Michael1942's Blog

Why is it that the political deviltry is buried in the guts of the local papers at times and others times it is front page? The political system has become a media circus with the Congress as the main clowns. When did doing the job of responsibly spending our tax dollars become a such a chore that the “gentlemen and women ” of the Congress can’t do it? Instead of going about the work as any corporation would do (except the corrupt ones) and look at the options then make an informed decision , our Congress “leaks” or just has a press conference about it. This amounts to “campaigning”.if the Congress were actually doing the job they were elected to do then there would be no time for “campaigning” and no need to leak anything but there would be an opportunity inform the voters as to what they are doing or what they have done. The current politicians have become more media darlings than actual government workers and as far as I am concerned I would not pay a dime to see their show. The voters deserve better than we have received so far and it is past time for the voters to understand that because the noted “gentlemen” make a statement on TV or in any of the public media, it is not necessarily the truth or any part of the truth.The solution to this is for the American voters to relieve the sitting Congress of the heavy burden of doing their jobs. Neither major party is worth the energy it takes to lift a finger and each day they prove their ineptitude. Consider this: if you were the owner of a company and you had workers who sabotaged the work effort or did not do their jobs, what would you do? I would imagine many would say get rid of them and others would say have a talk with them with a reprimand of some sort. It is time for the voters to take back control of the Government by first pushing for term limits, salary caps and pension reform for the Congress.

The policians and aspirants are all espousing what they will do once in office. Let us take a look at the process of running for office and those aspiring to office. First there are the get aquainted sound bites and appearances, after that there the multiple public meetings appearances and fund raisers. All the while the message about what they will do is mixed and often garbled. Why do they not really listen to what the voters want (not just the vocally loud ones), then make a learned evaluation about what they want to do. It is plain that there can be no definitive message as to what each candidate will do when in office because they have no idea what is going on inside now and will n ot have until they are physically in the chair of power. Any encumbents who are running are in the loop but some times the loop gets a bit stretched and distorted. It is clear that aspirants cannot offer anything more than opinion as to what they will do as they do not have the necessary information to offer a reasonable statement on what they will do when in office. My opinion is that anyone running for office needs only to ask what the people expect of them (and not a small sampling), for instance I expect a candidate to be honest and above board within reason (no one is a saint and perfection is an illusion). I expect a candiate (if elected) to reach out to the hired in folks who have been running the show for years as these are the workhorses of any industry. Where would an Army be without ground troops? Where would a municipality, State or Government be without the clerks and hands on workers? Simply said do not promise anything you can’t deliver and do not be afraid to fess up when you are wrong and have made a mistake.

A lot of people enjoy a glass of wine and the quality ranges from common to vintage. The comparison is lost completely as this has nothing to do with wine. This has everything to do with people who whine and do nothing. The voters of America have whined about politics and its influence on every day life but when the time to truly be heard, we balk. We can complain and whine when the people we voted for failed to be elected or we can offer our voices to the elected officials who are in to make the changes we want but first we have to decide what it is that we want. Start first with the fact that our Congress is really serving at our behest and what they do should be what we want and need. Currently we have political party wars that do nothing to move us forward, instead these politicians are spending as if the money available is theirs to use as they see fit. Have you seen any of them attempting to change the law that affects their pay? Have you heard anything that sounds like the real truth? What you are hearing is the mouthing of politicians who are beholding to special interests, their party’s and themselves! In Wisconsin the uproar about budget reconciliation has more to do with politics than budget. Many “Dupublicans” have one main drive and that is to regain the White house and Congress. This does not mean that they will do any better job than the “Scamocrats” yet some of us voters have bought into the politispeak and have allowed ourselves to believe the hype. The truth while never pretty is still the truth and will always be the truth, while the lies and half truths fall by the wayside after the damage is done.

After a many years of poor management the Springfield Urban League’s guidance of the Head Start program is getting some notice from the Regional Head Start office. The program has suffered through several building shutdowns over a course of 2 years. These shutdowns due to mold and lead problems (which were ignored for years and even after being brought forth). The community has suffered as many clients (the children and their families) have no other resource for the services provided by Head Start. With these issues there is the expensive fight against the Unionization of the Head Start workers. This fight involving highly paid legal entities (up to $200.00 per hour) has dragged on for 7 months while 8 to 15 experienced teachers have been dismissed for dubious reasons. The program enrollment is below what is required primarily due to the lack of qualified teachers (who the League dismissed, again with shadowy reasons). These events seemingly spearheaded by a small faction of managers who apparently do not have a clue as to how this programs runs and what it takes to do it. The current “hands on” (?) Head Start management are experienced in implementing what upper management wants while knowing what is asked of them is improper and incorrect. Expect that there will be other poor decisions made that will further weaken and decimate the Head Start program.