Who are these Hollywood folk who see fit to use their celebrity to try to convince us they know something we don’t? Let’s take a look.

Jamie Foxx

Maybe he’s looking for publicity for his new film but Jamie Foxx is right at the top of the list. The very same Jamie Foxx toting a gun on a blood spattered poster for Django Unchained the new Quentin Tarrantino film he’s starring in. It promotes those important morals, “Life, liberty and the pursuit of vengeance.” In 2007 he starred as a blackmailing gun-wielding FBI agent in The Kingdom.

Jason Bateman

The guy who brought his career back from life support on the cult hit Arrested Development. They were happy to feature a dopey security guard running around shooting mice with a gun in the episode “Not Without My Daughter”. It’s also damn funny to teach the nerdy character a lesson at the business end of a loaded shotgun carried by a probation officer in “Making A Stand“.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus

Another Arrested Development star, see above.

Carey Mulligan

Young new star who last year starred in that placid film Drive where an all-around bad ass Ryan Gosling has to protect her from her estranged convict husband’s friends with just a car. Well, of course, it wasn’t just a car it was pistols, shotguns and the beautiful scene where Ryan just kicks the ever loving crap out of a guy in an elevator.

Beyoncé

Come now Beyoncé, did you really think we would forget “Thug Love”? Let me remind you:

A thug is what I want
And a thug is what I need
And my friends don’t understand
How my baby laces me
A thug is what I want
And a thug is what I need
And my friends don’t understand
And I think its jealousy

I know, her thug must not use a gun.

Jeremy Renner

I’m amazed Mr. Renner has the gall to open his mouth on this topic at all. Let’s run down his IMDB hit parade shall we?

• Hawkeye in The Avengers (I guess shooting people with bows and arrows is okay)
  
• The Bourne Legacy
• Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
• The Town
• The Hurt Locker
• The Assassination of Jesse James…
• 28 Weeks Later
• S.W.A.T.

It appears to me Mr. Renner has little interest in a role unless he’s using a gun or other weapon to mow down a bunch of people in it.

Amy Poehler

Seems most of the cast on Arrested Development took time to put down their guns and join in this “PSA”.

Jessica Alba

Double duty packing heat for Robert Rodriguez in Sin City and Machete not to mention her big break starring in one of my faves, Dark Angel where she was a gun-toting wunderkind. She even brandished one of those evil “machine guns” with a “high capacity clip”, an HK MP5. She’s going back for more as well, the Machete sequel is in post-production and she’s filming the Sin City sequel. Lock and load Jes!

Rashida Jones

No ear protection, check. Person in close proximity also with no ear protection, check. Closed eyes, check. Proper elevation, check. Well done Rashida!

Rashida got her hunt on for some great laughs on Parks and Recreation when the whole gang hit the woods and Rashida was happy to mishandle and break various safety precautions with a Remington shotgun. But hey, it was just in good fun wasn’t it?

Aziz Ansari

Yep, Aziz was in that episode of Parks and Recreation as well, he had a Mossberg shotgun to greet visitors at his cabin door.

John Legend

As if his lyrics weren’t criminal enough he was happy to hook up with Talib Kewli for a little ditty called “Around My Way”, take a sample:

No place like home when the cops ask you about your neighbors
Beat on you, threaten to incarcerate you
Till you spill your guts like you a Garcia Vega
We roll blunts not the papers
Cop the greatest take it coast to coast
L.A. to Chicago like Smooth Operators
Cop the Dro and cop the blacks
Cop the four, cock it back
Drop the flow, rock a hat on top a stocking cap

Roll the blunts and cock one back John, priceless.

Nick Offerman

Another Parks and Recreation cast member who apparently can’t remember what he puts to film. His character has a claymore (not the sword, the explosive device) and a sawed off shotty on his desk. For fun and games he likes to wield a revolver around the office with his finger on the trigger.

John Slattery

John Slattery, OB Magnum.

Now we come to two points of disappointment for me for I am a huge Mad Men fan. I thought John was clean until I checked out an appearance he made on 30 Rock. Um…yeah.

Jon Hamm

It should be no surprise that he who portrays Don Draper is the cleanest of the lot. Yes, he wielded some guns in The Town but nothing that glorified them as he was “the law”. He’s also carried portraying a soldier in We Were Soldiers (a personal favorite) as well as Mad Men.

Selena Gomez

Does dating Biebs count?

Jennifer Aniston

Badly handled a revolver on 30 Rock and a shotgun in The Bounty Hunter. No, I didn’t even know about that movie until I started working on this.

Conan O’Brien

Another disappointment but like Jon Hamm he’s also clean.

Chris Rock

I saved the best for last because when I saw him come up in this I could not believe my eyes. Chris Rock? Really Chris? Are you kidding me? If you know Chris Rock you know why, for the rest of you perhaps you have heard of one of Chris’ most famous routines known as, and I quote, “Black People vs Niggas”. Check it out on You Tube if you haven’t already.

So, after exploring some issues concerning propagators of the thug life shall we say, Chris drops some knowledge with the line, ”What, you think I’ve got three guns in my house ’cause the media is outside?” So, apparently Chris thinks we need to do something about the guns “as a human being” but I guess he’ll be keeping his three?

There were more folks in this video but the point has been made – Hollywood doesn’t just live in hypocrisy, it takes hypocrisy to the bank. When someone like Jeremy Renner, who would be flipping burgers if it wasn’t for the “gun culture” propagated by his films, has the gall to tell me I need to demand a plan from politicians things have gone far enough alright.

These folks are the ones putting the guns in your living room every day goofing with them and killing lots of bad guys with them. After all, guns are funny as hell right? Meanwhile mine and those of respectable gun owners are locked, secured and out of sight.

Whether it’s comedy or action there’s really no difference though because the money is made one way or the other and guns are things of amazement instead of dangerous tools to them. Do we need to look for ways to prevent Newtown from happening again? Absolutely. However, we don’t need lectures from those who earn their living glorifying guns to tell us what they are.

Everyone is of heavy heart today and while I may disagree with a lot of the politicking I won’t disagree with the reaction. What happened yesterday was truly awful and only someone subhuman would not ask “what can we do to prevent this?” However what happens next is the easy route – blame the inanimate object. It’s far easier to point your finger at something that can’t point back on its own. So, there we have it, blame the gun, walk away from it all and feel better.

What’s missing is the true soul searching that needs to take place – the soul searching about mental illness and how we handle it in our society. These warnings have been there before and the circumstances have been very similar.

In 1988 Laurie Dann, a woman suffering from what we now call bipolar disorder as well as obsessive-compulsive disorder walked into a Winnetka, IL school with three handguns and opened fire. Fortunately she only took one child’s life before taking her own hours later.

In 1999 Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris staged a savage attack on Columbine High School in Littleton, CO. Klebold was a depressed and easily manipulated child who had been taking mental health medications for obsessive-compulsive disorder. Harris was an undiagnosed malignant narcissist and likely suffered from paranoid personality disorder. They were both bright and had little difficulty securing a cache of weapons to bring into the school that awful day.

Earlier this year James Eagan Holmes, under psychiatric care and texting a friend about dysphoric mania days before, walked into an Aurora, CO midnight movie showing after sneaking out the back door to his car to retrieve his cache of weapons and proceeded to gun down various member of the audience.

The first similarity is, again, the guns. People wanting to just move on and get past trying to explain the inexplicable go for the gun as the easy way out. What they fail to see in all these cases, including yesterday’s, these are children of privilege and affluence. There weren’t any economic or logistical barriers to these people getting help. In fact, in all the cases except for Harris they did get help.

The barrier that was there though is a social one. It’s very hard to try to change society and so people would prefer to just continue to blame the gun because, after all, it saves them from blaming themselves. We are all responsible for this happening because of the way we treat people with mental illness – they are the dregs of society, they are to be shuffled aside and cast off and left to be dealt with by their families.

Maybe, as a father of a child on the autistic spectrum I know this pain and pressure all too well. I know the looks from across a restaurant as my son engages in a completely normal behavior (for him) of stimming. It means he’s enjoying himself and is nothing I wish to stop. When he was 8 years old the police were called to his school at the behest of a teachers aide who had put him in a hold during one of his “meltdowns”. He was beating his head against her and she insisted the police be called. The officer asked to interview my boy and I promptly let him know that was not going to happen, his interview would only compound my problem. What did happen I came to find out was he was drawing and wouldn’t stop so the aide yanked the pencil away from him thus inducing the meltdown.

This is the way we deal with mental illness in society – we stare, we force to make it stop, we call the police to lock it away. Dann’s parents were accused of refusing to admit she had any kind of problem yet they went to great lengths including enrolling her in a special program at the University of Wisconsin. Harris and Klebold’s parents have been demonized as those who ignored the problem and in Kelbold’s case tried to “medicate it away“.

I was a lucky man, people who understand mental disability set up New Connections Academy in Palatine not far from where I lived.  I was able to end a lifetime of poor educational assignments and put my son in an environment of care for the disabled. These are people who understand and know how to use behavior therapy to treat these disabilities. My ex and I had to be persistent parents to make that happen though and refusing to accept “good enough” as an answer for our son. That’s a hard fight though, especially with society staring down its nose at you.

So while people damn Adam Lanza to hell, blame a mother dead at her own son’s hand and cry for more gun control I will sit and wait. I’ll wait for the story to be told like it was in the fantastic book Columbine by Dave Cullen. I’ll wait for people to answer questions posed by Lt. Col. (Ret.) Dave Grossman’s campaign to attack the real enemy of denial. Once the roar is over maybe we will take some time to look at ourselves and the stigma we so stridently affix to mental illness because do we really need more Columbines and Sandy Hooks to understand?

Photo Courtesy of infomatique via Flickr.

My fellow RLHS alumni know the history and stature of our band well. We have seen a host of renowned educators take the baton at RLHS and inspire generations of students to be musicians. I myself picked up a trombone and then a baritone and then a tuba for RLHS and took that to the USC Trojan Marching Band where the band is the center of school spirit and adulation. Friends from there are professional musicians now and some still work for the band.

Over the past several years, sadly some on my watch, the band has been gradually suffocated. When myself and many others were in Round Lake there were two band teachers and a choir teacher at Magee Middle School and two band teachers and a choir teacher at RLHS. There was a Fine Arts director because, as was properly seen then, band programs do not begin at RLHS, they end there. The program begins in the elementary schools and the elementaries have been almost put out of the band business. I implored two CEOs and several more administrators privately and in public meetings to put decisions about music and band especially on the district level and not on the school level. It is a DISTRICT WIDE program and needs to be approached that way. Sadly that’s never come to be and the fate of each band, choir or music teacher in Round Lake Area Schools has been at the whim of their principal. The scheduling conflicts, the time band staff is needed in other buildings, the lack of any coordination, cohesion or leadership in the music program is because of this faulty approach to running it at the building level.

RLHS Marching Band in better days, 1987-1988

The death spiral started when Magee was reopened and renovated. Scheduling conflicts between buildings were used as a reason to no longer bus elementary students to participate in bands at the middle schools as was the way before (somehow for decades that was accomplished, suddenly now there are “scheduling” problems”). It was an integral part of the program and by introducing a learning musician to a group of players with more experience, they saw what they could achieve as a band. No more and has been that way for some time now.

When the students have nothing to do in band for 5th grade it’s not difficult to imagine, they drop out of band. Bored with being stuck in an elementary band where a teacher doesn’t even regularly have an opportunity to rehearse the student quickly loses interest and drops out. Before where every band teacher led the recruitment drive in school assemblies with impassioned pleas about the importance of music they mesmerized a gym full of 4th graders. No more, they can’t get the time away from their own buildings.

So where our band was some 75 members strong for marching season it has gradually dwindled. It had almost bottomed out in the mid-90s with the scathing cuts. It had nicely rebounded with a small but dedicated band in competition and in the past few years as a show band. Their drum line got some separate instruction and I can assert is better than any drum line we ever had. Now, 2012 with one of the healthiest fund balances in the state, numerous administrators making six figures, a whole new influx of new midlevel assistant, deputy and director administrators and new positions that never existed before it’s been decided RLHS can get by with a combination band and choir teacher. After all, with all the trailers in the parking lot we need the band room for study hall (aka a place to put the kids when we don’t have classes for them).

I have held off writing this blog since I became aware of the news, I can’t sit here silent and watch 50 years of RLHS history go out with a whimper. While the RLHS Marching Band may find some way to still exist it can’t exist as it has been before. With a single teacher how can there be a meaningful band camp? How can a single teacher possibly do all the rehearsals for marching band, jazz band and pep bands outside of normal school hours? The Pep Band, a famous tradition at RLHS complete with Pep Season attire and filling a quarter of the stands with band members has been dead and buried for some time, victim of a single band teacher for a decade. Now there’s not even that.

Perhaps the plan is to take the new uniforms the band members and parents themselves strove so hard to get funded a few years ago and put that new throng of administration to work. For six figures I would think they should easily be able to put in the time. Maybe then they would learn something themselves and realize that if band and art and music and electives are all taken away, what is the point of learning then? What good do math or language do if they are not used for the betterment of us all? Those are the things that keep us alive, the things that make us human, what’s the use of living if you can’t be a human?

A hundred years ago thousands of people met their death and thousands more lived to tell the tale of the band that played on. The band that knew how important music was to life and how it was of comfort when one was facing death. It’s sad to me to think that future products of Round Lake will not have the opportunity to realize what a difference band can make, because it was starved out by administrators, a school board and increasingly a community that didn’t care.

For my part in not doing more, I apologize to all the band kids in Round Lake. I chose to pick my battles and not fight all the time, I was trying to push for things like fixing the roof that was leaking on band equipment and carpet that had been there since I was a student. I was wrong to not fight for you earlier and harder and I’m sorry. Don’t give up, make band what you know it can be and don’t let any administrative decision get you down.

The band I played in after RLHS. Hopefully the RLHS Marching Band won’t be relegated to rising from the dead.

You see “Thibs” as he is called (to avoid spelling his name) lacks self restraint and he has demonstrated this on repeated occasions in his brief tenure as head coach of the Bulls. One look no further than his voice where night after night he screams himself hoarse unable to control himself and let his team play without his constant instruction from the sidelines. He’s free to do that, he’s only damaging his own vocal cords, but last night it was Derrick Rose crumpled on the floor like Icarus because, again, Thibodeau asked too much.

Rewind to the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals. The Miami Heat finally get the Bulls’ number when they put LeBron James on Rose at the end game. Why not the whole game? Clearly James could not keep up with him for the whole game for certain but also because Rose is worn down by then. Rose is severely limited in the series and looks, quite frankly, exhausted. The rumbles of criticism had already been seeded all season that Thibodeau is unable to take his foot off the gas and get his stars, particularly Rose, enough rest despite the deepest bench in the NBA.

So after the lockout this year and the resulting compressed schedule one would think Thibodeau would be ready for this development and have a plan to rest his players. No such luck. In February Thibodeau was quoted: “If a guy is injured, he shouldn’t play. But if he can play, he should play.” Not surprising from a man who can’t take his foot off the throttle, even to spend the holidays with his family. This may be a sharp point to make but if you connect the dots you see the Type A maniac that resides within the shell of Tom Thibodeau. After his quote about being injured or not he went on to say: “Somehow there’s this notion of guys sitting out games. Pretty soon we’ll be at the point where a guy sits out the whole season and just plays in the playoffs — if he can get there. I don’t get that.”

Do you get it now Tom? The worse part of it, he is passing this ethic on to his players. Just a few days ago he stated how he wouldn’t get his players rest for the playoffs. ”When you look at what the starters have done, our guys up front, really no one’s playing starter’s minutes,” Thibodeau said. “And they haven’t all season. And then when you look at the backcourt guys, I think Derrick played 1,300 minutes this year.” Thibodeau went on to mention other players but Rose was at the top of the list. The other players circled to support the philosophy, voiced by Taj Gibson, “I know Thibs isn’t a fan of resting guys. We don’t want rest. It’s the time of the season where you can’t really rest. You have to go into the playoffs ready and have a good spark.”

The problem is these statements are completely ignorant of this year’s compressed schedule. They are played 16 less games so of course minutes were down from normal. It is also ignorant of the concept of recovery time that is needed in a sport like basketball. Given the heavy level of exertion and endurance demanded of NBA players they need time to recover to avoid exhaustion and injury. This year every team played three games in three nights, some played five games in six night and despite only losing 16 games two months were lopped off the front end of the schedule. This has been a recipe for disaster for team trainers with many teams, including the Bulls, suffering the injury bug. This isn’t an outside fringe theory, this is fact and this was predicted by many including former NBA head coach and ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy.

With these facts in the back of my mind I sat stunned watching the Bulls’ franchise player crumpled on the court. I had gone to my computer with the win secured thinking he had been removed from the game. When the call of him being hurt was made I turned in dismay and before even seeing it I thought “what was he doing in there?” I’m even more dismayed by the likes of Sam Smith who will readily give Thibodeau a pass and wax romantic about how the Bulls could still do something in the playoffs and how “there’s no blame there” for him. Michael Wilbon rightfully blames the NBA as part of the problem with this ridiculous schedule but also gives Thibodeau the pass.

I’m not buying it. Thibodeau and the apologists are free to claim “The score was going the other way” yet when injury made the substitution Thibodeau should have the Bulls still won the game by the exact same margin. The Bulls also do not play baseball where once a player is removed he can’t go back in. Say in the La-La land Thibodeau and the apologists exist the Sixers put up a quick six, why at that point you can put Rose right back out there can’t you? There were seventy-two seconds left in the game.

What crumpled Rose to the court on Saturday was surely a freak thing. Is there any surprise the knee that suffered the injury is the same leg where he suffered his big toe? The knee has been compensating for the injured toe all season. If you ask any physician or any competent trainer they will tell you of the dangers of overexertion. The fact the injury was suffered from a collision, accident or coming down wrong is further proof it is from overexertion. Rose was driven to overexertion by Thibodeau. He has been driven to try to come back and play too early all year. This isn’t an otherwise healthy player who suddenly had a freak injury, this is a player who has been hampered by injuries all season.

It’s pretty clear that all concerned are willing to give a pass to Thibodeau on this, his fantastic record has earned him that pass. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the future though. Every ACL recovery is different and while I certainly hope Rose will return with that same explosiveness he had that is no guarantee. That’s an awful big gamble for seventy-two seconds in the first game of the first round with a double-digit lead. I think Thibodeau’s vocal cords are on my side at least.

My final word, before I cut to the chase, is there are a lot of great candidates this year. I have folks pitted against each other in a few races that I really like. I could take the easy way out and not tell anybody but then again, I’ve never shied away from telling people how I feel. So, for what it’s worth, and I apologize to those I am endorsing, it may be the kiss of death!

President of the United States of America

I’m not a happy Republican this year. I came out early for Gary Johnson and unfortunately he couldn’t get the media attention he deserved and he decided to pack it in as the funds were dwindling. He has since gone over to the Libertarian Party to run for their nomination, he should win that quite easily.

At this point the vote has boiled down to two choices, you’re either with Mitt Romney or you are against him. I don’t like the collection of against hims so I am endorsing Mitt Romney for president. I have numerous qualms with him but he has the best chance to defeat the President and the array of choices aligned against him is not favorable:

Ron Paul - For whatever reason, he decided to run again. He has zero chance against Obama. Lost opportunity for Gary Johnson or Rand Paul to pick up the torch but it is what it is. I can’t bring myself to vote for Ron Paul, sorry (latest round of anti-Semitism from a Paul supporter did me in).

Newt Gingrich - Newt’s a smart guy, I admire many of his positions but he has made some really bone headed moves this election. It seems a part of his character to make them. I danced on the edge of switching to him when Johnson dropped out, can’t do it though as he seems willing to say whatever he needs to in order to get elected.

Rick Santorum - If there is one candidate, above all others (including President Obama) who advocates for the government to infiltrate and control as much of your life as possible it is Rick Santorum. If he manages to win the nomination, I am leaving the party, period. I will not be embarrassed by him and, given a choice, I would vote for President Obama over him in a head to head vote. Santorum symbolizes everything that is wrong with the GOP and none of what it should be about. He’s an embarrassment, if he wins the LP candidate, whoever it is, gets my vote.

Illinois 10th Congressional District

The Democratic gerrymandering of Illinois now finds me in the 10th District. Robert Dold is running unopposed.

Illinois 31st Legislative District (Senator)

The Democratic gerrymandering leaves me in Suzi Schmidt’s district over Dan Duffy whom I heartily campaigned for four years ago. This was a definite disappointment to me as Dan has done a great job and I was proud to have him as my “rogue” Senator.

This has left me in the unenviable spot of having three people I genuinely like running against each other for the seat. After a thorough and honest review of them all and a lot of thought I have decided to endorse Lennie Jarratt. I think Lennie is solid in his beliefs, unique and thoughtful and stands up for what he believes in. I think we could use a lot more people like that in Springfield and ultimately that’s what led me to Lennie in what was a very tough call for me.

Illinois 62nd Representative District

Democratic gerrymandering now finds me in Sandy Cole’s 62nd District, she is running unopposed.

Lake County Circuit Court Clerk

The campaign I have worked on the most this year (although in a diminished capacity), this is a no brainer for Gerald T. Dietz. Jerry is a RLHS alumnus, has a great platform of change he wants to bring to the clerk’s office and, most of all, a great guy. We need more people from Round Lake at the county level, this is an easy endorsement for me.

Lake County Coroner

Steve Newton has worked too long and too hard for me not to give him this endorsement. He decided a long time ago he was running and he has the experience needed to fix a coroner’s office that has been plagued by scandal and mismanagement. We really need a coroner that will return the compassion and professionalism to the office that Barbara Richardson was known for, Steve Newton is that man and is heartily endorsed.

Lake County Recorder

Sometimes it’s all about who goes to functions and works for votes and who doesn’t. Bob Bednar has and gets my vote.

Lake County State’s Attorney

Think this one has been a bit nasty and competitive? I do and so does my mailbox. To me one of these candidates has consistently tried to stay above the fray and on message about who he is and what he is about, that candidate is Bryan Winter and gets my endorsement.

Lake County Board District 16

Another tough one for me with two people that I like. After a lot of thought and consideration though I am endorsing Michael Carbone. Michael has spent the past several years on the Grayslake Elementary school board, that experience will serve him well on county board. I would encourage Rene Hernandez to keep at it though, this was a tough call for me but I have to go with Michael and his experience as a board member.

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

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.

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.

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.

I’ve had a wave of friends over the past few months that have had a case of Facebook emo rage.  Emo rage is defined if you follow that link for those non-gamer nerds of you who follow my (neglected) blog.  To be honest, I understand the frustration but I have to tell you — you brought it on yourself.

To me, Facebook is a wondrous invention and Mark Zuckerberg is a visionary for having brought it to us.  I can’t list the number of folks I thought were lost to me forever that I have found.  A few of the things that will never be the same because of Facebook:

Reunions

I actually enjoyed my 20-year reunion as I had caught up with most of my friends on Facebook and could spend time having a good time instead of spending time “catching up”.

Work Relationships

Work is a big part of your life, I spent over a decade of my life at one company.  Through the power of Facebook I’ve been able to catch up with a lot of my old friends that, before Facebook, I probably would have never seen or talked to again and that would be a shame.

Family

Recently I’ve been able to catch up with a lot of family that, for one reason or the other, lost track of each other.  Facebook has been a great way to catch up, start trading family trees or what have you.

Lost Friends

Thirtysomethings brought back to high school.

Life is a journey that can take us down many roads and many paths.  At different stages you create new relationships for yourself and some stay while some fall by the wayside.  Some things should be abandoned so you can move on.  However, others should be there when you need them and want them to be.  I’ve caught up with friends who moved across the country after high school and we just didn’t stay in regular touch, now we can whenever we would like.  A group of guys that hadn’t played together in 20 years got together and played for all their classmates because of Facebook.  Without it I doubt the crazy idea of “we should have a band reunion at the reunion” would have ever flown.

How Do You Want It?

Best of all, Facebook puts you in control of how you want to use it.  If you find yourself getting overburdened with drama then take a break, don’t log in for a while.  Or, perhaps, you need to change your Facebook experience.  Because it is so new I think all of us have a tendency to fully indulge, friend everyone who asks and make all these connections that we didn’t before.  It’s like the funny video with the guy from high school you didn’t even like now at your door.  You can friend him or you can tell him no by just not accepting the request.

Is there a chance people are going to see you as rude if you don’t accept their friend request?  Perhaps.  If someone brought it up I would simply say “because of privacy reasons I keep my Facebook friends list to only my closest friends, I hope you can understand.”  Who wouldn’t accept that?  If they wouldn’t do you really care what they thin anyway?

I’m sorry if I sound like a commercial for Facebook, I don’t mean to be.  I just see so many people who are getting chewed up by the teething period of social networking.  This is completely new stuff, we have not been here before and it’s going to take us a while to figure it out.  Me, personally, I believe anyone can find whatever they want about me without much work so I share a lot on Facebook.  I also do it because I am socially inept and Facebook is like training wheels for me.

What my message is that you can make your Facebook experience whatever you wish it to be.  You can cut it down and keep it exclusive or you can open it up, or you can find somewhere in-between, it’s up to you.  Maybe you make that guy earn a few dates before you friend him on Facebook or maybe you do it right away, it’s up to you.   Maybe you care what your Aunt Tilly says about that political article you posted or maybe you could care less and don’t let anyone comment on what you post.  It’s all up to you so get into your privacy settings and decide for yourself.