http://washingtontimes.com/national/20070112-120720-2734r.htm

Looks like the Republicans are reeaaally desperate for any sort of political issue right now! There have always been exemptions for the minimum wage. The Washington Times story doesn't even consider anything except the presumption that Pelosi gave an exemption to a company headquartered in her district, even though there could be much more plausible reasons. Did they bother to consider that?

Andrew

At the "Moonie Times"?

Not likely.

>>>"The Washington Times story doesn't even consider anything except the presumption that Pelosi gave an exemption to a company headquartered in her district, even though there could be much more plausible reasons. Did they bother to consider that?"


Andrew, you're smarter than this. C'mon now. She just happens to give the only break in the country to a company headquartered in her district. If it walks like a duck...... Talk about gullible.

If a Republican did something like this, the liberal press would have been all over it like you've never seen before.

Nancy Pelosi is about the most two faced, conniving (I'll leave the next word out) we could possibly find.

I hope the exemption is revoked and she is made to eat some political crow.

This is EXACTLY the kind of shit I don't want to deal with anymore.

As long as there are lobbyists...both parties will be beholden to special interests.

I say drain the swamp and severely limit their ability to influence congress.

Herb

When I was in high school (a looong time ago) the guy I worked for at the TV repair shop used to get all wound up about politicians and say "They should line them up, shoot them all, and start over"

Back then I thought that was a pretty crazy idea. Now it's starting to sound like a good idea!

Hang on - we don't know the whole story about this. All we have is a biased Washington Times editorial. Let's hear all the facts before we pass judgement. Does this company give money to Pelosi's re-election campaigns? What do the Democrats say are the reasons for the exemption?

Andrew

>>>"Does this company give money to Pelosi's re-election campaigns?"

You realize that the liberal media is not investigating and asking this question, but Sean Hannity is.

You mean, the same liberal media that printed Whitewater lies about the Clintons in the 90s, printed more negative stories about Gore than Bush during the 2000 campaign, and fell in lock step behind the Bush administration before the Iraq War isn't investigating? But Inspector Hannity is on it, huh? Well, I'll sure sleep better knowing that!

Andrew

">>>"Does this company give money to Pelosi's re-election campaigns?"

You realize that the liberal media is not investigating and asking this question, but Sean Hannity is."

Then what is Hannity's answer?

DJ said>>>
The liberal press.

LOL!

Democrats Pledge to Extend Minimum Wage



Saturday January 13, 2:47 PM EST


WASHINGTON (AP) — Fending off charges of favoritism, House Democrats say a just-passed minimum wage bill will be changed to cover all U.S. territories — including American Samoa — before it reaches President Bush's desk.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters she has instructed the House Education and Labor Committee to help get the bill changed to "make sure that all of the territories have to comply with the U.S. law on minimum wage."

Her remark Friday followed accusations from Republicans a day earlier that American Samoa, which is not now covered by the $5.15 an hour federal minimum wage, was not included in the law raising the federal pay floor to $7.25 an hour because StarKist has a large cannery in the island chain. StarKist is owned by Del Monte Foods Co., which has its headquarters in San Francisco, Pelosi's district.




"Something is indeed fishy when the federal minimum wage is good for all Americans as espoused by the Democrat majority, yet we exempt a small, in many terms economically struggling island," Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., told colleagues on the House floor last week.

The bill was passed Wednesday by the House as part of the Democrats' 100-hour agenda. The measure included in its coverage another U.S. territory, the Northern Mariana Islands, which had been shielded in the past from the wage law with the help of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff, now serving a prison sentence.

Spokesmen for both Pelosi and Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the author of the minimum wage bill, said it excluded American Samoa at the request of nonvoting Delegate Eni Faleomavaega, a Democrat who represents the Pacific island territories in the House.

Raising the federal minimum wage would devastate the local tuna industry, Faleomavaega said in a statement last week, noting that American Samoa's economy is "more than 80 percent" dependent on two U.S. tuna processors, Chicken of the Sea and StarKist. Faleomavaega said the Labor Department reviews Samoa's minimum wages every two years.
http://money.excite.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt_top.jsp?news_id=ap-d8mkjeso0&

NOPE!
The Dems aren't trying to do ANYTHING for the common person.... While the neo-CONers gave all the tax breaks to the ULTA-RICH....

Neo-coners? Are ALL in congress in the pocket of Neo-coners?

How about admitting for once that it was a majority in congress that passed our tax policy, and that included plenty of democrats?

How about also admitting for once that it's not the poor who employ others....and that tax relief is given to those who pay the most tax?

As always with your spin machine, you want it both ways.

You don't like conservatives calling every democrat leftist, yet you insist virtually every Republican is a "Neo-Coner."

Spin on.

Herb

...... In Conclusion.....

http://www.jeffhelms.com/media/misc/burgler.gif

Nowhere did I see Trixter label all Republicans NEO-Con(er)s.

I did however see him attach that label to those currently predisposed to giving tax breaks to the ultra-rich.

Seems easy enough to parse for me. There are at least two kinds of Republicans: those that are not pre-disposed to the kinds of behaviors most often associated with the NEO-CON label, and those that are not.

Over time --actually a considerable length of time, Trixter has consistantly made the point that a majority of GOP members at this time, have been willing to follow the NEO-CON line, in lieu of those they are supposed to represent.

What's more interesting is the growing GOP divide between those two coarse factions. The NEO-CON crowd is currently out of favor, thus opening the door for those members of the GOP willing to take advantage, to break ranks and act as they would otherwise.

I've NEVER labeled ALL Republicans neo-CONers??? Just the idiots in the White House making decisions for the country! I don't think McCain is a neo-CONer! Never have and NEVER will unless he makes some ham-fisted neo-CONer decision.....
ULTRA RIGHT winged Bible thumpers are neo-CONers! Can't understand that Herb??? TOO BAD!

I've NEVER back down on how I feel about the neo-CONers in Washington! I've made my point 900,000 times!!!!
I don't think I need to repeat myself over and over again but Herb and DJ still make me! Wayner was the KING of that crap.

"ULTRA RIGHT winged Bible thumpers are neo-CONers"

Care to back that up with some names?

Glittering generalities don't count..remember?

Herb

They count when you post stuff - why do you hold others to different standards, Herb?

Andrew

Wayner
YOURSELF
DD's
DUHbya
DICKster
Reagan
GDUHbya
Wolfowitz
Rove

Actually they can count, when the point of discussion is general in nature. It's just not valid to mix 'n match.

That's a cherry pick!

I'm not sure I would put H.W. on that list Trix, he's by far the most moderate one on it.

True! But he has sided with his son the last 6 years......
I ONLY put him there because of his association with Ronald McDonald (Reagan).

"Does this company give money to Pelosi's re-election campaigns?"

Deane asked - You realize that the liberal media is not investigating and asking this question, but Sean Hannity is.

Has Sean gotten to an answer on this question yet?

>>>"Has Sean gotten to an answer on this question yet?"

I haven't heard that he has, but Nancy has backed down and removed the exception.

Mr. Reagan is deceased.

Mr. Wolfowitz can hardly be considered a Bible thumper. Torah thumper, perhaps. He's Jewish.

Herb

Dean writes:
Nancy has backed down and removed the exception.

More likely, Nancy was so overwhelmed with all the legislation in the air right now for the first 100 hours that she didn't have a chance to address it immediately. Yet she fixed this issue almost immediately. Gee, do you think that would have happened in the Republican congress?

Andrew

Such a wimp, if she was right and there was a legitimate reason for the exemption, she should have just explained it. as it is, she showed the typical liberal wimpiness, to cave in to criticism, right or wrong.

Andrew2 writes:

More likely, Nancy was so overwhelmed with all the legislation in the air right now for the first 100 hours that she didn't have a chance to address it immediately. Yet she fixed this issue almost immediately. Gee, do you think that would have happened in the Republican congress?

Doesn't matter Republican or Democrat, they will pull crap that either helps someone that donated to their camapign or something that puts money in their own pocket.

If a stink gets raised and they get caught, they will ALWAYS find some stupid excuse. Oh, we were too busy, Oh, that must have slipped by, OH.....BS!

They are ALL crooks.

That's not true.

Just labeling them all as crooks really does not make any sense. Are they all perfectly honest and upstanding people? No. However, they are clearly different degrees of crooks.

I'll take the lesser of two evils, currently embodied in the Democratic party, any day, over the crap I've seen for the last 6 years.

">>>"Has Sean gotten to an answer on this question yet?"

I haven't heard that he has, but Nancy has backed down and removed the exception."

Good. Because the statement that it would cripple the tuna industry is one that I don't believe anyway. Seemed silly. And if what you say is true that the exemption was removed, then that's a good thing.

For once.

But I gave you a list Herb......

Uh-oh, I wonder how much Starkist and Chicken of The Sea will contribute to her next year?

Poor, poor Nancy!

"..But I gave you a list Herb......"

Yeah, but it was loaded with misleading information.

Still, at least YOU came up with something. Let's see the democrats [who you, a supposed, so-called "Republican" continue to strangely defend] come up with one.

Trixter, you have your act together too much to be backing the left.

Herb

Well, Herb, you would be the group's leading expert on misinformation...

Andrew

Let's hear the evidence of my misinformation.

Didn't think so.

Spin on.

Herb

Well, your constant labeling of Democrats as "appeasers" while Republicans have done the majority of the appeasing during the last 25 years is the most obvious misinformation you spread. When confronted with the appeasement done by the Reagan and Bush the Wiser administrations (which you imply was somehow the fault of Democrats), you go strangely silent. Why is that, now, Herb?

Andrew

I don't think it was appeasement for the US to allow warring factions to continue.

Would I have done it? I dunno. I wasn't President at the time.

It sure is easy being an armchair quarterback with 20-20 hindsight.

Anything Mr. Reagan did helped undo the miserable failed policies of Mr. Jimmy '444 days held hostage' Carter.

Herb

So you think Reagan's doing NOTHING while Saddam gassed his own people or while he sold weapons to those same people who took our people hostage in 1979 were the right things to do? Oh wait, you've used them to justify Bush the Slower's 2003 Iraq War - yet you don't have any problem with what Reagan did (or didn't do)? Or you imply that somehow, allowing Saddam to gas the Kurds was the Democrats fault?

Do you think cutting and running from Beirut in 1983 after America was attacked (first our embassy, then our Marine barracks) "helped?" Osama bin Laden used Reagan's actions in Beirut as inspiration to attack America later, because he felt we would always run from a fight. (Somalia too, under Clinton - but unlike you, I don't have a myopic, partisan view of things.)

There were no "warring factions" in Iraq in 1991 - it was a Shia uprising in southern Iraq, encouraged by Bush the Wiser. Saddam's Republican Guard simply mowed them down, using superior weaponry and helicopters that the US Military allowed them to use. Saddam knew he could get away with this because of the way Reagan let him gas the Kurds in 1988. The only reason the US finally stepped in the North was because the Kurds had developed effective lobbying in the United States by then.

But hey - all of that was better than Jimmy Carter and his, his DIPLOMACY. Why, he didn't get a single hostage killed in Iran! How tough could he have been? At least Reagan let Hezbullah kill a few of the hostages in Lebanon on his watch, so that shows Reagan was tough.

Andrew

"...all of that was better than Jimmy Carter and his, his DIPLOMACY. Why, he didn't get a single hostage killed in Iran!"

You wanna talk about Mr. Reagan?

Freeing 240 million Russians..and millions of other eastern Europeans who were enslaved for 70 years is what Mr. Reagan did.

I don't defend everything every Republican has done.

But compared with the horrific record from the left only makes Mr. Reagan look better.

Herb

Gee, Herb, I think all the other Cold War Presidents - Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Bush the Wiser - would take kindly to giving all the credit to Reagan for winning the cold war. Carter himself started the covert CIA war against the USSR in Afghanistan and began the military build-up of the 1980s. All the others did their part, including Reagan. And let's not forget the rest of America's leaders, political and military, who helped win the Cold War. Wasn't just Reagan my friend.

Anyway, point is, Reagan and Bush the Wiser did their share of appeasement. That's what I mean by "misinformation."

Andrew

Reagan won the Cold War? BS that is a right wing fairy tale; give the credit to Mikhail Gorbachev. The USSR collapsed because of its economic system and Reagan had nothing to do with that.

"The USSR collapsed because of its economic system and Reagan had nothing to do with that."

I tend to disagree with that. Reagan had a LOT to do with the collapse of the Soviet economy. He KNEW that he could afford to spend extra billions in a war buildup, even with it creating a huge budget deficit. He also KNEW that the Soviet Union would not last long-term in matching such a buildup. Gorbachev contributed by trying to slowly open the market to SOME private enterprise while keeping collectivization in the Soviet Union through Glasnost, but the end result ended up being near a depression, one where the marketplace HAD supplies, but nobody had the money to purchase them.

Reagan doesn't deserve ALL of the credit for ending the Cold War, nor does Gorbachev. ALL of the Cold War Presidents had their own way with dealing with the Cold War itself, my personal opinion was that Reagan's was the strongest. But, again, that's my opinion. I know Andrew probably thinks otherwise, which is fine

The USSR collapsed because of its economic system and Reagan had nothing to do with that.

WRONG.

Unlike so many democrats, Mr. Reagan invested HEAVILY in our defense.

Remember Star Wars, which the left tried to halt?

It was Mr. Reagan who got the world's attention when he stated:

"Mr. Gorbachev..take down that wall."

Liberals like Mr. Carter thought we should simply maintain the status quo, not squash the black-hearted communist dictators who oppressed their citizens.

This die-hard Nixon man could easily work himself into a lather for Mr. Reagan.

Herb

I'm sure you get into quite a lather thinking of Mr. Reagan, Herb - maybe even as much as when you think of Mr. Reagan and Mr. Nixon together - say, in the steam room...

Too bad you don't give Jimmy Carter the credit he deserves for starting the covert war against the USSR in Afghanistan, unlike Robert Gates, current Secretary of Defense, who credited Carter with such in Gates's book a few years back. Not all Republicans are so disingenuous, fortunately.

Andrew

thanks to liberals, conservatives have porn shops to go work themselves into a lather in.

Herb....
Reagan freed BILLIONS and DUHbya freed MILLIONS! As perfect as you paint the picture of those two ULTRA-REICH wing Bible thumpers how about painting a GOOD picture of a Dem or two???
YOU always ask my to give you names about neo-CONers....
How about YOU give us a list of your fav Dems???? How about some Liberals???
YOUR continuing hate for the LEFT is unbelievable....

'How about YOU give us a list of your fav Dems????'

Zell Miller.

'How about some Liberals???'

Ewww. That's a toughie.

How about Jesus?

Herb

"..Too bad you don't give Jimmy Carter the credit he deserves for starting the covert war against the USSR in Afghanistan.."

Ok. Fine. Mr. Carter did something right.

There. I said it.

But you should remember that even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Herbert M.

Even a neo-CON does something right?? Just never see it yet....