I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Saturday, October 24, 2009

I seem to be having Donald Duck moments of outburst this weekend

WTF. Not only did we have a massive brainfail on 30 senators not voting to add the Franken Amendment, it now maybe stripped from the bill anyway?

"(Inouye's office) is being targeted by defense contractors. Their lobbyists have reportedly flooded Inouye's office, worried they may lose contracts or open themselves up to lawsuits."

Ya think? See, this is where we have AdamSmithFail. The free market, left to it's own devices, would include total bullshit like this. No, really, talk to the hand. This is American Business. This is "tort reform." This shit happens. No, really, the world would be a fucking cesspool with total free open markets. Don't make me roll out the manufacturing problems of adding known carcinogens to the food stream. No, really, this is why we can't have nice things. This is what business would do if there were absolutely no regulation. And this is not an isolated case (or I'll roll out the ongoing sexual harassment cases two decades after the rest of us had to sit in conference rooms and have someone lecture us about what some of us figured out in third grade).

"In a letter to the Senate, however, the (Pentagon) said 'it may be more effective' to seek a law that would prohibit the clauses in any business contracts within U.S. jurisdiction."

No. Absolutely fucking no. You want our tax dollars you will not have this in your contracts. Period. No matter where you do the work we pay for. This is weasel clause. See, the original case that brought this to light wouldn't have been covered with an amendment worded that way.

Fire up the emails and phones. Time to storm the castle once again.

2 comments:

Dr. Phil (Physics) said...

There are people who just aren't willing to consider Al Franken a serious Senator. Oh, wait, you're thinking that businesses WANT to exploit people working on the U.S. dime?

Dr. Phil

Steve Buchheit said...

Yes, that second one. Really, this is one of those amendments that you say, "Shouldn't be needed, so we can show a willingness to work together lets vote for it." Instead it seems like we're asking too much of the companies that take our money.