Day: December 16, 2009

Real Costs Of Unemployment

We have all heard the stories, the horror, the spin and the outright lies about unemployment….we have heard what it is doing to the economy, to Wall Street and the resty….but what is the “true” costs of unemplyment?

A new New York Times/CBS News poll offers a glimpse of the devastating human impact of the US unemployment crisis.

The poll and interviews illustrate some of the measures taken by unemployed workers to survive. About one quarter of those surveyed have relied on food stamps and one fifth have received help from food charities. Half said that their spouse has taken on extra hours or another job to supplement family income, and 53 percent have borrowed money from family members in order to make ends meet.

Sixty percent have liquidated money from savings and retirement accounts. Among these is Lee Daves, 54, who worked as a machinist making $13 an hour in Springfield, Missouri, until he was laid off in January. His unemployment benefits, which are soon to expire, are not enough to pay for his modest lifestyle. To pay bills, he was forced to sell off his 401(k) retirement account.

One of the survey’s more striking revelations is that nearly half of the unemployed workers in its sample have received no unemployment benefits through the nation’s restrictive jobless insurance system. Among those who have, 61 percent say that this has not been enough money to pay for mortgages, health insurance, food and other expenditures.

Fifty-four percent of those polled by the Times/CBS say they have cut back on medical treatment or visits to the doctor, and forty-seven percent are without health care coverage.

Unemployment is causing anxiety, stress, and other mental disorders, the poll finds. Nearly 70 percent of respondents reported being “stressed more than usual,” while 55 percent reported suffering from insomnia. A quarter have sought help from mental health professionals. Forty percent say that as a result of unemployment they have noticed changes in the behavior of their children.

Now we see what the real costs of unemployment is……it goes far beyond the spin that the financial media would have you believe….it is disastrous to families and sanity….

Is It “Activist” Judges?

I can hear the screams from my house……

I am always looking for constitutional stuff……stuff that flies in the face of all those people whop stand on the US Constitution as a defense of their opposition to an issue……also those people that have NOT read the document before they spout crap or try to manipulate an occurrence…..

This one ought to get all the right wing nuts salivating:

This report came from the NY Times:

The federal government must continue to provide grant money to the national community organizing group Acorn, a federal court ruled Friday, saying that the House violated the Constitution when it passed a resolution barring the group from receiving federal dollars.

A judge at the United States District Court in Brooklyn issued a preliminary injunction that nullifies the resolution and requires the government to honor existing contracts with the group and review its applications for new grants unless the Obama administration appeals the decision.

The court ruled that the resolution amounted to a “bill of attainder,” a legislative determination of guilt without trial, because it specifically punishes one group.

Oh darn!  I can just hear all those who have been demonizing ACORN for decades revving up their engines to attack the ruling.  There shoulkd be the usual suspects that attack any ruling like this…the call to end “Activist” judges….you know those judges that are doing what they are suppose to do according to the Constitution….acting as the umpire in the legislative game…..but since it is not a ruling the Right will like…they will be “Activist” judges that are setting policy…..

This would be the SAME Right that would have NOTHING to say if the ruling went in their favor….after many many years of trying to kill ACORN….for no other reason than it has been successful at registering Dem voters….the Right has suffered a set back….it will be interesting what new technique they will find to attack the organization……

This fight IS NOT over…not by a long shot…..

And The Constitution Says–Part 2

As anyone who reads my posts know that I am always on the lookout for stuff about the US Constitution….because too many people use it without reading it….

Since so many conservatives like to stand on the Constitution in opposition to anything Democratic….I then like to find the stuff that dreams are made of to rebut some of their BS…….basically, what I enjoy doing is to show that the people that use the Constitution as a defense against anything political is hypocrisy…..why?….it is obvious that they have not read nor understood the very document that they have pledged to protect……

Once again it is a Republican that has done something that is unconstitutional…and this time it is a minor voice of the GOP…..Charles Boustany (R-LA)….you might recall this gentleman…he was the voice of the minority after the Obama address to the joint session of Congress….you remember…the speech where another Repub yelled out, “you lie!”…..

Sorry I digress…..recently there came a report of a situation that involved Boustany

As written in the Daily Kos:

Congressman Boustany once attempted to buy an English Title.  There was one small problem … it was a fraud (pdf alert).
http://www.dailykingfish.com/…Apparently, two con artists hoodwinked dumb wealthy Americans like Congressman Boustany into believeing they could buy an English title, which would give them all sorts of goodies like being called Lord Boustany and a seat to ride in the Queen Mum’s 100th Birthday celebration back in the mid-1990’s.

Most millionaires like Congressman Lord Boustany would let the money go. But not Congressman Lord Boustany. Noooo.

He filed a lawsuit that never went anywhere in Lafayette Parish, and it is available to the public.  Here is a link to all three pages of the complaint, but the most relevant one is page 2, which shows how much he paid for the Title – $18,500 – and lists both his name and that of his wife in the pleading, and why they are filing suit.
http://www.dailykingfish.com/…

There is one small problem with the thing if he had been successful in obtaining his title….that problem is in Article 1 Section 9, which reads:

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State.

The key to it is the last paragraph of the Article……….”No Title of Nobility……or title of any kind whatever…..”

Now if Boustany had been successful he would have violated the Constitution….the very document that he has sworn to uphold……what a moron!

I post this to show that our “leaders” are idiots and at best have not read the document that they use frequently to oppose any issue…or maybe he thought that it would put him on the fast track to the Senate….after all it is our version of the House of Lords……