Saturday: more topics

I am getting ready to get on my bike and go to the Zoo Run Run 5K to help out.

The Zoo Run Run is a 5K run which benefits the Glen Oak Zoo. In the past, it was a multi-loop course in Glen Oak Park and there was a time when the course went through the zoo itself.

Local Issues

It turns out that the city council memeber that I worked to elect is doing a good job:

http://buscout.com/ver5/newsarticle.php?ID=482&date=2006-09-29

BY MEG THILMONY

Ordinances passed at the Sept. 19 Peoria City Council meeting may affect how Bradley students party.

The host of a party where minors are drinking can now be fined $1,000. The law goes into effect Saturday.

Junior civil engineering major Denver Dorherty, who sometimes hosts parties at his off-campus residence, said he’s upset about the new fine.

“I think that’s pretty ridiculous, especially on a college campus,” Dorherty said. “That’s a steep fine.”

But councilwoman Barbara Van Auken, who represents Bradley and surrounding neighborhoods on the city council, said the law isn’t intended only for Bradley students.

“It’s not just Bradley students who do this,” Van Auken said, referring to underage drinking parties.

Van Auken sponsored the ordinance after receiving complaints from citizens in her district about wild parties.

“Their neighborhood was overrun with a drunken crowd, many of whom were very young,” Van Auken said. “Having a party is one thing, but having chaotic, loud people walking through your yard, vomiting and urinating, is not pleasant.”

Another ordinance amending the noise-complaint law was coupled with the party-hosting fine.

The fine for noise violations is now $500, up from $200, if infractions occur between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m.; fines for violations before those hours remain $200.

[...]University Police Chief Dave Baer said the new laws and fines won’t affect the way his officers patrol for drinking parties.

“[The city] just put a lot more teeth into it,” Baer said. “It will create anguish for those who own property.”

But Van Auken said the $1,000 party-hosting fee will fall to tenants – unless city officials can’t find them. She said if a ticket is issued to a landlord, he or she has the option to either pay it or prove to the city that the tenants will be evicted within 30 days. The tenant will still be responsible for the fine in such a case.

Of course some of the little narcissists aren't going to like it. After all, their parents never told them "no" so why should anyone else? And yes, I have the Bradley Police complaint number on my cell phone.

Don't get me wrong, I sleep with earplugs; it isn't as if I am looking to fine anyone. But when I get woken up while wearing earplugs, well, that is too much.

It has only happened 2-3 times last year.

National Issues

This article takes a look at our national character. No, this isn't one of those "wow, we used to be a great country but we've gone downhill" type of posts. This is an honest look at ourselves as a people; one of the main themes is that, as a whole, we are not a patient nation, and some things take lots of time to change (if they are indeed ever going to change)

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/1182

We Americans have any number of admirable traits; creativity, generosity, initiative, fortitude, among a host of others. Patience however is a not a defining national characteristic. We want things to happen today. Not at some undefined point in the future but right now. Accompanying this is the annoying and self-defeating tendency to keep score on a remarkably short term level. When we take the daily fluctuations the stock market or the travails of our sports heroes to heart it is an idle pursuit that is benign at worst. When we do it in regards to matters of historical importance, particularly those on the geo-political level, it is not only absurd, it is very, very dangerous.

To compound this self imposed quandary: we not only want everything to happen right now but we insist that we always win. A combination that when pointed in the right direction has cured polio, put a dozen human beings on the moon and provided more people with a higher standard of living than any eco-political system has ever done. But even the best there ever was can every once in a while rush into something and make what was a mess an even uglier one. [...]

This next article tackles some of the common misconceptions put forth by those who support Wal-Mart (in its current form)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20060929/cm_thenation/20061016wal_mart

or
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20061016/wal_mart

Ten Reasons Why the Wal-Mart Pundits Are Wrong

John Cavanagh & Sarah AndersonFri Sep 29, 12:10 PM ET

The Nation -- On September 11, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley used his veto power for the first time in seventeen years to block a measure that would have given Wal-Mart employees and workers at other "big box" stores at least $10 per hour plus benefits worth at least $3 per hour. The City Council had passed the bill by a 35-to-14 vote margin. Daley's brash act was a temporary victory for the chorus of conservative pundits and corporate flacks who have been singing Wal-Mart's virtues for the past year. Here's what they claim and why they are wrong: (my note: I have deleted the reasons the claims are wrong; see if you can come up with them. Go to the article to see what the authors came up with)

1. Wal-Mart's low prices save American consumers $263 billion a year (cited by syndicated columnists Robert Samuelson, Sebastian Mallaby, John Tierney and George Will):

2. If Wal-Mart increases wages, it will have to increase prices (various pundits):

3. "When Wal-Mart opened a store in Glendale, Ariz., last year, it received 8,000 applications for 525 jobs, suggesting that not everyone believes the pay and benefits are unattractive" (Sebastian Mallaby):

4. If cities raise minimum wages, Wal-Mart and other big-box stores will go elsewhere:

5. "Wal-Mart's health benefits are about as generous as those of comparable employers" (Sebastian Mallaby):

6. "Wal-Mart costs about 50 retail jobs among competitors for every 100 jobs Wal-Mart creates" (George Will):

7. "Wal-Mart has helped poor and middle class consumers--in fact, more than anybody else" (Richard Vedder):

8. "The notion that a job is worthless without benefits is like saying a car is useless without a sunroof" (Tim Kane, Heritage Foundation):

9. Wal-Mart is now "the green machine" (Fortune magazine):

10. "Wal-Mart coming into a community expands the tax base and boosts overall community development" (various pundits):

Next, I give a link to a video to a good old fashioned video which demonstrates why "we" (progressives) are just plain more moral that "them" (conservatives). Yeah, most of the value is that we get to feel better about ourselves. But there is a valid point to be made: conservatives have openly embraced the "bigot vote." Period.

One of the best lines came from a "meet the people" event when Montana Senator Conrad Burns was asked "how do you live in Washington D. C. with all of those niggers?"

Burns: "Hell of a Challenge" to Live With Minorities. In 1994, a Washington Post editorial noted that Burns recounted an incident when a rancher asked him, "Conrad, how can you live back there [in Washington] with all those niggers?" Burns reportedly "told the rancher that it was 'a hell of a challenge.'" The Post then noted that "After protests erupted in the state following publication of his remarks, the senator apologized." [Washington Post, editorial "Conrad Burns Tells a Story," 10/26/94]

Anyway, it is here on the video.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/29/red-state-the-movie/