I have listened to my opponent on three occasions. She has made these statements:
She would have voted “no” on the PDC Application. When the JSEB asked her why she would have voted “no”; I was there as we were interviewed jointly; she said “because that’s what the voter wanted”. She was asked if she attended any of the 42 hours of testimony and cross-examination, read any of the application, viewed the almost 500 letters in support of the application, attended any County Board meetings or visited PDC to see how they converted toxic waste into hazardous waste meeting all criteria of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Her answer was “no” to all of the above. How would you like to be on trial and everybody said you were guilty and my opponent, a jurist would then find you were guilty (even though evidence showed you were innocent) by letters to the editors, phone calls and emails?
My opponent has spoken at forums saying “the county can not be run like a business”. In 6 years on the county board, I have proved that “government can be run like a successful business”. Peoria County is trying to do just that with increased efficiency, encouraging elected officials to do the same, leadership training, improving employee morale, constantly reminding the unions they can’t retire with large pensions, have their medical benefits paid by the taxpayers get potentially 33 paid days off, and still get large salary increases each year. We have curtailed expenses in many instances, hired good administrators and encouraged the departure of employees who were not deemed to be doing their jobs. Exactly like a successful business operates.
My opponent has never met a payroll. She has been a bargaining agent for the Illinois Teachers Union and here is what Mike Bailey wrote on 6/18/05 ; “How District #150 Went Broke” “Peoria’s School Board gave away the farm with the five year teachers contract wreaking a hurricane that created a deficit of $54.3 million spending over the past five years. That contract was a convergence of factors, a militant new union leadership, ect.” On 4/17/05 the JS reported that my opponent on November 7, was a chief negotiator working with the Illinois Federation of Teachers. Now this teacher’s union contract is up again and negotiations have been going on since March.
On 12/05/05, an article appeared in the JS titled “Study: Tenure Means Job Security”. The article reads “It is next to impossible for schoolteachers in Illinois to lose their jobs. Strong teachers unions and high costs related to legal appeals often scare many school districts from getting rid of even the worst tenured teachers. Of the more than 95,000 tenured teachers in employed in Illinois, an average of only 2 a year are fired for poor job performance. Another 5 a year are dismissed for misconduct. Many of the larger school districts have not fired a tenured teacher over an 18 year span. Among those districts listed was Peoria School District #150, who had attempted only 5 formal remediations since 2001. The Geneseo school district has spent more than $400,000.00 in attorney’s fees over 5 years fighting appeals stemming from the firing of just one tenured teacher.
The Illinois Teachers Federation has for years fought any competition such as Edison Schools, Charter Schools and private schools. The Peoria County Board is represented by nine unions. Union board members on our board have worked to be fair in union dealings. To elect a militant member of the negotiating team of the ITF to the Peoria County Board would be a step in the wrong direction of keeping reasonable harmony between the county and the unions representing them.
While I was owner of Widmer Office Products/ Interiors we were ably represented by the Teamsters Union. No grievances where filed in 21 years before my sale of the company in 1992. My old company is still represented by the Teamsters as the only office equipment company in this area represented by a union to the best of my knowledge. Unions have lost ground in the private sector but gained ground in the public sector where public boards are usually weaker.
The Peoria County Board with the help of my experience and knowledge has worked with unions without giving away, as Mike Bailey said in June of 2005, “the livestock and the children”. All that could change in the next couple of years if you do not pay attention to who you elect to serve on the Peoria County Board.
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Friday, October 27, 2006
9/11 Pentagon Pictures
These are pictures I took when in Arlington on 9/11:
There is a fourth photograph taken from the Diplomat Parking area that I couldn't get scanned at this time.
There is a fourth photograph taken from the Diplomat Parking area that I couldn't get scanned at this time.
Dissent
“Thoughts” from the Oct. 30, 2006 issue of Forbes Magazine. “We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it”. (Edward R. Murrow) “No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots. (Barbara Ehrenreich) - I still think her book titled “Nickled and Dimed” filled with truths, half-truths and suppositions, is overrated. “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” (John F. Kennedy) “Those who use terrorism as a means to power, rule by terror once they are in power.” (Helen Macinnes)
And from local traveler Nicholas Hornickle “Experience proves that the man who obstructs a war in which his nation is engaged, no matter whether right or wrong, occupies no enviable place in life or history. Better for him, individually, to advocate ‘war, pestilence, and famine’ than to act as an obstructionist to a war already begun.. The history of the defeated rebel will be honorable hereafter, compared with that of the Northern man who aided by conspiring against the government while being protected by it. The most favorable posthumous history the stay-at-home traitor can hope for is - - oblivion.” (Quoting Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs)
And finally from an unknown author “Correct the error when it is discovered. Decent, honorable people have a duty to oppose conduct they judge harmful to their civilization. We are becoming a nation of disrespect for authority; allowing disrespect to continue is the reason why our juvenile courts, and juvenile and adult jails and prisons systems are overloaded with wasted lives.”
And from local traveler Nicholas Hornickle “Experience proves that the man who obstructs a war in which his nation is engaged, no matter whether right or wrong, occupies no enviable place in life or history. Better for him, individually, to advocate ‘war, pestilence, and famine’ than to act as an obstructionist to a war already begun.. The history of the defeated rebel will be honorable hereafter, compared with that of the Northern man who aided by conspiring against the government while being protected by it. The most favorable posthumous history the stay-at-home traitor can hope for is - - oblivion.” (Quoting Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs)
And finally from an unknown author “Correct the error when it is discovered. Decent, honorable people have a duty to oppose conduct they judge harmful to their civilization. We are becoming a nation of disrespect for authority; allowing disrespect to continue is the reason why our juvenile courts, and juvenile and adult jails and prisons systems are overloaded with wasted lives.”
Friday, October 06, 2006
PDC Landfill Application Expansion Hearings
Today’s “Letter to the Editor” from a Joanne Richardson is the first of a series of letters the radical environmentalists plan to have published in an attempt to defeat me in my race for reelection to the Peoria County Board. I received a call from Republican JoAnne Richardson, widow of Dr. Robert Richardson apologizing that she was not the Richardson that wrote the letter. She indicated that she would be writing a letter endorsing my reelection.
Some of you may not be aware that I wrote approximately 11 blogs on the research I had done on the Application for Expansion of part of the existing landfill owned and operated by the local Royal Coulter family, PDC. You can read these blogs by pulling up my archives starting in the last week of March and most of the month April.
I was one of 7 board members selected to be jurists for the county. (Actually all eighteen County Board members were told to be “jurists” and not base their decisions on community pressures). According to instructions given us by the Sates Attorney’s Office, we were to listen to only the evidence pertaining to the application, not as to whether the landfill should have been in that location in the first place, not where the waste came from, whether or not it could be recycled and not to be swayed by emotions stirred up by the radical environmentalists. We were to then to report our findings to the rest of the County Board, some of who attended none of the 6 days of testimony and cross-examination. Despite the fact that all testimony and cross-examination was posted on the internet many of the board members do not use computers. Four of the 7 of us voted in favor of the expansion based on facts. Of the three no votes, one was from a board member very active in the Sierra Club whose leadership was and is still trying to mislead the community that live toxic was and is being buried in the land that will eventually poison the whole community.
Unfortunately for reasons never explained to my satisfaction, the Siting Committee never had an opportunity to present our findings to the full board. Also the printed documents covering all public information did not become available until after the first vote in which the die was cast. I was of the opinion and still hold that opinion based on my being there that PDC never received a fair trial. PDC has filed a lawsuit against the county and the county has set aside the first $75,000 to defend itself and that is only a initial amount.
My position was backed by the Heartland Partnership, the Economic Development Council, the Chamber of Commerce and the Civic Federation. My position was also backed by Mayor Ardis and Bonnie Noble.
This week I received notification of my endorsement by the Progressive Peoria Political Aaction Committee (PAC)
By the way of interest, my opponent is telling people that if she had been on the board she would have voted no. She had an interesting time explaining to the JSEB how she could have made that decision without being involved or never having visited PDC.
If this community wants a person on the county board who makes all her decisions based on what her constituents tell her, so be it. Also pray that she never sits on a jury on which you may be being tried. She is also saying I said we are fortunate to have the landfill in Peoria. She evidently can’t read well either. I suggest she reread the article where I say we are fortunate to have a family owned business operating this landfill for 28 years the last 14 without a citation from the EPA. I stand by that statement.
I listened to my constituents in my district and 12 asked me to vote no. 4 of them changed their mind after I reviewed the testimony with them.
The entire proceedings are still available on www.peoriacounty.org
Thanks for your support. Do not look for yard signs or any signs as I am covering my district door to door and the response is excellent. I do not take money and have told the PAC that and they respect my request. They write “We appreciate your involvment in public service to the community and look forward to working with you after the election.” I, in turn appreciate their support.
Some of you may not be aware that I wrote approximately 11 blogs on the research I had done on the Application for Expansion of part of the existing landfill owned and operated by the local Royal Coulter family, PDC. You can read these blogs by pulling up my archives starting in the last week of March and most of the month April.
I was one of 7 board members selected to be jurists for the county. (Actually all eighteen County Board members were told to be “jurists” and not base their decisions on community pressures). According to instructions given us by the Sates Attorney’s Office, we were to listen to only the evidence pertaining to the application, not as to whether the landfill should have been in that location in the first place, not where the waste came from, whether or not it could be recycled and not to be swayed by emotions stirred up by the radical environmentalists. We were to then to report our findings to the rest of the County Board, some of who attended none of the 6 days of testimony and cross-examination. Despite the fact that all testimony and cross-examination was posted on the internet many of the board members do not use computers. Four of the 7 of us voted in favor of the expansion based on facts. Of the three no votes, one was from a board member very active in the Sierra Club whose leadership was and is still trying to mislead the community that live toxic was and is being buried in the land that will eventually poison the whole community.
Unfortunately for reasons never explained to my satisfaction, the Siting Committee never had an opportunity to present our findings to the full board. Also the printed documents covering all public information did not become available until after the first vote in which the die was cast. I was of the opinion and still hold that opinion based on my being there that PDC never received a fair trial. PDC has filed a lawsuit against the county and the county has set aside the first $75,000 to defend itself and that is only a initial amount.
My position was backed by the Heartland Partnership, the Economic Development Council, the Chamber of Commerce and the Civic Federation. My position was also backed by Mayor Ardis and Bonnie Noble.
This week I received notification of my endorsement by the Progressive Peoria Political Aaction Committee (PAC)
By the way of interest, my opponent is telling people that if she had been on the board she would have voted no. She had an interesting time explaining to the JSEB how she could have made that decision without being involved or never having visited PDC.
If this community wants a person on the county board who makes all her decisions based on what her constituents tell her, so be it. Also pray that she never sits on a jury on which you may be being tried. She is also saying I said we are fortunate to have the landfill in Peoria. She evidently can’t read well either. I suggest she reread the article where I say we are fortunate to have a family owned business operating this landfill for 28 years the last 14 without a citation from the EPA. I stand by that statement.
I listened to my constituents in my district and 12 asked me to vote no. 4 of them changed their mind after I reviewed the testimony with them.
The entire proceedings are still available on www.peoriacounty.org
Thanks for your support. Do not look for yard signs or any signs as I am covering my district door to door and the response is excellent. I do not take money and have told the PAC that and they respect my request. They write “We appreciate your involvment in public service to the community and look forward to working with you after the election.” I, in turn appreciate their support.
Mister Roberts Point of View
“The values we care about the deepest, and the movements within society that support those values, command our love. When those things that we care about so deeply become endangered, we become enraged. And what a healthy thing that is! Without it, we would never stand up and speak out for what we believe.” (Fred Rogers, The World According to Mister Rogers)
Friday, September 15, 2006
DDT and the World Health Organization
Just when I though I was taking a “blogger break”, I caught a headline in the WSJ today “WHO Calls for Spraying Controversial DDT to Fight Malaria”. What better news than “25 Iraqi’s killed in religious strife” as I see daily in the news. The article reads that WHO will encourage the spraying of SMALL amounts of DDT on walls and surfaces inside home in areas of highest risk of malaria. The spraying is usually conducted by government officials allowing them to keep tabs on the chemicals to assure their proper usages. The mosquito-borne disease malaria infects as many as 500 MILLION people a year and kills about a MILLION a year. Mostly thanks to the deceased Rachel Carson and her band of extreme so called environmentalists and weak Environmental Agency Officials. Carson wrote about protecting the egg shells of bald eagles from excessive use of DDT while killing millions of humans. Since DDT was TOTALLY banned after Carson’s book “Silent Spring” came out in 1960, you can attribute approximately 40 million deaths of poor people in the 3rd world, mainly Africa, to these do-good extremist environmentalists like Carson and weak elected and bureaucratic government officials.
The WJS article states that US Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma urged a stop to the boycotting of agriculture products from countries that DO use DDT for malaria control. Coburn says “As the experiences of South Africa and other African countries have demonstrated, DDT alone can reduce malaraia rates by 75% in less than two years.”
A group called “Beyond Pesticides” pushing for the total elimination of all pesticides is quoted as saying “the use of DDT is short-sighted and doesn’t recognize the long-term problems and hazards.” If this group wants the government to keep them totally safe, I hope they don’t drive a vehicle because 43,000 people were killed in vehicle related accidents last year and over one million injured. So I’m sure there are some nuts out there demanding that we all ride bicycles or horses.
Extremist environmentalist: I have six blogs this subject of “Extreme Environmentalists that cost his country BILLIONS of dollars a year. I am an environmentalist and abhor pollution, promote recycling and call attention to things that damage the health of other people. I try to use common sense in doing so. These extremists do not have the common sense to know that anything in excess is usually harmful to all living creatures. When DDT first came out it was used to excess in many places; children ran to spraying machines to be sprayed. That was proven wrong and DDT IMPROPERLY used is detrimental to life. So is alcohol, so is mercury (Most of us ingest small amounts of mercury every day) When something is going wrong, people with common sense take actions to slow it down or stop it but as soon as easily frightened people turn into groups, too many times they start looking to expand their power. Often, then common sense flies out the window.
For these extreme environmentalists, many of whom live in our area, there are no limits of projects they can stop once they find out threatening small groups who are able to catch the liberal media’s attention can wreak havoc with the economy and kill people by denying their needs. They’re the same people who on a sinking boat of 1000 people would demand the saving of the life of 1 person threatening the well being of 999; that person to saved as more important than saving the other 999. (If they were actually present as part of the 999, they might change their minds unless they have been promised 72 virgins (male or female) in whichever heaven they plan to ascend to.) Let all of us with a modicum of common sense and especially those who have their roots in Africa get behind Senator Coburn and the World Health Organization to move more quickly in wiping out malaria as we have done in the more sophisticated United States.
And start questioning people who make dramatic statement like “the Republicans are making the sky fall” and Peoria will become a “ghost town” or all of us in this country are going to be like “chicken little”.
The WJS article states that US Republican Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma urged a stop to the boycotting of agriculture products from countries that DO use DDT for malaria control. Coburn says “As the experiences of South Africa and other African countries have demonstrated, DDT alone can reduce malaraia rates by 75% in less than two years.”
A group called “Beyond Pesticides” pushing for the total elimination of all pesticides is quoted as saying “the use of DDT is short-sighted and doesn’t recognize the long-term problems and hazards.” If this group wants the government to keep them totally safe, I hope they don’t drive a vehicle because 43,000 people were killed in vehicle related accidents last year and over one million injured. So I’m sure there are some nuts out there demanding that we all ride bicycles or horses.
Extremist environmentalist: I have six blogs this subject of “Extreme Environmentalists that cost his country BILLIONS of dollars a year. I am an environmentalist and abhor pollution, promote recycling and call attention to things that damage the health of other people. I try to use common sense in doing so. These extremists do not have the common sense to know that anything in excess is usually harmful to all living creatures. When DDT first came out it was used to excess in many places; children ran to spraying machines to be sprayed. That was proven wrong and DDT IMPROPERLY used is detrimental to life. So is alcohol, so is mercury (Most of us ingest small amounts of mercury every day) When something is going wrong, people with common sense take actions to slow it down or stop it but as soon as easily frightened people turn into groups, too many times they start looking to expand their power. Often, then common sense flies out the window.
For these extreme environmentalists, many of whom live in our area, there are no limits of projects they can stop once they find out threatening small groups who are able to catch the liberal media’s attention can wreak havoc with the economy and kill people by denying their needs. They’re the same people who on a sinking boat of 1000 people would demand the saving of the life of 1 person threatening the well being of 999; that person to saved as more important than saving the other 999. (If they were actually present as part of the 999, they might change their minds unless they have been promised 72 virgins (male or female) in whichever heaven they plan to ascend to.) Let all of us with a modicum of common sense and especially those who have their roots in Africa get behind Senator Coburn and the World Health Organization to move more quickly in wiping out malaria as we have done in the more sophisticated United States.
And start questioning people who make dramatic statement like “the Republicans are making the sky fall” and Peoria will become a “ghost town” or all of us in this country are going to be like “chicken little”.
Water Company Potential Sale
My source from Illinois-American Water Company sent me an email this AM. It reads: “The newspaper article in today’s JS is 100% wrong. It is 100% inaccurate. Thames Water does not own American Water. RWE presently owns Thames Water. They are being sold independently of one another. The PJ article is based purely on internet speculation. No one from Illinois-American or American Water was contacted. American/Illinois Water has a petition before the ICC for approval of the sale of common stock of American Water. Under the present schedule, a decision could be made in March, 2007. All the information in the ICC process is open to the public and available to the news media.
On March 24,2006 RWE announced the decision to pursue an initial offering (IPO) in the US for the shares of American Water. This was the first step in RWE”s divestiture of American Water.
We are contacting the JS and other media outlets to clarify the misinformation.”
This email is attributed to Terry Mackin
Vice-President, Internal Affairs
American Water, Central Region (St.Louis)
I was chided by the JS recently on writing a blog based on “speculation”. And I’m not even a journalist major or minor.
Look for a correction the JS but maybe not.
On March 24,2006 RWE announced the decision to pursue an initial offering (IPO) in the US for the shares of American Water. This was the first step in RWE”s divestiture of American Water.
We are contacting the JS and other media outlets to clarify the misinformation.”
This email is attributed to Terry Mackin
Vice-President, Internal Affairs
American Water, Central Region (St.Louis)
I was chided by the JS recently on writing a blog based on “speculation”. And I’m not even a journalist major or minor.
Look for a correction the JS but maybe not.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Jobs Revisited
On August 20 I wrote a blog and I wrote a long comment back to “anonymous” but my comment got lost and never appeared on the site. So I’m creating a new blog to answer the question poised. “Are sports becoming so important in our lives that it is affecting student’s ability to get an education?” I believe that sports of all kinds from fantasy players playing for fantasy teams, obsession with real sports teams, parents over eager to make their kids athletes, winning at all costs, grade school, high school and colleges putting too much emphasis on sports have somewhat lessened students interest in pursuing careers in technology, medicine and engineering.
Another question presented “is Bradley putting too much emphasis on sports and physical activities with their $100 million facility planned for sports, physical education and recreation?”
On 10/14/05 I created a blog “How Sports Helped Mold My Life”. I suggest you read this blog and it will answer most of the question of the importance or over emphasis on sports of all kinds. Some sports participation is good for all people of all genders and ages. Over emphasis on sports is the same as overdoing any good thing such as eating, spending, drinking, driving in a reckless manner, sex, recreating and working. In my case, while my teachers told me I had the ability to excel in math, I was not interested. In fact I wasn’t much interested in anything except getting off the farm. My interest in wanting to play sports turned my life into a reasonable success. It helped prevent me from smoking, drinking and running with the wrong crowds and got me to bed at a reasonable hour. When I was in the Air Force and later college, I could often be found in the gym rather than in the local bars.(or the library) Sports participation also made me a competitor who preferred to win yet learned to lose. Sports experiences helped me become a good salesperson, a good follower, a good teacher and coach and a reasonably successful business man and a political leader.
I believe Bradley is planning to turn out an educationally well rounded, physically fit competitive graduate and that formula has proven to be good for the country. I believe we from the United States have proven to be better leaders, better followers, and better thinkers equipped to succeed when challenged by our adversaries. I attribute much of this to sports and any extra curricular activity that combines training, discipline, a work ethic, the challenge to be an individual and think on your own and still cooperate and an ability to be hard but fair losers and gracious winners. Passive viewing and passive participation leads to less physically fit men and women; men and women who we will always need to keep this country safe from those who care little for sports but plan constantly to do us great bodily harm. They listen to false prophets and these people can not be reasoned with by dialogue and acts of truth and love.
How and why we are falling behind in such skills as math, medicine and engineering is best described by Dr. Jerry Becker from SIU. You can get on Dr. Becker’s email list at jbecker@siu.edu I’m sure there are many more experts in the field and I know I have some extensive files on how to win the hearts and souls of kids who have the interest and abilities to pursue these hard topics. However, sports have and will always have a positive impact on a great many lives of kids and adults, some like me, for an entire lifetime.
An article by Tim Wendell of USA Today dated 1/23/06, is titled “Too Hard on Kids? Hardly”. Wendell says “Good coaching, and parenting (good), can keep a sassy child from becoming a reckless adult. If I get some dialogue on this blog I’ll go into more details of Wendell’s article.
Moderation of all things good is easy to say but difficult to achieve. Maybe we can get some comments on the benefits and negatives of active physical participation in one’s life at any age.
Since I am on the campaign trail but still try to do all the other things I’m involved in, I may be writing less blogs until after Nov. 7 election. I have only so much energy as I still compete in tennis and walk door to door and I do not want to be stressed out if I am to do a good job on my other obligations. For those of you just starting to read me, I suggest digging into my archives.
Thanks again.
Another question presented “is Bradley putting too much emphasis on sports and physical activities with their $100 million facility planned for sports, physical education and recreation?”
On 10/14/05 I created a blog “How Sports Helped Mold My Life”. I suggest you read this blog and it will answer most of the question of the importance or over emphasis on sports of all kinds. Some sports participation is good for all people of all genders and ages. Over emphasis on sports is the same as overdoing any good thing such as eating, spending, drinking, driving in a reckless manner, sex, recreating and working. In my case, while my teachers told me I had the ability to excel in math, I was not interested. In fact I wasn’t much interested in anything except getting off the farm. My interest in wanting to play sports turned my life into a reasonable success. It helped prevent me from smoking, drinking and running with the wrong crowds and got me to bed at a reasonable hour. When I was in the Air Force and later college, I could often be found in the gym rather than in the local bars.(or the library) Sports participation also made me a competitor who preferred to win yet learned to lose. Sports experiences helped me become a good salesperson, a good follower, a good teacher and coach and a reasonably successful business man and a political leader.
I believe Bradley is planning to turn out an educationally well rounded, physically fit competitive graduate and that formula has proven to be good for the country. I believe we from the United States have proven to be better leaders, better followers, and better thinkers equipped to succeed when challenged by our adversaries. I attribute much of this to sports and any extra curricular activity that combines training, discipline, a work ethic, the challenge to be an individual and think on your own and still cooperate and an ability to be hard but fair losers and gracious winners. Passive viewing and passive participation leads to less physically fit men and women; men and women who we will always need to keep this country safe from those who care little for sports but plan constantly to do us great bodily harm. They listen to false prophets and these people can not be reasoned with by dialogue and acts of truth and love.
How and why we are falling behind in such skills as math, medicine and engineering is best described by Dr. Jerry Becker from SIU. You can get on Dr. Becker’s email list at jbecker@siu.edu I’m sure there are many more experts in the field and I know I have some extensive files on how to win the hearts and souls of kids who have the interest and abilities to pursue these hard topics. However, sports have and will always have a positive impact on a great many lives of kids and adults, some like me, for an entire lifetime.
An article by Tim Wendell of USA Today dated 1/23/06, is titled “Too Hard on Kids? Hardly”. Wendell says “Good coaching, and parenting (good), can keep a sassy child from becoming a reckless adult. If I get some dialogue on this blog I’ll go into more details of Wendell’s article.
Moderation of all things good is easy to say but difficult to achieve. Maybe we can get some comments on the benefits and negatives of active physical participation in one’s life at any age.
Since I am on the campaign trail but still try to do all the other things I’m involved in, I may be writing less blogs until after Nov. 7 election. I have only so much energy as I still compete in tennis and walk door to door and I do not want to be stressed out if I am to do a good job on my other obligations. For those of you just starting to read me, I suggest digging into my archives.
Thanks again.
9/11
On 9/11/01, my wife and I were in Arlington, Va. I was approximately one and one half miles from the Pentagon playing in a tennis tournament at the Army and Navy Club and my wife was a couple of blocks away from the Pentagon on a tour bus. The American Airlines plane came in approximately 3-400 yards to the left of where four of us were sitting. We heard the explosive roar of the airplane engines as the plane accelerated it’s speed and altered it’s course from the White House to the Pentagon. As the plane disappeared from our view we sat in stunned silence (3 seconds or so) when we heard the thump as the plane hit the Pentagon and the “whump” as the fuel exploded. I ran to my car and raced to the Pentagon to find my wife’s bus. Fortunately her bus had left the area but Claire did see the flash of the explosion. Not seeing any buses in the area I took pictures and immediately left the area getting out of the way of fire and other vehicles as they were heading toward the disaster.
The area of the Pentagon I entered was the Diplomatic Parking lot. There was no panic in the people leaving the building. It was like they were just leaving work and walking to their destinations. The smoke was rising over the building and it is possible that those leaving the building were not sure of what had happened.
There is no doubt in my mind that the terrorist hijackers couldn’t clearly distinguish the White House so they altered their direction slightly to hit the Pentagon.
What has always concerned my wife and I is why we only saw one other plane in the air and that was at dusk as we stood on the balcony or our hotel and had only heard one sonic boom later in the afternoon.. We thought at that time and believe today that we were poorly prepared to defend our Capitol despite many articles that had been written about how easy it would be to fly a plane into a building and destroy it.
I read the articles in today’s JS about before, after and future feelings about 9/11, a couple of these articles I read with dismay. One writer asks “why are we not doing things to make it better for our kids and our children’s kids” (like we aren’t??; good grief) and another writes “we continue to cling to the myth that violence can solve our problems.” He writes the term “passive resistance” was re-coined by Mohandas Gandhi to the “force which is born of truth and love”. Both writers speak of non-violence as the answer to living together in peace on one small planet.
Both writers should join the real world. And maybe will some day as they mature. Wouldn’t we all like to live peacefully even in one small “segment” of society, say Peoria. We would not need a police force, juvenile courts, jails and nor prisons. All our kids would love to go to school and learn. And that is just the Peoria area. Come back and spread truth and love. Help solve all the small wars waged by people who would kill people of all races if given the opportunity, who envy the status of more developed worlds. Solve thousands of years history’s of divisions of religions like the terrorist Shiites and Sunnis. Just like these terrorist animals who wreaked sorrow and disaster on 9/11. I reprint a quote from an intellect in this month Forbes Magazine that says the “major differences between us and animals are that we drink when we are not thirsty and have sex anytime we want it.” Animals like lions have compassion too, they take good care of their young, but I suggest one stay away from them when they are hungry or get “riled” up.
Most of what I see the overly liberals writing about today is blame it all on the Republicans especially Bush and Cheney. I regret that this administration has made many mistakes but so did Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman, Johnson, Kennedy, and Clinton just to name a few. So did leaders from Lebanon, Germany, France, Russia and Japan. Violence happens when unlawful force is visited on usually tolerant people. This country has shown more tolerance than probably any country in the world.
I suggest those who believe in turning the other cheek read “The Open Society and It’s Enemies” written by author Karl Popper in 1945. Popper wrote “Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.”
The hatred by some people who would commit violent acts against us and each other are as old as history itself. Those who believe all problems are caused by the current administration need to read more history (include the Bible) about world events and especially, read the history of the Middle East. (I have read many books on world history, even taught it, and am reading “Fiasco” now; not that I believe everything I read) Maybe some “truth and love people” go to Israel and live for a year near tolerant terrorists like the Hezbollah or the Hamas. Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Iran can use people with artistic and international relations talents too. If you are looking for a non-violent world don’t stay in the U.S. We have more violent and non-violent people incarcerated that any other country in the world. All these imprisoned had most of the same opportunity we all have; get a free education and do an opportunity to do an honest day’s work. My ancestors fled “peaceful” Switzerland to escape religious persecution.
As to solving our problems with “violence” who do they think is protecting their freedom to live, write, get educated, speak freely and hold jobs or have families that had the opportunity to make money in a capitalist society that allow these writers to graduate from the University of Illinois and a design school in New York? I graduated from “lowly” Western because my parents had no money but I could use the GI Bill of Rights. Most Western graduates I know have more than a modicum of common sense, so much missing from many graduates of elite schools. I suggest both return to the Peoria area and help spread tolerance and diversity (didn’t Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner write “Has it occurred to people that the more we try to teach our kids to accept diversity, that we might be encouraging them to do the opposite? On the farm we had an old saying “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make the horse drink. Think about it.
I close with a quote not mine but could have been, “unlawful combatants have always been considered a scourge to humanity, today they pose the greatest single threat to organized society, and every opportunity must be taken to de-legitimize them”.
The area of the Pentagon I entered was the Diplomatic Parking lot. There was no panic in the people leaving the building. It was like they were just leaving work and walking to their destinations. The smoke was rising over the building and it is possible that those leaving the building were not sure of what had happened.
There is no doubt in my mind that the terrorist hijackers couldn’t clearly distinguish the White House so they altered their direction slightly to hit the Pentagon.
What has always concerned my wife and I is why we only saw one other plane in the air and that was at dusk as we stood on the balcony or our hotel and had only heard one sonic boom later in the afternoon.. We thought at that time and believe today that we were poorly prepared to defend our Capitol despite many articles that had been written about how easy it would be to fly a plane into a building and destroy it.
I read the articles in today’s JS about before, after and future feelings about 9/11, a couple of these articles I read with dismay. One writer asks “why are we not doing things to make it better for our kids and our children’s kids” (like we aren’t??; good grief) and another writes “we continue to cling to the myth that violence can solve our problems.” He writes the term “passive resistance” was re-coined by Mohandas Gandhi to the “force which is born of truth and love”. Both writers speak of non-violence as the answer to living together in peace on one small planet.
Both writers should join the real world. And maybe will some day as they mature. Wouldn’t we all like to live peacefully even in one small “segment” of society, say Peoria. We would not need a police force, juvenile courts, jails and nor prisons. All our kids would love to go to school and learn. And that is just the Peoria area. Come back and spread truth and love. Help solve all the small wars waged by people who would kill people of all races if given the opportunity, who envy the status of more developed worlds. Solve thousands of years history’s of divisions of religions like the terrorist Shiites and Sunnis. Just like these terrorist animals who wreaked sorrow and disaster on 9/11. I reprint a quote from an intellect in this month Forbes Magazine that says the “major differences between us and animals are that we drink when we are not thirsty and have sex anytime we want it.” Animals like lions have compassion too, they take good care of their young, but I suggest one stay away from them when they are hungry or get “riled” up.
Most of what I see the overly liberals writing about today is blame it all on the Republicans especially Bush and Cheney. I regret that this administration has made many mistakes but so did Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman, Johnson, Kennedy, and Clinton just to name a few. So did leaders from Lebanon, Germany, France, Russia and Japan. Violence happens when unlawful force is visited on usually tolerant people. This country has shown more tolerance than probably any country in the world.
I suggest those who believe in turning the other cheek read “The Open Society and It’s Enemies” written by author Karl Popper in 1945. Popper wrote “Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.”
The hatred by some people who would commit violent acts against us and each other are as old as history itself. Those who believe all problems are caused by the current administration need to read more history (include the Bible) about world events and especially, read the history of the Middle East. (I have read many books on world history, even taught it, and am reading “Fiasco” now; not that I believe everything I read) Maybe some “truth and love people” go to Israel and live for a year near tolerant terrorists like the Hezbollah or the Hamas. Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Iran can use people with artistic and international relations talents too. If you are looking for a non-violent world don’t stay in the U.S. We have more violent and non-violent people incarcerated that any other country in the world. All these imprisoned had most of the same opportunity we all have; get a free education and do an opportunity to do an honest day’s work. My ancestors fled “peaceful” Switzerland to escape religious persecution.
As to solving our problems with “violence” who do they think is protecting their freedom to live, write, get educated, speak freely and hold jobs or have families that had the opportunity to make money in a capitalist society that allow these writers to graduate from the University of Illinois and a design school in New York? I graduated from “lowly” Western because my parents had no money but I could use the GI Bill of Rights. Most Western graduates I know have more than a modicum of common sense, so much missing from many graduates of elite schools. I suggest both return to the Peoria area and help spread tolerance and diversity (didn’t Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner write “Has it occurred to people that the more we try to teach our kids to accept diversity, that we might be encouraging them to do the opposite? On the farm we had an old saying “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make the horse drink. Think about it.
I close with a quote not mine but could have been, “unlawful combatants have always been considered a scourge to humanity, today they pose the greatest single threat to organized society, and every opportunity must be taken to de-legitimize them”.
Friday, September 01, 2006
Erased Peoria Park Board Tapes of Executive Sessions; Accidental??
First I heard it was one tape that got erased “accidentally” of Peoria Park Board and Peoria Public School District #150 Executive Minutes. Then an unimpeachable source told me it was “two” Park Board Executive tapes that were “accidentally” erased. These tapes supposedly contain dialogue between certain Peoria Public School District #150 Board Members and members of the Peoria Park District Board of Directors concerning the relocating of Glen Oak School on Prospect Road and on private and PPD land.
Supposedly these tapes were made before some school board members authorized purchase of the houses on Prospect.
Surely someone in the media is aware of this “accidental” happening. I believe if I was involved my picture would by now have appeared at least twice in the local media.
Why the secrecy when it appears to be a known fact?
Just musing but I wonder why Keller-Williams was and is the authorized agent representing the school board to buy up these properties for the planned new school. My email to a school board member asking if this was by bid or why was Keller-Williams selected has gone unanswered. Linda Kepple and Keller-Williams appear to be synonymous and Linda is Jack Pearl’s daughter and Tim Cassidy, Park Board president is Jack Pearls nephew. I last heard a couple of years ago that Pearl Insurance is the prime insurer for the Park District and two Pearls’ and Linda Kepple ,made substantial financial contributions to Tim Cassidy’s campaign when he ran for reelection a couple of years ago and Pearl Insurance has been the prime insurer to the park for quite a long time. Just curious also to know if this tax collecting ($11 million last year) public body bids their insurance. It was also rumored that two phone banks were run out of Pearl Insurance offices in support of Mr. Cassidy.
I find this scenario very interesting. If any of my readers find the above is incorrect, please don’t hesitate to correct me.
Supposedly these tapes were made before some school board members authorized purchase of the houses on Prospect.
Surely someone in the media is aware of this “accidental” happening. I believe if I was involved my picture would by now have appeared at least twice in the local media.
Why the secrecy when it appears to be a known fact?
Just musing but I wonder why Keller-Williams was and is the authorized agent representing the school board to buy up these properties for the planned new school. My email to a school board member asking if this was by bid or why was Keller-Williams selected has gone unanswered. Linda Kepple and Keller-Williams appear to be synonymous and Linda is Jack Pearl’s daughter and Tim Cassidy, Park Board president is Jack Pearls nephew. I last heard a couple of years ago that Pearl Insurance is the prime insurer for the Park District and two Pearls’ and Linda Kepple ,made substantial financial contributions to Tim Cassidy’s campaign when he ran for reelection a couple of years ago and Pearl Insurance has been the prime insurer to the park for quite a long time. Just curious also to know if this tax collecting ($11 million last year) public body bids their insurance. It was also rumored that two phone banks were run out of Pearl Insurance offices in support of Mr. Cassidy.
I find this scenario very interesting. If any of my readers find the above is incorrect, please don’t hesitate to correct me.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Ethanol a Rip-Off, a Political Payback for Farmers Votes, or Both?
In an earlier blog, I recommended that those of you who read me and are concerned about your capital management, subscribe to Perkins Capital Management, Inc. newsletter. You can reach them at www.perkinscap.com One paragraph titled, “The Great Ethanol Debate” dated April 26, 2002 is revisited. In Perkins’s July newsletter, they bring the reader up to date with an article titled “Ethanol Revisited”. Quoting the current newsletter “We called it a bureaucratic boondoggle then (2002); today nothing has changed other than the boondoggle is bigger. The government today gives over $2 billion in subsidies to producers and blenders via a 51-cent-per-gallon credit. Demand for ethanol has caused its price to rise to about $4.50 per gallon currently which makes it far more expensive than gasoline with which it is blended, which today is about $3.00 at the pump. And recall that congress is mandating that ethanol use MUST grow to a minimum of 7.5 billion gallons by 2012.” The Perkins letter goes on “Then there is an inherent inefficiency of ethanol as a vehicle that gets 20 miles per gallon on gasoline, gets about 15 miles on the blend. Then consider the other unintended consequences, the higher price of corn due to increased demand translates to higher price you pay for all other products connected to the use of corn such as beef and cornflakes.”
Sum up: Ethanol is not as efficient as gasoline, costs more than gasoline, and requires more energy to produce. As usual, the consumer pays for it in the end, thru higher taxes for the subsidies, higher gasoline prices, reduced mileage and higher prices for products using corn. Since ethanol cannot be transported by pipeline, ethanol haulers help cog the highways and put more wear and tear on the infrastructure.
Brazil is held as a shining example of ethanol production by using the entire sugarcane plant. No corn. The Brazil scenario came from an overproduction of sugarcane in 1975 causing the government to mandate that surplus sugarcane be converted to ethanol.
We are searching for other products that can be converted into ethanol for less cost. That would be a good thing is there were no subsidies.
On 4/28/04, Alan Greenspan is quoted as repeating the medical creed “government should do no harm”. Quite often, the government does harm. Competitive harm.
Sum up: Ethanol is not as efficient as gasoline, costs more than gasoline, and requires more energy to produce. As usual, the consumer pays for it in the end, thru higher taxes for the subsidies, higher gasoline prices, reduced mileage and higher prices for products using corn. Since ethanol cannot be transported by pipeline, ethanol haulers help cog the highways and put more wear and tear on the infrastructure.
Brazil is held as a shining example of ethanol production by using the entire sugarcane plant. No corn. The Brazil scenario came from an overproduction of sugarcane in 1975 causing the government to mandate that surplus sugarcane be converted to ethanol.
We are searching for other products that can be converted into ethanol for less cost. That would be a good thing is there were no subsidies.
On 4/28/04, Alan Greenspan is quoted as repeating the medical creed “government should do no harm”. Quite often, the government does harm. Competitive harm.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Jobs
Jobs go begging in Peoria, evidently. Today’s JS has 8 1/4 pages of employers looking for employees. The employer’s problem is that too many applicants aren’t qualified. Many can not read well enough to be hired, fail drug tests, have court records, have no resumes that back up their self-esteem, (or maybe they never really earned much self-esteem), little math skills and too much of their computer skills are limited to playing games. Or, some of the possible applicants may feel that the starting pay is too low and the work, too hard.
Many schools across the country are using innovative techniques to help students develop needed skills by convincing kids that mastering required job skills will help them get and hold a job that will pay at least livable wages. It opens opportunities to be working and enjoying their work at the same time. In Peoria Public School District #150, I’m told that counselors guide the kids onto paths where they may have the best chance to succeed. But today’s kids often have so many personal problems that counselors don’t have the time to do what they where originally intended to do.: Guide and encourage kids to pay attention in the classroom, master the basics of reading, writing, basic arithmetic and math and computer skills. Counselors must have the time to help kids of every age and background understand they must learns the basics schools offer. Otherwise, how can they help kids select courses that can eventually lead to career’s in which they are most likely to succeed. Counselors should be advising kids that they can only expect to be hired if they have proper attitudes, basic skills and the work ethics required for the job being offered.
This school season is opening with more enthusiasm than I’ve noticed in some other years. Northmoor, as an example of the many good schools that we have in #150, has an open house and lunch for both parents and teachers Monday and I’m invited to attend. All teachers are excited about teaching these kids in this great learning atmosphere created by themselves, staff, concerned parents, interested community leaders, School Board Member Mary Spangler and Principal Nicole Wood.
As kids get older, problems become more prevalent and many kids get lost in the school system and in the community. But, by getting off to a good start in the lower grades usually determines their success in middle schools and high schools. With a well rounded high school education and a work ethic, kids are equipped to become assets to communities no matter what type of a home background they come from.
The community offers many other programs that help kids, especially those who have faltered along the way, assistance to get their GED, Workforce Development, I.C.C., Bradley and private industry programs. We have strong social networks guiding kids to make correct decisions about where they are heading before too many mistakes are made. We need even more preventive programs to slow the clogging of our welfare systems, our juvenile court systems, county jails and prisons.
More vocational training guidance at an age earlier than high school is an absolute and #150 has failed in the past to provide more kids the opportunity to succeed even if they never set foot in a college. With recent new leadership, I believe beneficial opportunities in vocational training in District #150 public school system will benefit employers and allow our local young people to become fully employed and become contributing good citizens.
Please scroll my archives where I have written dozens of blogs on our school systems.
I ask that reader’s post additional information on my blog site about our school systems and the employer’s increasing hiring dilemmas.
Many schools across the country are using innovative techniques to help students develop needed skills by convincing kids that mastering required job skills will help them get and hold a job that will pay at least livable wages. It opens opportunities to be working and enjoying their work at the same time. In Peoria Public School District #150, I’m told that counselors guide the kids onto paths where they may have the best chance to succeed. But today’s kids often have so many personal problems that counselors don’t have the time to do what they where originally intended to do.: Guide and encourage kids to pay attention in the classroom, master the basics of reading, writing, basic arithmetic and math and computer skills. Counselors must have the time to help kids of every age and background understand they must learns the basics schools offer. Otherwise, how can they help kids select courses that can eventually lead to career’s in which they are most likely to succeed. Counselors should be advising kids that they can only expect to be hired if they have proper attitudes, basic skills and the work ethics required for the job being offered.
This school season is opening with more enthusiasm than I’ve noticed in some other years. Northmoor, as an example of the many good schools that we have in #150, has an open house and lunch for both parents and teachers Monday and I’m invited to attend. All teachers are excited about teaching these kids in this great learning atmosphere created by themselves, staff, concerned parents, interested community leaders, School Board Member Mary Spangler and Principal Nicole Wood.
As kids get older, problems become more prevalent and many kids get lost in the school system and in the community. But, by getting off to a good start in the lower grades usually determines their success in middle schools and high schools. With a well rounded high school education and a work ethic, kids are equipped to become assets to communities no matter what type of a home background they come from.
The community offers many other programs that help kids, especially those who have faltered along the way, assistance to get their GED, Workforce Development, I.C.C., Bradley and private industry programs. We have strong social networks guiding kids to make correct decisions about where they are heading before too many mistakes are made. We need even more preventive programs to slow the clogging of our welfare systems, our juvenile court systems, county jails and prisons.
More vocational training guidance at an age earlier than high school is an absolute and #150 has failed in the past to provide more kids the opportunity to succeed even if they never set foot in a college. With recent new leadership, I believe beneficial opportunities in vocational training in District #150 public school system will benefit employers and allow our local young people to become fully employed and become contributing good citizens.
Please scroll my archives where I have written dozens of blogs on our school systems.
I ask that reader’s post additional information on my blog site about our school systems and the employer’s increasing hiring dilemmas.
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