Lowest level of weekly jobless claims in six months? Ha!!

They seem to be making a big point that the number of jobless claims fell to levels not seen since January (six months ago) last week. Well I'd like to mention two circumstances that ought to be taken into account: (1) It was a shortened week with many businesses, including my former employer, taking Friday off for the Fourth of July and (2) the impossibility of actually applying for unemployment (and making that first claim) what with the new paperless (HA!!) system.

I wasn't able to complete that process until today (by telephone) after being given that nutty Sunday date by the helpful folks at the unemployment office who refused to speak to me earlier than Thursday of this just past week because all applications for Unemployment Benefit Status and first claims for those benefits can only be done by phone and/or the Internet. My mailbox out in front of the house was full every day during the week as a result of my playing it "by the books."

Paperless? You should see my living room--and that's with an inoperable printer on my computer shelf!

Bah! Humbug! It's time for Huckabee and Palin to reduce the size of Government and the complexity of the red tape. At least let's get the numbers straight with my claim in the pot. It would have been 565,001 last week had the system worked (no pun intended).