deber:  …9.8% the highest it has been since 1993.

Michigan takes the prize in that department:  15.2%;

Rhode Island 12.8%.  They are trying to borrow money from the federal government in order to meet their Unemployment benefits for the next month.  R.I. is flat out broke.

deber:  make millions, maybe billions on the changes he makes for our country….

You bet.  From now on, he just has to worry about playing golf and writing his memoirs…  or even better, hire someone to do the heavy writing for him. 

I hope Americans remember this one.

Mel:  Certainly wouldn’t even come close to having Palin run the country, into a ditch, what a fiasco that would have been.

We have an ongoing fiasco, in case you haven’t noticed.  Palin could not have done any worse.

Liz:   President Obama must exit his "virtual world" and energize American businesses the old fashioned way…

Obama must do something about jobs other than extending Unemployment Compensation for another 13 weeks.  He also needs to recognize the existence of non-union workers.  Plus does he have a plan for the day when his administration decides to pull the plug on using coal as an energy source?  What does he intend to do for the good folks in the Kentucky and West Virginia areas?

F P:  Hypocrisy run rampant.

In case you haven’t noticed, hypocrisy runs rampant on both sides, but this is an article about a doll.  A doll that looks well fed and clean, and doesn’t at all have the scared, anxious, tired look of someone sleeping in rags in the back of the family car.   

Being only three, my Milo doesn’t qualify as an old dog, but, I’ve had them and I’ve loved them, and still remember them all. 

Nice tribute to these wonderful companions. 

Since I attended a parochial school for nine years (K thru 8), I was less aware of class distinctions.  The nuns never encouraged such things.  Although I do remember seeing others with newer clothes than I, I don’t remember caring as long as they were willing to jump rope or play tag with the rest of us regardless of whether they ripped or dirtied their good clothes.  I might add that my parochial school was very parochial in that we were all of the same ethnic group.  Everyone either seemed like or was a cousin.

In public high school, the biggest distinction was looks.  It’s all about being pretty, being popular, being connected.  Not so much about wealth…  at least not in the group I hung around in.  Today, I realize a lot of those kids were the children of doctors and lawyers and successful businessmen, but at the time it didn’t seem to matter.

F P:  He’s a liar and a purveyor of mis- and dis-information…

My goodness, Frank, that has been said of Obama.  So where do we go from here.  We know you don’t like Beck and O’Reilly and Hannity and Palin and Cheney (father and daughter) and Bush and any Republican congressman and anyone Republican…  the list goes on and on.  You might be a nice guy, but you do have a long hate list.

phyllis:  …a man with a Mohawk by the name of Fingers Malloy,

LOL.  You’re making this up, right?

Sorry to hear of the passing of William Safire yesterday.  What a talented wordsmith he was.  Clever and witty. 

CSPAN2 ran their last hour-long interview with him in 2008. 

Katharine:  Ted Kennedy’s strong objection to erecting windmills in Nantucket Sound…

Ah…  Uncle Teddy fought that battle for a long time, wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t continue it from the grave. 

Last week the Dems changed the law so the governor could name Ted’s friend to cast a vote for him as an interim Senator.  Massachusetts mischief from the Old Lion.   

Maggie:  I pay no attention to Marjorie anymore and for obvious reasons. 

Aw gee.  That’s too bad.  My POV is from the ground here in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.  The unions own Rhode Island…  it’s a sad, little state.  Fully Democratic, I might add. 

 He has.  Clash for Clunkers?

Union jobs.  No one has said that Obama doesn’t do well by the unions, for obvious reasons.  

Assistance to school districts… 186.1 million

Which ones?  And trust me, that’s a drop in the bucket.  A million here and a half million there for one year does not translate into better school districts.  We hire teachers, then lay them off the next year.  In the meantime, real-estate taxes go up in the cities and towns who try to keep up with the new programs they’ve bought into.   

Housing assistance… 20.2 million

Are these figures correct?  In my not-so-special town, there are new houses selling for  .6 or .7 milion dollars and more.  How far does 20.2 million go?  My area could swallow 20.2 million and we wouldn’t notice it.

So, are we going to get a Stimulus Package every year, like the extension of Unemployment Compensation?  And how do the numbers work out with rising unemployment causing reduced revenues for governments (city/town, state, county, federal)?  Will it be the printing presses or the goodwill of China.  Or will the employed union folks carry us all?

deber:   small businesses…

Most small businesses employ non-union workers.  Obama helps the unions; non-union workers are not on his radar.  To Obama’s credit, he does keep extending the Unemployment Compensation for them.  Otherwise, we’d probably have riots in the streets by now. 

Maggie:  stimulus money has retained jobs…

Mostly union jobs.  Union workers are being helped, we understand the association.  But, what about non-union jobs in small businesses?  What about non-union workers in general.  What are they to do?  It would seem that what he offers non-union people is another 13-week extension of Unemployment Compensation.  When the U.C. stops, there is going to be a lot of hungry people because I don’t know if the states can take on the extra welfare burden.

Obama has signed a lot of bills, but none of it really matters much to the guy/gal trying to live on Unemployment and worrying that this might be the last extension.