Party time!

Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. is asking for the unemployed to send him a resume. His aim is to put a face on the unemployed. "We've got a Democratic Party, a Republican Party, a Tea Party. We need a Jobs Party." (Props to Mike Thornton for a top notch piece. I'm just collecting the loose change.)

99ers, this is not opportunity knocking.  This is opportunity screaming at us before it bites us in the nose. In December, the Congressional Black Caucus announced support for Tier V. Now, one of the CBC members is asking the unemployed to inundate his office with pleas for help. 99ers didn't get this commitment  from McDermott or Stabenow.  Rep. Jackson is creating opportunity for 99ers to advocate on their own behalf.  He is trying to help 99ers generate momentum to sway public opinion. We must participate.

Rep. Jackson's resume collecting and Donalee King's 99er Action Plan is the 99ers early opportunity to make a case for Tier V to the 112th Congress. Please join in and help move the nation toward a Jobs Party.

112th Congress: 99ers Preview

As we approach the onset of the 112th Congress, 99ers have one goal: survival. The path to survival is not easy to find nor easy to traverse.  How many (former?) 99ers will see the 113th Congress? Only time will tell.

Mike Thornton gives a realistic glimpse into the rosy employment predictions of 2011. Frankly the analysis is uglier than the 2011 Tea Party Swimsuit Calendar (Yes, that's a mean-spirited unfair cheap shot and I'm proud of it). Donalee King gives a review of the (unsuccessful) strategies of the 99ers in 2010 and starts to detail the plan for 2011.

I am not criticizing the activism for Tier V in  2010. I'm proud of all that was attempted on behalf of the 99ers and honored to be considered a colleague of all those that fought for the 99ers.  Unfortunately all the hard work resulted in exactly zero floor votes on extending unemployment benefits beyond 99 weeks; the late September kabuki theater for S3706 doesn't count for squat.

I wholeheartedly agree that 99ers need to spend quality face time with our elected officials. I also think it's imperative to involve not yet 99ers and non-99ers. Reaching not yet 99ers will be most easily achieved by keeping the plight of the 99ers front and center. A graphic similar to the Doomsday Clock with the growing number of 99ers reflected weekly, daily, hourly (said graphic design is currently beyond my pay grade) until...

As for non-99ers, hopefully many will join those gainfully employed or voluntarily retired that 99ers count as friends. Other non-99ers may need to be brought along in more aggressive (no violence, never violence) manner. Blocking highway access or government buildings at starting/quitting times comes to mind immediately. Given time, I'm sure other non-violent forms of public education will surface. Perhaps even the Tea Party and union advocacy groups will become staunch supporters of the 99ers.

Eliciting support from the Tea Party is simple. An explanation of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" in  The Declaration of Independence in conjunction with "provide for the common defense/promote the general welfare" from the preamble to the Constitution should be sufficient to garner Tea Party backing. I suggest an illustrated format with lots of pictures and short sentences in a large font. (Another mean-spirited cheap shot and I'm still proud).

Obtaining stronger labor union support is also simple. Union history along with a reminder that unions don't organize at D.C. cocktail parties should provide for stronger support for the 99ers.  This union history need not be illustrated, at least for now.

I apologize for my cynicism and hope you appreciate my snark. Time to get it in gear. Tier V (for many) to survive.

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.

Jackboots, Brownshirts and Woody Guthrie.

Joe Miller's (R Senate candidate, Alaska) security detail handcuffed and detained a reporter at a public rally... for asking questions. At the Rand Paul-Jack Conway debate, a protester has her head held to the ground by a Paul supporter's foot and the candidate says nothing.  Christine O' Donnell's campaign demands a videotape from a radio station under threat of a lawsuit. These candidates have Tea Party support and favor a strict interpretation of the Constitution.  I wonder how they feel about the 1st Amendment? At least the Tea Party is extreme, mainstream Republicans wouldn't allow this to happen. Unless you're Eric Cantor and prefer  to avoid debates. Is this what we are willing to become?

It must be a rule that every summer camper sing "This Land is Your Land",  at least 1000 times.  Written by Woody Guthrie, it's a wonderful upbeat song extolling America's virtues from coast to coast. Unless you know all the verses. Like many Guthrie songs it has numerous verses and most camps don't sing more than a couple. As the song continues it shows a darker side of America alluding to the poor, hungry and disenfranchised.  But even those somber verses lead to the chorus: "this land was made for you and me."

The Republican Party believes in an exclusive America, where a small privileged upper class reaps the benefits and the rest of us fight for scraps.  The GOP has even developed an "extreme" wing, the Tea Party. Using the Tea Party, the Republicans will go to extreme measures to impose their will on the American electorate. I sound severe but I have not heard any "mainstream Republican" decry the intimidation detailed above. I can only assume that the entire GOP finds these abhorrent tactics acceptable.

It is important to remember that this land was made for you and me. Nobody is better than me because they have different beliefs, background, upbringing or race. No one has more rights just because they have more money. Unfortunately, Woody's America isn't free. Sometimes I have to fight for my part of America. The easiest part of this fight for Woody Guthrie's America requires I vote, which I have done. Will you stand up and fight (vote) for this land, made for you and me? The alternative sits before us.

My family matters, so does yours.

I know why I should stay home on November 2, 2010.  The Democratic Party has grossly mismanaged a long list of priority agenda items. As a 99er, I am particularly furious about the quarterly Senate dance regarding funding extensions through 99 weeks. Since the fight becomes about funding current extensions the issue of funding beyond 99 weeks receives minimal attention.  Even when a Tier V is proposed as in S3706 it is nothing more than a band aid. Unemployment has been 9% or more since May, 2009 and is not projected to drop below 9% any time soon. A long term solution combining job creation along with a safety net is required and NO ONE is talking about that at all.  That's why I should stay home but on November 2, 2010  I am going to vote for every Democratic candidate on the ballot.

When citing their reason for not funding emergency extended unemployment benefits up to 99 weeks the moderate  Republicans spoke as one, "We cannot in good conscience add to the Federal Deficit and pass this burden onto our future generations." The mean spirited crazies said "We don't want to make the life of the unemployed too comfortable. They're going to have to suck it up and understand they may have to take a pay cut or relocate."

I am voting Democratic for the same reason  Republican deficit (chicken) hawks won't fund emergency unemployment extensions. I cannot pass on this burden to my future generations. "This burden" is the governance of the mean spirited crazies in the Republican party. A Republican Party too moderate for the 2000-2008 version that drove the US economy into the ditch and helped transform America from a country of shared vision to a country of "where's mine". Should the Republicans gain a majority of the House and/or Senate, success will be attributed to the "shit for brains" crowd of Palin, O'Donnell, Miller, Angle et al. It will take decades to undo the damage of George W. Bush, compassionate conservative. It would take centuries to undo the damage should the "Tea Party Trailer Troupe" gain control of government. And since no current Republican is willing to criticize the wingnuts, the wingnuts will be in charge if the Republicans win in November. Therefore I am voting for Democrats because my kids and (hopefully) grandkids deserve better. So I ask you act similarly and if you won't vote for the sake of your lineage, will you please vote on behalf of my future generations?