Obama signs first major piece of legislation: the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act.
Obama signs first major piece of legislation: the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act.
Today, President Obama signed his first major piece of legislation, boosting workers’ ability to bring pay discrimination lawsuits. Also at the ceremony with Obama was Lilly Ledbetter, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and other top women in government. From Obama’s remarks during the East Room signing ceremony.
And I sign this bill for my daughters, and all those who will come after us, because I want them to grow up in a nation that values their contributions, where there are no limits to their dreams and they have opportunities their mothers and grandmothers never could have imagined.
Watch it:
Today was technically Obama’s second bill-signing. (The first was for legislation fixing the Interior Secretary’s salary.) President Bush’s first piece of legislation didn’t come until Feb. 16: a resolution honoring Ronald Reagan’s 90th birthday.
Transcript:
It is fitting that with the very first bill I sign – the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act – we are upholding one of this nation’s first principles: that we are all created equal and each deserve a chance to pursue our own version of happiness.
It is also fitting that we are joined today by the woman after whom this bill is named – someone Michelle and I have had the privilege of getting to know for ourselves. Lilly Ledbetter didn’t set out to be a trailblazer or a household name. She was just a good hard worker who did her job – and did it well – for nearly two decades before discovering that for years, she was paid less than her male colleagues for the very same work. Over the course of her career, she lost more than $200,000 in salary, and even more in pension and Social Security benefits – losses she still feels today.
Now, Lilly could have accepted her lot and moved on. She could have decided that it wasn’t worth the hassle and harassment that would inevitably come with speaking up for what she deserved. But instead, she decided that there was a principle at stake, something worth fighting for. So she set out on a journey that would take more than ten years, take her all the way to the Supreme Court, and lead to this bill which will help others get the justice she was denied.
Because while this bill bears her name, Lilly knows this story isn’t just about her. It’s the story of women across this country still earning just 78 cents for every dollar men earn – women of color even less – which means that today, in the year 2009, countless women are still losing thousands of dollars in salary, income and retirement savings over the course of a lifetime.
But equal pay is by no means just a women’s issue – it’s a family issue. It’s about parents who find themselves with less money for tuition or child care; couples who wind up with less to retire on; households where, when one breadwinner is paid less than she deserves, that’s the difference between affording the mortgage – or not; between keeping the heat on, or paying the doctor’s bills – or not. And in this economy, when so many folks are already working harder for less and struggling to get by, the last thing they can afford is losing part of each month’s paycheck to simple discrimination.
So in signing this bill today, I intend to send a clear message: That making our economy work means making sure it works for everyone. That there are no second class citizens in our workplaces, and that it’s not just unfair and illegal – but bad for business – to pay someone less because of their gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion or disability. And that justice isn’t about some abstract legal theory, or footnote in a casebook – it’s about how our laws affect the daily realities of people’s lives: their ability to make a living and care for their families and achieve their goals.
Ultimately, though, equal pay isn’t just an economic issue for millions of Americans and their families, it’s a question of who we are – and whether we’re truly living up to our fundamental ideals. Whether we’ll do our part, as generations before us, to ensure those words put to paper more than 200 years ago really mean something – to breathe new life into them with the more enlightened understandings of our time.
That is what Lilly Ledbetter challenged us to do. And today, I sign this bill not just in her honor, but in honor of those who came before her. Women like my grandmother who worked in a bank all her life, and even after she hit that glass ceiling, kept getting up and giving her best every day, without complaint, because she wanted something better for me and my sister.
And I sign this bill for my daughters, and all those who will come after us, because I want them to grow up in a nation that values their contributions, where there are no limits to their dreams and they have opportunities their mothers and grandmothers never could have imagined.
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Kudos for those who passed this legislation and for President Obama for signing it into law.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:26 amYay, President Obama!!!
January 29th, 2009 at 11:27 amLet’s ignore that moronic troll…and flag it.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:27 amWhat happened between Jan 20 and Feb 16… was Botch already on vacation?
January 29th, 2009 at 11:27 ambarack obomber Says:
surprise surprise. another way for someone to get easy free money.
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Why don’t you stick around and back your comment up w/ SOME FACTS???
Surprise, surprise… just more hot air from a troll.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:29 amI presume you’re talking about the tax cuts for the wealthy the Republicans are insisting upon.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:32 amEqual pay for equal work?
what a concept
January 29th, 2009 at 11:34 am# 2 barack obomber:
Yeah, like your buddy Bush’s pals.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:35 amMeaning the trolls… not everyone else.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:35 amsurprise surprise. a ACTUAL way for someone to equal, fair pay.
Can you guys come up with something original?
January 29th, 2009 at 11:36 amtime to stop whining about discrimination.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:36 am—
Yeah, I get so tired of all that whining about white males being an endangered species
A troll is a troll says:
Ahh, the shortsighted view we’ve come to know and love.
Once again, can you guys come up with something original?
January 29th, 2009 at 11:38 amdrive by troll Says I can’t drive 55
you don’t get to decide anymore……heh.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:39 amMy gawd we have stupid trolls this morning.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:40 amOBAMA: So in signing this bill today, I intend to send a clear message: That making our economy work means making sure it works for everyone.
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There are a couple of “clear” messages going on here. Besides righting an obvious wrong in an equality issue, this bill says that employers who discriminate against their female employees when it comes to pay won’t be able to hide behind lame “statute of limitations” laws anymore. Another message is that if this administration has to choose between big business and justice — justice will win.
Good signs all the way around.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:42 am#10
January 29th, 2009 at 11:42 amWow that is even weaker than usual
Why in the hell do people have a problem with equal pay for equal work?
January 29th, 2009 at 11:44 amWhat? A leader who believes in equality for all?
January 29th, 2009 at 11:44 amWow!
How, ummmmm, progressive!
drive by troll Says:
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What’s that high-pitched squealing sound?
A hamster w/ its testicles caught in a wringer?
It’s getting shriller and more desperate. The wringer must be getting tighter.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:45 amIgnoranceIsNotBliss Says:
Why in the hell do people have a problem with equal pay for equal work?
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Dude… its’ “teh profit margin”! We GOTTA MAKE SOME MONEY!!!
January 29th, 2009 at 11:46 amThank God not all American women can become Obama’s wife!
Timing is everything.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:46 amdrive by troll Says
January 29th, 2009 at 11:35 am
It is 2009 we have a half black president its time to stop whining about discrimination.
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Are you saying that because we now have a biracial president, there’s no longer such a thing as discrimination?
Following that logic, segregation was a thing of the past when Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers. But I guess all the people of color in the South who were forced to the back of the bus and had to drink from separate drinking fountains never got the message.
And what does a biracial MALE president have to do with discrimination against women?
January 29th, 2009 at 11:47 amOnly to a slush-brain troll is a level playing field “free money.”
It still hasn’t occurred to the anti-American party that freedom doesn’t mean the right to screw someone else out of their freedom.
Today is yet another departure from Bush, a beacon of substance, because time alone will recover the nation from eight horrific years.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:47 amDRxJ Says:
My gawd we have stupid trolls this morning.
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I’m sorry, but I have to take exception w/ that comment.
We have stupid trolls EVERY morning here at TP.
(We raise them in pens and bring them by truck for our posters’ hunting pleasure.)
January 29th, 2009 at 11:48 amMcWars Says:
Only to a slush-brain troll is a level playing field “free money.”
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You’ll have to excuse the troll. “free money” is the only kind it’s ever had any experience w/. The concept of “working” and “earning” are so foreign to your average troll that the troll has no idea what you’re talking about.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:49 amIsn’t that asking a bit much, Old Goat? After all, this one couldn’t even be bothered to come up with a clever screen name.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:49 amIt sure is nice the have a PRESIDENT OBAMA who loves the American People and not those America hating scum sucking traitor war criminals.
Bush/Cheney War Crimes Trials ‘09
January 29th, 2009 at 11:50 amBATTERRRRRRRRUP!
January 29th, 2009 at 11:50 amThis is an OUTRAGE! An OUTRAGE I say!! Woman should never, I repeat NEVER earn the same as men for the same work!!
It’s nothing but Highway Robbery to allow these women to sue for back pay! This shouldn’t be a law, it should be a CRIME! They worked for lower wages all those years and were happy to get them. Now they go whining to Congress, whining to Obama, that they should be given more. The greed of these woman is beyond pale.
I tell you what we should do, folks, we should just refuse to hire women. Men are better qualified anyway. Women should stay at home and have babies. That’s what they do best anyway. Why else do we have Viagra?
/limpbaugh
January 29th, 2009 at 11:50 amdrive by troll Says:
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A lawyer supporting lawyers brought to you by BHO.
It is 2009 we have a half black president its time to stop whining about discrimination.
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After the reign of Dim Son no one can claim we don’t hire the mentally incompetent, either, so it’s a win all around.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:52 amdrive by troll Says:
Its 2009 and its time for you racist punks to grow up and stop being such ignorant morons
January 29th, 2009 at 11:53 amok trolls; remember what you were telling us for the last 8 years?
ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES
Deal with it!
January 29th, 2009 at 11:53 ammisshusseinmolly Says:
Are you saying that because we now have a biracial president, there’s no longer such a thing as discrimination?
Following that logic, segregation was a thing of the past when Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers. But I guess all the people of color in the South who were forced to the back of the bus and had to drink from separate drinking fountains never got the message.
And what does a biracial MALE president have to do with discrimination against women?
Good afternoon, Missmolly. This eager jump to conclusions brings back vivid memories of certain commentaries as Katrina was unfolding. “Racism no longer exists” was the most common rhetoric as blacks were packed in and around the convention center and begging for help.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:54 amI think that’s a bit like asking Ted Haggard not to be attracted to men.
It’s baked on in.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:54 amwindsor Says:
My GOD you are ignorant and pathetic. Are you having a contest with LushMoron to see which of you can post the most ignorant and worthless garbage? Take your shortbus to your special school and let the adults talk you ignorant piece of garbage
January 29th, 2009 at 11:55 ammisshusseinmolly Says:
Following that logic, segregation was a thing of the past when Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers. But I guess all the people of color in the South who were forced to the back of the bus and had to drink from separate drinking fountains never got the message.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:47 am
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Now that’s just silly talk. Everybody knows that racism ended in the United States in 1770, when Crispus Attucks, a FREE black man, was killed by British troops alongside white men. At that moment, both races became equal, and everything that happened after that was simply a detail.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:56 amralph the wonder llama Says:
BATTERRRRRRRRUP!
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There are those purists who claim the pen-raised trolls aren’t nearly as wily and vigorous as the free-range trolls. But it’s gotten increasingly difficult to find wild trolls anymore. Hence, we’re kinda forced to stock these domestically produced ones to keep up w/ our poster’s demands.
As you said the other day, ralph… you don’t play Whack-A-Troll™ w/ the trolls you wish you had, you play w/ the trolls you can actually git ahold of… or sum’pin to that effect.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:56 amDr. Hussein Matt Says:
The fact that reich-wingers hate this is more proof the GOPigs HATE women.
They likes them that good ol’ bathroom stall loving.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:58 ambarack obomber Says:
surprise surprise. another way for someone to get easy free money.
I see you didnt read the article. Its about going to court and fighting discriminating pay. Its not free money because the people still work. And the judge may decide not to raise wages..
Speaking of free money hows that bank bailout from Bush doing?
Create any jobs?
January 29th, 2009 at 12:03 pmdrive by troll Says:
A lawyer supporting lawyers brought to you by BHO.
Um, you know the things the President signs are “laws,” right?
.
drive by troll Says:
It is 2009 we have a half black president its time to stop whining about discrimination.
It’s time to stop discriminating.
.
The Republic of Stupidity Says:
There are those purists who claim the pen-raised trolls aren’t nearly as wily and vigorous as the free-range trolls. But it’s gotten increasingly difficult to find wild trolls anymore. Hence, we’re kinda forced to stock these domestically produced ones to keep up w/ our poster’s demands.
It’s getting to be a serious problem. For example, this one was waaaay too easy. It’s just laying there, flopping about a bit and making that pathetic whimpering noise. All this did was whet my appetite.
January 29th, 2009 at 12:06 pmBut we all know that the rabid right refused to deal with ANYTHING fair. Can we all see that as typical of them. If it ain’t in corporate or THEIR party’s interest, they refuse. SHAME ON THEM. And, we’ll be watching and taking notes!
January 29th, 2009 at 12:08 pmsetting aside for a moment the lack of skills in the recent batch, I think we also may have a problem with our technique. It seems they can’t get any traction as they are getting pummelled before they get a chance to get their footing. Perhaps we should lay low for a bit and give them a chance to reach the watering hole first
January 29th, 2009 at 12:11 pmElBruce Says:
It’s getting to be a serious problem. For example, this one was waaaay too easy. It’s just laying there, flopping about a bit and making that pathetic whimpering noise. All this did was whet my appetite.
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We’re looking at various solutions, ElBruce, including GMO trolls (being developed by Monsanto) and even robo-trolls… but it’s still not the same as a good, old-fashioned, raised in the open, ideologically driven troll, huh?
Born Free…
January 29th, 2009 at 12:14 pmThe Rush Limpballs Party says it’s bad for businesses if they have to pay women the same wage as men. I’m sure they will be bleating that this will cause businesses to lay off more workers or just go out of business altogether. Why can’t those damn women stay in the kitchen with Dick Armey’s wife?
Limpballs/Bible Spice 2012!
January 29th, 2009 at 12:14 pmdbadass Says:
Perhaps we should lay low for a bit and give them a chance to reach the watering hole first…
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Are you proposing something along the lines of “Don’t fire until you see the blood-shot yellow of their eyes”?
January 29th, 2009 at 12:16 pmdbadass has a valid point.
You don’t throw Little Leaguers into a game with the World Series champion Phillies do you? They’d get crushed and never pick up a baseball again. No, you pit them against other Little Leaguers, the ones who prove themselves move on to the next level…
Any chance we can get TP to fund a Troll Farm System? It might be a wise long-term investment.
January 29th, 2009 at 12:17 pmI’m glad for the woman and future woman to now have equality in pay. It’s to late for me as that time has long passed but looking at some of the comments on this posting I can see a better brighter future for our country. This is an example of what I saw during the 60’s. A President, a Preacher and a Lady who set in front of the bus because she was just tired and that was change too.
January 29th, 2009 at 12:19 pmYeah, TRoS, those robotrolls just don’t cut it. They have no emotional investment, so you can’t make them cry or lose their shit. Plus I still can’t get used to that metallic “clink” that they make when the mallet meets the troll.
January 29th, 2009 at 12:20 pmEasy, free money? What kind of job do you have?
January 29th, 2009 at 12:21 pmAnd he didn’t even sneak off to write a signing statement indicating he intended to disregard the new law. It works so much better when we elect them ourselves.
January 29th, 2009 at 12:23 pmralph the wonder llama Says:
Plus I still can’t get used to that metallic “clink” that they make when the mallet meets the troll.
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Heh… agreed, ralph, agreed… that’s why I’ve never been completely comfortable w/ graphite mallets, even though they’re lighter and far less likely to shatter on contact.
There’s just something about the meaty THWACK of hickory or ash on solid head fat that is so satisfying. Call me old-fashioned…
January 29th, 2009 at 12:24 pmshoeless Says:
Easy, free money? What kind of job do you have?
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Free-lance fluffer for AM radio talk show hosts.
January 29th, 2009 at 12:26 pmExcellent point, Dr. Matt.
John Kenneth Galbraith once said, “The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.”
I think the modern conservative’s second oldest exercise is the search for the angle that will make liberals look as bad a s possible.
And they’ll take some pretty narrow angles to get there, too.
January 29th, 2009 at 1:02 pmJackie Says:
This is an example of what I saw during the 60’s. A President, a Preacher and a Lady who set in front of the bus because she was just tired and that was change too.
January 29th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
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I realize that we have a bit of nostalgic mythology surrounding Rosa Parks as a sweet old lady who was too tired to give up her seat, but I believe this does a it of disservice to the actual person. Rosa Parks was not just some random woman who happened to become a central figure in the Civil Rights movement, she was an activist and NAACP member long before her arrest, and had begun her campaign of civil disobedience against the Montgomery bus system almost a decade before.
And she was neither old nor tired on that day in 1955. In her own words:
January 29th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Hey Ralph,
January 29th, 2009 at 1:28 pmLets make Bush the Commish of that Troll Farm Leauge. I also nominate JOHN KERRY as director of scouting and Troll development.
I’m not saying our trolls are stupid, or even idiotic-their lack of coherent logic says it for them. Or as Fred G. Sanford would say ; Do a pig love slop.
January 29th, 2009 at 1:45 pmtony and lido
For one who has carped about a lack of positive posts, mea culpa. I almost missed this one.
WAY TO GO,FOLKS. Keep it coming!
January 29th, 2009 at 1:55 pmbarack obomber Says:
surprise surprise. another way for someone to get easy free money.
Barack Obomber hates women…and he supports discrimination in the workplace…
hell, this GOP shell game of attacking their opponents by distorting their positions is so fun! Although I’m not sure I’m distorting Obomber’s positions…
January 29th, 2009 at 2:07 pmWow progress without the repugnant Republicans! Go President Obama!
January 29th, 2009 at 2:48 pmBefore anyone starts congratulating the President for this bill, perhaps we should first give an honest evaluation of the predicate offered for it.
January 29th, 2009 at 3:02 pmThis long overdue bill and the first signed into law by Obama is a piece of history that I hope will define the next 4 years of the new administration , much as torture , death and the trashing of the constitution will ALWAYS define the previous one .
January 29th, 2009 at 3:14 pmBravo !
Dynamo Says:
Why do you drop your ignorant dogturds here you worthless piece of garbage? We already know you are stupid. Proving again and again just how stupid you are is boring me to tears. Take a long walk off a short cliff you moronic twit
January 29th, 2009 at 4:27 pmSelkirk Says:
Before anyone starts congratulating the President for this bill, perhaps we should first give an honest evaluation of the predicate offered for it.
Your screed seems to complain that since there’s no such thing as gender discrimination in the workplace, there’s no need to allow people to sue for gender discrimination in the workplace. I disagree with your premise, but that’s really beside the point. People have the right to sue if they’re being discriminated against. Whether they are or not is for a court to decide, not you.
Also in the future, please make your case here instead of linking to your blog. It’s very ugly.
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Dynamo Says:
He’s got to throw a bone to the lawyer community.
Anybody who complains that “trial lawyers” are behind everything are really only trying to justify disenfranchising citizens from access to the court system. There should be somewhere you can sign up to volunteer to have your rights to equal protection under the law stripped from you, in the name of not giving money to bloodsucking trial lawyers. I bet we could get a lot of wingnuts to sign up. Then we could do whatever we wanted to you legally. That’d be neat.
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Dynamo Says:
Aren’t these laws already in place?
Unless you didn’t find out you were being paid unfairly for more than six months after it started. As it stood, the SCOTUS said that you couldn’t have the disparity rectified back to when you started being discriminated against. This fixes that.
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Dynamo Says:
What a surprise! A liberal resorting to child like behavior when someone talks mean about their messiah? HAHAHAHAHAHA. Is that all you got?
I love it how whenever you cons are almost about to make a good point regarding other people’s posts, you proceed to do the same thing in the same post. It’s like fouling out in sports. So far I’ve seen y’all do it with homophobic jokes, sexism and racism; now I can add childish behavior to the list.
January 29th, 2009 at 5:22 pmDynamo Says:
What ISNT suprising is how pathetic you are. You offer nothing but troll idiocy. Talk MEAN? HA. Your posts are inane. Studies in stupidity. To actually be mean they would need some hint of substance. What you do is the conversational equivalent of vomiting on the screen. How pathetic a loser are you anyway. You are a troll. You KNOW you are stupid so you come here to provoke and annoy us then pretend we have some obligation to treat your dogturds like pearls? Get a grip. You are a moronic loser. IT would never occur to me to go to a site to annoy people. Then again I have a functional brainpan and you have the IQ of bellybutton lint. You KNOW you are far too stupid to play in this league so pathetic moron that you are you just try to screw with the game. What you dont get, and this is particularly pathetic, is that you are too stupid to be taken seriously so you dont even accomplish that. You are like a housefly. Swatting you provides only amusement and batting practice. IF you for one second realized just how pathetic you were you would die of embarassment.
January 29th, 2009 at 5:28 pmOne more thing about Rosa Parks—she didn’t sit in the front of the bus. She was sitting in the “colored” section. There was a rule that if the bus was full the “colored” people were supposed to give up their seats to whites. A white man asked her for her seat, and she refused.
January 29th, 2009 at 6:16 pmDynamo Says:
YOu are a lying fool. You dont challenge ANYTHING. You dont even TRY you pathetic loser. YOU. ARE. A. TROLL. All you come here for is to annoy us. You are far to stupid to actually challenge us and you know it so you play the petulant child. Throwing a fit in the back seat and touching your sister to annoy your parents or in this case your betters because you didnt get your way. You dont discuss. You puke your provocations on the site. You STILL want to pretend you are engaging and actually talking to us instead of trying to tweak us. You dont. You poke, you try to annoy and dont get you are too stupid to even pull that off. You got this talking point from the screechmonkey that does your thinking for you and you are trying to shoehorn it into this context but its doesnt fit because you dont even TRY to challenge us with any thoughts of your own or insight. I know you are too stupid to have an actual insight but dont pretend you are even TRYING to do that. You TROLL. You dont deserve to be treated as anything other THAN a troll. You are a punk. I know it, you know it, everyone here knows it. Grow up enter the discussion and we will see but dropping your little dogturd provocations then snivelling like the juvenile punk you are that you are treated like someone who drops conversational dogturds instead of engaging in actual discourse is just plain ignorant. You are trying to get through emotional blackmail that which you havent even TRIED to earn. Stop being a punk. Stop tossing ignorant rightwing talking points like landmines and talk to us and we will see until then you are just a punk and that is how you deserve to be treated. You wont fool anyone by snivelling like a fool that we treat you the way you are treating us. WWWWWWWAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH sure I just come in and attack liberals and Obama who I call the names I was programmed with by my Limborg masters but why wont you treat me with respect WWWWWAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH. I wouldnt have thought it possible but you are being even MORE pathetic. A six year old girl would be embarassed to snivel half as much as you
January 29th, 2009 at 6:58 pmIt’s no wonder that Conservatives hate him; because of him, the rich will have to settle for being slightly less rich, increasing their wealth slightly less slowly, while life becomes much better for many working people, who are the machines making the rich richer in the first place!
January 29th, 2009 at 8:30 pm