Rapid Fire

       I know I promised lengthy discussions on topics, but sometimes there is a lot of ground to cover in a short time so hang on and close your eyes if you have to.  Remember, my views are mine.  I only speak for myself, and sometimes my dog, but never anyone I have ever worked for, or whose schools I have attended, public or private, real or imagined, dead or alive.
   
       In my former fair city of Chicago there is currently a movement led by alderman Danny Solis to make the possession of marijuana a misdemeanor, punishable by a ticket, rather than jail time.  Rather than focus on what may or may not be the positives and negatives of this move in terms of legalization, lets focus on the alderman's argument.  That argument is that police spend 89,000 man hours arresting, booking, and jailing offenders.  That is just the police in Chicago.  No other city, not counting court time, etc.  This alderman feels that the officer's time would be better spent on more important things.  Good point.
       Alderman Tom Tunney is suggesting a crackdown for ordinance violations in the city ranging from dog licencing, and handicap parking to using camera technology to enforce speed limits and sidewalk shoveling.  I like that, enforce speed limits with robo-tickets.  That is the point when you stop pretending it is about safety.  A police officer giving you a warning enforces the speed limit.  An electronic ticket, aside from violating due process, is only about revenue.
       So Chicago news is summed up as:  Marijuana possession, decriminalized.  Not shoveling snow that you did not put there: criminalized.  See what I did there.

       At work we had a teleconference where some upper level executive was proudly telling us how CEO's of other major companies are approaching our company with basic problems, and asking for solutions.  He was rather happy because this clearly meant more money for our company.  What's not to like?  It does point to a sad truth though.  The CEO of a hospital does not know enough about running their business to know what equipment, or professionals they need to treat patients.  At that level this is actually expected.  They also don't know enough to ask the Doctors and Nurses and Technicians who already work there, and would know this information.  Likely they would know it better than the sales team of a single company.  Just sayin'...

       The Gross Domestic Product is up.  That is pointing to a recovery, or at least the end of the downward slide.  This is great news.  Unless you are unemployed.  See the current 9 percent rate is only those collecting unemployment.  The actual rate, which counts people who are no longer looking, no longer eligible, and the people with advanced degrees working the drive thru., is around 30 percent.  If you are a teacher, a nurse, or in any field where governments' bad decisions affect your ability to find employment, then the following does not apply to you.  With unemployment so high, and growth occurring anyway, there is only one interpretation to be had.  Those currently unemployed, with the exception of those listed above, were not really needed.

       In the paper today some buffoon wrote in bashing the tea-party.  I will not defend the Tea-Party, or their practices.  This buffoon's letter, though was not attacking their beliefs or practices.  Rather she was attacking the fact that these people are "half-educated, non statesmen".  Perhaps it is time for a civics lesson Martha (redacted) of Crystal Lake.  Our founding fathers were half-educated non statesmen.  Our country is founded on the belief that half-educated non statesmen can run it.  Until recently you would have been laughed out of the room for such an asinine moronic inaccurate statement.  Since we mostly have Ivy-League-educated statesmen running government now, and given the complete wreck they have made of it we should give the half educated non statesmen their shot.
 
       The true crime here isn't that the GOP has a splinter group of half educated outsiders that are winning elections.  The crime is that the Democrats don't.