The Greek Debt Song

Just because Greece has slipped from the headlines doesn't mean that the Greek Debt Crisis is over. The IMF , Wall Street, The Fed,  The European Union and a bunch of other folks are still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Country singer/ Wall Street hero,Merle Hazzard, will explain it all to you-- Yeeee-haw.  Here's his latest riff on the global economy and Greek debt just to spice up your week-end. I love Merle-- hope you like him too.

Obama Throws A Barbecue

I love political satire. I really do. This video with Obama as grillmaster at a  backyard barbecue  is a hoot-- a political metaphor for the ages.  My favorite line?  " IN Europe EVERYBODY has potato salad"

Go ahead. Watch it. You'll see what I mean

Note to Congress: Extend Unemployment Insurance Today

Yoo hoo, Congress..... in case you haven't noticed 14 million out of work Americans have been holding their breaths waiting for you to pass the third extension of unemployment benefits since the economic meltdown began in 2008. It's on the Senate floor and the Senate should be voting on it today.  After a major Republican filibuster, it looks like the bill will pass.  Finally!!

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics:

"In June, the number of long-term unemployed(those jobless for 27 weeks and over)was unchanged at 6.8 million. These individuals made up 45.5 percent of unemployed persons."

 
 Get on with it and stop the theatrics, OK?  I am getting fed up with congressional gridlock.  You guys sit up there in Washington playing the angles while people are sleeping in their cars.  While we pour billions a day into your Republican wars, you are dithering over somebody who has been looking for a job for six months getting a few hundred dollars a month to keep body and soul together.This is not about the deficit. It is about politics.

Listen up, Republicans. I'm talking to YOU.  Your totally cynical,  fear-mongering performance on this issue is going to backfire on you bigtime. When you lose in November, don't say I didn't warn you. You guys better get over the 1970's "Welfare Queen" mentality.  These folks vote and  with unemployment at 10%, you just may be doing the Democrats a big big favor.  Do the math.

You are opposing an extension to unemployment on the grounds that it will encourage lazy people to loll around watching TV and not look for work. Are you crazy?  Have you noticed all the pictures of lines snaking around the block when Wal-Mart has three job openings?  Are you aware that in this downturn there are five applicants for every job available?  Do you know that for older workers and minorities the statiustics are even worse?

You say you are worried about the deficit   Well, all of us are worried about it. We all know that spending must be cut, but may I remind you that you Republicans created the deficit in the first place without a care for the future?  Where were your worries when the Bush Administration went to war in Iraq or pushed through Medicare Part D with no way to pay for it?  Or what about the fact that you want to make the Bush tax cuts for the  richest Americans permanent?

I know you want to go home and get re-elected and  your home-folks are worried about the deficit soooooo your political strategy is to deflect attention from where the real money is going  to the extension of unemployment so you can go home and tell them that YOU did your best to reign in those Liberals but they are just a bunch of socialists.

So go ahead-- scream and yell-- you know the extension is going to pass when it is voted on today. Everybody knows it.  Now,  you can still go home at election time and say you tried..

 I am sick of the cynicism. I am sick of the horse trading and earmarks.  I am sick of both sides of the aisle.  Get on with it, Congress.  Extend Unemployment Insurance today just because it is the right thing to do.

Food For Thought from E.B. White

With tip of the hat to The Daily Dorkmonger ( a blog I read regularly and recommend highly) I offer you some food for thought in the form of a fabulous, thought provoking quote from E.B. White. To wit:

"It is easier for a man to be loyal to his club than to his
planet; the bylaws are shorter, and he is personally
acquainted with the other members." — E. B. White, 1899 - 1985.

In case you are a bit fuzzy on E.B. White, he was a formidable literary figure of the last century-- writer and editor at the old New Yorker Magazine, author not only of  The Elements of Style,( which is where I first encountered him years ago in my early writing career) but also of numerous essays and the classic children's books, Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web.

Clearly, he was also a keen observer of human behavior.I can't help but think of how appropriate this quote is today, especially in the light of a Congress that is in the pocket of big oil, and  a world wide corporate culture of greed.E.B. makes a good point. Time for all of us us to  think more about the planet and less about the club