First They Called Unemployed "Lazy," Now Call Them Druggies!

Dave Johnson — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 01:55:41 -0400

Before you read on, yes this is for real. Yes, Democrats are joining with Republicans to fight help for the long-term unemployed. Yes, members of Congress are blaming the unemployed, calling them names, and proposing that the unemployed be publicly humiliated. And yes, for some reason they think this will win them votes. If you have the stomach for it, read on.

Do you remember last month when members of Congress said that people are unemployed because they are "lazy?"

Wasn't that insulting enough? Apparently members of Congress think it was not, and now want to insult the unemployed even more by adding a good, strong dose of humiliation to their lives.

As Digby wrote the other day after a previous episode of Democrats joining with Republicans to block help for the long-term unemployed, "This is simple cruelty at this point."

Not cruel enough, apparently. Sen. Hatch wants unemployed to face mandatory drug tests. What is Hatch's reasoning for a requirement that the unemployed publicly humiliate themselves?

"This amendment is a way to help people get off of drugs to become productive and healthy members of society, while ensuring that valuable taxpayer dollars aren’t wasted.”

Previously the reasons for not helping the unemployed included President Obama saying, "government can't create jobs," or ideological nonsense like it is not government's role, or the deficit is too big, or they are lazy. But I think this one takes the cake. Now the excuse for Congress' inaction on the economy is that the unemployed are out of work because they are on drugs.

It is enough to make me want to go get stoned. Come to think of it, California will be voting on legalizing pot in November! If members of Congress keep spouting this nonsense, keep refusing to act on jobs and keep taking it out on the unemployed, the poor and the elderly, we might see a migration west of people looking for a different kind of relief.

Today In Issues To Be Ignored

Bill Scher — Tue, 06 May 2008 12:08:08 -0400

Even when the media reports on a critical issue, the media ignores it.

Last week, NBC Nightly News aired a series on our crumbling infrastructure called "Falling Apart." (Check out the videos below, as well as my colleague Isaiah's post on rebuilding America.)

Yesterday, the Washington Post front-paged a story about how squeezed state budgets are forcing prison to release prisoners early, which speaks not only to how the recession is impacting government services, but also raises questions about our approach to crime.

And speaking of crime, today the New York Times reports that we still have stark racial disparities in drug arrests and incarcerations, even though there are no disparities in drug use.

All high-profile media placement. Yet none of the above reports have sparked broad discussion of these issues throughout the media.

The punditocracy is much more interested in stoking racial divisions by obsessing over the words of pastor not running for public office, instead of exploring what needs to be done to eliminate racial disparities in our society.

NBC can do solid journalism for a few minutes on the Nightly News about the problem of crumbling infrastructure. But none of the stable of MSNBC's pundits is given the opportunity to comment further and drive the national discussion about how the solve the problem, and no NBC political reporter presses candidates to tell the public what they would do.

Often when you take the media to task to cover a certain story, the response will be, "We did that!"

But media professionals know that's a cop-out, because a single piece of journalism collects dust on the shelf without other members of media using that journalism to enrich the discourse.

And once again, good journalism will be wasted, and critical issues continue to be ignored.

Check out the "Falling Apart" series below.

April 28: U.S. infrastructure facing midlife crisis

April 29: Why America's trains aren't taking off

April 30: Power grid barely makes the grade