There is bill (AB 2716) in California, that is due to go before the governor to mandate paid sick leave for all employees within the state. The argument over this bill seems to step from the costs that will be forced on small businesses. A similar requirement has been in place in San Francisco for a while (since February 5, 2007) and the small business have felt the squeeze and have had to make adjustments.
Some businesses, such as some restaurants have stated that they will have to cut holidays to have the resources to cover the added expense of all of this sick time. This struck me, not from the perspective of an economist or a Human Resources perspective, but from a simple logic and disgust perspective.
Did groups of restaurants just state that they would rather have their sick employees at work cooking for and serving food to my family and I? I have a problem with that idea. Actually, I would prefer that if I go to any business, the person I encounter there is not passing on some illness to me. Any incentive to keep your sick, half working, half alert, self home is a good thing.
There has been talk about the employees of these small businesses preferring to have raises rather than to have this benefit. That would be okay if sickness was something you could keep to your self. A sick person contaminates the entire workplace, the other employees, the clients of the business, the families of the other employees, the families of the clients of the benefits. These people, who will work instead of resting their bodies to allow themselves to heal, will end up with a need for more intensive medical treatment. The fact that some employee cares more about making a few dollars more rather than be concerned with the health and welfare of the people around them is exactly the reason a law like this is needed. It would seem that this would be common sense, but once it becomes clear that people who work in industries such as food services are resistant to allowing their employees to have sick time, it then becomes an absolute necessity for the government to step in.
The argument that it makes it harder to start or maintain a small business does not mean that it is not the right thing to do for everyone is involved. The businesses have had ample chance to use common sense and have clearly shown that they are not able to manage this themselves.
The idea that businesses small or large will, as a whole, govern themselves and do what is best for the welfare of their employees, the public, and the good of the country, is a foolish idea. I do believe in many of these cases the business need to have a chance to do what is best for their business and the welfare of others without government interference. But, at the point that the business world shows an inability to do what is right in some area, then it is the obligation of the government to serve the greater good of the people and the nation as a whole.
I am a strong advocate for small business tax breaks etc. and feel that if the economy is going to be stabilized, these businesses are a necessity. The problem is that I do not believe that we sacrifice the health of others to do this (even if shortsighted, self-centered individuals would rather get one to five more dollars a paycheck more than care properly for themselves, or respect the right to a healthy environment for their coworkers, families, friends, customers, and all of those these individuals encounter.
The big oil company rhetoric has ramped up over the weekend. As usual the party lines are drawn and nothing is going to get accomplished. The Democrats want more tax money and blood from the big oil companies and the Republicans say it is just how business works and good for our 401k retirement plans.
Watching what is going on capitol hill is like watching people on P.C.P. trying to fly or people taking acid trying to fight with the air. Lots of strange activity, but no real accomplishment except when they hurt themselves.
I have to admit however, in hearing both sides of the argument, that both sides were partially right, but the truth is that again partisan politics overrides simple reason.
First off, making record profits by the destruction of our economy and whole industries (such as the airline industry that will be completely destroyed if the price of gas does not go down) is never okay and I am not sure that a tax break or giving such organizations more money for research is not rewarding those that are damaging our great nation.
I am not convinced however that public flogging is the answer, but some sort of limitation on what profit margins can look like might be in order. Look, you are free to do pretty much whatever you want to do in this country until you start to abuse the privilege or severely damage others. At that point you become the enemy of every American.
As a person who is severely opposed to our current party system, I have to say that I was put off by the rhetoric of both sides on this one. But, the argument that I have heard several times of the past few days that it is okay because many of our 401k plans benefit from the profits of the big oil companies is flat out stupid.
How does five or ten dollars a month in interest into my retirement balance out doubling what is costs to put gas in my car every fill up? How does that compensate the truck drivers who have doubled what they pay in gas (or more)? How does that compensate the rising cost of things that are shipped by truck? What does that do for those who don’t have a 401k plan (maybe he or she is one of those statistics we keep hearing denoting the jobless)?
It is sort of like dividing the country into classes and saying it is okay to steal from those at the bottom and some of those in the middle to help those at the top with all of the big investments.
I live in an area where most people have long commutes and most people can barely afford to live here even though when compared with other parts of the country incomes are higher (everything simply costs more). In my area, gas is already over the four dollar a gallon mark which means that there has been a huge cut in our individual economies.
I am not saying that there may not be some good explanation for why the price of gasoline is so high (it rose a lot faster than the price of barrels of oil did), what I am saying is that this explanation is stupid and an insult to the intelligence of everyone on the planet.
On the other hand, where I do agree with the Republicans, is that we need to drill in our own oil fertile areas and stop protesting, filibustering, or anything else to oppose such measures. When the price of gas was a dollar and some change we had such a luxury. Right now, the price of gas and the other factors that are influencing this bad economy are going to strangle those in poverty, those at the bottom levels of our income brackets, and a bunch of those considered currently to be “middleclass.”
The idea that we are sitting on huge solutions to our problem and a large segment of our society wants to fight those perceived to be causing the problem while fighting against the obvious solution is ridiculous.
The plan in the works is to invent cars that will not be available to the public for 4 years or more, that will run on these new fuels that you will not be able to get anywhere.
I agree that something needs to change, but first the partisan hogwash has to be done away with. There is an old saying in my family: “If you are not a part of the solution you are probably part of the problem.” I don’t know if all of the folks on capitol hill have noticed their approval rating lately, but the American people are convinced that they are a part of the problem along with all of their rhetoric.
I am middle class. I have a retirement plan. I pay taxes. I served my country honorably in the Marine Corps along with three prior generations of serviceman. I work and contribute to my society and to charity. I commute to work and fill the tank in my tiny commuter car at least once or twice week (my 12 gallon tank now takes almost fifty dollars to fill). I am also one of the victims of the record profits that I am supposed to think is okay because I will get something like fifty cents more income monthly toward my retirement.
I am old enough to remember the last time something like this happened. The siphoning of gas (which has started again), the fights at the gas stations as people went to gas stations on alternating days depending on if the first number on their license plate was odd or even, etc. This is worse as there are several other contributing factors that are taking us down fast. I do not think that allowing large segments f the population to suffer to bolster some political stand is acceptable from either party and I am angered by this whole thing.
Just as Senator Hillary Clinton and former president Bill Clinton pulled the sexism and conspiracy by the media cards the supporters of Barack Obama have decided to pull out the ace in the Obama camp hole this weekend: The race card. Or is it the “Pastor’s Lost His Mind” card.
This is unexpected however. It was not a certain Mr. Wright it was a Caucasian priest named Rev. Michael Pfleger. I guess all that talk about Senator Obama not getting Catholic support is out of the window (a joke of course but wait until you hear the rest).
He made statement recently like: There’s “a whole lot of white people crying” because the presidency is within the reach of a black man, and informing us that Hillary Clinton is crying because “there is a black man stealing my show”, or his favorite Hillary quote “I’m white and this is mine”.
The real humor is in the fact that this is all support that Senator Obama doesn’t really want, but it keeps finding not only him, but finding it’s way into the media. He has been trying to work feverishly to distance himself from this person and his comments, but here we go again.
You have to ask yourself if these people are actually supporters of his or some kind of political double agents sent in to sabotage his campaign. It seems that all of the strongest supporters of all three of the candidates cannot help but doing things that hurt the one they are supporting.
Are we all ready for a few weeks of listening to sermons from Reverend Pfleger.
The current primaries give me the sensation of being a three ring circus. It starts with an announcer and a big build up. Then all sorts of things start happening, too much to even follow. But, soon one main attraction starts then another in the next ring, and then a third in the other ring. When that happens you just have to keep switching from ring to ring watching what is going on until you get bored with that one then you move your eyes to the next ring.
I believe that the extended nature the prolonged Democratic primary and the desperate nature of Senator Clinton’s actions have been too much for supporters of all three candidates. Their supporters have all resorted to pulling the most divisive of cards from their bags of tricks.
Senator Obama’s Medical records were released today saying he is in excellent health. I suppose that that is in response to Senator McCain’s twelve hundred page medical report that concluded he was in good health also.
I have been wondering how you can have a twelve hundred page medical record that only represents a few years and have it say that you are in excellent health. I personally believe that Senator McCain seems fit as can be, but I didn’t have a question about his health until I heard the size of his medical records and some of the ailments that had come out in the brief review of them that had been done.
I now have questions about any of these medical records and the public stamp of approval where some doctor or group of doctors say the person is in excellent health. What is there about Senator Obama’s records that the “spin” doctors are not telling us? Are there cancerous growth that were removed? Were there major surgeries and reoccurring conditions? What does this public declaration of perfect health really mean?
I suppose that the question is not if a doctor who happens to be a supporter thinks you are healthy enough to be president. As a voter, I suppose the real question is; are there things in your medical records that I would not think leaves you healthy enough to be president.
This whole medical records thing, from both camps is simply showmanship as the whole thing is misleading and subjective. The facts are not really being presented in the few hour the media had to look at John McCain’s medical records. I also think that comparing the medical records of two people with such a gap in age is a little unfair and possibly unethical. It is at the least a little rude. I sure wish the election could stick to at least a majority of actual issues and useful facts instead of this nonsense.
Presidential hopeful, Senator Hillary Clinton picked up a major endorsement today. Today she announced that she has received the endorsement of Ricky Martin. That’s right, Ricky Martin.
I suppose as she is looking to gain some ground on Senator Obama in Puerto Rico, she would like to have the endorsement of familiar names, but this past his prime, pretty boy singer of Menudo fame? The idea of announcing this at this point in the game is silly. It makes it look like she is really reaching.
This added to the weird statements she and her husband have been making where they say that they are ahead in the popular vote by excluding states they don’t like to count and counting the votes of states where the campaigning didn’t take place and all of the candidates were not on the ballot, would almost be funny if there were no chance that she might be able to convince her party to back her the way she has convinced her supporters.
Senator Clinton and her husband have been pulling out the conspiracy theory card and the gender mistreatment card a lot over the past couple of weeks because the media has been so hard on her. How could the media not be so hard on her?
Don’t get me wrong, Senator Obama has had his silly moments too like the strange “Auschwitz” incident from last weekend, but some of the antics from the Clinton camp are so ridiculous that nobody can resist discussing them.
Imagine a child that was just spotted by a parent trying to sneak a cookie from the cookie jar. Just as the parent is about to scold the child, the child’s older brother, trying to steal the family car drives it through the garage door and starts trying to tell the parent it’s not a big deal. Which one do you think the parent would confront immediately?
The need to discuss these things is multiplied by the fact that some people are taking these things very seriously. Even some well educated and well spoken people get on the television and try to defend such nonsense fumbling around trying to make sense or at least sound like it.
I am personally embarrassed for her and some of the most outspoken of her supporters. I am not speaking from a perspective of today, I mean years from now when these clips resurface and people not caught up in the emotion of the moment are thinking through the nonsense that took place. How will history view the making up of your own statistics that meet whatever need you feel you have? How about the division in the party that is about to happen (it is already there, it is just the final explosion we are waiting for), who will be blamed when history reviews this period? How about trying to get the vote to count in her favor from a state where her main competitors were not even on the ballot because of what the party stated and she publicly stated her support for?
Will the endorsement of pop Singer Ricky Martin change the race? I say yes. I think it will be a symbol of the ridiculous nature of this campaign. Not the superdelegates, or realistic numbers and statistics, but it is the endorsement of Ricky Martin that best represents what is going on in the Clinton camp. Nonsense! That is what is going on.
But I have to admit, this is not politics as usual, it is much crazier.
This endorsement, may gain some segment of support in Puerto Rico, but the fact it is so important to the Clinton campaign reduces the campaign to a sideshow. And possibly the whole presidential race taking place this year.
The big problem with the current state of news reporting has reared its ugly head again. Ask yourself this question: “Where are all of the reports on the status of the war in Iraq.” I just found out that troop deaths are down 82% from this time last year and things are looking up again. It seems that when things are going bad every commercial break and headline describes how horrible things are going while when things look up we divert to human interest stories like those wounded in Iraq and how terrible war is on the family.
This is all well and good unless you are a person who is serving in Iraq. has served in Iraq, or has friends or comrades serving in Iraq. If we look past the politics and entertainment of it all, it is a horrible feeling to see your friends dying, have your emotional state damaged, and your life changed forever to achieve something that whenever it looks like you are getting close everyone ignores.
The hope for those in the service and those related to them in some way comes from the reports of progress. It doesn’t matter if your political stance is one of withdrawing troops tomorrow, staying until the war is won, or staying one-hundred years, all of those who feel the effects of the war would take hope from reporting of positive progress in the war.
To go a step further, where are the updates on what is going on in Afghanistan? Are we not still at war there too? I guess there is not enough negative publicity to publish there so we will stay focused on Iraq.
The truth is that it is not a liberal, a left wing, or a right wing press that is to blame. It is a public that is in love with drama and a media that is addicted to ratings and money that is too blame.
If the president has a high approval rating, the stories about the man or woman will be favorable and someone else will be the boogieman. If the president has a low approval rating, the media will bash that person twenty-four hours a day.
If a story has lying, cheating, and a person who’s name can be dragged through the mud; that is definitely news. If a high profile person that has been the subject of a stream of bad press begins to turn their life around, that person is no longer news worthy (with the exception of a few tabloid covers in the line at your local grocery store next to the paper with the aliens who told Nostradamus a woman would be running for president in 2008).
We as a public are partially to blame, we want to see Flava Flav’s strange dating antics as he searches for a wife on the television. We want to see contestants crumble as “Simon” rips them apart for all of our viewing pleasure. We like to see people embarrassed for being stupid on one court television show or another by a Judge Joe, Judge Judy, etc. Few things more entertaining than watching someone who seems to be crazy in a way that is similar to someone we know (maybe a spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend) get taken down a few notches by Dr. Phil. How about a child molester or another type of person that we all do not like being booed and then verbally pummeled on a daytime talk-show or our favorite hardcore reporting show. And of course everyone’s favorite, watching the child molesters get caught in sting operations where they think they are going to meet a thirteen year old and end up in a room with a reporter and the police.
Did you ever wonder how many hours of recorded sermons the reporters and investigators must have sat through from Mr. Wright and Pastor Hagee to find excerpts of controversial statements to put on the news for our reality television fix of the week.
We like that sort of reality in place of news. That is a form of news, but much of the news is not that extreme or exciting. If all we seek is the extreme, how much will we miss?
The media can only take so much of the blame in this, I mean, they have to stay alive. There are more places to get news from today then there ever has been in history. The days when everyone read the paper with their coffee and watched the evening news on their local television station (which was picked up through the rabbit-ears on the top of it) have been replaced by national news, RSS feeds, and blogs (those darn bloggers). The money to support news is getting thin. If people are not watching it or reading it, whatever “it” is will be gone soon.
The problem is when people are getting hurt, such as those involved in some way with the war who only hear the bad news. If the media were to live up to what has been considered its moral obligation it would report both sides of every story evenly. The problem is that we won’t live up to our moral obligation and give as much time to both sides of every argument so we won’t support this sort of reporting and sponsors will not advertise in what we will not pay attention to (it sort of defeats the purpose of advertising).
All the news over the past twenty-four hours or so has begun to funnel into the story about a book titled “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception” written by former press secretary for the current administration, Scott McClellan (July 2003 – April 2006).
Apparently the book, due to be released June 2nd, makes points such as that propaganda and not facts or need led to the war in Iraq and that the advisors had been misleading the administration and the president himself. He apparently also speaks of secret meetings and blatant lying from within the administration.
As all of this has been unfolding, as has been the case of everything political this year, people started digging through the archives of every recorded appearance of the person in the news to find newsworthy clips. In Mr. McClellan’s case the clips that have been surfacing are all clips of him speaking to the media telling them the things he is stating were lies in his book.
Mr. McClellan has stated that some of what he had stated to the public and the media as press secretary was “badly misguided.” The White House today has painted Mr. McClellan as a disgruntled former employee.
Now we have to draw our own conclusions on where the truth lies in all of this.
I find the material questionable for a few reasons:
The first is that the topics he harps on happen to be the topics of interest to the segment of the population that is already unhappy with the Bush Administration. Much of the content being discussed was already being discussed without his book, this is simply an insider saying “yup.”
The next problem I have is the fact that he supposedly saw terrible things taking place and being covered by the administration and rather than try to do something about it at the time, he decided to wait until years after he no longer was involved in the administration, and right before the administration is due to be out of office, to respond by writing a book.
Another problem I have is that he was the voice of these things a few years ago, and now he is pointing the finger at others and saying that they did it yet saying that he was simply a victim that was misled by all of the mean people around him. The truth is, that if he saw all of this sneakiness and lying going on and he was vocalizing what came out of the interactions of these sneaky people to all of us, he was the person who made the lies work. The only person that would be more responsible for the lies and propaganda from this administration (if what he is saying is true) would be the president.
Either he is lying now, or he was knowingly lying to the entire planet from July 2003 until April of 2006.
Either way he is a huge liar which calls into question everything he says. How much of his writing can I take to heart as true and how much should I write off?
I suppose as time goes on, if the events he is claiming happened in fact took place there will be others who will come out to support his statements. Others that were not the voice that told the lies in question to the public.
The end of the Democratic Party as we know it is looming. With Senator Hillary Clinton and former president Bill Clinton beginning to pull the conspiracy theory cards the push to seat the Florida and Michigan delegates in a way favorable to Senator Clinton. Clinton supporters are beginning to focus on this effort and are in the planning stages of protests of party gatherings.
Legal experts for the Democratic Party released a memo that states that the party rules only allow for the seating of half of the delegates from each state. This I guess would be sort of a reduced sentence.
I mean the party warned these states that if there they broke party rules their votes would not be counted. These states broke the rules, the party followed through on their threatened punishment, and the Clinton family has been the driving forces for overturning this punishment or in other words for insuring that threats of punishment made by the party no longer have any weight.
The question is how do you divide these delegates fairly? The party told the candidates to not campaign in these states and in Michigan, Senator Barack Obama, in being obedient to the party rules even went as far as having his name removed from the ballot. Now Senator Clinton and her supporters want the vote of this state to count as a win for her. Not only is this a shameful assault on the reasoning of the people, it is a set up for a lawsuit against the party and a whole lot of conspiracy theory talk from supporters of Senator Obama.
The problem is that Senator Clinton has positioned her support in such a way that if the delegates are not seated in such a way that benefits her, they will believe that there has been a terrible injustice and a conspiracy.
The crack in the party has just grown again.
I have to wonder how it is going to be received when this is all over and one of these people is chosen and the other running as vice president. Truthfully, neither candidate wants to run as vice-president or really wants the other as vice-president on the ticket if the winner. The only reason I am sure that this will be the case, is that this is the only way that the democrats could possibly patch the cracks in the party through the rest of the election.
The problem is that the battle has so divided those that call themselves Democrats that no matter the outcome one or more large segments of the party will probably be enraged at the outcome and at the party as a whole.
Realistically, Senator Clinton is the only person who could possibly do anything about the impending doom her party faces. I suppose that is because in her desperation to win at all costs, she has done more harm than good to her party and to her own approval rating.
Last week’s comments, made by Senator Hillary Clinton, about the assignation of Robert F. Kennedy were at the least extremely careless. I have listened to several days of commentary about this topic and this strange statement and have come to the only logical conclusion: Freudian Slip.
For those not familiar with the term “Freudian Slip,” the term is used most commonly to refer to a slip of the tongue that reveals an unconscious desire, fear, or belief. An example:
Let’s say a person was afraid of being laid off. That person gets a really strong cup of coffee and wants to tell another person the coffee is so strong that he feels wired. But, instead the man says: “This coffee is so strong I feel fired.” This was in the man’s unconscious thoughts, but not what he was trying to communicate. Yet it slipped into the communication of the man and accidentally gave the other people around a clue as to what he was thinking.
Now, back to what Senator Clinton recently stated. The implication that how late it was in the race when Robert Kennedy was assassinated somehow demonstrates that a continued run by Senator Hillary Clinton is a stupid thing to say by any standard and clearly demonstrates the exact opposite.
The real untruth here, is the idea that as much behind the scenes discussion has taken place about keeping Senator Obama safe and the many death threats he has received, somehow Senator Clinton would now like us to believe that there has never been any discussion of what happens if he were to be assassinated.
Let’s face it, at this point, the only real hope Senator Clinton has is some terrible mishap or tragedy in the Obama camp. We are talking something much worse than what church he attends, but something that makes him look like the absolute worst candidate ever or something more terrible in nature. It is late in the game, the candidates have been campaigning endlessly, the campaigns have been tough on each other, they are extremely tired, and things are looking really bad for Senator Clinton.
Even if dismissed as a terrible thing to be thinking about, it must have come up at some point. I am also sure that as things get more desperate and the Senator gets more tired, the mind will do some strange things. (Not to mention the amount of pictures I have seen recently where Senator Clinton has beer or liquor in her hands)
I do not believe the people who say this was some kind of malicious attack on Senator Obama or some passive aggressive ploy, but I do believe that there is more here than just an honest mistake.
I think the desperate hope of winning this race and the hopelessness of it all at this point simply made her make a “Freudian” mistake that should indicate to her and her closest friends that it is time to slow down a bit and “get a grip.”
It’s like when a person, who would not do so normally, is so desperate to win something that he or she cheats when the other person is not paying attention. Others the thought crosses their mind and they catch themselves and don’t do it. The perfect place for a Freudian Slip to make the person accidentally use the word “cheat” in a sentence.
An honest mistake that indicates a person is in a dangerous state of mind! That is what I see.
Senator John McCain has just rejected the endorsement of televangelists John Hagee and Rod Parsley. These are very influential right wing leaders and this is an interesting turn of events.
John Hagee was about to be Senator McCain’s version of that Wright person that has caused Senator Obama such trouble after and old tape emerged of him stating that Adolph Hitler was sent by God to help the Jews get to the Promised Land.
The Problem with Rod Parsley has to do with his comments about Islam being a violent religion.
The thing ii, with all of the statements about how he would have never gone to a church like the one Senator Obama went to for all of those years etc., he has absolutely no choice with these major players in the Republican Party but to turn his back on them.
The question is how will this play out for him as he is trying to convince the skeptical party that he is Right Wing enough to be the Republican candidate.
I wonder if the Democrats are thinking that all they have to do is look at every minister or televangelist that begins to support Senator McCain with a microscope and find something negative to put in the media. If they can get Senator McCain to turn his back on every minister that attempts to support him, keeping in mind that the Christian Right Wing is skeptical of him to begin with, it is only a matter of time before they return the favor.
In these cases, he not only turned down their support, but he spoke out against them and their messages publicly. Will they do the same and speak out to their large segments of the community against him.
Isn’t it amazing how this sort of distraction has become the focus of the primaries of both the Democrats and the Republicans? Realistically, a few years ago Senator McCain was screaming to the public about how the Religious Right was such a huge problem in this country, now he is counting on the support of these same people to carry him to the presidency. These people, who were not in his corner to begin with, decided they would stand behind him because he is a Republican even though they were not huge fans.
Well now what happens? He needs the support and the people of whom we speak will not vote for a Democrat and this crazy guy just turned his back on them and then went one step deeper and spoke out against them publicly.
The Republicageddon is near. The Republicans Party is already on the ropes according to the polls and the cracks in the party are starting to grow. The question this election season is really which will come first; the Republicageddon or the implosion of the Democrats (the Democrolypse) with all of this crazy race stuff going on over there.
This has been such a good year for those of us who do not belong to a political party. It is great to have already chosen to be outside of a system that you know to be crazy when everyone else is finally realizing how crazy it is. Our party and election system is clearly broken. This whole primary season is about racism, pastors and televangelists, crazy supporters (some of which are the candidate’s husbands), and stupidity. Our government is playing party games using all of their energy to make the other party look bad while we are all forced out of our homes and go broke on gasoline. Particularly confusing is how the Democrat ruled segments of government and the Republican White House are voting, vetoing, and fighting over everything.
It looks like Senator McCain has finally gotten all the way into the pool of chaos. It seemed like he was just putting his toes into the water before. Let’s watch and enjoy as he begins to fight with his own support base and the Democrats destroy each other.
