And having finally seen Beast Machines, I am overjoyed that Jetstorm sounds like Vegita. Er, Vegita when he was voiced by Brian Dobson that is. Because Jetstorm's voiced by Brain Dobson. Not now though. Now everyone sound pants. Although Goku and Vegita sound less pants than everyone else. Guy-who-was-Rhinox sounds awful. As does Krillen.

Er, go democrats. Or republicans. Either one's good.

I would argue that the minimum wage would tend to be inflationary, but that it is also a matter of degree. Obviously if you raised it by 20 dollars an hour, there'd be economic disruption. Raising the minimum wage by two dollars an hour would not be harmful, nor would the resulting slight inflation cancel out the extra money the workers got. Minimum wage workers are after all less than 10 percent of the workforce.

Mostly, the money wouldn't come out of the pockets of employers. They'd pass it on to consumers, since no individual minimum-wage dependent business like a burger place would be at a competitive disadvantage. All the other burger places would also have to raise wages. So you'd have a slight price increase. (as I recall when you buy a big mac, something like 10 percent of the price is the labor cost).

So what you'd end up with is not a transfer of wealth from employers. What'd you'd have is a slight redistribution of wealth from the the population as a whole, to minimum-wage workers.

There is nothing sinister about this. First, capitalism itself was built on a huge redistribution of wealth by force. That's how the world works. Second, when businesses pay extremely low wages, they are "socializing" their profits. That is, the public is subsidizing their cheap labor through the tax costs of the social-welfare state (low income health care, police, etc). Take away the social welfare state? Well, that's a whole other argument, but I would just say: be careful what you wish for.

The last point I'd make is that when adjusted for inflation, the minimum wage today is lower than it was in the 1960s. Employers are hardly a bunch of oppressed victims.

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"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
- George Bernard Shaw

Notice, "I FEEL". No logic. No rational explaination. No emperical evidence. You just FEEL that he's less stupid. Just like a lot of people FEEL like Gore cares more, or that he loves the teachers more. There's no reason behind it. Heck, Bush MARRIED a teacher. Why don't we judge these people on how effective they'd be as president, based on their stated ideas (and how well those ideas can be trusted, of course)? Sounds like a lot more effective way to determine who to vote for...

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"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
- George Bernard Shaw

Some presidents are just THERE. They don't all have to be great. No one ever says, "DAMN, that Millard Fillmore was the cat's ass!" or "This sorta shit would NEVER happen if Rutherford B. Hayes was around t'kick some ass!"

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"There are three things I HATE, Jet: kids..pets..& women with attitudes. So WHY do we have all THREE on BOARD?!?"--Spike Spiegel

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"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it."
- George Bernard Shaw

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Intelligence, Integrity, Responsibility.
Vote Bush/Cheney 2000

But if you really want to get into the way certain cantidates make you feel...

There is a book by a fellow named Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man that argues in general that in a post-Stalinist era "people in the West themselves came to question whether liberal democracy was in the fact a general aspiration of all mankind...."

Read some of the reviews and a general synopsishere.

The point being that government is an institution that evolves along with the humanity that makes it up. There are many in American who see government appropriated and becoming a growing coporate democracy...in a way devolving back into democratic inclusion only for the wealthy. Or what might be defined in America as the new and growing class of super wealthy.

It takes real courage and introspection to fight for social change. To fight against the growing trend of American coporate democracy. The easy route to turn inward and look only personal profit at the expense of humanity.

Self-interest is the royal road.

You folks can quote Limbaugh all you want. When pressed, he just runs and hides behind the skirts of 'oh, I'm just and entertainer...mine aren't real political opinions.'

Good job Squirrelman, and good job Omega for ducking the issues he brought up by hiding behind purty drawin's.

quote:

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Human life...involves a curious paradox: it seems to require injustice, for the struggle against injustice is what calls forth what is highest in man.

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"Really, I didn't know that dinner was a fundraising one!"
"I didn't know you can't make fundraising calls from here!'
"I REALLY didn't know you needed those e-mails!"
"I never had any idea what President Clinton, the man I worked closely with for eight years, was doing!"

Gore's commercial says he 'broke with his party to support the Gulf War.' This is untrue. He 'sold' his vote to the side that agreed to provide him with the most 'air time.'

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"Ed Gruberman, you fail to grasp Ty Kwan Leap. Approach me, that you might see." -- The Master