When did the Democrats get a backbone?

The Democratic Party has been all but neutered since...um...John Kerry's run for president? The Republican "Contract with America"? Jimmy Carter? Lyndon B. Johnson's lack of a second-term? Yeah, that one.

But, in the past two days, two separate events have rocked this liberal's socks off:

1) (First, a little background) The Federal minimum wage has remained at $5.15 since 1998. In contrast, the US Congress has raised its salary from $136,700 to $162,100 between 1998 and 2005. That's an increase of $25,400 over seven years (or an increase of about $3,628 each year)

So, the minimum wage worker hasn't seen a pay increase in almost a decade, but the Congressperson has seen a substantial pay increase during the same time period. Now the Democrats deserve some blame for the anemic minimum wage, but who has been in control of Congress for all that time period--and the White House for most of it--the Republicans of course.

That is why I'm so proud to see that Senate Democrats want to raise the minimum wage to $7.25, while simultaneously blocking a Congressional salary increase. Is it possible that the Democratic Party, who stills holds just a minority in Congress, may actually stand up and do something substantial and worthwhile for the nation? Oh God, please say it's so.

(I’ll refrain from debating which is better: giving tax-breaks to rich and expecting the benefits to “trickle-down” to the lower-income individuals, or giving more money to the lower-income individuals, who will in turn pump money into the US retail economy. If you want to have that discussion, email me)

2) You may remember that back in March, Senator Russ Feingold introduced a resolution to censure President Bush, based on the President's controversial wiretapping program that some consider to be circumventing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. I must say, the concept of any politician speaking his mind by proposing legislation that will probably go nowhere, simply because that politician wholeheartedly believes that the said legislation needs to be proposed, is politically incredible. The concept of that politician being one of the current incarnations of Congressional Democrats is all but astonishing.

Well, Senator Feingold continued to be a politically rarity when, on this past Sunday NBC's "Meet the Press," he once again spoke his mind. He discussed, with veracity, honesty, intelligence, and eloquence on subjects such as the Iraq war, potential troop withdrawals, whether the war has made America safer, and defending himself against Vice-President Cheney's perennial charge that anti-Iraq sentiment boils down to "cut-and-run" and other hot-button issues.

I'll let the man speak for himself:


Russ Feingold on MTP June 25, 2006

russ feingold


While I don't agree with every word Senator Feingold said, it is clear that he's not regurgitating some pre-approved Democratic talking points; he's talking from the hip. If the Senator Feingold keeps saying what he means, and meaning what he says, I may just weep for joy.

Supporting a minimum wage increase AND Democrats speaking their mind; Democratic Party, are you revived?

Ahhh! Real Monsters!

Congrats to Nicole Kidman for marrying the (non-psycho, non-couch-jumping, non-homosexual, non-closet-case, non-Scientology drone) country crooner Keith Urban. Congrats to Keith Urban for being about the luckest man on the planet.

With that being said, forget Nancy Pelosi, Nicole Kidman's over-botoxed dad scares the ever-loving beJesus outta me. Ahhhh.

click at your own peril.

(He reminds me of that guy in "Hannibal" who was in the wheel chair and got eaten by the warthogs. Freaky.)

Yeah, right

These guys were plotting a terriorist attack against the Sears Tower?




Please, they look like rejects from the rap group Bone-Thugs-n-Harmony. And they asked for boots, uniforms, machine guns, radios, vehicles, bulletproof vests and $50,000 in cash from al Qaeda to wage their proposed jihad against the U.S. That's not a very good jihad-waging list; but wow, they would have been the most strapped guys on the block. And $50,000 can buy lots of pot, which it appears that these fellows enjoy.

Oh, and the guy they were requesting their supplies from wasn't from al Qaeda; he was from the FBI.

Terrorism should never be funny, but damn this is just hilarious. Idiots.

Nothing could be finer than to be in CAROLINA in the morning

Carolina Hurricanes: Stanley Cup Champs, 2006.
Hells Yeah!!

Fair and Balanced

In the interest of "fair and balanced" criticism:




As a democrat, it is so sad that Democratic Party may take a majority of Congress in November, not due to the party's strength and vision, but rather due the public's dissaifiaction with The Grand Ol' Party and the President.

Plus, I'm pretty scared of the current House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi, becoming the Majority Leader. No; seriously, her face scares me, and I don't want to see it more than I have to.

Republican Hypocrisy

From a friend’s “bulletin” on myspace:


Ronald Reagan - divorced the mother of two of his children to marry Nancy Reagan, who bore him a daughter only 7 months after the marriage.

Bob Dole - divorced the mother of his child, who had nursed him through the long recovery from his war wounds.

Newt Gingrich - divorced his wife who was dying of cancer.

Dick Armey - House Majority Leader - divorced

Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas - divorced

Gov. John Engler of Michigan - divorced

Gov. Pete Wilson of California - divorced

George Will - divorced

Sen. Lauch Faircloth - divorced

Rush Limbaugh - Rush and his current wife Marta have six marriages and four divorces between them.

Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia - Barr, not yet 50 years old, has been married three times. Barr had the audacity to author and push the "Defense of Marriage Act." The current joke making the rounds on Capitol Hill is "Bob Barr...WHICH marriage are you defending?!?

Sen. Alfonse D'Amato of New York - divorced

Sen. John Warner of Virginia - divorced (once married to Liz Taylor.)

Gov. George Allen of Virginia - divorced

Henry Kissinger - divorced

Rep. Helen Chenoweth of Idaho - divorced

Sen. John McCain of Arizonia - divorced

Rep. John Kasich of Ohio - divorced

Rep. Susan Molinari of New York - Republican National Convention Keynote Speaker - divorced


While I do not have the time to confirm the validity of all those statements, I have no reason to believe they are false; especially since I already knew about some of them. Also, I know that two of the greatest Americans to ever live—Franklin D. Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr.—both had affairs; if these two great Americans could stumble in their fidelity, what would prevent Bob Barr from making a career out of getting divorced?

So, it seems that the abovementioned Republicans have done a pretty good job at “threatening the sanctity of marriage” without any homosexuals involved.

Ahhhh, Republican hypocrisy never gets boring.

No 40 virgins

I'm not quite sure what meaning or message this imagery is supposed to convey. Perhaps that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi either performed or oversaw a number of ruthless beheadings and other forms of violence, and the above is his Danté's Inferno -style eternal punishment. Perhaps it is some form of Islamic imagery to which I am unfamiliar. Whatever the message, it does convey that the bastard is nowhere near those 40 virgins, and that is enough for me.


And while I wish that his death translated into a decrease--or discontinuation--of the insurgency-inspired violence in Iraq, I doubt it...

Watch out!

HA!



("Compassionate Conservative" my ass.)