Labor Day: Let the work of campaigning begin

Campaigns used to begin in earnest on Labor Day...but the Labor Day TWO MONTHS before the election, not one year and two months. We're already fatigued
from watching Hillary, Bama and Eddie,
Mitt, Rudy and now Fred. They've covered every issue thicker than wallpaper on a hundred year old house. The prospect of listening to all of this for 14 more months is daunting at best. Back to the smokeless-filled room for selecting candidates...Please!

Will Fred actually put down his wiener and burger and labor up to the call?

Which conservative will step up to be the most like Reagan and triple our budget?

Tyler,

Spot on.

The two parties need to cut a deal to rein in this insanity. But this is one complicated subject which might ultimately require a Constitutional Amendment giving the power to determine election dates/process to Congress.

This 14 mont election will wear all of us out. Illinois Democrats moved our primary to February 5 ostensibly to help Barack Hussein Obama but, we will get much more attention from candidates of both parties. The problem is we will be voting in snow and ice which will depress turnout from seniors who don't go out in snow and ice. But, after February 5 we'll have a pretty good idea who will win both party nominations. Jerry White, Springfield, IL

Speaking of Labor Day, let's take the time to show gratitude for those who work hard for a living; the farmers, steelmill workers, police officers, firemen, waiters, construction workers, factory assemblers, miners, manufacturers, meatpackers, fisherman, cleaners, store clerks, nurses, teachers, & millions of others. To my dad, who finally retired after farming, manufacturing & property management most of his life, enjoy yourself for once.

So what do conservatives have to celebrate on this day? The ones who complain minimum wage is too expensive, paying overtime & having lunches & breaks are unfair, unions are nothing but a product of communism, labor laws are unecessary when companies do better policing themselves, that smoking at work should be allowed, health care is really affordable, that there is no poverty in America, or there's nothing wrong with kids in 3rd world countries working the sweatshops for big box realtors?

When republicans find their presidential hopeful, be honest; Actually talk about what your vision really is about for Americans.

Since conservatisim is all about logic, explain what good "compassionate conservatism" could do for us all.

More senseless hysteria from Roman B: So what do conservatives have to celebrate on this day? The ones who complain minimum wage is too expensive, paying overtime & having lunches & breaks are unfair, unions are nothing but a product of communism, labor laws are unecessary when companies do better policing themselves, that smoking at work should be allowed, health care is really affordable, that there is no poverty in America, or there's nothing wrong with kids in 3rd world countries working the sweatshops for big box realtors?

Please show and tell me where conservatives say overtime is bad? Breaks are bad? Lunch is bad? And that conservatives are all for smoking at work? And when were unions at the forefront of no smoking in the workplace?

I've asked this question countless times and never received an answer. But Lefties, even at 7.25 that cannot support as family of any kind. Neither can $10 an hour. Nor can $15 an hour support a family of four at least in some parts of the country. So, what should minimum wage be? And why should high school students or folks with no experience make $15 an hour? And what will the result of that increase be? How much are you willing to pay for a gallon of milk? A loaf of bread? What will happen to that $5 outfit from Wal-Mart that the low-income earner can afford to by for her child when it's now $15 or $20 because the store greeter is now making $15 an hour?

And, by the way, this campaign began last winter. It SHOULD be starting today, not continuing after eight months!!

John D.,

I rising tide lifts all boats.

Which means when the minimum wage is increased it drives up wages above it, including the working poor.

Are you for the abolition of the minimum wage? If you are, then say so.

John D....I don't understand how on one hand you say the tax breaks are good, putting more money in the hands of consumers (trickle down) and then on the other giving more money in the hands of workers and we break the bank.

Conservatives have no problem with corporate welfare, with Enron looking at California as the "Death Star" for jacking-up electric rates, for Ameriquest & becoming the biggest preditory lender after donating millions to Bush, for Tom Delay going to a 3rd world country and assuring them the US will look the other way regarding child labor abuses so big box retailers can get dirt cheap items to sell.

Millioniars cry about how unfair their taxes are & conservatives rush to bail them out of their burden & then not press too hard when they avoid paying taxes all together. It's corporations making billions in Iraq under the guise of fighting a war on terror, while millions of dollars go unnacounted for.

Conservatives don't care about American families, except for whatever support they can get at the polling booth & whatever laws they pass that screws families, it will be spun as "empowering them to succeed", while the rich bank their excessive profits.

Roman,
Rather than talk minimum wage, I'm more curious to know who, in your opinion, doesn't work hard in America. I know many people who don't necessarily work with their hands or, like police officers and firefighters, place their lives on the line everyday. But I also see them putting in 50, 60 or 80 hours each week. I also know many business owners who put in more hours per week than many on your list, and they also employ many of the type of people on your list. Where do they fit on Labor Day?

Roman B,

On this day I give thanks to the employers, who create all the jobs that everyone gets to labor in; whether that job is the farmers, steelmill workers, police officers, firemen, waiters, construction workers, factory assemblers, miners, manufacturers, meatpackers, fisherman, cleaners, store clerks, nurses, teachers, & millions of others.

As far as the minimum wage and your rising tide analogy. Do you also like the rising tide furnished by tax cuts?

The minimum wage is unnecessary - the market place will take care of that. The min wage law that was recently passed was primarily symbolic since the market place did the job. I know Doug you are a union boy, so the market place is forbidden territory.

Terry,

I 1st chair negotiated well over 100 union contracts. As such, I told many a union member that it was absolutely in their best interest to work hard and be productive unless they wanted to see their job end up in the non-union south, Mexico, China or elsewhere.

One of the things you don't seem to grasp Terry is that people and politics aren't so easily pidgeon holed - if you take the time to listen to people. The union I worked for SEIU, Local 1, had good working relationships with the vast majority of employers we interacted with.

Excercise the gray matter between your ears and quit spouting the party line, you might just learn something.

Well considering most business already pay more than the minimum wage, perhaps it isn't necessary. Wal-Mart: more than minimum wage. McDonalds: more than minimum wage. Portillos: more than minimum wage. In fact, all of those nonunion jobs pay new employees more than the unionized workers at Jewel and Dominicks!

In regard to tax cuts or low taxes, I guess you folks don't believe these workers should be able to keep most of what THEY EARN??

Doug,

Glad to see you were involved in the declining membership of the union movement in this country. Good Job.

Read how Rush Limbaugh denigrates the Postal Union and their workers in his transcript from one of his most recent radio propoganda broadcasts. Read how he giggled when someone said postal workers work hard.

That's a typical response from a conservative regarding American workers who actually WORK. And this, coming from a giggling bafoon who couldn't pick-up his mail unless he drove an SUV to his mailbox. This is how he acknowledges Labor Day.

Let him walk along with a postal worker on one of their routes, in Chicago, in January.

Proof? Why do I have to bother looking for it when it's made so obvious by the far right what they really think & believe.

Terry,

You are a mental midget.

SEIU is the 2nd largest and fastest growing union in America.

Roman B., I am friends with a postal worker. He makes just as much fun of postal workers as most anyone else, including Limbaugh.

While there are many fine postal workers, there also are a slew that are not good workers. In fact, why did it take more than one week for a package to go from Arlington Heights to Wood Dale, but just a few days for packages sent cross ocuntry? Yes, stuff happens, but there are lots of mail isses that can happen. Fact is, even post offices call the Palatine Distribution Center a cesspool of garbage.

Doug,

BTW, how are the rest of the unions doing?

Are you doing all this blogging on union time or are you retired?