Wow.

I used to make a couple of grand per paycheck. Now it’s 200 a week. Oooooh, ya got me there….I’m sooo livin’ it up on my big fat weekly check!!

I can always…ALWAYS…count on Republicans to come up with the biggest doozies to offend the thinking-class in this country.

Another favorite past talking point was “if you help the homeless and the poor, you’re helping to keep pan handlers, drug dealers and scam artists in business – they’ll never learn how to make a living on their own”. As if being homeless and poor wasn’t bad enough – you have to worry about being labeled a “scam artist” when you ask for help.

And, I especially love hearing them say “I don’t want my tax dollars going toward some bum who is gonna buy drugs with my money”.

So they’re totally fine with paying for wars based on lies and massive fraud and abuse by military contractors.  But helping the poor?  That just makes their blood boil with rage.

I really hate saying this, but…Republicans have ice water running in their veins. That’s all there is to it.  How can these people be so g-damned mean and evil when they are asked to help others? And then they are so blissfully happy when they are told about people across the globe dying from our bombs and military strikes?  Especially when it was all based on lies?  Why on earth is that sooo okay with them??

They talk about post-9/11 moments as if they were golden and beautiful. The only thing honestly beautiful that I can remember about it, which only lasted a month or so, was how everyone was united as a nation and as a global entity. Color and gender, nationality and language, race, stature, class, etc – none of that mattered. Everyone had their flags flying.

However, during that time – and ever since then – it’s been nothing but a paranoid freaky fear festival among Republicans — and we have all suffered ever since. It’s all about keeping people divided – and making sure no one trusts “the other” among us.

Republicans don’t love “unity” when it comes down to who we are as a nation or global force — they only love it when people are united against “the other”. When people are pitted against eachother, treated as if they must view eachother with suspicion and fear, it brings out the worst in all of us.

Republicans don’t want us united – they want us divided. Their motto really is “divide and conquer” – not “united we fall”.

So, going back to my original point…

Instead of helping eachother out, it’s all about fearing the poor, the foreigner, the unfamiliar cultures and lifestyles.

Being unemployed sucks. But I guess that’s not what they want to believe or try to understand. They want to view 10-20% of the country as “the other” – and still call themselves “compassionate conservatives” at the same time.

Oh, and one more thing…

If you’re wondering about why conservatives are all for giving tons of money to foreign countries. They’re not doing it out of love or compassion. They are doing for the exact same reasons a loan shark would do it: to kick you down when you can’t pay it back. Republicans and crisis are like insurance agents turned ambulance chasers. They want you to call them the hero – but you realize they are the bad guy when they demand 30% interest on that 90-day million dollar loan. Read “Confessions of an Econonmic Hitman” if you don’t believe this.  If you’d like to read excerpts of the book, read it here.  Here’s a Wikipedia summary on it.

Oh, and one more thing.  The most frightening thing to a Republican is an educated public.  This is why they’re rather have a bunch of uneducated goons filled with hate fighting their battles, instead of a civilized and educated public that will more than likely vote for a Democrat instead of a Republican.  If you haven’t heard yet, Kansas City just voted to shut down half their schools due to budget issues.  Instead of trying to cut corners on waste, they shut the schools down instead.  That should help them create more impoverished, uneducated goons to fight their battles.

Ugh…

But I digress…

I went on an assignment last week to plug some program for “No Child Left Behind”. It was for a company called “Project Success” located back east. More about that at some other time. Regardless, my job assignment was for one hour at a school 50++ miles away (102 miles roundtrip). The hourly rate: $10/hour. Seriously. The big thing was supposed to be this: I was going to work 1-hour – but get paid for 4 (-My Employer’s Name Hidden for Protection – ‘ policy – my actual employer – you get paid a minimum of 4-hours even if you only work one hour). Plus, I was going to be reimbursed for gas at the rate of $.50 per mile. Making my gross pay for this assignment $90 ($50 for gas, $40 for work).

Today, I got a direct deposit of exactly: $10.59

It turns out that I was only paid for one hour (if this were true, my pay would’ve been more like $7) — and I need to fill out a special expense report to get reimbursed for the gas.

In the same phone call with my complaint to Kelly Services, I was asked if I wanted an assignment that sounded almost too good to say NO to.

Wanna hear it?

It’s about 40+ miles away from me, starts at 5:00 a.m., lasts for a few months, will require me to work holidays, evenings, weekends, and —- drumroll please…. will pay me a WHOPPING $10 an hour.

The assignment itself ends “when it’s finished”… The work involves data entry.

I remember the days when I used to make $19/hour for doing secretarial work. Real work.

Work that utilized skills.

Data entry is another one of those jobs that requires skills. Fast, accurate typing skills.

The minimum wage rate is somewhere around $8 to $9 an hour — I think it’s $8.90 an hour.

I’m gonna get just a squeek above that rate….

I might as well be shoveling dirt for that money.

And what exactly is that going to pay for??

$10 an hour x 8 hours — $80/day. After taxes, more like $60 or $70. Times that by 4 or 5 days.

That gives me a whopping $300-$400 per week. If I’m lucky.

That’s roughly $1200 to $1600 per month.

How do you live on that?

I guess it’s better than unemployment, which roughs out to about $289/week…

Oy….