Where Are The Jobs?

President Obama has finally promised to give us his vision of a plan to increase employment in this country. Only problem is... his vision will not be forthcoming until the end of summer.

The question is, will the Republicans kill the plan by blocking it in the House or will they kill it by use of the unconstitutional fake filibuster in the Senate?

One way or the other, any program proposed by the President will be Dead on Arrival, courtesy of his Republican opponents.

Time Warner Cable Sucks!

Even though my take-home pay as a public school classroom teacher has gone down for each of the past four years, (soon to be five) Time Warner Cable continues to increase their fees every six months or so.

It's now gone up another 5%.

Long ago we gave up our H.B.O. and all other so-called "premium" services.

We're now down to Time Warner's basic package, which they have the nerve to call "Classic Cable." And since we live in a desert wasteland, going without some sort of cable television isn't really a viable option.

Time Warner Cable screws our family out of $68.53 each and every month.

That's over $822.00 per year for "basic" cable television.

Bastards.

Davos: The Bankers' Yearly Junket

So. Here we go yet again.

While working folks all over our country are experiencing losses of income not seen since the Great Depression, the world's bankers, financiers, Wall Street types, and others who don't work for their money but whose money works for them, are traveling to Davos, Switzerland. It's time for their annual convention of back-slapping and mutual admiration amidst the type of unbelievable five-star luxury that most of us in the real world can only dream of.

And since these well-paid clowns will invariably deduct everything from booze to hookers on their taxes as so-called "business expenses" it's also a taxpayer-subsidized junket.

Unlike the Great Depression, the Great Recession doesn't seem to have made any paupers out of millionaires.

World's Record

A train has set a world speed record in --- you guessed it--- China:

BEIJING (AP) - A Chinese passenger train hit a record speed of 302 miles per hour (486 kilometers per hour) Friday during a test run of a yet-to-be opened link between Beijing and Shanghai, state media said.

The Xinhua News Agency said it was the fastest speed recorded by an unmodified conventional commercial train. Other types of trains in other countries have traveled faster.

A specially modified French TGV train reached 357.2 mph (574.8 kph) during a 2007 test, while a Japanese magnetically levitated train sped to 361 mph (581 kph) in 2003.

State television footage showed the sleek white train whipping past green farm fields in eastern China. It reached the top speed on a segment of the 824-mile (1,318-kilometer) -long line between Zaozhuang city in Shandong province and Bengbu city in Anhui province, Xinhua said.

The line is due to open in 2012 and will halve the current travel time between the capital Beijing and Shanghai to five hours.

The project costs $32.5 billion and is part of a massive government effort to link many of China's cities by high-speed rail and reduce overcrowding on heavily used lines.

China already has the world's longest high-speed rail network, and it plans to cover 8,125 miles (13,000 kilometers) by 2012 and 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) by 2020.

The drive to develop high-speed rail technology rivals China's space program in terms of national pride and importance. Railway officials say they want to reach speeds over 500 kph (312 mph).

I can remember when America used to set all types of records.

Whatever happened? And why don't we make things any more?

Wonkitorial: Lights Out

In yet another sign that our country is in serious trouble, some municipalities are turning-off street lights while others are allowing paved roads to revert to gravel:

The lights are going out all over America — literally. Colorado Springs has made headlines with its desperate attempt to save money by turning off a third of its streetlights, but similar things are either happening or being contemplated across the nation, from Philadelphia to Fresno.

Meanwhile, a country that once amazed the world with its visionary investments in transportation, from the Erie Canal to the Interstate Highway System, is now in the process of unpaving itself: in a number of states, local governments are breaking up roads they can no longer afford to maintain, and returning them to gravel.

And a nation that once prized education — that was among the first to provide basic schooling to all its children — is now cutting back. Teachers are being laid off; programs are being canceled; in Hawaii, the school year itself is being drastically shortened. And all signs point to even more cuts ahead.

We’re told that we have no choice, that basic government functions — essential services that have been provided for generations — are no longer affordable. And it’s true that state and local governments, hit hard by the recession, are cash-strapped. But they wouldn’t be quite as cash-strapped if their politicians were willing to consider at least some tax increases.

Read the whole sorry thing over there.

I believe that this is just more anecdotal evidence that supports the idea that the nation is on the decline.

Whatever happened to "morning in America?"

And why don't we make things any more???

Just go into any Sears store and see where many Craftsman tools are nowadays being made. I can remember not too long ago when even the TV commercials used to emphasize that they were all made in America.

No longer. Like seemingly everything else, many of those Craftsman tools now sport the all-to-familiar label "Made in China."

Sad.