The LuLac Edition #493, June 9th, 2008

PHOTO INDEX: GOP LOGO.

6th DISTRCIT ACTIVITY

It appears the 6th District Republicans are again communicating with the political community. Here's an e mail I recieved from the local GOP.
Friends:
First...I hope everyone has found someplace cool to ride out this heat early wave. And it's only June 9th!
Now...on to the Good News update!
...As promised, information has been posted at the website for new Committee Members. Welcome aboard!
...A few new links have been added to the top our 6th District Website. You can visit the campaign sites of Lou Barletta and John McCain directly from our homepage!
...If you are a Committee Person...don't forget to attend the upcoming Luzerne County Republican Convention. Luzerne County's future begins now...let's make a difference!
...And lastly, as of this writing it's been 883 days since Barack Obama visited Iraq. He just can't seem to squeeze a visit to Iraq into his busy schedule. What message does this send the brave men and women of our military from a fellow who wants to be their Commander In Chief?
God Bless...and try to stay cool!
James M. O'Meara, Sr.

www.6thdistrictrepublicans.com.

THE FREE MARKET

You know I hear a lot of talk about the free market from the Republican party these days. They tell us the Liberal Democrats if they take over will mess up the economic place the U.S. has in the world. I’m told that if government control the markets, only economic doom and gloom will ensue. The system, the good life, as we know it will cease to exist if Democrats gained the Presidency and control the two houses of Congress.
It has been a proven fact that business, big business, left to its own devices will look out for big business. They will do everything in their power to “screw” the average working man and woman.
We let the free market decide the gas market in this country. Now we are paying $4.00 a gallon for gas, the middleman, the gas station owners are struggling to survive but the CEOs are making millions of dollars.
We let the free market determine the growth of the media in this country. In the 80s, TV and Radio stations did not have to do public service commitments anymore to serve the community. Broadcast entities that served the public were marginalized and put on ice, merged with mega media giants. Now in every radio market, you hear the same broadcast menu from the same three mega companies.
The loan market. We let loan operators speculate like the gold rushers of the old west. Saying yes to people who had no means to pay off a loan but assuring them they’d stand by the customer. And then when the foreclosures started, the predatory lenders shrugged their shoulders and said, “who me?”
The auto industry used to make cars for under $9,000. Then they set the price at a medium of $20,000. Just who decided that? The industry made tons of trucks and SUVs because public demand was there. But not once in these glory days of profits, did they ever set aside some thought for what happens when the boom becomes the bust.
Never mind terrorism, we are more unsafe now than ever before from big business. Our meats aren’t getting the proper inspection, our vegetables are being banned for e coli and the last time airplanes were inspected was about three years ago. Let the free market make you safe, yeah right, they’ll say it costs too much!
The older I get, (unlike many people my age who have swallowed the conservative kool-aid) I have seen just what the free market, left to run amok can do to the average citizen. Our wages are lower, we work longer than we ever did, and costs for things that used to be a given, like bread and eggs are soaring out of control. No big businesses or conglomerates are going out of business though. You notice that? The people taking the hit are the middle class men, women and families.
The Republicans will tell you the free market is good for America. Not all America. It’s only good for a certain segment of connected Americans in bed with big business. (Even Richard Nixon put price controls on meat and other staples in the 70s because he saw the unnecessary greed. Whether he did it for his own political survival is open to question but at least he acted in the interests of the middle class.) You’ll hear the GOP right wingers tell you the free market will correct itself. That if the Democrats get in, they’ll smother the incentives of free enterprise with their regulations. My God someone has to regulate these people who make their own rules (credit card companies who arbitrarily raise rates) with little regard for the common man. The Democrats can’t do any worse than what you have now in this country. The free market, left to its own devices will suck the life out of this country. We’re halfway down the tubes already.