart ass about the comment by Kennedy. It fit my mood since a Judge today threw out a Washington State law that will allow the double and triple voters to continue in their activities. For some unknown reason, they are hundreds of duplicate voters that are simple word processing errors. I would prefer to believe that they were mistakes, but for some damn reason, Dean Logan would never fix them. One of the council members has a two registrations. There were some who used that to their advantage in past elections. Patricia Levesque comes to mind. She voted twice in numerous elections because she was mailed two ballots.
As for the other remark to Nindid, I was talking about what he was talking about with Sen Roberts. If I remember correctly, the intelligence committee promised to go through the pre-Iraq intelligence after the election. I just wanted to know why Nindid said that they hadn’t done that, because it’s generally classified so how would anyone know whether they did or didn’t unless they say so. I hadn’t heard whether they did or didn’t.
ArtFart @ 1
That was the House. The Senate Democrats will filibuster and kill it. “Scared?” I don’t fucking think so.
Mark The Redneck @ 4
If we’re “serious about the issue,” we’ll adopt your stupid suggestion. Right. Uh-huh.
americafirst @ 36
To the best of my knowledge, no one posts here as me but me. I am not some other identity for Roger Rabbit, for example. And I use no other identities. Why would I need or want to?
HEADLINE: GOLDY BUSTED BY ROBERT MAK FOR TRUMPING UP PHONEY LAWSUIT. But participants insist it “isn’t politically motivated.”
Oh no. No, we’re certain it’s not. We’re certain of that. No, really! We’re certain of it……
I once pooped my pants. True story. I’ll be there.