Governor Quinn is being a mouse turd

Yeah, I get it, the state is in financial ruin(if we made the 2/3 corp.that pay no income tax pay like citizens have to, it wouldn't be).
Yeah, I get it, we have a pension(Although I don't get the meme of how much we make, since over 60% make under $25K and no social security).
NO I DON'T GET WHY WE'RE THE PROBLEM!!!!
Governor Quinn decided he's gonna take his ball and go home....just like the mouse turds that use to do that in neighborhood ball---name your sport, football, basketball, baseball---you know the kid. He wasn't able to bully the other kids into what he wanted so his panties got in a bunch and he owned the ball.
REALLY????
Gov. Quinn Cancelled our contract and lied about the reasons why: he said AFSCME wanted too much money, we wouldn't even think about playing ball(not when "playing ball" meant a 20% pay cut). He whined that we were just too mean....
Again, REALLY???
Let's look at what has been happening for the last....oh...30 years...
First, for the employees: Employees have paid into the pension every paycheck their fair share, somewhere between 4 - 9% of their paycheck, every paycheck, towards their pension.
Second, AFSCME has negotiated, for at least the past 30 years to protect pensions--we've gone without raises/benefits/language to keep the pension for our members. Why? Because we thought it was important for our members to be safe during retirement.
Third, the state's reaction to pensions? For the past 30 years, they've acted like a drunken sailor when it came to pension payments. Not only have they not paid their part for at least 26 of the past 30 years, but they took my money out to spend on other things such as projects the governors wanted to do(remember Illinois First? That was done with public employees pension funds) or to pay other funds. And now? Oh, its too much of a bother to pay what they owe...I feel the same way about my mortgage, but I still must pay it - if I want to keep my house. The same for the state of Illinois--if they want to keep their employees, they must pay what is due.
And then, there are the lies that Quinn has told. The first one? Before the election, he spoke about how much retirees made when they retired. He said that if an employee in 1992 was making $65K, that retiree now would have doubled what he was receiving due to the overgenerous COLA...sure. What Quinn didn't relay is that in 1992, the average pension was about $11,000 a year, no where close to $65K(that was the pols and governor appointees) so, even if he is right about the pension doubling in 20 years, that doubling would only amount to $22K for most long term retirees!
And some more lies: Quinn whines he's cancelling the contract because AFSCME is being mean...you know how bullies are, they either intimidate you or snitch that you're being mean...BUT the facts are far from what he's whining about.
AFSCME negotiated a contract, but came back to the table to defer raises and find money savings in health insurance 2 years ago. AFSCME also requested meeting about negotiating changes in retirement earned benefits with only one caveat--that these changes would only effect future retirees, not present ones. The union was rebuffed by the Governor. AFSCME has always tried to work with the state during times of duress, but that doesn't mean we are going to roll over and play dead. Now some facts:

• Quinn is arguing that AFSCME is making excessive demands in negotiations. The truth? AFSCME has been at the bargaining table for almost a year now working in good faith to try to reach a contract settlement. Contrary to the governor’s claims, the Union’s economic proposals have been very moderate in recognition of the state’s dire fiscal condition.
• Quinn tries to give the impression that the Union has been dragging its feet in negotiations. In fact, progress in negotiations has been moving at a snail's pace for only one reason -- the Quinn Administration for more than 10 months was demanding that every employee’s pay had to be cut by 10%. And Administration is the one that cancelled meetings, not AFSCME.
•  Even now the Administration continues to demand that employees’ wages be reduced by demanding a three-year wage/step freeze and massive health care cost increases.  
• Quinn is basing his efforts to drive down employee wages on the lie that Illinois state employee salaries are the highest in the country. NOT TRUE. Although Illinois ranks 7th in the nation for wages, Illinois public employees rank only 9th, compared to other states.  

And, yes, I know, AFSCME endorsed Quinn during the last Governor's election. But I don't think we really had much of a choice, considering Brady(R) veers on teabagger and made his money the old fashioned way---he married into it and Whitney(G) had no game---no ground game, no finance game, no election game. Yes, Mr. Whitney had good ideas, but no one knows who he is, which means, no name recognition for the voters.
So, what happens now? We live in a state that seems determined to bankrupt seniors so 2/3 of Illinois based corporations pay nothing in income taxes. We seem to think its just fine if these seniors lose their homes, their savings, their future, their dignity, but can't change our laws so that the state receives all of the 6.5% of retail tax, instead of retailers keeping about 1.5%(which gives Wallmart an extra $9 million in profits just cuz they don't have to pay the tax to the state).
But, then, there we are--I think the administration of this state would like to pay us the way Wallmart pays their employees...little to nothing and the employees qualify for food stamps and Medicaid...so, then the state budget crisis would just go from so-called pension problem to the Medicaid and food stamp program...but at least the employees of those agencies know what they need to qualify for those benefits. Just very sad and shameful.

The Political Right's War on Healthcare for Citizens

Again, during this campaign we have seen and heard Republicons' vitriolic babble on what they're gonna do when they are in control....repeal health care is # 1 on their list(and 1.5 is the Lily Ledbetter act, 2 is defund schools...). They say this because it will be so much better under them (hmmm.....I remember Shrub, Bush I, King Ronnie..nope very much not better for women), but just for debate's sake, I'll decide not to say they're just lying...I mean they are the party that wants schools to get rid of teaching critical thinking skills...so instead of just laughing at their babble, how about tearing it apart with facts and logic, something the 'cons are very lacking:

So, first the evil ObamaCare...or its real name, the Affordable Care Act..Repeal that and women can get insurance easily, right? Wrong.

The ACA provides free screenings for many basic items for men women and children, although I will highlight women and children: mamograms(and breast cancer chemoprevention counseling is she's high risk) being one of the most important, birth control another.  But also, depression, diabetes 2, cholesterol, blood pressure screening are included for basic health concerns. All normal immunizations for children are covered(the ones that children need to go to school). Also, an annual free well-person visit.

Also included for women are screenings for gestational diabetes, HIV, HPV, Hepatitis B, STD(screening/counseling--obviously this is for both genders), Rh Incompatibility, tabacco use, Osteoporosis, folic acid supplements, anemia screening, cervical cancer, domestic/interpersonal violence screening and counseling and breastfeeding counseling

For children? Some of the screenings are: autism, blood pressure, depression, alcohol/drug use assessments for teens, behavioral assessments for all ages, developmental screening, dyslipidemia(if at risk of lipid disorders), hemoglobin screening, lead screening TB testing, vision screening, medical history, obesity screening/counseling. Also many tests for newborns such as: congenital hypothyroidism, hearing, hemoglobinopathies, PKU.

And why is care for children listed in my post about women? Because even if the child lives in a 2-parent household, mothers are the ones that take time off from work for children's health care issues, whether that issue is a doctor's visit, sitting around in a county health center(bring a book and stuff for child to do) or a child's illness. Yes, I know there's that one dad out of thousands that stays home with the kids or the 2 dads out of thousands that shares childcare equally with mom, but they are not in the majority. Not...even...close. It's gotten better, but women still make most of the decisions on many of these issues and spend more time on children's healthcare.

Just this July, people and companies started receiving rebate checks from the Insurance companies due to the Medical Loss Ratio section of the ACA. See, it is now law that Insurance companies must use at least 80%(85% for large companies) of the premium paid for health care. Up until this law, Insurance companies were using maybe 70% for health care, the other 30% was used for "administrative costs"...you know, marketing, those so-called seminars to Costa Rica? Or the bonuses/raises/outlandish salaries paid to the upper echelon of the corporate structure. For comparison, Medicare spends under 5% for Administration costs, Veterans Affairs is under 3% and both of these programs have a much higher patient approval rating than private insurance companies. The ACA also allows children to stay on their parents' insurance until age 26, giving the kids a bit of breathing room after college and parents some peace of mind about the "baby". From personal experience this has been great for my son who was laid off(he worked with the developmentally disabled in schools), but could still access my insurance for a root canal, glasses and allergies.

Did you know that some insurance companies considered pregnancy as a pre-existing condition? No, not that you are pregnant and looking for insurance...you had been pregnant in the past and may become pregnant again so we won't insure you. Under the ACA this practice is illegal. As of July, 2010 children must be covered and no pre-existing condition denials are legal. In 2014 all use of pre-existing crap is no more.

Also, because of that silly pregnancy stuff, women pay higher insurance rates than men in most states. Again, this is now illegal.

Since the takeover of the House of Representatives by the bats**t crazy teabaggers(who even hold their own Speaker hostage), the House has voted 33 times to repeal health care for Americans...oh, and not one vote on any other Jobs bill....

And how does the Romney/Ryan ticket want to handle this? Annihilate it! Those families don't deserve nuthin'!

The Romney/Ryan ticket, along with the Republicons, have promised to repeal the ACA right after he's declared president. And what does he want to do to replace? Well, that's the question, isn't it? "ObamaCare" was fashioned from a republican view--Bob Dole's plan, Heritage plan and oh, yeah, "RomneyCare"...so, this should be pretty embarrassing for the right wing. Of course that would be true if corporate media actually reported this instead of the screaming mimis of the right's doom and gloom...

His answers to this is "secret", just like all of his other plans...memories of Nixon and his "secret plan" to end the Viet Nam war(which actually ended when the Democratic Congress refused to fund it). Any time Romney mentions what he would do during an interview, one of his staff comes up behind him and says, "Well he really didn't mean what he said". Of course Mittiot is being interviewed on National TV and the other guy is reported on radio/newspaper--where many people, specially low information, do not garner information. Romney is not trying to protect citizens...he wants to make sure that the insurance companies can still live in the plutocratic/objectivist paradise of less taxes, less services to citizens and more obscene profits. Take away the ability of women to get free screenings for breast & cervical cancer. Take away the ability of women to receive birth control without having to pay high prescription rates(and please remember that women who use birth control consistently account for only 5% of the rate of unintended pregnancy--and birth control is much cheaper for insurance companies than pregnancies. And, again, many women and children not being able to use our medical system for less expensive preventative care rather than having no choice, but to live in fear of both medical and financial disaster--and costing all of us much much more.

And, Again, Mr. Romney,

WHERE ARE YOUR TAX RECORDS?!?!?!?

WHAT ARE YOU HIDING?!?!!?!

There has been much skuddlebutt about who wants to do what to/for seniors...so where are the views of the 2 parties and the candidates? Glad you asked:

1. Maintain Medicare's free preventive services:

Because of the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Medicare patients now receive many screenings and an annual "Wellness visit"(although you must use this terminology when making your appointment with your doctor). Seniors also receive cancer screenings and other disease prevention services with no copays.

Obama supports this, Romney wants to terminate this care

2. Continue closing the Medicare part D "donut hole".

First, for people who haven't dealt with this, this is how the donut hole worked prior to the ACA(Obamacare): Senior prescriptions were covered until they got up to $2750...then, even tho seniors were still paying the drug insurance premium, they were responsible for prescription costs up to $4500, then Part D would kick in again. This may not sound like much...except I know that one of my prescriptions, without my insurance, costs about $400, and I have 2 more that add up to $400...this is per month( I have insurance and I only pay a co-pay)...and these are for asthma, blood-pressure, not some rare disease. So it'd only take maybe 3 months for part D to throw me in the donut hole, not too much help.

In the ACA, the "donut hole" has already been cut in half and will be closed by 2020 and this affects over 4 million seniors!

Obama, obviously, supports this. Romney? Nope, let those seniors pay the high prices.Can't afford it, get a job.

3. Stop waste, fraud, abuse in Medicare:

The ACA puts laws in place that ends subsidies for insurance companies, tracking down fraudulent providers who either overcharge or try to swindle Medicare. Just this piece of the legislation is predicted to add about 10 years to Medicare Solvency! In one Fiscal Year alone, this act saved over $4 Billion in fraud and overcharges. 

And yes, again, Obama supports this, but Romney doesn't....

So is there anything that Romney supports? Oh, sure.....

4. Raise the Retirement age:

Romney, Ryan and many of the republicon congress support a requirement for all Americans to work to age 69 or 70 before being able to collect full Social Security earned benefits and not receive Medicare until 67. You betcha Romney supports this(and President Obama opposes).

This has been an ongoing march because, we all know that people are living longer! I mean our basic mortality is now in the 80's so we should be able to work longer! Another lie. 

Our life span has not been lengthen because all of us are getting old..remember, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and many other of the fore-fathers lived well into their 70's and 80's. The difference is that infant, child, women of child-bearing age was much lower until the 1950's or so. In the 1930's our life expectancy was about 58, its now 77. BUT the difference in infant mortality? In 1935, the infant mortality rate was 56.7 per 1000 live births. In 2009? It was only 6.7 deaths per 1000 live births. Just that fact skewers the idea that Americans are living so much longer....no, its just that many more people are making it through childhood!

The other fact that is not included in this factoid is there is a big difference on who can work until old age. Look at the Supreme Court! I'm sure their average age is about 65! This works well for people who have worked in higher income workplaces. But for the working poor? Those people who serve you at diners, work fast food, retail(yes, I'm really thinking about mallwart here), middle class workers such as police, firefighters, trades--all of these people are at risk of shorter life spans.

Again, Romney is just fine with people working until they die. President Obama opposes this.

5. Medicare Coupons..or the Ryan plan of Medicare vouchers.

We already know who's plan this is....So Romney/Ryan/Republicons want to end Medicare and give Seniors a voucher of about $7000 to "shop" for health care insurance. Now, any senior that has to search through Part D plans or Medicare Advantage plans knows how difficult and aggravating that is. And the triple R's want you to do that with insurance companies...why not just farm it out to Groupon like a spa coupon? I can see the email:

"Hurry for your chance at this medicare groupon discount!!! Our program ensures you'll get some care...just don't be very ill cuz it doesn't cover cancer, transplants, heart disease...or anything else that may be considered too expensive for our partners to be able to make any money!"

Add to this, their idea of repealing the ACA and losing the savings that Medicare has seen since 2010 and that spells financial ruin for many middle class seniors.

This is one of the Romney/Ryan's great plan, Romney has called Ryan's budget, "Marvelous"...President Obama Opposes.

6. Block-Grant Medicaid and reduce funding.

Why should seniors worry about Medicaid? That's for poor people. Sorry, but one of the largest uses of Medicaid funds is for Nursing homes for middle class seniors. The House budget committee would cut funding by $800 Billion and allow states to spend the remaining funds any way they want.

Romney, of course, supports this. President Obama opposes.

Romney doesn't care about seniors who aren't as rich as he, and before you go to the polls, you need to know this. If you are a senior and vote for Romney and the other R Politicos, you are, in all probability, affecting your ability to live safely and securely with the knowledge that your health care is covered...and again....

Mr. Romney where are your TAX RECORDS!!!!!

WHAT ARE YOU HIDING!!!

Republicons and their hatred of women...or is it just Uppity Women?

Since spring, the Republicons have had their foot in their mouth over women and women's rights--employment, health, reproductive, birth control, and what is actually a "legitimate" rape, now, even how some girls "rape easy":
We have Congressman Todd Akin who is now trying to be a senator, saying that women who get raped can't get pregnant cuz their body shuts down the lady parts...or some drivel like that; and when he tried to walk back from that statement, he brought up the idea that the lady parts fizzle only works if its a "legitimate" rape....sure....and the republicons think this guy is smart enough to be a Senator??? Really??? 
Of course, there is also  Rep. Roscoe Bartlett(R-MD) who stated that there are very few women who ever get pregnant from rape and he thinks that one of the main causes for abortion is the baby is the wrong gender or the woman just doesn't want to be bothered. 
And the illustrious boy VP candidate, who has co-sponsored "personhood" bills with Aiken, endorsed(and now undendorsed) the state senator that feels some girls are just easy rapes, has compared a woman getting pregnant through rape to "just another form of conception".
There's been Rep. Tom Smith, another one running for a senate seat, this time in Pennsylvania who compared rape to an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, but these are the ones that are crazy enough to make it to national tv and many of these have been kind of swept under the rug as just some of the more extreme views....pay no attention, dear women voters...we're not really that far out. We'll not take away your rights...well. only the ones we don't agree with.
But...then...look at what many of the state legislatures have been busy with: personhood bills(these not only attack abortion rights, but also birth control and in-vitro fertilization); when there is a referendum on ballots about personhood, its voted down by a large margin, but when taken up in the state assemblies? It is usually passes at least one house...and usually by men, republicon men. Doing just what the republicon platform states.
And now, the piece de resistance? Wannabe senator Murdoch. Mr. Murdoch, when asked about abortion said that he would not support any law that allowed for an abortion due to the woman being raped...violated...attacked...one of the worst things that can ever happen to you without you dying, although there are enough women who commit suicide after a rape.
Now, does a suicide have much to do with a pregnancy, one of "god's will" as Mr. Murdoch puts it? Only if you want to know what the woman may be going through as a human being.
The 2012 Republican platform did address these issues by inserting them into the platform:
"We assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed."
Of course that "sanctity of life" ends when the baby is born....

And, again, Where are Mitt's tax returns?????

Tell me again how the Republicons aren't racist

Tuesday night, 2 GOP delegates were thrown out of the RNC convention because of their actions: They threw peanuts at an African American camera woman(who works for CNN) saying, "This is how we feed the animals!" Yes, they were escorted out and banned, but in what century would normal people think this was something to say or do? Or appropriate? Only in a time that it was fine to think less of people that were different than you and you knew that the people around you wouldn't be bothered by heinous behavior. But, if we look at the republican platform, it has dropped to the lowest common denominator of hatred, or at least oppression of others. Not only does the platform scream, "OPPRESSION!", but the candidates do also. Mitt Romney loves to repeat the lie that President Obama has cut the welfare to work rule when in actuality he did what many Republicon governors(including Romney) wanted: instead of the federal government telling the states how to use the funds, the federal government gives the states block grants and the state decides how to use the funds. But we all know that its Obama kowtowing to his "base"...too bad that most Americans don't know that 60% of the people who use forms of welfare are white! He's played the "birther" card in Michigan and loves using the adjective "angry" when speaking about President Obama--haven't figured out where he sees "anger"...must be when President Obama is singing or joking...its not like Mitt knows how normal people act. But even before Mitt was the frontrunner, we had these soundbytes: Gingrich quoted about the "food stamp president"(again, more whites than blacks use food stamps) and taking poor urban kids out of school and making them clean the bathrooms(there are more poor rural white kids than black) Who can forget Santorum's "blah" remark? "I don't want to make black people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money." How about Ron Paul arguing that the legislation outlawing Jim Crow laws was a moral evil and violated white people's liberty? I'm sure there's nothing racist in that rant. Oh, and let's not forget Michelle Bachman waxing nostalgic and saying that Black families were stronger when enslaved than now(sure, loved to see their children sold off). But, another very thinly veiled remark is Romney's "Keep America, America", a play on the Ku Klux Klan's slogan, "Keep America American", although I doubt they were taling about Native Americans. Do you mean to say that the RNC or the Romney campaign weren't aware of the similarity? No one brought it up to them? I doubt that. Now, am I saying that all republicans are racist? No. But I am saying is the Southern Strategy is alive and well in the RNC and they will prey on the fears and ignorance of their base. It's been used since Nixon and Reagan probably used it best, first by announcing his run in Philidelphia MS to making up the lie of the "welfare queen". I guess the only good thing about this is that, for the most part, this is probably the last election this will work. Most polls show that many more people have less disparate views on race and the larger amount of racists are dying off and are not being replaced.  Hopefully we can keep history from being taken over by the right wing as they've tried(and are doing a pretty good job in places like Texas) and ensure that President Obama is reelected. Otherwise, I'm not so sure we can keep our history and our country on an honest path...specially if the guy who refuses to show us the same respect all other candidates have and release his tax records. Mitt--show us your tax records!

My letter to the editors--now, if it gets posted....

I sent this letter to different newspapers: The Sun-Times, the Trib(HAH!), Daily Herald, Springfield and my little DG paper. Let's see who posts it!

I am a state retiree, one of the "regulars", whose pension averages around $25,000 a year. I'm somewhat luckier than over 75% of my fellow retirees because I can collect Social Security, yes, that's right. Over 75% of state retirees do NOT collect Social Security--all they have is their pension.
I worked for the Department of Corrections for about 30 years, over 2/3 of that time at Stateville, not what I would consider a "cushy" job. But we, that worked there, felt that we made a difference, we were to be firm, fair and consistent with inmates, we dealt with their families and with the public. I had worked my way from the young woman who had a low paying clerical job, to a correctional officer and then counselor. I could take care of my family and I paid taxes. I never made 6 figures at the job...not even close, but I knew I would be secure in my retirement because we had a contract, we had a pension and I kept my part of the deal and I paid my 8 - 9% of my pension cost every paycheck...but the state(and the people of Illinois) don't care and don't want to live up to their side of the deal. It's not that Illinois is spend drunk. In fact, we're 47th in revenue spending and 50th in state employee per citizen capita in the United States. What we are, is tax-phobic.
Not that the state doesn't make deals--over 2/3 of the state based corporations in Illinois pay NO state income tax and/or sales tax! We allow corporations to take many of the same deductions  that the Federal tax system uses, but on our flat income tax, those deductions are destructive to our financial situation and a majority of states have dropped these deductions.
Ways to raise revenue? First, we need to get rid of the Single Sales Factor--this alone costs us about $600 Million just from Caterpillar annually!  Drop the federal accelerated depreciation and go back to normal depreciation rates(would bring in about $300M annually), a deduction that allows no tax on dividends paid by foreign corporations to US parent corporations in Illinois(gain $400M annually). Getting rid of the Retailer's Discount on Sales Tax, at least for large retailers--Walmart keeps about $9 million annually of what we Illinois citizens think we're paying in sales tax! Like the Waltons need that money more than our citizens. That would bring in another couple hundred million annually.
And before all of the "OH NO, The nice corporations would LEAVE if we make them pay their FAIR SHARE!!!!" If Illinois tax structure was the same as Iowa's, we'd raise $6 billion more in revenue every year...Wisconsin's?  We'd raise about $9 billion more. Illinois taxes are not overtly high, that's just the sound byte.
I'm tired of seeing how my finances could be ruined over time while CME, Sears, Motorolla, United, Boeing, Caterpillar pay less in taxes than the average Illinois citizen. Its time to see the real problem, and its with the ones that control what's seen on TV and what stories get printed in the paper, not the 70 year old teacher living on your street--she deserves her pension, she worked for it, as we all have. And we demand to be respected. We're not demanding 6 or 7 figure pensions as some of our pols get. We want what we negotiated--a livable pension, nothing more and certainly nothing less.

Bigotty Chicken, but THEY'RE being persecuted?!?!?!?

I'm sure most have heard the "controversy" that is brewing about Chick fil a fast food. But now, the xtian hysteria squad have taken it on as their next crusade...
To begin with, Bigotty Chicken's(much easier to spell) pres. Dan Cathy stated that he believed in only heterosexual marriage and that his company was founded on "biblical principles". Now, if that was the end, there may have been a bit of a backlash, but that's not all Cathy has done with his business...he's also donated millions of $$(company profits, of course) to homophobic "charities" and sites. So, some people were mad, some prolly said things they shouldn't have, but....
Then the Muppets left! Now, Lisa Henson issued a statement on FaceBook: 

• "The Jim Henson Company has celebrated and embraced diversity and inclusiveness for over 50 years and we have notified Chick-fil-a that we do not wish to partner with them on any future endeavors".

I think that was very professional, just a difference of values, the Muppets want all people to treated fairly and they would donate any money they made through Bigotty Chicken to GLAAD...and what did Bigotty Chicken do? Act Christian? Nope...they lied and said the toys were being terminated due to "safety issues"....safety issues???? SAFETY ISSUES????? What? Were they worried that the toys were put together by gay guys???? And, really...hadn't any of them watched Sesame Street? Bert and Ernie???? Well, I guess that shows that lying is just fine by Bigotty Chicken. I always thought that Thou shalt not Lie was part of the commandments....must not be one of the Biblical values they care about, eh?
And now we have huckabee squirrel and Caribou Barbie getting some more seconds of fame by chirping in---huck with a Bigotty Chicken day and Caribou Barbie with her hands full of bigotty bags and expounding on how good it is to have a company that believes in the bible....and how they believe in the bible...and of course, the fundies are out in droves because, as they see(or hear it), their religion is getting persecuted again(yawn)...and they must defend!
I would just like to know how being a bigot and being called on it is considered religious persecution? Yes, there is fall back on Bigotty Chicken, they will lose some customers, but that's the downside of free speech, not religious persecution. No one was threatening to burn the bigotty chicken church, just not eat their food. Is the idea of critical thinking so foreign to fundies that they can't see anything outside of their religious bubble? OK, so that really doesn't need an answer.
But then there's another part of the Bigotty Chicken story. Seems that they've had other "biblical" revelations with employees...
In 2002, Bigotty Chicken settled a lawsuit with a manager they had fired due to him not praying to Jesus at a training seminar. He's Muslim--so...the first amendment only protects Bigotty's rights to be free from religious persecution and, in fact, allows them to persecute others?
And right now, there is a woman who has filed a lawsuit, stating that she was fired because the manager decided she should be a stay at home mother....and replaced her with a man. Up until this time, her job performance was rated as satisfactory or higher....so, gender discrimination is just part of Bigotty's religious rights????
Yes, that's only two claims, but usually, when dealing with fast food places, most people don't have the time or money to file suits...many more around, just not filed.
And why is it that its just find for the Million Mom March(or 20 people with computers) can demand a boycott on JC Penney's for having Ellen DeGeneres advertise their products, but its not OK for liberal folk to boycott Bigotty Chicken? Oh, again, I guess its that Constitution that they feel only covers them...
What is ironic is that although there were a couple of politicians who came out about refusing to allow Bigotty Chicken in, they've all apologized and said that they didn't mean they'd discriminate...after the ACLU and Mother Jone's mag came out telling them they were wrong, that was illegal, but Bigotty Chicken is still playing the poor me card.
Me? I've only been at Chic-fil-a once and found the place a bit horrifying...very loud music--xtian metal--screaming about eating the body and blood of Christ...right as I took a bite out of an overcooked, only warm sandwich....I decided right there I was never going back. Church's and Popeye's have much better food and I'm not forced to have my eardrums blown out about somebody else's sick fairy tales. See, I can do that, I don't have to eat or spend my money at places I feel aren't worth it...and that's all a boycott is sayin'.
Peace.

So-call Physician Group Created By Conspiracy Teabagger

So many silly crazy lies. I did an article on the ACA decision and some guy quoted this so-called physician groups "survey" as truth from god...small g....but, surprises of surprises? This "group" is just another right wing front that tries to legitimize crazy ideas--all vaccines are bad, blames immigrants for spreading leprosy(actually its been proven to be armadillos), that Hillary Clinton killed Vince Foster, besides other crackpot conspiracy theories....so, this "group" "surveys"  by sending out online and FAXes to 17,000 doctors...a whole 699 responded:

The survey was conducted by fax and online from April 18 to May 22, 2012. DPMAF obtained the office fax numbers of 36,000 doctors in active clinical practice, and 16,227 faxes were successfully delivered. Doctors were asked to return their completed surveys by fax, or online at a web address included in the faxed copy. Browser rules prevented doctors from filing duplicate surveys, and respondents were asked to provide personal identification for verification. The response rate was 4.3% for a total of 699 completed surveys.

Wow...less than 5%(and actually about 2.5% from the original pool) even bothered to respond, now, anyone who has done reputable surveys/polls or taken statistics would expect a larger amount of the respondents to answer...otherwise, throw out the poll and begin again, must be something wrong with it. Oh, but I did put in that nasty librul word---reputable.

Now, this has been zipping around the right wing alterworld that this is FACT--83% of doctors(that actually bothered to fill this out) are thinking about quitting medicine because of current changes in medical system!!! OK, so what part of the medical system? Ryan's plan to kill Medicare? Obamacare? Changes in technology? Changes in local regulations? See, it's not spelled as it would be in a reputable out so what were these doctors actually answering? And why do they only get 2 choices(plus unsure)? Professional pollsters gauge using a 5 point system which is the standard.

Another point that it might just be a junk poll? Brietbart, Drudge, Daily Caller and Faux news are the only ones that are jumping up and down about this--not CNN(Fox Lite), not ABC,NBC or CBS, all of which have taken up other talking points from the those sites in the past.

I really think its sad that people can be fooled by this crap, but when you don't check sources...or don't either have the knowledge or education to understand the basics about poll taking and sources(and most of the rest of the real world), its easy to understand how it happens, specially when many of the ones that follow Faux, etc. are older, less educated, fearful, people who prefer similar rather than diverse experiences, and/or have very little knowledge about how the United States was formed('cept for the canned versions)...its not surprising. Sad, but not surprising.

Presenting Willard "Mitt" Romney--the Human Windsock

First, where did "Mitt" come from? Is it a family nickname? Why Mitt? Its not a shortened version of his real name, not a nickname for some physical reason(i.e., I'm a redhead, I've been called "Red", not much cuz I hated it, but I have), can't see him playing baseball(baseball "mitt"--yes, I'm really stretching with that one)...strange..anyway enough random musings.....
Willard is not what you'd call...umm....stalwart. In fact, he changes his opinions/views more often than most people change their underwear(and I'm not talking about magic underwear either!). Need examples? I thought you'd never ask:

Immigration

• 2006:  Willard supported a plan that would help undocumented workers legal status and, in some cases, a path to citizenship. 
• 2007:  Nope, no citizenship, secure the border, employment verification(this was before the 2008 run)
• 2012:  Make it so miserable that they "self deport"....

Bush's Tax Cuts

• 2003:  he refused to take a position
• 2007:  He supported them(again, this was before the 2008 run)

Reagan fan?

• 1994:  when running against Ted Kennedy for Senate, he stated that he was an independent during the Reagan years, and he's, "not trying to return to Reagan-Bush" politics.
• 2005:  "Ronald Reagan is one of my heroes"

Gun Control

• 1994 -- He was for gun control and supported banning assault weapons and the Brady Bill.
• 2007? He joined NRA and wanted their endorsement.

Does he own guns?

• 1/10/07: "I have a gun of my own and I go hunting"
• 1/14/07: When asked if he owned a gun, he said no, but his son Josh did and they would use his.
• In 36 hours, Willard changed his mind about the "mandate" decision from...4 days and FLIP FLOP(aka-lying).

Climate Change

• 2003: Williard believed that the scientists had it right, that we needed to do something so as to keep the earth "safe"(my word, not his)
• 2007: Guess what? He said in 2007 that the "scientists hadn't completely resolved".

DADT

• 1994: Agreed with the policy as being the first step to gays and lesbians to openly defend their country
• 2007: Thought it was a "silly catch phrase", but the policy is fine the way it is and nothing has to be changed.

Gay Marriage

• 2002: Did not support DOMA or a constitutional amendment 
• 2008: Supported a gay marriage ban referendum in Massachusetts(even tho he also was the governor when MA legalized gay marriage).

Embryonic Stem cell research

• 2002:  Supported stem cell research while running for governor
• 2006:  Vowed to press for legislation to criminalize stem cell research.

Pro Choice? Anti Abortion? Depends on the year.

• 1994:  Romney stated he was more pro choice than Ted Kennedy, due to a relative dying from an illegal abortion.
• 1999:  When he went to Utah, this changed to "I refuse to accept either label" 
• 2002:  SPLASH! Running for Governor, he's back to supporting a woman's right to choose again.
• 2007:  SPLISH!  Now running for pres(1st time) and he's against abortion AGAIN.

Last but not even close to least-Obamney Care...AKA the state(MA) vs Federal Affordable Care Act(all in less the 2 days)

• Its a tax, (when the decision came down and on the campaign trail)
• It's not a tax, (when his communications director, Eric Fehrnstrom said it was a penalty on TV)
• It is a tax, (when WSJ editorialized on Willard throwing the RNC under the bus), but it was a penalty when he did it, and...
• Although he sides with the minority, he agrees with the majority of the court? Huh????

So, that's some of "cheek turning"...or whiplash of views/opinions that Willard has stated. Me? I'm just very dizzy just trying to type all of this! 
Happy weekend and remember, the reason we have weekends/days off is because of unions, not because of people like Willard "Mitt" Romney.

Everything You Need To Know About Mitt Romney In One Graphic

Everything You Need To Know About Mitt Romney In One Graphic

ACA and the Supreme Court

Now, you must have known I'd have to do a post on this, right? I mean its the biggest thing since sliced bread so.....
First:
 I'm glad that SCOTUS found the law "constitutional" , not doing backflips, but it is a step in the right direction, cuz we're moving towards what the rest of the 1st world countries have--health care for their citizens that doesn't throw them into bankruptcy if they get ill. That gives us more freedom and liberty rather than less. I would prefer(along with many others) single payer, but the ACA does give America some basic health care and gets rid of recission of insurance and so-called pre-existing conditions and some of the worst parts of Bush's poison pill Medicare, part D--the doughnut hole, Medicare Advantage and stronger law/enforcement on Medicare fraud.
Second:
I don't think that Roberts did this because he has seen the light and is trying to amend his ways. Nope, but I do have some other views on why he would do this:

• He doesn't want history to remember the "Roberts Court" as the clown court--the Citizen's United being the most horrendous. The ACA decision allows historians to argue that Roberts was just looking out for the letter of the law.
• He saw the writing on the wall, if ACA was turned over, single payer was closer, the left would be energized for the election and the right just can't excited about Romney.
• Another small deal is Roberts own health issues--he has epilepsy(a pre-existing condition) and does understand some of the issues with our insurance corporations. OK, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt on this one, but that is my happy clappy liberal way!

Third:
New battle cry for cons--abortion/gun control/gay marriage/religion. Facbook, among other places, has gone crazy--specially the right. Calling it a tax has the "right" energized for the election, to the point that McConnell is now saying that since its called a tax, when he becomes Senate leader, he will bring it to the floor under reconciliation(cannot be filibustered)...but President Obama can still veto it...so I guess this one's really just a talking point.
But, again the right just isn't too swift on Romney. And that goes in the favor of sane voters.
Oh and lets not forget the mature words from Mike Malzone, founder of the Merrimac Tea Party of Merrimac NH. On Facebook, his status read, "I hope the 5 Supremes get colon cancer." Well, at least now, they are promised care!

Some Informative Cites

I'm going through some of my "wonk" sites. I'm sure, if you've read some of my posts, that many people have an image of me as someone who is peering into her screen, huddled over her laptop, maybe covered in a hooded blanket, "capey" thing, mumbling about those stupid cons...ok, I may be mumbling, but there rest is not me...really.....but today, I'm cleaning out my bookmarks, cuz, you know if you do something mundane that you can focus on, you may stay a bit more calm...Anyways...
I decided to share some of the sites I use when trying to find out stuff. The best electorate is a knowledgeable electorate...much harder to be hoodwinked, or just plain lied to if you know where to find information.
First the National Priorities Project. This is a federal budget data project that was developed by very wonky people to be used by normal people to look up the impact of federal dollars(and other issues) in their state. On the home page, there is a quick start guide which makes it very easy to get information that you could find useful.
Did you know that Darryl Issa(CA, R) is the richest congressman? That includes both the house and senate. Or that Ron Johnson(WI, R) received over $10 million in outside income? If you want to know where the money is, who has the money and who received the most money from...errrmmmm constituents, go to Open Secrets -- this site has any monetary information available about congress, executive branch, judicial income, along with information on what senator has the most earmarks in bills, which PAC/lobbying firms receive the largest earmarks--very interesting, also, very aggravating.
The Census bureau has any and all information available on our population and business. Did you know that the population of older people(over 65) has grew the fastest since the last census(in 2000)? Of course that is us baby boomers again....but there is much more information than just that tidbit and I encourage you to use it.
One that I've found very helpful when trying to explain or understand the Affordable Care Act or find information about health care in my area is the Healthcare site that's been set up by the Government. Yes, it gives actual honest truth about ObamaCare, among other information.
Of course, I do read Crain's Business and then take my shower. A bit too much "pity the corporation" for me, but usually there are good articles on how the "other side" feels.
There is the Responsible Budget Coalition for Illinois. Although their Facebook page seems to be kept up better, the website is usually where to go when things are "happening" in Illinois.
Then, there is the website by the Community Media Workshop that not only has news, but webinars, brown bag seminars, training center--community based news and no corporate media.
So those are my less known sites that I use(besides TPM, HuffPo, Think Progress . If you have a chance(or you know you're gonna have to deal with some rad right family/aquaintences), get some real data! Good luck.

Illinois pols say they made bold tough decisions--AGAINST poor kids, the disabled and SENIOR CITIZENS

Well well well...the Illinois general assembly, along with the gov, say they made "bold, tough" decisions by attacking the disabled and senior citizens...ok, they don't say the attack part, but they'd be more honest.
In this last session, they've ended IllinoisCareRX, cut medicaid, attacked State retirees health insurance and are  aiming for my pension next. They would already have it, but the democrats and republicans got into a hissy match and stomped out of session before they could snatch away parts of our pension.
Now, the assembly is just so sorry about making gramma having to choose between electricity and medication, but decisions must be made for the GREATER good...psst...Mr. Cullerton? Madigan? Cross? Rodagno? When you say that? Please realize that I'm NOT THAT STUPID!!!
I guess I could think that all of you are that stupid...or that greedy...ok, greedy over stupid, but did you even pay attention to what you were doing? Do you know what the ramifications are of your actions?
First, Medicaid "reform" or middle class/senior destruction. The changes in Medicaid* which were touted as much needed include:

• Ending the IllinoisCareRX program -- drops drug coverage for 180,000 senior citizens. Yes, ObamaCare does help some of these citizens since ObamaCare gets rid of the doughnut hole, but the doughnut hole isn't gone until 2020 and the people that used this program had already had an income of under $19,000 per year; saves $72,000
• Family Care for Adults --  reduce eligibility to those adults with covered kids to 133% of poverty level and eliminates care for caretakers/adults. This affects about 26,000 citizens...this affects the working poor/lower middle class. We are taking away the ability of parents to get health insurance from the state...when their employer(and yes, I'm calling out mallwart, homedespot and other big box stores) doesn't offer affordable insurance without caveats; saves $50,000.
• Eliminate adult dental, chiropractic, podiatry, group psychotherapy...there is "emergency" adult dental, but does that cover a tooth that needs a root canal and is painful?  I know I missed a couple of days because of that--and I was lucky, I had a union to back me; saves $56,000.
• Limit adult optical(every other year), occupational/physical therapy to 20 visits per year--the optical is not my issue, but the PT? the OT? When I had my knee surgery, it took more than 20 visits before I was OK...now, think about someone who has a stroke? Only 20 visits? That's deplorable; saves $18,000. 
• Adopt policy to not pay for other care services when citizen is in hospice...this one hit home. Last year my mother was sent from a nursing home to the hospital(due to an infection) to hospice and then, after less than a week, we were told she was to go back to the nursing home(and she's still alive)...if medicaid hadn't paid for her bed, we would have had to scramble to find another one; saves $3,000
• *****Reduce home health services; saves $2,000 and how many people will have to go into nursing homes if they can't get home health care???? And how much more will that cost????
• Limit medication to 4 perscriptions per month(need prior approval for more); saves $180,000...hmm...ok, I understand that some people shop doctors, shop 'scripts...BUT...on the other hand...a person has asthma--2 'scripts(an inhaler and a "stableizer") hypertension(one for blood pressure and usually one diauretic) and oh...lung issues, heart issues, HRT, anxiety, depression, other mental health issues, diabetes!!!! People on Medicaid don't go to the doctor until they absolutely have to, which usually means more care is needed, not less.
• Cuts to Hospice support
• Changing asset verification for spouses...I'd love to agree on this one, but I am sure that the only ones that will be caught in this net are the ones not rich enough to hire good attorneys...if you think I'm just blowing smoke, I know people in my area that brag about how they've already hid their parents assets...10 years before there's an issue!
• Cuts to Nursing home Care, so...after the state cuts home health care(see **** bullet point), the state is cutting nursing home care?!?!?!?!?!
• Reduce advance imaging, cardiac imaging, pain management, back surgery(some of it dealing with managed care/care coordination); saves approximately $20,000. Again, part of this I agree with...too many doctors will push up the bill by adding more tests, but on the other hand, Illinois has cut chiropractic care and now wants to limit back surgery???
• Denying pediatric palliative care. For those who don't want to hit the link, Pediatric Palliative care is for children that are either terminal or chronically ill.
• Reduce some provider rates by 2.7%; saves $240,000--this does not include doctors...but...it doesn't spell out, in laymen(citizen) terms, who this will affect.

But, other issues were not addressed, how about actual bold/brave decisions such as:
Make corporations pay their fair share! Two Thirds of Illinois corporations pay no state income tax! But the only thing I ever hear on the tv is how high Illinois' tax rate is and its running corporations out of the state! So, they're trying to find a state that will pay THEM????? Can we just say the truth-they're greedy bastards. One very good post by Curtis Black(Truth Out) brings up some very good points about how horrifically biased Illinois tax structure is towards wealthy/corporations. Although Illinois has a so-called flat tax which is regressive by nature, we've also grabbed a bunch of loopholes/deductions from the federal tax code that benefits the upper class more so than middle or lower.
Raise revenue by:

• Getting rid of the Single Sales Factor There is a very good explanation of this procedure on page 4 & 5 of the Closing Corporate Loopholes,Bolstering Illinois Budget by the Good Jobs First organization 
• Getting rid of certain deduction which allow for dividend paid by foreign corporations to US parent corporations located in Illinois(this costs about $400 million annually) and the reduces tax bills for Illinois corporations that produce in other states(about $200 million). 
• Getting rid of Accelerated depreciation it does what it says. It allows businesses to take a higher percentage of depreciation on business machines/supplies. This would bring in $300 million annually.
• Getting rid of the Retailer's Discount on Sales Tax. This would bring in over $100 million a year! As I've said in previous posts, computers are the norm in retail business...in fact most registers I've worked on keeps a running balance on cash/credit and tax for the day...its time to end this welfare to wall mart(kept $9M on this in FY11)...and home depot....and menards....and so on and so on. This would had up to a couple of hundred Million annually.
• Oil Company subsidies...what? in Illinois???? Yep, oil companies get a $75 million tax break! 

OH LOOK, I've just brought in a couple of billion dollars without it being very painful for the Citizens of Illinois! 

So, to our General Assembly, Governor, and other governmental executives--this is bold and brave. What you did with the Medicaid bill? That was shameful. Sure, attack little kids, the disabled and old people; the first two categories don't vote and the last one will die off...hopefully quickly--and with the measures you just shoved through, in all probability will be their future...which is very sad, considering Illinois is one of the wealthiest states in the country.

* all monies saved in the smash Medicaid bill are in millions of dollars

Darryl Issa channeling Joe McCarthy on Fast & Furious non issue

Car thief Darryl Issa(and the person of interest in the arson of his own building) has decided that even tho the attorney general has given congress over 7600 pages(wow...that's more than the health care bill that republicons couldn't read), that's not enough...anyway not enough to keep it in the news so the republicons can gain some ground on a Bush approved action that turned bad...like most of Bush's ideas.
Fast and Furious was a bad idea. It was a bad idea under Bush(called Gun Walking then) and it was a bad idea under Obama(even with a "hipper" name, still a bad idea). That being said, Issa keeps bringing it back into the news by throwing out little sparkly tidbits about how HIS committee(the House Oversight and Government Reform) is going to indict Holder for contempt.....and  6 weeks or so earlier....HIS committee is so horribly disgusted that this was allowed that he must issue a press release, since the media has dropped the story again.
So, what is the story of Fast and Furious? Well, first some history. The program has been around since at 2006, this being revealed in a briefing authored by Michael Mukasey to Pres. Bush discussing the failed attempts of their version which allowed illegally bought guns from the US into Mexico, then to track where the weapons found a home. This stupid idea began through ATF(Alcohol, Firearms & Tobacco), seems like someone watched robocop way too many times. Mukasey stressed the importance of having U.S. and Mexican officials to work together, instead of it being only a U.S. operation. This necessity was never initiated, and the guns were "lost" until one found its way in the murder of a border patrol officer...in 2009 and THAT become a big deal, not that it shouldn't, but since this clandestine affair began under the republicon regime, why won't Issa subpoena Mukasey? Nope...just Holder.
In fact, under Holder, these idiots that started this program have either lost their jobs or were outright fired(including a former ATF director, former us attorney), but Issa has decided to use this to embarrass Holder--Issa hasn't found any way to tie this to Holder, he has now unlawful subpoenas which since they ain't legal, Holder's basically said, don't have to...and THAT's the premise of Issa's witch hunt and a contempt charge. 
The right is now screaming for a "special prosecutor"...oh, yes, let's waste money for something that isn't needed, something that didn't work under Clinton(remember Starr???? What a joke) just so Issa and Cronyn(the one that set up the clandestine deal for Ensign's lover and husband) can keep up the false controversy.
But, there are a couple of other angles here...does the right feel they can now get back at the Democratic Party for bringing down Attorney General Gonzalez? Remember, the congress did get him to resign...of course he was illegally purging any attorneys that wouldn't assist in his office wide witch hunts, but facts are just liberal icky things.
Or is it due to AG Holder's recent demand to Gov. "convicted felon" Rick Scott to cease and desist his illegal voter purge? Rick Scott has said he will keep purging voters, even tho the Justice Department rendered a decision stating that it is against the law in...wait for it...Florida! Florida's law states that no voter purges can happen within 90 days of an election and Florida's real primary is August 11, with the general election being November 6. Oops.
So why do I compare this to McCarthy? Joe McCarthy was a drunk. And a drunk with power and felt his paranoia was the american way...and he had help. One of his biggest helpers was a B movie actor by the name of Ronald Reagan. So, Darrell Issa, an alleged 'roid rage user, is looking for bogeyman in the same way that McCarthy did...and, when history looks back, he will look even worse than Joe McCarthy...I just hope that we, the American people, can see and understand what's going on before we decide.

Walker's Lies to the governor's mansion

So, the aftermath of Scott Walker's win is what? That Wisconsin citizens are just fine with no collective bargaining? That Wisconsin citizens think that its just fine to cut public education? To sell public lands/utilities? No, I don't think so....
First why did Walker win? Obviously, he doesn't care about the Wisconsin people, How did Walker win? Well, that's a bit more interesting....
First, Walker outspent Tom Barrett 8:1...and that don't count a bunch of other money that was in the shadows...like the money that had people wearing signs( signs saying that Barrett was a baby killer/immoral/approved of gay marriage, you know, those so-called values that the right scares people with), Walker minions would pay $100 per sign to have home owners put them in their yard(Barrett signs didn't come with that dividend), and then there were the commercials....NRA sponsored an ad stating that Barrett wanted to take away hunters' rifles(specially deer rifles--BIG FAT LIE), other ads about Barrett hating babies and loving gays...
Yes, money made a difference, but there were some other issues as well:

• Walker lied about his "gain" of thousands of jobs since he took over when the truth is that Wisconsin is 51st in job recovery in the nation(and has lost over 10,000 jobs). Although Tom Barrett and his staff came out and said it was a lie(well, he prolly used the old, "misspoke" quote), Walker was not challenged by the main stream media. 
• Many people thought that Walker didn't deserve to be recalled because, as far as they knew, he hadn't done anything wrong, of a criminal nature and were somewhat worried that recall elections could become...umm...trendy. If someone didn't like what happened at the real election, they'd just come up with millions of $$ and fight it. OK, that's a bit of sarcasm, but I just couldn't help myself. Of course, the average Wisconsin voter hadn't been following the "John Doe" state and federal investigation. They might just end up with dingbat Kleefish as governor.
• Because of the "new" voter laws(that Walker and the republicons rammed thru), students did not vote in the same amount as is usual(and you know those kiddies...they vote liberal more than not). The new law states that you must live in your residence for 28 days, rather than the 10 previously. Five of the largest universities dismissed classes 10-21 days before the recall which left many of them disenfranchised(couldn't vote). Marquette University did make arrangements that students could come back and vote and they had a very good turnout, but in reality, if that's a 2-3 hour drive for someone just to vote and then turn around and go home? How many people are going to be able to do that? Another interesting fact: the Walker campaign stalled the recall process by three weeks back in January when they said they were trying to decide if or when they would challenge the signatures--just enough time to screw those students....hmm......

Also, many voters, when asked, said they made their mind up in May...and at that time, the Dems were still in the primary stage.  I'm conflicted about this. Part of me feels that its important to allow the voters to choose their candidate...OTOH, we also knew that there were dirty tricks on the other side--the right had "fake" dems running in primaries(for state general assembly), we knew that time was short...couldn't we just have the state dem association...just this once(or for this type of craziness) get all the candidates together and choose one?!?!?!? Republicons do it often enough, sometimes we need to just act together, instead of acting like cats chasing some shiny feathery thing. 
So, how much effect will the recall election have on November, probably not much. This election did show us how votes can be bought...thank you SCOUTUS and Citizens United--but considering how much money was spent, Barrett wasn't beat by that much(considering he only had about 13-15% of the money in the race, he should have only received 13-15% of the vote) Racine flipped red to blue(yes, I know there is a recount going on) and Obama won the "exit polls" over Romney 5:1 and, in California, Orly Taints only received 3% of votes in her bid for U. S. Senator. What does that mean? That there are only 113,000 crazy bigots in California! 

Quinn's so called budget...or how to make retirees homeless!

I just can't figure out why politicians keep attacking seniors...first its the tea party and republicans trying to  privatize(read banksters steal the $3.2 Trillion in trust fund) Social Security, then Paul Ryan and his carnival shell game of "vouchers", and now Governor Quinn(who's supposed to be a DEM), wants to cut senior programs and attacking state retirees pensions and health care. I know, I know, all of you have been told how good we have it and we're breaking the state...and the public believes the lie. SB1313 tore apart the security of health care for seniors, now the general assembly and the so-called "liberal" governor want to cut cost of living increases. I don't know about the rest of the world, but in the last 4 years that I've been retired, gas has gotten ridiculous, which has affected what I spend for gas, what I spend for food, you know, those luxuries of living....
Now, this is because of the rich wanting to be richer and have many of their bills subsidized by what's left of the middle class/working poor. As I've stated in past posts, Illinois is not broke, but the tax system is--we need to get rid of the retailer's discount on sales tax(for large retailers) and single sales factor, again for large corporations(mom and pop operations are exempt from this handout). But, no...the state of Illinois lawmakers are quivering and licking the feet of the Chamber of Commerce(read...stick it to the little guy) and the Chicago Commercial Club, both of which that have board members who receive 7-8 figure golden parachutes. These Monopoly men don't want any tax reform, that would mean they would have to pay their fair share, nope, let's take it out on the 80 year old secretary who's making under $25000 a year after working for 30+ years!
A couple of weeks ago, Senate Bill 1313 passed both the houses with bi-partisan votes...nice to see our so-called representatives working together to screw us! And quickly! It took all of 2 weeks to pass 1313(ok, the number is ironic...but maybe it shoulda been SB 666), no hearings, no committees, no public comments. Just screw the senior citizen. What this does is change the way retiree insurance is handled and could end up costing retirees whole bunches of money..now, the lie that's told to all is that retirees got "free" insurance...hmm....I have out of pocket expenses that total about $500-600 a month(that includes premiums I pay for my family) and I actually thought I knew the meaning of "free"...obviously, the Chamber, Commercial Club and legislature own a different dictionary than I do.
So now the latest and greatest way to screw employees is either eliminate the cost of living raise, or to cut it to less than 1.5% or to give retirees a so called choice--we can either choose between having some type of health insurance or a cost of living increase...isn't that FUCKING NICE...why do I feel that I'm Oliver saying to Sikes, "please sir, could I have a bit more gruel?" Only problem is no one is going to come and proclaim me an heir! And how does the corporate media report on this? The far right leaning Chicago Tribune had an article about how the general assembly members and governors...have made out like wall street bandits while the average state worker's pension is less than $25,000...and many get only that-no Social Security. But the Trib has been trumpeting "many" trumped up pension scandals...there was the one on 2 men that upped their pension by working for one day at a school, then the ex-representative who doubled his pension by working for Alderman Burke for a month, but not one article on the 27,000 retirees who would be severely effected by cuts to their only form of retirement income.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm sure that if we(union) were able to actually bargain, we could come up with some solutions-we have in the past, but that's not gonna happen. We are an easy target so why would our corporate legislatures allow a few facts about our pensions get in the way????  Yes, these changes would effect the general assembly members who vote on them, but not to the degree that it will state retirees...I mean, I only had one job--in a prison--for 30 years, unlike many of our part time politicians who collect $67,000 a year in salary...and another $69K(representatives) or $80K+(senators) for office "allowances", not to mention mileage and per diem...now, as I said, I worked for the Department of Corrections. I began as clerical, then went to officer and retired as a correctional counselor--I made, after 28 years about $65,000 for a full time job! They start out as $67,000 the first year for their part time job. I did not receive mileage to go to and from work and was expected to take a state vehicle if I had to travel to Springfield...so, again, why is the general assembly working to screw us out of our pensions??????
All I have to say is remember, WE VOTE and we will not be afraid to vote you out of office.

Occupy NATO...or Living in a Police State

I'm sure that most people know that NATO is meeting in Chicago and if you've turned on to either the local broadcast news or the corporate media, you've been told that only a couple of thousand have shown up to protest, and most of the photos and media stream seem to show a bunch of white "punk" type kids--long hair, dreadlocks, tattoos, you know the type, the white version of "other--be afraid". My husband just loves listening to WGN(I put them just under Fox Noise for right wing propaganda) and watching that was almost comical to see the news people falling all over the dogma of "cops are wonderful, protesters are lying little whiny brats." At one point, the camera spied two black protesters, smiling, gesturing  and talking to the police line and the commentator was talking about how the men were antagonizing the police...of course he said they were doing that BEFORE the camera was turned on them, but it wasn't like the camera was close to them...the shot was taken off of a building or stand so I doubt if the men even knew they were on TV(plus...didn't they know they were at the wrong place? I mean they were black! There weren't supposed to be anyone but white over privileged brats!)
BUT, listen to Democracy Now on Free Speech TV(channel 9415 on Dish) and you receive a much different picture of the protesters: the nurses rally actually included nurses? The Anti war protest had people of all ages(and not all of them had tattoos or piercings), all colors, from poor to well off.
One of the most interesting pieces was the over 40 impassioned speeches from vets who "returned' their medals. Now, the local news(this time CBS) had shown a couple of vets throwing their medals in a direction and then did about 4 minutes on how many of these young men and women probably didn't understand how they would feel later in life about this...just like the Viet Nam Vets who did this and then wished they hadn't(only problem? Not many of them felt bad either). From this news piece, it certainly wasn't reporting, you would assume there were maybe 5 or 10 20-somethings that did something rash. That was not even close. The truth about these men and women was more powerful. They were not only in for 1 tour, but many...most of them were not 20, but 30/40, some with over 10 years of service and all upset over how our government has been neglectful in their duties with PTSD, traumatic brain injury and other injuries; the lies they were told while serving(Iraqi liberation, WMD's); the sexually assaulted women of the Military Forces. Maggie Martin, I was a sergeant in the Army. I did two tours in Iraq. No amount of medals, ribbons or flags can cover the amount of human suffering caused by these wars. We don't want this garbage(the medals). We want our human rights! We want our right to heal."  A Marine corp veteran, Vince Emanuele, stated he was giving his medals back: "First and foremost, ...for the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. Second, ... four our real forefathers. I'm talking about the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee...Black Panthers, civil rights unions, unions, our socialist brothers and sisters and our ecology brothers and sisters. And lastly and most importantly, our enemies are not 7,000 miles from home. They sit in boardrooms. They are CEO's. They are bankers. They are hedge fund managers. They do not live 7,000 miles from home. Our enemies are right here and we look at them every day! They are not the men and women who are standing on this police line. They are the millionaires and billionaires who control this planet and we've had enough of it! So they can take their medals back!"  Lance Corporal Scott Olson(enlisted 2005, 2006-Iraq and 2008) also threw his medals(4-global war on terror, operation Iraqi Freedom, National Defence, Good Conduct) toward the fence of the NATO Summit--he's the gentleman that was severely injured in Occupy Oakland when he was struck with a beanbag round from police and Amy Goodman also
interviewed him.

Then there was the van that hit a young woman and had a protester that was stuck on the front of the hood of the van. Now the police stated that the officer that was driving had been hit by a protester and had a concussion, but its not like this can be proven...and, when was he struck? When he was running over the young woman(who did end up in the hospital)? Then there was the man who had been hit with a billy club in the teeth when he tried to help a woman who had fallen & couldn't get up quick enough for the police, who were hitting her in the legs, back and abdomen yelling at her to stand up. There wasn't anything like that spoken on corporate media.

Also, police detained by gunpoint 3 independent media who were live streaming from the march--one was from change.org -- when the cops attacked his van--there were 3 people
in the van, the cops ordered them out of the car, cuffed them, and began attacking
their equipment(banging the hard drives, cameras, lenses, etc. on each other, on the ground)...so much for the real 4th estate. Oh, then the cops left and told one of the men
 they had been looking for a similar car...when the reporter pointed out they were in a 99 Lexus with out of state plates, the cop just smiled. Sure, no harassment by police...and I'm the twin of Angelina Jolie!

Reiner Braun, German Peace Activist..protested at NATO because he states the bogeyman(Russia) is no longer...NATO spends over $1T annually for war that could be used to construct rather than destruct. Kay McVay, retired nurse, was there both for the Nurse's Rally(Friday) and the anti-war rally. There were also Chicago activists protesting against Emmanuel's mental health closures, home care providers who haven't been paid by state/county/cit, child care providers not paid by city, much of this because the politicians re-appropriated much of this money to pay for the extra security for NATO at the loss of the neighborhoods that need support most.

Alleged bomb makers that had undercover police officers who were the actual ones with the plans of "bombing"...can we say "entrapment"? Let's just stir up prejudice against the protesters by the very old infiltrate and denigrate.

Tom Morrell, performed at the Nurses rally and also at the antiwar rally. He's been very involved in social justice movements for the last couple of years, specially in Wisconsin. He had started with songs he wrote specifically for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Little known fact? He and President Obama were both staying at the Sheraton---among other things they share--both have Kenyan fathers and white American mothers, both attended Harvard at the same time.

Jesse Jackson Jr. went through the history of NATO, why it began(cold war), why it's really not needed any longer and why we can't afford to be the sheriff of the world, specially when we can't take care of our own people.
Now, I am willing to say that there are probably 10% of the police who take their cute scary "stormtroopers" costumes to heart and think they're robo-cop, much like the protesters have their 10% of anarchists and troublemakers, but way too often, we are not informed of both sides having their time of "behaving badly"...its only the ones that tow the corporate master's rule that are allowed explanations and that, also is just wrong and we should not stand for it.