GOP. Unemployment.

Yes, it is most decidedly a rant. It is a can of worms, almost guaranteed to upset a few of you.
Grab a cup of coffee- it is also long. (PLUS, the caffeine is good for you).

If you are fortunate enough to still have your job 4+ years into this crap, you are indeed lucky.

I will begin by quoting: "If you voted Republican in the last three elections, you ought to go to Hell."

From my email came this, "Oh, and by the way, for your next multiply blog please note that not a single republican is willing to vote ‘yes’ on the current jobs bill…. Even tho dems have ripped the guts outta the bill trying to please them."

GOP: Stop Punishing the Unemployed (CLICK)

Democrats are working hard to fix the economy Republicans nearly destroyed.
In the meantime, struggling American families must rely on unemployment benefits to pay the rent, put food on the table and keep up with bills. Unbelievably, Republicans are filibustering an extension of these benefits in yet another attempt to make President Obama fail.

Sign the petition  (CLICK). Give Republican leaders a piece of your mind. Tell them to stop playing political games with people’s livelihoods. It is simply unconscionable that Republicans would hurt out-of-work Americans to make a political point. The obstruction must end.

By now, we have all heard about or even read these articles

1. Republicans Kill Senate Jobless Aid Bill
   

2. House Democrats Mulling Standalone Jobs Bill After Senate Failure
3. Jobs Bill Fails In Senate: Democrats Say Thursday's Doomed Vote Was The Last Chance

From # 1 came these words:
"The demise of the bill means that unemployment benefits will phase out for more than 200,000 people a week."

"Governors who had been counting on federal aid will now have to consider a fresh round of budget cuts, tax increases of state workers."

To refresh our collective & 'all too convenient' memorys: (March 2010)
GOP senators emerged Monday to caution that the health debate had taken a toll on the institution, warning of little work between parties the rest of this year. "There will be no cooperation for the rest of the year," McCain said. (WTH John?  & no matter who it may harm)?
"They have poisoned the well in what they've done and how they've done it."

So, we were warned? And warned well ahead of time too?   WHAT?!
Do these GOP 'games' make McCains words 'right' or decent then?
Or, are we all simply just believing the crap we forward/read/hear about without checking the truth out and verifying it for ourselves? (How utterly st00pid)!
SpaceStevie said it well, "We have a new class in this country. One that doesn't serve, doesn't care, watch(es) "American Idol" and "Dancing With the Stars." One who the contemporary news is made for. The News that is obsessed with celebrity and gossip, rather than news of substance."
end quote

Time and again I have literally begged people to search, read, (and most importantly to comprehend), what is going on.
I have offered links as proof that there was/is no death panel, and that Congress really does pay into social security. Ad nauseum, I still receive the emails proclaiming crap like this to be true.

It is my belief that every bill will be waylaid, since McCain spoke those words.
Replying to the McCain quote- Frum, (former GW Bush speechwriter) claims, "Rigid conformity is being enforced, no dissent is allowed, and the conservative brain will slowly shrivel into dementia if it hasn't already."

MJW Stickings, "Conservatism these days is about
a) blind loyalty to the Republican Party,
b) anti-government teabagging extremism,
c) theocracy -- or
d) some contorted combination of the above."

"The American mind may very well still be closing, in a cultural way, but the conservative mind seems to have been shut down altogether."

Are they all his little puppets then? Are we?
* Grandstand * Oppose * Postpone

This morning, still hopeful for our nation of unemployed, I read this-
House May Push Stand-Alone Jobs Bill
* Meanwhile, unemployed workers actively seeking work are faced with an emerging concern: companies are now only interested in hiring workers who are currently employed! According to CNNMoney.com, employment experts have noted an increase in companies putting out job postings with restrictions such as “unemployed candidates will not be considered” or “must be currently employed.”
CNNMoney interviewed Rich Thompson, a vice president of staffing firm Adecco Group North America, who said, “I don’t have hard numbers, but three out of the last four conversations I’ve had about openings, this requirement was brought up.” It was also noted that after such listings were brought to the attention of media, most companies immediately took them down.
However, experts say that even if companies don’t put out such listing, most unemployed applicants are usually “ruled out right off the bat.”

For gods sake people, who/what have we elected?

Are we this blind, or apathetic, to our own fellow Americans?
The answer must be a resounding "yes".

Note the sheer volume of dollars being sent away from America- (and those being misspent in America too).
(quoted now from the above link):

• We can afford to GIVE Pakistan $7.5 BILLION to arm and train Taliban to kill AMERICAN soldiers
• We can afford to GIVE Egypt $7 Billion
  
• We can afford to GIVE Haitian earthquake victims over $2 BILLION dollars
• We can afford to GIVE $30 MILLION to Palestinian refugees
• We CAN AFFORD to keep the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 1 percent of the country
• We CAN AFFORD to bail out Wall Street and buy GM
• But we CAN’T AFFORD to take care of middle class AMERICANS who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own?
  
  • This is being decided by people that ‘We the People’ are paying!!!
• ‘We the People’ are ALLOWING these people to GIVE our tax dollars away to others, but they won’t help us?
  
  • With OUR OWN MONEY?
• I am absolutely ASHAMED of the Senators and to be called an American!
  
  • And Senators, you should be ASHAMED of YOURSELVES!

end quoted text


I am hoping that, come November, this record of dissidence, disagreement, and disrespect toward Americas citizens, will be voted out of office.

From my email:
"Elections are all about choices, and Republicans have made theirs.
They've chosen to stand with British Petroleum against small businesses, with big banks against Main Street, and with health insurance companies so they can roll back health care reform.
They have had myriad chances to stand alongside American families. They simply refuse.
Now, the choice is ours. We can sit on the sidelines, or we can fight back.
 
Sincerely,
Sen. Dick Durbin"

I am choosing to fight back, thank you very much. With any intelligent voting the intransigent, game~playing, bipartisan, doctrinarians will be gone.

So there it is. You knew it was coming.
I am p*ssed, and I am out of cigarettes.
And that is no way to go through life.  Not even in Flintville.

XOXO
Me


PS   Wait.
Let's do a little 3rd grade math...

• 200,000 people every week?
• That's one million people by the 1st of August!
• Almost 2 million by Sept- and these people have children that will be returning to school.
  
  • How is that going to happen?
    
    • And if you think teachers can afford to help, (with their 40~student classrooms), think again!

God only knows that I had a hard enough time sending my kids back to school each year while I was working full~time. I thanked them wholeheartedly when they were old enough to have jobs of their own could buy their own little things...

I await the GOP to be whining about the "free lunch" programs now, [or blaming immigration for their (gop) adamant refusal to cooperate with our current administration, and to stand behind our American workers].

pic from here