Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men

“I am not alone at all, I thought. I was never alone at all. And that, of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the world seemingly most indifferent. For this is still the time God chooses.”

~ Taylor Caldwell

Experts find the home of President Barack Obamas’ ancestor

An interesting piece this morning from the Irish Independent: the home of Barack Obamas’ Irish ancestor has been located in Moneygall, Co Offaly, Ireland.

The modest residence is confirmed to be the former home of Obamas’ great-great grandfather Falmouth Kearney, an Irish immigrant who came to America in 1850 at the age of 19.

Moneygall, County Offaly, is a small Irish village about an hour and a
half west of Dublin.

Experts find the home of president’s ancestor

By Barry Duggan
Friday December 11 2009

THE home of US President Barack Obama’s Irish ancestors has been located in the heart of a small village, despite being previously believed to have been demolished.

Researchers from Trinity College, Dublin, confirmed that a modest two-storey terraced home in the main street of Moneygall, Co Offaly, was indeed the home of the American president’s Irish forefathers.

As the president was in Oslo to collect the Nobel Peace Prize, US Ambassador Dan Rooney yesterday added fresh impetus to hopes that Mr Obama would visit Moneygall when he stopped off in the quiet village and received further invitations to pass on to the White House.

Barack Obama’s third-great-grandfather on his mother’s side, Fulmouth Kearney, left the village more than 150 years ago.

Researchers from the Eneclann unit of Trinity College have confirmed that the modest home on the busy Dublin-Limerick road was home to Mr Obama’s Irish ancestor.

Local shopkeeper John Donovan is the current owner of the modest building. He inherited the home from his grandmother and it is being let to a tenant.

Mr Donovan said the house had not been touched since his grandmother’s time.

Yesterday’s visit by Mr Rooney was the third time a member of the US embassy had visited Moneygall in the last year. Accompanied by his wife, Patricia, the ambassador enjoyed a glass of Guinness in Ollie Hayes’ pub in the village. He also met Henry Healy (25), who is Mr Obama’s eight cousin.

Mr Healy issued the diplomat and owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers American football team with a “cead mile failte”. He said it was only a matter of time before his distant cousin made the trip to Moneygall.

Mr Rooney said he would be informing the president of the open invitation extended by the people of Moneygall “through cable”.

He acknowledged that “it would be great” if Mr Obama came to the Offaly village.

“I know that President Obama likes Ireland very much. He does want to come and we will try to get to that whenever we can . . . but I won’t make any promises,” Mr Rooney said.

The historical research team at Eneclann (Trinity) has a fascinating summary of Obamas’ Irish geneology here.

Following the confirmation of President Obamas’ Irish ancestry last year, it’s been determined that he is 3.1 percent Irish. He is the 28th U.S. President to claim Irish ancestry (list follows).

George Washington, 1st President 1789-97 (County Cork)
John Adams, 2nd President 1797-1801
James Madison, 4th President 1809-17 (County Clare)
James Monroe, 5th President 1817-25
John Quincy Adams, 6th President 1825-29
Andrew Jackson, 7th President 1829-37 (County Antrim)
James Knox Polk, 11th President 1845-49 (County Londonderry)
James Buchanan, 15th President 1857-61 (County Tyrone)
Andrew Johnson, 17th president 1865-69 (County Antrim)
Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President 1869-77 (County Tyrone)
Chester A. Arthur, 21st President 1881-85 (County Antrim)
Grover Cleveland, 22nd and 24th President 1885-89, 1893-97 (County Antrim)
Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President 1889-93 (County Down)
William McKinley, 25th President 1897-1901 (County Antrim)
Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president 1901-09 (County Antrim)
William Howard Taft, 27th President 1909-13
Woodrow Wilson, 28th President 1913-21 (County Tyrone)
Warren G. Harding, 29th President 1921-23
Harry S. Truman, 33rd President 1945-53
Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President 1963-69
Richard Nixon, 37th President 1969-74 (County Antrim) & (County Kildare)
Gerald Ford, 38th President 1974-77 (County Monaghan)
Jimmy Carter, 39th President 1977-81 (County Londonderry)
Ronald Reagan, 40th President 1981-89 (County Tipperary)
George H. W. Bush, 41st President 1989-93 (Counties Down & Wexford)
Bill Clinton, 42nd President 1993-2001 (County Fermanagh)
George W. Bush, 43rd President 2001-2009 (Counties Antrim, Cork, Down, & Wexford)
Barack Obama, 44th President 2009- (County Offaly)

Irish folks are, as you might expect, having a lot of fun with this.

Liam Clancy, 1935-2009… the end of an era

A fine son of Tipperary and the last of the Clancy Brothers passed away during the week.

Liam Clancy was described by Bob Dylan saying “I never heard a singer as good as him ever. He was just the best ballad singer I ever heard in my life, still is probably.”

He had teamed up with his brothers and Tommy Makem touring New York, Boston & Chicago but a 16-minute appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on St Patrick’s Day in 1961 brought them to national attention and they were signed to Columbia Records.

They donned the renowned Aran jumpers (sweaters) and essentially gave new life to Irish folk music and a cottage clothing industry. In 1973 he left the group to pursue a solo career. He moved to Calgary, Alberta, where he became an established television performer.

In 1974 Clancy and Makem were booked to perform separately in Cleveland, Ohio. Persuaded to do one set together, they soon afterwards became Makem and Clancy, recording & touring as a duo until 1988. They made Eric Bogle’s song “And the Band played Waltzing Matilda” their own. In the mid-1980s they teamed up with the other Clancys for a reunion tour.

He released an album this year that was recorded in his studio in Ring, Co.Waterford.

Clancy’s last days were spent at home in Ireland. He passed away at a hospital in Cork, at the age of 74 years. His passing marks the end of an era in Irish Folk music.
From the Irish Times:

Singer Liam Clancy dies aged 74

More from the Associated Press, here.

Goodnight, Liam… you will be missed.

Charles Johnson is right: on parting ways with the right

Charles Johnson over at Little Green Footballs is once again demonstrating his usual level of moral candor and intellectual honesty with a deep, bold cut to the GOP’s jugular:

Why I Parted Ways With the Right

1. Support for fascists, both in America (see: Pat Buchanan, Robert Stacy McCain, etc.) and in Europe (see: Vlaams Belang, BNP, SIOE, Pat Buchanan, etc.)

2. Support for bigotry, hatred, and white supremacism (see: Pat Buchanan, Ann Coulter, Robert Stacy McCain, Lew Rockwell, etc.)

3. Support for throwing women back into the Dark Ages, and general religious fanaticism (see: Operation Rescue, anti-abortion groups, James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Tony Perkins, the entire religious right, etc.)

4. Support for anti-science bad craziness (see: creationism, climate change denialism, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, James Inhofe, etc.)

5. Support for homophobic bigotry (see: Sarah Palin, Dobson, the entire religious right, etc.)

6. Support for anti-government lunacy (see: tea parties, militias, Fox News, Glenn Beck, etc.)

7. Support for conspiracy theories and hate speech (see: Alex Jones, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Birthers, creationists, climate deniers, etc.)

8. A right-wing blogosphere that is almost universally dominated by raging hate speech (see: Hot Air, Free Republic, Ace of Spades, etc.)

9. Anti-Islamic bigotry that goes far beyond simply criticizing radical Islam, into support for fascism, violence, and genocide (see: Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer, etc.)

10. Hatred for President Obama that goes far beyond simply criticizing his policies, into racism, hate speech, and bizarre conspiracy theories (see: witch doctor pictures, tea parties, Birthers, Michelle Malkin, Fox News, World Net Daily, Newsmax, and every other right wing source)

And much, much more. The American right wing has gone off the rails, into the bushes, and off the cliff.

I won’t be going over the cliff with them.

As expected, his post early this morning prompted a predictable response from the right: shrieks of outrage, howls of indignation, venomous attacks on his character and accusations of betrayal and liberal leftism all across the right wing blogosphere… a veritible shitstorm of abuse and hostility, all set to the tune of seriously bad crazy.

Which prompted Charles to follow up on his original post here:

The funny thing is, that post about “Why I Parted Ways with the Right?” I wrote it in about three minutes last night. It’s been brewing in my cortex for years, and something triggered the release; exactly what, I don’t really know. Guess it was time.

Here’s an open thread while I try to get through the 437 emails that came in overnight and this morning. Lots of hate mail as you might expect, dripping with venom and serving as object examples of exactly what I wrote about.

To the surprise of absolutely no-one, the usual mob of venomous frothing Johnson haters are out in force tonight, trying to downplay the post and discredit Johnson’s character on every venue that will allow them the bandwidth to do so, and on every blog post where the writer displays even a modicum of support for Mr. Johnson.

Too late, of course: the mainstream media has taken note. The cats’ out of the bag, and it’s not going back in.

Sigmund, Carl and Alfred have responded to Johnson’s post today with an opinion piece that is absolutely spot on:

Charles Johnson Rides Off Into The Sunrise

Charles Johnson’s critique of the political Right serves to highlight the mess in which the GOP and much of the Right find themselves. His critique is equally applicable to the Left. They have their own set of ugly baggage.

Time has shown that when it comes to politics, Charles Johnson travels light. It is a lesson that Americans of all stripes need to learn.

More support coming in from Andrew Sullivan, here.

UPDATE: I’m feeling generous today. Just for the helluvit, I’ve decided to turn moderation off on this one so that my readers and visitors can see the morally upstanding and highly principaled right-wing that Charles speaks of in full flower.

So spew your filth, folks… rant and rave, spray your venom, get it all out of your system. And don’t say that I didn’t give you anything for Christmas.

Happy holidays!

The holidays have finally arrived, and my days and nights have descended into a mad and constant flurry of activity that is keeping me happily engaged in life and away from the blogs.

I’m very busy with school and the family, and tomorrow night we have our annual holiday session at the pub – the biggest and best session of the year, with visiting musicians coming from far and wide. I’m looking forward to seeing many old friends tomorrow night that I haven’t seen for a while.

Here’s a holiday nod and shout out, to all of my trad Newfie friends up in the Provinces… you know who you are!

You know where you are?

American politics: welcome to the jungle.

 

 

Duelling anti-jihad divas Deb Schlussel and Pam Geller vie for top spot

The anti-muslim bigots in the blogosphere are eating each other alive.

“Brave anti-jihad freedom fighter” diva Debbie Schlussel and the self-promoting anti-jihad opportunist Pamela Geller (Atlas Shrugs) are at each others’ throats… each one vying for the title of most authentic female anti-jihad “warrior”.

Schlussel – who credits herself with Pamelas’ “success” and unabashedly links to her unofficial fan club on her front page (for obvious reasons) – is irritated that Pammy is ignoring her criticism and refusing to communicate with her in email. She fired the first of what I’m sure will be multiple volleys yesterday, with this treasonous post:

HUH?!: Geller “Anti-”Honor Killing Rally Features Mother Who Conspired to Kill Daughters

Excerpt:

It pains me to write this because I’ve done much to help Pamela–some of it at her request and much of it because it was the right thing to do–over the years. Among many other things, that includes going out on a limb and criticizing Michelle Malkin for stealing her story on Rachael Ray, the keffiyeh, and Dunkin’ Donuts. And when ABC News and CNN Headline news wanted to interview me on the story, I told them that Pamela had broken it and suggested they contact her, which both did.

Now, Pamela knows better on Patricia Said (and many other things) . . . but she’s doing it anyway. Some people say “not on my watch,” but not only don’t they really mean it, they enable the perpetrators. There are warriors, and then there are pseudo-warriors, who casually throw principle to the wind whenever it’s convenient.

Wake up call, people.

Geller – a conservative anti-muslim bigot and certifiable lunatic whose blog is smeared with shrieking commentary, graphic imagery, “celebrity” photographs (always with her in them) and self-promotional material under humble topic headers like “See Atlas live!” and “GRANDE CONSERVATIVE BLOGRESS DIVA” (where she has a photoshop of her leathery face atop the body of a busty Supergirl figure) – has so far not responded to Diva Debbies’ criticism, public attack and withdrawal of her support.

She’s chosen to apply the traditional and universal response of the DIVA incensed: cease all communication, apply the silent treatment, surround yourself with ego-soothing supporters, and petition mutual friends for support on the sly.

Gellers’ (increasingly intimate) companion Robert Spencer is, I suspect, now fielding emails from both of them demanding his support – and suddenly finding himself in the middle of a raging catfight between two dueling drama queens with inflated egos who both think that they should be at the top of the antijihadi heap. And I suspect that he knows exactly what the consequences will be both online and offline, if he makes the wrong choice.

The folks over at Chasing Evil have a great post up today lampooning both of these self-preening, self-serving prima donnas… and it’s just too good not to link to.

Here’s an excerpt:

Debbie Schlussel Hits out Against “Pseudo-Warrior” Pamela Geller

This is what we expected all along, for the ravenous loons to eat each other up. There may still be a salvageable relationship between Debbie Schlussel and Pamela Geller, they might bury the hatchet to continue with the profitable business of Islamophobia but it does not seem likely.

Of course we couldn’t care less if they remain buddies or not, in fact we hope that we can sit back with a bag of popcorn and watch the preceding blog brawl escalate. Again the starter of this fire is Debbie Schlussel who writes that she regrettably has to call out Pamela Geller who unlike her is not a true warrior but a “pseudo-warrior.” All we can do is laugh.

Some choice cuts from the most recent oeuvre served by Schlussel:

How do you go from–less than two months ago–rightfully condemning a mother for sending her daughters to what she knew would be their murder by their Muslim father . . . to making her a featured speaker at your anti-honor killing rally?! That’s a question you’ll have to ask Pamela Geller, who–as is her recent SOP with me–ignored my e-mails to her, including two asking her why she invited Patricia Said…

This is all over ignored emails. Ha. Priceless.

It boggles the mind that any sane, principled person truly against honor killings would invite this woman, Patricia Said, to speak at such a rally. If she was Rifqa Bary’s mother, the Bary teen would be dead by now, with her help.

Schlussel, herself an insane loon pretty much calls her old friend Pam insane here as well.

Instead of answering my question, Pamela ignored it and covered her ass–choosing to deceive readers of her Atlas Shrugs website with creative editing and removing Patricia Said’s name and changing it to “honor killing victims’ family members.” (It should have read “co-conspirators in honor killings.) But Said will be there, courtesy of Pamela, who organized the rally and paid for Tissie Said’s travel to and lodging for the event.

Tsk, tsk. Schlussel is really bringing the hammer out now. Shocking revelations: Pam Geller is paying people to come out for the anti-Muslim “rally.”

Pamela preferred symbolism over substance, and this isn’t the first time.

Ouch.

Read it all.

Now that the gloves are off, what fresh hell do the duelling divas have planned for each other?

Only time will tell… and I suspect that we won’t have to wait very long to find out. I’m pretty sure that Pammy is going to have something to say about this on her blog – and I’m reasonably certain she’ll do what she usually does with people who have the audacity to disagree with her and criticize her “work”: go for the throat.

Pass the popcorn.

Feeding the instrument addiction

I’m expecting a good tax return this year, and my last child (the youngest of three) is graduating high school in June and moving in with friends. Just a few short months from now I’ll be an empty nester, so it’s finally time for me to turn my attention back to my beloved instrument collection.

I have a few instruments that I’m looking to upgrade, and I’m thinking about taking up something new in 2010.

But where to start? Which of my well-used instruments should I update next… my piano accordion, bodhran, or high whistle? All three have seen heavy use over the years and I’d like to upgrade – particularly the Bodhran. I’m currently playing a tuneable Claddagh Bodhran from Michael Vignoles, and I’d like to pass that instrument on to my daughter who also plays. I have my eye on either a beautiful custom deep-rim Metloef, or another drum from Albert Alfonso.

I’m currently playing Michael Burkes’ whistles, and I’m very happy with them… they’re exceptional instruments in every way. But I’m in the market for a vintage O’Riordan if I can ever find one – an O’Riordan D/C set is at the very top of my wish list, and has been for years now. The last one that I saw auctioned off on Ebay some months ago went for quite a tidy sum. The competition for O’Riordans is ferocious when they come up for sale. If I can’t find an O’Riordan, then I may eventually decide to try out a Copeland high D.

I own three accordions: a vintage 120 bass Paolo Soprani, a vintage 48 bass Hohner, and a bright red 12 bass Parrot. The little Parrot has surprisingly become my favorite accordion for our weekly sessions – it’s the perfect size for the type of music that I play, and it fits nicely into a gig bag that I strap onto my back and take to the dances and festivals over the summer. My Parrot is becoming a bit worn from use, however, so I’m going to see if I can find a good quality 12-bass European instrument to replace it.

I’m currently learning the fiddle, but I’m going to stick to a low end instrument for a while until my play improves. When it finally does, I won’t be buying a high end instrument – my mother was a violin player, and I’m going to have her instrument restored.

I’m also in the mood to pick up something new this year. I’ve tried both the flute and low whistle, and they’re just not my cup of tea… should I try the acoustic guitar, concertina or Irish buttonbox, perhaps?

The bagpipes are an instrument that you either love, or hate. I personally have a deep love for the pipes, it’s been a lifelong dream of mine to learn how to play them and I’ve been seriously considering the possibility of taking up the Uilleanns for a couple of years now. The endeavor would require the purchase of a good used set of pipes and a few beginner lessons from an expert, but it would be worth every penny to have good training on the Uilleanns and learn how to play them the right way.

Here’s a beautiful video of Davy Spillane playing the Uilleann pipes.

When you’re a musician the instruments that you select to practice your craft have to be chosen with great care, as they will surely become your closest and most intimate friends over the years. I’m not sure which instruments I’ll select, but I do intend to take my time and make quality choices. With my children grown and out on their own, it’s time for me to turn my full attention back to my dancing and music… two of my greatest joys in life. And when it comes to selecting my instrumental companions for that journey, only the best is going to do.

Thank you, former President George W. Bush

For those who aren’t already aware, former President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush quietly paid a secret visit to Fort Hood a few days ago, where they spent hours personally comforting the victims of the attack and their families. They went without being requested to do so. They requested zero press coverage of their visit and went in under the radar, on their own time and on their own dime.

They quietly went to Fort Hood and did the job that the Commander-in-chief SHOULD have done for these stricken military personnel and their families in the immediate aftermath of this horrific attack, and DIDN’T.

And this Marine mom is tremendously grateful for their respect and compassion.

This morning it was my privilege to read this wonderfully refreshing post from moderate blog Hillbuzz.org.

 

Thank you former President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush

We know absolutely no one in Bush family circles and have never met former President George W. Bush or his wife Laura.

If you have been reading us for any length of time, you know that we used to make fun of “Dubya” nearly every day…parroting the same comedic bits we heard in our Democrat circles, where Bush is still, to this day, lampooned as a chimp, a bumbling idiot, and a poor, clumsy public speaker.

Oh, how we RAILED against Bush in 2000…and how we RAILED against the surge in support Bush received post-9/11 when he went to Ground Zero and stood there with his bullhorn in the ruins on that hideous day.

We were convinced that ANYONE who was president would have done what Bush did, and would have set that right tone of leadership in the wake of that disaster.  President Gore, President Perot, President Nader, you name it.  ANYONE, we assumed, would have filled that role perfectly.

Well, we told you before how much the current president, Dr. Utopia, made us realize just how wrong we were about Bush.  We shudder to think what Dr. Utopia would have done post-9/11.  He would have not gone there with a bullhorn and struck that right tone.  More likely than not, he would have been his usual fey, apologetic self and waxed professorially about how evil America is and how justified Muslims are for attacking us, with a sidebar on how good the attacks were because they would humble us.

Honestly, we don’t think President Gore would have been much better that day.  The world needed George W. Bush, his bullhorn, and his indominable spirit that day…and we will forever be grateful to this man for that.

As we will always be grateful for what George and Laura Bush did this week, with no media attention, when they very quietly went to Ft. Hood and met personally with the families of the victims of this terrorist attack.

FOR HOURS.

The Bushes went and met privately with these families for HOURS, hugging them, holding them, comforting them.

If there are any of you out there with any connection at all to the Bushes, we implore you to give them our thanks…you tell them that a bunch of gay Hillary guys in Boystown, Chicago were wrong about the Bushes…and are deeply, deeply sorry for any jokes we told about them in the past, any bad thoughts we had about these good, good people.

You may be as surprised by this as we are ourselves, but from this day forward George W. and Laura Bush are now on the same list for us as the Clintons, Geraldine Ferraro, Stephanie Tubbs Jones, and the other political figures we keep in our hearts and never allow anyone to badmouth.

Criticize their policies academically and intelligently and discuss the Bush presidency in historical and political terms…but you mess with the Bushes personally and, from this day forward, you’ll answer to us.

We hope someday to be able to thank George W. and Laura in person for all they’ve done, and continue to do.  They didn’t have to head to Ft. Hood.  That was not their responsibility.

The Obamas should have done that.

But didn’t.

Wouldn’t.

Thank goodness George W. is still on his watch, with wonderful Laura at his side.

We are blessed as a nation to have these two out there…just as we are blessed to have the Clintons on the job, traveling the world doing the good they do.

And we are blessed to have Dick Cheney, wherever he is, keeping tabs on all that’s going on and speaking out when the current administration does anything too reckless and dangerous.

Cheney’s someone else we villainized and maligned in the past who we were also wrong about.  There has never been a Vice President, including Gore, Biden, or Mondale, who was more supportive of gay rights than “Darth Cheney”. There has never been a Vice President more spot-on right about the dangers facing this country from Islamic terrorism.

We live in strange, strange times indeed.

We are now officially committed fans of George W. and Laura Bush.  We are fans of Dick Cheney.  Our gratitude for them makes us newly protective of them, and the continued role they play in this country.

After the primary battle of 2008, we never thought we’d go back to Texas for anything, but sometime in 2010 we want to find some event in Dallas the Bushes will be at so at least one of us can go up to them, tell them we are deeply sorry for ever thinking ill of them, and thank them from the bottom of our hearts for their service to America.

We’re sure they will just stare at us and wonder why these gay Chicagoans are crying, but we don’t think we can get through a meeting with them without being emotional.

What they did at Ft. Hood for those families humbles us.  Every day, the Bushes are most likely doing something just like it behind the scenes.

We hope if any of you encounter them you will let them know this is deeply appreciated beyond partisan lines.

We will never look at the Bushes, the Bush presidencies, or their legacies the same again…and someday when his presidential library is built, we will be so proud to visit there and tell anyone will listen about November 10th, 2009, the day we finally appreciated former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura.

Thank you for your service, Mr. President.  We’re sorry we didn’t appreciate you while you were in office, but we thank Heaven we’ve wised up and can see the good you are out there doing, under the radar, today.

VERY well said, gentlemen.

May God continue to bless former President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush in their retirement… their grace, class, compassion and leadership are sorely missed.

Congressional dunderheads screw up critical unemployment extension

H.R. 3548  is a seriously flawed piece of legislation, and it’s now going to require a redo.

Flawed unemployment extension legislation means potential “fix-it” bill, additional support

HR 3548, the unemployment extension bill that was signed into law by President Obama this past Friday, is meant to provide 14 weeks of federal extended unemployment benefits to all 50 states, with an additional extension of 6 weeks for people in high-unemployment states (with a 3-month average unemployment rate of at least 8.5%).

However, because the Senate took so long to act on the bill, the law as it is written makes it logically impossible for unemployed workers in high-unemployment states to file for the extra 6 weeks.

The law treats the additional 6 weeks as a separate extension, and one must first exhaust the 14 weeks before applying for the additional 6. Because of the filing deadline of December 31, 2009, there is simply not enough time left in the year for people to collect their 14 weeks. Congress has eliminated the usefulness of the extra 6 weeks in this legislation by making it literally impossible for anyone to collect the full 20 weeks – desperately needed in high-unemployment states (and, dare I say it, nationwide).

Because of this tiny little glitch, legislators are already talking about new unemployment extension legislation to come on the heels of that which was just passed, fixing this timeline illogicality and providing additional help as unemployment is expected to continue to increase into the double digits, having broken 10.2% up through October.

What do you think about this major mistake by Congress and the prospects of their fixing it soon and/or providing additional unemployment relief by the end of this year or early in 2010?

What do I think?

I think that Congress has it’s damned priorities screwed up, that’s what I think. And if the GOP’s behavior over the last three months is an indicator of future behavior, they’ll continue to add insult to injury and we won’t see a proper revision of this bill until late January early February.

Congress just doesn’t get it. Millions of struggling, suffering Americans who are unemployed through no fault of their own are depending on these benefits to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads until the economy improves. They could care less about healthcare, they’re  just trying to feed themselves and survive an incredibly difficult and painful economic situation.

This bill was hobbled together like an afterthought, and it shows. End result: a bill that’s as full of holes as a block of swiss cheese.

The GOP held this critical bill up for weeks in the Senate, while unemployed families went hungry and lost their homes because they couldn’t make payments to landlords and mortgage companies. The behavior of the GOP regarding the passage of this bill was inexcusible and unforgivable, and make no mistake… voters are not going to forget the cruel and irresponsible indifference of the politicians who held up this critical emergency compensation come the next election cycle.

Perhaps if  they had given as much time and attention to providing practical and timely assistance to hurting Americans as they’ve been giving to their precious  healthcare bill, they would have gotten it right the first time.

UPDATE: More here, from the Washington Independent. And here:

The office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) acknowledged today that, in order for people to access the full 20 weeks of additional jobless benefits enacted last week, Congress will have to extend the underlying program before year’s end.

“It is true that we will need to extend the program before the end of the year in order for unemployed workers in high unemployment states to get access to the full 20 weeks of benefits,” a Reid aide wrote in an email.

The Democrats’ bill offers 14 weeks of additional unemployment benefits nationwide, with an extra six weeks for those living in states with high unemployment. But an end-of-the-year filing deadline would prevent anyone from getting those additional six weeks unless Congress steps in to extend the deadline.

The deadline issue wasn’t addressed in the recent legislation, the aide added, because lawmakers were focused simply on adding the extra weeks — a much different (and much cheaper) proposition than extending the entire program. They didn’t anticipate that the process would drag on as long as it did, the aide said.

Idiots.