I thought I was having a bad day (I threw my back out — again — this afternoon), but at least I’m not friends with this guy:
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Archive for the 'bad guys' Category
Because I can and you can’t stop me.
As Oliver said, HBO needs to explain how they “own a public concert given on federal property in the middle of the inauguration of America’s next president.” Fortunately, HBO doesn’t control the Europeans.
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Seriously. After all that’s happened, are you still willing to put stuff purchased from Wal-Mart into your kid’s body? Are you crazy?
You get what you pay for. And when what you pay for is cheap crap manufactured by companies that can’t afford to uphold basic minimal standards, you’d be wise to be wary.
Warning: Wal-Mart/Sam’s Club Insulin Syringes Recalled
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The Senate just lost me.
They’re throwing all sorts of add-ons into the new bailout package — tax breaks for businesses, adjustments in alternative minimum tax, and alternative energy incentives — which may or may not be all fine and good, but have nothing to do with rescuing our economy from greedy and irresponsible Wall Street crooks.
I have no idea why the Senators are muddying the water with these irrelevant tag-ons to the bill, and I don’t trust them. This Congress has a lower approval rating than the worst president ever, and they’re playing games with the bill that is supposed to provide urgently needed action to help us avoid an economic upheaval.
Watch carefully, everyone, and see how your Senators behave today. A third of these guys are up for reelection next month. Don’t give them your vote unless they earn it.
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Now, someone needs to go after this guy. Seriously, he’s a fraud. Here’s what he looks like — if you see him in the street, stay far away, as you don’t want to be there when karma evens things out for him — you might get hit by a lightning bolt, or a piano, or a giant loogie from the sky.
UPDATE: or this sleazoid.
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I’m profoundly disappointed. But I’d like mention something, and maybe if there’s a politician out there, I might get him or her to think about it for a moment.
Yeah, I’m disappointed in John Edwards because he cheated on his wife, but really that’s his wife’s problem and not mine. And I’m disappointed again to see the uneven press coverage, holding some people more accountable than others (someone during the commentary last night asked how John Edwards could even consider running for president after doing something like that — but I’ve never heard anyone question how John McCain could run for president after all his philandering and bigamy).
But here’s something I’ve never heard people mention: there are a lot of people out here in the trenches who put our hearts, souls, money, blood, sweat and tears into these campaigns, and to betray the work that we do is a hurtful insult. I took a day out of my life to shuttle John Edwards around town and spent a weekend putting up his campaign workers (all of which was fun, but that’s beside the point). I have a friend who traveled — at his own expense — to Iowa to work for the Edwards campaign before the first primaries. Was Edwards really all that aware of our contributions? Apparently not.
And it’s not just Edwards, of course. I know a lot of people here in Chattanooga who busted their asses to get Billy Long elected sheriff. And how did he show his appreciation? Twenty-seven crimes.
John Edwards said with regard to his infidelity, “… becoming a national public figure, all of which fed a self-focus, an egotism, a narcissism that leads you to believe you can do whatever you want, you’re invincible and there will be no consequences.”
Perhaps if he had taken a look around once in a while, at all the good people who were helping him up, he might have realized that he didn’t get where he was all alone. Then perhaps he wouldn’t have felt so much like superman.
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Why has the drug use of a man who plays a game become a Congressional problem?
Sorry baseball fans, but from the Mitchell Report to today’s hearings, this all strikes me as a colossal waste of our legislature’s time.
It’s baseball. Not foreign policy. Not the world economy. Not health care reform.
They’re talking about overgrown boys who knock around a ball. Of course they take drugs — look at what a ridiculous amount of money is paid to the hottest players! Many of them will do whatever it takes to get the big paycheck. There’s no mystery here. The game is corrupt as hell and it will stay that way as long as people continue to subsidize those gazillion-dollar salaries.
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More news from the smoking crater that used to be Oral Roberts University:
Benny Hinn and I.V. Hilliard resigned as regents, where they were involved in making major school decisions, university spokesman Jeremy Burton said Thursday. Burton declined to say why the two resigned, but said both wrote the board to express their support for the school’s mission.
The resignations come a month after the resignations from the board of regents of two other televangelists, Jesse Duplantis and Creflo Dollar.
Hinn and Dollar are among six televangelists being investigated by Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley to determine if the high-profile preachers violated their organizations’ tax-exempt status by living lavishly on the backs of small donors. They have denied wrongdoing.
Ha! Do they think we’re all as stupid as the people who send them money?
The Hinn ministry also spends a great deal on pastor Benny’s lifestyle when he’s on the road. These records show hotel suites for well over a thousand dollars a night and transatlantic flights on the Concorde — at more than $8,000 round trip. That is, before pastor Benny began flying in a multi-million-dollar private jet.
But Benny Hinn’s followers may not know about how all of their donations are spent. For example there’s Hinn’s palatial new home, now being built for $3.5 million in an exclusive gated community overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
The plans call for more than 6,000 square feet — 7 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms and a basement garage with enough space for ten cars. Who’s paying for that? Not pastor Benny. That mansion on the Pacific is considered the Hinn ministry’s church residence or “parsonage,” and the ministry is picking up all the expenses for land, construction, even property taxes.
(confession via postsecret.com)
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Yes, those Republican do-gooders in the Senate have never failed to vote themselves a raise, but they have once again decided that they are the only ones who have to contend with the rising cost of living. So, they killed the minimum wage hike, and it will stay at $5.15. In case you’re wondering which Senators were in on the deal, here they are (for Tennessee — the rest of the list follows below):
Bob Corker: voted against raising the minimum wage — this is the little weasel who used the Chattanooga mayor’s office to enrich his portfolio. Just one one of the sweet scams he ran through the city’s offices was good for $4.6 million, wetlands be damned. Now that he’s bought himself a Senate seat, his income is sure to go up, especially if he gets some tips from Tennessee’s other Senator:
Lamar Alexander: voted against raising the minimum wage — this is the guy who somehow managed to get rich while earning a relatively modest salary in “public service.” Doug Ireland wrote an article about him titled “Politics for Profit: The Rich Rise of Lamar Alexander” (if I can find an online source for the text, I’ll add the link).
Oh, and Alexander is also, amazingly enough, one of 28 Republican Senators who voted to eliminate the minimum wage completely (note that at least a couple of presidential wannabes are on the list, too). No, I’m not kidding.
“Gosh,” Corker and Alexander reason, “the downtrodden can just pull themselves up by the bootstraps like we did!” However, unlike Mr. Corker and Mr. Alexander, a lot of honest, hard-working Americans aren’t willing and able to screw over the US taxpayer in order to make a buck.
Here’s a simple bit of math:
A person working 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year at minimum wage ($5.15 per hour) — before any taxes, insurance, uniform fees, parking fees, day care, transportation costs, or any other expenses are deducted from the gross — will make $10,300 a year.
40 x 50 x $5.15 = $10,300
OK, first stop for a minute and imagine trying to make ends meet on $10,300 a year. How would you manage? Could you?
Now, consider this:
The current poverty threshold for a single person living in the contiguous US is $9,800. For two people (say, a single mother and her child), the poverty threshold is $13,200. If a man works industriously all year long in a minimum wage job, it’s impossible for him to earn enough to support a wife and one child, because the threshold for three people is $16,600 (of couse, the right wingnuts and holy rollers are always shrieking about how women should stay home with their children, but when Republicans are called upon to require their corporate patrons to pay a living wage, those same conservatives suddenly don’t seem to remember a thing that Jesus said).
The math tells the story, and it is unconscionable. The richest nation on earth, a supposed Christian nation, should be ashamed of such a failure to take even basic steps to combat poverty. We won’t be a great nation for much longer if we continue to neglect our most vulnerable citizens.
So there you have it, folks. A complete list of how our Senate voted follows after the bump. Remember these names when your Senators come calling — if they ask you for money or for your support, remind them of this vote.
Continue reading ‘Minimum Wage Bill Killed’
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These people have no shame.
Despite record low approval ratings, House lawmakers Tuesday embraced a $3,300 pay raise that will increase their salaries to $168,500.
The 2 percent cost-of-living raise would be the seventh straight for members of the House and Senate.
Lawmakers easily squelched a bid by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, to get a direct vote to block the COLA, which is automatically awarded unless lawmakers vote to block it.
I’ll try to get a list of who voted how and post it here later… in the meantime, I’ve got to run…
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