Roomin' House Blues

(If U-Tube Video doesn't show click on read more.) Here is a little more on diving, this time from Rush.  Perhaps Rush could do some civic good by teaching these school children a class on how to dumpster dive, using the head first technique.

(If U-Tube Video doesn't show click on read more.) There are two sides to the question of dumpster diving.  One side is that is reduces our dependence on the mass consumer culture and helps the planet by recycling what would otherwise be landfill and energy waste.  The other side of the question is that it is sad that it becomes a necessity in this down economy.

The article below is revised and republished from another blog I ran in the past.  Where to begin regarding death?   It isn’t just a matter of first impressions.  It’s also a matter of what road I travel down.  The poet Frost settled that question.  Yes, one can always begin again.  I’ve done that more than once in my life.  But eventually one begins to run out of beginnings.  When that happens it becomes more profitable to begin at the end. So perhaps, in the interest of time, dear reader, even though I think (perhaps erroneously, as God may decide) that I still have a few beginnings left, I will begin at the end for your benefit. The presence of that end is still only theoretical, but it looms larger as time passes.  You see, I have arrived at the place where I leave the door unlatched at night.  Not the door to the outside, but rather the door to the inside. I live, you see, in a room ...

Hey I'll admit.  Years ago at the end of the 1960's I did a little dumpster diving.  It is amazing what good food can be there.  But this should not be the solution to our unemployment problem.  Congressman Jackson is asking all of us who are unemployed to send our resumes to Congress.  More on other posts on my blog. 

Please help yourselves and your fellow unemployed Americans by answering Jessie's call.  Especially if you are a 99er or long term unemployed, someone forced into early retirement, or a veteran, send your resume.  Even if you are working part time or temp or newly unemployed but want a permanent full time job, send it. Write your story--why or how long you have been without work, our your work history, or how little money you have to live on.  Jessie says we need as "Jobs Party".

The last couple days, as you may know dear readers, I have been commented on Congressman Jessie Jackson Jr.'s efforts to get resumes emailed to Congress. He is trying to get resumes and the stories of the unemployed into the Congressional Record, and in the faces of other Congress people so that Congress will be forced to act on the unemployment problem.  Right now Congress is debating cutting all job training and cutting many programs that have created jobs, while doing nothing new to create jobs. One of the groups hard hit is Veterans, especially Veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Congressman Jackson has set up a special email address for veterans  Alittle more on this can be found at:  http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2011/02/unemployed-veterans-congress-wants-your.html .  The email address for veterans is  resumesfromveterans@mail.house.gov .   For non-veterans continue to use:  resumesforamerica@mail.house.gov For informatio...

Yesterday I published a letter I sent to Congress with my resume.  As I reported Congressman Jessie Jackson Jr. has asked that all the unemployed send Congress there resume.  My friend Sally Metcalf has sent Congress her resume and given me permission to publish it on my blog. Tell everyone you know who is unemployed to to send Congress their resume and their story and then if they send me a copy of the cover email I will publish it if suitable, until I run out of time and room.  Not only those looking for work, but the "discouraged unemployed" who would start looking if they felt they stood a chance.  Also those working part time or temp who want full time work, and those forced into early retirement by unemployment.  Have them all send there resume.  The email address for Congressional resumes is:  resumesforamerica@mail.house.gov   However after you send it there you may want to send copies to other Congresspeopl...

For those of us who are Christian, or any kind of monotheistic believer, faith is a core element of our spirituality. Paul abjures us to the virtues of "Faith, Hope and Charity". It is generally thought that conversion, religious commitment, begins with belief and that belief and faith are the same.  But are those things true. Many Jews say that your religion is what you do, not what you believe, cited the medieval theologian, philosopher and physician, Moses Maimonides. What they mean is that your commitment to the practice of your religion is more important than conventional notions of belief.  At the other end of the spectrum on this question, many Evangelical Christians think that salvation is assured by answering an altar call and never wavering in belief, while the practice of ones faith is a small matter, since Jesus died for our sins. It's difficult to square that with the Epistle of James or many par...

This morning while watching C-Span I heard Congressman Jessie Jackson Jr make an announcement in the House of his desire for the unemployed and the "99er's" to send there resume and story as a cover to Congress. This apparently is not his first request, and I found a story at Huffington Post on this:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-thornton/rep-jesse-jackson-jr-rece_b_809589.html  . Jessie has gotten over 15,000 resumes already.  For those of you who want to send congress the story of your job search and your resume the address is  resumesforamerica@mail.house.gov I'm not going to post my resume here, but here is the letter: Dear Congress, I am 60 years old, too young to be retired, too old to be unemployed. In the current economy and at my age and health my chances of re-employment diminish.  I wasn't planning to retire early, but rather late, because of my small amount of savings.  Now, when I do get a job again, I will h...

The American Enterprise Institute, in it's magazine, points out that this is the weakest American economic recovery from any post WWII recovery, and that the recovery has barely benefited the workers, which raises a question of its durability. It also points out that adding the officially unemployed, the discouraged unemployed and the underemployed together we have a 17% real unemployment rate. That is more nearly Great Depression levels than recovery levels. No Recovery for the American Worker — The American, A Magazine of Ideas