June
Make the bad man go awayPart I
One legislator, Rep. Skillicorn (R-IL) recently discussed what lawmakers dropped the ball on this past session. Can you guess? Come on now — think. Yes! Bingo! He says the legislation has failed to address and tackle pension reform.
The pension is underfunded!
Oh my — here we go again as another Republican wades into the muck of pension reform. They are the number 1 issue that drives up costs and drives down services he exclaims. He worries that the $130,000,000 pension debt will drive millennials out of state. Really? This is a new one. Maybe we should just let them go, huh? But they won’t leave unless mom and dad do, if you think about it.
So now we are up to $130,000,000, soon to be $200 billion, then $300 billion, and not far off, we will mirror the national debt of $25,000,000,000 (that’s trillion).
Y’all worried about that? What if we all leave the USA over that? Go to Haiti, maybe, or the Turks and Caicos where I bet no one knows what the debt is.
When you think of it, most of the national debt is what we owe ourselves. Can you say Treasury notes? Of course, I’m being somewhat fatuous, but does anyone really worry about a debt that is now impossible to eliminate? Except, of course, those white-haired guys on TV and Glenn Beck, who want you to buy gold. Another dead meat investment that rich folks try to con you into.
So my solution is to just think of pension debt as money we owe ourselves — the price of safety and security. Easier to swallow.
But lawmakers like Skillicorn want a constitutional amendment on the ballot asking the public if politicians should amend the Illinois Constitution. You know, the document the Illinois’s Supreme Court will not allow these lying liars to change or diminish as it pertains to our pensions.
We are safe for now, as all efforts to advance such a referendum have failed. None were advanced or even hit the debate stage.
Maybe I can suggest instead of millennials leaving, how about they do?
Vita é bella.
May
Can't have an opinionNews flash: A Decatur police detective commented to a local newspaper that some drug sniffing dogs would have to be euthanized if marijuana is legalized. He felt the animals would have to be put down because they can’t be retrained.
So it’s reported that the police chief, after seeing this comment, “was left scratching his head and apologizing.” Really? Apologizing for his detective’s opinion on a matter which could ultimately prove correct? Why does everyone feel the need to apologize for everything? What did the detective say that was so terrible?
The chief said the detective used a bad choice of words and wishes he didn’t say it. What was he supposed to say? That Lassie was going to see Rin Tin Tin in doggie heaven? Of course, after seeing his boss scratch his head and apologize, the detective could see he might have a problem.
An article in the Tribune reports that “experts” in the wake of the detective’s remark have dismissed the assertation of euthanasia for these drug dogs. I guess the article has significance as the story confronts the issue that the role of these dogs may change if the deadly weed actually is legalized.
Other experts say that it may be difficult and costly to retrain these dogs, but it can be accomplished by withholding rewards (treats, affection) so the doggie knows sniffing out some Columbian Gold will not yield a positive result.
But what I find interesting was one expert’s statement that there was no reason for any dogs to be euthanized because the plant that makes you fly would be legalized. That’s extreme, he says, and it’s almost like the officer was trying to coerce the people who are going to be voting on the proposed law.
Now I’m scratching my head on such a ridiculous comment. It’s obvious that you shouldn’t give an opinion that may be construed as anti-cannabis legislation, according to the experts. My, how the world has turned.
Vita é bella.
More on unsustainable pensions
Recently there have been op-ed pieces on the City of Harvey and their financial woes. One writer said that the “unfolding crisis in Harvey should send shivers down the spines of public employees and retirees across Illinois.” Wow — shiver me timbers.
He goes on to write that taxpayers already pay the highest combined state and local taxes in the country and have to pay due to — ready — “unsustainable public benefits and a state government who refused to do anything about them.”
The piece goes on to tell us the fiscal worries of Harvey and how they are on the brink of financial collapse. That is due to the fact that money has been garnished from Harvey’s revenue to pay for pensions. And it is bad with the resulting layoffs of 40 cops and firefighters.
One think tank watchdog group believes four things should be done to help us all in the future.
1. End defined benefit pensions for new employees and give them 401(k) plans like the private sector. Dude. This isn’t the private sector.
2. Amend the Illinois constitution to remove the no-diminishment clause Dude. Tried and failed. Stop whining.
3. Give collective bargaining power back to local governments. *Maniacal laughter* Dude.
4. Let cities file for bankruptcy. Dude. Can’t do that here in Illinois. It’s just a trick to kill collective bargaining and renege on commitments.
As we know folks, any time a think tank or watchdog group gives an opinion, you know it will be bad for public workers.
In reading all this crap, I prefer the words of a retired civil servant in author Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s book Notes from the Underground as an answer to this op-ed piece above. “I am a sick man. I am a spiteful man. I am an unpleasant man. I think my liver is diseased.”
And that’s from reading all about my unsustainable pensions. Sick of it for sure. Vita é bella.
The climate on freeing you of your Second Amendment and owning guns is the current hot topic, as you know. Everywhere it’s some liberal pointing their crooked fingers at the NRA and gun owners. Most of the rhetoric is just stupid.
Three-hundred fifty million people in the USA, a few of them are bound to be whackjobs. I don’t know how to stop them. I don’t belong to the NRA, but I don’t have any beef with them. Everyone’s special interest needs someone to fight for their agenda. Just like union members do. But it’s unfair of liberals to blame the NRA or gunowners. It’s the crazy assholes, stupid!
When you think of it, nowhere is really safe. That’s why you have security checkpoints at Disney World, sports stadiums, state and federal buildings, and why you can’t linger at airports where airplanes live.
It’s a crazy train out there. So for your most valuable of possessions — our children — put cops in schools. But as I’ve written before, it’s got to be the right cops.
As was witnessed in Florida recently, not all of them are very brave. Most are, but not all. Being fearful is not exclusive to a select few. It can affect anyone at any time. So train the boys and girls in blue who want this job and they will take care of the baddies. Bravery and courage is what cops possess, but it’s necessary to be prepared.
I’ll tell you one thing for sure, banning semi-autos and magazines like they did in Deerfield, Illinois, is not going to stop anyone from doing something that causes mayhem in schools. It is so stupid. More knee-jerk reactions from clueless politicians. Facing a $100 fine per day for possessing an AR-15 will do little for those bent on murder. So if you’re caught with an AR-15 or 10 round magazines, and you don’t give them up, you are fined this arbitrary amount? Please — stop.
All it will do is make more criminals of law abiding personages. Chi-raq, with the toughest gun laws, has more murders and attempted killings every day. London, where guns are hard to find, they had over 7,000 gun related crimes. Yes, in the Land of the Bobbies, people still kill people with guns.
But the choice of mayhem in London and Wales are knives. Over 37,000 crimes involving knives took place in those two cities alone. It’s so bad now that the Mayor of London has just banned the carrying of knives in the city. That’s no joke, either.
Maybe more of their citizens need to arm themselves with an AR-15, which as you probably can guess, is a much more effective way to protect yourself when some “bloke” with a knife comes after you, or whatever weapon is available to those bent on mayhem. Vita é bella.