Politics & Government

Tollway Vote Shows Impotence of Lake County Pols

Not only did Lake County get shafted by the Illinois Tollway Authority yesterday, it got shafted twice.

First, there has been no movement on the extension of Route 53. Bill Morris of Grayslake was the only Tollway director to try to speak on behalf of Lake County when he said “there are people that live north of Chicago.” Apparently not according to the Tollway Authority. The Route 53 extension falls right within the purview of the Tollway Authority, while it is making improvements to link up the Elgin-O’Hare expressway (currently freeway) and a bypass around O’Hare it kicks the Route 53 can down the road again.

As if that weren’t enough, the Waukegan Toll Plaza is included in the tolls being hiked, it will go up to $1.40. This will mean the current bad situation with Wisconsin commuters bypassing the Waukegan Toll. Currently they will use side streets and Highway 41 to get around the toll. One only need sit at one of the truck stops on Russell Road and watch the Wisconsin plates go by every morning. How many more will there be now that the till had increased?

All in all this sorry situation shows the Lake County contingent of politicians is in an obvious decline. This isn’t to say we don’t have many hard working politicians but when Lake County Board Chairman David Stohlman and Libertyville Village President Terry Weppler endorse a plan that completely leaves out Lake County what other conclusion can be drawn?

This plan does nothing to solve traffic problems in Lake County, it only increases the burden on Lake County taxpayers and it only increases the traffic on Lake County roads. Do you hear that sound? It’s Adeline Geo-Karis rolling over in her grave.

 Photo: “Traffic” by Kim Scarborough Some rights reserved

Why I Won’t Roll Over For Ron Paul

One of the agonizing things for those of us in the “liberty” movement has been our tendency to eat our own. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the race for president in 2012. Normally I am clamoring for order and asking that we not eat our own. This time, I can’t abide that, I’m fed up.

I was hoping that Ron Paul was not going to run this year, that he would realize he had done all he could and would pass the torch to someone else. Gary Johnson came out and said he was running and I was hoping that would be good enough for Paul. Johnson is an attractive candidate — former governor, successful businessman, thoughtful and well spoken, impeccable libertarian credentials (better than Paul’s). Surely Paul would see this and realize he need not run. Of course, I was wrong.

Once that took place the teeth gnashing started and the thrashing in liberty circles started and it has become a full-on Paul versus Johnson war. I’m fairly certain that neither candidate wanted this to happen, yet it has. The problem is the “Paulistas” as I call them: rabid and zealous Paul devotees who hold him with messianic zeal. They are easy to spot:

1. Nearly always refer to him as “Dr. Paul” (funny, I never heard them utter “Dr. Frist” but I digress…).
2. Every other sentence refers to either the latest Ron Paul poll or is encouraging participation in a poll.
3. If you are a Democrat they will sell you Paul’s stands on drugs, war and social issues while concealing Paul’s vote on DOMA.
4. If you are a Republican they will sell you Paul’s stands on the Fed, taxes, balanced budget amendment while concealing his request for earmarks despite Speaker Boehner’s ban on them.
5. If you are a member of the Tea Party they will tell you how the Tea Party was all because of Ron Paul and you should support him automatically (and stop your corporatist shilling for the Koch Brothers).
6. If you are a Libertarian they will tell you how Dr. Paul is the only one with a chance to win.
7. If you are a libertarian Republican they will gut and fillet you if you don’t support Ron Paul.

I’ve had it with the Paulistas and I can’t stand by any more. Any time I have thought about giving up on Johnson and supporting Paul there’s a mass of sneering Paulistas reminding me why I can’t be affiliated with them. That, and the fact Ron Paul is not electable.

First, any debate involving Ron Paul and Barack Obama would be over the first time the President got to speak. He would ignore whatever question was asked and say, “Let me read you a bit of a Ron Paul newsletter“. As you know, the President is black and is our first black president. The sight of our first black president reciting things like “if you have ever been robbed by a black teen-aged male, you know how unbelievably fleet-footed they can be” would turn the stomach of any American. The Paulistas call it the “newsletter hoax” or the newsletters “have been debunked” but they cannot get around the fact that racist diatribes appeared in these newsletters with Paul’s name on the top. Whether he wrote them or not (I doubt he did) is irrelevant, if he can’t watch a newsletter how can he watch the United States?

That is just the opening round. Ron Paul is protected by a cloak of obscurity right now. Few people take him seriously and his opponents see him as little more than a nuisance. Therefore no political espionage efforts are undertaken against him, why waste money on someone that has no chance? The second he became a real threat that cloak would be yanked from him and Ron Paul would be out there warts and all. An Axelrod led team would easily have Paul labeled an anti-semite  and point out donations he’s accepted from less than desirable groups.

My honest opinion is this is all bunk, none of it is true about Paul. I question why he makes sure to single out Israel but I think it’s a strategy to get the most attention. I also wonder why he doesn’t pay closer attention to donations but he has a laissez faire attitude about it, he got the cash and will spread his message with it, end of story.

On Wisconsin – Nothing Simple

Photo by vaxomatic / CC BY 2.0

Things have boiled down to a nasty gurgling simmer in Wisconsin since the fracas over Governor Scott Walker’s plan to require public workers to contribute more to their healthcare and retirement. Union protestors claim they are willing to deal but they refuse to deal on losing their rights to collective bargaining. In the meantime the Democratic members of the Senate have skipped town for the friendly confines of Illinois to shut the government down. Things may be simmering, but they’re ready to boil over.

We’ve had protest groups and counter-protest groups. We’ve had polls that seem to favor Walker and others that seem to favor the unions. We have allegations of plutocracy, autocracy and the obligatory reference to Nazis. I could write on all this ad nauseam but I thought I would spend some time talking about what I know most about — working with a public employee union.

As you may know I spent several years on the Round Lake Area Schools Board of Education, the last three of them as its president. I stayed out of union negotiations for the most part. Why? For much of my tenure I am the son of one of the members of the bargaining unit in Round Lake, the Education Association of Round Lake (EARL), a local of the Illinois Education Association (IEA) the biggest teacher’s union in Illinois.

Without going into a whole lot of detail into that experience (that would be a very long post) suffice it to say I have participated in collective bargaining negotiations, grievances, stayed up until the wee hours of the morning negotiating with the association and fielding hundreds of phone calls related to union matters. I’m not a lawyer but I consider myself well experienced in this area and familiar with the process.

I respect the core tenets of unions and what they stand for — protecting the rights of workers and ensuring that everyone receives fair treatment.  The problem is when you deal with things as a collective you soon run into difficulty dealing with the individual and on more levels than one.

Governor Walker has a budget deficit looming and his state spends a lot of money on two things in particular — public employees and entitlements (Medicaid, welfare, social programs).  Wisconsin is not different from any other state in this regard. Most of what the state spends on education does not go directly into education – it goes to the local school districts in the form of state aid. School districts receive federal money (usually for special programs for at risk students), state money (general state aid and categorical grants – money earmarked for specific programs if the district complies) and local money (property taxes).

If you broke down the figures most districts receive little to no federal money, it mainly goes to poorer districts or districts with a large population of kids with special needs. All of them though rely on state and local money . The biggest expenditure the local school district makes? Overwhelmingly (to the tune of 70-85% in many cases) salary and benefits for its employees, mostly teachers. So, this is how the different levels work and how it is broken.

Governor Walker wants to balance his budget, he needs to cut spending by a billion from somewhere. For the purposes of this exercise let’s say he wants to take it all in education. Does Governor Walker now go to the state teachers unions (most states have two) and get their approval? He could, but it would be as meaningless as any state union assurance now they will take the deal on reduced benefits. They don’t negotiate the contracts, the local teachers unions do!

So Governor Walker puts together a plan and tells the state Board of Education to reduce spending by $1 bil. The state board comes up with the formula in elimination of categoricals (very common here in Illinois) and then reduction in general state aid.  Or, maybe a state aid payment or two, or four gets skipped.  Now imagine you are the local school district — your boss came to you and said that work you did last week on that special project?  Sorry, not paying for it, it was very nice work but we have to cut expenses. Also, “I need to dip into your pay a bit, I’m not going to pay you this week, I might pay you again in two weeks but I’m not sure yet, I’ll let you know.” That’s reality here in Illinois and I doubt it’s much different in Wisconsin.

What would you do? You would cut back your expenses right? Well imagine for a moment if you went to cut your biggest expense then, let’s say it’s your mortgage. Do you think you could get a reduction in your mortgage? Maybe eliminate some of the things you built into the loan or you could sell your house and live in a smaller one though, right? Maybe sell and rent a smaller place? Not if you’re a school district. No, see you collectively bargained a contract with these folks a year or so ago and not only can you not do anything to change that you said you were going to give them a raise next year and they want it. They are also going to enforce the class size provision that we bargained for. Some locals will see the district is in trouble and negotiate, this has been happening in Illinois and to the credit of those locals, others won’t. It’s up to the local to decide how they wish to balance reduced benefits for their members versus loss of members in the form of layoffs.

So what is left for the local school district to do? Cut administrators and lay off the teachers you can. Maybe the union will bargain with you on how many of its members it will let go without too much of a fuss. Only bad teachers would be let go right? Nope, can’t do that, because a union is about seniority.  No, you can’t lay off Mrs. Smith who has been mailing it in for the past decade trying to get enough years in to retire early. You need to lay off Mrs. Jones who is a new and enthusiastic teacher getting great results in her classroom. She’s only been here two years though and doesn’t have the protection of tenure.

This, my friends, is a glimpse into how things are done year after year in a school district. It doesn’t make unions all bad – it makes them misguided by tradition. It doesn’t make all school districts right, many of them planned recklessly. At the end of the day though the money comes from somewhere, not a magic tree or pot of gold over the rainbow. The taxpayers have been taking a haircut for the past few years and it’s coming time for the public employees’ turn in the chair.

The system is unsustainable as it is constituted so call me a little crazy for secretly hoping Wisconsin will become a disaster. A little revolution every now and then is good, no?  Maybe then we can talk about what the real problem is.

News

An Open Letter To AT&T

Dear AT&T:

To fill you in on where I’m coming from regarding the iPhone 3G S upgrade that you state I have to wait until December 12th to get without paying in full for the phone:

I’m a purchaser of the original iPhone, I didn’t wait in line the first day but I got it the first weekend it was available. I ditched my previous carrier of several years that I was perfectly happy with to get your service as the exclusive carrier for the iPhone. I paid $200 to cancel that contract on top of the $500 I paid for the phone (unsubsidized).

Happy with your wireless service and seeing your new uVerse service available in my area I switched from Comcast to AT&T for my internet, television and phone. My wireless bill is combined with that bill.

I was in line the first day the iPhone 3G came out. That phone was subsidized but I had to extend my contract which I happily did as I was pleased with your service.

I have been pleased with my service aside from a couple of dead spots (all carriers have their dead spots) and have been an evangelist for AT&T and its wireless and uVerse services as providing me good service and value.

Because of me, and people like me, who are using the iPhone and extolling its virtues to others (I know of several people I convinced to get one) you’re able to sell more contracts to go along with all those phones. Market data clearly indicates AT&T has reaped great windfalls from the iPhone having sold over one million of them on the first weekend of the iPhone 3G release alone.

How do you reward me for being an early adopter of your service, paying good money for your services and advocating it to others? You tell me I have to pay $600 for the new iPhone unless I want to wait until December 12.

I don’t expect you to fully subsidize my next iPhone but you could at least come up with a nominal charge to keep me satisfied with your service.

I hear you’re in negotiations with Apple regarding your exclusivity agreement for the iPhone. I wonder how many of us you will be keeping having stuck it to us on the iPhone 3G S if say, Verizon is added as a carrier for the iPhone. I also wonder how long it will take me to call Comcast and get them to cut me a good deal to switch from uVerse.

You alone can answer that question.

Daily Herald | Palatine school plans to expand

Daily Herald | Palatine school plans to expand

As many of you are aware my son attends New Connections Academy in Palatine, it has turned his life and his educational experiences around. There is no other school like it in the area that I’m aware of that specializes in programs for kids who suffer from autism but are high-functioning or have Asperger’s Syndrome.

This is also a great example of where a privately run program has stepped in to fill a void not being filled by the public schools. It’s a well-run facility with an incredible staff making differences in the lives of these kids every day. I’m glad to see more kids will be able to benefit from this program instead of trying to be placed in a program not designed for their disability. Too many times HFA and AS kids are being placed in ED (formerly “BD”) classrooms where they fall under bad influences (think of a child with HFA or AS as a giant button waiting to be pushed by a child with emotional issues). Or they get put in an LOP or similar classroom with students with more profound learning disabilities where they get bored and cause problems.

As the demand for these programs increases they will continue to expand. So if you have a child who suffers from HFA or AS I encourage you to insist on a placement that fits your child’s disability. It is your child’s right under IDEA to be placed in a such a program — the fit that is right for your child not the fit that is right for the school district. There is no greater advocate for your child than you, it’s up to you to insist on the proper placement so I encourage you to go into your next IEP meeting prepared and with the facts on what’s right for your child. By simply going along with a placement that may not be right for your child you aren’t doing him any favors and you’re ensuring there isn’t enough demand for programs like New Connections Academy.

GuyNet

The Hurt Locker (2008)

This movie has been out for a long time now (a really long time when you consider when it was made) and hauled in a bunch of awards yet I just saw it.  Why?  Don’t know, sat there with some other Blu-rays from Netflix for a while.  Rather than write an entire treatise I will do a micro-review, a quick snapshot of what I liked and didn’t like.

Liked

• Fantastic cinematography: Really wish the Academy voters would have rewarded some great old school cinematography over the 3D gimmickry.
• Great core characters: The three core characters of the film are well fleshed out, they are what drives the film.  Wow, a film with characters, how un-Hollywood!
• Kathryn Bigelow: Best Director was well deserved, I was floored.  I thought this was hype (i.e. how could the director of Point Break get best director?) but it surely was not.  Excellent work.
• Core theme:  The core theme about combat and what it does to soldiers was, I think, well done.  In that regard this film is probably one of the best films about war ever made.  I don’t like all of how it got there (see below) but it was well done.
• Jeremy Renner: Absolutely fantastic job.  He had his John Wayne game face but could flip it around and show the vulnerability (i.e. Beckham parts and shower scene).  It’s too bad he ran into someone who was owed an Oscar.

Disliked

• Complete fancy: This film is a joke when it comes to representing the job of an EOD.  They don’t act like this, if they do they are dead EODs.
• Unit of supermen: Hey let’s make ourselves snipers and we won’t call for any support we’ll just hang out here with these mercs all day!  Let’s split up in a hostile area at night!  Let’s never use a radio or call for support!  It helps isolate the core characters but there is no doubt this film fails miserably when it comes to realism.
• Military stereotypes: We have another “all officers are idiots” film.  I love David Morse, he’s one of my favorite actors but to see him do this cheesy stereotypical good ole boy full bird colonel imitation was terrible and pointless.  Depicting our troops acting this way I think bordered on disrespectful and stretched artistic license.  Then we have the lieutenant colonel psychologist which was equally nauseating (like the team would just leave him to hang out in the street).
• US stereotypes: Just what we needed, another movie portraying Americans as a bunch of “yee ha let’s go kill ‘em all” types.

I’ve never had such a film that struck me with this kind of mixed verdict.  I am going Machiavelli on this one in that I like the point the film made and I liked this as a film so overall I score it as a great film.  However, I certainly didn’t like how it got there.  It leaves me asking the question if Bigelow could have gotten to that message without taking the shortcuts or not?  Did she have to create these utterly unrealistic situations to isolate the core characters?  I’ve come to the conclusion that, to an extent, she did.

There’s a great risk you take when you make a war film about a war that is still going on.  Many will demand accuracy and this film was very inaccurate in a lot of areas.  Also, as I said, it bordered on being disrespectful and cartoonish with how it portrayed its characters.  Do I think there are some characters like this in the military?  Probably, but not many and not the ones we should be focused on.  At the same time I loved one of those characters even though he was completely unrealistic.

So there you have it, if you are looking for an accurate war movie, this is not your film.  However, if you are looking for a great movie about war, that sums up The Hurt Locker I believe.

Clash of the Titans (2010)

If you are looking for a faithful remake of the great Ray Harryhausen cult classic keep on looking, because this isn’t it.  No, this Titans is a stripped down (although there we more stripping in the original) no nonsense action flick and that’s pretty much it. The screenwriters on this film got way overpaid because there is very little dialogue in this film at all other than to fill in and drive Perseus and his band of gods haters on to the next part of their task.

The beginning starts out true to the original, Perseus and his mother are cast off in a coffin by his father Acrisius (who later comes back as Callibos is a bizarre time saving twist), you don’t know why at the time but they just are.  The coffin is pulled from the water by, to my shock, Pete Postlethwaite (In The Name of the Father) making his appearance as the first character you will have no clue what his name is (there will be many more).  You will only know him as Perseus’ dad and, amazingly, we all have British accents in Ancient Greece.  The first departure of the film takes place as Perseus’ mom dies (didn’t happen that way in myth or the original) and Pete and his family raise Perseus until, you know, he gets that higher calling.

From there on the stories really have little in common other than the general framework — the gods are pissed and they’re going to let the kracken out to go aggro on Argos (Joppa in the original) unless someone does something about it.  They get the magnificent Polly Walker (Rome and now Caprica) and they kill her after about three lines.  Perseus leaves with his band of droogs after a little encouragement from another demi-god named Io (hey, we know someone else’s name and it’s a hot Bond girl, Gemma Arterton). Perseus is out to avenge his human father, no saving the damsel this time, he doesn’t have a thing for Andromeda like Harry Hamlin did.

Then non-stop action takes place as they quickly dispatch one trial after the next and whittle the band of droogs down.  You learn none of their names really even though they are about the only human element to the film.  I’m completely serious you only hear their names a couple times and usually when they’re dying, “Eusebios!” Perseus utters as the stone head crumbles to the floor and you say to yourself “oh wow, that was that dude’s name.”

All in all a few things save this film from being completely mindless.  Mads Mikkelsen, the Dane better known for previously playing Le Chiffre in the last two Bond films is great as the captain of the guard who heads up the droogs who head out with Perseus (he also gives Perseus a 2 minute sword lesson and immediately after Perseus nearly kills him, being a demi-god rules). I wouldn’t be surprised if he had the most lines in the film, he’s earnest and personable and quickly allows you to build some admiration for him with very little dialogue. His partner in crime, who I’ll be darned if you ever hear that character’s name in the film is played by Liam Cunningham, he gets all the jokes as a character called Solon apparently. The play between Mikkelsen and Cunningham is great and really livens things up and hits you on a human level.  Aside from that you’ll find yourself grasping at a lot of names — those two funny dudes who come along (we don’t know who they are or where they came from but, by all means, come along with us and survive even), another sort of weird creature made out of scorpion hides and blue fire and one hot yet deadly looking Medusa and you have this film summed up.

Sure, there’s Liam Neeson as Zeus and Ralph Fiennes as Hades but there’s little for them to do except play it easy as two brothers in need of a serious intervention and some time to hug it out but that’s about it. Sam Worthington is buff and does a bit of fighting, he’s the reluctant hero we really don’t get invested in at all. You think he doesn’t care about anything until he starts to put the moves on Io on what turns into Charon’s fantasy pleasure death cruise ship of the River Styx apparently!  Oh sure, the moment gets broken up but the gratuitous romance was thrown in. A completely forgettable performance from Worthington as far as I’m concerned.

The effects are pretty dang good, the girls are gorgeous and it moves along quickly and before you know it it’s over.  If this film were a magazine it would be Maxim, what can I say. There is a nice tip of the hat to Harryhausen with Bobo the owl but he only makes a cameo. We also have two interesting “oh that’s where they are now” moments with Alexandar Siddig of Deep Space Nine fame as Hermes and Jane March (The Lover and Color of Night) as Hestia where she not only manages to not have sex with anybody, she keeps her clothes on as well! Well done, Jane!

Overall a relaxing piece of afternoon fun, I’d catch it at the matinée showing, definitely not worth paying full price for or just catch it on video. I wasn’t expecting a faithful remake, I was expecting it to stand on its own and it really doesn’t do that. But for the fame of the original I don’t see the appeal. Percy Jackson & the Olympians had a far better plot, action that was at least as good and actual characters. Your two coins for the boatman are far better spent there.

Sports

Chicago Bulls – What We Forgot

I dragged myself out of bed this morning with the sound of Maureen McGovern bouncing around in my brain reminding me “there’s got to be a morning after.” Well that ship sank and so did the Bulls’ last night so where does that leave us? Before long it dawned on me that we, as Bulls fans, forgot a lot of stuff. We have the Bulls to thank for that but we should take note of them.

Derrick Rose Is VERY Young

He makes us forget it with his unselfish play, his calm demeanor, his lack of outbursts, but D Rose is still but 22 years old. This is only his third year in the league and he won the MVP. Many times I get irritated at the NBA for announcing their awards in the middle of the playoffs, it makes you forget just how big of a deal and how uncommon it has been for someone this young to win an MVP in all of sports let alone the NBA.

LeBron James hasn’t been to the Finals at all in his 7 years in the league, it took Kobe until his 4th year. Dwyane Wade got a championship his second year in the league but it was only with a team of thoroughbreds around him. The fact we are even mentioning D Rose in the same breath of these guys is a testament to how special the kid is (and how wrong I was about him).

He made some mistakes with decisions and a lot of turnovers. He lost a lot of his aggressiveness but that was in large part to a very effective game plan against him run to perfection by the Heat. He’s got time and he learned something.

Tom Thibodeau Is A First Year Head Coach

After being subjected to two years of a graduate assistant the Bulls finally had a real head coach for the first time since Scott Skiles was dismissed after essentially giving up on his own team (which was hardly head coach-like). Thibs was so impressive he too had the fantastic accomplishment of being selected NBA Coach of the Year overshadowed by the playoff run.

We forget the 53-year-old’s previous head coaching gig was with Salem State during the Reagan Administration. He’s been an assistant, a great one but still an assistant, for most of his career. He’s only the third first-year coach to win 60 games. These phenomenal accomplishments made us forget he’s still learning the ropes too.

I think it’s clear Thibs needs a better offensive mind on the bench with him. He failed to put a play out there in the last two Bulls losses, games they could have and arguably should have won. Clearing out for a 3rd year player to manufacture a shot out of thin air with probably the best defender in the NBA on him is not a plan. It was unfair to do that to Derrick and I hope Thibs recognizes that.

Down the stretch of games he has also shown he can close in on what he feels the right lineup is and will stick to it – even when it’s failing. Why can’t Keith Bogans be trusted in the 4th Quarter? Why continue to run Kyle Korver out there when he hasn’t been making his shots? Why hardly play Kurt Thomas at all and then suddenly throw him in only after Omer Asik went down? These are all legitimate questions to ask a head coach.

The Heat Were Supposed To Win

Let’s just be honest with ourselves now. I hate them just as much as the rest of you do but the team Miami has put together is truly scary. They got some serviceable players to put around their Big 3 and the Bulls may well have woken Chris Bosh up for Miami. To their credit the Bulls were in every game with Miami, only Miami got blown out and gave up in Game 1. They took that and responded and the Bulls were never able to close down the stretch – being worn down by some of the best players in the game will do that to you.

It’s alright to hate them. It’s alright to notice the Bulls well could have been the ones celebrating last night if a few things go their way. Don’t deny the pure talent Miami comes to the floor with night after night though and while, yes, I don’t believe Derrick gets his due from the referees they weren’t the reason it didn’t happen for the Bulls this year.

The Finals Aren’t Given

It’s been so long since the Bulls had a legitimate shot at the NBA Finals that we forget what Michael Jordan et al went though when they went for the first time – a tough Detroit team that took them years to beat. I will predict right now that we will see Bulls v Heat Part II next year. It took the Bulls four attempts before they were finally able to defeat the Pistons and go to the Finals, if the Bulls make the right moves in the offseason (OJ Mayo please) they could one up MJ and the boys and do it in two.  Maybe then we can forget about this and celebrate another NBA title.

Bears Make Move Of A Lifetime

The long sad story of Chicago Bear quarterbacks has finally come to a an end. Aside from a few bright moments it’s been a lifetime of misery for the Bears for quarterback.

Want some proof?

Frankly, that’s all I need because I’ve waited 37 years for the Bears to go out and sign an elite quarterback. Next thing you know the Cubs will be in the World Series!!

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