Mr. President, the answer sleeps beside you.

Last week on the Ed Schultz Show, Ed was discussing an article about the President and his advisors look for ways to reinvigorate the base.  Without dismissing any of the callers, all I could think was: HAVE YOU EVER PISSED OFF YOUR WIFE?


Like a spouse, the base sticks around through thick and thin, lends support when you are low, celebrates your success and quietly disagrees when you are wrong.  Admittedly, the liberal base can work on the "quiet correction" a bit. Still, it wasn't the fickle middle that worked the phones, walked the streets and stood in the cold in Springfield when the Obama campaign kicked off.

How do you apologize to your wife when she's really angry? Well, I sincerely apologize (or at least sound incredibly sincere) and do something that makes my wife feel loved and appreciated. It works the same with the base and by the way, suggesting "swallowing your anger" doesn't work with a spouse and won't work with the base.

So, Mr. President apologize to the base. "I'm sorry to have compromised on my principles but moving the country forward, even in very small steps is my Number One priority. I apologize to those I have disappointed and ask you to stay with me as we move forward" would be very effective.  Endorsing H.R. 589, a comprehensive jobs creation package and safety nets until unemployment drops below 8% would show that you are serious.

Mr. President I am an unabashed fan of yours. I stood with you on HCR even without a public option because health care reform needs to start somewhere. I've said nothing while you fail to address the unemployment crisis because I realize you can't do everything. I didn't like the tax compromise, but in the end the repeal of DADT and the belated passage of the SALT treaty made the compromise worthwhile, even though it left 99ers out in the cold. Mr. President, I remain a fan but "reinvigorate the base" and "swallow my anger"? So, Mr. President, I humbly ask, PLEASE REMOVE YOUR HEAD FROM YOUR ASS.

Time for UCubed to stop chillin'.

UCubed is an unemployment advocacy group organized under the auspices of the IAM.  The organizational skills and resources Unions can offer the unemployed are (to borrow a marketing campaign) PRICELESS. I can only imagine the assistance UCubed can provide once they actually start.


I apologize, the above is a cheap shot.  This is not intended to be a condemnation on UCubed, merely a strongly worded critique. Simply put, the 99ers and the soon to be 99ers desperately need UCubed to reach it's potential beginning today.


We are a week+ beyond the State of the Union Address. President Obama deftly avoided any mention of the 99ers and the ongoing unemployment crisis during the State of the Union. The UCubed response was a strongly worded "Shame on you, Barack Obama" (thanks, Hillary). I ask, "Is this the best the power of 31 million can offer?"


99ers are fighting and losing a major public relations battle.  Just yesterday @ReThePeople tweeted
"# 99ers have to realize they are playing a suckers game. Since you are only fighting for #TierV benefits, only your little group is affected".  @ReThePeople appears to be in tune with current events, but in this case he is so wrong. First the agenda of the unemployed has always been and continues to be jobs, jobs,  jobs but until there are sufficient jobs, a safety net is necessary. Second, the argument for extending unemployment insurance beyond 99 weeks has as much to do with sustaining the economic recovery as it does with sustaining the unemployed. 99ers are not fighting for themselves alone, they are fighting for today's economic stability and the future of our country. Still the need for UCubed to get aggressive goes beyond PR.


On Sunday Donalee King asked if the violence in Egypt is merely a foreshadowing of events in the USA. Well Donalee, yes it is.


I have been a proponent of aggressive but peaceful demonstrations in the street. Organized, time limited displays with a specific purpose.  Be it cardboard box villages in front of an elected officials office or blocking access to a public building at 5 PM, it is vital to involve/educate the entire community about the plight of the 99ers. UCubed has the best ability to arrange these type of protests and keep them peaceful.  If peaceful protests are not arranged angry people will take to the streets. (I'm assuming the current strategy of call/fax/email/tweet/angry,astonished posts will continue to yield the same results: NOTHING.) When that anger boils over, violence will follow. Violence often has random results and a corresponding violent response in an effort to quell the violent outburst will result in even more random results.  This is one of many reasons why it is important to channel the growing anger of the unemployed now, and UCubed (or another funded, staffed advocacy group) needs to take the lead.


Their have been many suggesting that each homeless, hungry or dead 99er is the responsibility of a President and Congress that fail to react to this crisis appropriately.  We know the Congress and President will continue to respond in their ostrich like manner. The next group of hungry, homeless or dead 99ers is our responsibility and it starts with our advocacy organizations that know better. UCubed, I'm talking to you.

Politics means never having to say you're sorry.

Yesterday's post was written to be non-partisan. I hope I succeeded. Today, not so non-partisan.

Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik criticized vitriolic political rhetoric during a press conference about the assassination attempt on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. He in turn was criticized by Sen. Jon Kyl and vitriolic right wing bloggers for having the temerity to suggest that perhaps the tone of  political conversation might have contributed to the attack. Some have even called Sheriff Dupnik's comments an attack on the 1st Amendment.

Have you ever walked into a room full of children to find family heirloom in pieces on the floor and ask "What happened?" The 1st one that says "I didn't do it" is the culprit. Perhaps if the Sheriff's criticism didn't hit the target, the response wouldn't be as vociferous? More importantly, in Brandenberg v. Ohio the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously found that speech likely to incite imminent lawless action is not protected by the 1st Amendment.  I believe an attempt to kill a U.S. Representative qualifies as imminent lawless action. Also, Sheriff Dupnik never suggested abridging anyone's 1st Amendment rights. He merely suggested exercising restraint in rhetoric,a nuance obviously lost to right wing hate mongers. Finally, Sheriff Dupnik did not ascribe the counterproductive caustic rhetoric to either (any) political philosophy. The offense taken by the right wing blogosphere proclaims "the lady doth protest too much, methink."

Instead I suggest the offended angry right go learn the lesson of Sue Lowden.  Ms. Lowden was the front runner for Nevada Republican nomination to challenge Harry Reid for Senate. Polls showed Lowden way ahead of Reid in a general election. (Un)fortunately Ms. Lowden, while attempting to criticize Pres. Obama's health care reform initiative, made a remark about bartering chickens for health care. When asked about her non-21st century approach to affordable health care, Lowden chose to reiterate rather than retract the statement. Both Harry Reid and Sharron Engle capitalized on this gaffe. Engle won the Republican nomination and Harry Reid won the Senate race. A simple "I chose my words poorly" and Sue Lowden would likely be Senator Lowden and the Republicans might control the Senate. That's the power of "I'm sorry."

The responsibility for the high volume discord pervasive in today's political climate does not rest solely with any party. Still if one (either) party is unwilling to consider they're portion of the mess jointly created, the mess can't be cleaned, not even for the memory of a nine year old girl.

This is compromise? I'd hate to surrender.

I am sure that had there been a network interview of Robert E. Lee after his surrender at Appomattox, Gen. Lee would have talked about the need to compromise to avoid holding the populace hostage via partisan bickering.  "Sure, I gave up some things but I got to keep my sword.", General Lee would have said. Since President Obama is a fan of history perhaps this was his model for accepting the "compromise" on tax cuts for the rich.

Monday night's agreement to extend tax cuts for all for two years and unemployment benefits to 99 weeks for 13 months is truly bipartisan. There is plenty for anyone to dislike:

1. Rich folks can dislike helping the lazy unwashed masses that refuse to find a job.
2. The working poor can dislike that they received nothing from this agreement. Their earnings leave minimal tax burden. The burden of the working poor is working and still being poor.
3. Small businesses can dislike that for all the agreement has to offer it will have minimal effect in stimulating demand. Demand more than anything drives small business and the economy.
4. Same for the middle class. Whatever benefits they derive from this agreement, without growing demand and growing American manufacturing, the middle class continues to shrink.
5. Future generations can dislike paying for the always burgeoning bank accounts of the wealthy.  This agreement make the bill for future generations more expensive.
6. 99ers can dislike the whole agreement.

Ezra Klein points out the real good in this compromise is it creates a framework of future bipartisan agreements. Mr. Klein has a great point but that thought goes in the wait and see column.

There is loads of bad in this compromise with the Republicans. Most obvious is the contempt this agreement shows for the long-term unemployed. With 5 job seekers for each job, if you're unemployed for longer than 99 weeks,  you're on your own. For those with reinstated unemployment benefits, if you've received more than 43 weeks of benefits, you'll probably be a 99er sooner than you think. If you'll still be eligible for benefits in 13 months, you'll be back in this fight after Thanksgiving, 2011.  If you think job search statistics will improve significantly over the next 13 months, God bless your optimism.

The to do list is simple: scream loudly and scream often.  To simplify this call to action, here are some easy suggestions: Click the link on the right side of the blog and sign the petition. Here are links to 2 other petitions. (if you're not on Twitter you can cut and paste to Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi). After you've signed these petitions, pass them along to your friends. Call, fax and email your Representatives and Senators. Request extended funding and additional weeks of unemployment benefits. Without these two improvements ask them to vote against the bill. Do not go quietly into the night, some will not make it to the morning.

Holiday shopping list.

Last night at midnight 800,000 exhausted unemployment benefits. The benefits should be restored by act of Congress but Congress rarely acts as it should.  Those 800,000 join 5 million+ 99ers.  Some 99ers have been without an unemployment insurance safety net since March, 2010. If corporations are sitting on tons of cash because of uncertainty (although no thesaurus lists greed as a synonym of uncertainty) what about the 5.8+ million of us that don't have an ounce of money? Happy holidays.

Channukah begins tonight at sundown.  Thanks to my wife's wizardry, we have stuff for the kids.  I'd love to help spur demand during this season but I lack the resources. Therefore, the rest of my list must suffice with non-monetary items.

So here is my "shopping list" for this holiday season:

Congressional Republicans -  a conscience

Congressional Democrats - a spine

President Barack Obama - a beer summit with Candidate Barack Obama

The Tea Party - the realization that a patriot is not a xenophobe and liberty does not include fear-mongering

Sarah Palin - a copy of Mein Kampf and an understanding of irony

Those that voted Republican out of spite or did not vote because you did not get enough from Obama -        nothing, you're already getting all that you deserve

The 99ers - a job for each and everyone. (I'd include fair paying job with benefits, but this blog is not fantasy)

Me - I've got supportive friends and family in every sense of the word. I want for nothing.

With 24 shopping days left until Christmas, this list is short and likely incomplete.  Please add recipients and the gift(s) you would bestow. Whatever you choose, please keep the gift in your price range.