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Monthly Archives: July 2011

Illinois Governor or Chicago Governor?


The fact that our Governor(?) does most his work in Chicago brings about the question of “who does he really Govern, Chicago or the State?”
Of all the people who have run for this office, we have yet to get a really good one or at least one who understands the job. It is good PR to live and work in Springfield (you remember Springfield, the State Capital). With the trial and associated coverage of one former Governor, we now have one who gave raises to his staff while cutting the pay of union and non union workers. I believe we have a person in the Governors seat who promised the moon and can only deliver lip service to that promise. Politics is a business of promises , most of which are unable to be fufilled and the balance only slightly viable. When the voters are swayed by glitz and smooth sounding sound bites, we have already lost the power to control the officials we vote for. It appears to me that all who aspire to political office go in with the best intentions then quickly descend in the hell of the good old boys ineptitude.

The Economy


The current all consuming struggle to raise the debt ceiling has generated a lot of talk from the high profile participants but no solution. The simplest solution involves cuts and increased taxes. The proposed increase in taxes would affect the wealthier individuals, this group involves many of the Congressional members as well as the President. The President has previously mentioned this but the Congress in their own self centered way have distorted this to seem that every taxpayer will be assessed in this raise. While the “cuts” are ones that affect seniors and the neediest people. The purpose of this deceit is to get public opinion on their side and thereby garner votes at election time. To make a point, Warren Buffet expressed the thought that he would not be against paying more taxes but this was never widely publicized. Our Congress in all of their self serving rhetoric do not feel the need to join in on this because they do not represent anyone but themselves. Where else can a person gain an office where the annual pay increases come regularly without discussion ( a law enacted by Congress makes this possible), receive a generous pension after one term and have a broad coverage health plan at a good price? The Scamocrats and Dupublicans have spent the last 10 to 15 years with this problem looming on the horizon and done nothing about it. Now they apparently want to pin this problem to the lapel of the President.. It is unfortunate that America’s politics is as dirty as ever and possibly as bad as it was pre-civil war. Our erstwhile elected officials have made a mockery of the offices they occupy and completely forgotten what the job is about.

Helmets


Recently a motorcyclist lost his life due to the error of a driver emerging form a side street without seeing the cyclist just the larger vehicle that preceded the Cylist. This a tragedy in 2 ways, first the drivers haste to enter traffic without insuring this move was safe and second the cyclist was not wearing head protection. I have heard a number of reasons for not wearing helmets but when I see a tragedy like this, I feel that none of them hold water. I have been on the receiving end of drivers making mistakes in entering traffic and I was in a vehicle. This first hand involvement was for me horrific even though there was no loss of life just injuries. There is nothing worse than that instant realization of an impact and you can do nothing about it exxept ride it out. Not being a motorcyclist, I still advocate for helmets to save a life as we have drivers with poor judgement on the roads.

What Is Wrong With Illinois?


What is wrong with Illinois? We can’t seem to elect an honest Governor! The current Governor is completely out of touch with the needs of the State and it’s residents. To date we have had a tax increase which is paid by the people who have just had their salaries cut and their raises eliminated. These same folks have made concessions such as unpaid furloughs, legally mandated increases and the increases they would have gotten if the tax increases in their company’s taxes had not occurred. We have incurred on the State and Federal level a depth of incompetence that rivals third world countries. The only thing the public has is the right to vote and unfortunately we have been too trusting in our elected officials to oust them especially when they use certain “sound bites” that arouse our innate fears of one another. We as voters have effectively been “advertised” into voting for the wrong people and been too complacent to remove them. There are no longer two parties any more we just have a group of elected officials who are not doing the job we elected them to do just what ever benefits them personally. Term Limits!

Fiscal Morass


Again we are beset with the pros and cons of the debt crisis and it’s possible resolutions. The Congressional leaders and the President have been haggling over this for months with very little movement.Up to now this each side has attempted to appease their more vocal constituents with rhetoric, infighting and media blurbs. All of this has not moved us closer to a solution to the problem. The economy will be the undoing of all of them at election time regardless if an agreement is reached or not.The ordinary folk will decide for better or worse who they want to represent them. These decisions will be made based on activities by these factions. The current sticking points painted in broad strokes is raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans (a few of them have voiced an opinion that they have no problem paying more) which includes many of our Congress men and women.The other part is cutting the payouts for medicare, Medicaid and social security. This would affect millions who have been hit the hardest by current fiscal events and will suffer the most with these cuts.I believe the public does not fully understand the whole scope of these negotiations and the final impact since all of the conversation has been sound bites and political rhetoric along with opinions for nationally known pundits.My perception is the Government is broken from top to bottom and the reasons rest squarely on our Congress who failed to protect us, there have been several presidents but essentially the same Congress.

The Aging Factor


In the non stop aging process I have noticed that some things remain constant or accelerate. First you tend to have the urge to visit the facilities more often. This is due to several factors:
1. A lot of us are taking medications that lower blood pressure by creating an urge to urinate more often.
2. the Bladder sphincter is not as strong as it once was.
3.Our lessening of physical activities creates a weakness of all muscles that we normally used daily when we were younger and
still more active.
4. All of the other medications we may or may not be taking for the assorted illnesses associated with aging.
Theres really no conclusion or moral here, just the fact that with aging comes a few other problems that we never had prior to the 50 to 65 + years.What stops aging?- Death!

The Audacity of It All


There are factions within a local government funded program that targets the health and education of families in Springfield that are causing a catastrophic rift in services. The Head Start program administrators have over several years managed to get rid of 30 plus workers in the program causing a decided lowering of standards in teaching and building maintenance. These factions amount to a vocal set of folks who if not for this program and the current managers would be unable to reach the level they exist in. These same contributors to the lessening of standards have created such a disastrous situation that even the neediest parents have begun seeking other alternatives to the Head Start program as administered in Springfield. Those parents who serve on the policy council were deliberately kept uninformed about the firings and hiring’s as was their right to know and comment or act on. It is unfortunate that the upper management see no harm in what they have done and continue to do yet the evidence is all around them like the remains of a tornado. The community should be up in arms about this yet they have been still sheltered from their own plight by deception and actions bordering on corruption. these audacious actions have been noticed by the regional and state Head Starts but no action has been taken since much of the truth is still being hidden.

Not So Fast


All of the “fast food” establishments are in a race toward a meld of being the same. The specialty restaurants have abdicated those roles that made them what they are. You can now get chicken nuggets, sandwiches and salads at most of the known ff outfits. You can get burgers at all but 2 of the known brands but the difference is remarkable. The key to these differences in order of importance relative to your “dining” are the order taker, the sandwich maker and the manager. The attitude of the order taker and how much attention is paid to detail stars the cycle, the sandwich maker who receives the order (which is correct or incorrect as) forwarded by the order taker.Last is the manager who then has to apologize and get your order right. Of course at that time your dissatisfaction has overshadowed your hunger (especially if you went through the drive by (its like a shooting when the order is wrong). The ever escalating quest for market share has brought us to the current state of not so fast food, not so good food and deplorable service at the counter and drive bys. It was not too long ago that one could go into one of these stores and get exactly what you pay for and receive it correctly with a smile

Stepping Up


The current back and forth between parties and the President has reached a point of absurdity. The congress says the president has to step up and the President has asked the two parties to step up. We are near critical mass and to look at this problem objectively we need to consider the past 20 years. The current Congress has been in place for the most part all of these 20 years and we have had several Presidents, the problems have been growing in that time while each major political party had their time at bat and made fewer hits than they could have. While each President has had their tough times, the Congress has continued in their own way to make things better or worse according to your individual point of view. The voting public only has information from the printed or broadcast media as a source of information and usually that information derives from the politicians themselves. There are smaller splinter groups of each party and the lesser known political parties who have been vocal and active in relieving some politicians of their jobs but those results are marginal until the next election. I say “let the voters beware” of all the media coverage on these groups and individuals who appear to be “deliverers” as they too can become no more than dust in the wind. If you can accept that these are just people who have become well known and have no more solutions than the current office holders then the onus is on the voters. We the people have to ignore the fiery rhetoric and look at what each candidate is really “selling”, is it truth or dare?