Matt Galligan

Photo courtesy of gageskidmore

The basics:

On January 1st, the payroll tax cut will expire. Lengthened unemployment benefits will end.

The Senate wanted to propose a compromise that would have extended those benefits a bit longer. The measure worked. The vote was 89-10 in a landslide win to extend them. This included 39 Republicans. Uncanny! A bi-partisan legislation that actually passed with flying colors. Because why? Because it’s good for the American people. People are down and out right now and it would be an insult to not extend the benefits.

But guess what. That insult happened. Today, the House, controlled by the Republicans for now, rejected the Senate bill that would have helped millions of Americans days before they head to recess, effectively killing any opportunity for an extension to happen. Merry fucking Christmas.

Said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, “If Republicans vote down the bipartisan compromise negotiated by Republican and Democratic leaders, and passed by 89 senators including 39 Republicans, their intransigence will mean that in ten days, 160 million middle class Americans will see a tax increase, over two million Americans will begin losing their unemployment benefits, and millions of senior citizens on Medicare could find it harder to receive treatment from physicians.”

There’s an agenda here. According to MSNBC, this will “[force] a reluctant President Barack Obama to make an election-year choice between unions and environmentalists over whether to build an oil pipeline through the heart of the country.” This is about politics, folks. Not what’s good for the American people. It makes me sick to see this country diving down into the ridiculousness that is government-for-politics-not-people.

Thanks, House Republicans. Nice holiday present you just gave the country there.

(Source: cbsnews.com)

Photo by NRK P3

This post is pure gold.

• Sometimes ‘forced’ by Beyonce to “Facetime” via iPad with in-laws; finds this excruciating; almost impossible to maintain any semblance of enthusiasm while doing so.

• On Steve Jobs’ bad side when he passed away.

• Worries about posture coupled with angst/ disdain for the fact that good posture is difficult to maintain.

• Current income seems ‘weak’ compared to the GNP of the US, other Western powers.

• Worries about experience of no sense of ‘place’ or ‘home’; feelings of belonging ‘nowhere,’ esp. in regard to American and European cities which lead to a sort of uncanny experience of ‘floating’ and meaninglessness at each house purchased.

• Recently discovered higher thread count on bedding indicated softer sheets; for some reason always assumed lower thread count was softer and as such has been sleeping on less-than-ideal sheets for pretty much entire life.

Photo courtesy of istolethetv

Santa Claus is very real.

The young father stood in line at the Kmart layaway counter, wearing dirty clothes and worn-out boots. With him were three small children.

He asked to pay something on his bill because he knew he wouldn’t be able to afford it all before Christmas. Then a mysterious woman stepped up to the counter.

“She told him, ‘No, I’m paying for it,’” recalled Edna Deppe, assistant manager at the store in Indianapolis. “He just stood there and looked at her and then looked at me and asked if it was a joke. I told him it wasn’t, and that she was going to pay for him. And he just busted out in tears.”

All across the country, anonymous “donors” are paying off layaway accounts at K-Mart. People in this country are hurting, some barely able to keep up with their bills. But all the while there is a quiet force of people trying to help out those in need and give them a happier holiday. Probably one they’ll never forget.

This is Santa Claus. Don’t call it a fairy tale.