Community Roundtable

I’d go with Time’s pick of Pope Francis as Person of the Year for 2013.  The first Jesuit pope, and first pope from the Americas, he is the 266th and current pope of the Catholic church.  His choice of the papal name Francis, in honor of St Francis of Assisi, shows his heart and his humility.  “Throughout his life he has been known for his concern for the poor, and his commitment to dialogue as a way to build bridges between people of all backgrounds, beliefs and faiths.  He has said that “in order to dialogue it is necessary to know how to lower the defenses, open the doors of the house, and offer human warmth”. (Wikipedia)   On Christmas day, Pope Francis said in his talk “to the city and to the world” that “Peace calls for a daily commitment”, and asked nonbelievers “to join their desire for peace with everyone else”.  “Pope Francis, while affirming the present Church teachings, has stated that Catholics have concentrated excessively on condemning abortion, contraception, and homosexual acts, while neglecting the greater need for tenderness, mercy, and compassion.”  He has inspired my New Year’s resolution: to think and be more peaceful in all my interactions.           (I love the quote by Ghandi:  “We must be the change that we would see in the world”.)

The bar of expectation on Congress cooperating and doing its job is certainly low, so when it does step up and pass any budget deal, instead of shutting down the government, it’s newsworthy.  Nancy Pelosi told fellow Democrats last week to “embrace the suck”, and vote to pass the paltry bill, “It sucks, but it’s the best we’ll get”.  Obviously it’s no “grand bargain”, but lawmakers did compromise to step back from the brinkmanship we’ve seen from them lately.  We can be hopeful that the budget agreements passed may lead to future progress. I was heartened to see John Boehner’s outburst last week against the extreme conservative groups that influenced and led to the Republican’s government shutdown.  He said, “They’re using our members, and they’re using the American people for their own goals.  This is ridiculous!”   Whatever Boehner’s motives may be for lashing out at the special interest organizations, I found it refreshing.

Well, let’s see — “D” for depressing,”E” for effort, or “F” for Fubar.   Legislators that disregard pension laws that state that pension benefits cannot be reduced for retirees, full well knowing that most of the blame for the underfunded pension plans are the fault of those, who for decades failed to deposit the state’s contributions, while the workers contributed their shares; it’s just depressing!  And most of us retirees don’t even fully understand how these recent changes will diminish our benefits, but we know that we aren’t going to receive what we were promised as we put in our decades of hard work for the state. And current employees will have to work longer before they can retire, and receive less in benefits than previous state retirees.  Meanwhile the Union plans on suing on our behalf, for our contracted benefits.   If the recent pension reform stands, I hope that the greater good is served, that Illinois’ credit rating is improved and state bankruptcy is averted.  I hope that legislators don’t continue to spend state funds unwisely, to our detriment, as they continue to raise our taxes.

Unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs, were envisioned by Nikola Tesla in 1915, birthed in 1959, and first used in 1960 in the Vietnam War.  A military representative testified before a 1973 U.S. House Committee Appropriations panel about our loss of over 5,000 airmen and another 1,000 MIA or POW, in defending our UAV program.  Our military (or overt) UAV program is used in conjunction where our military is deployed; the covert CIA drone program operates clandestinely.     “As a tool for search and rescue UAVs can be used to help find humans lost in the wilderness, trapped in collapsed buildings, or adrift at sea.” (From Wikipedia)  “UAVs are used by at least fifty countries, including Iran, Israel and China, who have built their own.”  With names like: Predator and Global Hawk, there are now the Ravens, which are “so small they can be launched from one’s hand and maneuvered through streets to discover insurgents or ambushes ahead”.   “They can fly for days at a time, and can collect intelligence by loitering around their target.” Guided by GPS,  they strike with surgical precision and take out their targets, the evil-doers, as “W” liked to call them.  And collateral damage is far less than using a Daisy-Cutter bomb.  The U.S. War on Terrorism campaign, begun under “W”, continues today.   I love saving our service men and women by deploying drones!  Let evil-doers beware!

I love the fact that Galesburg was birthed by high-minded men and women, and built around Knox College, the only remaining site of the Lincoln-Douglas debates.  I love the varied architecture of the oldest homes in Galesburg, some of which were part of the underground railroad that helped runaway slaves to safety in the North.    If you want to learn who the streets and schools were named after read Elmo Caulkin’s book: They Broke The Prairie.  I love that Galesburg was the childhood home of poet/statesman Carl Sandburg, and that his birthplace still stands.  I admire the contributions of the Swedes and Mexicans that came to work on the railroad in our little burg, and enriched the legacy.   I applaud Will and Luz Schick for their work in producing The Boxcar People documentary to commemorate some of those immigrants.           I love our beautiful, old courthouse and the statue of Mother Bickerdyke that graces that lawn, and not far away: Hope Cemetery, where lies the remains of our burg’s lofty settlers.  I loved growing up on the East End of Galesburg!  I loved  Virginia’s Ice Cream place, Buker’s (& Holmes’) grocery strore, and Old Lake Storey.  I especially appreciate: The Orpheum Theatre, our downtown library,  Coney Island, the Taco-Hideout, and Ribshack!

Too little — too late!  On March 2, 2013, the day that Ryan Maxwell died at the jaws of a pit-bull, I was visiting my mother’s trailer with my 8 year-old grandson.  The trailer park was just two blocks away from where the tragedy occurred.  There was plenty of snow on the ground, and I kept peeking out the window to watch as my grandson constructed a snow fort.  Maybe two hours after we left, my youngest brother called me, sobbing, telling me what he’d heard — the news about Ryan (whose grandfather he was close friends with).   I did not know Ryan, but took my brother to the funeral.  I was deeply affected by his death, and mourned for weeks; and also thought how that could have been my precious grandson.   A couple of months later my brother called to tell me that two pit-bulls had run through the trailer park, and through and beyond Kiwanis Park (where luckily no children were playing).  He had called a policeman, who told him that since it was beyond the city limits, the city ordinances did not apply.  The officer said he’d speak to the dog owners and advise them to keep the dogs in their yard.  All the trailer parks are just outside the city limits, so what protection is there for people who reside in or near them?  I have a dog and three cats.  I understand how people grow to love their animals, and consider them part of their family,  but I don’t understand how all the dogs in any city are as important as one human being, one bright, shining, irreplaceable child?  So what difference does it make what the ordinances or penalties are, if we lose even one more life to a deadly animal attack?

I don’t know why spending nearly half that amount to beautify the east end of Galesburg is more important than keeping four firefighters and two police officers on duty.  There are supposedly funds available that can be drawn from different accounts to meet the budgetary demands and still keep our community as safe as possible (according to Jeffery Maher).   Galesburg’s leaders want to draw more residents to our burg, but how are understaffed fire and police departments a draw for our city?  The Register-Mail recently ran an article stating that Galesburg’s lack of enough retail clothing stores “is consistently noted in studies conducted by the city”, according to Economic Development Director, Cesar Suarez.  The article stated that “the city approved a $28,320 loan to the Sandburg Mall to help with brokerage fees” to open a new clothing franchise.  How is another apparel shop more important than six critical first responder security jobs?  We’ll help build another pub to justify several more jobs here.  Galesburg seems to have a fair amount of crime (and murders) for a city its size.  I think more care should be taken to preserve the services crucial to our community.

President Obama needs to come out and address some of what is entailed under the Patriot Act  (law enacted under President W. Bush in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks), which is still in effect.  And where was all the outrage then? Except from Michael Moore.  “Our government is not going to spell out, neither should they, what all our spying is involved in.”  Let’s not be so naïve!  Government leaders are using surveillance activities on each other to the best of their technological abilities, and always have; and they all know it!  “Much of the planning for the 9/11 attacks took place in Hamburg, under German officials’ noses.”   National Security Agency Director, General  Keith Alexander, vigorously defended to the House (Select) Intelligence Committee 10/29 that the NSA’s  intelligence gathering activities, “have saved many lives, not only here but in Europe and around the world”.  “Earlier in the week, the Wall Street Journal reported that European spy agencies collected phone records in war zones and areas outside their borders that were then shared with the NSA as part of wider efforts to protect allied soldiers and civilians.” ******* “There are considerable diplomatic sensitivities of outing partner services, which the NSA relies on for a considerable amount of intelligence.   A public exposure of European complicity may spark domestic outrage in Europe and threaten cooperation with the United States in the future.”  NSA directors reiterated:  “NSA is not spying on Americans — without a court warrant”.   (Phone numbers are being tracked, especially to over-seas phone numbers).   Edward Snowden leaking intelligence to other countries “puts at risk America’s national security interests”.  And his father is bombastic enough to call his son “a  hero”?  He is NOT a hero!   He is a traitor!   Terrorists still abound, (despite many drone attacks)!  Espionage is essential to our nation’s protection.  We’re not apologizing!

No, I do not!   However,  I do expect the Republicans to keep up their steady stream of misinformation and criticisms of “Obamacare” and the president, who is bringing in other “talent” with established reputations for fixing website problems.  Every massive rollout has problems, and healthcare.gov is experiencing millions of people trying to sign up daily; much more activity than most websites that sell products.  Anyone remember the problems under President W. Bush with the Medicare Part D rollout?  They didn’t kill the policy because of a terrible launch of the website.  Mitch McConnell said of “Obamacare”, “A visit to the website is kind of like a trip to the Department of Motor Vehicles in your state — we’re going to do everything we can in the future to try to repeal it”.  Does that mean we should shut down motor vehicle offices because obtaining services can be inconvenient or complicated?  People have patience!!  The problems will get fixed, even if it means extending the enrollment period!  Don’t keep trying to set up different user-names and password accounts.  My friends had problems getting online, but they called 1-800-318-2596 and spoke with a pleasant, patient person who helped them complete a paper application by phone, and they will receive a response through the mail.