Happy New Year - albeit a titch late - and Happy State of the Union

Folks, we are in dire straits. One in ten Americans is unemployed. That figure does not count those such as myself who have given up seeking full time employment and are cobbling together with savings, other income sources and part time employment sans benefits.

We are spending billions on wars that we can not afford to wage, either spiritually, financially or emotionally - our military veterans are worn out - plain and simple.

The American people are frustrated - angry even - at the state of their Union. They want their jobs back, they are tired of losing their homes - the President spoke of the letters that tug at his heartstrings last evening during the State of the Union - they come from children who don't understand why they have to leave their homes, or why their parents can't go to work anymore. Harsh realities for children to face. In another blog, I shared earlier that I have a son who is unemployed. He is depressed, understandably so - he lives in the state of Michigan - one of the highest rates of unemployment in the nation - he is only 21 and does not understand the cruelties of life, but he is getting a crash course. I call him daily to pep him up and give him ideas and solutions for getting more financial aid to go to school full time instead of trying to work and go to school full time - maybe that is his silver lining. Unlike his father and I, he won't have to work and support a family and go to school - his lot is somewhat easier.

The President has some grand plans for small businesses - the lifeblood of the country - he wants to reign in banks and their exhorbitant powers. He ought to reign (read - fire)in Tim Geithner and Hank Paulson while he is at it - I do not trust these men who were brought in to help their "friends and associates" at AIG and Sachs - to do what is in the best interest of the American People.

The same is true of the speaker of the house, Nancy Pelosi who recently took a delegation to Denmark: at a cost of some 170,000 for three military jets, not to mention the hotel costs and meals provided to not just senators but their families as well - is this prudent spending in the times in which we live? Was this excess the sort of thing that Democrats used to rail against and shun as if it were the plague?