That's a picture of President Barack Obama after signing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act yesterday. It's now a law that tells corporations and the courts to not be dicks when it comes to women (and others) suing for pay discrimination. That's Lilly Ledbetter, who was royally fucked by the Supreme Court despite earning 40% less than male counterparts at Goodyear, receiving the pen from Obama. Most of the Republicans in Congress voted against it. This photo presents some cognitive dissonance for the Rude Pundit. He's used to a president sitting there and smiling as he signs a law that forces children to watch as Halliburton employees slash the throats of puppies or whatever cruel legislation was placed in front of the barely sentient George W. Bush. This Obama fella, he's signing something that is good for average people. Fuckin' weird, man.
Yesterday, Obama also pimp-slapped bailed-out Wall Street bankers who were paid over $18 billion in bonuses. Calling it "shameful," Obama said, "The American people understand that we've got a big hole that we've got to dig ourselves out of -- but they don't like the idea that people are digging a bigger hole even as they're being asked to fill it up." This is what happens when you elect someone who hasn't spent his years sucking filthy lucre from the corporate teat (yeah, yeah, except for campaign donations). You get someone who understands that the capitalist world needs to be kept in line or it'll run screaming crazy like a naked acid freak in Times Square.
In other "Well, isn't this different?" news, Democrats in Congress decided to act like the majority and took the immensely popular State Children's Health Insurance Programs expansion legislation that gone-but-not-forgotten President Bush vetoed and not only brought it up for a vote again, but added back in shit they had taken out to please their Republican masters. In a middle finger to the minority, Democrats put back in a provision that eliminates a five-year waiting period for the children of legal immigrants to get on SCHIP or Medicaid. Republicans, believing that it's good for some kids to not see doctors for half a decade, are predictably upset.
It seems, though, on this, at least, for there is still the stimulus package with which to wrestle, Democrats have reached deep and finally found a way to say, "You know, GOPpers? Go fuck yourselves."
