A MODEST PROPOSAL REGARDING UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS

CHEQUAMEGON BAY AT ASHLAND, ICE RACING TRACK PLOWED (LOOKS LIKE THERE'S A RUSSIAN ICE BREAKER STUCK OUT THERE SOMEWHERE)

FOG AND BITTER COLD THIS MORNING

Tuesday, 9:00 AM.  -15 degrees F, wind SSW, variable with moderate gusts.  The sky is clearing but it is bitterly cold.  the humidity is 77% and the barometer trending down, at 30.16".  It probably got to twenty below last night but the house is so well insulated with ice and snow that the furnace handles it well and does not run constantly.   We had a dusting of snow last night which meant that the city plow came around the corner and pushed a mound of frozen snow into my driveway.  By the time Buddy and I took a short walk and I cleared the snow we both had enough of the outdoors for a while.
   We braved the weather and slippery roads to go to Ashland yesterday, where we noted that the ice race track has been plowed on lower Chequamegon Bay.  I can hardly wait.
   The current Great Debate going on in congress at present is whether to extend unemployment benefits again, to beyond the once usual 26 weeks.  For the past five years it has been continually extended on an emergency basis, but the matter has finally come to a head and the question has become whether such benefits have limits or that they have become an unlimited entitlement.  There are philosophical arguments on both sides of the question, Democrats mostly in favor of virtually unlimited unemployment benefits and the Republicans will likely vote to extend benefits once again, but will look for spending cuts in other areas to offset the billions of dollars it will cost to extend "emergency" benefits another three months.
   In all of this, it can easily be argued that the benefits would not need to be extended if the economy were producing the jobs it should, after five years of a supposed recovery from the last recession. What the country really needs is jobs, not more benefits, which should be unnecessary at this point.
   So, I have a modest proposal for the Republicans to offer to the Democrats and the President: approve the Keystone Pipeline (which will provide thousands of jobs and be a major stimulant to the economy) and we will approve extension of unemployment benefits.  That would be a win-win outcome for all but the eco-extremist fringe.
   And please, please... let's not bring Global Warming into the debate.