2010: Our Year, By The Numbers

As we mentioned yesterday, we've decided to take a holiday break from publication during the next two weeks - so we apologize in advance to you, our readers, who won't have a wealth of links or our commentary to go along with your daily Paul Fell cartoon. We WILL have a few truncated editions we'll send out over the next two weeks just to let you know new cartoons by Paul have been published - including new Cap News, OK Gazette, HuskerNutz, Paul's Prediction cartoons, and of course, a Christmas edition. They won't be our full regular editions though, as we'll also be on vacation.

This will only be the third major break in our publication schedule over the last two years, so before we do anything else, we want to thank you, our readers, for being so loyal.

2010 has been an amazing year for us, so we thought today we'd give you a whirlwind review of the past 365 days, from the point of view of our staff. Of course, as always, we'll keep to the facts - so here, in a nutshell, is our year, by the numbers.

For starters, we were anything but housebound this year. Collectively, over the past year, the four of us have traveled approximately 30,320 miles, give or take a few trips to the grocery store. That included two trips to Italy, several trips to Pennsylvania and Ohio, and multiple trips between Nebraska and Washington, DC. Technically, we could have gone around the Earth just once - but Italy was a lot more fun.

We added two new staff members this year, Amy and Deb, and we thoroughly appreciate everything they've brought to The Daily Felltoon. We also remodeled PaulFellCartoons.com once this year, and The Daily Felltoon twice this year, and have received rave reviews on our current format.

Between the four of us, we had one baby (That was Amy and her husband Eric), moved at least twice, and worked with an astounding number of clients.

We've read approximately 16,000 news, commentary, and opinion stories - not including the ones we've written and edited - and published over 250 editions of The Daily Felltoon.

And if you're wondering how many cartoons Paul has drawn and had published over this past year? Try somewhere in the neighborhood of 450 cartoons - more than one a day, every day of the year.

For the thousands of people we've touched, from California to Maine, Florida to Alaska, Hawaii, Japan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Brazil, and all over Europe, we say thank you for reading and sharing what we do with your friends and colleagues.

At the end of the day, what we do may not seem like much to some folks. Paul draws great cartoons and edits. Deb, and Shawn, and Amy all write and edit, pull web links, and publish items online. We're well aware that many Americans don't appreciate high-quality journalism or media of any kind as they once did.

However, we know that we make a difference in your lives, we give you things to laugh at, to think about, and to talk about. To us, that's better than any single number, fact, or statistic we've shared with you this whole year.

Enjoy your holidays!
We'll be back to regular publication on January 3, 2011.

One Final Look At The Reasons - And Responsibilities - Of The Season

We're more than willing to admit - we've been fairly direct this week, being hard on both Democratic and Republican politicians of virtually every stripe. Rest assured, we know this is supposed to be the season of peace - and we haven't forgotten that the holiday is fast approaching. We're taking some time off ourselves, and we'll fill you in on our holiday publication schedule tomorrow.

We understand the desire of our readers on Capitol Hill, staffers and Senators alike, to get home and be with their families, and away from work for at least a few days. We've got that same itch, and - for at least one of us - the next few weeks will be anything but a time to kick back, eat Christmas cookies, play with the kids, and watch college bowl games in our PJs.

In fact, for millions of Americans around the world, the next few weeks will be anything but a holiday.

For those public workers who keep our communities and our government running, the next two weeks will be just like any other - except for the two days where the banks will be closed. For our police, fire, and medical personnel, there is no such thing as a holiday too sacred to not work - regardless of personal beliefs. For many of the men and women of our Armed Services, Christmas dinner this year will be their favorite MRE they've been setting aside for that day.

In light of the work schedules of all these dedicated public servants, the incredibly offensive arrogance and pure unadulterated selfishness of Senators Jim DeMint and John Kyl on Wednesday simply floored us. Those two Senators went before cameras and microphones on Wednesday, to whine about the very real possibility announced by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Wednesday.

Reid stated flatly earlier this week that the U.S. Senate might have to convene on Christmas Eve day, or during the week between Christmas and New Years, if the Senate didn't get their work done before the break. We roundly applaud Sen. Reid's leadership on this manner, and we're certain that many Americans of all political persuasions agree with us.

We'll be blunt to those on Capitol Hill who side with the whining from Senators Kyl and DeMint:  Senators, you work for US, the American people. You work when we want, how we want, and you continue to serve at the pleasure of the people. For this, you are compensated quite generously. If your service doesn't please us, we'll be more than happy to remove you, as we did to more than a few of your fellow officeholders this year. If you decide that you can't handle the job, feel free to quit. As the citizens of places like Alaska and Massachusetts will tell you, high quality replacements for elected officials who resign or are suddenly unable to serve for other reasons can be found quite quickly.

There are many different, wonderful holidays celebrated at this time of year by Americans, each with their own special reasons for celebration.

The single most important reason we support Senator Reid's approach to the job of governing over the holiday season is simple...

Governing responsibly, to the best of our abilities, is the responsibility of every American, every day. For those elected officials who have the honor of getting paid to govern directly, staying in Washington until the job is accomplished is not that much for us to ask of them.

Holiday Returns Beginning Early This Year...

For all the grumbling and grousing coming from Americans across the country, you could easily be forgiven for thinking that everyone had torn into their holiday gifts early - and ended up with the worst presents ever. Unfortunately for the nation, the dissatisfaction has nothing to do with Americans' choice of last-minute gas station stocking-stuffers.

The complaining is actually coming from American voters who seem to have finally opened up their Election Day results - and realized exactly what was in the political packages they were sold this year.

The voters in Michigan and Ohio voted for new Republican governors in November - governors who have already flushed away millions of Federal dollars and thousands of new jobs building high speed rail lines. Californians brought back Jerry Brown as their governor this fall - who admitted on Tuesday, even before he heads back to Sacramento, that his state's budget mess is "much worse" then he'd thought or admitted to in the governor's race. New Jersey residents don't even want to talk about the money new Gov. Chris Christie cost them when he stopped work this year on a Federal tunnel project that was thirty years in the making.

In Arizona, they strongly voted to retain their current Governor Jan Brewer, who campaigned on a platform that included arguments against President Obama's Stimulus package. Yet when confronted recently by media organizations wondering why Arizona is pulling funds from its state aid to the poor, Gov. Brewer told the media Arizonans should be asking President Obama for more stimulus funds.

In Omaha, Nebraska, after being elected in 2009, Democratic Mayor Jim Suttle made deep cuts in the city budget this year - but that wasn't enough to get the city's finances in order. The mayor added several kinds of taxes in 2010 to try to balance his city's budget - and is now facing a highly questionable recall election early next year for attempting to be a fiscally responsible elected official.

The desire to exchange recently-elected office-holders isn't only hitting Americans on state and local levels.

In the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, Americans are significantly less than thrilled with the new batch of Congresspersons they elected in November. After the landslide changes in Congress in both 1994 and 2006, voters expressed great confidence in the incoming freshman crop of politicians.

This year, nearly two-thirds of voters think the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives is either a "bad thing" or believe it won't make any difference over the next two years. Most simply say Republicans aren't doing enough to compromise with President Obama - a word incoming speaker John Boehner seems to reject even before he opens the door.

We can't say we didn't warn these citizens about what they might find when the TV commercial breaks stopped being filled with political ads and they finally took down their forest of yard signs.

Let this be a lesson to you, as you shop for last minute gifts this holiday season.

Be sure of the return policy on everything you purchase. Sometimes, you just can't take these things back for a refund.

It's So Embarrassing Sometimes...

Today, we've got to call a huge foul on our chosen profession, that of media and communication. There are certain times of the year when the conduct of some of our professional colleagues is almost enough to make us cry. Not like the fake blubbering of Rep. John Boehner - although we think his attempt to earn an Emmy for weeping on 60 Minutes Sunday was far more disgusting than moving.

No, the reason we're so embarrassed today is that we know what goes on behind the scenes in the media and political world at this time of year - which may be a lot like where you work.

In our corner of the work world, large numbers of people are already on vacation until January - and have been for at least a week. From sales to programming, and production to management, if a media or political organization didn't already look like an employment graveyard, they certainly do this week.

Unfortunately, that includes the cubicles of those who actually create news content. Let's just say that at this time of year, the reporting and delivering of news and information often gets a bit sloppy (and we're being extremely kind by phrasing it that way).

Thankfully, at The Daily Felltoon, anything worth doing is still worth doing well - even if it only takes twenty seconds and we are able to do it (figuratively speaking) with a bag on our heads.

In case you missed it on Monday, a Federal judge in Virginia decided that one provision of the Health Care Insurance Reform law was unconstitutional. As soon as his ruling hit the wires, it seemed like nearly every news, infotainment, and other media source was jumping up and down, chanting that the health care reform law may be dead. Which, of course, we knew full well was complete bunk.

It took us less than half a minute to bring up the December 1st edition of The Daily Felltoon, where we linked to a story from the Washington, DC daily, The Hill. That story, and several others that were just a Google search away, proved that our fellows in the media were either completely incompetent - or they've allowed the interns to take over operations a bit early this year.

In fact, there have already been lawsuits in both Michigan and California, as well as an earlier lawsuit in Virginia where Federal judges have ruled IN FAVOR of the reform law. Two of those decisions even disagreed with the exact same provision Monday's ruling tackled.

In light of that kind of massive failure by multiple "news" sources, we'd hate to think if any REAL news stories came along during the holidays, what those interns left behind might do.

So here's our holiday employment hint to the intern brigades: If someone tells you there's a rumor on Twitter that Santa is dead, you might want to do a little fact-checking first before you click "Publish" - just in case you'd like to get that part-time PAID position in the newsroom next year.

All Wound Up - And No One To Blame But Themselves

Today may mark the beginning of a new week for most people, but the primary action most of the news and infotainment outlets will be reveling in is the same childish toy they've been playing with for several weeks - winding up Democrats against the Obama/McConnell extension plan for the Bush Tax Cuts.

We agree with many of our colleagues in the media that the tax cut debate - and the cost of any proposed tax cut - is critically important. However, we also believe that - as usual these days - much of the unnecessary media noise is pulling the focus away from several real issues.

One of those issues was displayed vigorously by Independent Senator Bernie Sanders to his colleagues on both sides of the aisle last week.

Senator Sanders gave an eight-and-a-half hour long speech on Friday, with an enormous amount of proven economic data. While it wasn't technically a filibuster, it is exactly what a real filibuster should look like. This is a key problem with the current U.S. Senate - that Senate filibusters look nothing like what Sen. Sanders did on Friday.

Currently, for a Senator to hold up any - or ALL - legislation in the U.S. Senate, they effectively only need to THREATEN a filibuster, which charges no real cost to any Senator to hold up the business of the entire country. The increasing abuse of the filibuster over the last decade - especially by Republicans - has turned the act of using a Senate rule designed for defense into an aggressive, cowardly, craven, act of bullying.

Bullies seem to have multiplied in certain corners of DC, and throughout Wall Street over the last few years. Unfortunately, so have those people who seem too willing to play the victim.

As anyone who has dealt with a bully knows, the first step to defeating them is to stand up to them. Yet, that isn't what our politicians have done as of late.

True fiscal conservatives have been as weak, wishy-washy, and mealy-mouthed over the last decade as the Congressional Democratic majority has been over the last two years. Both the Democratic majority, and the Republican minority knew that the political trap of the end of the Bush Tax Cuts was coming. All the same, both parties kept trying to put off until the third Tuesday after never an event that was - and still is - firmly scheduled for 12AM on January 01, 2011.

What Senator Sanders did on Friday was laudable for a host of reasons, not the least of which was the breadth, depth, and accuracy of his speech. However wonderful his speech was, the fact remains that equally serious and intense public debates over proper rates of taxation, as well as America's fiscal responsibilities, should have been happening throughout the last decade.

Instead, partisan bullies in Washington simply set up a faceoff of Republicans against Democrats, like a child playing war games with his new Christmas toys. Unfortunately, we have no doubt our colleagues in the media will follow a similar script this week, as they continue to wind up the Democrats against President Obama. Meanwhile, the real fiscal conservatives will likely cower in the corner offstage, as they have for most of the last decade.

Don't be surprised when we call the lot of them a bunch of spoiled, cowardly children who long ago should have put away their political toys and handled the people's business like real adults.

Friday Funday: Keeping Focused On What's Important

No, it's not just you.

We said that to each other more than once yesterday, as we bumbled about, appearing unfocused, trying to get things done, but having our individual attentions in different places from each other.

Our apparent lack of focus has nothing to do with getting ready to travel again or with recovering from a nasty flu bug. It's got nothing to do with age or with missing some valuable sleep, either.

We notice it every year about this time, an apparent inability to focus that appears during the holiday season and happens to nearly everyone. In truth, what we're witnessing is the opposite of being unfocused - it's an intense zeroing in by nearly every individual to cross off the items on our personal to-do lists.

It has nothing to do with which holiday a person celebrates, either.

The Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Adha is done, and the last night of Hanukkah was Thursday. However, those who celebrate Eid or Hanukkah are no less focused than those of us ramping up for Christmas, or Solstice, or just an extra day of leisure.

The New Year is on its way - as everyone is well aware.

Nothing seems to focus the attention of human beings like a deadline. Some deadlines are like clockwork, or the changing of the calendar. Some pop up in a flash, like the deadline to leave a burning building. There's no bigger collective deadline for all of us, though, than the desire to get the greatest amount of tasks completed before we have to re-educate our brains about which numbers to put into the empty "year" space on forms.

For us, one of the most important things on our annual to-do list has little to do with politics, or cartoons, websites or corrections.

It has to do with thanking you for being our readers.

We hope this weekend you follow our lead and just take a moment to thank someone you know for what they bring to your life. Give a bigger tip. Donate something to someone in need, whether it's time, money, or just lending an ear to a friend.

Take a moment to remember what's truly important to each of us.
Then, thank those important people.

That's something we hope is on everyone's holiday to-do list.

Thank you, for reading the Daily Felltoon.
Happy holidays.

Get Your War On - Political, Online, Or Otherwise

Aside from the annual fake "War On Christmas" that crazy right-wing pundits dredge up every year around this time, there are several other wars going full-bore this holiday season that have nothing to do with Iraq, Afghanistan, or Korea.

The one getting the most attention in the media currently, is the all-out political warfare going on in Washington.

For those people who haven't yet looked at the proposed agreement on extending the Bush Tax Cuts that President Obama, Sen. McConnell, and the Republican Congressional leadership have made, we highly recommend taking a look at the overview that was published in the Washington Post this week.

To say Democrats and Republicans are divided on this "deal" against each other, would be almost criminally negligent of the facts. Many Democrats hate "the deal" so much, they're willing to fillibuster it - alongside of Republicans - in the Senate. Likewise, many Republicans see this as fiscal hypocrisy on steroids for their party, and bad governance for their country. Members of both parties have also voiced their support for the deal.

While momentum to pass this deal does seem to be building, for both honest and purely partisan reasons, we're nowhere near claiming this battle is headed toward an armistice. In fact, this kind of conflict may ultimately prove to be obsolete.

A newer war, and one that's far more insidious in some ways, is the cyber-war that ramped up Wednesday between the forces attacking Wikileaks and those supporting Wikileaks.

A known group of hackers who call themselves Operation Payback disabled both the main websites of Mastercard and Visa on Wednesday, as well as some interaction with the credit card processors. Other targets of Operation Payback included Paypal, Twitter, Facebook, and even Sarah Palin's PAC website. To say that technology has evened the playing field between multinational corporations and governments, and small groups of individuals is an understatement.

Operation Payback made it clear Wednesday that they don't support Wikileaks unilaterally, so much as they oppose the heavy-handed tactics of governments around the world. To shut down Wikileaks and silence those like Mr. Assange, without using fully legal and proper methods, not only voids free speech rights around the world, but gives even greater power to governments of all kinds to operate outside the law.

If there's one thing we can agree with the Operation Payback folks on, it's that the people in our governments around the world don't need any more power than they currently hold.

From the political anarchy going on in DC, it's quite obvious that many members of those governing bodies don't know how to effectively use the power they already possess.

Things More Important Than Politics

It would have been easy for us today to write about the tax cut and unemployment insurance deal. Lord knows, a million other publications online and offline will still be talking about that subject today and probably through the end of this week. We even had planned to write one more commentary on it ourselves for this edition.

Sometimes, however, there are things more important than politics.
So today, we just want take a moment and acknowledge the holidays - and death.

For some of the readers of this publication, the death of Elizabeth Edwards on Tuesday from metastasized breast cancer, came as somewhat of a shock. It wasn't as though the world hadn't known she had a terminal prognosis. She announced that she had cancer the day after the 2004 Elections, and dealt with its effects for much of the next six years.

What stuck with us today, and changed the tenor of our words to you, is that the family of Elizabeth Edwards are not the only people who are having a difficult time dealing the loss of a loved one this holiday.

The passing of grandparents and spouses, children and friends... from age, from disease, from accidents - and from war, continues to affect us. We've discovered that more than a few of the people we care about in our personal and professional circles seem to be having a tough time handling the death of a loved one at this time of year.

Dealing with the death of people we care about isn't ever an easy thing - especially during the holidays, when everyone is trying to be happy and peaceful. "Merry Christmas," or "Happy Hanukkah," we shout to one another, even if we don't feel much of the spirit in us, as if faking it will somehow spark us to believe again.

The magical trick is, that if we let it, that positivity, that hope that we feign for others, really can help us deal with our losses. Whether we celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah, Eid or Solstice, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, or any other holiday, now more than ever we need to remember each other, and what this season is really about. It is a season of hope - something we think so many of those gone from us would tell us to focus upon, if they could.

Our hearts go out to the Edwards family, as they do to all of our readers who are dealing with the loss of of a friend or family member during this season. We think Ms. Edward's final message to the world is one well worth reading - and remembering - for all of us:

"You all know that I have been sustained throughout my life by three saving graces -- my family, my friends, and a faith in the power of resilience and hope. These graces have carried me through difficult times and they have brought more joy to the good times than I ever could have imagined. The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered. We know that. And, yes, there are certainly times when we aren't able to muster as much strength and patience as we would like. It's called being human. But I have found that in the simple act of living with hope, and in the daily effort to have a positive impact in the world, the days I do have are made all the more meaningful and precious. And for that I am grateful. It isn't possible to put into words the love and gratitude I feel to everyone who has and continues to support and inspire me every day. To you I simply say: you know."

Please join us in a heartfelt farewell and blessing to a truly great lady.

More Games In Washington: But Is It "Let's Make A Deal"? Or Chess?

As we began gathering items for today's edition yesterday, there was a flurry of activity in Washington, as news leaked out. A short time later, those leaks were confirmed when President Obama announced that a deal between the White House and Congressional Republicans on extending the Bush Tax Cuts is nearly complete.

You can probably assume - and rightly so - based on Monday's commentary, that we're not entirely pleased with the results of those negotiations. It continues to seem like our politicians are playing political games with the futures of Americans while we can't afford to do anything but watch.

For what it's worth, the President outlined the deal Monday evening, and there are at least a few valuable things most pundits didn't see coming.

Yes, the Bush tax cuts, for ALL income levels, would be continued for another two years. As some GOP leaders telegraphed over the weekend, Republicans also finally caved on extending unemployment benefits for all jobless Americans, for an additional 13 months. Something almost no one saw as being added to this compromise is the inclusion of a two percent, one year payroll tax reduction, nearly identical to one that President Obama got passed in his 2009 stimulus bill.

Some other sops to both Republicans and Democrats have also been added to this tentative deal, including business investment deductions, as well as college, child, and income-dependent tax credits.

Persons from nearly every political faction can find consolation that their rivals are also unhappy. Liberals thought the President should fight Republicans harder. Progressives and old-fashioned fiscal conservatives bemoaned that this deal, like the Bush Tax Cuts before it, remain unpaid for. Far-right wing conservatives weren't happy because it looks like the unemployed will get some assistance after all. Even President Obama displayed a clear dislike for this compromise.

There appears to be at least a small glimmer of hope still alive, however, as President Obama in his announcement made it clear that these new tax cuts WILL expire in two years as part of major deficit reductions.

In two years - just in time for fiscal hypocrites in Washington to have to defend unaffordable tax cuts for the rich, in a Presidential election year, with an incumbent President.

There are those who've already said this may be President Obama's first move in the 2012 political election cycle. That could be, and if it is, we think it's the kind of wise move from him we've seen too little of these last two years.

For too many Americans, however, this economic gamesmanship is still a game that only the rich and corporate America can afford to play in the long term.

Cowards, Liars And Hypocrites: Kind Words For So-Called Leaders

After a weekend filled with chaperoning high-school kids and flipping burgers at a camp out to help the poor, as we come back to work this week, the actions of political leaders in Washington, DC are more of a cold slap in face to us than the current weather.

To say Republican leaders like Mitch McConnell are acting like anything other than hypocritical, whiney, spoiled babies is being needlessly kind to them.

To say President Obama and his administration have been incompetent in using their political playbook with Congressional Republicans is to say Husker Offensive Coordinator Shawn Watson is the Einstein of college football.

In short, the idiots and cowards are running the asylum in DC right now, especially on the topic of the expiring Bush Tax Cuts.

In case you weren't doing so over the weekend, we've kept up with the news, and are well aware of the now-admitted fact that twisted members of the Bush Administration set a political trap for the current occupant of the White House, by setting their tax cuts to disappear at the end of 2010. You may also have missed the votes in the Senate this weekend where Republican Senators voted firmly AGAINST tax cuts for all Americans - only because those cuts wouldn't have given wealthy Americans an even bigger tax break (which, as we've pointed our previously, they don't need).

What growing numbers of Americans haven't missed is the continual dueling claims by so-called political leaders on both sides.

On the Right, Republican leaders constantly claim they're more fiscally responsible. However, the most fiscally responsible thing to do regarding taxes would be to simply let the Bush Tax Cuts expire. America simply can't afford to lose $4 Trillion in revenue over the next decade. The second most fiscally responsible thing would be to agree to let the tax cuts for the rich expire - as $60 billion dollars could fill many of the other needs Republican leaders facetiously claim to care about. Still, McConnell and other Republicans continue to hold the entire government hostage with their hypocrisy, on everything from national and international security interests to help for the poor during the holidays. Until they get their pacifier of tax cuts for the rich, their fake wailing about fiscal conservatism is sadly sure to continue.

Likewise, President Obama has claimed for most of the last three years - even on the campaign trail - that we can not, in any way, allow the fiscally unsound tax cuts for the top 2% to continue. But now all signs point to him now agreeing to some sort of arrangement with Congressional Republicans where the rich will keep their unnecessary cushion, even temporarily. Regardless of what the White House is leaking, if past history is any measuring stick, the deal will likely come with NO hard guarantee by Republicans that unemployment benefit extensions (a provably better way to stimulate the economy) or even the Federal budget for next year will be passed.

We know what we're wishing for this holiday season, and we're also aware that we're not likely to get much - if any - of those things for ourselves or our country that we'd like to have. The least we figure we should be able to ask for from our elected officials is a bit more honesty.

Unfortunately this year, judging by the way our "leaders" are acting, we may just have a better shot at getting those toys we asked Santa for when we were kids.

Friday Funday: Some Food, Some Fun, Some Folks Who Need Help

We've been talking about the holiday season a lot this past week. It's definitely on our mind, and we know it's on the minds of people all over the world right now.

Something that's also on the minds of many during this time of year is how we can help those in need.

We absolutely support the little red kettles of the Salvation Army, the work of police unions with their Santa Cop programs, and most other holiday programs to help those in need throughout the country. Food banks, homeless shelters, battered family shelters, religious programs for the poor, and many other worthy causes need help throughout the year - but especially during the holiday season.

With that in mind, it's nice for us to see one of our own staff members getting out and helping out too.

This evening, Friday night, if you're near our Lincoln offices, from 10 PM until 1 AM, our web guru and staffer Shawn will be helping out a very worthy cause, the Community Action Partnership, along with a local radio station for the station's annual "Kampout For Kids" event. The Community Action Partnership is a private, non-profit agency  that does a lot to help families in need in the area, including giving them food, toys, and clothing, and helping them find gainful employment.

We know that times are tough right now for lots of folks, as we're sure they are for many of our readers. It's not as though many Americans have loads of excess time, or money - or extra resources of any kind, really. Yet we applaud the efforts of any of our staff or readers who are choosing to get out, keep going, and do what they can to help someone less fortunate than they are.

So if you're near Lincoln this weekend, especially the South 40th and Old Cheney Hy-Vee grocery store, stop by the Blaze radio station's "Kampout for Kids" and make a donation, or check out their website. You could even wait until tonight, when Shawn and the old P.O. Pears restaurant crew will be serving up legendary "Jiffy Burgers" to help keep some of the radio station staff and listeners warm - and help earn a few more bucks so that maybe a family in need can also stay warm.

Enjoy your weekend, and your holiday preparations - and thanks for thinking of those less fortunate than you.

An Elementary Lesson In Unemployment Economics

We apologize if we're a bit brusque today, on the first day of Hanukkah, but we're not in the mood to beat around the bush like Congress is doing right now in Washington.

As we noted yesterday and again today in our links, Congress has once again allowed unemployment benefits to lapse for millions of Americans as we head into the holiday season. This happened in large part because Republican legislators have decided to hold the government hostage in order to get an extension of tax breaks for the richest Americans.

For those Americans who honestly do care about fiscal responsibility, this action only makes Republican members of Congress appear like rich arrogant schoolyard bullies.

It's fiscal hypocrisy in the extreme, the kind that makes ol' Ebenezer Scrooge and the Grinch look like a couple of amateurs.

As we've pointed out before, since unemployment insurance was created, Congress has NEVER refused to extend benefits if unemployment was over 7.2%. Yet Republicans in Congress have now prevented the renewal of those benefits not just once, but MULTIPLE times this year. This in a country where Americans still are seeking work at a rate of one job for every five people who are unemployed.

Still, the alleged fiscally conservative Republican leadership would rather spend nearly $700 Billion over the next ten years - money our country doesn't have - to give tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans (who aren't likely to spend that money anyway), instead of spending around $15 Billion to help out millions of unemployed Americans on a short-term basis. The unemployed will spend that money immediately in order to keep food in their kids' bellies and roofs over their heads - money that will immediately go back into the economy and drive up demand for goods and services, which would create more jobs, adding more money to our tax coffers, reducing our debt.

Simple, basic, elementary school math tells us that when there is only one of something that five people want, four people are going to be left out. No matter how well-educated, or experienced, or well-connected they are, no matter how many resumes they've sent out, or many jobs they've applied for - four of your fellow American citizens, heading into this holiday season, will be without a job, though they desperately want to rejoin the work force.

That same elementary math tells us that we shouldn't be spending $700 Billion we don't have as a handout to people who don't actually need it, and who won't be creating any jobs with that money, anyway. After all, if tax cuts for the wealthy were truthfully such a good job creation method, then after nearly a decade of Bush tax cuts we shouldn't be at nearly ten percent unemployment.

Finally, elementary kindness tells us that, as we sail through Hanukkah, on our way to Christmas and all the other holidays, that this is the time of year when everyone should be thinking about those less fortunate than themselves.

Unfortunately, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, and the rest of the GOP still seem to have hearts three sizes too small.

In the spirit of the holidays, we'll be nice and refrain from commenting on what size we think these actions make their brains appear to be.

A Time For Everything

The holiday season always brings certain thoughts to mind that most people don't really consider the rest of the year. 2010 has been no different for us in that respect - and actually began a bit before the holiday season with some things we've been mulling over.

One of those topics happens to be the increasingly common habit of businesses remaining open on the day a holiday is celebrated - the other is "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

Both have some similarities in common.

In the old days, no one asked if someone was gay in the military. If the soldier next to you did his job well, no one cared much. In a similar way, holidays were something for ALL Americans to celebrate, a time for all Americans to - if nothing else - enjoy a day away from work. No one asked if taking a day to spend time with family and friends was a good thing. Everyone knew it was a good thing, including employers.

It was good psychologically as well as physically for nearly everyone in America to share a few days off a year. It wasn't worth it to the bottom line for most businesses to be open for just a few hours, or with a skeleton crew on days most folks weren't going to be out shopping anyway.

In a similar fashion, the incredible amount of added bureaucracy, paperwork, legal problems, unit disruption, and loss of well-trained individuals heaped onto the American military with DADT has been ridiculous.

With the Pentagon study that was released Tuesday on DADT, we hope any final thoughts on at least one of these two topics will be laid to rest.

In short, the Congressionally-mandated, Pentagon study determined that overturning DADT would not cause any widespread or long-lasting disruptions to our military. That doesn't surprise us one bit, because that same study proves that 70% of service members simply don't care what their fellow soldiers' sexual orientation might be. When asked about their experiences serving with someone they thought was gay, an overwhelming 92% said the experience was either “very good,” “good,” or “neither good nor poor.”

Secretary Gates' comments Tuesday at the release of the DADT study were both wise and sensible. In short, he told Congress to either get off their asses and kill DADT in an orderly and sensible manner - or else the courts will likely mandate the end of DADT abruptly at some point in the near future, which would be worse for the military.

We hope Congress will follow the advice of all of the many studies that have been done on DADT, and finally close the topic of gays in the military forever.

As for those Scrooge-like employers in retail settings who choose to force their lowest paid workers to report to work on holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's?

We're afraid that topic will be hanging around for some time to come. Greed seems to rule. At least for now.

Ho, ho, ho.