Unemployment Extensions

Unemployment continues to hold well above 9 percent and 90 percent of the job growth in the last quarter have been census jobs. Those jobs will go away soon. The administration has all but admitted they do not know how to promote job growth.

Currently with extensions provided by the Feds workers can get up to 99 weeks for unemployment benefits. This is a long time. I was unemployed for quite sometime. For most folks however the benefits are not close to what they were making. I, for one, do not believe that a majority of people will stay home if they can find work. The question is at what point must a worker go back to work for a lesser paying job than they had before. If the only jobs available are jobs that are paying what a person can get on unemployment the problem is not the extension of the unemployment benefits but the failure of the economy to produce jobs that pay well.

And yet Republicans and not a few Democrats are not wondering about the extension of benefits. Certainly the government cannot continually support folks, but until the government does something meaningful to produce jobs bailing on those that need help might seem to be a bit premature.

Disgust with Washington

As a lifelong Democrat I have to say that I am very disheartened with what is going on in Washington.

Reading an article about how the Financial Reform bill was gutted by both Democrats and Republicans led by Committee chairmen Chris Dodd and Richard Shelby, and now how as it is conference the parts of the bill dealing with executive pay have been gutted by the Obama White House.

The Oil Spill and our governments inability to deal with it and Bobby Jindalls plan to build Berms that everyone knows will not work in an effort to do something.

It is evident that both sides of the aisle can get nothing done.

The Race for Governor

I had seen quite a few signs for Paul Lepage for Governor but never having heard of him I did not consider that he had much of a chance. With so many candidates and his followers being clearly the most passionate he did win he primary. He is considered the candidate of the tea party and is quite conservative. What remains to be seen is how he is painted by the opposition. Most important will be voter turnout. If it is low he will have a chance.

Surprising that Susan Collin's office boy Abbott only gained 13 percent of the vote. Shows again that primaries are for the more extreme members of the party.

On the Dem side Libby Mitchell defeated a crowded field. A longtime legislator who has lost a couple of statewide races I do not know anything that makes me think she will be a good governor. She is a nondescript liberal politician.

I do not know if any governor can make a difference. I think again Maine is ripe for an independent. With the right and left extremes nominating the candidates it seems to me that a independent in the center could win.

Elliott Cutler a former Democratic administration official from the Ed Muskie, Jimmy Carter era is running as an independent. If he rises one would assume he will hurt Mitchell more than Lepage.

It could be interesting. What is most sad is not one candidate is worth being excited about.

Memorial Day

I went to a baseball game on Memorial Day. My oldest son played a game for his school. It was a beautiful day, one of those Americana days. Baseball, Hot Dogs, bright son.

Being Memorial Day we had a moment of silence before the National Anthem. Looking at the boys lined up on the foul line ( not touching the chalk please) I wished for my camera. Their heads bowed their numbers lined up with the flag in the distance over centerfield would be a perfect shot.

Then a better one came into view. Beyond centerfield a group was playing volleyball at a net set up in the park beyond the field. When the National Anthem started the players, many of them shirtless and in shorts stopped what they were doing and turned to the flag we were turned at ( thus facing us), stopped their game and paid their respects to the flag as well.

It was moving. Maybe in my middle age I am more sentimental about such things but it choked me up. So much is wrong with this country it can make one feel like we may never see things get better.

Small moments like this however make me see that we should have hope.

The Draft

I do not know if we should be in Afghanistan. It seems to me that you cannot bring reform to a people that do not have a country or moreover a real central government. One could argue that all the men and women we have lost and money spent has prevented another terrorist attack. I do not know the answer.

What I do know is that the deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq have been many. Correctly American support their solider when they leave and when they come home. There are no more chants of babykiller even though many civilians are killed in our war activities.

Most of the time we hear people say that they knew what they signed up for. That is true to some extent, we have a volunteer military.

If we had a draft however would it be different. Would the people dieing be more important if they had not wanted to be soldiers. If a soldier dies he is dead no matter how he got there.

I think the best way to have an educated citizenry is to reinstate the draft. Perhaps if everyone's son or grandson could be eligible we would not be so willing to patrol areas of dubious merit.

I do not pretend to know if we should be in the military activities we are engaged in. I think that we all should know. I think we all should be engaged. I think the draft would do that.

The Biggest Change Comes With Age

I wrote a paper on Kent State when I was in college. I think it was pretty well written but I clearly felt that the students were in the right. And of course to this day I do not feel that they should have been killed or fired upon. It was a crazy time however in America. People felt threatened.

Now at middle aged with three children, a wife and a mortgage I wonder if I feel differently. I do not about Kent State , my opinion is ingrained. I do though with age see that sometimes things that are done with the potential to escalate are sometimes better not done at all.

I read somewhere that nothing cures crime like age. I believe it to be true. I think of things I did driving as a youth and as my sons get close to driving age know that I was stupid. I hope they will not be.

With twenty years more life would those students have went up that hill against armed soldiers. I would think not.

A life lesson might be consider the worst and best possible results before any action. I think a movie I watched said something like make sure the juice is worth the squeeze.

Is getting to school before the bell worth that dangerous pass, is being on the hill worth getting shot if a soldier panics. When talking to our young people let us hope that they remember we want them to drink lots of juice over thier lifetimes.