I have a friend who just three years ago was making six figures as a freelance artist. Now he's down to $1,000 a month when he's lucky, has sold everything he owns except his computer (because he uses it for work) and can't move to a cheaper place (he's already living in an efficiency) because he literally can't afford to move. I've been trying to talk him into applying for food stamps; so far, he hasn't.

And I don't think he's all that unusual. Right now, I know people who are selling their blood, lying their way into marketing focus groups, and trash-picking stuff to sell on eBay. (If I don't get a job before the latest unemployment extension runs out, it won't be long before I join them.)

It's really, really bad out here and getting worse. Mr. President, stop giving money to bankers and help our desperate unemployed:

CAPE CORAL, Fla. — After an improbable rise from the Bronx projects to a job selling Gulf Coast homes, Isabel Bermudez lost it all to an epic housing bust — the six-figure income, the house with the pool and the investment property.

Now, as she papers the county with résumés and girds herself for rejection, she is supporting two daughters on an income that inspires a double take: zero dollars in monthly cash and a few hundred dollars in food stamps.

With food-stamp use at a record high and surging by the day, Ms. Bermudez belongs to an overlooked subgroup that is growing especially fast: recipients with no cash income.

About six million Americans receiving food stamps report they have no other income, according to an analysis of state data collected by The New York Times. In declarations that states verify and the federal government audits, they described themselves as unemployed and receiving no cash aid — no welfare, no unemployment insurance, and no pensions, child support or disability pay.

Their numbers were rising before the recession as tougher welfare laws made it harder for poor people to get cash aid, but they have soared by about 50 percent over the past two years. About one in 50 Americans now lives in a household with a reported income that consists of nothing but a food-stamp card.

“It’s the one thing I can count on every month — I know the children are going to have food,” Ms. Bermudez, 42, said with the forced good cheer she mastered selling rows of new stucco homes.

Members of this straitened group range from displaced strivers like Ms. Bermudez to weathered men who sleep in shelters and barter cigarettes. Some draw on savings or sporadic under-the-table jobs. Some move in with relatives. Some get noncash help, like subsidized apartments. While some go without cash incomes only briefly before securing jobs or aid, others rely on food stamps alone for many months.

The surge in this precarious way of life has been so swift that few policy makers have noticed. But it attests to the growing role of food stamps within the safety net. One in eight Americans now receives food stamps, including one in four children.

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(Dodgy - after a brief respite of seven years, back together)

Actually, a reasonably well established band in the UK and ironically issued on an American label (A&M UK), Dodgy have been considered part of the Britpop wave of the 90s (i.e. Blur, Oasis) and having a number of charting singles they appear to be totally unknown here in the States. After an initial burst of success in the 90s, the band dissolved around 2001 and got back together in their original lineup in 2007 and are now touring and recording.

This track, Ain't No Longer Askin' is off their album Free Peace Sweet released in 1996 and climbed to #7 on the UK charts.

If you aren't familiar, here is a taste.

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(The Doors - someone wondered if in a hundred years we'd still be playing "Light My Fire" - so far, so good.)

I know this particular show has been bootlegged quite a bit; it's the PBS program "Critique" from May 23, 1969 which features The Doors performing in the studio, an interview with the band and a roundtable discussion between Richard Goldstein, Pat Kennealy, Rosko and Al Aronowitz.

My source is from NET (pre-PBS) and is probably as close to the original recordings as possible. The tape box says April 29, 1969, so I am assuming this is when the copy was made and not the original air date. Truths to tell, I haven't heard the bootlegs of this recording so I have no frame of reference with which to judge. All I know is, the sound is excellent and, if you haven't heard it before, pretty exciting. This was done shortly after the famous Miami bust and it's discussed during the round table portion. The interview with Morrison is great - the round table discussion afterwards is . . . well . . . interesting. You be the judge.

As for the performances themselves, it's classic Doors.

So here is "Critique" complete, uncut and exactly as it was aired in May 1969.

TIME Magazine: Republicans in the Wilderness: Is the Party Over?

The most urgent question is the meaning of economic conservatism. Representative Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, a conservative who keeps a bust of Reagan on his desk, surprised me by declaring that the Reagan era is over. "Marginal tax rates are the lowest they've been in generations, and all we can talk about is tax cuts," he said. "The people's desires have changed, but we're still stuck in our old issue set."

I give it one day. Once Rush mentions it on the radio, McHenry will be bowing and scraping before his altar.