I'm trying to wrap my head around this one. Personally, I'd rather we have universal, single-payer healthcare in this country that the President worry about gay rights, if a choice had to be made between the two. And I'm a gay man.

Still, GLBT citizens voted for Obama in overwhelming numbers, expecting that - for once- our government would actually treat us fairly and give us rights that are way overdue. But then we get defense of DOMA which likens us to child molesters. And Don't Ask, Don't Tell is just as strongly enforced as it was under Bush- despite the FACT that it deprives our armed forces of highly valuable service members.

Now this. I don't work for the Federal government. So good for the GLBT people who do, I guess. I just wonder why we're always the group that seems to get thrown under the bus at a moment's notice for political expediency? Even in a situation where the President holds most of the political power.

And that leads to my main complaint thusfar about Obama. He holds the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate. He has enormous political capital. And yet, he'd rather waste precious time reaching out to narrow minded obstructionists who will never agree with anything he does anyway. We handed him a mandate- why the hell doesn't he act like it?

"In an overleveraged economy, job losses can be expected to be followed by further delinquencies and mortgage foreclosures."

Exactly. I've been unemployed since March and due to the extremely small amount of unemployment benefits I am allowed (covers rent and groceries only, and then, just barely) I'm not able to pay the full minimum amount on my credit card. They've been calling relentlessly, but you can't get blood out of a stone.

But what can they expect? When people lose their jobs, it's all about survival at that point. I just feel sorry for those who have mortgages they cannot meet due to unemployment. That's the real tragedy.

I see signs of economic improvement in my area (new restaurants and businesses are starting to open, construction is returning after months of stalled building) but the economy is still very volatile. There are no jobs out there, and the competition for the ones that do exist are enormous. Not to mention the stock market- it took a giant hit on Monday that erased two weeks worth of extremely slow growth. We're not out of the woods yet, but I sincerely hope things start turning around. I don't know how much longer I, and many others, can take this.

Seriously? Ever since Reagan removed the Fairness Doctrine during his administration, our media and the capabilities of the fourth estate have been on a slow slide into absurdity. Instead of rational, fact based news we have spin, lies and bloviating based solely upon the corporate bottom line.

How would it be possible for a propaganda entity like Fox News to exist were the fairness doctrine in place? More to the point- how would the Iraq war been able to happen were it not for the unquestioning cheerleading of the mainstream media? I don't recall a single person on any mainstream media program who asked the obvious, most pertinent question in regard to Iraq- Do we even need to be there in the first place?

Instead we got nothing but talking points and beating of the war drums. The American media is a joke, a total laughing stock. A return to actual balance might change that.