Good God, it was over two years ago that I wrote about going into the County employment office and getting figuratively kicked in the teeth. "The Collective Wisconsin Sucks...."

    "Get out of here, man," the Veterans' Rep had said. "Get the hell out of Janesville; get out of Rock County; it is the only way you will find meaningful work! Or, any work at all!" 

    And now? Over two years later it is worse to the tenth power. What pisses me off is I wrote that posting long before it was admitted there was even a god damned economic problem. Is everyone happy now? Has it sunk in - finally? 

    I had just stopped in the employment office because at the time I had just recently gotten out of college as an old dude. Here is part of what I wrote then:

    "At a government job office in the region (I will leave it anonymous), I hunted down the veterans' rep. He was a pleasant man. What astounded me was he took one look at my background and said, "Brother, get the hell out of this area!" I actually cried - inside. That is all well and good for someone who is 18 to 21 years old. I have fled Wisconsin on at least three other occasions [before]. 

    I joined the Army in 1974 primarily because the Wisconsin economy sucked. My wife and I fled to Texas in 1981 primarily because the Wisconsin economy sucked. And finally, not the primary reason but one of several, I did research in Vietnam, Laos, Turkey, and Iraq from 2005 to 2006 because the Wisconsin economy sucked and I needed a career jolt to send me off into the media world after I left college. I am so tired of leaving the place I so dearly love just to find work. At 52 it is now something I am having trouble mustering heart to do again - leave Wisconsin to find work." 

End of the October 2, 2007 post - 

    On a sad side bar, recently I had my Iraq journalistic work held against me by an employer, because they manintained, I took time off two years ago to try to better myself with my self funded, self managed, independent media project to Iraq - my second too boot.  They would not give me a full-time job because as they said, "Well, you quit a job once to run off willy-nilly." 

    What the fuck?  A war zone is not willy-nilly.

    While my boss was minimizing work in Iraq (I hope this boss has no loved ones over there) the Job Center dude's words blasted in my head.  "Get Ouuuuuuut," And I can still hear the Job Center man's voice.

    And I thought then perhaps I should have added the words, "[...you oooooold bastaaaaaard!]" Yes, "Get out of here, [you old bastard]."  At the time of my blog posting two years ago, I did not identify the agency in that post but now, what the hell; Fuck it. It was the Department of Work Force Development, Rock County Job Center office. 

    Us old guys were the canary in the employment coal mine as long as four years ago, and the banal society just let us whither on the vine. You reap what you sow, yes? Now the whole of Wisconsin withers economically on the vine. 

    Later, the Janesville Gazette seemed to grudgingly print an article about people running for their lives; I say grudgingly because I had seen the data months earlier in other Wisconsin media outlets; they gleaned their information via U-haul data. "Displaced workers consider leaving Janesville."  A more apropos title might be, [Displaced workers consider running for their fucking lives].

    We are dying economically out here and I identify the people who are the apologists, facilitators, and architects of our current economy - media, local government, business, state and national government. Oh two-party paradigm enablers of misery, you know who you are; and, you are cowards. Walk a day in the shoes of the unemployed, underemployed, sold-out, former middle-class! 

    I call you chicken shit assholes out! 

                              Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
          (each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan) 

    This week's Wisconsin military service person to remember is Sergeant Benjamin C. Edinger, 24, of Green Bay who died on November 23, 2004, at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, from injuries he receive during enemy action in Anbar province, Iraq, several days before on November 14. Sergeant Edinger suffered shrapnel wounds from a homemade bomb.   Edinger was a member of the 2nd Force Reconnaissance Company, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force.  The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned that this had been his second tour of duty in Iraq after taking part in the first wave of the war in March of 2003. The Journal Sentinel went on to mention Benjamin was a 1999 graduate of Green Bay West High School. He had attended the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh for a time.  Sergeant Benjamin Edinger was the 29th Wisconsin military service person killed in the war in Iraq since the spring of 2003.   
                                    
                                                As of this blog entry's posting date:

    94,332 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
    
    9,316 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    4,370 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003. 

    926 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

    317 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    597 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001. 

    31,572 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003. 

    4,565 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001. 

    101 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    16 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

    139 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    17 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; and, icasualties.org.