There’s a curious perception that by raising the minimum wage unskilled workers will not be hired and small proprietors will go out of business, lest they are forced to clean their own toilets and deep fry fish and chips themselves. ’Tis curious because it’s never happened in the history of advanced countries once the world’s slavery was frowned upon, and the Haves were not willing to forgo services.

How about a tentative dictum that all CEOs work for a dollar a year? And wouldn’t it be nice for a Lohann and A-Rod-ilk be required to learn some humility with a hundred thousand a year salary? And who wouldn’t want Paris to visit Paris with just a c-note in her handbag?

With China taking over America shouldn’t it be fitting for the first presidential primary be held on Labor Day in Beijing? It would seem only fair to have the most influential even before California dictate our choices.

 The hype over Obama and Clinton is almost as deadening as that of Bonds and Aaron. Clinton and Aaron have much in common: Hillary is smugly tolerant in allowing Barack’s fleeting moments of fame just as Hank is sure the surrealism surrounding Barry will in the end evaporate and whose stats will terminate at 1998.

If Bush doesn’t want a gasoline tax to underpin our nation’s bridges, why not a corporate tax on auto manufacturers? After all, did the old railway magnates ask for a handout to lay tracks?

Lacking spirit and loss of reason, tonight’s speech had echoes of Johnson’s announcement that he would not seek reelection. Bush showed no spirit because he has lost his “gotta believe” tact. In postulating an illogical premise that 21,000 troops will squash the resistance, even though he admitted in years to follow it would still be bloody, is simply a cry of desperation. Strategically with so few troops there was no need for a speech or thinking of it as a “new strategy.” Actually it is but...

“Escalate - More boots to the zone - counter insurgency - special force incursion - surge” — are irrelevant terms for the current Iraqi scenario. Rather, the linguistics of reality is “redeploy - troop withdrawal - cut and run - timetable.”  A surge not unlike a tsunami overwhelms but then recedes for victims to resurge havoc. Not since the last Great War has there existed the merciless but realistic integrity of military strategy. From Korea onward skirmishes consist of eggs unde...

Kerry, of course, was irrelevant up to now, what with his inexcusable gaffe bringing back memory of “I voted for it before I voted against it.” What he meant to say is also irrelevant in confrontation with what he actually said. The nuance of the quality of those in service is a no-brainer in that they are but a part of top-down system. So Kerry, guilty of tortured logic, claimed he was referring to the lack of intelligent preparation on the part of Bush and the overall lack of brain ...

Though it is likely, there is no guarantee that the Democrats will take back the House and unlikely to take back the Senate. Still, if the Democrats take charge, it would be advisable for the moderate Republicans to cooperate to an extent; otherwise, there will be little for the Dems to do but exercise subpoena power which will only further extreme partisanship. First and foremost is an agreement on how best to settle the Iraq challenge politically and militarily. All seem to agree that a mass...

The liberal imperative—and what I mean by that is the liberated mind—for this election is that finally the voter is driven more by reality than sophistry playing on fear. “Stay the course” has worn out its flimsy cloth implying if we “cut and run” the terrorists will follow us home, along with handing over a state to Al Qaeda to forge its manifesto. The US voter now sees clearly—and certainly with anxiety—the longer we stay is in tandem with the relentless loss of American troops placed in the ...

So it has all come down to this, eh? — Foley. Even if he results in the straw that broke the camel’s back, it will be a sad day for American politics. It would clearly be more important if voters concluded that the most recent soldier to die was sufficient grounds to turn a vote around. In face of the prevailing issues — not self styled media issues — like a second look at the Patriot Act, the incompetence of Iraqi generals and the department of defense, the huge national debt, foreign tra...

For those who pulled the lever for, or clicked on, Bush, I am not in the position to lord over them and say they were wrong, yet it does appear that they were misled. For those who hang on and announce the DOW is up and oil is down, I ask for how long after the elections? Regardless, the DOW is infamous for its manipulation — no dividends, no capital gains — and the DOW is only a small percentage of the broader market. Moreover, gasoline down does help the consumer to face the inevitable ri...

  From The Right Joe Scarborough asked his viewers if Bush isan Idiot. So what if he is? I drink beer with idiots on Saturday night, and everyone knows that Bush is the kind of guy I want to have a beer with. Rumsfeld is a great secretary of defense. After all, the troop body count is minuscule contrasted to Vietnam. Bush deserves praise for urging a “swift” trial of some of the most dangerous Al Qaeda leaders. Most Republicans want illegal Mexican immigrants out of here...

According to Bush, bin Laden is equivalent to Hitler. Why, then, was the attack on Tora Bora taken lightly? By insisting on Rumsfeld’s resignation, the Democrats are cowardly using him as the fall guy for the chief culprits — Cheney and Bush. Conservatives cry out that the Democrats have no alternative strategy for Iraq. Why should a neighbor be expected to scoop the poop of the dog next door? Where was Lou Dobbs when Cuban exiles invaded Miami? What’s the other option for amnesty —...

The Bush administration repeatedly uses the refrain “cut and run.” This is only natural as it had cowardly cut and run in Afghanistan, and repeatedly used the same in Iraq — the cue was the banner “Mission Accomplished.” After May of ‘03, the outcome was “slam dunk” and the course of the war meandered in the simplistic confidence that the war was indeed over. When the harsh reality of insurgency ran rampant, it was too late to conjure up anything but pretentious bravado — “bring it on.” For Ro...