Recession Enters Seventh Year

I was going to do another blog post Thursday evening but didn’t.  Here it is three days later and I still haven’t officially posted the next blog.  2013 has been a bad year for progressives; there’s no doubt about that at all.  Whether you look at immigration or racial tolerance, or bigotry against gays, or judicial fairness to Blacks, or the minimum wage front or the implementation of the Affordable Care Act- - it’s all been bad.   You know some may wonder why I blame President Obama because things are clearly worse now than they were five or six years ago.  Six years ago almost qualifies as “The good old days”.  You know back when President Obama was first elected they referred to the preceding eight years as “The lost decade of the oughts”.  But now those are the golden glory days by comparison.  The nineties are way better.  There’s no question about that.  Some of the grotesque right wing political distortions we see commonplace now- - were virtually unknown as 2007 came to a close, and the first unmistakable signs of a major recession were showing themselves.  But we had no idea that now, six years later, we would be going into the seventh year of this recession- - which makes it rival the Great Depression in length- - and remember by 1936 there were strong signs we were well on our way to being out of that Depression.  This year unemployment is improved on an almost infinetessable level- since people keep dropping out of the labor market do to despair or dying off or something.  The overall number of employed workers is far below that of the beginning of 2008 and I don’t think there is even a vague hope of reaching that figure in the foreseeable future.  But I want to get back to the Obama question by envoking the Ward Cleaver doctrine.  You know how that goes.  The boys say “Technically it wasn’t our fault and we could not have known” and Ward would only tell them ‘You should have foreseen the possible consequences of your acts therefore you are accountable”.  By this Ward Cleaver yardstick, President Obama is accountable for the vast retreat of Progressivism in the face of the tea party.  The first gleamings of the tea party were the right wing speeches at the Republican convention.   Back then we are to believe- - if we just “didn’t worry about the stock market and trusted the economy” then things would be fine- and our old people would have proved to them how much better it is to invest in private accounts in stocks, than it is in any government program.  We heard “Drill, baby drill”, and that we did indeed to.  And of course they didn’t want the Iraq War to ever end since it was so wonderful- - and we managed to prolong that war for three years.  In fact I’m kind of at a loss to see how the republican speeches weren’t more what we have now- - than any speech any democrat gave.   If you’re looking at the “Slam of the Day” against Christianity, it’s this.  Sarah Palin reminded us about “all this hopey change stuff”.  Well the Christmas Story is the ultimate “hopey-changie” story.  It’s a fairy tale.  One we now know didn’t come to pass.  So Sarah Palin did me a major mental favor by linking these two events- - because I sure see the connection.

There has been a major credit card hacking at Target stores from Thanksgiving weekend till around December 11^th.  Target made this scandal known on the fifteenth.  They said that every debit and credit card run through their machine may have been mined for information from hackers who then rush right out and spend the money as fast as they can before they’re caught.  We are on page seven.  And there is not enough for a blog post at this time.  I’d like to get another cigarette because believe you me I need one.  Coffee can wait, at least for now.

Thursday night they talked more of this “Duck Dynesty” program.  People hear that and they think maybe “What?  Daffy Duck’s Greatest Hits of the past Sixty years?”   The guy is “daffy” all right.  He’s this bearded guy who looks like some religious cult leader and he’s a little scary.  He’s replete with all this hellfire and damnation stuff.  He said that Black people were more “Godly” back when they were scared shitless of stepping out of line and being lynched for the slightest offense.   He says they were “happy and singing”.  Well, they were under the gun.  For the guy to say he never saw a Black man mistreated is silly.  This is the era of Black drinking fountains and restrooms, where Black people can’t go into a restaurant and if they are lucky, they can get served around the back.  If you even looked at a White man funny, or even if you didn’t, if the white man didn’t think you were “submissive enough” you’d get it.  But this patriarch of the program regards himself as a “Godly” man.  The other topic on Chris Matthews was this Iran getting Nukes topic.  Because the question of what to do about it is unresolved.  Some say that the sanctions worked and Iran has been brought to the negotiating table.  Others say that Iran is playing us for a fool and is developing Nukes and enriching uranium behind out back.  But now they are saying Iran won’t be able to develop a nuclear bomb for the remaining life of the Obama administration.   There was talk too about minimum wages- - and it could be argued it would ease “income inequity”.  But the argument was also posed that a rise in the lower wages would necessitate a rise on a LOT of people’s wages all up the line.  I see no reason why this necessarily has to be so.  At ten I went out for one cup of coffee in the courtyard and then returned to KNX.  But they did not have the “program feed” from Melinda Lee until 10:37, and then I listened till almost eleven- - with a small dash of Bill Handel.

 Peter Asher of Peter and Gordon headed up “Breakfast with the Beatles” this week”.  He played the first three Beatles Christmas records up till ten and then played a strange one by the Everley Brothers.  He also played “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer” done in the style of “Taxman” and also “All I want for Christmas is a Beatle” by some woman who was already 41 when she recorded the song in 1963.  Paul recorded a demo of “I’ll Follow the Sun” at Peter Asher’s house in January 1964.   During lunch someone’s radio was playing the 1968 Beatles Christmas message.  As you can tell I feel like I’m going through the motions- but mainly plagued by various anxieties due to so many numerous unresolved issues- - and lack of nicotine has diminished my concentration ability.

This is Saturday December 21, 2013 the shortest day of the year.  Mario just hounded me for a short when I had just received a cigarette from a guy.  I had been desperate before dinner to have a cigarette and I didn’t get a puff.  After dinner I got a short- - and Mario is already smoking a cigarette and ten seconds after he puts that one out he asks for mine.  And I’m dumb enough to give it to him.  We had a decent chicken and pasta casserole but the portion was small.  There was also a salad and a dinner roll.  The guy comes out with ice cream and invariably serves the north table first and then goes back to the kitchen to get the diabetic ice cream.  After serving that seconds on dinner come around the other way.  Our table was the very last to be served- - after the north table.  But then the guy pulls the tray away and Owen and I object.  It seems Jim or someone was complaining and I heard Jim say, “He’s never happy unless he’s served first”.  At least I’d like to be served last.  The guy came back and served our table and then went back to Jim.  These “doubling back” routings are raw dealing.  But then the raspberry sherbet runs out about two people before he got to me.  But a few minutes later we got chocolate chip.  I still wasn’t full.