Scumbag Medal

...with dripping garbage clusters.

Washington (AP) - A Senate measure to extend federal unemployment benefits failed by two votes Thursday despite the election year support of 12 Republicans from states hit hard by layoffs. ...

The measure would have extended the emergency benefits program for six months, providing 13 weeks of extra unemployment benefits to people who exhaust their state benefits - usually after 26 weeks. ...

"I think we have to determine when's enough," said Sen. Don Nickles, R-Okla. "And I happen to think that we've crossed that line."

Nickles said jobless workers have more incentive to find a job when the extra unemployment benefits stop. "The more you pay people not to work, the less inclined they are to work," he said.

Yes, all those people just lazing in luxury in the comfort of unemployment, falling behind on their rent/mortgage, electricity being shut off, phone service being ended, but what do they care? They have unemployment benefits! Ah, happiness!

Beyond the obvious crude inanity, though, is what his remarks reveal about the way such bozos regard the rest of us: as lazy good-for-nothings who would like nothing better than to have the chance to do nothing at all. What we need is a little more discipline! A little more hard work! A little more self-reliance! It's the way the overlords always seem to regard the underlings, the way the powerful always think of the powerless. We are simply here to serve their needs and any time we are not in that role it's a personal failing on our part.

Historically, this is the way, always the way, the slaveowners thought of the slaves, the rich thought of the poor, the racists thought of their victims, the nobility thought of the peasants - and now the way our own elite thinks of the rest of us.

Bear that in mind the next time one of them - any of them - tells you they're on your side. Admittedly, they may be telling the truth, at least on the particular issue at hand. But don't count on it.

Footnote: Nickles is retiring. Which is good, since he appears to have now used up his last remaining brain cells.