† Living In These Mad, Mad, Madoff Times: Unemployment insurance - once a temporary safety net to tide laid-off workers over until they found another job - has become a long-term entitlement for Americans facing protracted joblessness, reports The Washington Post:

 

About 11.4 million out-of-work people now collect unemployment compensation, at a cost of $10 billion a month. Half of them have been receiving payments for more than six months, the usual insurance limit. But under multiple extensions enacted by the federal government in response to the downturn, workers can collect the payments for as long as 99 weeks in states with the highest unemployment rates - the longest period since the program's inception. …

 

Although unemployment held steady at 9.7 percent in February, millions of jobs have been lost in the downturn, particularly in the hardest-hit sectors including real estate, construction, manufacturing and financial services. Those jobs are unlikely to return even when the economy recovers, many experts say.

 

But complaints that extending unemployment payments discourages job-seeking have begun to bubble into the political debate. …

 

Although the availability of long-term unemployment benefits "could dampen people's efforts to look for work," the Congressional Budget Office said in a February report, that concern "is less of a factor when employment opportunities are expected to be limited for some time."

 

The report went on to say that people receiving unemployment benefits tend to plow the money right back into the economy, making them "both timely and cost-effective in spurring economic activity and employment."

 

Jeffrey Carlson of Grand Rapids, Mich., a former insurance salesman and father of six, says he is motivated to find work, despite the $1,650 a month he collects in unemployment benefits. That money does not go far given his rent, child support, utilities and credit card bills. Carlson, 44, said he has applied for numerous jobs with no luck and has spent $40,000 in savings. …

 

"I paid into the system for 25 years and now I need it," he said. "People are being put through the emotional heartache and anxiety of not knowing if it's going to keep coming. There are too many people who need it and are depending on it."

 

† He Wants To Live, Dammit!: The Washington Post excerpts an essay by Boris Veysman, assistant professor of emergency medicine at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, in which he recounts how “[t]he best resuscitation of my career turned into my most memorable professional disappointment” when the family of an elderly cancer patient decide on palliative care instead of dialysis to buy time to correct a potassium imbalance that caused the heart attack that precipitated the ER visit:

 

I carefully explain that everything happened fast. We weren't aware of the DNR and the DNI. Now, he's stabilizing. Then I get the story: several failed rounds of chemo; several weeks of weakness, decreased appetite and depression; many days of feeling unwell. I hear that his meds don't include appetite stimulants, antidepressants or narcotics; why not? The family wants me to "make him comfortable." …

 

"I think there's a good chance he is fixable in the short term," I say. "He needs dialysis, but other than that we can address every other comfort issue. I think he can wake up and talk, probably even write or use a computer. I think his depression, weakness, appetite, dehydration and malnourishment can be effectively treated. Whatever his prognosis is from the cancer, I think he can probably get at least a few good weeks, which is done best by a hospice. He might want to do something with that time. To finish up. To say goodbye and good luck. I think it's too early to die. To give him a chance, however, we must go all-out and 'do everything' for the next several days." I pause and add, "You can always change your mind," addressing a family's fear. …

 

I see the burnout in their eyes. Their will to fight quit weeks ago, after this patient's minor symptoms from the chemo and cancer were left unaddressed, leaving the impression that his life wasn't worth living. No amount of hope in my heart can rekindle what has died in theirs.

 

He is taken off the ventilator and placed on the time-honored morphine drip. He expires peacefully several hours later. …

 

It's so easy to let someone die, but it takes effort, determination and stamina to help someone stay and feel alive. Only after you made every effort to let me be happy and human, ask me again if my life is worth living.

 

Veysman wants his own doctor to “give me some comfort meds, then shock me, tube me and line me.” He adds: “My version of DNR is ‘Do Not Resign.’ Don't give up on me if I can still think, communicate, create and enjoy life. … My DNI? It means ‘Do Not Ignore’ early signs of trouble when my failing body and mind need support so I can continue to function in ways that matter.”

 

Editorial Note: The Stiletto’s family has been in this situation, and can attest that it takes almost superhuman effort and self-sacrifice to keep a seriously debilitated family member alive and - more important - to feel loved and valued. Caregiving can either be a burden or a blessing, depending on your point of view. If you believe it’s the former, there is no shortage of healthcare professionals willing to relieve you of the burden – permanently. If you believe it’s the latter, you’re pretty much on your own as far as our healthcare system is concerned. Vaya con dios.

 

† Updates To Previous Posts (Chicago On The Potomac): Washington Post media analyst-cum-political pundit Howard Kurtz observes that “Not since the Alfred Hitchcock movie "Psycho" has there been such a famous shower scene” and that “this obscure former Democratic congressman has been as slippery as a bar of soap.” In his interview with Glenn Beck (which Kurtz calls “the most bizarre hour of television in a long time”), Eric Massa denied allegations that he groped a male staffer with a defense that could be summed up as “depends what the meaning of the word ‘grope’ is”:

 

Yeah, I did. Not only did I grope him, I tickled him until he couldn't breathe and four guys jumped on top of me. It was my 50th birthday and it was kill the old guy.

 

Up until now, the old salt had copped to salty language but not to copping a feel – but his description of the goings on aboard the U.S.S. New Jersey suggest that when it comes to arguments against repealing the “don’t, ask, don’t tell” policy, that ship has sailed.

 

The Washington Times reports that Glenn Beck asked, "Is there another shoe that's going to drop?" [Click on part 6 of the interview, below]: 

 

Mr. Massa fell back into defensive mode. "People will say anything at this point."

 

Mr. Beck homed in. "Are there Tiger Woods phone calls that are going to happen, or text messages?"

 

In the show's most newsworthy moment, Mr. Massa said frankly of his interactions with staff members: "I'm sure there are text messages because we bantered back and forth all the time."

 

Text messages!

 

Already, at least four shoes have dropped: On Wednesday, Mr. Massa said he was leaving office because of a recurrence of cancer; the next day, he said he was guilty of using "salty language"; by Friday, he acknowledged that the House ethics committee was investigating him on charges of sexual harassment; and on Sunday, he said the Democrats were out to get him. …

 

By the end, Mr. Beck was beyond frustrated.

 

"America, I'm going to shoot straight with you. I think I wasted your time. I think this is the first time that I've wasted an hour of your time, and I apologize for that," he said.

 

He somberly told his viewers that he had failed to answer three questions he had dramatically written on a large blackboard before the session began: "Is there anything new to his charges? Do you believe what he says about corruption in Washington? Does it affect you?"

 

"We learned a lot, I think," Mr. Beck said as he closed his show, "but what we learned, I don't think it affects you at all."

 

For their part, several lawmakers tell The Washington Post that that Senators and Representatives do not accost each other in the shower to lobby for or against legislation. They may talk while working out in the gym, but prefer that “naked partisanship” remain a metaphor.

Editorial Note: Additional clips from the interview (Part 1); (Part 2); (Part 3); (Part 4); (Part 5); (Part 6). Beck grilled him, not as a journalist, but as a cynical, world-weary detective trying to get a suspect to tell a straight story. Beck kept going back over the same ground, asking the same questions in different ways, alternately badgering and commiserating with Massa.   

 

† Updates To Previous Posts (fifth item, Is Obama Already A Lame Duck?): Because there is no chemistry between him and President Barack Hussein Obama, French president Nicolas Sarkozy has turned from being pro-Bush to being anti-Obama position, according to The Financial Times of London. And now, Washington Post columnist Jackson Diehl has learned that Sarkozy isn’t the only world leader who finds Obama insufferable:

 

[T]his president appears, so far, to have no genuine foreign friends. In this he is the opposite of George W. Bush, who was reviled among the foreign masses but who forged close ties with a host of leaders - Aznar of Spain, Uribe of Colombia, Sharon and Olmert of Israel, Koizumi of Japan. …

 

Focused intently on his domestic agenda, the president is said to be reluctant to take time to build relationships with foreign leaders. If something has needed to be done or decided, he has readily picked up the phone. If not, he generally hasn't been available.

 

Obama also hasn't hesitated to publicly express displeasure with U.S. allies. He sparred all last year with Israel's Binyamin Netanyahu; he expressed impatience when Japan's Yukio Hatoyama balked at implementing a military base agreement. He has repeatedly criticized Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai, and he gave up the videoconferences Bush used to have with Iraq's Nouri al-Maliki.

 

Would Sarkozy have fought French public opinion and sent more troops to Afghanistan (he has refused) if he had been cultivated more by Obama? Would Israel's Netanyahu be willing to take more risks in the (moribund) Middle East peace process if he believed he could count on this U.S. president? Would Karzai cooperate more closely with U.S. commanders in the field if Obama had embraced him?

 

The answers seem obvious. In foreign as well as domestic affairs, coolness has its cost.

 

“Cool” is an adjective for “aloof,” “detached,” “standoffish.” In other words, “arrogant.” Obama expected world leaders to prostrate themselves before him, awed by his greatness, enthralled by his Obamaness, eager to do the bidding of The One.

 

Paradoxically, Obama’s high opinion of himself notwithstanding, a survey by liberal think tanks The Democracy Corps and Third Way finds that more than half of Americans think the standing of the U.S. has dropped since Obama took office (51 percent v. 41 percent). The pollsters are agape: "This is surprising, given the global acclaim - and Nobel peace prize - that flowed to the new president after he took office." [Emphasis, The Stiletto.]

 

Yes, but it’s one thing to accept accolades handed to you on a silver platter, it’s another to do the hard – and often thankless work (just ask Bush) – to earn them.

 

Editorial Note: Here at home, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is warning Obama that the House regards his March 18 deadline for a vote on health care reform to be as meaningless as all the others he’s issued, reports CNN blog Political Ticker: “Asked by a reporter about a potential health care vote on the 18th, Hoyer replied, ‘Your premise is incorrect. You mean that date that Mr. Gibbs mentioned. None of us has mentioned the 18th, other than Mr. Gibbs. We are trying to do this as soon as possible. That continues to be our objective.’ ” 

 

† Updates To Previous Posts (eighth item, The Right To Bear Arms Belongs To Us All: Part II): The Boston Globe is ridiculing open-carry laws in an effort to coerce retail establishments to deny their law-abiding customers their Second Amendment rights. Columnist Derrick Jackson suggests that “[i]f Starbucks wants to run Wild West caffeine saloons, the least it can do is provide gunsmoking and nongunsmoking sections.” In its editorial, The Times tried to make caffeine sound like crack or meth when consumed by a gun-carrying American. But The Globe one-ups its sister paper by turning a pleasant coffee shop into a lawless saloon. Hinting at a boycott, Jackson adds: “I do not know about you, but I suddenly became even more a fan of Peet’s than I was before and as far as I am concerned, I can go without Starbucks the rest of my life as long as it plays the cowardly bartender.”

 

Thanks to firearms-phobes like Jackson, the rest of us have no choice but to sit in the “nongunsmoking section,” to use his faulty analogy. Faulty, because even he acknowledges that the MA Department of Public Safety says that someone licensed to carry a firearm in the state can walk around with it as long as (s)he doesn’t use it “in a manner that constitutes a crime.’’ That would include firing the gun at Starbucks just because the barista made his or her grande half-caf extra hot coffee with breve instead of percent. So were Jackson to sit next to a fussy coffee lover who is packing heat, the gun would not be smoking.

 

† Updates To Previous Posts (last item, You Are What You (Can’t) Eat): Last month, Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Panel for Educational Policy has banned student bake sales to raise money for art and music programs, school supplies, team uniforms and such in an effort to fight childhood obesity. The New York Times reports that parents plan a "bake-in" on March 18^th outside City Hall in protest:

 

"We don't really want to be told what to buy, especially when it's junk food from Kellogg's," said Helen Greenberg, whose daughters, Maizy, 12, and Haddy, 8, attend the East Village Community School in Manhattan.

 

Greenberg has been making organic popcorn with organic toppings every Friday to help raise money for the school. The treat is not on the city's new list of approved foods.

 

City officials now allow only prepackaged snacks so they can keep calorie counts below 200 and control the amount of sodium and trans fats kids are consuming.

 

† Updates To Previous Posts (second item, Putting The “Boo” In Boomer): BrandWeek notes the off-putting oddness of the new AARP ad campaign featuring Baby Boomers talking about “When I grow up” (If you’re over 50, aren’t you already grown-up?). In an interview with BrandWeek, AARP’s EVP and chief brand officer Emilio Pardo explains that the new ads stem from a previous AARP campaign showing children wishing they’d grow up faster so they can do the things that grown-ups do. “Now we flip it and say, ‘They’re not done growing up,’ ”  

 

Yes, they’re not done growing up. They will never grow up, and that’s bad news for "Millennials" (those 29 or younger), argues Washington Post columnist Robert J. Samuelson:

 

An oft-quoted study by Yale University economist Lisa Kahn found that college graduates entering a labor market with high unemployment receive lower pay and that the pay penalty can last two decades. …

 

As baby boomers retire, higher federal spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid may boost Millennials' taxes and squeeze other government programs. It will be harder to start and raise families.

 

Millennials could become the chump generation. They could suffer for their elders' economic sins, particularly the failure to confront the predictable costs of baby boomers' retirement. This poses a question. In 2008, Millennials voted 2 to 1 for Barack Obama; in surveys, they say they're more disposed than older Americans to big and activist government. Their ardor for Obama is already cooling. Will higher taxes dim their enthusiasm for government?

 

In other words, will they grow up? They’ll have to. And fast.

  

† Updates To Previous Posts (last item, A Court Of Law, Not Of Justice): The Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice has determined that the PA Judicial Conduct Board never investigated any of four complaints against former Luzerne County Judge Michael Conahan, who is facing federal racketeering charges, reports The Legal Intelligencer:

 

In a 12-page response to written questions from [the commission], the JCB's chief counsel, Joseph Massa, wrote that the board did not conduct a preliminary investigation, conduct interviews or review any documents related to the complaints. …

 

[I]n a startling revelation, Massa said that, not only did the board fail to refer a detailed 2006 complaint to the U.S. Attorney's Office, he didn't turn it over to investigators until nearly 18 months later, in April 2008. …

 

The document, though, fails to explain what happened to the 2006 complaint after the decision was made to table the discussion until the October 2007 meeting.

 

"[The 2006 complaint] was never placed on any subsequent agenda for action or for a report from chief counsel," the board's outside counsel said in response to a question about whether Massa reported on the status of the case.

 

Based on the written answers from Massa and the JCB, no action was taken on the complaint after the decision in June 2007 to table it.

 

The 2008 complaints were filed against Conahan in June of that year, Massa said. "The board decided to defer/stay the matters pending the outcome of the federal investigation," he said.

 

Massa also revealed that it was not the policy of the JCB to make board members aware of prior complaints filed against a jurist when discussing new complaints.

 

† Updates To Previous Posts (last item, 10 Reasons Michelle Obama Should Be Proud – Really Proud – Of America): This latest installment in The Stiletto Blog’s ongoing series meant to help instill the necessary pride of country in Michelle Obama’s consciousness to enable her to serve as an unofficial ambassador focuses on Amos Winter. The doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering at MIT who has devised a wheelchair that can restore mobility to disabled people in Third World countries, “where roads are bad, money tight, and the need immense,” reports The Boston Globe:

 

Winter calls his invention the Leveraged Freedom Chair - leveraged because it is powered by hand levers. …

 

The genius of Winter’s wheelchair lies in the design of the long ratchet-like levers that power it. Hold them low, near the axle, and it goes fast. Hold them higher up, and it generates a lot of torque, making it possible to climb slowly but surely over rocks and up hills. In effect, you change gears by changing your body geometry.

 

That helps keep the wheelchair simple and inexpensive, and may make it affordable to some of the 20 million people who need wheelchairs in the developing world.

 

Winter said he hopes to get his lever-powered wheelchair patented and produced in substantial numbers - priced at about $200 each - within two years. He plans to test 30 more in Guatemala this summer, thanks to a $50,000 grant from the Inter-American Development Bank, and then conduct wider tests in India.

 

For Winter, a 30-year-old native of Chesterfield, N.H., wheelchairs are an accidental passion. After earning his master’s in mechanical engineering at MIT in 2005, he was foraging for a summer project that would let him be with his girlfriend in Tanzania. His MIT mentor, professor Amy Smith, suggested that he look into wheelchair needs there. He did, and came back obsessed with finding solutions to meet those needs.