In Iowa, steps are being taken by the state house of representatives to repeal the practice of giving professors at state universities, which are funded by state taxes, paid vacations known as sabbaticals. The incoming speaker of the house of Iowa, Kraig Paulsen, argues, “Why should the taxpayers of Iowa be paying to basically give these folks a year off from teaching?”

College professors who support sabbaticals say that the paid breaks are necessary, in that they allow professors the chance to advance research, get grants, write books and gain new knowledge to share with their students. They further urge the government to stay out of the affairs of academics.
Continue reading “Entitlement for Some”

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is threatening to release thousands more documents if he is arrested or his site is shut down.  The documents are apparently encrypted with a code that will cause their release all over the world with the push of a single button.  Mr. Assange is presently in hiding and says he fears for his life.

It is also reported that WikiLeaks is experiencing cyber attacks on its servers.  Where the attacks are coming from is unknown however several government officials have been calling for American cyber soldiers to be directed to attack the site.  Also PayPal has canceled WikiLeaks account making it unable to receive donations.
Continue reading “WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Goes on the Defense with “Poison Pill””

Yesterday morning I finally heard a real story about a real 99er on the mainstream news.  The lady’s name is Rhonda Taylor from Rhode Island.  She stated that she has been without income for eight months now.  I believe she has three kids; one of which suffers from disabilities.  Evidently the disability is not bad enough to receive any help.  She said she had to cash in her 401K, empty her bank account, and sell everything she owned.  She went on to say that she is facing eviction.  When asked what she would do about her children if evicted, she tearfully stated that she would have to turn them over to foster care.

This lady was clearly suffering the deepest apathy and it enraged me to my soul.  The propagandist put forth the notion that unemployment benefits give the unemployed an incentive not to look for work.  Continue reading “99er Unemployed Fighting Words”

Flash:  Two versions for extensions of the Bush tax cuts were voted down yesterday.  The first extended the tax cuts only for those making $250,000 and under.  The second extended the cuts for all those making a million dollars or less.  Apparently the House Republicans and enough House Democrats to make the difference have decided that those making over a million dollars per year cannot feel secure in their future unless the tax cuts are extended to the top 2%.

Is there anybody out there among the middle class and working poor that believes that a million dollars in personal income per year is not enough?  Also, is there anybody out there among the middle class and working poor who believes that a majority of the American citizens do not want a single piece of legislation to pass through the Senate until the top 2% are guaranteed their extra $100,000 per year?  Note: Half of what the top 2% receive in tax cuts per year, $50,000, would put the average family of four above the poverty level.
Continue reading “Tier 5 Unemployed, The Talking Part is Done”

The White House is proposing a one year extension of unemployment benefits.  Apparently a raise of two tenths of a percent in the unemployment rate has made the issue extremely important once again.  Of course if those who have run out of unemployment were reflected in that figure, the number would be closer to 15%.  In fact, if all the unemployed who are desperately looking for a job were counted the number would be 20% or more.

This scenario just goes to emphasize the fact that the government uses the manipulation of the true numbers to justify their inaction.  The details of the proposed one year extension are sketchy so it is hard to tell how we 99ers might be affected.  Continue reading “The Tier 5 Unemployment Extension May Yet be a Possibility”

There were only 39,000 jobs created last month making the unemployment rate rise to 9.8%.  The Republicans were fast to act in jumping onto the soapbox and announcing that the rise in the unemployment rate is proof positive that extending the Bush tax cuts for the top 2% is the only thing that can save us.  And of course the same old rhetoric in reference to green energy as a solution to unemployment is being parroted across the spectrum.  The propagandists must surely think we have the memory span of a head of lettuce.

Personally I had a funny feeling that our economy might take another dive after all the fools who were able to, maxed out their credit cards buying Christmas gifts they could not afford.  When the buzz about town was, “The economy is growing, personal incomes are going up, and consumer spending is rising.”  Every person who had any money should have grabbed a sock, inserted the money, and headed for the mattress.  So how do you tell when the mainstream media is lying?  Well, their lips are moving.  And who do they lie for?  The corporate mobsters of course.
Continue reading “99ers and Tier 5 Supporters – Just another Day in Paradise”

436,000 American workers filed for new jobless claims this week.  The mainstream propagandists are saying that maybe they overestimated the recovery in reference to jobs.  This is poppycock.  If you pay attention to the mainstream propaganda you will notice that there are always one or two economists that point out the obvious if you are lucky enough to catch their fifteen second blip.

I stated emphatically last month that the jobless reports that the media was putting out for October were erroneous, as the propagandists were trying to portray the seasonal jobs associated with the harvest as being an increase in permanent positions.
Continue reading “99ers and Tier 5 Supporters, We are Gaining Ground”

The quest for unemployment extensions is now being identified as class warfare.  I guess it is class warfare when a poor person wrecks their car and files a claim on their policy.  Henry Oliner writing for the American Thinker said, “There is something morally repugnant about expecting rescue and salvation from the same people you demonize.”  Well Mr. Oliner, we are not demonizing you for what you have, but rather how you got it.  In fact you might want to re-examine your pompous, self righteous attitude.

The unemployed, especially the long term unemployed, want nothing more than a damn job.  But you see those jobs aren’t there.  And why?  Because the rich elite shipped our jobs overseas where the work is done by the equivalent of slaves, thus further enriching the rich.  Continue reading “Tier 5 Unemployment Extension – Class Warfare”

Unemployment benefits will begin to run out today for 2 million Americans who were made unemployed through no fault of their own.  We 99ers already know the devastation of going from having a little to having nothing.  And where is the extension of unemployment benefits on the to-do list for the lame duck congress?  At number three.
Continue reading “Tier 5 Unemployed Order Your Public Servants!”

Problem…Reaction…Solution.

This is how governments take control.  It works like this.  A report appears on every mainstream propaganda channel depicting an apartment in the inner city wherein little children have been left to fend for themselves under deplorable conditions.  They are eating what they can scavenge while wading and crawling through their own feces.  (The problem)

The good citizens watch the news clip over and over on every channel for about a week, after which there is a cry throughout the land to stop the abuse which has been witnessed.  (The Reaction)
Continue reading “WikiLeaking – Terrorism?”

From the founding of Jamestown in 1607 to the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, our forefathers were governed by a monarchy.  Some of the first Europeans to come to this country did so at the bidding of a group of London merchants known as the London Company.  They did so to seek treasure, bring Christianity to the Indians, and raise farm products that England could not grow at home, thus the founding of Jamestown, Virginia.

The native peoples who had occupied this portion of the continent for thousands of years did not see the threat that the European industrialists represented to their way of life.  In fact they embraced the Europeans and the technologies they brought with them.
Continue reading “99ers and Tier 5 Unemployment Extension – Tier 5 Unemployed in the Way”

I often wonder what our forefathers would think if they could see what we have allowed the great Republic that they gave us to become.  I try to imagine what was going through the mind of the average militia man who was waiting at Lexington and Concord for the British troops who were coming to confiscate their weapons.  I have to believe there had to be both an element of fear and anger as they were facing down the most powerful army in the world.  When the king’s forces reached Lexington the minutemen stepped up, muskets in hand, prepared to die and some did.
Continue reading “Tier 5 Unemployed Be Among the Patriots”

When I lost my last job and had to go onto unemployment there was no sense of panic.  I had survived a couple of recessions already and was confident I could once again rise from the ashes and rebuild.  I am a member of the Patriot Community.  When the unemployment ran out and I found the 99ers on the web, I said to myself, here is a great potential for fixing what had become broken in our country.
Continue reading “99er Tier 5 Unemployment Extension – Reality Check”

Know your enemy; these are words to live by.  I have recently come to a realization that has taken me aback.  I knew it seemed that we who were devastated by this economic crisis were being ignored.  I asked the question, why.  I found myself thinking that the international corporate mafia was so busy initiating new ways to steal for the top 2% that they had put the unemployed on the back burner.  This couldn’t have been further from the truth.

A couple of things happened this week that have brought me to a new understanding of our enemy’s strategies and intent.  Continue reading “99ers and Tier 5 unemployment Extension Supporters – Our Common Enemy”

First Published 11-24-10

If your state is like mine you are forced to by auto insurance.  And insurance companies being insurance companies, if you’ve ever found yourself in a serious situation where you needed those benefits, you have found out that the insurance companies take a portion of what you pay in and use it to keep lawyers on retainer.  If you get into a wreck and there are injuries involved you are going to have to sue to recover your damages and it will take years.

There are a lot of people out there talking about unemployment insurance like it is welfare.  Continue reading “Tier 5 Unemployment Insurance is Insurance”

99ers who have become frustrated with the lack of initiative in the cause are now using the website From the Trenches World Report and uniting as a free coalition, determined to regain recognition from the government they have supported for the last thirty years.  We are determined to put the apathy behind us and to become a force that will have to be reckoned with.

The site is opened to all 99ers and their supporters and features such pages as Organized Resistance where we put our names and states which are transferred to a list to be used for coordinated strategies.
Continue reading “Tier 5 Unemployed Free Coalition Nationwide Rally”

“History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is.”  This is a quote attributed to Thomas Jefferson, the man who penned our Declaration of Independence. What examples of bad government did history offer in the second half of the 18th century? The answers are countless, however there are two forms of government that, when inspected, help us understand our own.

Democracy in its purest form takes a vote of the people and makes it law. A historical example of a democracy is the ancient Greek city-state of Athens.  Continue reading “Jefferson on Government”

I was just contacted via email by the Unemployed States of America.

Our site, From the Trenches World Report, is at present scaring the hell out of our enemies.  Since it was put up it is growing exponentially.  Every Tom, Dick, and Freddie is trying to hijack our movement.  This site is effective because it belongs to all of us.  There is no power structure other than that that is created by the resisters who come here to organize individual projects. Continue reading “99ers Unemployed Power Grab”

First Published 11-21-10

Republicans are coming under fire after shooting down HR 6419, the unemployment extension, which would have extended benefits for Tiers 1-4.  The legislation would have cost $12.5 billion.  The Republicans used as their excuse that the legislation is not funded.  Critics have pointed out that there is $246 billion in unspent stimulus funds sitting in reserve.
Continue reading “Tier 5 Unemployed, Do Something Even if it is Wrong”

First Published 11-16-10

About one hundred years ago our grandfathers formed labor unions in order to obtain fair compensation for their labor.  Using this strategy, they succeeded.  We have been raised to believe that we have a representative government and if enough of us complain about a single issue, that issue will be resolved to our satisfaction to stop the complaints.

As a 99er, have you ever asked yourself, why me, why us?  The majority of 99ers are between the ages of 40 and 65.  This is why we have been singled out to be attacked.  Continue reading “99ers and Tier 5 Unemployment Extension- Tier 5 Join the American 99er’s Union”