Starve a worker, feed an oligarchy

Pawlenty and his concern troll allies in the lege worry that wait staff might be able to make as much as $15/$20 an hour if the minimum wage is bumped to $6.75 and pegged to inflation. But Pawlenty’s own Dept. of Employment and Economic Development says that the median wage for wait staff in the metro area is $8.13 an hour. 

This is how our economic debate goes. Democrats try to raise the minimum wage and Republicans squawk about how some blue/pink collar workers could potentially make as much as a convenience store manager. Republicans then try to shovel something vaguely approximating an economic stimulus package through Congress, and object mightily when Democrats point out that the workers get little, and the rich much. There’s never any concern from the Republicans that those at the top might make out like bandits. 

If you’re not a millionaire or caught up in some kind of incestuous religious loop, you really do have to be a moron to vote Republican if you make less than a quarter million dollars a year. Even then don’t expect me to be impressed by your voting habits.

And teenagers — many of whom can no longer consider college without working through high school and maybe a year after that? Well, Pawlenty and trolls won’t like that bump from $4.90 to $5.25 an hour but that’s OK because I think the phony teen training wage should be bumped entirely. Just because some kids are suburban brats trying to earn spending money is no reason to punish those who really need the money. And yes, teens do earn their pay, often much more so than the adults they work with.

•=•

Frank Rich uncorks a good one.

BORED by those endless replays of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright? If so, go directly to YouTube, search for “John Hagee Roman Church Hitler,” and be recharged by a fresh jolt of clerical jive.

What you’ll find is a white televangelist, the Rev. John Hagee, lecturing in front of an enormous diorama. Wielding a pointer, he pokes at the image of a woman with Pamela Anderson-sized breasts, her hand raising a golden chalice. The woman is “the Great Whore,” Mr. Hagee explains, and she is drinking “the blood of the Jewish people.” That’s because the Great Whore represents “the Roman Church,” which, in his view, has thirsted for Jewish blood throughout history, from the Crusades to the Holocaust.

Mr. Hagee is not a fringe kook but the pastor of a Texas megachurch. On Feb. 27, he stood with John McCain and endorsed him over the religious conservatives’ favorite, Mike Huckabee, who was then still in the race.

Are we really to believe that neither Mr. McCain nor his camp knew anything then about Mr. Hagee’s views? This particular YouTube video — far from the only one — was posted on Jan. 1, nearly two months before the Hagee-McCain press conference. Mr. Hagee appears on multiple religious networks, including twice daily on the largest, Trinity Broadcasting, which reaches 75 million homes. Any 12-year-old with a laptop could have vetted this preacher in 30 seconds, tops.

Since then, Mr. McCain has been shocked to learn that his clerical ally has made many other outrageous statements. Mr. Hagee, it’s true, did not blame the American government for concocting AIDS. But he did say that God created Hurricane Katrina to punish New Orleans for its sins, particularly a scheduled “homosexual parade there on the Monday that Katrina came.” 

But Hagee and McCain are Republicans, so this will never be a quarter the flap that we’ve had to endure over the Rev. Wright’s bold and — in my opinion — entirely defensible comments.

Rich asks (and answers) the questions the rest of the media won’t even consider. Even questions I’ve asked time and again.

When Rudy Giuliani, still a viable candidate, successfully courted Pat Robertson for an endorsement last year, few replayed Mr. Robertson’s greatest past insanities. Among them is his best-selling 1991 tome, “The New World Order,” which peddled some of the same old dark conspiracy theories about “European bankers” (who just happened to be named Warburg, Schiff and Rothschild) that Mr. Farrakhan has trafficked in. Nor was Mr. Giuliani ever seriously pressed to explain why his cronies on the payroll at Giuliani Partners included a priest barred from the ministry by his Long Island diocese in 2002 following allegations of sexual abuse. Much as Mr. Wright officiated at the Obamas’ wedding, so this priest officiated at (one of) Mr. Giuliani’s. Did you even hear about it?

There is not just a double standard for black and white politicians at play in too much of the news media and political establishment, but there is also a glaring double standard for our political parties. The Clintons and Mr. Obama are always held accountable for their racial stands, as they should be, but the elephant in the room of our politics is rarely acknowledged: In the 21st century, the so-called party of Lincoln does not have a single African-American among its collective 247 senators and representatives in Washington. Yes, there are appointees like Clarence Thomas and Condi Rice, but, as we learned during the Mark Foley scandal, even gay men may hold more G.O.P. positions of power than blacks.

A near half-century after the civil rights acts of the 1960s, this is quite an achievement. Yet the holier-than-thou politicians and pundits on the right passing shrill moral judgment over every Democratic racial skirmish are almost never asked to confront or even acknowledge the racial dysfunction in their own house. In our mainstream political culture, this de facto apartheid is simply accepted as an intractable given, unworthy of notice, and just too embarrassing to mention aloud in polite Beltway company. Those who dare are instantly accused of “political correctness” or “reverse racism.”

An all-white Congressional delegation doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the legacy of race cards that have been dealt since the birth of the Southern strategy in the Nixon era. 

That’s the hardest thing for me, knowing that every vote cast by my parents since the early ’70s has been, increasingly, impacted by the Republican party’s decision to become the White party, a sorry distinction previously held by the Democratic party.

Not to be a race traitor or anything, but more and more it seems like the average white person has made a conscious decision to live life with their head up their ass. Racist? Oh no, not racist. Just thoroughly, completely unwilling to examine the consequences of their votes. Or, as Rich says in his close:

Anyone who does the math knows that America is on track to become a white-minority nation in three to four decades. Yet if there’s any coherent message to be gleaned from the hypocrisy whipped up by Hurricane Jeremiah, it’s that this nation’s perennially promised candid conversation on race has yet to begin.

•=•

Tom Friedman, the cognitively disabled kid from the western metro ‘burbs, rediscovers America and decides we need to invest more money into our own country. Be forewarned, clicking on this link will lead you to copy that licks you on the face and promises you eternal puppy love if only you’ll forget what a stupid, pro-war fuckwad Friedman was these past several years.

I’m not sure, but I think Friedman’s catharsis came from sitting in Singapore’s nice airport and wondering why the US can’t have nice airports too.

Shit, that’s it. I never fly anywhere. No wonder I never figured out that the US needs to pump a lot of money into our infrastructure. Too bad Friedman doesn’t spend more time in America — we could have solved this problem a long time ago.

Tom Friedman: he’s way smarter than the rest of us. And if you park your gum under your chair, he’ll have you caned.

•=•

It’s pile on the Republicans day at the Times. Here also is Kristof on Guantanamo/torture, and James Risen on shoddy contract work in Iraq that kills our troops. But just to keep things fair and balanced, the Times’ answer to Nedra Pickler uses her column to mock the Democratic candidates. Again.

•=•

Would someone please tell the WaPost to get a grip on itself. This is just embarrassing.

•=•

Solving all our woes in one panel: Tom Toles draws another award-winning snapshot of the way we are.

Btw, I O.D.ed in the early ’80s, and haven’t had any plastic since — not counting my debit card which isn’t a loan, just plasticized cash.

 

 

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