U.S. leaders try to shift blame

_I    t's scoundrel time. Americans
_____in large numbers are looking
_____for change. Those in power are
_____feeling   threatened.   So   the
_____leaders of Congress line up to
appeal not to our better angels but
to our foulest demons. Consider
what the right-wing majority that
controls the Congress has done in
the last week.
      First, they took care of them-
selves and tossed out the most vul-
nerable. They approved a congres-
sional pay raise even as the leaders
of the House of Representatives re-
fused to allow a vote on raising the
minimum wage for America's poor-
est workers. The minimum wage
hasn't been raised in nine years. A
full-time worker cannot lift a family
of three out of poverty. The same
majority that abolished welfare and
required poor, single mothers to go
to work now ensures that the pay
they receive will condemn them to
remain in poverty. They are full of
pious righteousness, but they are
deaf to the basic teachings of Jesus
Christ. Scoundrel time.
     And even as they were condemn-
ing minimum-wage workers to pov-
erty, they were pushing to give the
wealthiest handful of families a $1
trillion tax break. The House passed
and the Senate is now considering a
bill that would essentially gut the es-
tate tax, a tax that applies to only