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Every time I try to think about a new topic to cover in this column, something happens that brings it back to legislation and politics. I cant help it. The antics of elected officials continue to interfere with our members ability to make a living.

We just had an election thatamong many other lowlightsfeatured Republican draft dodger Saxby Chambliss from Georgia questioning the patriotism of a triple amputee Vietnam veteran Democrat. Of course, former Senator Max Cleland and others might not be on the outside looking in if they had fought back hard against the smears and asked working people how they really felt about the state of the country.

But they didnt, and President Bush claimed a big personal victory. Some of our members, judging from my mail and letters that have appeared in the Journal, even helped him.

As the old song goes, "Whos sorry now?"

I read in the papers that Americans dont have as much confidence in the presidents handling of foreign affairs as they did and are downright disapproving of his economic policies. People see whats going on, and they dont like it. I should say "I told you so," but Im too nice a guy for that.

Ill speak out against any politician and any political party that tramples on the hopes and dreams of North American workers and their families. You dont have to be a diehard Democrat to see that George W. Bush and the vast majority of his Republican allies push policies that run directly against the kitchen-table interests of hard working folks, union or not.

I was sitting down to make a list of all that George W. and his cronies have done to us since the 2000 "selection" when I received an e-mail from a brother in Local 86 in Rochester, New York, that spelled out much of it.

My thanks to Brother Dale Carselli. Since he wrote to us, theres even more. President Bushs response to the burgeoning deficit and loss of consumer confidence among average families ismore tax cuts. Economist after economist points out the undeniable fact that the cuts would benefit only the most affluent among us.

The administration also had to be dragged kicking and screaming into extending unemployment benefits. They are trying to make the unemployed invisible by cutting funding for the Bureau of Labor Statistics program that tracks unemployment. If you dont see them, theyre not there goes the reasoning. However, they have found money for the Labor Department to impose new and even more stringent financial reporting requirements on international and local unions. That means that more of your dues money and more of your local officers time will go to filling out LM-2 forms instead of fighting for you. This comes in the wake of the worst corporate accounting scandals in history.

The administration also continues to paint unionism as unpatriotic by denying the right to organize to Homeland Security employees and to federal airport baggage screeners.

This crowd is doing real harm to real people in the United States. And the chill economic winds can defy the laws of nature and blow north to Canada too. If working folks are starting to catch on, I say, better late than never.