The middle class needs a bailout for the same reason the banks needed a bailout--long-term systemic risk. If the (much smaller) government during the Great Depression could hire 4 million people in 4 months, why can we not do that today, now, immediately during the Great Recession?

Like the as-yet to be incurred, but already embedded, long-term costs of the Iraq War, the psychological and career trauma inflicted by prolonged unemployment are yet to be felt. But, they are real, they are profound, and they are increasing every day.

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In 1964, media analyst Marshall McLuhan suggested that a given medium was more important than its message. In 2009, I sat down with Dan Rather, Geraldo Rivera, Tim Zagat, Amy Goodman, Rachel Sklar, Carol Jenkins, Bill Pullman, Bob Simon, John Ziegler, Juan Williams, Kevin Macdonald , Mary Alice Williams, and Stephen Cannell to see what they had to say about the changing face of our news media.

Watch 'The New Media News'

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Although Nan Schrack and Mark Neville have been together since the mid-1990s, years of homelessness, unemployment and health problems have made it difficult for the couple to express their love like other couples might: by getting married.

When Neville approached Jim McNeil, a volunteer at a local church, for suggestions on how to raise money to get married, he had no idea the support he and his bride would receive. McNeil collected money from church parishioners to buy wedding rings, convinced a local hair salon to offer the couple free haircuts and found wedding clothes for them to wear. Wednesday afternoon, in an outdoor ceremony attended by the couple's friends, Neville and Schrack finally said their vows.

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Today's most interesting stories in technology, media and entertainment:

Sony just revealed its new PlayStation Move motion controller. The new controller is similar to the Wii controller in that it moves seamlessly with the user, with Sony calling it an "extension of your body." The Move uses the PlayStation Eye camera to sync the gamers motions to the screen, and will be available by the end of 2010.

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A split Kansas City school board tonight approved a historic plan to close 26 schools after turning back an effort to take several buildings off the list.

Usually St Patrick's Day is a day of celebration: whether it's wearing different shades of green, nibbling on soda bread, taking in a parade, tipping back a few cold ones, reciting Irish proverbs or belting out popular Irish songs with the sounds of bagpipes and drums filling the air.

But for employees of the Seattle-Post Intelligencer, St Patrick's Day, 2009 was a day for doing only one thing; crying in their beer and wondering what the future holds as Seattle's oldest newspaper rolled off the presses for the final time.

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The European Union Commission has proposed a new directive, to be voted on in March, that would make maternity leave compulsory for the first six weeks after a woman gives birth. You read that correctly -- compulsory. As in, women would be forced to stay home, regardless of their own wishes, if they have children.

Beyond the obvious affront on personal free will, the problems with this proposal are so numerous and egregious it's making our heads spin. Firstly, Europe as a whole already suffers from low female labor participation rates; continent-wide, only six out of ten women work. This is a major problem for the region, as it turns out women have been the key factor driving economic growth worldwide in recent years ("women have contributed more to global GDP growth than have either new technology or the new giants, China and India," according to a pre-mancession article in The Economist). Stigmatizing women by telling employers outright that women will not, by law, be as committed to the workplace as men is a foolish and self-defeating move.

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I may owe Sammy Sosa an apology.

In a recent post, I wrote about Sosa's apparent use of a skin product designed to make him appear whiter. I wondered if the baseball great's light skin was a capitulation to the colonizer mentality. This mindset holds that anything white is superior, and it has caused many black people to go to absurd lengths to seem whiter (both culturally and literally).

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Corey Haim is dead.

He spoke openly about his drug demons, struggled for years to re-find his footing in Hollywood and looked far older than his 38 years in photos. In a way, the Internet headline seemed morbidly preordained and not at all surprising. Still. There was something so tragic about it. And all day long, my mind has been stuck on Ally Sheedy's infamous line in The Breakfast Club: When you grow up, your heart dies.

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In January, I began following the 442 students of Charlotte Middle School in Charlotte, Tenn. who had decided to partner with UMCOR, one of the world's largest relief organizations, to provide "hands-on" support for Haiti by making 442 health kits.

Once they knew what each health kit needed to contain -- a hand towel, wash cloth, comb, bar of soap, nail clipper or file, toothbrush, toothpaste, and six adhesive bandages -- the Charlotte Tigers took their January focus on the positive character trait of generosity to great heights. All the students pitched in. It was reported that Ms. Richard's sixth grade homeroom students brought in 1293 items for the kits, and Ms. Baldwin's eighth grade homeroom students brought in 965! By the end of February, there were enough supplies to complete 525 kits, and the remaining items were donated to the Dickson County Help Center.

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WASHINGTON — Joanne Johnson wiped a tear from her cheek as she told a congressional hearing Wednesday how her brother died an unnecessarily early death because he didn't have health insurance.

Bill Maher unloaded on former Congressman Eric Massa Wednesday night during an appearance on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann," telling guest host Lawrence O'Donnell that Massa predictably blamed a list of cliche factors for his decision to resign.

"When I see this creep give every possible excuse that he could when he was first defending himself, I thought 'wow,'" Maher told O'Donnell. "He goes right down the list. First he blames it on health, then he mentions his family. Then it's the climate in Washington. I thought 'OK, are we gonna get to personal responsibility? Are you gonna get to that part?' And darn-it if he didn't do it. 'Yes, I disappointed myself, cause I'm usually such an awesome dude.' And I thought 'Wow, you stuck the landing dude. You got every single one of them. Now please go kill yourself.'"

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Glenn Beck and Michael Moore agree on one thing: If we could just beat the Republicans AND the Democrats this November, maybe we'd have a shot at solving the enormous challenges we face.

But since that's not likely, I would like to offer ten reminders to each party, to help them avoid some of the failings of their past and present.

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ATLANTA — A bill that would criminalize race-based abortions narrowly cleared committee at the Georgia Capitol Wednesday evening, drawing the Georgia General Assembly closer to a full-blown abortion debate.

Today's New York Times front paged one of those stories that reveals much that is wrong with official Washington and our economy.

There are few more vicious participants in the economy than the so-called "pay day lenders" - those store front practitioners of loan sharking that prey on the working poor. With unregulated fees and interest rates often leading to APRs of 400% and higher, it is possible to get very rich off of very poor people.

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What's in a name? To the U.S. Census Bureau it's no big deal that letters to residents of O'Fallon and Shiloh, Ill., informing them to be on the lookout for census surveys due next week came with the right zip code but the wrong town name.

JERUSALEM — President Barack Obama faces what may be the biggest test to date of his credibility in the Middle East after Israel greeted Vice President Joe Biden with an announcement that it will construct 1,600 new homes in disputed East Jerusalem, diplomats and analysts said Wednesday.

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's powerful spy chief, who's important to the domestic campaign against Islamic extremists and his country's co-operation with the U.S.-led coalition in neighboring Afghanistan, will remain in office for another year, the government announced Wednesday.

WASHINGTON — The Senate Wednesday passed a $137.9 billion package aimed at helping jobless people get more benefits and businesses to hire more workers, but only after controversy about the bill's cost and impact. The rare bipartisan vote was 62 to 36.

It's almost yesterday's news. Iverson. One of the greatest scorers in NBA history. A top-notch player by anyone's standards. An athlete of the highest order; a man of skill, a poster boy for one of the greatest professions on earth. And in the recycling bin, buried in the sports page, is a story of his ultimate unraveling last week: his wife filed for divorce, the Philadelphia 76ers relieved him of his duties, his drinking problem was exposed, and like others -- like me -- gambling claimed his soul.

Although sometimes a controversial figure in the NBA, Allen Iverson, AI, had it all. Big money, a marriage to his high school sweetheart, five beautiful children, and a promising career even for a mature and seasoned player. This year, however, the decline was obvious. He warmed the bench more than he was allowed to warm our hearts. And behind it all, behind his questionable value to the team where he spent many of his professional years, the demon was busy organizing a total dismantling of everything he worked so hard to achieve.

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