An Amazing Capacity for Compassion

I just love the guy in the Oval office who starts a war preemptively and gets teary-eyed about it, then "Having given the order, the president walked alone around the circle behind the White House. Months later, he told Woodward: "As I walked around the circle, I prayed that our troops be safe, be protected by the Almighty. Going into this period, I was praying for strength to do the Lord's will. I'm surely not going to justify war based upon God. Understand that. Nevertheless, in my case, I pray that I be as good a messenger of his will as possible. And then, of course, I pray for forgiveness." Wow. Such sensitivity to needless carnage (oh, and God, don't forget to forgive George this premeditated multiple murder just like he asked.) But, on the home front there's even more compassion to go around.

On January 5, 2004, MSNBC reported that, "The Labor Department is giving employers tips on how to avoid paying overtime to some of the 1.3 million low-income workers who would become eligible under new rules expected to be finalized early this year." Just in case businesses big or small hadn't already figured it out, the Labor Department was providing tutorials on how to screw their employees. (Keep in mind the numbers eventually serve to increase the "productivity index" which also allows the Bushies to continue yammering about a "jobless recovery" (code for "investors are getting their share, but those who produce the wealth are getting little or none.") But wait, there's more compassion in that lil' ole Bush administration.

Today, MSNBC reported that, "With an eye toward November’s election, the Bush administration is retreating on its planned overhaul of the nation’s overtime rules to allow more white-collar workers, including those earning up to $100,000 a year, to continue collecting the premium pay if they log more than 40 hours a week." It's good thing that white-collar workers are being protected. (These folks tend to vote Republican.) Isn't that amazing?

If you read further in the article you find that, "The regulations will not apply to workers covered by labor contracts, although union officials said they feared the changes would strengthen the hand of companies in future bargaining. “The fact that President Bush is slashing overtime pay for even a single worker is outrageous,” AFL-CIO spokeswoman Lane Windham said. True enough, but these folks tend to vote Democrat.

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