Unemployed 99ers get Support from Congressional Black Caucus

The Unemployed 99ers yesterday received strong support from members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Attempting to breathe life into the idea of a Tier 5 for unemployment extensions for 99ers has been a thankless task for 9 months now, but the stakes are so high for those who have exhausted all UI benefits - we have no choice but to fight for a way to survive until there are jobs for us to support ourselves.

Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) was joined by CBC members Bobby Scott (D-Va.), Donald Payne (N.J.) and Donna Christensen (V.I.) in announcing the CBC's position on the package, which Lee said she made clear at House Democrats' meeting on Wednesday with Vice President Biden.

"We are simply here to say that we want a fair deal," said Rep. Donald M. Payne (D-N.J.). "You know, there was the New Deal under Roosevelt, and then there was a Fair Deal under Truman. Every new deal is not necessarily fair, and we see this new deal as not necessarily fair."

Per Bobby Scott: “I for one believe that we should let all the tax cuts expire...(but) an overwhelming majority of the caucus is against the President’s proposal, as it currently stands....we do support the 13 month extension of emergency Unemployment benefits, but we all agree we should also extend benefits for the so called 99ers.”

Watch the entire CBC news conference here: http://tinyurl.com/2bpwgd8

All 99ers are urged to contact the Congressional Black Caucus and members of Congress listed below to assist us in our fight for survival via a Tier 5 of UI benefits. They may be the 99ers best and last hope before complete annihilation of our desperate members.

Congressional Black Caucus Telephone: 202-226-9776. Fax: 202-225-9817
Barbara Lee Phone: (202) 225-2661 FAX: (202) 225-9817
Donald M. Payne Phone: (202) 225-3436 FAX: (202) 225-4160
Bobby Scott Phone (202) 225-8351 FAX (202) 225-8354

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) said on the House floor Thursday that any deal to preserve tax cuts for the rich ought to include help for people who have exhausted 99 weeks of benefits and still haven't found work.

President Obama on Monday cut a controversial deal with congressional Republicans to preserve extended unemployment benefits for 13 months in exchange for two years of continued tax breaks for the wealthy.

Jackson Lee said the deal should "further include those who have run up against a brick wall, the '99ers,' as they call them, [who] don't have any more resources but still have mortgages and food to pay for and bills to pay."

Watch Representative Sheila Jackson Lee’s interview on The Ed Show (video below)

All 99ers are encouraged to contact Ms. Jackson and offer our voices to her fight to help the 99ers: On Twitter @JacksonLeeTX18 By phone: 202-225-3816 Fax: 202-225-3317

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

[Please use the donation button below to help Paladinette to KEEP FIGHTING for the 99ers! Thank you.]

Nikky Raney Interviews Seth Majka of 'The Casting'

Seth Majka's solo project 'The Casting' has its album 'I Am The Dirt' available on iTunes. This interview gives the audience a little sneak peek of the album as well as getting to know how much effort and time went into this two year project. Seth is extremely talented and he truly does deserve recognition for what he has accomplished.

Please send me "fan mail" messages of questions you'd like me to ask Seth during our next interview. You may remember Seth from previous videos as Majkatvboi - and there will be more of those fun videos in the near future.

Maddow & Olbermann Finally Jump into Fight for 99ers on MSNBC

Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann finally lent their MSNBC media presence to the fight for the 99ers this week.

Keith Olbermann in a scathing Commentary on December 7th (video below) left no doubt on how he feels about the Obama “Bend Over” in favor of the richest Americans, at the expense of those hit hardest by the “Great Recession” - the 99ers.

Olbermann: “In exchange for giving tax cuts for the rich which the nation cannot afford, and extending their vintage through the next election and thus promising, at best, a reenactment of this whole sorry, amoral, degrading spectacle during the 2012 presidential campaign, when the sides will be climbing over each other to again extend these cuts -- In exchange for this searing and transcendent capitulation, the President got just thirteen months of extended benefits for those unemployed less than 100 weeks. And he got nothing, absolutely nothing for those unemployed for longer, the 99ers.”

A tip of the hat to Mr. Olbermann, who likely feels as though the 99er Nation has been ‘cyber stalking’ him for months - requesting, even begging him to lend his incredible and eloquent oratory talents to our fight for survival - without benefits now for 9 months. Let’s hope and pray that Washington was listening.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Rachel Maddow this week too had the opportunity to corner Austan Goolsbee on her show this week to ask him point blank about the plight of the 99ers. Goolsby, Chairman of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, admitted that a tier 5 for the 99ers would be one of the best economic stimulus for America at this time of crisis.

“The 99ers are in a very difficult spot...the 99er question is a vexing question that we have got to address cuz [sic] the long term unemployment problem is as high as it has ever been...and it is critically debilitating...my heart goes out to people in that situation,” Goolsby said.

Mr. Goolsbee faired much better in this interview than he had in the debacle on The Ed Show earlier this week - when he completely avoided the question.

SCHULTZ: So why not throw $120 billion at the 99ers? I mean, if it‘s just short term and we‘re throwing billions of dollars around, why not do that?

GOOLSBEE: Wait. We‘re not trying to throw billions of dollars around. The point is not just to throw money around. This is a 13-month extensions of unemployment benefits.

SCHULTZ: For two million people, right?

GOOLSBEE: For seven million people, yes.

SCHULTZ: OK. But there‘s 4.5 million people to 5 million who are 99ers that have been caught up in this wave as well that have nothing in this package.

GOOLSBEE: I‘m not arguing with you about things that could be good. We are having to deal in the reality of the president was able to negotiate two and a half times as much stuff which is on the priorities of the administration—the Obama tax cuts, extending unemployment benefits beyond what anybody thought they would be able to be extended, as well as middle class tax relief and incentives for companies to invest in this country. And at a moment like this, if you have an opportunity like that, you‘ve simply got to take it.

First of all Goolsbee got his facts WRONG on 7 million UI recipients being helped and it certainly would NOT take $120 billion to help the 99ers.

According to CNN, The federal government has already paid out $109 billion in unemployment insurance during this recession. $109 Billion in extended benefits for the entire recession! Not all that much when you consider They are about to borrow $900 billion to give Tax cuts to Millionaires & Billionaires for the next 2 years and we are borrowing that money from China, The middle east oil exporting Countries, Iran, Venezuela and the list goes on!

AMERICA needs to be outraged. Fact is that a Tier 5 for the exhaustees would only cost about $32 billion dollars and put back into the economy twice that amount in economic stimulative effect. So what is the downside? The inability to work into this lame tax giveaway for the rich - help for millions of Jobless Americans hurting the worst is unconscionable, unacceptable and just plain weak negotiation on behalf of the White House.

Still Goolsbee's attempt at "slight of hand" during the Schultz interview was better than the Biden staffer who went on National TV touting his opinion that -“the 99ers do not need UI benefits - they need retraining to get back into the work force.”

Excuse me Mr. Advisor to the Vice President, but.... without any UI income now for 9 months and counting - after 2 years plus of trying to survive on UI benefits only - how the hell are those 99ers supposed to survive let alone retrain and retrain for what jobs? Unless Congress stops the outsourcing of every American job and FAST - any job creation in this country is like putting a band-aid on an amputated limb. We are hemorrhaging jobs in America and unless or until Washington stops rewarding corporations for off shoring our jobs - we will never again have normal employment levels in this country.

[Please use the donation button below to help Paladinette to KEEP FIGHTING for the 99ers! Thank you.]

“Jobless Talk” gets Christmas Miracle - Shows Continue for 99er Fight!

“Jobless Talk” this week received a Christmas Miracle that will allow the show to continue in the 99er fight.

It was announced during yesterday’s broadcast, that Paladinette (the host of Jobless Talk) has received the backing of a benefactor (who wishes to remain anonymous) that will assure “Jobless Talk” remains on air for the next several months.

Nobody was more surprised than I was to get the call and it restores my faith in what I have been doing for the past 15 months on behalf of jobless Americans. After all, Washington doesn’t appear to give a damn about those who have exhausted all UI benefits to date.

The show will air it’s final broadcast of 2010 next Friday (December 17th) and will resume broadcasting on January 7, 2011 - after a 2 week hiatus for the holiday season.

The 99er Nation will have precious little to celebrate this Christmas other than being able to survive through the New Year - but we have just begun to fight! Beginning in January, Jobless Talk will have a toll free call in number for those jobless Americans to bring their commentary to the live show broadcasts. That number will be announced shortly.

Thanks to all of you in the blogosphere for your support and encouragement during a difficult time for all of us 99ers and especially to the generous benefactor who has “saved the day” for now in Paladinette’s continued fight on behalf of all jobless Americans!

[Please use the donation button below to help Paladinette to KEEP FIGHTING for the 99ers! Thank you.]

Lunch in Downtown SF at The Old Ships Saloon

This is this blogger's first day back in the San Francisco Bay Area after spending most of his last four weeks in Suburban Atlanta.

As I write this, I've just semi-enjoyed a lunch at, whatever this place is called. Oh, yeah, the Old Ship Saloon.   Over on the corner of Battery and Pacific here in Downtown San Francisco.

At any rate, the service was semi-terrible. I felt rushed. A long time to be served, then served, then food taken away, then no one asking if I needed the other table for my computer (I did), then some lady I guess is the hostess comes over and grabs the set of salt, pepper, and augar that was at my table. And to do this, she has to reach across my body, which she does without saying "excuse me."

All for four patrons who didn't have a problem finding a seat. The place wasn't crowded. The lunchtime crowd left, and while there are people here, it's not anywhere close to jam-packed. But given that it' Friday, that could change around rush hour.

That written, the waiter is cool; he just seems like he's new to the job.

Oh, yes. I am writing this as I sit here.

You'd think business people would get the idea that it's good to make sure all of your patrons are treated properly. Not just some of them. And never trade off one for the other.

Ok. That's why I go to the Royal Exchange. In the 15 years (or more) I've visited that place on the corner of Sacramento and Front Street never had a bad moment.  Not only that, the Royal Sex-change, as it's called, was the home of some of this bachelor's finest moments.

Without going into detail, well, hell, why not a little, huh?

There was the female sales exec who said she could hold me up by the ankles.   And so, she took me down to the women' bathroom and, well, she did just that. (And she did a lot more after that.   One strong woman.  I like that.)

I can say I know what the World looks like from upside down, hung by a beautiful woman, in the women's bathroom at the Royal Exchange in downtown San Francisco.

I can't say I can see that ever happening at the Old Ship's Saloon, but I'm just smarting because the service is subpar.  Ok.  It's not happy hour.

Stay tuned.

Wikileaks Julian Assange and Bradley Manning in jail; the money thing

As Julian Assange sits in jail until his December 14th court hearing in the UK, and Bradley Manning, and the U.S. Military's former Army Private Bradley Manning sits in incarceration in a military jail in Quantico, Va, one thought comes to mind: who's paying their legal bills?

According to CBS News, the amount of money is donations may not be enough to cover the legal expenses both will incur. In Julian's case, his profile is so high that he may be able to get probono legal representation, but that's almost certainly not the case for Bradley Manning.

What this proves is that Wikileak's staffers and supporters didn't really think through their overall approach to the point of considering the "negative feedback loops" in their approach.

What Wikileaks is doing is taking on not just "the establishment" but a culture; one has to make sure they have the resources to take on such a task. Moreover, in this Internet age, just who's part of that culture seems to change every year.

Stay tuned.

Miley Cyrus Does Salvia Bong Hits

Wow, what a sensational headline. Be prepared, because this will be quite the blog post. This journalist is letting her blogger side really take over with this post. This is not Fox News, but that headline could definitely be confused or could potentially be a Fox News headline - apologies for that. Anyway, Miley Cyrus (who turned 18 on November 23, so she's not jailbait anymore and no one can give her any more complaints about her being overly sexual) has been said to have been smoking from a bong, but the claims are that the bong contains salvia.

TMZ video screen shot

All right so the following information was gathered from CBS News.

It seems like not very many people know what salvia is. It looks like the bigger story is "What is salvia" more so than Cyrus doing salvia. All right, being a college student may help in educating this. Salvia is legal and it is comparable to marijuana (not from personal experience). Salvia is said to give hallucinations and all sorts of things, but it's temporary.

CBS' headline for this story is: Miley Cyrus Bong Said to Contain Salvia: What's That? Aside from the fact that the headline should probably say "Miley Cyrus' Bong." Or if read in a different tone it could make it sound like Cyrus' bong is actually speaking.

CBS includes:

Google Images

Whatever Cyrus was feeling inside, outwardly she was giggling up a storm and jabbering - mostly incomprehensibly, except for a choice remark: "I want some more of that s***, I swear."

TMZ can always be relied on to get just what is needed to help with the credibility of a story (oddly enough). It seems weird that TMZ and credibility work together. TMZ has a video of the former Hannah Montana star taking bong hits for her birthday.

TMZ includes:

As for the video ... the source tells us it was shot by one of Miley's friends -- and the theory is someone stole or copied the video from that friend's camera.


Ha, TMZ is like WikiLeaks for celebrities. Letting out all the juiciness that people want secret. Everyone should watch that video - she looks pretty happy.

Now, it's interesting that TMZ's credibility is greater than that of US Magazine. US Magazine reports that Billy Ray Cyrus is "sad" because of Miley's bong video.

Wait? He's sad because of the BONG video. He isn't sad because of the lap dance video or any of the other disturbing things that she did when she was not of legal age, but now that she's 18 and she is doing a legal drug he is sad?

Apparently he tweeted:

"I had no idea. Just saw this stuff for the first time myself. I'm so sad. There is much beyond my control right now."

Personal screen shot taken of Billy Ray's Twitter

The screenshot includes his tweet about Jesus.


What? He is more upset about her doing salvia bong hits than her dancing on stripper poles, taking seductive pictures at the age of 15, giving a 44-year-old man a lap-dance at the age of 16, etc? Does this family make sense? Her racy outfits and watching videos of her acting all seductive at concerts and making herself "sexy" before she reached 18 was not as upsetting as seeing a video of her taking hits from a bong? This is unbelievable - maybe US Weekly isn't right.

US Weekly also claims:

"Okay, I'm about to lose it now," Cyrus says after taking her first hit. "I'm having a little bit of a trip right now."


Hey, it's legal. She is allowed to enjoy herself now. Is this being blown out of proportion? Maybe, but it's enjoyable to be able to blog about this. It's ironic that now that she's 18 all off a sudden her father finds a flaw in her behavior.


Here's a completely unrelated video of Nikky Raney doing a KE$HA parody. This video has absolutely nothing at all to do with this blog post in any way shape or form.. just felt like including it:

Miley Cyrus Bong Video

Wow, not since the infamous Miley Cyrus Grind Dance Video.

Er, this one...



...has pop singer, actress, and sextet Miley Cyrus done anything so controversial or buzz-generating. Miley Cyrus is in a video smoking a bong.

Cool!

According to TMZ.com, which broke the Miley Cyrus Grind Video story, too, on Miley's 18th birthday she pretty much let it all hang out.

The Party In The USA singer had a big party, inviting people like Kyle Massey from The Disney Channel and Dancing With The Stars, and being caught getting necked and heavy petted by some unidentified guy. But that was November 23rd, and we didn't know any more since them. Until today.

What happened was that Miley decided to take a smoke of the big bong at some after-party, and upon doing go kind of freaked out. She mistook some guy for Liam Hensworth, the man she had been (still is) dating, and said she was "freaking out" and then started to do just that.

The result is this video:  BONG.

TMZ reports the video was taken off a friend's camcorder.

Wow. Wonder how much TMZ.com paid for that one? Someone said the Miley Cyrus Grind Dance Video fetched $60,000.

What next, the Miley Cyrus Porn Video?   Wonder how much that will get?

WikiLeaks New Strategy

Voice of America News online reports that WikiLeaks is following a new strategy in document release.

WikiLeaks has journalists that do journalism and they have won awards in journalism, but VOANews claims that WikiLeaks is "portraying itself as a news organization." It may not be a news organization, but it is definitely a source for news and information.

There is a lot of controversy saying that only a few of the reported documents are being published.

VOANews points out that Julian Assange, creator, thinks that WikiLeaks is a "journalistic institution" :

In a posting this week on the website CommonDreams, Assange said that WikiLeaks has invented a new type of reporting that he calls "scientific journalism" in which people can read a news story, then click online to see its veracity.


The strategy seems to be the gradual release of documents rather than releasing the documents all at once - which makes sense. There should not be complaints about this - people should want to know what the government is covering up.

VOA News continues:

Former CIA deputy director John McLaughlin says officials do not like surprises, and they are getting new ones every day.

"The fact that this is dribbling out, if you're in government now you have to wonder, 'What's next, and what am I going to have to cope with?' And it's likely to come at a bad time when you already have your hands full," said McLaughlin. "So it's another volatile factor in a world that's already too volatile."

The arrangement between WikiLeaks and the news organizations publishing the material - Le Monde in France, El Pais in Spain, the Guardian in Britain, and Der Spiegel in Germany - is unusual. It links media organizations to a group that is under what U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder calls "active, ongoing, serious investigation."


Well it is easier to click through and see a document accompanied with an article rather than have to post it all in a physical newspaper - so maybe this is where web journalism can really be kicking into gear - just thinking about the future of journalism.

Beyonce ad banned in Britain

Is this ad for her Beyonce's new fragrance, Beyonce Heat, too much? Evidently it's too much in Great Britain...

GOP suddenly pro-Earmark (or is that pro-Pork, perhaps?)

According to Citizens Against Government Waste, during the last time Republicans controlled Congress (which started in 1994, based on the "Contract With America") there were about 1300 earmarks for nearly $8 billion - at a time when we had a budget surplus under the Clinton administration. Then by the final year of GOP control a decade later (2005) their were 10 times as many earmarks totaling over $27 billion, and a record budget deficit - which the elite pundits are still trying to blame on Obama.

You can learn more about the man the Democrats call the “Prince of Pork” -- GOP Congressman Hal Rogers (KY-05) -- as he takes over chairmanship of the House Appropriations Committee by reading various articles online; he's brought so much money for Kentucky that they've renamed the former Daniel Boone Parkway the Hal Rogers Parkway.

Citizens Against Government Waste named Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY) their "Porker of the Month" in August, somehow without mentioning the word nepotism.

“Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) August Porker of the Month for sponsoring legislation that could give federal funding to his daughter’s nonprofit organization, which promotes overseas wildlife protection for cheetahs.”

It's probably a coincidence that his daughter is the Grants Administrator of the Cheetah Conservation Fund.

But there's good news.  This sort of spending (millions to a fund based in Namibia) won't lead to bigger government. It's just $5 million a year to a non-government agency based overseas.

Look, I'm not saying conservation and cheetahs aren't important, it's just a question of priorities.  The GOP voted down a one-time payment of $250 to Senior Citizens... but that's another story.  My point is, it's about priorities, and once they capture a majority naturally the GOP priorities have changed to ensure their donors will help them get re-elected.

At least they haven't flip-flopped on tax-breaks for the rich.

I know, right?

Thomas Hayes is an entrepreneur, journalist, political strategist, and photographer who recently worked as the Campaign Manager on the Madore For Congress campaign in Minnesota's 2nd District. He contributes regularly to a host of other web sites on topics ranging from economics and politics to culture and community.

Carl Crawford and Red Sox

ESPN online reports that Carl Crawford has made a seven year, $142 million deal with the Boston Red Sox.

It's ironic that Red Sox have been known to complain about the spending habits of the Yankees, but now Crawford will be the first player in Red Sox history with a contract with "an average annual value in excess of $20 million."

The Boston Globe online reports that Crawford was high in demand by various teams such as The Angels, Yankees and Rangers.

Red Sox Manager has called Crawford a game changer. The Globe also reports:

Crawford is Tampa Bay’s career leader in batting average (.296), doubles (211), triples (105), stolen bases (409), and runs scored (765). Crawford, who is from Houston, was Tampa Bay’s second-round pick in the 1999 draft. He had been with the organization his entire career. With Crawford in the fold, the Red Sox could trade Mike Cameron or use the righthanded hitter off the bench, as a spare outfielder, or as a designated hitter.

This deal has made many assume that the Yankees will soon be making a deal with lefthander CLiff Lee.