Uncivil Rights

The following paragraphs may be somewhat boring to many of you, but if you are at all interested on the Social Security debate, private/public pension issues, and/or political skullduggery it may be well worth the read.

In the state of Illinois, at this moment, there is an attempted cash grab by the vulture Blagojevich and his minions. They have their hungry, greedy eyes on a pension fund know as IMRF (the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund).
IMRF is a pension fund in which all Illinois municipal employees are forced to enroll in. Much like in Social Security, these employees have no choice…the pension is taken directly from their checks. And much like Social Security employees have no actual account with their name on it…but we will return to that later.
Back to the cash grab.

From AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees) Council 31, Legislative Update:

‘The Governor’s pension proposals would cut the benefits of all current university employees and teachers (employed by school districts), as well as those of all newly hired teachers, state and university employees. The resulting two-tier pension system would inevitably have the impact of holding down any further pension improvements from current AFSCME members. These cuts are being used to justify massive borrowing from the pension funds in the coming year-but in actuality, the cuts would generate almost no immediate savings.’

Let me explain. The governor wants to cut pensions on State employees, and also dip into the state pension trust fund. Basically, he wants state access to the amount of monies left over after benefits are paid to those currently drawing a pension.
But it gets worse, and here is where IMRF comes back in. You will remember IMRF is the municipal employee pension. Mr. Blagojevich has proposed combining the IMRF fund with the State pension fund. Currently IMRF invests $18 billion after paying beneficiaries and the State fund around $10 billion. The Illinois governor sees dollar signs. He feels if he can combine the funds, not only will IMRF save the state pension, but he will also have that much more in his lusted after ‘trust fund’ to use on whatever pet projects he deems worthy.

This is patently wrong.

And it points directly to the problem with not only these pension funds, but also Social Security. And the problem is they are not personal accounts. John Doe does not own his pension account. When he retires, his benefits are paid out of the trust fund. Because Mr. Doe has no personal account but is paid from a trust fund, the trust fund can be used by the state(or in the case of Social Security-the Feds)for whatever whim they see fit.

If John Doe had a private account, the government could not touch his money. They could not drain the trust fund. They could not combine pensions merely to grab cash. They could not steal from John Doe’s account.

Even beyond the pension issue, this is a Democratic governor walking a fine line of union busting. Mr. Blagojevich relied heavily on unions in his bid for election. And now his greed is pitting members of the same AFSCME union (municipal vs. state) against one another. He teases the state employees with a boon to their pensions, while at the same time striking fear in the municipal employees with a loss of theirs. Where is your Democratic love of unions here, Mr. Governor?

All totaled, few issues hit so many conservative bias’ as this fiasco.
First, the employee is forced to pay into these accounts…where is the choice?
Second, he does not actually own his account…echoes of socialism.
Third, because he is not a private owner of his account, the government can basically pirate his money. And then use it to prop up whatever failing government program or liberal boondoggle they need to get reelected.
Fourth, it shows the political process at its worst and most evil. The governor is playing state and municipal employees and their unions against each other in a money grabbing Machiavellian scheme.

This is Illinois politics at its worst, and that says a lot. But the key issues are truly country wide in scale. When pensions (and this includes Social Security) are not personally owned, they become easy prey to government pilfering and abuse. It is private ownership that keeps the vultures at bay. But even now they circle, smelling the death of your retirement dreams.

Crossposted @ The Blogger News Network
and Sticks and Stones

Is there anyone out there that thinks the UN is good. Kofi should be replaced, immediately. If this article isn't a great example of why John Bolton should be the next ambassador to the UN, I don't know what would be.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who earlier angered the United States and Britain by calling the Iraq war 'illegal,' has upset both nations again -- this time accusing them of allowing Saddam Hussein to enrich himself selling oil outside the U.N.-run oil-for-food program.

Since GW won't stand up for the will of the people, the people must take control.

The media is clearly displaying their bias once again...suprised?

It's one thing to completely misunderstand the concept of social security. It's another to write it down and prove to the world you're an idiot.

What is the REAL problem with liberals and their HATE of the wealthy? DO they really want to punish people who have shown fiscal responsibility and just want to pass something on to their kids?

The Senate must stand firm for an estate tax that provides an ample exemption of up to $2 million per person, but with a top rate, 45 percent, that ensures that a reasonable amount is actually paid to the government. Anything less would impair fairness and could be fiscally crippling for decades to come.

Impair fairness? It's your money, you earned it, and you want your kids to have it when you die. Impair fairness?

Jimmy Carter...need I say more? We do care about the poor, we don't like the government putting a gun to our head, stealing our money and giving it away, completely relieving us of choice. Get a clue Jimmy.

The Dems claim it's to express an opposing opinion; the problem is they don't even express an opinion when they have the floor with a filibuster. It's time to take control.

Frist says he is basing his decision on constitutional principles, not politics. "I just want a reasonable up-or-down vote on the judicial nominees that come to the floor," he said this week, so that senators can "give advice and consent, which is our constitutional responsibility. It is something that we absolutely must have."

That's enough for now. Enjoy.

How smart is Karl Rove? Let us count the ways...

He created the forged documents that said Bush was given special treatment in the reserves. He then sought media outlets to "buy-in" to the story. Only Dan Rather and CBS News were gullible enough to fall for it.

He talked Osama Bin Laden into making a tape, threatening the U.S. right before the presidential election. Then he had news outlets air it. This infuriated the public enough to vote for Bush.

He somehow found a woman on a feeding tube, talked her husband into pulling out the tube to create a right-to-life issue. He then somehow fooled the Democrats into taking the side of DEATH in the issue.

He is destroying any chance of PSAs to solve the Social Security problems, rather, he is going to cut Medicare, thereby killing off old people, thereby saving SS for future generations.

He stuffed all the ballot boxes during the Democratic primaries ensuring the win by John Kerry.

He actually GOOSED Howard Dean, making him scream...the infamous scream.

He caused a tsunami in the South Pacific - just to send a little message to our Muslim friends in the far east...

Just over 2000 years ago, he talked a small-time carpenter into claiming he was the son of GOD.

In 750000 BC he talked the cavemen into using "fire".

Weisner wins, 60-40, as I predicted. Charles DeGraw is nowhere to be found. He didn't want to play with me.

Irvin ran a negative campaign. With all of his endorsements from various Illinois Republicans, including a 45 second phone message from Denny Hastert, he couldn't pull off the win. His stronghold, the far east side, had a referendum which increased the voter turnout, and he STILL couldn't win.

He was a bad candidate running a bad campaign.

Tom Cross and his little buddies can now pack up their smear manuals and smear coloring books and go back home.

It's over. Weisner won. Enough said.

At what lengths will the Illinois Republican Party go to intimidate and harass while recognizing one's right to free speech. It is priceless.

It is amazing to have such POWER over others with mere words, ideas and logic to get a threatening response such as the one I received today. To realize an institution like the Illinois Republican Party is so afraid of one voice; perhaps because I speak the truth, and they know there are millions like me out there. They feel they have to threaten, intimidate and silence that voice. BOY DID THEY PICK THE WRONG GUY!

This is from Charles Degraw at govt_timeclocker@yahoo.com

Dear XXXXXXXX aka Auroracracker,

First of all, allow me to applaud your active participation in the political process and employment of your right to free speech.

However, it is only right that I inform you that every post you have made to every blog and message board has been archived. The archive will be delivered to the Mayor, Mr. Anderson, City of Aurora Personnel Department, and countless others. Further, your time sheets have been requested through the Freedom of Information Act and will be compared against the times of all your political postings.

Have a nice day and keep up the good work.

govt_timeclocker@yahoo.com

If anyone wishes to contact Charles DeGraw at govt_timeclocker@yahoo.com, you can email him at govt_timeclocker@yahoo.com. I'm sure he's surfing the net as we speak.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have about a hundred more people to whom I will send this.

Cross Posted at Blogger News Network

Yes Richard Irvin is to blame for all the lies spewing forth from his campaign. He can try and pawn off the flyer fiasco on the printer, but his latest flyer is just more lies. When is he going to stop? Is he getting advice from the tards over at Cross's office? If he is, he's listening to the wrong people. They have done nothing but run a negative campaign, basically because they have no faith in his platform (WHEN YOU CAN'T RUN ON YOUR OWN MERITS, I GUESS YOU SMEAR YOUR OPPONENT).

His latest flyer:

Aurora Water Gets Contaminated with E. Coli
As community services director, Tom Weisner was responsible for informing our citizens of water contamination - however, he failed and allowed our citizens to go uninformed about high of ammonia and the dangerous e.coli.

WRONG! That's a LIE RICHARD! It was EMA and Larry Langston's job to inform the public, and he failed. Weisner's department was the only department working properly during the crisis.

Weisner Quit during Aurora Boil Order
When the going got tough, Tom Weisner quit. Instead of staying on the job and helping state and federal officials clean the bacteria out of our water system - Tom Weisner could not be found for days. When we needed him the most, Tom Weisner quit.

This statement is just RETARDED! It was not the job of anyone other than those in the water department to clean the system, idiot. Tom Weisner's department was running smoothly. Even the mayor wasn't helping clean the system. And if was such a crisis, why did the HR director decide to go to the Dells the day it was announced? Why didn't the Chief of Staff come back from his vacation since it was so urgent? The fact is, Tom was one of the few that did his job, effectively.

Weisner docked pay for being AWOL
Weisner's pay was docked for missing in action during the water crisis for almost 2 days.
Source: Official City of Aurora records obtained via FOIA requests

This shows Irvin's complete lack of understanding of internal operations in the City. Weisner quit 2 days BEFORE the end of the pay period. He received a check for his full amount and then he was cut an amended check - minus the two days he didn't work. He wasn't "missing", and it was a week AFTER the water was deemed contaminated.

It would at least show a bit of intelligence if Irvin got SOMETHING right about Weisner. I fear Irvin is being led astray by Tom Cross's people (and Richard has a couple of psychos working for him too.) The Republican Party has been reprehensible in this campaign and I am disgusted with them. They act just like liberals and that won't do. The Illinois Republican Party has had to endure the sleaze and lies of George Ryan who single-handedly destroyed the party, but instead of rising above the sleaze, the IRP seems to be wallowing in it, not a good way to work your way back into the good graces of the voters.