In the past five months, I have been in the sinking social classification known as the "99'ers," the ubiqutous group of the unemployed that led the pack into the Great Recession and now have been left to die in the desert by the government, by our neighbors, friends and families. I am amazed at the amount of venomous comments I read around the country when it comes to the unemployed and any benefits that were being given to us during this marathon of a non-job recovery.

I am sickened to read that Joe Miller, some yahoo in Alaska, is probably going to win the Senate nomination for the Republican party because Sarah "I'm so pretty" Palin endorsed him and he has stated that unemployment extensions are unconstitutional, and probably so is social security in general.  He would work tirelessly to make sure that these programs are stopped because lets face it, there is nothing that can drag a society down faster than bums collecting a check from the government and old geezers taking in oxygen and our tax dollars while waiting to shuffle off this rock.  He and people like him don't have any patience or purpose for any of us left-over folks.

The fact that anyone could win a public office running on the platform of working tirelessly to screw the public is something from a Twilight Zone episode.  When you consider that Alaska gets more federal tax dollars per capita than any other state, yet they are willing to elect someone who believes that the entitlement programs that have built someplace like Alaska should be done away with.

In the case of Alaska, I must agree that they should be cut off at the knees if they elect this asshole.  If the people in Alaska think that sending a new senator to Washington who would do his best to continue enriching the disgustingly rich, shutting out the increasingly poor and laughing behind their backs as America's financial ruin looms on the horizon, if they think this should go unpunished, they are nuts.  Of course, they also know that nothing will change for them anyway.  Alaska is our northern trip wire in case the Siberian Eskimos decide to invade Nome. We don't want to get caught with our pants around our ankles again as Anchorage International gets overrun by reindeer in the middle of the night now do we.

I guess the issue that is bothering me the most is the people that keep writing "get a job you fucking bums."  Well, I think that's a great idea. Can you dickheads point one out that doesn't have 500 people in line to get?  When a water park opened at the beginning of the season in Fresno, they announced that they would be hiring 200 people.  That day, 4,000 showed up to apply for minimum wage jobs.  Guess who they weren't hiring?  College graduates, people over 30, anyone that didn't look good in swim trunks, etc.  In Las Vegas, a new hotel complex opened and attracted 125,000 people for 8,000 job openings.

You just know that all those people were there to put on the appearance of looking for work right? After all, according to our leaders, and our neighbors, we are just sitting around collecting checks like its a vacation. Well, it's been the worst vacation I've ever had.

Consider this idea for a moment. What was the reason for the creation of the unemployment insurance program? It was set up during the depression to serve two needs. The first was to get money into the hands of people that needed it and would immediately use it to purchase food, clothes, durable goods, rent, etc.  The second and probably more important aspect of the program was to head off a revolution in America.  The government was very concerned that the millions of people without jobs might figure out that they could take matters into their own hands and to the next level if something didn't change, and change immediately.

The unemployment insurance program doesn't work like a welfare or social security program does.  In order for a citizen to collect on this insurance, he or she had become unemployed through no fault of their own, and they have to be available for full time work and apply for work while collecting the insurance.  As an insurance program, why is it wrong for the beneficiaries to get paid when they meet all of the program critieria?  Would it be wrong for someone to collect on a life insurance policy from a family member's death or collect a payment from a car accident?  It's insurance right, not freeloading.

But with that said, times have changed in such a way that these types of programs can no longer be considered as a nuisance but a necessity of modern life.  A hundred years ago and more people had the ability and the option to simply pack it up and move to the frontier with their cows, chickens and horses, find 160 acres and stake out a homestead.  Our society was radically different then and it's something that we no longer have the option do to any more.  We are so interconnected to each other now and interdependent on each other that any disruption could bring the whole house of cards down on us in an instant.

The bottom line is the next group of the unemployed will be reaching their 99 week limits pretty soon which is going to swell the ranks of the 99'ers into the multimillions.  What then? If you are reading this, and you have a job, don't get too comfy because the rug has a way of getting jerked out from under you very quickly these days.  If you're one of the bastards that keep criticizing the unemployed, you are not helping anyone by kicking someone who is already down for the count.  What you should be doing is looking in the mirror, and looking around to see what else can you do, and what else should I do, before I'm next on the street.

And, If you are making demeaning and spiteful remarks while claiming Jesus, then double shame on you.  I don't remember reading anywhere that Jesus directed his followers to stop worrying about the homeless, only the rich matter at Jesus DeNazarene's Palace, where souls get cleansed "WHILE YOU WAIT." 

Okay, I've gone on for too long already and will conclude this ranting with a cautionary note: When we can no longer provide assistance to our fellow citizens because of the squeeling of all the piggies at the top, WE ARE DOOMED TO DESTRUCTION.  When the poorest people in America vote for the Republican agenda, they are just using the slow suided mission, but that's not the way it should go.  The people in America aren't suppost to begrude someone collecting an unemploynent check.  I paid dearly for them: I lost my car, credit cards and the roof over my head before the first one arrived.  What further sacrific was I expected to make?

I hope that some of you out there start to realize that it's not the unemplyed that is the problem.  Its the rich that keep getting richer and and the ignorant that keep making it possible.