Since the start of the 111th Congress, the news and talk of the blogosphere has understandably focused on the misnamed “stimulus” bill. But members of Congress have been up to no good in more ways than one, and are busily proposing all many of nanny-state legislation . Here are some proposed bills you should know about:
H.R. 414: Camera Phone Predator Alert Act
Proposed by Representative Peter King (R-NY), H.R. 414 has found a problem: “Congress finds that children and adolescents have been exploited by photographs taken in dressing rooms and public places with the use of a camera phone.”
But don’t worry, Congress has also found a solution!
“Beginning 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, any mobile phone containing a digital camera that is manufactured for sale in the United States shall sound a tone or other sound audible within a reasonable radius of the phone whenever a photograph is taken with the camera in such phone. A mobile phone manufactured after such date shall not be equipped with a means of disabling or silencing such tone or sound.”
It’s a good thing there are no actual cameras that are smaller than cell phones.
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This is unbelievable. Rep. Peter King, Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, has an op-ed titled “Now is the time to raise the minimum wage” that is little more than a copy/paste of socialist, left-wing talking points on the minimum wage. That he could be this ignorant is rather shocking.
It has been far too long since Congress last increased the minimum wage. In September 1997, minimum wage was increased from $4.75 to $5.15- where it still stands. Since then, Americans have seen a steady increase in living expenses. The price of food has increased by 21 percent, rent by 28 percent, childcare and preschool by 48 percent and gasoline by 81 percent.
It is getting increasingly difficult for a person making $5.15 an hour, even if they are working a full forty hours a week, to live off of this wage. That is a total of only $10,700 per annum! For a single mother or father with two children, this wage leaves them well below the federal poverty line. Hard working Americans who are just getting by on minimum wage are too often faced with the decision of paying their rent, or paying for groceries; paying their heating bill, or paying for medication. That is entirely unacceptable.
Once again, we see rank economic ignorance and disinformation on display at the highest levels of government. Rep. King wants you to believe that minimum wage workers are, by and large, family bread winners. Hard workers struggling to provide for their family and never catching a break. This is false. Only 19% of minimum wage earners fall below the poverty line. The average household income for minimum wage earners is $40,000. This is due to the fact that, of the 1.9 million minimum-wage earners, more than half are under the age of 24. And of minimum wage earners, 2 out of 3 will be earning 10% more within the year.
What King won’t tell you, but any economist can, is that minimum wage laws hurt, rather than help, the poor. Minimum wage laws increase poverty. They deny low skilled workers the opportunity to gain experience by increasing the costs to businesses that hire them.
Compendium File: Minimum wage laws
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New York Representative Peter King has gone off the deep end over the funds New York will receive to fight terror from DHS. The press has wrongly labeled the funds a “cut”, when in fact the funding is for one-time purchases and each year is determined independent of the previous year. There are no contiguous programs to fund here, thus there cannot be a “cut”. Chris Mathews threw him some pathetic softballs on his show the other day, allowing King to show himself for the pandering fool that he has become.
MATTHEWS: Republican Congressman Peter King of New York, of the New York area, is the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. And he said today that the Department of Homeland Security has declared war on New York City.
Congressman, how did this happen? Your city, New York, was the hardest hit in history by terrorism, and yet it?s been cut for anti- terrorism funds. How?d that happen?
KING: Chris, this is absolutely indefensible. The Department of Homeland Security changes the story by the hour. There has never been one allegation of even one penny being misspent on any of the counterterrorism money in New York.
This is 100% false. New York has squandered and wasted almost $10 billion in anti-terror and 9/11 funds.
Newsflash to Mr. King: New York is not at war here, America is at war. Bin Laden has said that they want to attack us in our “heartland”. They aren’t interested in just terrorizing New Yorkers, as much as the New Yorker ego might wish it to be so. They want to terrorize all Americans.
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I am a libertarian-conservative blogger living in the DC area. I have a Master's degree in Political Science, but please don't hold that against me.
