Michael1942's Blog

The State of the Union address drew mixed reviews from all parties including Tea Party,New Republicans (Dupublicans), New Democrats (Scamocrats). Everyone wanted something that points to their side winning. The only winners that should come out of this should be the voters but our “representatives (of all flavors)” seem to have forgotten this. The American public has been assaulted from all sides with sound bites, innuendo and near truths by these Political factions but none of them have the interests of the voters in mind. It appears to me that the voters are last in the pecking order of receiving the benefits of proper representation by these groups but these groups are quick to solicit and accept monies to run their operations. The whole intent of free elections is to install the best people to do the work of running the country in a responsible manner on behalf of the voter, we have for the past 30 plus years been subject to slipshod and irresponsible governing due to the personal agendas of our “trusted” elected officials. The time to act is now and at every election cycle. Disregard the Hype, yard signs, bumper stickers and other semi truths and be not afraid to change horses in midstream, our representatives do.

A non profit gone rogue!It sad to report the end of the Springfield Urban Leagues’s mission to service the community. This comes on the heels of the Head Start program’s conversion to a Union Shop. The primary reason for this conversion is the mismanagement of the program. For several years the Head Start program has suffered in aged and outdated buildings. The upper management has seemingly mis handled funding with poor judgement in spending on rental of facilities which were barely up to standards, inadequate staffing in class rooms and poor to unsafe conditions in the buildings. Currently 1 site is shut down due an extreme mold problem which unfortunately was ignored last year while several people including a teacher were ill for several months. There are other issues involving the basic cleaning maintenance in all of the buildings.There have been several opportunities to move the program to better housing but management declined to entertain the idea of using available funding to take better care of their clients ( the children and their parents) or the workers. Now after eliminating 30 plus positions to try and break the Union effort, they are stalling in the bargaining process. During all of this time the same mismanagement continues and the board members, the policy council (the parent\ staff component) have been kept in the dark as to the Union situation and the actual problems confronting the head start program. The local papers have coverd this minimally and it should be covered better than the statehouse as this issue affects almost all of the citizenry of Springfield of Head Start age and their parents. This seems to be a non profit gone rogue!

The Mayor of Spring field Illinois committed suicide approximately 6 to 8 weeks ago. There was no suicide note but a 911 call from his cell phone determined that the call occurred before the gunshot as the bullet went directly into the body, passing into the car seat. The death was immediate enough to dispel any chance of long term survival after the shot. The mayor was not planning to run again for office but had run afoul of the legal system with an investigation of improprieties involving his handling of an estate involving monies that were to be given to a Catholic charity. Two of his top aides (cronies) have recently resigned their offices and one at least has ties to the estate controversy. This tie was knotted with the appointment of this associate to head the City Light and Power company. Now that office has been vacated perhaps with the revelation of a connection to this estate problem. Was this suicide an honor saving effort as used by the old Romans and several modern day so called gangland figures?