Thursday, January 29, 2009

Fair Pay Act Passes Without Kline's Support

President Barack Obama signed an equal-pay bill into law Thursday before cheering labor and women leaders who fought hard for it and the woman whose history-making lawsuit gave impetus to the cause.


Obama, choosing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as the first bill to sign as president, called it a "wonderful day" and declared that ending pay disparities between men and woman an issue not just for women, but for all workers.



The measure, which amends the 1964 Civil Rights Act, also applies to discrimination based on factors such as race, religion, national origin, disability or age.



Unfortunately Congressman John Kline doesn't believe women are entitled to equal pay as he voted against it. Again...why does Congressman John Kline hate women?



Nuff said...but apparently Kline is continuing to cling to his idealogy over solutions (or civil rights...) Kline continues to cling to ideology over real solutions



Friday, January 16, 2009

Why does Congressman John Kline Hate Women and Children?

This week John Kline vote against providing needy children with health insurance (S-CHIP). Yet forty mainstream republican joined Democrats in passing the bill (289-139). There are thousands of uninsured children in Dakota County alone. Kline should be watching out for their welfare but, instead Kline decides to vote against providing them healthcare.


John Kline’s voting record AGAINST equal rights for women, not once but twice already this session, and now his vote AGAINST healthcare for children not only marks him as an extremist but blind and uncaring to the needs within his own community. Minnesota has about 82,000 uninsured kids (under 18). The number stands at nearly 10 million nationwide. Children’s health and mental problems need to be diagnosed and treated as soon as possible to avoid future problems and costs to the community. Without coverage, the impact on community services is greater, children are more at risk both medically and socially, and costs increase with delays.

Still Kline prefers to vote AGAINST women and children (our friends, family, and neighbors) and continue to accept money from the health insurance industry: (Insurance $44,700 and Health Products $32,400). The health and welfare of our families are too important to come second to the whims of Kline’s extreme right wing ideology

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Congressman Kline Is Okay With Discrimination Against Women

John Kline Speak:
"Especially in this economic climate we cannot afford to enable endless litigation of potentially staggering record keeping requirements on employers."

Translation:
Wage discrimination against women is okay. I'm fine with paying women less than men, even when they have the same qualifications and work the same hours. Women will sue when they find out they are paid less for the same work as a man, so let’s not pass this legislation.

John Kline is okay with discriminating against women. Women can continue to earn less, and government can continue to support unfair and unequal wages because employers shouldn’t be liable for their actions. The only thing that’s staggering here is Kline’s total detachment from working families that depend on women’s deflated wages.

In the current economic climate that so adversely affecting women, how could he not support pay equity? Over half of the 37 million Americans living in poverty today are women. And women in America are further behind than women in other countries—the gap in poverty rates between men and women is wider in America than anywhere else in the Western world.
Please tell me Congressman Kline... I really want to know why is it better to allow women to continue to struggle economically than let corporations be accountable for their actions?

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

John Kline Must Hate Women

Congressman John Kline and the GOP have become obstructionists to fairness by supporting corporate discrimination over American women. Instead of allow women equal pay for equal work, Kline voted NO on both the Paycheck Fairness Act and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.

Today, on average, a working full-time woman earns 77 cents to every dollar earned by a man. This is wage discrimination. Over the course of a woman's lifetime despite limiting current spending, it will adversely affect benefits by lowering Social Security and pension plans payouts.

The continue disparity in wages over the last 40 years between men and women signifies the need for stronger equal pay laws. Many recent reports show working women continue to earn less than men even though statistics indicate they are better educated. As a result of this, working families lose about $200 billion in income every year because of this pay discrimination.

It is clear that equal pay helps everybody. What’s not clear is how John Kline can continue to justify his obstructionist vote to the women in Minnesota’s second congressional district.

Facts About Pay Equity

  • In 2005, women's median annual earnings were only $.77 for every $1.00 earned by men. For women of color, the gap is even worse – only $.71 for African American women and $.58 for Latinas.
  • The General Accounting Office compiled data from the Current Population Survey regarding the ten industries that employ 71 percent of U.S. women workers and 73 percent of U.S. women managers. In seven of the ten industries examined, the pay gap between full-time male and female managers widened between 1995 and 2000.
  • If women received the same wages as men who work the same number of hours, have the same education and union status, are the same age, and live in the same region of the country, then these women's annual income would rise by $4,000 and poverty rates would be cut in half. Working families would gain an astounding $200 billion in family income annually.
  • Pay equity in female-dominated jobs (jobs in which women comprise 70 percent or more of the workforce) would increase wages for women by approximately 18 percent.
    Fifty-five percent of all women work in female-dominated jobs (jobs in which women comprise 70 percent or more of the workforce) whereas only 8.5 percent of all men work in these occupations. However, the men working in female-dominated jobs still receive about 20 percent more than women who work in female-dominated jobs.
  • Women are paid less in every occupational classification for which sufficient information is available, according to the data analysis in over 300 job classifications provided by the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics.
  • In 1963, the year of the Equal Pay Act's passage, full-time working women were paid 59 cents on average to the dollar received by men, while in 2005 women were paid 77 cents for every dollar received by men. In other words, for the last 42 years, the wage gap has only narrowed by less than half of a penny per year.

Monday, January 05, 2009

Congressman John Kline's First Act of Congress

John Kline talks about earmarks yada yada yada….with earmarks less than half a percent of the total budget, it’s like worrying about the range fan venting when the house is burning down…

Kline prefers to champion earmarks instead of address all the issues that now face us -from housing, economy, health care to education and gas prices that do significantly make up the federal budget. He instead wants to focus on meaningless crap!

"As my first act of the 111th Congress, I will ask Speaker Pelosi and Republican Leader John Boehner to put an end to the wasteful earmarking process. Our constituents demand increased transparency and deserve the assurance that federal spending decisions are based on merit."

His heartfelt need to cut earmarks came only after the Democrats took controlled of congress...which is rather like finding g*d after committing murder…what a putz! There is no better indication of John Kline's obstructionist stance than his vote against 'earmark reform legislation' in January of 2007.

In the 2007 the Democratic 'earmark' reform bill would require any bill with earmarks contain the name of a legislator who introduced the inserted earmark, tax or tariff benefit be included in a report attached to that bill. Instead of voting for this reform, Kline voted against the House Resolution 6 on January 5, 2007. I can only suppose Kline needs a soapbox because he ain't gonna be doing anything productive for us or the failing economy!

To use a phrase coined by George H.W. Bush, this is "voodoo economics," based more on wishful thinking than on hard data or carefully considered policy proposals which brings us to the first thing that Congressman John Kline really will be doing when congress convenes this week...

As his first act in congress, Kline will be giving himself a raise …did I mention how John Kline voted against raising the minimum wage for the rest of us?

Here's more information on how earmarks are being used as Funny Numbers to cut spending only from programs they (neocons like Kline and Bush) don't want while the American economy meltdown further under their leadership. If this were the 1800's Kline would be holding a pitch fork, feeding the flames while burning women as witches and science books...