Sage of Springfield

Worker compensation

2011-05-24T13:51:00.000-07:00

Currently, if you get injured on the job you can't sue your employer, but your employer must pay a premium for worker compensation claims, like an insurance policy, or maybe it is an insurance policy.

What would happen if the worker compensation law was completely repealed and re-written?

Some companies believe that it should stay the same, but other businesses say the premiums are too high. Who would believe the premiums are too high for worker compensation claims? Usually businesses that have a higher frequency of worker compensation claims, and must pay a higher rate because they present a greater burden on the fund.

Some businesses are new and perhaps have trouble financing their start-up so they feel that worker compensation should be cheaper for them because they are a very low risk and they feel that what they currently pay for worker compensation premiums is unfair.

Somewhere in the middle there is the business that is making a profit and doesn't see a problem with the current worker compensation premium because, frankly, they just can't see the burden from way up where they are.

Then there are lawyers who, if the worker compensation law was completely repealed, would make a huge profit because they would have jury trials, and juries typically award massive punitive damages in Illinois. This would be delicious for lawyers and the injured employees who could afford the risk of litigation, but this would be terrifying to businesses, and with current pressure from the recent sales tax increase, the added pressure of repealing the entire worker compensation law would be the final nail in the coffin for commerce in Illinois.

There may be new guidelines drawn up for assessing labor risk, and from the categories of labor risk, worker compensation insurance plans can be tailored.

Risk in the workplace typically involves impact from falls, strains from lifting or stooping, repetitive motion injuries, exposure to toxins, lacerations from equipment, infections from contact with liquid or airborne agents, deteriorating health from sedentary work activity. Some atypical risk involves a higher likelihood of victimization, such as delivering pizza, driving a taxi, working nights at a convenience store, bar. There may be others.

Someone suggested putting a cap on medical treatment costs for worker compensation. Some people I surveyed thought that was a great idea, but the doctors would need to start driving cheaper cars. Doctors are saddled with medical school loan debt and malpractice insurance premiums.

I hope nobody suggested government subsidies, that would be hypocrisy.

Political Morality

2011-04-21T01:44:00.000-07:00

My father once said "we must always respect the office of the President of the United States, no matter what!" Did his generation grow up believing that buildings, business suits and uniforms controlled the minds of those who wore them, forcing them to act in ways that maintained the integrity of clothing and architecture?

Back when there were very few channels of mass communication, and major corporations could control one hundred percent of the message, very few people could or would present a dissenting opinion on anything. Most people who didn't really pay attention to history or human behavior were very susceptible to the belief that integrity was sewn or nailed into the fabric of official attire or architecture.

I was taught in public school that voters were "We the people" and voting was the power in the United states. Did everyone assumed that since we could choose, we had control over our society? When I was young I didn't really think much about how politicians got on the ballot, or that politicians needed huge quantities of money to run for office so they pandered to the wealthy, spoke with obscure gilded rhetoric and made the same never-kept campaign promises that got their predecessors elected.

I wonder if there were some rare idealists who were elected and really worked hard to balance our society for equitable prosperity? There certainly are some who appear to try.

These days with digital social networks, I just assume the worst from politicians. Nepotism, cronyism, financial reciprocity, basic corruption, etc. Since politicians pretty much assume that we now expect this of them, they are free to act openly loyal only to their campaign contributors. Since it's now out in the open, who cares? What can you do about it anyway, change the laws?

Campaign finance reforms? Term limits? Sorry folks, its too late. The drawbridge on the castle was pulled up long, long ago. We really have no choice but to prepare ourselves for a sociopathic, predatory political structure that does not regulate an already shark-infested "free" market system which plunders resources and hoards money.

We must approach everything with the notion that self-preservation supersedes equity in everything, that our primitive reptilian brains are still in control, and our lately evolved cerebral cortices allow us to be duped into believing promises, claims and dreams.

Trust, integrity, honesty and righteousness are fictions and faith is foolish. The herd that slows down for its weakest members is soon extinct. Convincing a herd that it's the right thing to do is a triumphant strategy. Honesty is an allegation safely made in the realm of the gullible.

If everyone assumes that bias is impossible to erase and impartiality is a myth, we can all safely practice healthy skepticism and take the precautions necessary to properly navigate what was once considered "risky" endeavors, such as investing in the stock market, applying for loans, or choosing a college.

If you insist on going through the motions of voting just to keep that machine alive, at least you should do some research about your candidate first, and take precautions to protect your assets.

Justice is so expensive that it serves only the adjudicators. Health care is so expensive that it takes quality out of the life it saves. Politics is so expensive we can only choose candidates propped up by the wealthy. Ultimately we all become slaves.

Universities facing "unprecedented budget challenges" need to look in the mirror.

2011-04-12T18:12:00.000-07:00

Did the university shoot itself in the foot?
Is it not self-sufficient? Is enrollment down below a benchmark that was supposed to trigger a special budget review, but did not?

Does it have contractors who are locked in for extended periods with cost-overruns?

Through one-time donations, did the university over-construct infrastructure that now requires unforseen massive annual infusions of funds to maintain?

In an effort to draw more students, did the university defer its core curriculum value system to teaching for popular high-paying jobs, despite the transient nature and out-sourcing risk of those career choices?

Why does the university have a competitive extra-curricular sports program? Doe it cost more than it's worth?

What kind of recruiters show up at job fairs hosted by the university? Are they Fortune 500, or minimum-wage paying part-time employers and insurance business pyramid schemers?

Is the university forced to recruit from great distances, and pay exorbitant six-digit salaries to high-level staffers, while maintaining a majority of professors as "Associate?"

What is the success rate of the university graduates? Does anyone know? Is it public information?

Perhaps universities facing "unprecedented budget challenges" are facing them for a reason.

White Flight Revenge

2011-01-26T01:40:00.000-08:00

Way back when integration became law and then busing was enforced throughout the land, there was a great exodus from the Springfield area of terrified white people.

I'm not saying all of them are racists, well maybe, who knows? They moved far, far out of Springfield because of integration, otherwise they would have simply become part of the urban sprawl within the city proper. The irony is that a lot of them still work for the city of Springfield, and every time someone brings up the topic of residency requirement they all get their panties in a bunch.

Really, the worst kind of racists besides the violent ones are the Limousine Liberals who wear their alleged guilt on their sleeves as they decry the foul odor of the open sewers on 13th street, then quickly exit to Rochester, Chatham, Panther Creek, Spaulding, Riverton, and as far away as Jacksonville.

If everyone who worked for the city actually lived in the city, having "flesh in the game" they would have an incentive to do more than just the bare minimum.

Some people in Springfield are pleased to see the costs going up in surrounding communities. There's a feeling of vindication about those who abandoned Springfield paying more for services: Chatham hikes water, sewer rates - Springfield, IL - The State Journal-Register

Coffey for Mayor of Springfield

2010-12-21T21:13:00.000-08:00

Broker: the adjective.

2010-12-19T14:10:00.000-08:00

We know what a broker is, right? According to some dictionaries online, broker is a noun for someone who manages transactions between two parties. Broke, however, is an adjective commonly related to the term bankrupt.

Illinois may serve to usher in the word broker as an adjective. Could it be used in a sentence?
"Illinois is now even broker."

It's highly likely that this phrase is already in use among the voters who keep reelecting the people who are driving the state of Illinois into the ground. Already, in conjunction with the word better they use worser , and logically therefore best-est and worst-est.

Illinois is spending more money than it can take in and it has been doing so for decades, and now comes another veteran of the Illinois State Representatives and Senate to serve as Treasurer.

You might think nobody cares, but that's only because you don't hear from people who do care, because they're being blocked from the main-stream media due to their inability to pay for advertising.

Television stations, radio stations and newspaper are expensive, and only the very rich who know how to make money just for themselves and have nothing but contempt for you can afford those venues from which to spread their lies and siren songs.

You might think that smart people who have the money to spend on advertising are the only people worth having in political office, but you would be stupid, because smart people who have money to spend on advertising are working for themselves, not you, that's why they have so much money to blow away on stupid television commercials.

Wikileaks

2010-11-29T07:11:00.000-08:00

Remember when Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld had a press conference about the release of photographs from Abu Ghraib prison? He was enraged about cameras being allowed into the prison. Now the government is all upset over the Wikileaks.org memos.

The arrogance is astonishing. The next press conference you go to, here's a nicely prepared question for the President of the United States:

Sir. Sharing information has become very important for national security since the 9/11, but because of the leaks happening with photos from prisons at Iraq and now memos being leaked by Wickileaks.org, rather than trying to suppress that information, is there a plan to deal with the behaviors depicted in those photos and memos so they won't be so embarrassing when they are leaked in the future?

Really, being upset because you were caught rather than being ashamed of what you did is the behavior typical of a psychopath.

U.S. Congress earmark ban vote on Tuesday.

2010-11-15T17:19:00.000-08:00

Why should we ban earmarks? Remember the Bridge to Nowhere? It was a huge infrastructure project that would have cost the state of Alaska billions of dollars to maintain into the future, on its own.

That's right. That's why states are going broke. A congressman had the bright idea to get a one-time cash windfall for a huge project in his own district, but the cash for the long-term maintenance of that project is coming from where? Take a wild guess.

Okay, it will come out of the state's own coffers going forward.

That's why we need to stop all federal earmarks that don't support the long-term maintenance of projects in congressional districts, which is most likely all of them.

Yet another explanation for states going into debt.

Rules of Subjective Reality

2010-10-19T17:10:00.000-07:00

1. The instinct for self-preservation always supersedes collective philosophies, impartiality, equity, constitutions, rules and laws.

Sports teams regularly gain as many points ahead of their opponent as possible. A team is considered relatively better when the point spread is wider, rather than playing confidently one point ahead throughout the competition.

Political districts are regularly manipulated to control votes. Illinois regularly redraws districts, reinforcing an advantagous position for the incumbent party.

While Marxism and Keynesian economics seems ideal, the application of Marxism under the leadership of Lennin, Stalin, Mao, Castro, etc., resulted in elite political party hierarchies with privileges at the top and starvation at the bottom.

The allegations that the western market is "free" is discounted by the existence of a patent system of engineering and design restrictions, and possession of resources by a handful of organizations.

An economic myth

2010-09-04T09:31:00.000-07:00

I was listening to Fritz Pfister on WMAY this morning. He has several times blamed the recession on the government regulation and taxation. This is a standard mantra of right-wing anti-government conservatives who miss the good old days of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and the great Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.

The recession is the result of supressed wages and increased prices over the years, remedied by easy access to credit cards, sub-prime adjustible rate mortgage loans falsified by unscrupulous lenders.

The minimum payments on credit cards finally became larger than the low income "middle class" could handle. People just can't buy any more on credit. The reality of their (our) income finally hit a wall.

But get this. The wall would have come into view much later if a Republican was elected. Instead, businesses punished their employees for voting for Barack Obama. The massive layoffs began right after the election.

Now the right-wingers are blaming government again, because businesses don't have consumers. Businesses don't have consumers because they overprice their products (based on a now extinct credit-liquid economy) rather than pricing their products based on a real income (without credit) economy.

It's the "free" market's own fault for allowing itself to be structured around an unsustainable credit-supported economy.

CNN falsely framing Phoenix economy around immigration issue.

2010-07-29T12:55:00.000-07:00

For two years now, since the housing bubble burst across the nation and particularly in Phoenix where, according to Realty Trac, 1 in 5 housing units is in forclosure (1), The economy has suffered greatly due to the sub-prime mortgage disaster. However, CNN thinks we, the viewing audience has a very short memory.

Phoenix Arizona Forclosures. www.RealtyTrac.com

The new immigration law is only just taking effect, partially at best, but CNN has pinned the economy on Arizona Law SB 1070 which was only just signed into law on April 23, 2010, years after the Arizona economy tanked due to the housing crisis.

CNN published a story online titled "Specter of Arizona immigration law slowly drains economy." The article pins the economy on the new law rather than the already existing real estate crisis in a classic "post-hoc ergo propter hoc" fallacy of argumentation.

Honestly, the law doesn't mandate that police officers stand by the entrance of every restaurant that is supplied by the seafood distribution center and check papers. Honestly, are there going to be police officers posted in real estate offices to check the papers of everyone who buys a new house or signs a lease or rental agreement?

Apology to Congressman Joe Wilson

2010-06-23T23:08:00.001-07:00

I was with everyone else when Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina yelled out "You Lie!" during President Barack Obama's speech before a joint session of congress. I think it was a state of the union address, but I'm not anymore willing to waste the effort to verify exactly what address it was or when. It just doesn't matter anymore. Gitmo is still open, extraordinary rendition is still going on, and U.S. citizens are being officially targeted for assassination by our government. Judging from that, Total Information Awareness was probably dusted off and reinstated, warrantless wiretapping may be rampant, and who knows what else. In any case, I don't believe that any of the campaign promises have been fulfilled yet. I'm still waiting for change.

I must apologize to Joe Wilson because I was too quick to cast aspersions on his reaction during the event. I think everyone else should apologize as well because his reaction was prophetic.

The social class system

2010-05-08T10:16:00.001-07:00

I used to think that there was a social class system whereby people distinguish themselves from others by displaying their wealth in the form of extravagant possessions. During and before the industrial revolution people of wealth were highly visible and respected as individuals of great capability.

Jump forward a few generations and now we have a string of generations clinging onto the coattails of their rich ancestors, the children of the kings of industry were raised with a permanent safety net and free keys to the top offices and penthouses. They may know how to go through some of the motions, but industry has devolved from being about the product and the consumer, to being about nothing but making the biggest profit possible, at the expense of quality and the labor force, which by the way, are the consumers. Corporations are driven into the ground, squeezed of every penny, then dismantled.

Now we are finding that performance by those thought to be professionals is falling short at nearly every level of government, from the local coroner, state legislators that cannot balance a budget, as far up as the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Are we wondering how the heck they got there? Not really because we just take for granted that someone who has enough money to get on a political ballot and send mass mailings is somehow qualified to lead. We almost had a pawn broker for a lieutenant governor.

Politics has degraded to nothing more than a sport. The winner gets to the playoffs by getting the office and then keeping it. Beyond that there doesn't appear to be any real value of politics portrayed in the mass media. The grand prize is retirement with a huge pension.

The Prom? Really?

2010-04-27T07:04:00.001-07:00

According to Answers.com, the prom is alleged to be "an important lesson in social skills, especially in a theoretically classless society that valued behavior over breeding."[1] There appears to be nothing stated in the article that restricts proms to those who have dates, however, the inclusion of young boys and girls without dates often results in emotional scars. Boys and girls who are left out of the prom because they cannot match the wealth, beauty, and/or social connections, may be left to wonder forever what their lives may be like today had they attended.

The prom seems to set the boundary between the "haves and the have-nots," emboldening a class system based on emblems and rituals, but in reality it serves the major fashion industries to acquire that which from a fool is frequently parted, money.

1. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_did_the_tradition_of_high_school_proms_start

The Wedge of Wage-Gap

2010-03-04T05:30:00.000-08:00

Illinois,government,state,working,job

The goal of working in government is the betterment of the society for which that government is established. Sounds magnanimous, but it seems the goal of working for the state has become money and personal family security.

Western society is organized in a structure based on the human needs structure, or Abraham Maslow's "Need Hierarchy"

5. Peak Experiences
4. Self-Actualization
3. Psychological needs
2. Safety needs
1. Basic survival needs

How these levels of needs are described is debatable, but the key ingredient of these needs is Judgement. People on upper levels of the structure are very judgemental about people on the lower levels of this structure.

The fundamental indicator of the structure is wealth, and humans love to display their position on the need hierarchy by enveloping themselves in symbols, i.e. homes, cars, boats, jewelry, etc.

Humans choose to affiliate only with people of similar status. When they surround themselves with people of similar status, they think less and less about the rest of their society.

Every time you go to a party, don't you see state workers huddled together in the corner discussing their managers, and darting their eyes about looking for their critics from the private sector?

Here is the problem:

The government has become dynastic. Only the rich are capable of winning office, and only people who know someone on the inside can get a state job.

The salaries and wages of state officials and workers is three times outpaced by outsiders to such a degree that the state has become disconnected from its purpose.

The point of government is the betterment of society as a whole for which it was originally established, but the wedge of wage-gap has isolated government into a sub-culture of insiders living in fear of criticism from the private sector.

The people in government have lost their way. They should be motivated to better the lives of society as a whole instead of entering the the gates of the castle and raising the drawbridge, then tossing leftovers to the peasants below.

How is this done? Simply by mandating that salaries in government reflect the average salaries of their society as a whole.

Such a mandate will motivate government to improve itself by improving the lives of it's constituents.

Currently however, government chooses to claim a budget shortfall and cut certain programs so that the overlords can keep their rich salaries.

The Language of the Weak

2010-02-06T15:22:00.000-08:00

1. Use of the word “Retarded”
The use of the word “retarded” long ago meant “not fully developed” and today serves no useful purpose in science as it is too general a statement. The word is so imprecise that its only redeeming value is the rapid discredit of those who use it.

In other words, anyone who uses the word “retarded” in any capacity has symptoms of a generally disreputable lexicon. Such persons more frequently use expletives to fill voids that would otherwise contain more accurate and acceptable messages.

New Government - Hynes keeps his counties

2010-02-04T13:23:00.000-08:00

When I get the election results, I'll draw up some boundaries and carve up the state between Hynes and Quinn. Hynes won Sangamon county so he can keep it as far as I'm concerned.

End of Democracy

2010-01-22T05:41:00.001-08:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Are Illinois and the rest of the states in a headlock?

2010-01-05T09:37:00.000-08:00

The United Feudal States of AFSCME.

Most of us know a headlock when we see one. One wrestler has his bulging vein-popped arm around another wrestler's head which darkens to a beet red color before he flops to the mat unconscious.

This morning I saw an ad in the paper for an at-home job opportunity taking flower orders for 1800Flowers.com. Instead of signing up right away, I went to www.RipOffReport.com and searched the name “1800Flowers.”

I was shocked at the results. There were thirteen complaints posted that included the business. Most reports were categorized under credit card fraud, bait-and-switch, mail-order service, etc. So I stopped right there, then shared the information at Facebook and Digg.

I was curious about what other businesses I might find in Springfield, Illinois so I searched Rip Off Report again and found 88 posts. One of which was the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, (AFSCME).

I didn’t really think much of it at first, but upon reading the entire report, I have no choice but to arrive at the conclusion that the United States of America is ruled by AFSCME. No matter who gets elected, it doesn’t change the makeup of AFSCME. AFSCME appears to operate with absolute impunity in the U.S. and not even International Human Rights organizations will go near them.

The victim describes how he fought all the way to the Supreme Court to no avail, was unheard by Illinois legislators, unheard by U.S. senators and congressmen, and met with shrugging shoulders at the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Labor Relations Board.

I am compelled to present the document in its entirety below because there is the risk that it will be removed from RipOffReport.com, either by coercion or by malicious internet attacks against the site itself.

So here it is:

Report: American Federation Of State County And Municipal Employees, Council 31,AFL-CIO

Reported By: (River Grove Illinois)

American Federation Of State County And Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO Council 31,AFL-CIO AFSCME, Council 31 took my Union fees for 7 years, then allowed City Colleges to fire me when I exposed ghost student grades corruption, the AFSCME used my fees to hire a law firm to sustain my firing -instead of protecting my job. Springfield Illinois

*Consumer Comment... afscme is a corrupt organization

American Federation Of State County And Municipal Employees, Council 31,AFL-CIO

615 S. Second St., P.O.Box 2328,

Springfield Illinois 62705-2328

U.S.A.

Phone: 217-788-2800

Submitted: Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Last posting: Monday, November 23, 2009

I was teaching Adult Education

at City Colleges ffrom 1981 to 1998. In 1991 we voted to become part of the union American Federation of State County and Municioal Employees (AFSCME, Council 31) for job protection. The classes were free to students, paid by the State of Illinois, and the Illinois of Public Aid (PA) required foreign student receiving assistance to attend English as a Second Language classes to obtain skills and find jobs. But many students tried to beat the system by register for the PA required classes, and after the morning roll call to answer "Present," then they got up and left saying: "Sorry, teacher

, I have to go to work." But when they left, I changed the attendance roster to "Absent", and when at the end of the month they brought me a PA form to verify their attendance, I marked all absences, and the PA cut their assistance and food stamps

. Those students were cheating PA by getting assistance and work for cash! And I didn't want to be part of their schemes because I would legally liable for falsifying student reports to help them commit welfare fraud. On March 11, 1998, I notified by U.S. Certified Mail the Illinois Department of Public Aid of the scheme going on at City Colleges with the consent of the Union.

The Union asked me to recant the PA letter of fraud, because the "Present" grades need for the class funding, and, if it was cut off, the teachers will lose jobs, and the Union will lose their fees. [Copy of original letter to Illinois Public Aid available] The City Colleges and AFSCME were furious, and harassed me in various ways.

Then AFSCME and the City Colleges of Chicago used their clout and tried to scrap a Bill (SB1750) pending before the Illinois House Committee. I then sent letters on May 1, 1998 to each member of that Committee, and urged them to pass the law which -if pass "will establish accountability that will get rid of many educational parasites," on quote. (Copy of that original letter is available).

On June 10, 1998, the Chicago Tribune headlined: "Students get A's for nothing," confirming that the fraud I had reported to Public Aid was also going on at The West Side Institute, and the City Colleges of Chicago campus.

(Copy of that Tribune headline is available)

Ten days later, on June 20, 1998, I was fired by City Colleges of Chicago. The AFSCME filed a grievance for wrongful job termination with City Colleges of Chicago, but it was a smokescreen. And when I contested the case in courts by myself - the Union had cancelled the fake arbitration set up- the Union hired a law firm who joined another law firm hired by the City Colleges

of Chicago and both fought me all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court. There was no way that an individual like me, no matter my high education, could fight the flood of motions by 2 law firms and win a case.

A Union, using the fees of a member to hire a law firm to secure the firing of a whistleblower member for exposing fraud may seem to be unheard in history. But it happened more often, and it just swept under the rug.

In 2001 I started working for the State of Illinois, and AFSCME with hefty political contributions to both Democrats and Republicans has secured control of representation of all State employees. Worse yet, I had to pay monthly fees to the Union that used my prior fees to prosecute my prior employment. Under a "Fair Share Law," the Union took fees from my paycheck without my consent. That was a violation of my U.S. Constitutional Rights, 5th Amendment, because I was forced against my will to finance my own prosecution. But there was no way out.

The AFSCME used its clout to make the "Fair Share" law foolproof by allowing in the law only a provision for a non-member to "Challenge" the Union fees by arbitration.

The arbitration request is made to the Union -not the State- and the Union can ignore it without any penalty. Six years and six requests for arbitration to the Union were never processed.

Upon further research, I found that forcing a person to belong to an organization and paying dues violates 3 Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But unfortunately, the U.S. is not a party of the Protocol of Civil and Political Rights, and that is why the Intenational Human Rights Commission has no rights to Guantanamo detainees.

On an inquiry to the International Human Rights Commission I was told that I could not file a complaint against the U.S. for allowing "forcible memberships" by Unions.

Also the National labor Relations Board, and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice told me they have no jurisdiction. And a letter to U.S. Senator John McCain for congressional hearings on the AFSCME's prosecution of a whistleblower, got no response.

In a true democracy, Unions shall not be able to extract fees against the will of laborers, then use those fees as political financing for politicians [their charter says that fees are not used for political contributions, if anybody can believe that] to customize laws that benefit the Union management against the interest of their members. Exposure is needed in that comfy relationship between politicians and unions that has become an anathema to every honest citizen in the United States. The late Wisconsin Senator William Proxmire, who never accepted money as political contribution, told NBC's Tom Brokaw in an interview: "People come to Washington with money and buy legislation." And in a true democracy, nobody shall be able to empty the pockets of other people against their will, then use that money to prosecute them and mess their lives LEGALLY!!!!

AND WRITTEN IRREFUTABLE DOCUMENTAION IS AVAILABLE!

Nikos xxxxx

River Grove, Illinois

U.S.A.

http://www.ripoffreport.com/civil-rights-violators/american-federation/american-federation-of-state-c-acf63.htm

Great Expectations

2009-12-14T11:28:00.000-08:00

Some people have idealized expectations about other people, that people normally help one-another to maintain a stable civilization. Other people have no illusions about human nature’s tendency for survival behavior and expect deception edging toward brutality. Other people have nothing but contempt for everyone else and feel entitled to respect without first earning it. They become angry when strangers don’t fawn and flatter them.

Liberals typically expect people to conform to social rules that govern polite society, such as equality, fairness, honesty, and charity. When they discover this not to be the case, they try to find ways to enforce polite behavior through anti-discrimination laws, government transparency, product labels, taxes for social programs and other methods of behavioral engineering.

Conservatives have no illusions about human behavior. To them, if you choose to engage in behavior without first learning every possible negative outcome and covering your own bases, then it’s your own fault for walking into the situation uninformed.

It’s up to you to pull yourself up by your own “boot straps” and it’s up to your parents to teach you all about it. This is the foundation of a self-regulating free market society; another way of saying “survival of the fittest” or “natural selection.”

Some will even go as far as praising and glorifying unwise behavior, such as buying things you don’t need, a house too expensive, or having more children than you can afford. They will prey upon the weakness of liberal delusional expectations of proper behavior, just to get more ignorant people into situations that will drain the resources of the liberals.

Is it fair to associate liberals and conservatives to these kinds of behaviors? It’s probably too much of a generalization to do so because there are so many people who claim to be one or the other, yet they contradict their claims with inconsistent behavior. One might assign the terms “social” and “anti-social” but which is which?

Which is more dangerous? Being taught to behave in a polite and charitable manner, and being taught to expect that everyone else will behave the same way, or is more dangerous to be taught never to expect human behavior to evolve beyond the bare minimum requirements that keep them from prison?

Do we have a right to punish those who take advantage of the ignorant, punish the system that nurtured ignorant choices, or punish the ignorant?

Those who take advantage of the ignorant are they who sell people what they don’t need; charge hidden fees and lock people into never-ending debt.

The system that nurtures ignorance is an education system that values sports more than academics and values labor skills more than real science, entrepreneurship and self-sustainability. A commercial media system that provides vicarious entertainment that distorts values and pacifies the public.

The ignorant are they who were born of ignorant parents and raised without being taught to survive on their own without the help of the state, church or employer; they who are unprepared when they lost their job which they believed would carry them to retirement and beyond; they who bore children as teenagers and were themselves born to unwed teenage mothers.

The chain of responsibility ends with the ignorant who must now find their way out of their situation, but goes backwards to their parents, then to their working class education system.

Unfortunately, our governments would rather cut the social programs and libraries, and not interfere with an education system that produces a surplus of workers that keeps private sector wages down; while government salaries and wages continue to climb despite the state having a bond rating that is second worst in the nation behind California.

Fear the Silence Part IV: Political Parties should Confess their Machiavellianism

2009-11-07T13:17:00.000-08:00

If you have not read Niccolo Machiavelli’s The Prince, I highly recommend it. It spells out the proper way to behave politically to maintain the appearance of benevolence as a leader while by necessity ruling as a tyrant.

One quote of Machiavelli is a reminder that ideals can only be achieved in rhetoric. The goal of a decent equitable civilization can never be achieved due to the realism of human behavior.

Many men have imagined republics and principalities that never really existed at all. Yet the way men live is so far removed from the way they ought to live that anyone who abandons what is for what should be pursues his downfall rather than his preservation; for a man who strives after goodness in all his acts is sure to come to ruin, since there are so many men who are not good. (1)

This is why politics only appears to be competitive and divisive. It maintains the illusion of choice, as suggested by Machiavelli himself.

Among Machiavelli’s suggestions are the following:
• It is better to be feared than loved.
• Keep up the illusion of being reliable at keeping your word.
• Keep the nobility satisfied in order to prevent conspiracies.
• Keep your subjects occupied so they have no chance to rebel (conquering lands or employed at skilled trades – oops! Too many of us are out of work. Smell revolution yet?).
• Being overly generous will only cause greed for more.

Machiavelli had his own version of the Golden Rule: “The offenses one does to a man should be such that one does not fear revenge for it.” Of course this means either don’t do anything, or do it in such a way that will afford no retribution. This is the realistic human behavior golden rule that most people live by.

This philosophy used to belong to the Democrats of the South. Why Machiavellianism easily shifted parties is simple. There really never was a difference between the parties. One party seems to be more honest than the other. A few Republicans finally openly admitted to Machiavellian behavior.

Dennis Miller is openly conservative and said on many occasions that it’s a dog-eat-dog world out there and people need to toughen up and get theirs (what ever it is) before someone else does.

Why would you be loyal to a party that exploits the masses to get the golden ticket to government service benefits? You don’t really have a choice.

I never read Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, but I get the idea that the free market should be allowed to self-regulate. This is the mantra of conservatives. They had everyone convinced that markets could self-regulate from the birth of the Industrial Revolution all the way up until 2008 when one leading conservative economist finally admitted to a U.S. Congressional subcommittee hearing that the idea was “fundamentally flawed.”

For years, a Congressional hearing with Alan Greenspan was a marquee event. Lawmakers doted on him as an economic sage. Markets jumped up or down depending on what he said. Politicians in both parties wanted the maestro on their side. But on Thursday, almost three years after stepping down as chairman of the Federal Reserve, a humbled Mr. Greenspan admitted that he had put too much faith in the self-correcting power of free markets and had failed to anticipate the self-destructive power of wanton mortgage lending. (2)

The rest of the Republicans should not wait as long as Greenspan to confess the true Machiavellian nature of the free market system, to themselves as well as everyone else. If they hurry up and acknowledge the truth like Dennis Miller and Alan Greenspan, there’s a slim chance they might get a few more supporters.

Democrats won’t admit to Machiavellianism. They have hope and dream silage to keep the masses from rebelling. They are going to get elected, then patronize their “nobility” just like the Republicans. The masses get screwed either way.

The “nobility” in our case are the industrial complexes of Banking, Finance, Military, Energy, Railroad, Automotive, Telecommunication, Medicine, Agriculture, Insurance, a few multinational retailers and other corporations "too large to fail."

I would suggest that the entire system be crushed by everyone not paying taxes, but it looks like enough of us are unemployed or poor that our tax refunds will do enough damage. What the hell. They can’t afford to put us in prison anymore anyway.

--------

1. Wikipedia – Partial Summary of Machiavelli’s The Prince
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prince ]

2. New York Times October 24, 2008 -- Greenspan Concedes Error on Regulation [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/business/economy/24panel.html ]

Fear the Silence Part 3: You can take your ball and go home, we have our own.

2009-11-02T07:02:00.000-08:00

The election in Afghanistan may serve as an example for the rest of us, depending on one potential outcome.

Dr. Abdullah Abdullah was until recently running against Hamid Karzai for the presidency of Afghanistan. The first round of elections were allegedly riddled with fraud in favor of Karzai, and Abdullah decided to not even bother running through the second round because, according to the BBC [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8336388.stm ], Karzai rejected Abdullah’s demand for replacing the election judges from the first round.

Just because Abdullah’s not running in the election doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be followed. Especially if Karzai’s administration really is rampant with corruption as reported by the Associated Press [http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jWS-iq74Txky__OmsJk0qHgUdJgQD9BMTNBO0 ]

A coup d’état is usually a power grab by a group of people, but what if that trophy stinks? What if the rules for that game have been distorted to benefit certain players and uninvited guests?

Dr. Abdulllah can walk away from the established system and build his own powerbase in a manner similar to Al Gore and his Inconvenient Truth global warming movement that ultimately helped shift the hearts and minds of a whole new generation away from rampant capitalistic consumerism. (Of course GW Bush and friends were equally helpful at pushing).

Unfortunately, once the election of Barack Obama happened, too many old cronies from past administrations came out of the woodwork. The tentacles of Wall Street wind their way throughout Washington, What a cliché. We get fooled again and again.

Too many voters are falling for the same lines again and again.

• “I’ll clean up [__name city, state or government office__] “
• “I promise no nation building.”
• “I’ll cut taxes.”
• “I won’t raise taxes.”
• “No new taxes”
• “I’ll cut waste, fraud and abuse.”
• “abortion, gay marriage, family values.”
• “___________________________________”

They keep getting elected. That’s what they are good at, getting elected. It’s obvious that most of them see their new position as the finish line. After all, they have all the career staff they need to keep the old machine running the status quo, and they can bring onboard their family and friends who helped get them there.

What can those of us who get run over, left behind, used and then tossed away like disposable razors do about it?

We can build our own machine; start our own game.

We can vote with our wallets, any other suggestions?

Send them to sageofspringfield@gmail.com

Fear the silence - part II: Go Time

2009-10-25T07:40:00.000-07:00

Saying is over, time for doing.

We have all commented online at newspaper’s web site and message boards, complaining about everything. We call people names; we point accusatory fingers and write about the bad behaviors of powerful people. We even come up with ideas and suggest needed changes. Do they listen? No.

Did you hear the latest political campaign rhetoric? The candidates are once again running on the same messages of “cleaning up corruption and waste” that the last candidates ran on and ultimately failed to complete. How many campaign cycles have we been through hearing that same message?

What can we do about it?

Ralph Nader’s been talking about this for decades. Nobody takes him or any other independent political candidate seriously for the simple reason that none have moved outside the box and simply created an entire functional government structure that can be manned at a moment’s notice. A future candidate will need to have his complete cabinet in advance of his run for office. Not just the politicians, but the entire bureaucracy must be replaced, all the way from the bottom up.

This is going to require a massive and complete shift in loyalty by law enforcement and military personnel away from the current industrial plutocracy, back to a real democratic form of government. No, a republic is a plutocracy.

You’re not going to get any businesses to support such a radical change because they are the real power behind the curtain of politics. Washington D.C. is merely an illusory Emerald City with the Wizard pulling the levers and puppet strings all the way from Wall Street.

How many times have you heard that old cliché? Everyone knows it but nobody knows what to do about it. The banks have a strangle-hold on small businesses and consumer credit card holders.

The strangle-hold is only effective as long as people value the extra car, the S.U.V., the boat in the driveway, the extra thousand feet of storage space in the house, the finished basement, the riding mower, caring about monthly or weekly fashion updates, etc.

How do you crush the system? Stop spending. Seems impossible? Try these links for helpful hints:

http://myyearwithoutspending.blogspot.com/
http://fruwiki.com/index.php?title=Main_Page
http://www.stopspendingmoney.net/
https://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/bnd

Consumer spending isn’t enough. The government is more completely owned by the industrial complexes of Military, Legal, Medical, Energy, Food, Insurance, and Mass Media. All of theses have always been subsidized by taxes and reinforced by Patent regulations that suppress innovation and technological progress that might compete with them. We never heard much about this before the Internet allowed freedom of speech to expand around the world.

All of the aforementioned industrial complexes operate through Lobbyists in D.C. and often literally write our legislation. Do you need evidence? Just Google this: “legislation written by lobbyists”

Find out which legislators have been caught doing favors of one kind or another for lobbyists, and scratch them off your list. The best we can do right now is colossal non-cooperation.

Complaining and protesting has failed. Freedom of speech is only good for attracting the attention of those who can make you disappear. If things get worse for us because we speak up, we can act in silence and go underground.

The High Price of Free Speech

2009-10-21T08:13:00.001-07:00

Tuesday night I went to Capital City Bar and Grill to watch the film “Shouting Fire: Stories from edge of free speech.”

It was a good film. It taught me to open my eyes, clench my fists, and shut my mouth. There were numerous incidents where free speech was used to make the public render a verdict at election polls. There were more incidents where free speech got people into trouble.

After the 9/11/2001 attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, freedom of the press was used to vilify, condemn, or persecute anyone who pointed out the reasons for the attack, anyone remotely associated with Islam and anyone who dared question the validity of the War in Iraq.

The film discussed the USA Patriot Act and demonstrated how free speech is being used as a tool against the public.

It was suggested that the goal of the ACLU is to defend any speech no matter how offensive. Free speech should be defended as long as it’s truthful. Deliberately deceptive speech on the other hand should be criminalized.

The McCarthy hearings were a small part of the film. I got an overall impression that Senator Joseph McCarthy’s mistake was using free speech to bring his concerns to the court of public opinion. He and J. Edgar Hoover both believed they could bring the public to their side with their ideas.

Speech has a funny way of working against you while you are in power, no matter the message. The glorious leaders of our society have taken a Machiavellian approach and promoted freedom of speech for the rest of us, while they themselves quietly go about listening and watching for the malcontents.

Theses mistakes have been remedied by government agents quietly infiltrating protest groups.

Peaceful anti-war protesters are regularly blocked from parading, moments after they arrive. Agents who infiltrate protest groups try to provoke the groups into actions that allow police to stop the groups and have members arrested.

Typically the first members of the group to be arrested are the infiltrating provocateurs. Their arrest is handled with such drama, shock and awe, that the arrest is intended to frighten other protesters into disbanding or surrendering.

Without free speech of our enemies we will never know who they are. This has become the mantra of the government. Defenders of free speech are provoking people into exposing themselves as dissidents.

My friends, public speech is no longer effective. Free speech is bait for a trap. We are done with speech. Nobody is paying attention.

Do not fear the clamoring throng, fear the silence.

Good Service

2009-10-16T13:02:00.001-07:00

I was cleaning off my dresser this morning and I found an old receipt from County Market folded around another piece of paper. The receipt was from last week some time. The message with the receipt said:

“Did you receive excellent service from the cashier? If so, please turn this note in to the customer service desk. Cashier name: ___________...”

Wow. When I go to the grocery store I never really look at the receipt because I usually buy few items. I began to wonder if anybody else paid attention to the note when they got it. I’m sure some did but probably not most.

I began to wonder if someone’s employment was riding on that note. The cashier with the most notes turned in must have received some award or was spared expulsion, but what about the cashier with the least?

I imagine some manager got the idea from watching Survivor or some other reality program. The next phase might be a style change in uniform, like oversized tan cotton Gatsby style hats with matching overalls, accented with a lime and orange striped long-sleeve turtleneck shirt and white steel-toed patent-leather Boondockers.

And then what, pieces of flair? Well. How many ways can you vet your staff by humiliating them?

I’m sure the note was meant to be an incentive for employees to be more pleasant than usual. It would work well in the right context. There should be only a positive reward associated with the note and no punishment associated with it.

This means making sure the employees don’t have an opportunity to draw negative conclusions on their own about the incentive program. They should be notified that having the fewest notes turned in doesn’t mean they are the worst at customer service and will suffer for it. They should be told that most customers might not even look at the notes until they get home, if ever, and the program is actually more effective at gathering information about the customer’s habits than the employee’s behavior anyway.

Also, if you are going to post statistics on a board in the break-room about which employee is ahead of the game in this challenge, you’re really not doing the employees any favors, only fomenting animosity among them.

Don’t post the actual number of notes that were turned in for any employees. This way, when the prize is handed out, nobody will know who came in last place, including the person who actually came in last place.