You Can't Make This Stuff Up

This comes from Rolling Stones Tim Dickinson:

GOP to Unemployed: “Tough Shit”

3/1/10, 3:41 pm EST

The obstructionist Republican senate minority is blocking an extension of unemployment benefits, through the filibuster of one Jim Bunning of Kentucky, whose state is mired in 10.7 percent unemployment.

When Jeff Merkel of Oregon beseeched his colleague on the Senate floor to consider the impact on Americans hit hardest by this recession, Bunning blurted out:

“Tough Shit.“

(posted by) Tim Dickinson


Can't we get rid of these idiots? The man sleeps at work, only to wake up and share his particularly fucked up nightmare with US.

"The current salary (2010) for rank-and-file members of the House and Senate is $174,000 per year."

***

This from MSN Money: (Published Feb. 23, 2009)

Weekly unemployment benefits by state

		State	Maximum	State	Maximum
		Alabama	$255	Montana	$407
		Alaska	$370	Nebraska	$308
		Arizona	$240	Nevada	$362
		Arkansas	$409	New Hampshire	$427
		California	$450	New Jersey	$584
		Colorado	$475	New Mexico	$455
		Connecticut	$519	New York	$405
		Delaware	$330	North Carolina	$494
		District of Columbia	$359	North Dakota	$385
		Florida	$275	Ohio	$372
		Georgia	$330	Oklahoma	$392
		Hawaii	$545	Oregon	$482
		Idaho	$362	Pennsylvania	$539
		Illinois	$385	Rhode Island	$528
		Indiana	$390	South Carolina	$326
		Iowa	$443	South Dakota	$285
		Kansas	$423	Tennessee	$275
		Kentucky	$415	Texas	$378
		Louisiana	$284	Utah	$444
		Maine	$496	Vermont	$409
		Maryland	$380	Virginia	$378
		Massachusetts	$628	Washington	$541*
		Michigan	$365	West Virginia	$424
		Minnesota	$566	Wisconsin	$363
		Mississippi	$230	Wyoming	$387
		Missouri	$320

*State has OK'd a temporary $45 increase beginning May 3. Sources: The Associated Press, state labor department Web sites.

Internet TV Widget is a BOT

The Internet TV Widget will co-opt viewers of your blog and redirect them to a variety of sites affiliated with dePlayer.net. Beware.

Goodbayh, PLEASE

Evan Bayh can't leave soon enough. He comments on Scott Brown in this WaPo article. Bayh is no foxhole buddy, but who woulda thought he would run from a Fright?

Another Iconic Goodbye

Dick Francis, jockey, author, and gentleman, has died. Thanks for many fine hours of reading and reflecting. Mr. Francis embodied the libertarian spirit in his life and literature. I believe I will read it all again.

The Revolution Continues

If Jesus was a carpenter today, he would seek retraining. 24.7 % unemployment in the US construction industry does not bode well for job security or creation. Construction workers do not retrain well. It is more likely they will turn to black market employment compensated by diminished costs or exagerated gains due to illegal activities. The US economy is as much a social force as a financial machine. We are being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century, thank you very much. America has been talking about retraining for the new global economy for 20 years. It is here, with pain. In the beginning there will be a new, smaller middle class. America has an upwardly mobile mind set that will reinvest labor and capital, as the fog lifts, reinvigorating a new middle class with the ability to lift the world economy. Folks living in mud huts in China will be a slow second class driver. But first we must clean out the vegetable drawer.

So 'Long, Sarah

Steve Pendlebury has the facts on The Grid. The entire Washington Post-ABC News poll can be found here. A quick read indicates Mr. Obama is having job evaluation problems. A few hundred other folks are, too:

3. Do you approve or disapprove of the way the U.S. Congress is doing its job?

2/08/2010

Approve   Disapprove      No opinion
26          71            3

Most of US want the rubes in Dizzy City to continue working on healthcare reform. 2/3 of US are dissatisfied with the operation of the federal government. Wow. Sarah Palin is not presidential material, but a real populist outsider might be. Americans are pissed off, for sure.

So 'long, Big John

John Murtha, American to the wallet. He was the penultimate political operative. Right or wrong, he made things happen. The political stage will be more barren without him.