Not Just about Jobs

In 2007, when I was still sending letters to what I then thought of as "my" senators, I wrote to Jim Demint to ask him to support the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007.  This was one of the first bills that the new Democratic congress was trying to pass.


I received a lengthy reply from whoever Demint pays to answer his mail, thanking me warmly for my letter.


However, Demint's ghost writer informed me, raising the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 was uncalled for.


Well, I just tried to rephrase his reply, but there really are no words like the originals:


"The current minimum wage ($5.15) gives unskilled workers an opportunity to enter the job market and build skills for future employment.  Two-thirds of those who receive the minimum wage earn a pay raise by the next year.  You may also be interested to know the majority of those receiving the federal minimum wage are not the sole earners in their family and in fact are between 16 and 25 years of age.  For these reasons, I do not support mandating a federal minimum wage increase....

"I am also concerned by the fact that the minimum wage increase in H.R. 2 would raise the minimum wage in lower cost of living states like South Carolina while leaving it untouched in higher cost of living states like Massachusetts that already maintain a higher minimum wage."

Where to begin!!!!!


I don't know what minimum wage jobs Demint was talking about, but the folks that have the nerve to pay minimum wage aren't offering training in much other than washing dishes, picking produce, or changing diapers.


And the opportunities for promotion?  Not a lot of management training opportunity in the minimum wage sector.


Now what made me completely crazy was the idea that the cost of living in South Carolina was too low to warrant stressing employers by raising the minimum wage.


From $5.15.

Here are some headlines from 2007 from Lundberg, who surveys gas prices:

February 25, 2007:  "Gas price increases speed up."
February 27, 2007:  "Traders flinch, Retail Price Jumps."
March 12, 2007:  "Pump costs have soared over 40 cents over the past six weeks."

You get the drift.  

Now at $5.15 an hour, how many hours do you need to work to fill your tank?

Okay, I could go on and on, but basically, the only cost that stays low here in the South is the cost of taxes, which pay for the schools and libraries, roads and bridges, police and firefighters.

But in Jim Demint's Mayberry fantasy, that paper route that you're working is going to lead you pretty much to the editor's desk at the Post and Courier.

And the babysitting?  Well, it sure will train you to take care of that baby you'll have when you leave high school, because even if you worked really hard and got good grades, you would probably not be able to afford to go to college.

So the bottom line is, are you going to vote for six more years of this nonsense?  Or are you going to support someone who understands about the need for, not just jobs, but jobs that pay a living wage.

www.alvingreeneforussenator.com 

Not Easy Being Greene

Alvin Greene is going to have a tough campaign.  And not because Demint and his gang are going to try very hard to defeat him.  Demint is acting as though he's unopposed these days; smug enough to be spending his time endorsing other corporate conservatives.  Hell, he doesn't even feel the need to be spending much time here in South Carolina acting like he cares about who's unemployed or doesn't have a home anymore.


Alvin Greene is going to have a tough campaign because we Democrats don't trust him.  We the party of equal opportunity don't think someone with Alvin Greene's lack of polish and cash can go to Washington and figure out how to govern.


Well, I doubt that he can do the damage that six more years of Demint will do.  I'm willing to give him a chance.  If Alvin Greene wants to try to help us get jobs and better schools, why not see what he can do?  We KNOW what Jim Demint can do, and our country and the state of South Carolina just can't take it anymore.

Let the Race Begin!

Alvin Greene, whose campaign against Jim Demint for US senator, has truly been running on a wing and a prayer, has now come a little closer to making this a real race.

The Warren Group, a consulting firm, has taken on the Greene campaign pro bono, per the Columbia Free Times:

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2550677644881236797


The campaign also continues to pick up grassroots support from people who are tired of Demint's corporatism.

The people of South Carolina need a voice.

If you are tired of being ignored by your senator, it's time to vote for someone who truly represents us.

http://www.alvingreeneforussenator.com/

Shakespeare and Palin Aren't the Only Ones

Jim Demint gets apoplectic over what he calls the "Death Tax".  I remember back when it was called the "Estate Tax", because the tax is actually on the estates of the deceased.  Now those of us who don't know too much about the government, myself included, were afraid that when we died, the government would take our homes and every penny we had saved up for our children and grandchildren.

Not true.  The estate tax is only on the very wealthy.  It's called an estate tax because the very wealthy tend to live in "estates". It is a tax on those who have lived well in this country, and have now died well.  I like to think of it as paying it forward.  You know, back to the country that provided the fertile ground for your wealth, and keeping that ground fertile for others.

Now I don't know how many of those houses that John McCain owns that he really needs, but I'll bet after he goes he won't need that many.  But he and Jim Demint are fighting to keep every one of them in the family.

Jim Demint is an ad man.  A very successful one.  He and his colleagues invent phrases like "death tax" to scare us.  It has worked.

Don't let him scare you this time.


Alvin Greene doesn't know a lot of big words.  He doesn't have a staff or lobbyists to help him invent phrases intended to manipulate and control.


Visit his website and add your support:


www.alvingreeneforussenator.com


While you're online, send a message to Jim Demint.  Tell him to stop voting for the wealthy and powerful corporations that hoard their fortunes rather than reinvest in our country and our people, and that pay to keep him in office so that they can continue to hoard their fortunes, even after they're gone. 

 

On the Scene

Lawrence O'Donnell believes Alvin Greene may just be "better than Demint":

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/vp/38316719#38316719 

We know he doesn't have deep pockets.  We know he is unemployed.  So when he says he wants to help South Carolinians find jobs, we know where he is coming from.

Jim Demint is currently employed, and has friends that have lots of cash, and are very willing to help out.  Because they know Demint will help them in return.

So why is Alvin Greene getting so much national publicity?  Check out the hot you-tube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar09czbfE8o 

Maybe this time around we aren't looking for the well-dressed and well-rehearsed and well-funded Jim Demint.  Maybe we'd just rather have the man who looks a bit uncomfortable with all the attention, but just wants to change the way things are done in Washington.

www.alvingreeneforussenator.com 

Get "on the scene" with Alvin Greene.

All about the Dough?

With so little cash, you're not going to hear much from Alvin Greene.

With so much cash, you won't hear much from Jim Demint, either.  He's figuring this election is a slam dunk.  He'll be stumping in other states, to re-elect those no taxes/ government-services-for-the-wealthy-only candidates.  Oh, he might stop by for a photo op with Nikki Haley, the Mark Sandford sound-alike.

But the fact is, Jim Demint cares more about corporate power and what it can do for him than about helping the people in South Carolina who are struggling to find work and educate their children.

Alvin Greene believes in the workers of South Carolina, and believes in helping the workers in South Carolina get back on their feet.

Without corporate help.

www.alvingreeneforussenator.com 

Check it out.

Not for Nothing

Not surprisingly, Jim Demint voted against an extension of unemployment benefits.  Even when he loses his job, Demint will have a substantial cushion which he believes is his due, and lots of good, and monied, friends, who will help him deal with the trauma.

Most of us do not have that substantial cushion, and our good friends will give us what they can, but probably not a job.

Alvin Greene wants to help South Carolinians, and Americans, get back to work.  And he would not vote against helping us get on our feet when we are down.

Unlike Jim Demint, Alvin Greene does not believe we are trying to freeload when we are down; he knows we want to get back on our feet, and he wants to help us do it. 


www.alvingreeneforussenator.com

Let Alvin know you are behind him, because he wants to fight for you.









 

A Candidate with No Funding? How Dare He???

I guess I also needed to do a little shift in perspective to accept the idea of someone with no apparent resources, and no experience in public office, running for an important job like US Senator.

But have you watched C-SPAN lately?  I mean, we no longer have the guy that thought the internet was connected by tubes.  But we still have the guy that's so ticked off that his nomination for federal judge was rejected that he can't believe that any other (democratically nominated) candidate has enough expertise to do the job.

We have a whole slew of senators who appear to believe that the solution to the problem in the Gulf is more drilling, and the solution to the health care crisis is to put Medicare into the hands of the health insurance giants, and who consistently vote no to financial reform, I guess because that would tie the hands of the financial giants they were yelling about back when it hit the fan just two years ago.

And I don't even have the time or inclination to get into the sex scandals that are an ongoing backdrop for the "Party of Family Values".

But then there is Senator Jim Demint.  Who has come up from Mayberry to prove than anyone can, and who now has millions of dollars behind him to help him make every speech sound like he is fighting the war for America's soul.  No more dumb comments like he made during his first run for Senate; he is polished.

And who polished him?  Getting polished isn't free, you know.

You know, I would rather have Alvin Greene, sincere and unpolished, speaking for me in Congress.  I like that he doesn't have the corporate funding that has made Jim Demint the smooth talker that he is.

After all, isn't Democracy supposed to be about We the People?

Check out Alvin Greene's website at:

alvingreeneforussenator.com

Help him out with your contributions of $5, $10, $25.  Let's help one of us get to the US Senate. 

Alvin Greene Up Front

There are two schools of thought on where Alvin Greene got the $10,440 with which he registered to run for in South Carolina's primary for US Senate.


One school believes that some nefarious republican slipped Mr. Greene the money in order to thwart the rather more serious candidacy of Vic Rawl.  On the other side is Mr. Greene himself, who contends that he has been stashing away the savings while in the military service.

At this point, I don't believe it matters.  Mr. Greene is serious about running, and that's good enough for me.

Alexandra Petri, in her Washington Post column reviewing Mr. Greene's first official campaign speech, calls his speech "weirdly normal" -- http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/07/alvin_greenes_catechism_of_pol.html


Mr. Greene may not be flashy (he's not flashy), or use big words, or maybe even have big thoughts, but he expresses goals that we all would like for our elected officials.


Further, he lacks the sophistication to be slick, to twist his words to please his audience.


Some might laugh at Alvin Greene, but isn't he saying the same thing as Jim Demint, but without the expensive speech writers and focus groups telling him why he needs to say it in order to get elected?  And who do you believe?


So visit Alvin Greene's website, and help him get on the map.  He can't do it without you.

http://www.alvingreeneforussenator.com/ 

Where Is Alvin Greene?

We know Alvin Greene is having his first campaign event (except for the "simple, old-fashioned campaigning" that won him the nomination) today, in Manning.  They have had to move to larger venues TWICE because of the anticipated crowd size.  

I am very proud of this unassuming young man, who is getting his name across with no campaign funds.  If only Jim Demint were as frugal.

But WHERE is Alvin Greene on the Internet???

If you google Alvin Greene you get today's news, or mostly last month's news, which is nothing but the same stale stories that accused the republicans of fraud, and laughed at the democrats for accusing the republicans of fraud.

If you look for Alvingreene.com, the most logical address for the web site, you find that it is "parked" at GoDaddy.com, and someone has already bought it.  Hmmm...

If you google Alvin Greene and senate, or senator, you get the same tidbits.

But Alvin Greene does indeed have a web site.  In his own unassuming way, and no doubt without paying anyone to help him market his campaign, Alvin Greene took:

www.alvingreeneforussenator.com


That's right; you really have to want to find him.  


But we can help.  Pass the link on to all your friends and family:


www.alvingreeneforussenator.com


Sign up to join the team!  Send Alvin a message of support!  Let's make this website happen!


Because the folks who are advising Alvin Greene may not know how to best get his name out there.... Or maybe they do.

Why Alvin Greene? Why Not???

While we are all feeling a bit depressed about the fact that Democrats in the Democratic Party have been telling us since the last election that they plan on losing in 2010, we are wasting a golden -- yes, golden -- opportunity.  Thanks to some anonymous donor, we have Alvin Greene.

I don't know what Alvin Greene stands for.  But I do know what Jim Demint stands for.  And I'm against it.

If you are too, vote for Alvin Greene