REMEMBER THE HOUSE RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE A COUPLE WEEKS AGO? SENATE REPUBLICANS NOT ONLY KILLED THAT, THEY TRIED TO ABOLISH IT ALTOGETHER!

As you know, Speaker Pelosi managed to get a minimum wage raise passed as part of the First 100 Hours Agenda. Yesterday a Republican filibuster killed it. Then, feeling their oats, the most extreme of the Republican kooks in the Senate decided to go for bust and try to abolish the minimum wage entirely, something the extreme right has been trying to do since it was enacted in 1938 (when it was 25 cents an hour, about $3.50 in today's dollars.) One of the members of Congress who has most consistently voted to screw working men and woman, Colorado's right wing idiot Wayne Allard introduced the motion. So forget $7.25 an hour if you live in Kansas City or Topeka or Wichita. Republicans think local conditions merit $2.65. (Really, that's their minimum wage, the one Allard thinks is peachy keen.)

By the way, not a single Democrat joined this insanity, not even Ben Nelson. And the GOP caucus was split down the middle. These are the Republican senators who voted to abolish the federal minimum wage. (The ones in bold are up for re-election next year.)

• Alexander (R-TN)
• Allard (R-CO)
• Bennett (R-UT)
• Bond (R-MO)
• Brownback (R-KS)
• Bunning (R-KY)
• Burr (R-NC)
• Chambliss (R-GA)
• Coburn (R-OK)
• Cochran (R-MS)
• Cornyn (R-TX)
• Craig (R-ID)
• Crapo (R-ID)
• DeMint (R-SC)
• Ensign (R-NV)
• Enzi (R-WY)
• Graham (R-SC)
• Gregg (R-NH)
• Hagel (R-NE)
• Hatch (R-UT)
• Inhofe (R-OK)
• Isakson (R-GA)
• Kyl (R-AZ)
• Lott (R-MS)
• McCain (R-AZ)
• McConnell (R-KY)
• Sununu (R-NH)
• Thomas (R-WY)

And, as you know ole moderate McCain and Brownback are each asking you to vote for them for president. These people want to destroy your family and reduce you to slavery serfdom.


UPDATE: TED KENNEDY CONFRONTS THE GOP-- HARD

Bob Geiger does a great job of covering the Senate. He just e-mailed me about Kennedy exploding over the Republican's vicious class warfare against working people. "When does this greed stop?... Do you have such disdain for hard-working Americans that you want to pile all your amendments on this? Why don’t you just hold your amendments until other pieces of legislation? Why this volume of amendments on just the issue to try and raise the minimum wage? What is it about it that drives you Republicans crazy? What is it? Something. Something! What is the price that the workers have to pay to get an increase? What is it about working men and women that you find so offensive?"