Too Much?

This year employees represented by AFSCME will negotiate a new contract with the State of Illinois. The new governor Mr. Rauner has expressed discontent with unions especially public employee unions like AFSCME. He has also verbalized that he feels state workers in Illinois are overpaid compared to the counterparts in neighboring states. I don't know if he is right about that or not. The past few years Illinois has allowed the ranks of state employees to shrink. The workload has not changed. It means that in the prison system there has been significant overtime worked by prison security staff. Why? There are mandatory posts that must be manned. Guards in the towers with guns. Security staff in the housing units supervising the inmates. We aren't talking a huge number of staff. When I worked at the prison which was the first step below maximum security a full housing unit held 448 men. There were 4 correctional officers assigned to that unit. There are always officers in any building occupied by inmates. If school is in session there is an officer in the building. Health Care Unit- officer. Gym- officer. When you reduce the officer head count it requires overtime to fill the mandatory posts. It raises costs. It creates stress. It exhausts staff over time. It damages morale. When the Governor thinks that state employees are paid too much and retirement benefits are too generous I want him to think about two things. Tim and Goody retired after I did. They were both security staff. They are both gone now. Gone too soon. Gone too young. The years of cumulative stress do something to you physically. You don't recognize it while you are working. It happens slowly over the course of years. Being on alert and stressed all the time eventually feels normal. It takes a while after you retire to notice the change. The picture below should be on the Governor's desk. He should think about what they do every day. Go to where they work. Tell them they get paid too much.

I have seen those weapons. Pieces of bed frames. Hunks of wire fencing. Ink pens and tooth brushes with pieces of a razor blade melted into them. This picture does not do justice to the true ugliness of these weapons.

Too much money? Think again Governor. Think real hard.

Priorities

Sometimes you wonder about what the priorities of our national government might be. It is always reflected less in the things they talk about than in the things they choose to spend tax revenue doing. It is like the old saying "Actions talk, bullshit walks". I came across this in my reading the other day and I don't completely agree.

This is not a true statement. I think George Carlin hit on it more correctly when he stated to the effect that they didn't care about you from the time you were born until you were military age. When you can enlist in the armed forces and go fight a war somewhere they care about you. He stated they wanted live babies so they could turn them into dead soldiers. If you are pre-born they care, if you are pre-school you are screwed. Is there anything that backs this notion up?

I don't want to focus on the statement at the bottom but on the chart above it. Military spending takes over half of the discretionary spending in the federal budget. We spend more on defense than any other country on earth. We spend more on defense than the next ten countries combined. We feed our war machine all day every day. We burden college students with loans for their education. We allow our roads and bridges to crumble. We permit our government to collect information on every facet of our lives to "preserve our freedom". If you keep up on the news then you must also realize that the government stops caring about you when your military career ends. Veterans go to war, fight the fight that politicians refuse to call wars. (The last time Congress actually declared war was World War 2)  So when these men and women return from the fighting missing limbs, or hands or feet, addicted to drugs, physically or mentally traumatized we are forcing them to wait weeks or months to get the care we promised them.

These are some of the men who want to be the Republican nominee for President of the United States. Listen when they talk and think about what they say. Are their priorities the same as yours? Do you see the future the way they do? Where and how do you want your tax dollars spent? Ask questions, read, think and demand answers.

On the Farm

A quick flashback to my early youth.

You always put the most important thing in the picture in the foreground. He is Pedro the burro who was there from the time I was born until after I was married and moved away. The fellas on the cart are my brother David on Mom's lap, me in the middle and my older brother Jay on the right. Why did I cover my face? Who knows? Surprising to some but not to those who know how things can be put in barns on a farm. The cart we are sitting on is in the barn that appears in the background of the picture. Everyone in the picture (except the star Pedro) is still alive. If we could find a stand in for him we could recreate the picture but some of us would have to stand next to the cart. I also doubt that Mom would be willing to have David sit on her lap. As far as a guess on age of the picture. It was most likely about 58 or so years ago. It was a simple and happy childhood on the best place a kid could ever hope to grow up.

St. Patrick's Day Parade- The End Arrives

The end of the parade was the world famous Budweiser Clydesdales. As you may have noticed when you looked at earlier posts ladies were running out and kissing parade participants. You were not getting close to these horses. While they may be huge gentle beasts if you startled them one kick would most certainly kill or maim you. If they got spooked and ran you are looking a chaos. 

 

 

 

 She was really excited to see the horses.

Say what you want about the horses. They are huge and beautiful and wonderful animals. Now go back and look at the last three pictures. The dog owned the wagon. He looked down from his perch on high to the crowd and KNEW the adoration and parade was ALL FOR HIM. You can have the horses and the wagon and please take that crappy beer. I'll take the dog.

St. Patrick's Day Parade Part 5

More parade? Of course. You haven't seen the Shriners yet.

 Here is my biggest complaint. They made a big deal about allowing the Beach Chair Brigade participating and slowing things down. However, someone pushing a junky looking lawnmower in the parade is fine. What????

 Yesterday I made a comment about dressing dogs up for parades. This dog however is a DOG. What a huge, wonderful beast he is. Irish Wolfhound if you wonder. The small fella nearby is a goat.

 The ladies roller derby team. I wonder about the gal carrying the blow up leprechaun.

 Parade by the ocean has to have mermaids.

 Golf carts can be made up nice.

 There is a big debate currently about banning cigarette smoking on the beach. The point here is to remind the crowd that cigarette butts are litter.

 Elvis made an appearance.

 I know it took a little longer than you expected but here are some Shriners.

 No holiday here is complete without drunken hillbillies.

 I must say that Batman has really let himself go since his last film.

 Yes, the Shriner's have their own band.

 They have little cars too.

 Had to include this because I really like old trucks.

 Old cars too.

The Shriners have clowns too.

St. Patrick's Day Parade Part 4

Sorry for the absence but I decided to celebrate my birthday last week and the weekend involved another trip to Camden, South Carolina to work on a house. Now back to the parade. When last we were enjoying the day Mayor McCheese had just gone by. Who's next?
Why, bike riding old folks.

 Technically they were Patrick's Posse.

 The local Knights of Columbus made an appearance.

 I'm always a bit dismayed at the indignities thrust upon man's best friend.

 Folks trying to get the word out about domestic violence. Good idea when the day is spent drinking and inhibitions are driven down. Getting drunk is no excuse for hitting your domestic partner. There is never any excuse for that conduct.

 This fine group from Rockland County Emerald Society Pipes and Drums. Takes a very confident man to walk around in a kilt on a windy day.

This was a great group, but St. Patrick's Day and a Jamaican Band, I just don't know. They were loud and fun and colorful so in the end I have to be happy with their participation.

St. Patrick's Day Parade Part 3



When we quit yesterday the issue was ladies running out and kissing parade participants. You will note in the second picture one of the ladies in question is caught heading out to plant one on an official.

There were plenty of things in the parade I enjoyed and this was somewhere near the top. Maybe it's a personal thing but I always enjoy bagpipe music. Don't know why but something about it is soothing. The Dublin Fire Brigade Band was good and fun to watch.

Great music, fine looking kilts and a man at the front who knew how to handle a baton.

Once again note the red lipstick on his cheek.

The ladies didn't limit their smooches to the leaders. The boys in the back benefited as well.

This fella is one of the aldermen in town. I see him on this contraption from time to time when Miss Lily and I are out for our walks. He is working hard to sign people up for Solarize Tybee. While I think the intent is worthwhile at this time I have a couple of problems with the systems. First, the payback doesn't seem to make sense. If everything went well I'm not sure you would ever recoup all the funds you put into it. Second, it is another system to maintain. I'm old and looking to simplify my life not complicate it with a system I don't completely understand.

We will close today with this fine fella. He is the mayor of the city of Tybee. I'd tell you his name but frankly I have forgotten it and I'm too lazy to blow up the picture enough to read it on the car. So I will go McDonald's on this and call him Mayor McCheese. He is the big cheese here. We watch the local cable channel to see the city council meetings. It helps us understand what is going on here. I often say that several of the council members are old hippies who spent their youth rebelling against the rules and saying in one form or another: "Fuck the Man!" Now they are the man and are making all kinds of rules about what you can and can't do here. I will give Mayor McCheese credit for not screaming sometimes: "Would you people just shut the fuck up and decide something? Anything? Just one decision tonight about something? One fucking thing?" Most of the meetings seem to be endless discussions which result in things be referred back to some other commission or staff or group for additional input. Maybe that will be my suggestion some day for a parade. When they actually decide something we should have a parade to celebrate and mark the occasion.

St. Patrick's Day Parade Part 2

The beginning of the parade is the usual and always impressive color guard from the local American Legion Post.

I have no idea what happened here. The man carrying the American flag decided it was time to stop. The three others guys disagreed and just kept going a couple of steps. Then they stopped, he caught up and the fell back into their usual perfect cadence.

You see this jeep around town from time to time. Its appearance are not limited to parades. Often, on the nights the Legion serves food, you see it in the parking lot. I wish I could provide some information on the men in the jeep. The received quite a welcome when the got in front of me.

The previous two pictures are a group that does not appear often in the parades here. They are the volunteer firefighters of the Tybee Island Fire Department. It is a tough job and one these brave men and women take on to help the residents of the Island in a time of emergency. It was good to see them out and recognized.

 This boat represented the local Coast Guard station. The local men standing near me had little nice to say about the Coast Guard and their boat. Apparently they got on the wrong side of the Coast Guard enforcement.

The next three pictures are of a group of young people carrying the Flags of Ireland. It was a difficult day for the folks carrying the banners in front of groups. Often you couldn't figure out who they were until they got past or someone nearby commented.

This group below followed the Flags of Ireland. Never did figure out who they were. If you look closely at the second picture of the man wearing the kilt you will notice his face appears a bit red on the cheek. Several times during the parade ladies would run out from the crowd. Grab a random fella and plant a big red lipstick kiss on his cheek.

More parade tomorrow.