Chupacabra Report

News that gets my goat..

-Tom Paukin, former Texas GOP Chairman appointed Chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission by Governor Rick Perry, was in Houston last week giving a seminar to employers on how to avoid paying unemployment compensation when they lay off or fire workers. Paukin advised 800 area employers on how to dispute claims, and suggested that if instead of firing employees, they can convince them to resign, the employees will be less likely to file an unemployment claim.

Meanwhile Senate Republicans have blocked extension of unemployment benefits to millions of out-of-work Americans.

With over a million people out of work in Texas, the Republican response is to drag their feet in matters of providing earned benefits to people in need. Available federal funds for food assistance, Medicaid and Headstart go untapped here while Republican pols offer up the same tired clichés in response to a severe recession brought on by their laissez-faire economic policies.

-Last week on the Jeopardy Kids Tournament, a category on Radio Disney drew no takers from the 11 and 12 year-old contestants. It appears that the kids don’t listen to Radio Disney. Expect The Mouse to prepare a golden parachute for the division head. Maybe Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital Group will buy it, like they did Clear Channel a couple years ago just before its stock tanked.