John "Bronzer" Boehner: Brother, Can You Spare The Time?

(...your brothers haven't heard from you in a while...)

John "Bronzer" Boehner displays empathy--GOP-style.

From The Hill:

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) revealed on Wednesday that three of his brothers lost their jobs during the recession.
Boehner, who has 11 siblings, said he’s not sure whether the three brothers remain unemployed.
“I’ve got real empathy for those who are unemployed, as most of you know I’ve got 11 brothers and sisters. I know that three of my brothers lost their jobs, I’m not sure whether they’ve found jobs, yet, so I’ve got a lot of empathy for those caught in this economic downturn,” Boehner said.

"Real empathy," indeed.

GM Goes BK.

From the Detroit Free Press:

President Barack Obama will announce on Monday the bankruptcy of General Motors Corp., launching a complicated, $59-billion effort to prevent the century-old juggernaut of American manufacturing from collapse.

Backed by its unions, large bondholders, and the governments of the United States, Canada and Ontario, GM will file in New York a painful plan to cleave itself into a lean, government-owned automaker pared down to compete in a sputtering U.S. market.As part of the bankruptcy, GM will spell out 14 plant closings expected to affect 21,000 jobs, and additional cuts among salaried workers.

President Barack Obama will address the nation from the White House at 11:55 a.m. on his rescue of the nation’s largest automaker, planning to infuse $30.1 billion to pay for the bankruptcy and emergence of a new GM, on top of the $19.4 billion in loans that officials say did little but delay the reckoning by a few months.

Hard times in the Motor City.

More here.

How Badly Is The Recession Kicking Your Ass?

Click here for the AP's interactive map.

Pee For Texas.

The governor of Texas believes in trickle-down economics; he just peed all over the Lone Star's unemployed. 

From the AP:

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has rejected $555 million in federal stimulus money that would expand state unemployment benefits.

Perry, an outspoken critic of President Barack Obama's $787 billion stimulus bill, accepted most of the roughly $17 billion slated for Texas in the plan.

But the governor turned down the unemployment benefits on Thursday because he says they would require the state to increase the tax burden on Texas businesses to fund an expanded program.

Hopefully Texas voters will return the favor when his time is nigh in 2010. 

I refer to the GOP as "Confederates." CSU/Sacramento Associate Professor of History Joseph A. Palermo must be reading JackRabbit Café, because he does, too.