BigDaddyCool

So Rush, is this the "failure" that you wanted?

Every time I go read comments on Newsvine I get pissed off. It pisses me off when an article breeds discussion and the topic is hijacked by somebody with an agenda of their own.

Take for example an article that appeared on MSN.com’s homepage today. It was a re-print of a New York Times article on a recent poll that was taken that reveals the depth and trauma of joblessness. The article illustrated what most of us have been going through during this period of economic hardship: having to borrow money from friends or family, not going to the doctor when necessary because we can’t pay the bill, going to food banks or getting food stamps just to eat, etc.

Now usually when I click over to read the comments made on articles such as this on Newsvine I find that there are one or two pertenaint comments to start out with. But sooner or later there will be someone who will want to blame everything on President Obama saying that he’s a Socialist and that we are all Liberals who deserve the screwing that we get. After that, the circus is on and the clowns start pouring out of the Mini-Cooper.

I know that I shouldn’t let it bother me and that I should be “bigger than them” when it comes to this kind of discourse, but sometimes I just can’t help myself. After hearing so much venom being spewed out of the mouths of the talking heads on FOX and seeing it come from the fingers of those Conservatives too ugly to be on TV, there comes a point where I just can’t hold it in anymore. I have to give in to that smack-talking side of my personality and spew some vitriol of my own as a release for fear that if I don’t I may choke to death on my own venom sack that has become blocked up for lack of use.

To that end, I left this comment on page 6 of the “discussion”, I apologize ahead of time to my readers who consider themselves to be “Liberal” or “Conservative” as I take shots at both of you at a point in the rant. Keep in mind, this is my frustration talking, and as some of you know and can attest to in your own lives, it is well-founded:

Everytime I come to read the comments on Newsvine it astounds me how many of you totally miss the point of the articles written. I keep hoping beyond hope that some of you will set aside your partisan and ideological blinders and not take an opportunity to point the finger of blame and dance on the graves of peoples’ future.

I know, that is waaaaaaay too much to ask for…

A little background – I was laid off from my last “real job” in December of 2002, the day after my 36th birthday. In that time I have applied to 1,082 different businesses trying to get work and have gone on 52 interviews. Yet I still have Conservatives calling me “lazy”, “deadbeat”, they tell me that I want the Government to take care of me and that I don’t really want to work. I would think that 1,082 attempts to support my family in the last 2,565 days would say otherwise. And for the record, my Unemployment benefits ran out in September of 2003, so I am getting nothing from my Government and they are not taking care of me. However there was a glimmer of hope a few years ago, because that was when I got myself a job…such as it was.

It was an outside sales job that was commission-based. Now sales is a tough enough gig, but when you are trying to sell a high-end product in a Red State that was starting to see the effects of a sinking economy before the rest of the country and you are trying to sell to people who may or may not have a job the next day – it was almost impossible to get in the door much less make a sales pitch. At the time there were a lot of companies and industries laying people off and as a result, there wasn’t much money to spend even back then. Since the job was commission-based I would only get paid when I made a sale. As a result i have had to deal with several people telling me that it wasn’t a “real job” since I wouldn’t get paid for the job I did. To them a “real job” is one where you go to work every day and then get paid for it no matter what. Because the economy went downhill, after a couple of years the job went with it and I have been trying to get work ever since.

Fortunately for us at the time my wife had an eBay business that enabled us to pay the bills and the mortgage. However that all changed when the national economy went in the tank in the summer of 2008. Her business dropped off dramatically, and we fought as hard as we could to keep the business afloat. It finally got to the point where it was costing us more money than we were bringing in to operate, so we lost the business after a few months of fighting. No income = unable to pay mortgage and buy food. During this entire time I had been sending out my resume for any job I was qualified for to no avail. I would apply to jobs and in some cases I would get a rejection e-mail, but mostly I would hear nothing but crickets. Wal-Mart and McDonalds have rejected me for being “overqualified”, J.R. Simplot rejected me for being “underqualified”, and DirecTV rejected me because my credit score wasn’t good enough for me to be their employee – but it was good enough to be their customer. WTF?!?!?!?!?

At this point our house is in foreclosure, we are getting 20 calls a day from debt collectors, we are trying to sell our house and move to Northern California to be with family before the bank takes it away from us, and we are trying to forestall the auction date so that we can buy more time so a sale can happen. On top of that we have to pack up what we can take and sell off the rest just to keep the heat on in freezing temperatures. Because of the stress we are under we are sick and tired (literally) all the time. I have injured my back and my wife has severely sprained her right arm and right leg. Because we have no income and no insurance we cannot go to a Doctor and get treatment because we cannot afford to pay the bill that will come our way. During this Holiday season of giving we cannot afford to buy presents for anyone – not even each other – and since we are trying to sell the house we cannot even decorate for Christmas. The only acknowledgement of the season is a Charlie Brown tree that we bought a couple of years ago. To say that things are bleak at our place right now is an understatement…

…that is what makes some of your posts and your attitudes so infuriating to someone like me…

The article in question was about how traumatic joblessness has been to those of us who – through no fault of our own – have been turned out, written off, and marginalized as absolutely worthless by the business community. AND ALL SOME OF YOU CAN WRITE ABOUT ARE YOUR OWN PARTISAN AND POLITIAL BELIEFS?!?!?!? ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS BLAMING “THE OTHER GUY” AND SCORING CHEAP DEBATE POINTS?!?!?!?!? YOU KNOW WHAT THAT SAYS TO PEOPLE IN MY POSITION?!?!? IT SAYS “SCREW YOU LOSER, YOU DON’T DESERVE TO LIVE, LET ALONE EARN A LIVING!!!!!”

I AM SICK AND TIRED OF HEARING MONEY-GRUBBING, BIBLE-THUMPING, BOOK-BURNING, DICK CHEANEY-WORSHIPPING, FOX NEWS-WATCHING, TAX-AND-SPEND-AND-WELCH-ON-THE-DEBT CONSERVATIVE FREAKS TRY TO BLAME EVERYTHING ON PRESIDENT OBAMA, CLAIM HE’S A SOCIALIST, CLAIM HE WASN’T BORN IN THIS COUNTRY (AS IF HAWAII WASN’T EVEN A STATE) AND NOT OFFER UP ONE SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEMS WE HAVE LET ALONE A JOB TO SOMEONE WHO REALLY NEEDS ONE!!!!!!! YOU PEOPLE MAKE ME WANT TO YAK!!!!! YOU BELIEVE THAT A JOB FOR SOMEONE IN MY POSITION IS THE EQUIVALENT TO A HOMELESS PERSON COMING UP TO YOU ON THE STREET AND BEGGING YOU FOR YOUR SPARE CHANGE. WHEN PEOPLE LIKE YOU SAY YOU WANT PRESIDENT OBAMA TO FAIL, YOU MEAN THAT YOU DON’T WANT PEOPLE LIKE ME TO GO BACK TO WORK AND SUPPORT OUR FAMILIES!!!! YOU WANT MORE JOB LOSS, MORE FORECLOSURES, AND MORE PEOPLE GOING HUNGRY AND BEING WRITTEN OFF WHILE YOU STAY WARM, DRY, FED, AND SATISFIED THAT “GOD HAS BLESSED” YOU BY MAKING YOU RICH.

AND DON’T THINK I’M LETTING YOU WHEAT-GRASS EATING, TYE-DYE WEARING, HUMMER-LOT BURNING, ALL-TALK-AND-NO-REAL-ACTION-ON HEALTH-CARE-REFORM-BECAUSE-YOU-DON’T-HAVE-A-SPINE LIBERAL FREAKS OFF THE HOOK EITHER!!!!!!! YOU ARE JUST AS MUCH TO BLAME FOR THIS MESS AS YOUR CONSERVATIVE COUNTERPARTS ARE!!!!!!!! YEAH YOU CAN COME UP WITH SOME REASONABLE SOLUTIONS, BUT WHERE ARE YOUR GUTS TO STAND UP AND SHOPUT DOWN THOSE CONSERVATIVE NOISE-MAKERS WHO ONLY WANT FOR THEMSELVES AND NOTHING FOR THE REST OF US, HUH?!?!?!? DO WE COMMON SENSE MODERATES HAVE TO TAKE ALL OF YOUR ACTION FOR YOU?!?!?!?!?

THIS IS WHY I AM AN INDEPENDANT – IT’S BECAUSE YOU PEOPLE ARE SO WRAPPED UP IN BEATING THE OTHER GUY THAT NOTHING EVER GETS DONE AND PEOPLE LIKE ME GET SCREWED!!!!! I HAVE BEEN A REPUBLICAN AND A DEMOCRAT AT VARIOUS TIMES OF MY LIFE ONLY TO LEAVE BOTH PARTIES BECAUSE I DID NOT LIKE WHAT I FOUND THERE. I HATED THE FACT THAT THE GOP HAD BEEN HIJACKED BY THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT, AND I HATED THAT DEMOCRATS DIDN’T HAVE A SPINE – SO A POX UPON BOTH OF YOUR HOUSES!!!!!!

PEOPLE OUT HERE ARE HURTING – YOUR NEIGHBORS ARE HURTING – AND ALL YOU CARE ABOUT IS MAKING NOISE!!!!!!!

YOU MIGHT WANT TO TRY PULLING YOUR HEADS OUT OF YOUR ASSES AND TAKING A LOOK AROUND YOU SO THAT YOU CAN SEE WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON!!!!!!!

NOT ONLY WILL YOU BE ABLE TO SEE BETTER, BUT YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY THE FRESH AIR BETTER THEN WHAT YOU ARE SMELLING RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!

 Now I don’t expect to have my comments received very well over on that board as most of the people there seem to have their own agenda and don’t care for any contrarian viewpoint, let alone someone calling them out on it. I expect to hear Conservatives over there to tell me that I should “stop whining” and Liberals tell me that they eat sprouts and that they drink Wheat-grass.

I know that most of Conservatives and Liberals are not like the people who post on Newsvine. Really, I know that. I do believe that the people who post on Newsvine give Conservatives and Liberals a bad reputation. Like I said in my post it is frustrating to me to hear all of this squabbling going on about what’s wrong, who’s to blame for it and what should be done about it without any action being taken and the situation only gets worse. That is how I see this past year. I’ve seen Conservatives in Congress and in the media pouting like little children, throwing a year-long tantrum because a Black Democrat is sitting in the Oval Office. I have seen them take to the streets wearing tea-bags on their person trying to kill any attempt to put people back to work and get the rest of us access to a doctor when we need it. I have seen Liberals in Congress and the media talk about what needs to be done and attempt to do it, only to allow themselves to be bullied by those same tea-bag wearing yayhoos into doing nothing.

I don’t know about you, but I am sick and tired of it.

Literally, I am sick and tired all the time now like I said in my Newsvine post, and so is Wifey. Right now because of my back and her arm and leg we are not able to get any packing done, we’ve got about half of the house packed up and there is still more to do, however the walking-wounded are having a difficult time right now trying to hold themselves up much less carry the stretcher-cases. So in between bouts of packing we have to rest up and lick our wounds until we feel strong enough to do it again, which is why we seem to pack in spurts these days. It has gotten to the point where I come into the office and surf the net or practice some Mountain driving in the snow on rFactor rather then spend the day laying in bed with Wifey. Sometimes it gets very difficult having to watch her sway from side-to-side moaning in pain knowing that there is nothing that I can do about it. Talk about a feeling of helplessness – there is nothing like watching someone you love have to live in some form of pain knowing that there is nothing that you can do to help them. I know that eventually her sprains will heal but it is just difficult to deal with sometimes.

Now would someone in Congress or on FOX like to come live my life for a few days and tell me that we don’t need health-care reform in this country?

Actually, we need more than just health-care reform – we need political-discourse reform.

Badly.

And as for doing something to help people in my situation – it is good to see that there are people like those who run the Idaho Food bank helping those of us in need during this time of year. It is also good to see people like Keith Olberman not just talk about getting those of us in need some much-needed health-care, but actually taking some steps to provide it. The free health-care clinics that have taken place in New Orleans, Little Rock and Kansas City have been Godsends to those people there in need. How anybody, weather they be Conservative, Liberal or Moderate, not see that as a sign that our health-care system is broken is beyond me. I just can’t understand how someone can look at these free-clinics and say that they are a waste of time because they cannot possibly be sustained beyond the initial event. That is not the point – the point is that in the richest country in the world, this is what we have been reduced to – people begging for their lives.

I remember an episode of “The West Wing”, season 2 I believe, the episode entitled “In this White House” there was a fictional President of an African Nation being ravaged by AIDS, who had come to America to negotiate with American Pharmaceutical companies to bring AIDS drugs to his country. At one point, before he receives news that he has been overthrown by a coup, President Mumbala of Equitorial Kundu remarks “it is a terrible thing to beg for one’s life.”

Yes, it is a very terrible thing. If only some people out there would stop and realize that that is what we are all doing to some degree - begging for our lives and the lives of those we love.

Oh, by the way, I’m working on putting together a special year-end post that re-caps some of the events of the past year. Back when I was writing my column for PCFootball.net I would look back at the year that was at this time every year. It was a tradition that I would like to bring here much like my annual 9/11 column.

So get ready to see the 2009 edition of “The Good, the Bad, and the Downright idiotic” before Christmas. I usually cover sports and news events, but I might also cover some politics this year as well.

So get ready folks, this one’s gonna be a doozy…..

Just pass the test girl, that's all we ask...

It’s official, Danica Patrick is coming to NASCAR…sort of.

When I say “sort of” it’s not a full-time ride like some of us were guessing was going to happen a few months ago. However, a part-time Nationwide series ride makes a lot more sense then it does to simply jump into a 3,300 lb. Sprint Cup car. Getting her feet wet in the Nationwide Series, or even the Camping World Truck Series, makes better sense than it does to go the same route that has led to struggles for Sam Hornish Jr., Patrick Carpentier and (dare I say it) Dario Franchitti. This way Danica can learn the ins and outs of racing a stock car as opposed to the open-wheel Indy Car that she’s used to. This way she’s not being thrown into the deep end of the pool where she will have to swim immediately or else drown in a torrent of critics scornfully debunking her as a driver and causing damage to her and to NASCAR in the long run.

Now the first big test will not be the Camping World 300 at Daytona, it will not even be the Lucas Oil Slick Mast 200 at Daytona, but it will be the  three-day ARCA Series open test December 18, 19 and 20 at Daytona. That will be crucial for any future NASCAR plans that she and Dale Earnhardt Jr. have for her. Both NASCAR and ARCA have a long-standing policy that Daytona drivers have to have drafting experience on a Superspeedway before they can run a race at Daytona. There is also a posibility of a private test at Daytona for her, but she would still have to have some experience drafting in a pack of cars, and the public ARCA test would be the only opportunity for that.

Now as a fan of not only NASCAR but also as someone who grew up watching A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Al and Bobby Unser, Johnny Rutherford and Danny Sullivan mix it up at Indy, I sincerely hope that not only Danica Patrick passes the initial test at Daytona, but that she does very well in the ARCA race and the subsequent Nationwide race – if not actually win one of those races. I think that Danica having success in NASCAR would be of benefit to not only her, but to the sport as a whole and to the economy in general.

Yeah, I know I can hear you working it right now: “the economy, uh BigDaddy – she’s a race car driver, it’s not like she’s the Chairman of the Fed. How in the world could she effect the economy?” Well, follow along with me people. Let’s say – for the sake of argument – that she not only does well at the ARCA/ReMax test, but she blows everybody’s socks off, impressing almost everybody there save for the few detractors who will grouse that she has no business being inside a race car. Then she moves onto Speedweeks and she impresses even more people with a top 5 finish in both the Lucas Oil Slick Mast 200 and the Camping World 300 – possibly even winning one of those races (hey, it’s restrictor-plate racing, it could happen).

Even though she would not run a full-time schedule she could make enough noise and do well enough to warrant a re-think of this split-series plan and come to NASCAR full-time by 2011, and we could see her racing a Sprint Cup car as late as 2012. Then we would be off to the races (as it were) as Danicamania would be in full force as she would then be poised to take over the #5 GoDaddy.com ride from a retiring Mark Martin at Hendrick Motorsports. Imagine that line-up of Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danica Patrick driving for Rick Hendrick. Talk about your dynasty – Hendrick Motorsports would be cemented as not only in the same class with Junior Johnson Racing and Petty Enterprises in NASCAR history, but would be mentioned in the same breath as the New York Yankees, Montreal Canadians, Boston Celtics, Pittsburgh Steelers and UCLA Bruins Basketball.

Now that would be good for NASCAR because if Danica is successful, then a lot more people are not only going to be coming to the tracks on race-day to watch her run, more merchandise is going to be sold and NASCAR as an organization will benefit. Then again, so will the other teams like RCR, Stewart-Hass, Joe Gibbs Racing, Roush, Earnhardt-Ganassi, Micheal Waltrip and the Wood Brothers among others because their fans will get behind their drivers even more to counter the Hendrick juggernaut. That translates into more sales all around, that translates into more money for the teams involved which could also then translate into – say it with me people – jobs!!!!!

There is a distinct possibility that all of the extra added attention that will be turned upon both Danica Patrick and NASCAR that it could not only create more jobs at NASCAR, but also create more jobs for all of the teams involved as well as the 31 tracks NASCAR visits during the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series’. Now Ladies and Gentlemen – that is what I call a stimulus package!!!

Now make no mistake about it, this may not be easy and there are detractors of this move. Thomas Popeof the Fayetteville Observer has said that if she ”can’t put a whippin’ on the best in IndyCar, where there are half as many competitors, why should we believe her NASCAR future will be any different?” The blogosphere is rampant with comments ranging from “she’s nothing more than a pretty face”, “she doesn’t belong in a race car”, and even a few “I hope Kyle Busch puts her in the wall and then puts her over his knee.” You really have to wonder about some of these people on some of these boards.

I take the negative comments about her with a grain of salt and I don’t get too worked up about it because I know that most if not all of these critics of her have never gotten behind the wheel of a race car – any race car – and fired up the engine. Then again, other than loading rFactor on my computer and taking a spin with the Epsilon Euskadi prototype or the VHR Stockcar mod, neither have I.

By the way Junior, if you’re looking to try another “experiment” sometime in the near future and you want to see if playing a racing video game can make a novice into an actual race car driver – I’m available. (Hey, I’m still looking for a job here, and you don’t know if you never ask.)

To that end I put more stock in what the people in and around NASCAR say about this rather than some in the blogosphere. People like Darrell Waltrip and Larry McReynolds have chimed in on this, and since they have driven cars and run race teams, they have a better idea of what they are talking about.

Am I hoping she succeeds? Hell yes I am!!! In the long run it’s going to be good for both her and NASCAR if she can get some top-10’s, top-5s and even some wins under her belt before she goes into Cup cars. The only loser I can see coming out of this would be the IRL because they would have to adjust to life AD (After Danica) and find another personality to be the face of that organization. Helio Castroneves is the closest they could come since he had such a compelling story last year (tax troubles, the trial, being acquitted of tax evasion, the comeback and winning the Indy 500.) The question is, can the IRL get off of a second-rate network like VERSUS and get to a network that would give them more exposure? Because that would help them tremendously if they were to get onto a network like Speed or even ESPN2.

Bottom line is that this is going to be a very exciting time for racing fans in general. I for one am looking forward to seeing how Danica Patrick performs in a stock car as I have always suspected that she would be more suited to driving a stock car rather than an Indy Car. And as for all of you detractors out there who keep saying she doesn’t belong do me a favor – shut up until you run a race yourself. Because if you haven’t run even a Midget or a Go-Kart race, then you have no idea what you’re talking about.

OK, I know that I promised to keep you guys updated and that I haven’t written anything since Thanksgiving. Well the stress level around here has been pretty high as of late because we are a month away from Wells Fargo auctioning off our house and we haven’t had many people come by to look us over. Not only is Wifeygetting scared, but I’m starting to get concerned myself. We need to sell our house because we need money to move with, and we also need some more time from the bank so that we can sell out, pay them what we owe them and still be able to pay for moving costs and storage space on the other end.

To that end we’ve re-applied for their “Hardship Program” and we need to talk to them tomorrow to see if we are under review. If we are that should push the date back and buy us some more time. Plus we’ve been advised by our agent to actually tell someone that we are thinking of selling out so that we may “pay them what we owe them – in full” to give them even more incentive to extending the date. In the meantime we are trying to pack up what we consider to be non-essential for our survival and sanity and keep praying for a wealthy buyerwho would be willing to pay us what our house was worth before the real estate crash ($215k) rather than what we have it listed for now ($157,993) for 4 bedrooms, 2 baths and 1,900 sq. ft.

In the meantime I look around me and have to shake my head at the things I read and hear pertaining to the world of employment and the politics that sometimes get intertwined with it. So I have a few random thoughts that I would just like to quickly put out since there are so many subjects and so little time. Some have to do with jobs or job hunting, others are current events…

Nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh, YOU SAY IT'S YA BIRTHDAY!!!

- I turned 43 years old last Thursday (December 3rd) and it wasn’t a bad birthday. I did a little work packing the house but mostly it was a day to just be…well, you know – just be. I thawed some steaks and fired up the grill (in 30 degree whether) and finally got Wifeyto watch “Dale” with me. Hey, she gave me the choice of whatever I wanted to watch since it was my birthday, while getting me to promise to return the favor for her in March. In the end she enjoyed it more than she thought. Now if I can only get her to watch the Daytona 500 with me in February I’ll be all set…

- Speaking of Daytona in February, the rumor mill is running hot and heavy over the possibility that Danica Patrick is going to test at Daytona in December for the ARCA/ReMax race there for JR Motorsports in preparation for a possible Nationwide entry. Now she hasn’t submitted any application paperwork or a fee for entering the testing, but that doesn’t mean anything. Here’s a blurb from the Orlando Sentinel that I found over at Jayski.com:

Shouldn't you sign the contract first?

Several sources have made a big deal about the fact that Danica hasn’t filed an entry for ARCA testing at Daytona International Speedway December 18, 19 and 20, intimating that since she hasn’t registered for the test, she won’t test, and if she won’t test she can’t run the Daytona ARCA race in February, and if she doesn’t run the ARCA race, NASCAR won’t approve her to run the NASCAR Nationwide race a few days later. Don Radebaugh, longtime ARCA public relations director, says that Danica doesn’t have to file any sort of advance notice for the test. She can enter “the same day. There is no deadline.” As for what car she would drive, there are already at least seven cars entered with “TBA” under the driver’s name. Another source suggests Patrick will participate in a “secret” Daytona test before the end of the year. At the moment, Daytona has no such test on the books. If she tests at Daytona, it will likely be with ARCA. Can she race the ARCA race in February, without testing? “We do not take a position on that matter until we have an official entry,” Radebaugh says. Certainly Danica has experience on big speedways, but not in stock cars. Both NASCAR and ARCA have long made it clear that Daytona drivers need to have drafting experience on a superspeedway in stock cars before they can race. So even if Danica did have a private test, she would need to learn drafting in a pack of cars, and the ARCA test will be the only opportunity for that.

Somehow I think that Danica is going to enter the ARCA/ReMax event and then the Nationwide event and be at Daytona for the 24 Hour race as well as Speedweeks. The IRL season doesn’t start until mid-March, so we may be seeing her in a stock car this year. That and I think the “oops” picture that was posted for a few minutes on her website featuring her in a green GoDaddy firesuit with a Chevy and a Nationwide logo on it was a bit of a clue…

So what if they got it right for once? I still want a playoff!!!

- Boise State and TCU are going bowling – TOGETHER!!! Well for once the BCS got it right and did the right thing by putting TCU, Boise State andCincinnati in BCS bowls, and they even matched up TCU and Boise State to play in the Fiesta Bowl in a re-match of the Poinsettia Bowl played last year. This is going to be a good one folks, so you may want to cancel any plans you might have for the night of January 4th and tune in this game because it looks as if it is going to be a doozy.

Now I know a lot of you in Fort Worth are kind of disappointed that you are going to Glendale, Arizona instead of Pasadena, California to play Alabama in the Championship Game. Just think of this as another step towards forcing the rest of the nation to recognize the fact that the ACC, Big East, Big 10, Pac-10, Big-12 and the SEC do not have a monopoly on quality football. There is plenty of good football to be found in the Mountain West and the WAC, and the so-called “big boys” are just going to have to give the rest of us our due. The winner of the Fiesta Bowl is going to be the #2 team in the country when it is all said and done – so no matter who wins it is going to be a victory for the little guys.

However I still say that a 16-team playoff that incorporates the Bowl Games, Conference Champions and the BCS would not only work, but would be to College Football what “March Madness” is to College Basketball – a ca$h cow for the NCAA. And I can hear some of you College Presidents working it now: “we must consider the damage it would do to the student athlete.” What about the damage you are already doing to the student athlete by forcing them to live in poverty while they make shit-loads of money for your University and inflate your own bank accounts? As soon as you really start to tend to the welfare of the student athlete by seeing that they are able to feed themselves instead of forcing them to search their couches for change so that they can go to the local 7-11 for their weekly ration of Ramen noodles, then you be climb atop your pedestal and preach. Until then, shut your piehole already!!!

- I read in my local fishwrap about an employment situation that just blew my mind. Here’s what I read in a section called “News of the Weird”:

I have one word for you people - BUTTERBALL!!!!!!!!!!!

In April, Richard Huether, the manager of the HoneyBakedHam outlet in Cary, N.C., was shot in the stomach during a robbery of the store and hospitalized, with medical bills paid through worker compensation and his employee health benefits. In September when his worker compensation expired (and though still at least three months away from returning to work) HoneyBaked fired him (forcing him to begin paying 100 percent of his insurance premiums and making subsequent insurance prohibatively expensive because of his new “pre-existing condition”). However, HoneyBaked human resources executive Maggie DeCan told WRAL-TV that the firing was for Huether’s own good, in that it would clear the way for him to recieve Social Security disability payments.

So let me get this straight – dude gets shot during a robbery on your property, gets hospitalized, gets laid up and rather than do the right thing by keeping his job open for him you take away his access to health care by firing him, making it impossible for him to afford health care on his own and making him damaged goods to any employer who he might apply to in the future because he has not fully recovered from his injuries, and ensuring that he will never be able to see a doctor ever again because he will never be able to afford it, have I got that right so far?!?

Yeah, I’ll be having turkey this Christmas, how about you people?!?

What will you be wishing for?

I know, I know, I haven’t written anything in a couple of weeks, and I haven’t got much time to write something now so I’ll be brief as to why.

As most of you know Wifey and I are selling the house in Boise, Idaho and moving into her Dad’s double-wide trailer in Whitmore, California. Well the past few weeks has seen us have time for little more than packing – let alone Tweeting or updating a blog. I haven’t had much relaxing time as of late and I usually try to use what spare time I have to do that by driving a car in rFactor – yes it’s a computer game, no I’m not addicted. I am however trying to use the game to train myself how to drive the icy mountain roads we will be running into soon, so my foray into racing prototypes might have to wait.

During all of this activity I did something that I have been paying for and can do nothing about. Somehow in the middle of all of this packing – I hurt my back. It’s my lower back actually, I’m not sure how I did it, I’m not sure when I did it, all I know is that for the past week and a half I have been in constant discomfort after three days of not being able to easily move to the bathroom let alone lift heavy boxes. Being flat on my back alternating between heat and ice made me thankful that the Health Care Reform bill is moving forward – slowly, but it’s moving forward. For a while there the only comfortable position was lying down, and sitting in a desk chair at a computer was a 7 on a scale of 1-10. Now it’s down to a dull 2 so I can at last get this Holiday message out.

Being an Underutilized Worker doesn’t really lend itself to being thankful for much – or so you would think. But in the past few days I have been thinking about what I do have to be thankful for…

• Wifey, no she’s not looking over my shoulder I am truly thankful that she has been in my life for nearly 20 years – come January, 15 as my Wife. I can’t imagine having to go through this crisis – let alone life without her, and I hope that I never will.
• Even though our crib is on the market we do have a place to land once we sell. It breaks our heart that we have to leave not only the house, but the city and state that we have fallen in love with, at least we have a place to go that feels somewhat like Boise. And we will be with family, so bonus.
• Even though our situation is bad it is not as bad as some people out there who have no place to go, along with no job, no credit, no money and no food. It makes me thankful that there are people and organizations out there that offer assistance to those of us in need – with no strings attached.
• After watching the ads on TV and seeing ads in the local fishwrap I am truly grateful that I am no longer working in retail. Out here there are stores that are going to be open all day on Thanksgiving Day. They’re saying “screw Black Friday, let’s get a head-start on the Christmas season by forcing everybody to give up their holiday and make them work for regular pay. None of this ‘time-and-a-half’ crap.” It’s making me wonder how many of those same stores are going to be open on Christmas Day. One can only hope that the Ghosts of Christmas’ Past, Present and Future will visit the CEO’s of those companies before December 24th.
• I am also thankful for this blog and all of you for allowing me to come into your lives and letting me vent about politics and current events that effects how or if we search for jobs so that we can support our families. I think the last year has been made a lot easier just for the simple fact that I have been able to let some of this out. So I am truly thankful for Karol, Gillardia, and everyone else who reads my words. It has been made easier knowing that I am not alone.

So from Wifey and myself I would like to wish all of you – Carnavore, Vegitarian and Vegan alike, no matter if you dine on Turkey, Turducken, Sprouts, orTofu – a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Be safe…

During this long, depressing slide into oblivion one of the things that I get a chuckle at are the political cartoons of the day. A few years ago I discovered a site that features many of the political cartoons you see in your local fishwrap, all together in one place. That site is www.cagle.com and there is where you can see cartoons from all over the world, some of them divided into categories.

I thought I would share with you some of the cartoons that I found there recently that could say more things than I possibly could right now. And uh, I just can’t resist commenting on some of them afterwards…

Yeah, you would think so, wouldn't you?

Oh, if only.....

Not bad, not bad at all. But there's another one that's actually better later on.

Productivity has only increased because people are working scared - and in the long run that's not good. Because if they are scared for their jobs now, then why should that have any loyalty to their managers or their companies once things get better?

Yeah enjoy it while you can fellas, because when the villagers show up at your doors with torches and pitchforks...

SCREW YOU!!!!!

YOU'RE HOLDING IT ASSHOLE!!!!!!!!

If I were that guy I'd stab that exec in the eye with my pencil. Not that I condone that kind of thing mind you...

How about giving him a job so that he doesn't HAVE to do more with less instead of turning your back on him?!?!?

Yeah, tell me about it!!!

I can also choose to not pour my hard-earned money down that sink-hole you call Health Insurance and kick your snide little ass out of my house, bitch!!!

Sorry, but that last one just put me on one of those “moods”, ya know?

'Nuff said.

Now this one says it all! Why they don't just change their name to RNC-TV I will never know!!!

Only instead of Terminating humanity, she is now Terminating the Republican Party. Just ask anybody in the New York 23rd...

And finally…

Noooooooo, really?!? Ya think ?!?!?

Hey, did you hear about "Joe"?

So I’m up early this fine Sunday morning because I couldn’t go back to sleep after the cats’ 6am feeding (the headache I had didn’t help) and I decide to do some blog updating. I also checked in on some of the blogs that I regularly read since I haven’t done so in a long time due to current circumstances. One of the blogs I just came from was Jobless and Less and I read an entry there that raised my blood pressure and got bile shooting through my fingers onto my keyboard. No, it wasn’t a post that Norm, the proprietor of Jobless for Less, wrote, it was a response to one of his posts and then that person’s counter-response.

The response was to a post entitled The recession is over, but high unemployment remains. In that post, Norm describes what he believes the job market is going to be like in the coming months, and I have to agree with him.

I’m not even convinced that the job market will be back in any significant way. Worker productivity rose by 6.6% in the second quarter of 2009, the biggest jump since the summer of 2003. Wages remained stagnant, as they have for years. People are doing more work for the same money, and companies are reaping the benefits. Corporate profits are expected to surge; bullish estimates see 12% growth in both 2010 and 2011. That jump in productivity can be viewed as a loss of jobs. Why hire or re-hire someone to perform a task that’s already getting done? Just turn up the heat on the minions. Future innovation may lead to new types of jobs, though no one can say exactly what those jobs will be and to what extent they’ll offset recession job losses.

I agree with him and I will take it one step further…I believe that the “jobless recovery” that we are about to see will not be a recovery of any kind. In fact I see it as being more of the same  thing that we are seeing today with certain industries doing most of the hiring (Health Care, Education and Transportation) eliminating a majority of the workforce that is either inexperienced or untrained to work in those industries. Meanwhile the industries that are considered to be “entry level” jobs (Retail, Food Service and Construction) will continue to experience a reversal of fortunes since no one will be spending any money because they are too worried about losing the jobs that they have. In other words we are going to continue to see what is happening now, but we will be seeing it for a long time to come.

Unfortunately, “Joe” doesn’t happen to agree with Norm’s take on the situation. In fact “Joe” took issue with not only Norm’s post, but also his entire blog. Here’s what “Joe” had to say in response:

your blog disgusts me plain and simple. Settling for less than you deserve? This is a smaller step. I’m now applying for positions beneath my pay grade and skill level, even entry-level if the company is in a strong growth field? Who do you think you are. I have an MBA myself from Sloan, yes MIT Sloan, and it’s laughable to think we are entitled to 200K annually because of a piece of paper. I used to make $400K/yr in NYC at a boutique investment firm, but was laid off a year ago.I was unemployed but settled for $80K annually in Dallas,Tx with an oil and gas firm with room to grow. Your blog is hilarious I think bc it shows your true colors. You’re a snot of an MBA like everyone else, and no you are not entitled to anything…..yes, no job is beneath you Norm.

I think that “Joe” was having a bad day when he responded to that post – at least I thought so until he responded to Norm’s response. Norm responded with a post entitled Unemployed blogger called out for his sins that I thought pegged not only “Joe” to the wall, but also expressed what I think a lot of us are going through in this job market:

As Joe delicately points out, I’m not entitled to anything. I agree. I’m not, aside from certain inalienable rights that I came up with in another previous life. Today’s world reminds me over and over, all day, everyday that nothing comes easy, lest I forget. It’s up to me to make it happen. This is part of what makes unemployment so hard to take. I feel like a skilled and capable worker who can offer value. I’m qualified for the positions I seek. My experience, education and skill set support that, but my continued unemployment refutes it. So “I’m now applying for positions beneath my pay grade and skill level, even entry-level if the company is in a strong growth field.” There’s no shame in this, though I am over-qualified.

I, like others of you out there, wished that HR Managers felt that there was no shame in applying for something that we are over-qualified for as well. Unfortunately they do not. Apparently, “Joe” seems to share that same sentiment amongst many others:

You’re spinning things the wrong way. I never said you were worthless, but you said an awful lot like alot of my old MBA colleagues who won’t settle for anything under 6 figures because that’s what they’re used to earning. I know the feeling of being laid off, you don’t think I want to keep making high 6 figures? Of course I’d love to, but it’s not available right now so I took a job in Texas where the taxes and standard of living are much lower. The money I make here goes quite far actually, I’ve been here 5 months with no complaints. The thing I get mad about reading your blog is the fact you seem to have some entitlement that you won’t take jobs that don’t seem to interest you. Well I hate to break it to you but there’s approximately 6.5 applicants for every job available today, so you can’t be too picky. I think you’re a smart guy and definitely not worthless, I just think you have an ego issue which nearly all my MBA friends have too. I’m not going to act like I’m some blue collar kinda guy, but I could have easily sat in Manhattan, unemployed, and doing the whole Peter Luger steaks with money I don’t have thing like alot of other I-bankers I know. Instead I sucked up my pride and moved to a city where I know nobody, for a job that is well beneath my skill level. I just hope to use this as a stepping stone into whatever venture I go into next! Good luck to you Norm and God Bless

Now to me, “Joe” sounds a lot like those know-it-alls out there who are critical of us who are unemployed or underutilized as if we were “lazy, good-for-nothing deadbeats” who simply want to “sit around collecting unemployment all day” and wants “the government to take care” of us. “Joe’s” response got me going and I just had to put my own two cents in. In doing so, I decided that the best way to go about this was to give “Joe” a taste of his own medicine.

Now Norm, if you are reading this I haveto say that if you choose not to approve my comment I will understand completely. Seriously, I get it. My post may be a little over the top for the situation and it may only serve to add fuel to the fire. If you want to avoid a “flame war”, I completely understand, I have no problem with that. That’s why I am about to re-post my response to “Joe” over here at my site. I feel that “Joe” is wrong in his assessment of you, your blog, and by extension – your readers and fellow bloggers and that an attack on one is an attack on all. It’s kind of like if you are a Yankee fan, you can criticize the team for it’s mis-steps all you want – but God help any Red Sox fan who might do the same thing. Smacking your own is fine and dandy – but if somebody else does it, it’s not so fine. Yes we are open to criticisms and critiques, but there are some lines that should not be crossed.

Having said that, here was my response to “Joe”:

Joe,

I have to tell you that you sound like a lot of people out there who criticize those of us who are still out of work, yet treat jobs as if they were handouts to bums on the street. It is easy for someone who has a job to criticize someone who is still trying to get a job, and it also smacks of hypocracy. Norm is not one of your old MBA buddies and it is wrong of you to compare him to them.

I hate to break it to you Joe, but it is not about being picky. It is about going after the job(s) that you know you have the qualifications for to increase your chances of landing said job. To just apply for anything and everything is not only demoralizing but also, in some cases, a complete waste of time and energy that can be better utilized elsewhere. There are times when a laser-like focus can work to your advantage, and this job market is one of them. It makes no sense for an MBA to apply for work operating a forklift when they have neither the training or experiance. The employer will consider that applicant to be wasting their time – trust me, I know whereof I speak!!!

Psychologists define “Projection” as “accusing someone of exhibiting behavior that you yourself engage in.” I would say Joe that you are projecting your own ego onto Norm and are trying to make him responsible for your feelings. Don’t pretend that you are better than Norm or anyone else out here just because you “sucked up your pride” for a job that is “well beneath your skill level.” Hey, congratulations, you are one of the lucky ones – at least you have a job!!! Now that you have said job you might want to consider pulling your head out of your ass!!!

By the way, Norm wasn’t spinning things the wrong way – he was spinning them his way. Just because it is wrong for you doesn’t mean that it is wrong for everybody else. I think that your original post shows your true colors, and I know that this will probably fall of deaf ears, but here’s some advice…

GROW UP!!!!!!

As bloggers we all have our critics who would like nothing better than to poke holes in our posts, our logic, and basically tell us to shut up, go away and stop wasting their time with our incessant whining. I myself have had critics tell me that I was whining, that I have “talked myself out of jobs”, and for the most part they all seem to have one thing in common…THEY ALREADY HAVE JOBS THEMSELVES!!!!! Like I said to “Joe”, it is easy for someone who has a job to criticize someone who is still trying to get a joband we see and hear about it all the time!!! That is why some of us post these blogs – because we are looking for people who are in the same boat as we are that we can commiserate with without being chastised for feeling a certain way or expressing an opinion. Opinions are like belly buttons – everybody has one, it’s just that some of them have more lint in them than others. (Yes I know, ick – but you get the idea.)

What we all have in common, whether we are bloggers, posters or readers is this: most of us are still out here trying to get someone to see that we are worth something, and that we still have a contribution to make to this economy and to this society. We are trying to find that one person or that one company who will see that we have worth, that we can make a contribution, and that we are capable of performing a task that they need done and are willing to pay us some kind of compensation for it, so that we may keep our families fed, warm and safe from predators. That is not something that deserves derision, scorn, ridicule, nor is it to be considered a “handout”.

That Ladies and Gentlemen is called a “Job”. It has been an honorable thing to possess for millennia, and it still means something even in this topsy-turvy economy.

I guess people like “Joe” consider themselves to be more “honorable” than others because clearly “Brutus is an honorable man.”