Raising Hell | Unexpected Leisure

February 6, 2011

The Quiet Revolution

The best way to summarize what is happening is that small (and some not-so-small) communities are starting to erect defenses against losing their local economies, natural resources, and quality of life to major corporations who are wont to move in, undermine or crush the local small businesses and replacing them with something less wholesome for the local environment, however one chooses to define it. Read more [...]

January 31, 2011

Two Animated Bears Explain the Bank Bailouts in Six Minutes

Here in about six minutes, the bears explain the bailout and why you should be extremely pissed off at how the banks have screwed American taxpayers, and how the government let them do it. Read more [...]

January 27, 2011January 28, 2011

Meditations on the Abyss at the Urgent Care Clinic

I was sitting at my computer when I was hit by a sudden headache. It came on within seconds; the worst headache Iâ€™d ever had. Exquisite, excruciating pain; to borrow from Gibsonâ€™s Neuromancer, â€œâ€¦pain beyond anything to which the name of pain is given.â€ A quick Google search served to suggest that this could be very serious and I needed to see someone right away. Read more [...]

January 26, 2011January 26, 2011

The Ranks of the “99ers” Continue to Grow

Earlier this month I crossed a rather depressing threshold: I became a "99er" which means I have been effectively out of work ... for 99 weeks or longer. That is the point at which all unemployment benefits end, forever. Read more [...]

January 19, 2011January 20, 2011

Taking Care of Yourself

Two interesting items have been in the news lately. One is the move by Blue Shield of California to raise their premiums by 59% and blowing off calls by the California Insurance Commissioner to hold off Read more [...]

January 18, 2011January 19, 2011

What the Health Care Reform Debate Means When You’re Unemployed

{Health care is] the one area where "they" have you by the throat. If you can't deal with something with home care and over-the-counter drugs, or find sufficient help at a local free clinic and can't pay for "real" care, you're screwed. Read more [...]

January 14, 2011January 14, 2011

The Very Scary Unemployment Chart

I put this chart up is to give you some idea what you are up against. If we get out of this, it will be by thinking about work and entrepreneurship in different ways, and agitating like hell to get the Government to pay attention to this very serious problem. Read more [...]

January 6, 2011January 8, 2011

A Report on Foreclosure Fraud

While I prefer to keep things light and upbeat here, there are some stories that just can't be made pretty no matter how much fairy dust you want to throw at them. This is one of them and it sort of falls into the "How We Got Into This Mess" category. Read more [...]