Time for Our Government to Start Supporting the Troops

This Memorial Day weekend, remember our troops who are tirelessly fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over 160 Michigan soldiers (here is a list of those who have died for our freedom from MI) have been lost in the War on Terror and the number of American casualties has climbed past 4,000. Yet, many members of our armed forces are frustrated with our government’s unwillingness to stick to its half of the deal. Some of our soldiers have been lied to by recruiters about the amount of money they would receive for college and the support they would receive as veterans of war. This government has had a hard enough time funding body armor and adequate health care facilities for our soldiers, yet, it routinely "misplaces" large sums of money appropriated for the war effort. Now the government refuses to pay the bill for having a well trained, standing army. Private employers are not allowed to get away with not paying the promised compensation to employees (see Fair Labor Standards Act), so why should the government? There is hope however. This week the United States Senate, in a rare show of bipartisanship, passed a funding bill for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan 70-26 that increases the benefits under the GI Bill for all soldiers who were active after 9/11. This support includes funding for college tuition. President Bush continues to threaten veto, but if these numbers continue in the House then Congress may be able to overturn. Surprisingly, JOHN MCCAIN DID NOT SUPPORT THIS BILL. The bill goes before the House next week. Let's make our voices heard and keep our Representatives responsible to our troops.

Additionally, our soldiers are being stop-lossed and forced into an extension of their active duty service. The president is granted this power under 10 U.S.C. § 12305(a), which states, “... the President may suspend any provision of law relating to promotion, retirement, or separation applicable to any member of the armed forces who the President determines is essential to the national security of the United States.” Soldiers are being told that their service will be over after a specific period of time; however, always remember to read the fine print. In the Armed Forces Enlistment Contract, paragraph 9(c) states that “In the event of war, my enlistment in the Armed Forces continues until six (6) months after the war ends, unless the enlistment is ended sooner by the President of the United States.” Not only are our soldiers not being payed as agreed, the government has used deceitful contractual language to extend the duration of contract. In the law of contracts, individuals only have to pay damages to the other party if they choose to breach the agreement. Unlike normal contracts, a soldier's breach of contract means court martial. If the government wants to enforce these contractual agreements then they should be bound to the same principles of private contract that our soldiers are bound too as well as all Americans. Let's do right by our fighting men and women. These people deserve our support and admiration, and I for one refuse to let my country shove these people off the side of the cliff like it did with the American Vietnam Vets. Let's remind our legislators of our soldiers on this Memorial Day.

- Keith

Slogans without Substance

Although the presidential primaries have monopolized most of the political discussions for the past year, the starting gun on the 2008 congressional races has been fired. Over the past several weeks there have been three special elections in Illinois, Louisiana and Mississippi. Usually special elections serve as a harbinger for the upcoming general elections where each party tests the themes, ideas and strategies which they will employ in the fall. This time around all three races were to fill seats in mildly or considerably conservative districts, all of which were carried easily by George W. Bush in 2004.



Well what do you know, but there are now three new Democratic Congressman in the House of Representatives! We swept all three races, surprising both national and local pundits. Apparently, these Democratic successes got the attention of GOP leaders who sunk over $3 million dollars into these losing special elections. The leadership of the GOP have decided that to win they need to stand for change.





Given the rising gas prices, the increased cost of living, a depressed housing market, the endless disaster in Iraq, and high unemployment at home, you would think that change from the GOP would mean moving away from the disastrous policies of George W. Bush which have led America to our current predicament.

Alas, no the GOP leaders are advocating "Change" as a buzzword and not as a shift in policy.

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000002827818

The GOP strategy for the congressional elections will be to offer the same old Bush policies re-branded as "The Change You Deserve."

This amounts to a Slogan without Substance!

With Congressional Democrats offering long term energy relief for our economy:

http://www.democrats.org/a/national/clean_environment/energy/

The GOP will counter with an empty slogan.

With Democrats offering concrete solutions to address America's housing crisis:

http://www.speaker.gov/legislation?id=0196

The GOP will counter with just an empty slogan.

And with national and local Democrats (including our own Congressman Dale Kildee) supporting a national single-payer health care plan:

http://www.pnhp.org/publications/the_national_health_insurance_bill_hr_676.php

&

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR00676:@@@P

The GOP will counter with, you guessed it, another empty slogan.

Good luck with that!

- Kyle M.

Don, Don, Don, Didn't Anyone Tell You that You Shouldn't Fib???

Recently, Flint Mayor Don Williamson announced his bid for Governor of the state of Michigan. This announcement is the first in a line of Genesee County politicians who have suggested they may run in 2010. Over the weekend, Don Williamson was on Off the Record, where he launched an attack in an effort to besmirch Lt. Governor John Cherry’s character and performance as an elected official. Williamson argued that the Lt. Governor was not qualified to be Governor. Yet, here is a list of the Lt. Governor’s accolades and experiences:

- Cherry has a bachelors degree in Political Science from the University of Michigan and a Master's degree in Public Administration from the University of Michigan, Flint.

- Cherry has been a member of the Michigan Legislature as a State Representative (1983-1986), State Senator (1987-2002), and Senate Minority Leader.

- Cherry has a long history working for working class families as the state political director for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees.

- Cherry has been recognized as "one of Michigan’s Most Effective Legislators" by the Detroit News and the 2005 Conservationist of the Year by the Michigan United Conservation Clubs.

- Cherry was elected as Chair of the Great Lakes Commission and is the highest ranking Michigan official in the history of that organization to serve as Chair.

- Cherry was elected chairman of the National Lieutenant Governor's Association (NLGA). So, not only do we have a great Lt. Governor, we have one of the best in the nation.

- Cherry is the chair of the Commission on Higher Education & Economic Growth, which has released a detailed plan for doubling the number of Michigan residents with college degrees.

If the Lt. Governor decides to run, he obviously has enough experience to be a fantastic Governor. In fact, he brings national experience, economic experience, experience on natural preservation, and experience as a mediator in state-wide disputes. Either the Don is ignorant of Mr. Cherry’s experience or he is deliberately misleading voters. Here is a list of Mayor Williamson’s experiences:

- Williamson is a convicted felon for profiteering off of a stolen car racket.

- Williamson has no college degree.

- Williamson made his money as a used car salesman.

- Williamson has only served as Mayor of Flint for a term and a half.

- Williamson has been a controversial Mayor. He painted one of the cars on his lot with “police” on the side door. He is experienced at increasing litigation expenses for the City of Flint. He is experienced at cutting city employees leaving the city without adequate services. Williamson was amazing at ruining a balanced budget left for him by Ed Kurtz, the state appointed City Manager.

- The Don has actively contributed to George W. Bush. Also, he openly opposes Dale Kildee, Dan Kildee, and Bob Emerson. I’m beginning to wonder if Mr. Williamson likes any democrats. This contribution and his opposition to most democrats make his campaign for Democratic nomination in the state gubernatorial race curious to say the least.

- The Con is very good at violating campaign finance laws and ordinances. In his campaign for re-election he paid voters to vote for him, used signs in illegal locations, and misused city funds and resources for his own efforts.

Given Don Williamson’s track record of political corruption, patronage, convictions, and incompetence, I’m leaning toward this being a malicious, personal, political stunt designed to hurt Genesee County Democratic hopefuls such as Cherry. Williamson’s personal grudges are misleading the public. Williamson should apologize for his inappropriate, incorrect, and incomplete statements. Keep your eyes on Mr. Williamson and let’s keep him honest with the voters if he chooses to continue his efforts.

P.S. Is it just me, or did the Don sound incredibly incoherent during this interview? The only ideas he seems to bring to the position of Governor are his personal grudges.

- Keith

The Beginning of the Beginning

There has been hand wringing and discussion about the results from Tuesday's elections in Indiana and North Carolina. The blowout win by Sen. Obama in the Tar Heel State combined with Sen. Clinton's razor thin margin of victory in the Hoosier State have denied her any realistic chance of winning are party's nomination. The epilogue on this primary season will be written at a later date. Politics can be a cold business and to ask someone, after nearly two years of campaigning to abandon a lifetime ambition in one night, is probably too much to ask. The Clinton's are experienced enough to read the proverbial tea leaves and know that her campaign will not suceed. If she wishes to ignore reality and go further into debt to contest the last few races it frankly won't matter much (as long as she drops the 'kitchen sink' strategy and says nary a negative word about Sen. Obama for the next six months).

Tuesday night was not the beginning of the end. It was the end. Remember the old adage about a tree falling in a forest? Well if a campaign has no mathematical chance of succeeding and the candidate keeps campaigning, did the campaign really end. I would argue that yes it did!

With all of these contests and elections, the speeches and rallies we may have lost sight of the prize. The reality is that the only thing Sen. Obama has secured is the right to challenge Sen. McCain and end the Senior Senator from Arizona's bid for George W. Bush's third term.

Folks, this is the beginning of the beginning.

The unfortunate thing about the long primary season is that by going two months longer than normal, we do not have the luxury of having a training camp. When a football team prepares for the season, they take a couple months in the summer getting into shape. They prepare themselves for the upcoming campaign. Normally in presidential politics we have training camp period for a few months to prepare for the general election.

Not this time. For the past few months, John McCain has been traveling around the country and the world saying crazy things, proposing ideas that won't work, and just generally messing up. The bad thing is that we've been so busy attacking each other that we haven't been able to effectively counter his claims. With the beginning of the beginning, we can now focus our attention to Sen. McCain. Our campaign dollars won't be used for ads attacking fellow progressives they will be used to unite our party, build our base, and convince voters why four more years of Bush/McCain policies would hurt our Country.

The beginning of the beginning, whether or not Sen. Clinton is ready to admit it, is upon us. There will be over 100 voter registration drives across the US this weekend to kickoff the general election campaign. Here in the Flint area we will kickoff the campaign just like folks all over the country. For more information here is the link:

my.barackobama.com/voteflint

-Kyle

Are You Really Protected from Workplace Discrimination?

How safe are your rights to work in a place of employment free from discrimination? Imagine a hypothetical: you are an employee who has been the victim of sexually harassing behavior. Your life at work is miserable as you are continually berated with sexual comments, propositions, and humiliating conduct. You decide to sue per your rights under the Civil Rights Act of 1991 (CRA). However, do you really have a right to sue? Your employer has included a mandatory arbitration agreement under the at-will employment contract that you signed when you were hired years ago. What this clause means is that you are no longer allowed to sue in a court of law as your first recourse; instead, you must exhaust the internal remedies in the contract. Your claim will go before a third party arbitrator in a process that loosely mirrors a court of law. Under Gilmer v. Interstate/Johnson Lane Corp., the Supreme Court expanded mandatory arbitration agreements to include statutory claims, such as anti-discrimination laws like the CRA (500 U.S. 20 (1991)). So is this a concern for employees? Here is a list of some reasons why employees should be concerned and how Gilmer adversely impacts employee anti-discrimination rights:

1) There is less discovery in arbitration. In a federal court, there are detailed rules and procedures for forcing the employer to turn over important information for proving an employee’s claim. “Often the evidence of discrimination is not . . . blatant . . . as a memo from the Personnel Director to the CEO . . . . Usually, discrimination is invidious, occurring in the form of glass ceilings, promotional and hiring practices and attitudes of bigotry . . . .” Mary Rebecca Tyre, Arbitration: An Employer’s License to Steal Title VII Claims?, 52 Ala. L. Rev. 1359, 1364 (2001). The only form of discovery available under the Federal Arbitration Act is the subpoena of witnesses and documents (9 U.S.C. § 7 (2000)). This is not nearly as broad as the processes granted in a court of law. Also, an arbitrator has no authority to enforce a subpoena. Instead, the employee would have to have the subpoena enforced by a court.

2) Arbitration is final and binding. Courts rarely overturn arbitration decisions. Under United Steelworkers of America v. Enterprise Wheel & Car Corp., arbitration decisions can only be overturned for fraud, extreme bias, or refusal to interpret the contract (363 U.S. 593 (1960)). A decision which is clearly erroneous is allowed to stand. Some employment law attorneys have experienced arbitrators falling asleep during their arguments. The arbitrator could be asleep during the whole hearing, yet, the decision could not be overturn unless there was a substantial showing of fraud and extreme bias. Additionally, if an arbitrator is constrained by the terms and conditions of the employment contract, then the arbitrator is not allowed to consider statutes that have not be included in the contract as the basis of agreement. This further restricts employee rights.

3) Arbitration procedures can be unfair in the Sixth Circuit (the circuit court Michigan falls under). In an employment at-will situation, an employee does not bargain over the terms of the contract. Instead, these terms are handed to the employee on a take it or leave it basis. Thus, the employer sets the procedures for arbitration including the selection of an arbitrator, the cost to the employer and employee, and the issues that will be arbitrated. This informal employer right can be unduly burdensome on an employee’s case and may deter an employee from even bringing a claim.

4) Arbitration hearings are heard on a case by case basis. There are no class action suits where several harassed employees can band together to bring suit against the employer. Class actions are helpful because individual employees lack the credibility that a group of employees can leverage. Also, class action suits result in large damages, which serve as a deterrent effect to prevent employer misconduct.

5) Damages in arbitration tend to be lower. Instead of a jury deciding a case that can lean sympathetically on the side of the employee, the arbitrator decides the award.

There are major deficiencies in arbitration that can injure an employee’s protections against discrimination in the workplace. While these problems are not enough to foreclose rights under anti-discrimination statutes, the problems are sufficiently damaging to deter employees from bringing claims and collecting. Even though Gilmer was decided in 1991, the case was expanded by Wright v. Universal Maritime Serv. Co. to include unionized employers and continues to evolve as the decision is used to protect discriminatory and non-discriminatory employers alike (525 U.S. 70 (1998)). Gilmer is not a decision most people know about even though it affects most employed Americans. As Democrats, we should be informed of the current law and how it impacts the rights of Americans. I just thought that I would share.

Keith

Let's Talk Issues, Not Spew Catchphrases

“Sign up or shut up.” “Support the troops – draft yourself.” “It’s their war. Why aren’t they fighting it?”

These catchphrases create an image of the immature young conservative slinking out the back door as the draft officials start hunting for him. “Conservative” is apparently turning into the new “liberal” as we young “liberals” struggle to redefine verbiage that has been taken hostage by the evil Galactic Empire, i.e. the neo-conservative movement. It is true that we liberals like to fancy ourselves as freedom fighters struggling against a tyrannical system that is messing up everything because they refuse to admit that we are always right. But let’s think about what it means to be this definition of “right." “Right,” in this context, connotes a blind arrogance that fuels indifference and conformity. It creates a black and white world where individuals are constantly at each others’ throats in a struggle that consumes all parties involved. This concept is fundamentally flawed in a free society, but I understand where it comes from.

Where do these passions come from? The neo-conservative movement has controlled the American political climate for over three decades. Yes, I am even counting the Clinton administration because the only reason democrats were in office was because of a conservative take on liberal ideology. Yet, even with a conservative democrat in the White House, the neo-conservative movement trudged headlong into battle because of the capital “D” next to Clinton’s name. They slandered and dumbed down politics. American politics had reached a point of comedy where even the New York Times and Wall Street Journal frontpages looked like the gossip magazines you would find down a cashier lane at Kmart. The vile attacks and insinuations would reveal gross hypocrisy as conservative leaders were found to have engaged in the same unethical, immoral behavior they had dragged our country through with such passionate zeal and hatred. The word “liberal” was redefined to mean unethical, immoral, cowardly, bankrupt, and confused. Obviously, this took some heavy handed rhetoric to turn the party of FDR, Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson into the party of spineless, immoral cowards. After 9/11, we were even considered un-American. I could go on and on and on and on . . . .

So what became our master strategy to beat the Republican dominance? Apparently, some of us, judging by this website, believe we need to pick up some of these bad habits. If the last thirty years teaches us anything, we should realize that the neo-conservative movement is FAILED. So copying it makes little policy sense, and I don't believe it makes much political sense either.

These types of catchphrases are mere rhetoric. They lack substance just like the phrases used by the young people on the other side of the aisle. Politicians use this material like a crutch to convince Americans why the other side is demonic or at least not fully human. The sky will obviously fall if anyone from the other side takes office. This paradigm of thinking shares a great deal with a game of Russian Roulette, except with all the chambers filled full of lead death. These phrases do not move are country forward. These phrases do not reach a compromise. These phrases do not unite Americans against the realities of the expansion of China and terrorist threats. These phrases act as fuel for the fires of partisan war and neverending gridlock. I hope that my political affiliation acts with greater reserve once we are able to retake the presidency.

There was once a time in our national history when senators and congressmen could work together and compromise. While our Party had control of the government, none of our policies would have been passed without support from the other side of the aisle. In the golden age of America, we saw advances in civil rights, a growing middle class, relative peace, a grand expansion of the American infrastructure, cities rose from the Earth, and there was a hot war, not on another nation, but on poverty. Social Security, welfare, workers’ compensation, funding for schools, the largest military on the face of the Earth, and even a space program all culminated under bipartisan support. Today, we can’t even get a second GI Bill passed. Both sides will of course blame the other. That’s the problem.

Please continue to speak out against political corruption. Please feel free to disagree with the other side. But remember that if we as a country are to move forward we will have to work with these people. That's Democracy.

Keith

MDP Jeff-Jack Recap

Yesterday the Michigan Democratic Party held the annual Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner at Cobo Hall in Detroit. I thought I would post a not so brief recap for those of you who couldn't make it to the event.

The event started out with a reception for the Youth Caucus. It was great to see all of the elected officials and party leaders who came out to support the young folks like us who are active in the party. Our own congressman Rep. Dale Kildee was among those who came to start the evening with the youngest members of the party. We heard from Gary Peters who is running a great campaign to become the next congressmen from Oakland County. He encouraged us to stay involved in politics. Even though I enjoyed seeing the older crowd, the highlight of the Youth Caucus reception was hanging out with other folks (read: ladies) our (my) age interested in politics.

The dinner was well a dinner. There was chicken which was both well seasoned and tender. For the price of the ticket I would have expected a Porterhouse steak or a bucket of crab legs. There was also pretty decent cheesecake (I'm a cheesecake snob) and the rest of the food wasn't really worth mentioning.

The dinner included lots of awards, but since I was sitting in the corner and they didn't show the award recipients on the jumbo tron screen I can't tell you who won what. There were a lot of speakers including Gov. Granholm, Lt. Gov. Cherry, Sen. Levin & Sen. Stabenow. The main speaker was the Gov. Brian Schweitzer from Montana. He seems like a regular guy who just happens to run a state. He had a funny metaphor about driving a car backwards you put it in 'R' and when you want to go forward you put in in 'D'. I used that metaphor with someone at work and they laughed so I will plagiarize it liberally.

After the dinner, we met at the lounge in Cobo for refreshments. I had a good time and it was great to spend time with new and old friends. Plus, if nothing else, by attending the Jeff-Jack Dinner I didn't have to watch the Tigers get whooped by the White Sox.

Enough of my ramblings, it is almost tip off of the title game where I hope Memphis will beat Kansas.

-Kyle