Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s HR 6556 is supposed to be introduced this week and every 99er is praying that it will not be swept aside again. Republicans released a document last week purporting that they intend to cut $100 million from the budget this year. Frankly I do not see how the unemployment extension can possibly be passed in the face of these budget cuts.
Some people seem to think that I am seeking recognition and fame. Anyone who has followed my work has to know that this assertion is repugnant to the message I have been putting forth. One thing that has bothered me all my life is the fact that our founding fathers are identified with a specific elitist group; George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, and John Hancock to name a few. Although these gentlemen were unquestionably ardent patriots who financed and in some cases fought for the establishment of our country, it was the common man and woman who sacrificed their all so that we might enjoy the fruits of freedom and liberty.
When I think back to the Revolutionary War I see the common man with blood soaked rags wrapped around his freezing feet, malnourished and fighting with heart and soul for what he believed in; and the common woman, tending to the sick and wounded for months on end, in conditions that we today would not last a week. These are our founding fathers and mothers. It is they who made the greatest and sometimes the ultimate sacrifice. And it is they who are the first forgotten.
It was the practice in this county from its beginning up until the 20th century to bury the common soldiers in a common unmarked grave, while officers were afforded individual marked plots. Since our beginning it has in reality been a struggle for social equality, but without resorting to altering our form of government we have made giant leaps in ending slavery, women’s sufferage, and state sanctioned racism.
My point here is that we are all in this together and we can and must achieve our goal without allowing our Constitution and Republic to be destroyed in the process. I have always emphasized on the rights and responsibilities of the individual as I believe that our individuality is our greatest strength. Naturally it takes longer for individuals to come to a consensus and act than it does for a people to simply follow the leader. But if we achieve as individuals we will know exactly what we have gained and how we did it, making future attempts to steal it back away from hard to impossible.
Even if HR 6556 passes it is only a reprieve. We must not use the resource to sit back and take a 14 week vacation, but rather we must use it to further strengthen ourselves in preparation for the battles that lie ahead. All should note that this is not the first time we have been told that legislation for Tier 5 was going to be introduced.
I do not know if it will pass or not, my stance is I’ll see it when I believe it. But if by some miracle it should pass, I do not think that we should squander the opportunity it represents. We have to remember that even if the bill does get introduced, it still has to be passed by those same Republicans vowing to cut $100 million from this year’s budget. In reality, total passage of the bill would seem unlikely.
I believe we are going to have to raise a whole lot more hell before the new Republicans recognize us as a problem that must be solved; not by choice, but by necessity. This being said, if the bill is introduced this week we must make every effort to have our voices heard in every venue available to us. I think it might be wise to target John Boehner for a saturation of emails and phone calls. If we can match the number of resumes we sent to Jesse Jackson, Jr. it might at least let Boehner understand that we know that he is the one that is stopping any chance of relief for us.
God pray this whole thing just doesn’t fizzle like it did the last time, but if it does we are going to have to start getting serious in reference to the Easter Project. Many commentators on Saturday accused From the Trenches World Report of doing nothing more than putting other 99er advocates down.
To these commentators I say, do you and those you support have any intent in participating in the Easter Project if the 99ers are still being totally ignored when April 24th rolls around? Do you have what it takes to take such a project to the streets? Will Gregg Rosen bear one of the crosses? In the name of everything that is holy we must unite to see the Easter Project realized, if HR 6556 fizzles again.
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We are seeing the greatest concentration of wealth in the fewest hands the US has ever seen, yet most folks have been successfully sold the lie that this is ‘The Land of Opportunity’ – even though statistical analysis shows that social mobility was objectively greater in Medieval Europe than in the ‘modern’ US.
Every other developed nation spends half the percentage of GDP as does the US and treats access to health care as a right – here it’s treated as a gift to be doled out at the whim of the ‘creators of wealth’ – defined as those individuals or private interests who control capital.
Does it really make sense to accept the line that *only* capital ought be making social decisions?
Isn’t that just as extreme as the line of Old-Guard Communists that *only* labor produced wealth?
Isn’t it the product of society as a whole?
Yet we allow wealthy individuals such as the Kochs and private corporations (a corporation isn’t a creation of God, you know, it’s simply a social and governmental construct) to determine our political fate by funding political campaigns – buying their argument that it’s only ‘Free Speech’ (a corporation isn’t *really* a person, you know, that’s only an arbitrary legal convention) and their acting as if this somehow is less expensive – is it really less expensive to have ‘our’ political process owned by a legalized form of bribery?
Yet this is ‘The Land of the Free’? ‘The Land of Opportunity'”
Yeah, right – and ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’.
The fact that I need to have a place to stay feed my child and to just survive while these jobs are being created is the most important thing in my life right now.
I have worked my whole life and never thought this would happen to me I have sent at least 20 to 30 resumes a day and have gone to places and have only gotten 2 interviews which I did not get the job. I know there are people that say we aren’t doing anything but sitting around collecting money that is completely wrong and also very upsetting .
It drags all of us to a place where we don’t and shouldn’t be because we don’t deserve it. We appreciate what the Government has done the fact that they only put in a 13 month extension and didn’t include the 99ers is so wrong and now that the Republicans are a majority in the House it doesn’t seem like we get any attention even though the Speaker of the House said if it is paid for we will get it through and they found a way to pay for it so it needs to be done!!!!!!!!
We have to have money for gas to get to interviews and a roof over our head and food to eat while we are still looking for jobs that are going to be created.
We help every other Country but the Government isn’t willing to support 1.5 million people in the United States (that number is not correct either) and the fact that the unemployment went down to 9% from 9.4% is also not correct it is a way for the Government to say things are getting better and we are doing our job.
Well guess what even though you said 1.5 million people isn’t really that much compared to how many people are on unemployment is so wrong to count us out while we voted for you and are about to have nothing.
I don’t have people to help me and I need that extra time and money since the job market is getting better to sustain me and my child so I can keep looking and driving there.
Don’t push us out because of our debt because this money would go straight into the economy and that will help the economy and help the 99ers survive before you have people’s lives on your conscience while you are living quite good and not worried about 1.5 people (which I know is not correct) we are losing hope and you guys are the only people that can help us for now and we need you to make sure we are taken care of while looking for jobs!!!!!!!!!!!
We need this bill to pass asap HR6556 because it is all we have for hope and time to keep looking otherwise it will be the end of a lot of 99ers so please do the right thing and help us and help the economy to keep going!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you,
Yvonne
The only chance, really, is if the Republicans are willing to take advantage of the fact that this bill’s spending is offset by unspent stimulus funds to make a show of their being ‘reasonable’ – since they’ve consistently maintained the position that they’re willing to extend unemployment to the victims of the Obama administration’s mishandling of the recovery if – and only if – the spending doesn’t add to the deficit. This bill meets that requirement, so the question now becomes whether or not they prefer to grandstand on claims of ‘slashing spending’ at any price to the victims of Obama’s jobless recovery or whether they think it advantageous to portray themselves as ‘reasonable’. It’s a purely political calculation, and it can go either way. Claims of ‘compassion’, whether from the Democrats or the Republicans, are nothing but political grandstanding – good governance has nothing to do with it – unfortunately.
We desperately need Barbara Lee’s proposal of a Tier 1 extension to be passed for all of us unfortunate 99ers such as myself who are suffering so awfully!!.
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We must organize as a nation now… The U.S is on the path of being taken over by illegal immigrant terrorist by 2011. Our Senate will vote to yes on an Amnesty bill this month and allow the continued invasion of over 30 million illegal immigrants of who are habitual lawbreakers, uneducated, criminals, terrorists, gang members, pedophiles, prostitutes, and drug users/dealers. Illegal Immigrant and supporters steal money, use violence, and make terrorist threats to people who oppose amnesty. Defense budgets and military bases all over the country are closing down. Open your eyes people they don’t need soldiers they want slaves. Your current lawmakers have sold us out to foreign nations, private investors and the poor south of our border. The plan is to replace us with illegal immigrants then leave legal U.S citizens broke, hungry and defenseless to be taken over by rich and poor foreigners with bad intension. Citizens born in the United States are the target of elimination and are slowly being pushed out of the workforce. Illegal immigrants in the U.S earn an average income of $30,000 per yr with no papers, elementary diploma, high school diploma, or college degree. This is our land and civilization we were born here. A fact is illegal immigrants hate U.S citizens; many raise their kids to be lawbreakers, criminals and to support terrorism in the USA. This Dream Act is a breach of national security and must be stopped now. The people do not have to accept this treason or any new laws or legislation that supports foreigners before it’s own legal citizens. Organize & mobilize join us at http://usmoa.org/
You hit the nail on the head, my friend !
Greetings Mr. Shively,
Again, you are more than welcome to submit any questions to the Office of Congresswoman Barbara Lee.
Thank you for contacting us and for exercising your First Amendment Rights.
Glad to discuss.
Greetings Mr. Shively,
You are more than welcome to submit questions about the 99’ers legislation to the Office of Congresswoman Barbara Lee. Thank you for exercising your First Amendment rights.
Kind regards,
Quadia
I thank God for the Unemployment Extentions but let it be known. I’ved work since 12 yrs old sweeping barbershops for 2 dollars a day. The fundS that I WAS receiving through UIB is not enough to sit back and be comfortable with having 3 children and the landlord threatening to evict you by the end of the month. I’ve counted since 3/3/2009-2,193 applications, 4 interviews, and was told to get public assistance to help with the food. What about the RENT, LIGHTS, CLOTHES, SCHOOL SUPPLIES etc, We 99ers and unemployed at NO Fault of Our Own Need the HR 6556 bill past. BUT RATHER HAVE A GOOD PAYING JOB. Those that oppose the bill have you ever had to look in a hungry child mouth. We are being faced with 2 choices. TAKE HELP!!! or GET HELP!!!. You should pray we choose the LATTER
It pains me to admit this. I’VE GIVEN UP. I’m 45 years old and, after finding myself being descriminated because of my age in every employment field I tried to enter, I decided to make a brand new start. I owed it to my 9 year old son and my new born daughter. I did what so many have done for the last 100 years, but in reverse. I moved to another country in search of better opportunities and a brighter future for my family. I have been living in Peru for over a year, have a steady job, live very happy with my wife and kids (my wife is peruvian) and have found the same frredoms and opportunities that I used to enjoy in my homeland. Every day I meet more americans arriving in this country in search of the same oppertunities. Again, I have the will to stay and fight, but my family will not be made to suffer because of a bunch of FAT CAT’S GREED. They are more precious to me than all the stars and stripes in the world put together. All that’s left to say is: ¨THE WORLD DOES TURN¨
Newstart:
A good point – Americans tend not to look beyond their own borders for comparisons. Most of the developed nations provide universal health care – as a right, not as a ‘generous benefit’ from the ‘creators of wealth’ – at comparable quality to the US, and at half the cost. Countries like Germany provide intelligent compromises with the private sector to optimize training and to minimize layoffs. Yet the US gazes only at the imagined Divine Revelation of the Founding Fathers (I’m not knocking them, they were on the whole intelligent and capable men, but they were saints, and they weren’t Prophets bringing Divine Revelation). China is humiliating the US in part for a simple reason: Now that they’re freed of decades of Maoist totalitarianism the Chinese are returning to their core principle of governance – the government that governs best, that does the best job for the nation and the people as a whole (which they refer to figuratively as ‘The Mandate of Heaven’ has a legitimate claim to governance. In other words, they are dedicated to government that *works* for the nation and the people as a whole, and part of that in the modern era is coordinating but supporting private capital and private industry – in ways that are for the good of the people. *They* are the ultimate pragmatists. The US, on the other hand, has descended to Government Of By and For the Privileged Classes. Heaven help the US. We all know it, and none of us can prevent the descent.
Marc Cyfre,
These Chinese you speak of living in bliss are subject daily to arrest and execution for expounding the wrong thought. Chinese dissidents are held in prison until an order comes in for their organs, after which they are taken to the hospital, put down, and parted out. To suggest that today’s Chinese government is one degree less oppressive than Mao’s is horseshit. The Chinese businesses you speak of are owned by the Chinese government. They are communist and your apparent love of them sickens me.
Have you not read the front page of this site? This is a patriot site dedicated to the Constitution of the United States. When you come on here praising socialism or communism you have to know that all you are doing is pissing off patriots. You are a troll, and in adhering to our Constitution all trolls get equal treatment.
Correction: Make that ‘weren’t saints’ (typos happen) 😉
DETR
500 E. Third Street
Carson City, NV
They need to pass something. They, can bail out corporations but they look the other way when it, comes down to helping out the workers that build those corporations.
DETR
500 E. Third Street
Carson City, NV 89713
They need to pass something. They, will bail out corporations in a hear beat but they leave the workers to fend for themselves.
Now,more corporations are requiring pre employment physicals. The reason–due to the stress of being out of a job they can now disqualify you. This avoids discrimination against
older workers (probability is good that people over 40 have high blood pressure). The stress
level is higher when you have been out of work for so long and age does not help.
I was denied 2 jobs because my blood pressure was higher than company health guidelines.
I am 57 years old and have never had a heart attack or a stroke. If I had a job my blood pressure would be normal. It was always normal when I had a job.
It’s a good idea took take long walks for weeks before your physical comes due. This will bring the pressure down. Also avoid eating before any physical, this also helps in keeping it low. Some tricks I’ve learned over the years.