Labor Day and Republicans - what a match!

Does anyone else find it funny, in a faintly nauseating way, that the GOP is starting its convention on Labor Day? The party of enriching the wealthy at the expense of the working people, using the most hallowed day for workers to launch their big party – I guess it's not so different than their last choice, in a way, of a New York convention. The audacity – not of hope – but of hubris, in selecting New York, after completely bungling (or worse, depending on who you talk to) the 9/11 attack. After it became quite clear the party in power had ignored all the warning signs of 9/11 and showed gross negligence in handling any "investigation," then afterwords told New Yorkers it was perfectly safe to venture back into an area full of asbestos and other chemical and particulate pollution, resulting in severe health problems for many – they march up there and hold their convention, as if they were some kind of heroes.

Now, they start their convention on the day that celebrates the working people and their long-lived struggles for fair and safe working conditions, a living wage, and to provide a future for their offspring – in the very year that their policies have come to their awful, predictable conclusion of an economy that is collapsing right smack on top of said workers.

Ah, but the economy is strong, says McCain. Those workers are nothing but a bunch of “whiners,” say his top economic advisers. Yes, we can add “The Party of Denial” to the many accolades they should be heaping upon themselves this coming week.

For the last few decades, Republicans in Congress and in the White House have worked feverishly to help in the massive transfer of wealth that has happened, from the working people to the very rich. Through tax cuts for the wealthy, to economic policies that benefit those on top while extracting every last drop of sweat from those at the bottom, to no-bid contracts that enrich their favored corporate buddies, as those same companies shortchange the troops on equipment and services, and endanger their lives, this party has shown they care nothing for the little guy. They’ve done their best to deny long-overdue minimum wage increases, and they’ve appointed heads to government agencies such as OSHA that refuse to enforce rules to protect workers, and in fact rewrite rules to make it easier on companies to save money at worker safety expense.

They’ve helped corporations move jobs offshore, while giving them tax breaks. When disaster strikes in a place like New Orleans, they do nothing for the workers who live in the flooded areas, but help corporations move in and take over the city. They ignore the inner cities, except for redlining them and siting polluting industries there.

I could go on and on. The point is, how brazen is this party? They should be ashamed to launch their convention on Labor Day, when they’ve done absolutely nothing for workers, and everything to bring them down to third-world levels.