Rose Garden Holdings

What a quaint name for people who bribed--I mean, contributed to--the Republicans to the tune of $1.4 MILLION in order to prevent the Saipan minimum wage being raised from $3.05 to $5.15. To their credit, Levis Strauss and The Gap quit doing business with these people, but Liz Claiborne is still buying from them. "Rose Garden Holdings?" Is that just an unfortunate choice of psuedonym or does it indicate where these people have influence? After all, Jack Abramoff did visit the Rose Garden an undisclosed number of times.

Wilbur Ross, A Capitalist's Capitalist

While the families of twelve dead coal miners mourn, Wilbur Ross, billionaire, sits in his penthouse and insists that he bears no responsibility for their deaths. This article in the Village Voice is about Wilbur Ross and the unrestrained search for profits at all costs. Maybe government regulation is not such a bad thing. Maybe belonging to a union is better than NOT belonging to a union . . . How often does "Right to Work" equal "Right to DIE at Work?"

The War on Terror: Is it Worth It

You might want to call the "War on Terror" the "Neo-Crusade" or "The War Between the English-Speaking Peoples (and Those Who Want to Be Their Buddies) and Muslims." The FBI, in their part of the "War on Terror" uses the term "Person of Interest" to refer to someone who might because of their skin color, name, country or origin, or associates be a terrorist suspect. The documentary, Persons of Interest, describes the effect our "War on Terror" on the lives of actual people. How could anyone who loves freedom and wants our country to remain the "land of the free not be dismayed by our heavyhanded response to the real terrorist threat?

Of course, the redeeming quality of the activities of these modern day Keystone Kops may make it all worthwhile to Bush admirers.