Small Ripoffs: a stage-whispered rant
While what is possibly the largest criminal enterprise since the looting of Europe by the Thule Society is carried out in broad daylight, let's take a quick look at a few of the smaller, everyday scams...
View Article(Un)Welcome to the Occupation, with apologies to R.E.M.
Just like everyone else, today I was laid off. I truly did not expect the job to end this way.Short version -- at this time I am not worried about it.
View ArticleA Short Sermon
I'd like to speak today about us and them. Us, we, the group that I am in, are the true believers, the just, the smart, the good, the righteous. But them! Those backsliders, those evildoers, those...
View ArticleContinued Unemployment Story, with Poll
I was laid off exactly three weeks ago today. Since I was granted 2 weeks pay instead of notice, next week will be my official Wait Week in the unemployment system -- I did not qualify as I was still...
View ArticleYour favorite joke
OK, I admit it. It's lightweight. It's fluff. I don't expect it to be on top of the rec list. It's not intended to be taken seriously.But. I don't know about you guys, but I am betting everyone...
View ArticleThe Unemployment Diaries, part 3
This continues my personal story of losing a job I considered recession-proof, and my responses to it, rational, irrational, and surreal.First off, I want to thank the individuals that make up this...
View ArticleThe dignity of Work
[T]here is no job beneath the dignity of someone who wants to work. -- TackleladyI have zero tolerance for people who think work is beneath them. -- OdysseusI agree that there is no work that is...
View ArticleThe Unemployment Diaries, Part 4
So it's been a month. I got my first unemployment payment. I've been sending off applications, but there are no decent jobs to be had right now. If I have to go back to entry-level I will, but for...
View Articlemeta diary: How do you read Kos?
Meta in the sense of Talking About How We're Talking, not the subset of Let's You And Him Fight meta.I'm curious. What procedure do you follow when you arrive, what process do you follow that leads...
View ArticleThe Unemployment Diaries: It's a process
Welcome to installment five. The past week has been one of extreme highs and crushing lows. As usual. I'd like to formally invite everyone to use this space to tell your stories, your rants and your...
View ArticleIt's all my fault. Sorry, America
After watching Frontline's take on the first symptoms of the financial meltdown (that anyone noticed), I came to a stunning and frankly chilling revelation.It's all my fault. I did it. I'm sorry,...
View ArticleThe Unemployment Diaries: Loser Letter Edition
This week's installment includes a hip-rock party, a "You're a Loser" letter, some aimless complaining, and a digression on the wasting of time.However, very little actual content.Still interested?...
View ArticleExtreme Makeover: American Culture Edition -- a 5-point strategy
So rather than fix this house of cardsup we are going to tear it all down and build 'er anew. A whole different set of assumtions and principles on which to found our finances and our society.Who's...
View ArticleI Will Not Calm Down
I am so, so sick (and tired) of watching and hearing the buyers and borrowers being blamed for the financial crisis, not only in the local and national news, but here, in what by all accounts is a...
View ArticleThe first three things we need to do
There are three things that need to be done immediately if we, as a nation, intend to survive. To remain free people. To leave our children a better world than the one we were born into.The way we...
View ArticleThe Unemployment Diaries: No One Could Have Predicted This Edition
What Has Gone Before: On January 7th, 2009, I was laid off from what I thought was a recession-proof job. Now I spend altogether too much time whining on the intert00bs about it.This week: The...
View ArticleThe Unemployment Diaries 8: Furniture Edition
Last Tuesday, the damned cat kept my wife up all night.Wednesday? I kept the cat awake all day. You ever try to keep a cat awake? You can't just whisper something scary in its ear, like "If I should...
View ArticleThe Financial Equivalent of the Dust Bowl
It's not unusual for me to think about the Depression of the '30s. Like most Americans who have been here a few generations, it's part of my family mythology. It's an even bigger part of my wife's...
View ArticleThe Unemployment Diaries 9: Screwed Edition
This week, I whine about not getting paid.That's pretty much it.Update: Changed title due to my losing count.
View ArticleThe Unemployment Diaries 10: Six Reactions Edition
Last week, I mislabeled installment 9 as installment 10. Back on track this week.Here's a quote to start things rolling."Protect Yourself, Give Up and Party, Help Others, Blame, Bear Witness, [or] Go...
View ArticleThe Unemployment Diaries 11: Foreclosure Rage Edition
Kossacks, I am outraged. Again.Due to the course of the events of my life, I am fortunately not in serious immediate danger of losing my home to foreclosure. So my anger is not for me, it is for the...
View ArticleThe Unemployment Diaries 12: Confusion Edition
On Wednesday, it will have been 3 months since I was tossed on the Human Resources Discard pile.Just another day.I don't understand what is happening in the world anymore. I guess I never did. I just...
View ArticleGuns: An alternative solution
Here's the one issue that the proponents of unrestricted gunplay have never been able to answer. Mention this next time you hear someone passionately talking about their home and personal...
View ArticleCall for Action: Should We Crash The Tea Party?
There's going to be a "tea party" tomorrow in my city.I'm seriously thinking about going.Update -- getting good advice here on action vs inaction, etc.
View ArticleInaction Diary: Teabag Edition
Yesterday, I was planning to go disrupt the local gathering of teabaggers that was, according to the paper, going to be held at our beautiful new library today.Several wise Kossacks talked me down from...
View ArticleThe Unemployment Diaries, part Long Time No See
Howdy. It's been a while. Quite a while, in fact.I'm still unemployed, but there's a good reason for that.If you remember me, follow me over the jump for an extremely abbreviated update. If you...
View ArticleDo Not Bind Up The Mouths Of The Kine That Tread The Corn
What is the American Dream?Rumonations over the jump -- crossposted to FaceBook
View ArticleAmerica Doesn't Need Jobs
America doesn't need jobs.America needs careers. America needs something better than stressed,unhappy, underutilized people who earn not enough to get by and spend their days worrying whether today is...
View ArticleJobs: a 3-Point Plan
Like everyone else, I know exactly how to save the country.Come over the fold for three simple ideas that would go a long way to fixing our political and economic problems. Tell me in the comments why...
View ArticleA brief observation of the parking lot at the local food shelf
Five or six years ago, the parking lot at the food shelf was filled with crappy cars. Beaters with coat hanger antennas, bashed bumpers, doors held closed with bungee cords. There would be a couple...
View ArticlePre-public assistance drug testing: a refutation
Facebook is a well (some would argue a cesspool) of memes. One of the current ones is this:Thank you Florida, Kentucky, and Missouri, which are the first states that will require drug testing when...
View ArticleThe Unemployment Diaries, Reprise
A couple days ago I wrote about my feelings on losing my home to foreclosure. When I first lost my job, years ago, I wrote about it here. Here's the next chapter."The ship of the American Dream has...
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