Unemployment requirements: the new poll tax?

Via Mick, I see that I somehow missed a Barbara Ehrenreich op-ed in Saturday’s NYTimes. Mick makes some good points but I’d like to focus on one small part of Ehrenreich’s story about a married couple brutalized by the economy.

Delaware does not require fingerprints, but the Parentes discovered that they were each expected to apply for 40 jobs a week, even though no money was offered for gas, tolls or babysitting. In addition, Kristen had to drive 35 miles a day to attend “job readiness” classes, which she said were “a joke.”

WTF? Forty freaking applications a week? That’s 6+ applications a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. Speaking as a former professional resume writer, at my letter writing peak I would have found that to be a crushing workload. An interview can chew up half a day all told, not to mention follow up letters and thank you’s.

This requirement is blatantly unConstitutional, placing as it does a massively unreasonable burden on the unemployed. Not to mention the $40 a week the Parentes are forced to spend on postage, or the fact that this law forces them to buy daily newspapers AND have internet access. No one could possibly apply for 40 jobs a week based on what’s in a daily newspaper’s help wanteds because there aren’t that many openings. There just aren’t.

Delaware is an abomination and this law is an unspeakable bit of barbarism that I’m sure allows the state to disqualify 100% of applicants for assistance.

And yes, those “classes” are ALWAYS a joke. They’re never taught by anyone who’s had to find new work in the last decade, and the advice given is often contrary to common sense or any kind of winning job search strategy.

Listening to the Sotomayor hearings in the car and on TV, it never occurred to me that the sanctimonious lying bullshit coming from Kyl, Graham and Cornyn wouldn’t be my lead-off rant. That was before I read Ehrenreich.

The Republicans have set up new rules of law that protect government from having to deliver services in pretty much the same way healthcare insurers duck responsibility for paying claims.

Laissez-faire America is an America that exists for the rich, and fuck the rest of us.

Each day my heart grows colder. Each day I wonder if I shouldn’t just be preaching the gospel of killing the rich, stoning the hypocrites, and socially ostracizing rank and file Republicans.

Today I’m inclined to preach the gospel of  wait and see, but I can’t promise I can remain patient when average Americans’ problems are so pressing.

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I do like the fact that the Dems are pounding on Chief Justice Roberts’ activist court today, and pushing the “modesty” meme.

By any reporting cited, Judge Sotomayor is a modest judge, both professionally and personally. What better word to use to contrast Sotomayor’s sane approach to the law with the reckless and hypocritical Republicans? Or the feckless abomination that is major media news “reporting“?

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Jeff Sharlet on how The Family helped turn Somalia into an abattoir.

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Max Blumenthal has a great post up on how Palin’s leaving Alaska in such a mess that the legislature may have to reconvene (at great expense) to sort out the succession mess stemming from Palin picking a new Lt. Governor, a power that she doesn’t actually have.

From the right, in Palin’s defense we have Pat Buchanan advising Todd Palin to murder Levi Johnston.

No, that’s not a joke although Pat thought it was pretty funny as did Mark Halperin. More on Levi Johnston from Audrey.

Over at Balloon Juice Tim F. says Palin’s getting ready to initiate a civil war within the Republican party to purge it of its weak sisters. Not a bad idea, especially if they shoot the survivors.

The Hill goes even further, and says Palin may campaign for Democrats. More shocking, they learn that Todd and Track Palin aren’t Republicans. (But the rest of us are all bad people for thinking the Palins’ whackjob Alaska Independence party affiliations are no big deal.)

I have yet to hear anything about the Palins that doesn’t make them sound like a Euro-porn version of Dogpatch.

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Jeff Huber dissects the NYTimes’ coverage of Iran.

Needless to say, the coverage isn’t exactly what you would hope for.

A new study purports to show how newspapers lead and blogs follow, but Scott Rosenberg wisely points out that the “news” cited wasn’t news at all, just political soundbytes and in that context, yes, newspapers are unquestionably the leaders of the pack.

More from Derek Kerton on how news is reported.

In other news of the news media, Businessweek’s blog reports that Businessweek is up for sale.

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Had Obama gone after the Bush-Cheney war criminals from the get go, Congress would have been paralyzed and I believe the right would be in open insurrection by now. Instead Obama coopted the right, and they are at their weakest point since the Great Depression.

Now is exactly the time for Eric Holder to “break” from the administration to do what has to be done, and what better thread to pull first than illegal surveillance of Americans?

Billmon’s back (again), and is calling Bush-Cheney the Addington Administration.

More from Digby.

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Honduras.

Apparently the coup plotting started months ago, which pretty much means that everything you’ve read in the American press has been sanitized for your informational protection.

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More Republican lies:

Al Franken and Scare America

Freepers not backing off on claims that Malia Obama is a typical street whore

Profit is not something you make by exploiting markets, profit requires that you make a product or service that benefits the public

38 is not young

Gitmo was about justice

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If you haven’t seen the Bill Moyers’ interview with Wendell Potter, here are your options:

BoingBoing

Steve Benen

Think Progress

Bill Moyers Journal

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Dusty Trice amps up the rhetoric on Brodgate (the etymology can be traced to Laura Brod or Michael Brodkorb — with either name being, um, interesting discussionwise).

We have, however, reached the MDE tipping point for Dustytrice.com. It’s now time for Mr. Trice to publicly state for the record who, if any, politicians or organizations he’s getting money from.

Same rules as the online left insisted on for Brodkorb, and yes, Brodkorb lied and cheated a lot on this one.

It’s probably not too early for me to remind everyone that I don’t get paid to do Norwegianity, that I’m not active in the DFL (although I do caucus for informational purposes), and that since moving to Minnesota the only money I’ve earned from politics was when I blogged for City Pages, and then Ford Bell’s short-lived campaign. I’ve received less than $1,000 in blog donations, and there was absolutely zero quid pro quo attached to those donations.

I don’t really give a fuck if the Republican bloggers disclose anything, but I think it’s time for Democratic bloggers to start the 2010 cycle caveats and disclosures process. The Brod-Seifert civil war is what it is, and more important, about what will never be. More important is for the new gatekeepers to ‘fess up to their leanings, allegiances, and paid dalliances.

No names, but there are Democratic bloggers I don’t link to because of their unadmitted affiliations and/or extraordinary ambitions.

Disclosures please. As many as possible, and the sooner the better especially as Spotty and Robin and many others are already sharpening their long knives.

For the record, I’m strongly leaning to Margaret Kelliher, and if not her, maybe John Marty. None of the other candidates appeal to me in the slightest although I really don’t know squat about Thissen, Bakk or Rukavina.

And no, I don’t think bloggers have any more right to get righteous about the endorsement process than the non-blogging DFLers. Endorsement prior to a public vote (i.e., primary) is anathema, and the DFL selection process is broken, fucked up, half dead, and stinks like a corpse flower in full bloom.

No process that privileges activists over rank and file voters is democratic or desirable. Activists always have an advantage (try winning an election without them sometime). Giving them privileges on top of their natural advantages is as profoundly anti-Democratic as it gets.

Or, as Jeff Sharlet might have said had he ever lived in Minnesota, if you meet the DFL on the road, kill it.

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Local voices not heard from in a while:

Tild

Lisa Ray

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Years ago when I was back in college but before I started counseling job seekers, I had an acquaintance who was flunking out because of test anxiety. It was a nervousness thing and I recommended meditation. He was Christian and wanted no part of that, so instead I talked him into cussing before each test. At length, and colorfully.

What I did was teach him how to meditate by swearing. It worked for him and his test scores went from D’s to B’s almost overnight.

Now Cory Doctorow reports that a study shows that swearing can help alleviate pain.

No shit?

Sounds to me like cussing while driving is more therapeutic than the anti road rage crowd lets on.

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Unscientific America.

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Another way in which copyright enriches all our lives.

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Still unraveling the hell caused by phony claims of child abuse during divorce custody hearings.

If there’s a villain in custody hearings, it’s usually the dad. That doesn’t mean it’s always the dad.

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Your chance to be a reporter.

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Video gaming.

Music video.

Explore posts in the same categories: DFL, Minnesota Politics, Republicans, corporatism, healthcare, linkcetera

Tags: healthcare insurance, Honduras, Iran, punishing the poor, Sarah Palin, Sotomayor, surveillance, The Family, Thune blogging

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