While the only comfort a million laid-off works had going for them was catching up on their television, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid has said that almost 1.5 million people around the country will be unable to watch their local TV stations starting today.  This is due to the inability of the Senate to pass a 30-day satellite television extension while previously allowed “people in rural areas to watch their local TV stations via satellite”.

If you’re not one of the 1.5 million unemployed, I’m sure they will trade places with you and take your job.  But because of the slowrolling Senate, satellite operators will not be allowed to provide signals.  If you are one of these people, you can send your hate mail to Kentucky, where Sen. Jim Bunning (R) single-handedly prevented the vote on the extension.  Obvisouly Sen. Bunning has never subscribed to satellite television and perhaps might not even own a television living in Kentucky.  If he did, he would know how much he and other viewers would be missing out on local programming.

While Bunning said that there are more important things for the Senate to vote on like COBRA health benefits, flood insurance, and small business loans, he should remember that the people who pay his salary also created a petition to save Chuck that worked.  This might have been career suicide for Bunning since I don’t know much about Kentucky other than Ashley Judd goes to the UK basketball games, the capital is Frankfort, and that Louisville sluggers are made there.