What's the difference between Sarah Palin and Dick Cheney?

Lipstick!

The fact that she avoids the press reminds me of another bad VP pick.

Posted at September 5, 2008 2:30 PM in response to Palin Hits Campaign Trail, Keeps Up Attacks On Obama

OK, the problem as understood by most people I talk to is that there are too many immigrants coming over, and that in turn takes jobs and lowers wages of lower skilled workers. The minimum wage increase solves both these problems.

When you increase minimum wage with heavy enforcement of companies that hire illegal workers, they must hire Americans at a living wage. I am talking about shutting down companies that hire illegal immigrants. If you have a business that cannot be sustained by paying people a living wage, you shouldn’t be in business in the first place.

This is why illegal immigrants would be less likely to come over and take $15/hr jobs. They must be legal to work. If not, the business owner is jeopardizing being shut down by authorities.

Posted at April 12, 2006 11:41 AM in response to Just between us

This is the best idea I have heard so far. And I think most Americans would be for it. Raise the minimum wage to $12-15/hour.

You would need major crackdown on employers hiring illegal workers. It's the more humane way to solve this, better than rounding them up and putting on trains back to Mexico. If immigrants can’t find a job, they will need to leave. Or they wont come over in the first place.

There would be backlash from both sides. The corporate-right would be opposed because they can’t get cheap labor.

And Mexicans would be opposed because they wouldn’t be able to find jobs.

The other side, is the arguable notion that higher minimum wage creates inflation. I mean the old "A burger would cost $10" argument.

Posted at April 12, 2006 7:51 AM in response to Just between us

Elizabeth, thanks for the informative post. From personal experience I can verify they are still very predatory and lying to potential customers.

If I’m a consumer and want to report this sort of illegal activity, where can I go to make a complaint?

It's amazing how our justice system fails to make these corporations stop. I guess the law means nothing to them.

Posted at February 8, 2006 7:41 AM in response to Superbowl Commercials: The Chutzpah Award

As an American, I am so outraged by this act of cowardice by our military. It's like the bully who uses brass knuckles on an unsuspecting dork. Even more so than all the torture mumbo-jumbo. There is no death in most of those cases. It's a crime of massive proportions. If the military thinks they can get away with stuff like this, and be not be held to account, it will happen just that more often. It emboldens the enemy and destroys our reputation as an ambassador of freedom.

This stuff is sooo awful. These shake 'n bake bombs are the size of a tank, explode into a huge mushroom cloud, and disperse large fireballs that land and burn for hours. When humans come near these, there are chemical effects, not just fire.

Dahr Jamail reported on this shortly after the battle of Falluja last November and has a follow-up here. So it is not really new news. But there was NO MEDIA ALLOWED in Falluja during the battle and many months afterward.  There was a large cover-up operation. Denial. Media Blackout. They even destroyed evidence by bulldozing and removing the soil in areas with WP residue.

Posted at November 21, 2005 10:48 AM in response to About Willy Pete

What Wilson himself has stated as a main reason for the leak is not only to hurt Wilson and his wife, but to discourage other CIA agents/analysts/operatives/paper pushers from becoming a whistleblower. This sounds more in-line with Rove's alpha-male tactics. It's extortion in it's simplest form- "Don't tell the truth, or you WILL LOSE YOUR JOB AND YOUR ABILITY TO FIND A JOB."

Posted at July 13, 2005 9:51 AM in response to Watching Them Craft the Counterattack -- It Was Carville! Yeah, that's it!

How do Republicans get to say that Joseph Wilson has been completely discredited? I have heard everyone from conservitive bloggers to Tucker Carlson say the Wilson is a "Politacal Hack" and anything he says is not true. And the facts Josh has put forward completely contradict everything they say. It's just an incredible set of lies and propaganda.

And the Miller and Cooper as martyrs of free speech? Gimma a break. This is an obvious plan to obscure the real scandal, the falsified niger documents and a war of manufactured consent. But secondly use of classified information for politacal purposes.

Posted at July 11, 2005 1:40 PM in response to So What About the Forgeries Themselves?

One overriding issue in my mind, as a 29 year old, is energy policy. Don’t laugh. It was overlooked by Kerry in the last election.  Everyone knows in the back of their mind that we cannot sustain our current path of usage of fossil fuels. Only a large proposal by Dems is the solution. Young people understand technology and hard work. And they know a quick transition away from fossil fuels is totally possible with a decent size "generational" effort. It affects the two big issues, economy and security, plus a few others.

1. Jobs & Economy. Creates a brand new high-tech industry. We need to become the leader in alternative energy. I see it as a race between China, the E.U. and the U.S. We are already losing that race.

2. Security. Most young people know that all of their adult lives we have been at war with oily middle eastern countries. No need for war when we don’t need oil. Period.

3.  Cleaner Environment. Even those of us without kids usually expect to have them one day, and we hope that their lives are not pollution-filled. Even evangelicals can get on board here.

I think it’s politically possible, too with lots of potential to attract populist crossover voters, like Perot.

Posted at July 1, 2005 11:24 AM in response to Youth Decay

Politically, single payer can work! How many people do you know that enjoy dealing with their insurance company? People hate insurance companies and would welcome a chance to abolish them I think they are an easy target. Everyone from business owners that pay hefty premiums to covered workers who have been denied reimbursments would be on board. I think Krugman made this point indirectly when he said the only people that want to preserve them would be the insurance lobby themselves. And the other option is subsidies to insurance companies.

What do you think?

Posted at June 14, 2005 1:18 PM in response to Hold That Bandwagon!

There are many contradictions here...

First, babyboomers retiring early would not help younger workers. Those people would hold on to their good "office" jobs for longer, and the younger workers would have to wait, therefore reducing the earning power of young workers. Personally, I want some coworkers to retire so I can move up the ladder quicker.

Second, I think the only people that agree with him would be "country club" republicans. This group will retire early and spend decades on the golf course anyway. So what do they need a social insurance program for? You'll only hear them complain when they order steak tartar at the country club and it gets warm while grandma brings it to them on her ez-scooter.

Posted at June 14, 2005 10:51 AM in response to Timesman John Tierney