Labor Day, 2006

I guess I'd like to take this occasion of a National Holiday to vent a little about Politics. I suspect this will drive the three readers I might have away, but I've been wanting to say this for awhile.

George W. Bush takes a lot of heat for getting the U.S. involved in the shitstorm that is the Middle East war. Hey, I'm not happy about the situation myself; I think we have made one blunder after another there and I really don't think we have a clear strategy (or 'strategery') and the whole thing is a fucking mess. No doubt. But, I DON'T think Bush has ulterior motives with our involvement. 9/11 freaked us all out, and he jumped in to be pro-active and protective of our interests and the guy was just trying to do the right thing. I think he fucked it all up, but I think he was trying.

What I hold Dubya accountable for, and the real travesty of his tenure in Office, is what he has allowed to happen domestically. The President is a puppet and pawn of Corporate America and we are all suffering because of it. "Business Ethics"? Oh, please! Fuck you.

Big Business is running amok in this country. In the name of "fiscal responsibility" we, as the working class, are getting squeezed like tubes of toothpaste. Used up and disgarded. Everyone I know, no matter the type of company they work for, is being pressured to do more and more, for less and less. Companies continue to "down-size" and then dump extra work on the grateful remaining employees. Employees who should just be thankful that THEIR positions weren't eliminated are being bullied and frightened. I swear, my friends tell me, to a person, that they are doing the workload of three people right now. Name the business related issue: healthcare costs and job benefits, over-time, minimum wage, cost of living, outsourcing of jobs, the dismantling of Unions, illegal immigration - Corporate America is doing whatever the hell they bloody-well feel like and this administration is showing no signs of attempting to rein them in. And, all the while, CEOs and Corporate Elites are making obscene amounts of money, while legistators are taking their money to fund their campaigns coffers. We are, seriously, in the throes of a Class War here in this country.

Government is not a business, and should not be run that way. Businesses are not the Government. Yet, each seems to be modeling themselves after the other. For that matter, I'm having a bitch of a time keeping Religion, Business, and Government straight in my mind. The lines are being blurred. While "The Worker", the poor slug and sluggette upon whose backs this country was founded, are being treated as a mere commodity.

We are human beings who deserve to be respected and fairly compensated for the work we do.

Do you work hard at your job? I bet you do. Today is your day. Be proud of how hard you are working. Meanwhile, watch carefully how your freedom of lifestyle is being erroded away. Next time you vote, ask yourself this question: Am I better off now than I was 8 years ago?

The middle class needs to find a leader willing to be their voice. I just pray someone is up to the challenge.

Let's find that person.

But, for now, let's take a day, drink a toast to our little lives and the fading summer that slipped past us as we worked our fucking asses off.