Donations flow as celebs join Larry King's Gulf telethon
Large and small donations flowed in Monday evening as dozens of celebrities answered phones for Larry King's telethon to help the people of the U.S. Gulf Coast suffering from the oil disaster.
"A hundred dollars? Wow! Thanks you so much," rocker Tyson Ritter told one donor who called in.
Meanwhile, the 15 million unemployed in the US are ignored. While I am outraged by the oil spill and have empathy for those impacted financially -- at least those people have an option for claims against BP. And the impacted people are far fewer than the 15 million of us who are unemployed.
And it's not just the MSM that has forgotten us. Where is our mothership diary on unemployed on Dkos?
While those of us unemployed because of corporate malfeasance, who lost our jobs because the Wall Street muckety-mucks drove our economy into the ground through betting on bad loans and make incredibly poor, evil business decisions, we have no process for restitution.
And half of that 9.7% of unemployed Americans have been unemployed for more than 6 months. And we're being told, "no more benefits for you", that even the Democrats have "given up" on providing any benefits to us. That's 6.8 million Americans...and their families. We, the 6.8 million Americans, have gone through our savings. We've gone through the igonominy of being unemployed. Of long waits at the unemployment office (where you even have to bring your own pencil because they don't provide one). Of meager benefits that are nowhere near enough to pay for the basic necessities. Of being called lazy and drug users by Republicans. Of not even being considered for jobs because employers don't want to hire the unemployed. Of losing our houses. Of facing bill collectors when we never had a late bill before. Of losing hope that life can ever return to "normal."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Thursday that Democrats are giving up on trying to break a Republican filibuster of a bill to reauthorize several expired domestic aid programs, including extended unemployment benefits.[emphasis added]
"We're going to move to the small business jobs bill," said Reid when asked what would happen if the vote to move forward with the "tax extenders" bill fails, as it is expected to do on Thursday afternoon. "We can't pass it until we get some Republicans... It's up to them."
By this Friday, 1.2 million (including me) won't be receiving any more benefits. And every week that number will climb (remember 6.8 million of 15 million have been unemployed more than 6 months.)
And we're been given up on by our party, which with President Obama, and control of the House, and Senate, still can't (won't/doesn't want to) get anything done.
But the unemployed aren't cute like a sea turtle or dolphin. The unemployed aren't sympathetic. Unlike oil on the beach, the unemployed aren't seen. And the unemployed are forgotten.