I HAVE NO DESIRE TO SMOKE IT...BUT MARIJUANA SHOULD BE LEGALIZED IN ALL 50 STATES

     I don't smoke pot...and I never have.  That's the truth.  But I'm sure there will be some of you who may question my honesty...since I grew up in the sixties and seventies...in a world of hippies...flower children..."peace, love and togetherness."  But the fact is...marijuana and I have never met.  However...I have never smoked cigarettes either.

     At the end of this week - on Saturday, February 1st, 2014 - I will begin my 60th year...on this planet that we call Earth.  My 59th birthday will not include a celebratory joint...as I have never once in my life...taken a puff of the "wild weed."  That being said...I don't drink booze either - no beer...no wine...no liquor.  Alcoholic beverages make me sick...and I haven't had a sip of an alcoholic drink in nearly 30 years.  It was after a family party - when I took terribly ill - that I swore to myself that next day...that I would never touch a bit of booze ever again.  And I've kept that promise.

     I was never a big drinker to begin with - even as a young man in college - when the legal age to drink was 18...not 21.  Even then...I never indulged regularly in drinking alcohol.  Oh there were a handful of times when I partied too much and wound up a bit tipsy - or to be totally frank - flat out drunk...but as I say...it wasn't often by any means.

     Alcoholic beverages can be dangerous.  Alcoholic beverages can - if consumed in high amounts - make a person sick...or worse.  And, of course...if you suffer from the disease of alcoholism - and yes, alcoholism is a disease...a very serious disease - if you are an alcoholic...drinking liquor, wine, beer...or any spirituous or fermented beverage...can be life threatening to the drinker...and to others.

     There's too much medical evidence that drinking alcohol is more perilous and more detrimental than smoking marijuana.  There's too much documentation that smoking pot is less harmful to the human body - and that getting "high" from smoking grass is less menacing...than drinking potent potables.  Alcohol has scarred the lives of more people...than those who smoke a few joints...even when done on a regular basis.

     Marijuana is not a gateway drug.  It has been proven over and over and over again that smoking marijuana does not lead to using other drugs.  In fact...prescription pill popping...has been abused more...than toking reefer.  Therefore...if alcohol is legal...then marijuana should be legal too - and not only in Colorado and Washington...but in all 50 states.  

 
     I applaud President Obama for his comments in a recent interview with The New Yorker magazine...when the President expressed his opinion about smoking marijuana.  "I don't think it is more dangerous than alcohol."  The President added, "I smoked pot as a kid...and I view it as a bad habit and a vice...not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person...up through a big chunk of my adult life."  But President Obama also told The New Yorker that smoking pot is "not something I encourage...and I've told my daughters I

think it's a bad idea."  The President has warned 15-year old Malia and 12-year old Sasha that smoking marijuana is "a waste of time, not very healthy."

     To elaborate on President Obama's thoughts...I, of course, am not in any way, shape, matter or form recommending that children smoke marijuana.  Kids should not light up a joint...just as youngsters should not consume alcohol or puff on a tar and nicotine cancer stick.  But as far as I'm concerned...nobody should drink alcohol...nobody should smoke tobacco...and nobody should smoke marijuana.  But this is America...and although it's not something that I would do...other adults in our country do have the right to drink booze...to smoke cigarettes...and they should have the right to smoke pot. I do, however, hope...that if a person wants to engage in the inhalation of marijuana vapors...that he or she do so in moderation.  There's no reason to drink alcohol so that you're so polluted with booze that you're "falling down drunk"...as there's no reason to chain smoke cigarettes...so that you stink to high heaven from the putrid odor...and that you destroy your lungs, heart and the rest of your body.  As such...there's no reason to smoke marijuana...so that you're so "stoned"...that your brain can't function properly.  If you're one who feels that it's fun... to get a "buzz"...from alcohol or pot...I don't agree with your thinking...but I'll fight for your right to do so.  Being under the influence of either...so that you're senselessly bombed...that's just plain stupid.

     For 13 years...between 1920 and 1933...the manufacture, sale and transportation of intoxicating liquors were illegal.  It was a period in United States history when even the average American citizen broke the law.  But we've come a long way since the days of prohibition...and alcohol has been legalized.  We need to do the same with marijuana.  As liquor, beer and wine are taxed...as cigarettes are taxed...so should the legalized sale of pot.  Too many people have been sentenced to prison terms for the possession of marijuana.  Throughout the years...jails have been packed with decent individuals...whose lives were ruined because they were convicted as the result of being caught by police while they were smoking weed or because grass was found to be on their person when they were arrested.  America's courts have locked up non-violent men and women...who should never have been sent to prison.  Millions of dollars - perhaps billions of dollars - have been spent over the last half-century...to incarcerate Americans because they were found to be guilty in a court of law...for smoking marijuana...or for merely possessing it.  And more people in our country will wind up behind bars if the rest of our nation doesn't fall in line with Colorado and Washington.  

     The price tag in some "pot shops" in "The Centennial State" of Colorado has reportedly been as much as $70 for an eighth of an ounce of weed.  That doesn't include an additional 27.9 percent in taxes.  Despite the high cost...the lines in Colorado have been stretched out the doors of stores...that are legally selling recreational marijuana...to people who want to purchase the grass...for no other reason...but to get high.  And the Associated Press reports...that some eager weed buyers have waited up to five hours on line...before being able to make their purchase.  However...if you live in "The Rocky Mountain State"...and you have a green thumb...and want to add a "pot patch" to your vegetable garden...Colorado says that's okay too.  But you can only grow a maximum of six marijuana plants...and your home corner of cannabis cultivation must be enclosed and locked.  As for Washington...stores in "The Evergreen State" won't be putting out their "Pot For Sale" signs until later this year.

     According to a recent Gallup Poll...58 percent of Americans believe that marijuana should be legalized.  And although I have no desire to smoke it...I support those Americans who do.  So...if getting stoned on pot...in the privacy of your own home...is what floats your boat...then puff, puff and sail away.  But like getting drunk on booze...if you need any recreational stimulation to have a good time...stay off the roads...keep your drugs away from children... and when you're hungover the next day...well...maybe you'll think twice about doing it again...and won't.

     And that's The Controversy for today.

     I'm Gary B. Duglin.

     "We'll talk again."

 
The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions.  Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.  

The Controversy will make an effort to publish a new commentary every Sunday.  Unscheduled essays may appear, from time to time, on other days as well.

Please express your opinions in the comment box below.  You do not have to register your name and you can remain anonymous if you prefer.  The Controversy wants to know your views on the essay above and on any other commentaries written on this blog.  Just click on the word "Comments" below and write your thoughts in the box that appears.  Make sure please that when you finish your statement that you click on the word "Publish."  Thank you for your thoughts and thank you for reading The Controversy.

Copyright 2014 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net.  All Rights Reserved.

NOBODY SHOULD BLAME HILLARY CLINTON FOR BENGHAZI. IF YOU DO...THEN YOU NEED TO BLAME GEORGE W. BUSH FOR 9/11.

     Stop making "Benghazi" a political rat's nest.  If Republicans - or even any Democrats - want to blame Hillary Clinton for the assault on the United States Consulate in Benghazi, Libya...on September 11th, 2012...because she was Secretary of State at the time...then we must blame former President George W. Bush for the attacks on American soil on September 11th, 2001...forever more known as "9/11."

     President Bush was re-elected in 2004...even though there is concrete and definitive proof...that the President's chief counter-terrorism adviser on the National Security Council, Richard A. Clarke...advised the Bush Administration in a

January 25th, 2001 memo to then National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice..."urgently" requesting a high-level National Security Council review on al-Qaeda.  In his book...Against All Enemies...Clarke wrote that in the summer of 2001 - just a couple of short months before 9/11 - the intelligence community was convinced of an imminent attack by al-Qaeda.  It was July 5th, 2001 when - at a gathering at The White House - Clarke told members of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secret Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Coast Guard and the Federal Aviation Administration...that "something really spectacular is going to happen here... and it's going to happen soon."  At that same meeting...a memo was read 

from now retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Donald Kerrick - who was Deputy National Security Advisor - stating that the National Security Agency needed to "pay attention to al-Qaeda and counter-terrorism"...and that the United States would be "struck."  Testifying before Congress on May 19th, 2004...Richard Clarke - under oath - said he 

and then Central Intelligence Agency Director George Tenet "tried very hard to create a sense of urgency" but that their warnings were not heeded.  Clarke also told Congress that prior to 9/11...the FBI was well aware...that at least two of the 19 hijackers...were in the United States...but that the information never made its way to President Bush...or to the highest levels of power under him.

     For those of you who think Benghazi will be the demise of Hillary Clinton's chances to be nominated as the Democratic Party's candidate for President in 2016...and ultimately for her to win The White House...you're sadly mistaken.  If Americans - as a whole - were to point the finger at Secretary Clinton...for the tragedy at Benghazi...then Americans need to accuse President George W. Bush for 9/11 - which, of course, we don't.  And therefore...I don't think Americans - as a whole - will hold Secretary Clinton responsible...for Benghazi.


     On Wednesday, January 15th, 2014...a scathing new bi-partisan report by the Senate Intelligence Committee...says the deadly attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi...was "preventable."  The report describes - that prior to the assault - the intelligence community "provided ample strategic warnings that the security situation in eastern Libya was deteriorating."  Four Americans - including Ambassador Christopher Stevens - were killed.  The Congressional Committee of Republicans and Democrats...charge the State Department for ignoring multiple warnings and for failing to provide adequate security.  But a major new finding has been revealed...whereby Ambassador Stevens...although - according to the report - warned the State Department about security problems...he "declined two specific offers"...for more military 

support...from now retired U.S. Army General Carter Ham...who at the time was the senior U.S. armed forces commander in Africa.  Twice...twice Ambassador Stevens was asked if he needs more security...and he said, "No."

     The report by the Senate Intelligence Committee should not have spewed any political venom.  But Republicans insisted that the document include a blazing beating of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  The report claims that "At the end of the day...she was responsible for ensuring the safety of all Americans serving in our diplomatic facilities.  Her failure to do so...clearly made a difference...in the lives of the four murdered Americans and their families."
  
     Let us remember...that prior to 9/11...there were intelligence reports that al-Qaeda wanted to hit targets in the United States.  On September 11th, 2001...2,975 people - that's the official total - were killed at the World Trade Center in New York City...at The Pentagon...and on the hijacked airplane that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.  Yet President George W. Bush was re-elected three years later...and approval ratings for Mr. Bush...were his highest...after 9/11.

     Following 9/11...thousands of troops in America's military...were sent in to harm's way....and a war began that never should have started.  President Bush - as Commander-in-Chief - ordered armed forces troops in to Iraq... because he claimed that intelligence reports proved...that Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction.  Mr. Bush's decision to invade Iraq...was reportedly based...on something that was just not true.  The former President commenced a war...supposedly because of an intelligence report...that was very, very wrong.  Still...the majority of Americans...cast their ballots in President Bush's favor...in November 2004.

     If Republicans - according to the Senate Intelligence Committee's report - believe that Hillary Clinton - as Secretary of State - was responsible for the safety and security of Americans at the consulate in Benghazi...then President Bush needs to be held responsible for the safety and security of every single American in the United States on 9/11.  Obviously...that cannot be true for Mr. Bush...and it should not be true for Mrs. Clinton.

     I certainly believe that Secretary Clinton will weather the storm of Benghazi.  If voters could re-elect President George W. Bush after 9/11...then Hillary Clinton can easily win the Democratic nomination for President in 2016 - if she wants it - and Mrs. Clinton can ultimately be elected the 45th President of the United States in the general election in November of that year.

     In his book, Duty: Memoirs Of A Secretary At War - which in last week's column, I stated that former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates should have waited to

write...because of it being extremely critical of President Obama and Vice President Biden...along with 
 
one verbal thrashing of Secretary of State Clinton - Gates... in his book...commented that Hillary Clinton is "smart, idealistic... pragmatic, tough-minded, funny."  And this 

morning...Sunday, January 19th, 2014...David Gregory - moderator and anchor of NBC's Meet The Press - interviewed Secretary Gates.  David noted that during conversations with other reporters that Gates praised Secretary Clinton as someone he often agreed with on national security issues...and that Gates has stated in the past...that Mrs. Clinton would be a "good President."  So David asked Secretary Gates..."You're a Republican.  Could you imagine voting for her?"  Gates told David that "It's clear in the book that I have a lot of admiration for Hillary."  Secretary Gates wouldn't answer David Gregory's question in the way that David - and I think most Democrats - wanted to hear.  "I'm still going to be evasive," Gates replied...but he went on to say - in a positive fashion - "I worked with (Hillary) in the national security arena for two-and-a-half years.  I have a lot of respect for what she did...and the way she conducted herself as Secretary (of State)."

     The most important issue now...is making sure that the security at U.S. embassies around the world...is improved.  And that all Americans serving our country...at those diplomatic compounds...are safe from any danger.  Why must we blame any U.S. official for Benghazi?  We've never blamed any American for 9/11.  Let's just make certain...that no other disaster - similar to either catastrophe...ever happens again.

     And that's The Controversy for today.

     I'm Gary B. Duglin.

     "We'll talk again."

The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions.  Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.  

The Controversy will make an effort to publish a new commentary every Sunday.  Unscheduled essays may appear, from time to time, on other days as well.

Please express your opinions in the comment box below.  You do not have to register your name and you can remain anonymous if you prefer.  The Controversy wants to know your views on the essay above and on any other commentaries written on this blog.  Just click on the word "Comments" below and write your thoughts in the box that appears.  Make sure please that when you finish your statement that you click on the word "Publish."  Thank you for your thoughts and thank you for reading The Controversy.

Copyright 2014 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net.  All Rights Reserved.

A MESSAGE TO FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ROBERT GATES: YOU SHOULD HAVE WAITED. YOU REALLY SHOULD HAVE WAITED.

     Shame on you, Robert Gates.  Shame on you.

     In a new memoir...the former Secretary of Defense is extremely critical of President Obama, Vice President Biden, the United States Congress and many top aides in the Obama Administration.

     Duty: Memoirs Of A Secretary At War is nearly 600 pages...and in it...Gates questions President Obama's leadership...and his commitment and sincerity...in supporting the war in Afghanistan.  Gates feels the President didn't have confidence in his own strategies and writes, "I believe the President cared deeply about the troops and their families. I never doubted Obama's support for the troops."  But then Gates excoriates the President and says, "Given the President's campaign rhetoric about Afghanistan...I think I...our commanders...and our troops...had expected more commitment to the cause...and more passion for it from him." Gates slams President Obama for not considering "the war to be his.  For (the President)... it's all about getting out."



     Why should President Obama be committed to a war that he inherited from President George W. Bush...and that from day one of Mr. Obama's Presidency...he always stated that he wanted - as soon as humanly possible - to get out of both the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq?  That is what President Obama was committed to doing - which he succeeded in doing with Iraq - and is - to this day - committed to doing with regards to the war in Afghanistan.  Secretary Gates needs to be reminded that the President of the United States is Commander-in-Chief.  The Secretary of Defense works for him.

     In his book...Gates writes, "I thought the President doesn't trust his commander, (now retired 4-star General David Petraeus, who led the U.S. forces in Afghanistan)."  And the former Defense Secretary says, "Suspicion and distrust of senior military officers by senior White House officials - including the President and Vice President - became a big problem for me."


     But Secretary Gates is severely tough on Vice President Biden...accusing Mr. Biden of "poisoning the well" against the military leadership.  And Gates lambastes the Vice President with perhaps the harshest of words...when he attacks and writes..."(Biden) has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades."  Forty-years of mistakes?  Come on, Mr. Secretary.  What the hell did Vice President Biden do to you...for you to make such a vicious comment?

     The former Defense Secretary also calls Congress - the majority of Members - "uncivil, incompetent, egotistical, thin-skinned."  And in this devastating critique of the Obama Administration...Gates writes that some of The White House staff exerted too much power and he accused them of being "the most controlling I had seen since (President) Richard Nixon and (Secretary of State) Henry Kissinger."

      For those of you who think that I'm blasting Secretary of Defense Gates because he is a Republican...think again.  Mr. Gates is a Republican who my President - a Democrat - chose to be part of his Cabinet.  I supported that choice.  Mr. Gates is a Republican who was always considered by Americans from both political parties as being a distinguished and dignified statesman.  I agreed with that.  So where then is the loyalty to the President and Vice President who Gates served?  The former Defense Secretary spent a lifetime serving our country...working for eight different Presidents.  What made him decide to use President Obama and Vice President Biden as punching bags?

     It's been said time and time again that Gates did not want to accept President Obama's offer...to continue as Secretary of Defense after serving President Bush.  Gates wanted to retire.  But President Obama - I won't say begged - but, according to numerous reports...strongly requested that Gates stay on.  He did so with great reluctance...but because - as Gates writes in his book - he cared about our military troops.  The former Defense Secretary always had an emotional connection to our men and women in uniform.  But it's obvious that Gates was totally miserable while working in the Obama Administration.  The former Secretary of Defense writes about Congressional hearings where he wished he could speak his mind at that time...but he couldn't then...so he does now. 

      Why if Robert Gates was boiling with rage for such a long time...did he stay on as Secretary of Defense?  It's admirable that he had an adoration and allegiance for the troops of our armed forces...but if he despised his job...and disliked - or even hated - the way President Obama was handling matters of national security and the war in Afghanistan...then why did Gates not quit earlier?  He could have simply told the President..."I'm outta here!"  Nobody had put a gun to Gates' head...and told him that he had to stay.  Was it that he wanted more information so he could write a book?  Yes sadly, I ask...did Secretary of Defense Robert Gates accept the position offered him...only to know in the back of his mind that he'd be able to write a "tell-all" book...the day he leaves office...and spill the beans on all the gossip - or whatever else he wanted to write?  It is unfortunate that someone such as Secretary Gates has done that.  If Mr. Gates - 5 or 10 years from now - in a historical observation...wanted to tell his side of the story - or what he believes it to be - whether he agreed or disagreed with the President and his administration...that is perfectly permissible to me.  Granted...thankfully we live in a land where all Americans have the freedom to speak and to write their opinions in a book, in a newspaper or magazine, for a television or radio report, in an Internet blog, or whatever else...and to do so freely whenever they desire.  However, it's disappointing that a man who has been highly respected by people on both sides of the aisle...in Washington, DC and all across the country...would spew the venom that Secretary Gates did...while President Obama...Vice President Biden...and Members of Congress are still in office...and while the country is still fighting a controversial war in a foreign land.  It is a disservice to the nation...to all Americans...and to the President, Vice President and Congress.

     Understandably...Robert Gates' memoir is not a total tale of destruction against the Obama Administration.  I have only read excerpts...but reportedly the entire book - page by page - is not as nasty and as cruel as certain parts. Gates says he did agree with most of President Obama's decisions concerning Afghanistan...and the former Defense Secretary writes about the killing of Osama bin Laden...and says President Obama's approval of the raid to capture the al-Qaeda leader was "one of the most courageous decisions I had ever witnessed in The White House."  So Secretary Gates does give...at least, some credit...to President Obama.  That being said...what is destructive...is damning against the President, the Vice President and Congress - especially the Senate.

     Another of his Cabinet colleagues...who he praises and then verbally pummels...is former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  Gates applauds Mrs. Clinton and calls her "smart, idealistic...pragmatic, tough-minded, funny."  But despite his kudos and accolades towards Secretary Clinton...Gates also throws the former First Lady under the bus...when he alleges that he heard her tell President Obama that she only opposed the war in Iraq because she was running against Mr. Obama in the 2008 race for The White House.  Gates writes that "Hillary told the President that her opposition to the (2007) surge in Iraq had been political because she was facing him in the Iowa primary."  Of course we don't know if Secretary Clinton actually made such a statement, but it irritates me that Secretary Gates would - with one breath - flatter Secretary Clinton and then a moment later... castigate her...betray her...and send her down the river.

     Let me be clear so that none of you think I'm naive.  Anybody who serves The White House...serves a President - especially in a high profile capacity - has to be thinking - "I'll write a book.  I'll make millions."  Robert Gates is going to make a ton of money from his autobiography... and perhaps that's why he wrote it now.  Maybe if the memoir was published after Barack Obama leaves The Oval Office...and another President moves in to The White House...Gates' views would not be as intriguing...as they may be to some people today.  If the former Secretary of Defense felt it necessary to be as frank...as blunt...and as open as he was in his book...he has that right.  But couldn't he have waited a few years?  If Gates didn't see eye to eye with President Obama and Vice President Biden...then the former Defense Secretary should have kept it all to himself - at least for now - at least until a new administration takes office in 2017.  

     It was nearly 30 years after leaving office as Secretary of Defense for President John F. Kennedy and President Lyndon B. Johnson - from 1961 to 1968 - that Robert McNamara wrote his memoir, In Retrospect - which was published in 1995 - and which presented an account and analysis of The Vietnam War.  According to an article in The New York Times...the book states that "(McNamara) concluded well before leaving The Pentagon that the war was futile."  And he confessed in his memoir that The Vietnam War was "wrong, terribly wrong."

    
     For Robert Gates to expel "diarrhea of the mouth" - while his President and Vice President are still in office - is despicable and completely out of line.  If Gates felt he had to make sure - according to the way he saw it...or remembers it - that the record was corrected to his thinking - then I support his desire to do so...but not while President Obama and Vice President Biden are still making every effort to accomplish the goals they set out to achieve...and certainly not while our military is winding down a war that most Americans are very touchy about... and while our troops are still in harm's way.

     The timing of the former Defense Secretary's memoir...is poor.  I can assure you...and outright promise you...that if Robert Gates was a Democrat...who happened to write an autobiography that included scathing revelations - based on his own points of view - then I would feel the same way.  I can also guarantee...that if a Republican was in The White House...and a Democrat - who was in his or her Cabinet...and left while the President was still in office - then wrote a book criticizing the Republican President...that Republicans throughout the United States...would want to skin the Democrat alive.

     What Robert Gates did was wrong.  Just plain wrong.  You don't sit down at your computer...the moment you leave office...and begin to write a book that attacks the administration you supposedly served with devotion, trust, reverence and integrity - especially after President Obama had honored Secretary Gates with the Presidential Medal of Freedom - the nation's highest civilian honor.  At that presentation on June 30th, 2011...the President complimented Gates as "one of the best" Secretaries of Defense.  The President also praised Gates as "a humble American patriot...a man of common sense and decency...quite simply one of our nation's finest public servants...and someone who I have come to admire and whom I consider a friend."  I wonder if President Obama still feels that way today.

     And that's The Controversy for today.

     I'm Gary B. Duglin.

     "We'll talk again."

The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions.  Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.  

The Controversy will make an effort to publish a new commentary every Sunday.  Unscheduled essays may appear, from time to time, on other days as well.

Please express your opinions in the comment box below.  You do not have to register your name and you can remain anonymous if you prefer.  The Controversy wants to know your views on the essay above and on any other commentaries written on this blog.  Just click on the word "Comments" below and write your thoughts in the box that appears.  Make sure please that when you finish your statement that you click on the word "Publish."  Thank you for your thoughts and thank you for reading The Controversy.

Copyright 2014 Gary B. Duglin and TheControversy.net.  All Rights Reserved.

UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS MUST BE EXTENDED

     Unemployment benefits have got to be extended tomorrow...Monday, January 6th, 2014.

     When about 1.3 million Americans wake up tomorrow morning...and later in the day they walk to their mailboxes...a check they have been receiving - week after week - for many months...will have not been delivered.  That is because these out-of-work Americans have lost their unemployment insurance.

     It was December 28th, 2013 when Congress disgracefully declined to renew the emergency aid program for the jobless.  The Americans affected are - for the most part - people who want to work...who are trying to find work... who need to buy food for themselves - and in many cases, their children - and who need to pay the rent that keeps roofs over the heads of those children and themselves.  Unemployment money also helps to put gas in cars...and pay for the automobile insurance necessary...so the unemployed can go to job interviews...when those appointments become available.

     Tomorrow...January 6th...the United States Senate is scheduled to vote on a bi-partisan bill that will extend unemployment insurance for those Americans not working for more than 26 weeks.  The bill - authored and introduced by Liberal Democrat... Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island... and Conservative Republican... Senator Dean Heller of Nevada...would prolong emergency unemployment benefits.  If passed...Democrats and Republicans need to join forces and work hard so that jobless insurance is extended for the remainder of 2014.  If Congress doesn't extend those benefits for the rest of this year... it's going to be a financial blow to about 14 million Americans.  The Department of Labor says that 4.9 million people are on unemployment.  When added to the more than 9 million family members - including children - 14 million Americans will not have money to put food on their tables...and, therefore, will not only be hungry...but could ultimately become homeless... and starve to death.  With 55 Democratic Senators...all the U.S. Senate needs - in addition to Senator Heller's vote - is four of the 44 other Republicans...to reach the 60 mark...to pass the bill to extend unemployment benefits.  

      In December 2013...the Department of Labor reported the unemployment rate for November - the latest statistics reported to date -  was 7.0 percent... which is the lowest level in 5 years...since November 2008.  That said...never in the history of the United States has the federal government considered not extending unemployment insurance during a period of long term unemployment.  According to a recent poll...commissioned by the National Employment Law Project...the vast majority of voting Americans - 73 percent of the country - including Democrats and Republicans...want Congress to extend jobless benefits.

     Twenty-six weeks is not enough time to find a job in today's economy.  The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says that most states have offered unemployment benefits for up to 63 or 73 weeks.  But now...the maximum length of time will drop to 26 weeks or less.  That means anyone who was on his or her 27th week of benefits...or longer...will suddenly be cut off.

     Do Congressional Republicans not care about the poor and middle-class?  In 2013...Wall Street's numbers were up 30 percent.  But the average American's wage was only up one percent.  Plain and simple...it is obvious that Republican Members of Congress don't care about poor and middle-class Americans.  I said Republicans in Congress...not all Republican citizens.


     On Sunday, December 8th, 2013...The Controversy focused on raising the minimum wage throughout the United States.  Today...Sunday, January 5th, 2014...Democratic Senator Harry Reid of Nevada - the Senate Majority Leader - told CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent and Anchor of Face The Nation, Bob Schieffer..."The last 30 years...the top one percent of Americans... in their income and wealth...has increased 300 percent.  The middle-class... during that same 30 years...has lost almost 10 percent.  We've got to turn this around.  The rich are getting richer.  The poor are getting poorer.  The middle-class are being squeezed out of existence."

     Approximately 26 billion dollars in unemployment insurance need to be paid out in 2014.  Of course I hope that someday we can have zero unemployment benefits...because then...every single American adult would be working at a job that pays them a satisfactory income.  But that will never happen unless there is a substantial increase in the minimum wage.

     Republicans need to realize that paying out 26 billion dollars in unemployment benefits is not all bad.  After all...that's 26 billion dollars that is then spent by the recipients of that money...and, therefore, those bucks are put back in to the economy.  By spending all that money...it helps the country...it helps the economy...and it helps small businesses where that money is being spent.  Unfortunately for an unemployed person...when he or she receives their financial assistance...they spend every penny of it.  They can't afford to keep it...and save it.  That needs to change.

     If Republican Members of Congress...don't work together with Congressional Democrats...and with President Obama...and don't extend jobless benefits for three months...and later...for throughout all of 2014...shame on the GOP.  But those same Congressional Republicans need to beware.  If they don't do what's right...if they don't extend unemployment insurance...their party is doomed.  As a Democrat...I'd like nothing more than for Congressional Republicans to shoot themselves in the feet...and ruin their chances of winning the majority in either the House or the Senate come election day this fall.  But if Congressional Republicans don't vote to extend unemployment benefits... they'll not only destroy their chances for re-election in November...they'll be destroying the lives of millions of Americans.  As a kindhearted... considerate...and compassionate human being...who has concern for others...I hope they do what's right.

     And that's The Controversy for today.

     I'm Gary B. Duglin.

     "We'll talk again."

The Controversy is a publication of GBD Productions.  Founder and Editor-In-Chief of The Controversy is Gary B. Duglin.  

The Controversy will make an effort to publish a new commentary every Sunday.  Unscheduled essays may appear, from time to time, on other days as well.

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