Bush threatens to sign endorsement of discrimination

Of all the ballsy things the President likes to do and say, this may take the fuckin' cake (and reflects his "let them eat cake" attitude).

Last month, Rep. George Miller and 93 co-sponsors introduced the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. It would restore anti-discrimination protection for workers after the Supreme Court spit in the eye of established law and blatantly lied to further a class warfare ideology when they handed down its decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.; they unashamedly misinterpreted and reversed the intent of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

The Court ruled that Ledbetter, 19-year employee of Goodyear that was systematically discriminated against, was ineligible for compensation because she had not filed suit within 180 days of the actual decision to discriminate against her. This was a blatant distortion of the intent of Congress when it passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and a disregard of thirty three years of its application. Why did they bother even pretending to interpret the law? It was clear to everyone how they were going to decide the case.

In his continued ideological assault on workers’ and civil rights, President Bush has threatened to veto the bipartisan Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act if passed into law. And while his hand picked Supreme Court has already exposed his ideological bias against worker protections like Title VII, the President’s statement of explanation of his threat brazenly misrepresents the bill while contradicting itself within the same paragraph.

President Bush said in his statement:

…H.R. 2831 purports to undo the Supreme Court’s decision of May 29, 2007, in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. by permitting pay discrimination claims to be brought within 180 days not of a discriminatory pay decision, which is the rule under current law, but rather within 180 days of receiving any paycheck affected by such a decision, no matter how far in the past the underlying act of discrimination allegedly occurred. As a result, this legislation effectively eliminates any time requirement for filing a claim involving compensation discrimination. Allegations from thirty years ago or more could be resurrected and filed in federal courts.

President Bush’s representation of the bill is patently false and misleading. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is intended to close an apparent loophole that, until this recent Supreme Court decision, had never been used, let alone recognized, in the 33 year history of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The new bill would simply and explicitly state that a discriminated employee may file a grievance within 180 days of the issuance of a paycheck that is impacted in part or in full by a previous decision to discriminate.

The bill also calls for the awarding of, at most, two years worth of back pay to those who have proven to be discriminated against for a long period of time. No where in the bill is there a provision for an unlimited statute of limitations on the period of time that can elapse between the discriminatory act and the filing of a grievance. The assertion that “allegations from thirty years ago or more could be resurrected and filed in federal courts” is flatly false, and he no doubt knows it. But that's no surprise, given his ability to stare truth or facts in the face and, all the while with a big smile on his face, do whatever the hell it is he wants, anyways.

A veto of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act would signal support for a broken labor market that is more and more unfriendly to working families, minorities and especially women. Wielding the veto pen on this law would be a written endorsement of a job market that pays women just 77 cents for equal work at equal positions as men.

It's really hard for me to grasp the sheer audacity of his consistent, full bore dismantling of our entire history's worth of social progress and hard earned rights. In eight short years he has not just stopped the path towards a more fair and just society in its path, he has used his faux cowboy boot to kick it backwards to the Hoover administration.

Clearly, his statement is filled with bold mouth lies, but still, I can't imagine how he can pretend to justify this. He should really just come out with the truth for once and say, "I don't give a shit about workers, women, minorities, children, the sick or the needy. Or brown people." I'd really honestly prefer that to the constant vertigo spin his administration puts on things.