Packer Backer Ray's Musings

Blizzard of 2011

2011-02-02T19:57:00.001-08:00

Well, I've survived the blizzard of 2011, or what might be called the
Groundhog Day blizzard. I had very few problems dealing with the storm, and
here are some reasons why.

First, this storm was predicted, so I and everyone else had a chance to
prepare for it. My workplace allowed us to leave early yesterday, when the
snow was to start, and announced yesterday that we would close today. For
me, I didn't lose vital services such as electricity and telephone service.
I stayed tuned to news coverage and heeded the warnings to stay inside at
the height of the storm. I used common sense in how I did things which
helped too.

This storm ranks right up there with other big snowstorms I remember. There
was the blizzard of 1979,, which I remember because my brother was one of
those people out on snowmobiles in our home town helping rescue people.
There was the Valentines Day storm in 1990 or 1991 in which it took me an
hour to travel a distance that normally takes 15 minutes. There was the
blizzard of 1999, which this one is being compared to that I don't remember
having such a dramatic impact because it happened on a weekend.

I'm glad that storms like the one we've just come through are a very rare
occurrence. I certainly hope not to see another one like this for a long
time.

Senseless Tragedy in Arizona

2011-01-09T20:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, January 8, 2011 we witnessed a senseless tragedy in Tucson, Arizona. Congresswoman Gabriele Giffords was shot at point blank range, but appears to be a very lucky person. Six other people, including a Federal judge and a nine-year-old girl were tragically shot and killed. A dozen others were injured.

First and foremost, my thoughts and prayers go out to those injured and their families, as well as to the families of those who are no longer with us. I pray for the Medical teams who are administering to Congresswoman Giffords and the other injured victims, that God will grant them wisdom as they minister to them. Also, Dear God, be with the families of those who were killed. Hold them close to you as they mourn.

There are many things we don't know right now. One thing that appears to be the case is that the suspect was mentally disturbed in some way. There are many advocates for those who are mentally ill that say such individuals should be given the chance to live independently in the community. Certainly, by far, most people living with mental illness can live out in the community and be contributing members of society. However, it's tragedies like this which remind me that there are some who live with mental illness that need to be institutionalized. Can we always predict who among that population will act out in the manner that the suspect is alleged to have done? Probably not but we have to use the best knowledge we have to try so we can protect the public as much as possible from things like what happened yesterday.

There is at least one person who has already placed blame for yesterday's incident on the tone of political discourse. The Pema County, Arizona Sheriff in my opinion irresponsibly placed blame on talk radio and certain things we see on television. First, Sheriff, it's far too early to place that kind of blame. Secondly, tragedies like this should remind all of us that politically when we disagree with each other, we must do so without being disagreeable. I've heard references to Congresswoman Giffords being targeted due to her stand on Health Care reform. If the creep who committed this heinous act did so because he disagreed with Congresswoman Giffords on issue A or issue B, there is no excuse for acting out in this way. From a political viewpoint, this tragedy should remind us that the best way to let our feelings about how our representatives vote is at the ballot box. This should also remind us that it's essential that we be able to debate with each other in a civilized manner.

Again, my thoughts and prayers go out to the families of all injured or killed, and the people of Arizona. May we come to some conclusion about what happened and why, and may it be soon. May God bless everyone involved, and may he continue to bless the greatest nation in the world, the United States of America.

Remember and Thank Our Veterans on this Veterans Day

2010-11-11T06:04:00.001-08:00

Today is Veterans Day. As I write this, I'm on my way to work, to do a job
I really enjoy. I own a home, and have the freedom to speak against my
Government if I don't agree with what they are doing.

These freedoms and others didn't just happen. Our veterans fought for
freedom, many giving the ultimate sacrifice. I feel so lucky to be living
in a free country. In other parts of the world, a person like me who is
blind wouldn't be able to go out, get a job, and do many of the other things
we take for granted. They'd be hidden away, and cared for all of their
lives.

In many places around the world, speaking out against the Government can
lead to arrest, imprisonment and even death. Thank you to our Veterans,
that's not so in our country.

As I reflect on this Veterans day, I think about and thank all veterans for
their service to our country. I think about my Father's late cousin, Babe,
who served in what some call the forgotten war, the Korean war in the
1950's. I was listening to the radio just this morning and heard this war
referred to as the war that never really ended. That is so true, for
whenever North Korea wants to attract world attention or get a little more
international aid, they do something to try and provoke South Korea. There
are still thousands of troops serving along the 38th parallel, also known as
the demilitarized zone.

I think about and thank all of those veterans of the Vietnam war, including
my second cousin once removed, Roger and Darrel, a gentleman I used to work
with. These two men, and the others never got the welcome home they so
richly deserved. To paraphrase a Kenny Rogers' song, it wasn't them that
started that old crazy Asian war, but they were proud to go and do their
patriotic chore. Whatever anyone may have thought of that or any other war,
our veterans answered the call of service to our nation. How many others
would have?

I think about the men and women of the greatest generation, the World War II
veterans. Thanks to programs like the Stars and Stripes Honor Flights, and
Honor Flight Chicago, many of them are being given an opportunity to go to
Washington, DC, and visit the World War II Memorial, erected in their honor.
If it hadn't been for these brave men and women, we'd all probably be
speaking German right now.

Finally, I thank and think of the veterans of the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. I have always supported our going into Afghanistan, but not
going into Iraq. Nevertheless, the men and women who are serving in these
theaters and who have served decided they wanted to serve our nation. They
simply followed orders and went to where they were asked to serve.

I encourage each of us to thank at least one Veteran today for his or her
service. Whether it's someone you work with, a family member, a friend or a
neighbor, take a moment and thank that person for serving, and protecting
the freedoms we all enjoy. May god bless our veterans, and may he continue
to bless the greatest country in the world, the United States of America.

Post Election Thoughts

2010-11-03T21:02:00.001-07:00

I've had a chance to let last night's election results sink in a little,
although we still don't know who Illinois' next Governor will be. I'd like
to reflect for a few minutes on what I think the results mean for our
country, and what I think they could mean for people who are blind.

The Republican party, decisively, took over control of the U.S. House of
Representatives. While I, as a Republican, view that as good, I also
realize this is what the Republicans want, so now, they have to govern. The
U.S. Senate still has a Democratic majority, and President Obama is, stil,
the President.

While I hope I am wrong, I foresee quite a bit of gridlock in the next two
years. I hope this won't lead to a Government shutdown, but it could. I
think, by their votes on election day, the American people said a lot of
things. But one thing they said is they want Congress to do the people's
business.

Republicans aren't going to be able to do everything they might want to do,
no Congress ever does. Repeal the Healthcare bill? Yeah as much as some
would like too, President Obama still wields a veto pen and the Republicans
don't have enough votes to override his vetos. I think a lot of emphasis is
going to be on doing things to help spur the economy. That wil likely mean
extension of tax cuts, things that are good for small business, and maybe
some changes in the health care legislation.

For those of us who are blind, there are a couple of things we need to go
after. One is to re-introduce our Pedestrians Safety Enhancement Act, which
deals with quiet or hybrid cars. This bill enjoyed strong, bipartisan
support in the current Congress and I think it will again. I believe the
transportation bil is up for re-athorization in the next year or so, so
we're going to have to advocate for things like Amtrak, operating funds for
public transit and other important things as strongly as ever. We'll need
to talk about the cost benefit of having good public transit and a robust
Amtrak system as part of that advocacy.

It will be interesting to watch the group dynamics in Washington over the
next few years. But before I close, for those of us who are blind, I think
our biggest challenge is in the states where a number of Governorships
changed hands. States are in difficult financial times. Rehabilitation and
other programs that many people who are blind or visually impaired need will
be targeted for budget cuts. We will need to work harder than ever to make
sure our state leaders recognize that strong programs such as rehabilitation
help put people who are blind to work, which allows us to be taxpayers, not
dependent on other taxpayers.

What the Signing Into Law of the 21st Century Telecommunications and Video Accessibility Act Means to Me

2010-10-08T18:51:00.000-07:00

Today, October 8, 2010 is a hugely important day for me and other people
living with disabilities. President Barack Obama signed into law the 21st
Century Telecommunications and Video Accessibility Act. This culminates a
long, difficult legislative battle. While more work is to be done as the
regulations to implement this legislation are crafted, I want to reflect as
a person who is blind on what today's events mean to me.

With the signing today, in a short time, I will be able to access all of the
features of my cable television system, many of which I pay for but cannot
use. I will be able to access movies on demand, know what programs are on
through the program guide and use a DVR if I want to record something.
Right now, I cannot do these things because they require the use of
on-screen menus that are not accessible to me as they are not available
using speech output.

Today's signing means that soon, when there is an emergency I need to know
about, I won't just hear the 'beep beep beep'[ on television and have to
scramble to find out what is going on. The emergency information, whether
it be about a tornado, hazardous materials spill, flood or whatever, will be
made accessible to me so I can learn of and react to it as quickly as my
sighted neighbors and friends.

Today's signing means that soon, I will have more choices in cell phones
which will be accessible to me right out of the box, where I can use all
features and functions, download cool apps and other things. Gone will be
the days of having to pay an extra $300 just to have full access to a cell
phone's features and functions.

Today's signing means that it won't be long before my wife and I can sit
down in our living room, watch a good movie or television show and know what
is going on thanks to the provision of video description. Furthermore, in a
few years, when we travel to visit friends in such places as Southern
Wisconsin, Central Illinois and others, we can sit down together and watch a
movie or favorite show and know what is going on, as video description will
be required in the top 60 media markets.

Today's signing means that the next time I have to buy something such as a
VoIP phone, or even a home theater system, I won't have to find a sighted
friend or neighbor to set it up for us as this process will be accessible.

Today's signing means that if, god forbid, my Father's hearing worsens, he
will be able to go out and have many choices in cell phones which will all
be hearing aid compatible. He won't have to rely on the knowledge of a
store employee or someone else to tell him, don't get phone A, but phone B
works good.

Finally, today's sining means that many people with whom I work and whom I
care about who are deaf-blind will be able to purchase the
telecommunications equipment they need in order to become less isolated,
gain employment, and truly participate in American society.

I am proud to have been one of the many advocates who worked hard to bring
us to this special day. Just about eight months ago, I was not sure we'd
ever see this day happen. Thanks to the tireless work of many people, we
did.

So, let's take a little time to celebrate this historic accomplishment. And
then, let's prepare to work hard to make sure this landmark legislation is
implemented correctly through regulations and that it's promises are truly
realized.

Opening Sunday of the NFL Season, Some Thoughts

2010-09-12T07:13:00.001-07:00

While I realize we have already had our first National Football League (NFL)
game this past Thursday, it's today, the first Sunday of the NFL season that
feels more like opening day to me. With that in mind, here are some of my
thoughts about the upcoming season.

I think the American Football Conference (AFC) title is there for the taking
by the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts still feature a potent, balanced
offense with Peyton Manning at the controls. They've brought in players in
the off-season to bolster the running game, to go along with a steller
passing attack. On defense, they are healthy and while they are still a bit
small up front, they have enough quality players to hold down most teams.
Even with that strong offense, they aren't going to have to out score most
teams to win, although they have the weapons to do it.

Two teams that could pose a challenge to the Colts are the New York Jets and
Baltimore Ravens. The Jets surprised a lot of people last January by
getting into the playoffs on the final day of the season, then making it all
the way to the AFC Title Game before losing to the Colts. Baltimore, a team
with a reputation for strong defense, now has the weapons, particularly in
the passing game to make things interesting on offense. It used to be that
if the Ravens' defense wasn't playing wel, they had no chance to win. Well,
I think if they have too, they can put points on the board in bunches, and I
expect a few come from behind victories for them this year.

Switching to the National Football Conference (NfC) there are a lot of the
so-called experts out there saying the team I root for, the Green Bay
Packers, will make it to the Super Bowl. I love rooting for the Pack, but
I'm not so sure I would go as far as to pick them for the Super Bowl,
although I'll be happy as heck if it happens. The Dallas Cowboys are loaded
and ready to make a Super Bowl run in my opinion. They are strong on both
sides of the ball, offensively and defensively. Heck, they traded away a
quality receiver in Patrick Craton who would probably be playing in a number
2 receiver spot on most teams. Shows you the depth they have. How far
Dallas goes will I think depend a lot on how well Tony Romo performs late in
the season and in the playoffs. Historically, in his relatively short
career, he has not done wel late in the year.

There are other strong contenders in the NFC. I think New Orleans is poised
to have another good season, and in fact, I think they'll win the NFC South.
Close behind them will be the Atlanta Falcons, with their QB Matt Ryan
poised to have a breakout season. The Packers are very strong offensively
and, barring injury, they will score a lot of points. I have some questions
as I look at the Pack on defense, particularly in the secondary. However,
they will have Charles Woodson back there as a leader, and if they can
generate a strong pass rush, it will negate some of the secondary concerns.

Two other teams that I feel will be strong in the NFC are the New York
Giants and San Francisco 49ers. I can't pick the Giants to go all the way
to the Super Bowl because they are too inconsistent, especially at
quarterback. Eli Manning can look very good or vary bad. AS for San
Francisco, they will win a very weak NFC West, and don't count out a team
coached by such a strong leader as Mike Singletary.

You'll notice I haven't mentioned the Minesota Vikings, with Brett Favre at
QB . This is not because of any ill feelings I have about Favre. Minesota
to me simply has too many question marks. At 41, I see no way Favre can
have the kind of year he had last year. There are huge questions at wide
receiver for Minnesota, and that vaunted defense they have had for several
years is one year older. No one has a bigger heart or stronger will to win
than Brett Favre. However, those things will not be enough for Minnesota to
overcome their other issues. I don't think they will even make the
playoffs.

Finally, being in Chicago, I have to mention the Bears. I believe 2010 will
be the final year of the Lovie Smith experiment. Yes, the Bears are trying
out the Mike Marks offense and it will fail miserably. For one thing, they
don't have the talent to run it. For another, they are going to have enough
trouble keeping Jay Kutler healthy and upright. And thirdly, the only time
that offense was successful was when a team that plays indoors was running
it. When you hit late November and December in Chicago, you have to be able
to run the ball and that's not what this offense is predicated on. I'm
picking the Bears to go 5-11 this year, then hopefully, Bears' ownership
will back up the moving vans and clean house.

So to summarize, my Super Bowl picks are the Dallas Cowboys from the NFC,
and the Indianapolis Colts from the AFC. I'll pick Indianapolis to win in a
close game. But before that, we've got several months of NFL football to
watch. So, let's kick it off today on opening Sunday. As the song asks,
are you ready for some football? I say, yes I am!

Mosque/Islamic Cultural Center Near Ground Zero, No!!!

2010-09-11T19:23:00.001-07:00

I've been listening, as many of us have, to the controversy surrounding the
decision to build a Mosque/Islamic Cultural Center near the former World
Trade Center site, A.K.A., Ground Zero. I'd like to weigh in.

I recognize that everyone who owns property has a right to do whatever they
want to do with property they own. However, the question in this situation
is, Just because you have the right to do something, should you?

I'll answer that in this situation, with a resounding NO!!! How could
anyone think that proposing this development so close to Ground Zero
wouldn't cause a huge amount of controversy? There are plenty of places in
New York City to build a Mosque/Islamic Cultural Center. Why, oh why does
it need to be close to Ground Zero? It doesn't.

Like most Americans, I believe in religious freedom and believe that those
who practice Islam have the right to worship where they wish. However, out
of respect to America, and the pain we all went through on September 11,
2001, nine years ago today, it would be in everyone's best interest if those
who want to build the Mosque move somewhere else.

BTW: I do not believe acts like burning the Koran are remotely appropriate
to protest this development. Things like this won't promote peace.

Nine Years Later, I Have Not Forgotten and I Will Never Forget

2010-09-11T13:21:00.001-07:00

It seems like only yesterday, but it was nine years ago today when America
was tragically and brutally attacked on September 11 of 2001. Some 3,000
people, many of whom had done nothing more than gotten up, kissed their
spouses goodbye, hugged their children and gone off to work never came home
again, all because 19 so-called human beings decided they needed to fly
planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Thankfully, the
passengers on the fourth plane, United Flight 93, were determined not to see
another landmark devastated and were some of the first fighters in the war
on terror, going down with that plane in an open field in Pennsylvania.

Earlier this year, I read "Let's Roll" by Lisa Beamer, wife of Todd Beamer
who was a passenger on Flight 93. I've not seen the Flight 93 movie, but
reading the book and Lisa's account of the events on and after 9-11 sends
chills down my spine.

Today, all of us are working, attending classes, spending time with family
or friends, attending sporting events or whatever. Whatever you are doing,
pause for a few moments to remember those who died on 9-11. Today, I went
out canoeing with some friends. It's my freedom to do those kinds of things
that the terrorists who attacked our country despise.

May we all remember 9-11 and the people who died that day, especially the
first responders who gave their lives to try saving others. May there
never, ever be another tragic attack like 9-11 on our nation or anywhere
else in the world again. And may God continue to bless the greatest country
in the world, the United States of America.

Labor Day and Politics

2010-09-06T07:03:00.001-07:00

Today is Labor Day, a day we honor the American worker, and thank them for
what they do.

First and foremost, I want to thank those who cannot take today off to be
with their families, or go out and have fun like I can. From the military
men and women fighting for our freedom in various parts of the world, to the
police, fire and other emergency personnel working today, to the employees
of stores and restaurants, again, thank you.

Today, as part of our enjoyment of the holiday, my wife and I will be going
to a baseball game. We thank the paratransit and taxi drivers, train
conductors, ball park personnel and the players and coaches themselves who
will be working on this day so we can enjoy this activity.

Labor Day is also the day when I think of those who are out of work. My
best to them, and I encourage you to continue to look for work, as
frustrating as that can be. We need to find ways to bring more jobs back to
this country. We also need to do more to help workers improve their skills
so they can take advantage of the jobs of the future.

This leads to my last point, what our current administration is not doing to
help put America back to work. With the out of control spending, potential
for higher taxes, and increased regulations, private sector businesses which
create jobs in this country feel a huge sense of uncertainty. When you have
uncertainty, businesses aren't going to hire people. Government doesn't
create jobs, private sector businesses do. The best things that Government
can do, and which the socialists in Washington won't do is to cut taxes,
reduce regulation, then get out of the way and let the jobs get created.

So on this Labor Day, I salute all American workers, especially those who
are away from their families working today. I also hope that our Government
will realize that the private sector creates jobs, businesses hate
uncertainty and they need to reduce taxes and regulation, which will lead to
job creation.

Happy 20th Anniversary, ADA

2010-07-25T21:04:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow, July 26, is a very special day for me and the other 54 million
Americans with disabilities. It is the 20th anniversary of the day the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), our civil rights law, was signed into
law by President George H. W. Bush. As I think about this day, I'd like to
reflect on what I feel the promise of the ADA has been and if that promise
has been fulfilled.

The ADA promised that I or anyone else with a disability could apply for a
job, and be treated equally to our non-disabled peers in all employment
decisions such as employment application, interviewing, hiring, firing and
promotion. It told employers, judge people with disabilities solely on
their qualifications to do a job, not on their disabilities. While I feel
that ADA has opened up a lot more work opportunities to people with
disabilities, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is stil
unacceptably high. For example, it's around 70% for people who are blind or
visually impaired. Clearly, much more needs to be done to educate and
assist employers, particularly small businesses, to hire more people with
disabilities.

Much of my advocacy work over the past 18 years has been in the area of
transportation. The ADA promised greater access to transit, and for those
people with disabilities who could not take public transit, improved
paratransit services. I believe that for the most part these promises have
been realized. I travel every day on the Chicago area commuter rail and L
systems, and feel much more confident since there are detectable warning
strips at the platform edges. I can rest assured knowing that stops wil be
announced so that I know when it's time to get off. Busses that stop
audibly announce which route they are, making independent travel much
easier. I rarely have problems accessing paratransit service.

While I rarely have difficulty with paratransit, I believe work still needs
to be done regarding that service. The ADA needs to recognize that people
with disabilities who live in areas where there isn't much in the way of
public transit need to be able to get around too, and they may not be able
to drive like their non-disabled friends and neighbors. Incentives need to
be put in place to expand paratransit type service to such areas. Also, I
believe that further clarification of how people are to be certified for
paratransit needs to be provided. I shouldn't have to go through filling
out a long application and being interviewed every four years to make sure
I'm stil eligible for paratransit. After all, I am blind and that's not
going to change. This holds true for many with permanent disabilities.
More focus needs to be put toward this issue.

The ADA promised that state and local Governments would be required to make
their programs and services more accessible. I believe they have, but I
also believe that many, myself included, haven't always asked for the things
we need. For example, I attend our local village board meetings fairly
frequently. I have never asked for an egenda in Braile, even though it's my
right to do so. I have participated in our village's biennial town meeting
and been provided with assistance in voting

Accessible voting in local, state and Federal elections has been the biggest
impact of ADA I've seen in state and local Government services. Gone
forever are the days when I would have to tell someone how I wantd to vote,
and trust that my ballot was marked as I requested. Now, I can do it all by
myself, how empowering.

The ADA promised that places of public accommodation would have to make
their services accessible to people with disabilities. My experience in
brick and mortar establishments is that they have. I very rarely have
problems receiving assistance in stores, restaurants, sports venues, and
other places of public accommodation. However, this promise as not been
completely fulfilled because of the advent of the World Wide Web. ADA's
protections need to be extended to cover entities that sel products or
provide services over the web. Southwest Airlines is a great example of a
company that was sued under ADA for lack of website access, found they
didn't have to do anything, but then made changes that make their website
very easy to use with screen reading software.

The ADA promised that telecommunications services would be more accessible
to people who are deaf, hard of hearing or deaf-blind. While in many
respects this has happened, it's protections need to be extended to help
combat access challenges faced by people with other disabilities.

So everyone, take a little time tomorrow, and think about all that has been
accomplished in the last 20 years since ADA was signed into law. Then,
let's roll our sleeves back up and get to work because more still needs to
be done.

Copy of Letter Sent to Mr. Gary Shapiro, President, Consumer Electronics Association

2010-06-16T20:03:00.001-07:00

Hello:

This is a copy of a letter I sent to Mr. Gary Shapiro, President, of the
Consumer Electronics Association. This is in response to the Opp. Ed. Piece
he wrote against H.R.3101 that was published in the Washington Times on June
9, 2010. Read and enjoy, and write your own letter to Mr. Shapiro via
e-mail at gshapiro@ce.org.

=====start letter text=====
Hello Mr. Shapiro:

This message is my response to the Opp Ed by you which was published June 9,
2010 by the Washington Times, against H.R.3101, "The 21st Century
Telecommunications and Video Accessibility Act." I will respond from three
viewpoints, as a person who is totally blind, as a leader in the organized
blind movement and as a professional working daily in the field of adaptive
technology with people who are blind or visually impaired.

You assert that H.R.3101 is not needed, since industry is moving to address
accessibility. If industry is doing such a good job, then why does there
continue to be only one truly accessible cell phone out of the box for
people who are blind or visually impaired, that being the IPhone? If
industry was doing such a great job, we consumers with disabilities would
have many more choices of accessible cell phones. While there are cell
phones such as those made by LG that offer off the shelf accessibility to
some features, as I stated, the IPhone is the only fully accessible phone
off the shelf providing access to all of its features. While there are
people who are blind who use and love the IPhone, many others to whom I
speak on an almost daily basis do not want to use a touch screen interface
such as that on the IPhone. Many, myself included, do not want to be
limited to AT&T Wireless as the only cell phone provider we can use. By
your assertions, you are saying it is OK that we who have disabilities and
want to buy cell phones should have limited choices.

I use Verizon Wireless as my cell phone provider. In order to get a fully
accessible phone, I had to spend $300 over and above the cost of the phone
to purchase a software package that makes all of the phone's features
accessible to me via speech output. I, fortunately, am employed and had the
money to do this. However, nearly 70% of people who are blind or visually
impaired are not employed, and therefore, cannot afford this extra cost.
H.R.3101 when passed will insure there will be more choices for off the
shelf accessible cell phones.

My wife and I purchased a home theater system about 10 months ago. Because
this system requires the use of on-screen menus to configure its settings,
we had to ask my brother-in-law to give up over half of his Saturday with
his family to come over and set the system up for us. What if something
goes wrong and the system needs to be re-configured? We will need to find a
sighted person to come help us. Contrary to what some believe, we don't
have sighted people at our beckon call for everything we need. Synthesized
speech chips and software are widely available, and it would have been very
simple to include a setting where I could have requested voice guidance
through the setup of this system. If speech synthesis technology wasn't so
widely available, why then are all of the weather forecasts you hear on NOAA
Weather Radio done using synthesized speech? Why in airports do you hear
announcements being made using synthesized speech and not humans? I ride a
commuter rail system each day to and from work, the second largest system of
its kind in the nation. When announcements are made concerning such things
as train delays, they are not made by humans. They are punched into a
computer somewhere and broadcast using synthesized speech.

My wife and I have digital cable service. We pay the same rates per month
as others with comparable plans. Yet, about all we can do is adjust the
volume, turn on and off the TV and switch channels. All of the other
features are inaccessible to us because they require use of an on-screen
menu which is not available to us via speech output. I hear announcements
about movies on demand and cannot access these to enjoy them if I wanted
too. I can't use Digital Video Recorder (DVR) service to record programs I
want to watch later. If industry was doing such a great job, there would be
a speech output feature that I could access on demand which would allow me
to access these and other features. What if tonight after composing this
letter, I cannot sleep and want to know what is on TV? I cannot access the
program guide and I don't have a sighted person at my disposal for that sort
of thing. I'd like to keep my friends as my friends, maintain peace in my
family and have good relationships with my neighbors. Since you assert
industry is doing such a good job, tell me how I can access the program
guide. I'm waiting.

If industry was doing such a great job, why then didn't the designers of the
Kindle II Book Reader sold by Amazon design menus and controls that could be
accessed using speech output? After all, they designed in speech output to
read the content of books, it would have been a simple few extra steps to
make the menus and controls accessible via speech output. If Industry was
doing such a great job, why do people who are blind or visually impaired
have to pay eight or nine times the cost that sighted people do to enjoy the
benefits of Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) technology? After all, GPS
devices like those made by Garman, Magellan and Tom Tom provide spoken
directions. It would be a simple few steps to include a keypad and voice
output of menus and controls so these systems could be independently
programmed by people who are blind.

These examples and countless others totally render your assertions about how
good industry is doing pointless. The fact is, Mr. Shapiro, that there has
been nothing achieved in the area of disability access without assistance
from the Government. We'[re seeing an example of this on America's streets
right now. Hybrid cars, which are very good for our environment are
designed to operate using an electric motor when stopped or moving at speeds
below about 25 miles per hour. When they were initially designed, no one
considered the fact that pedestrians who are blind or visually impaired and
others would not be able to hear these vehicles and know that it is safe to
cross the street. Thanks to advocacy work which has led to the introduction
of legislation in Congress to address this problem, the car companies are
taking notice.

I, personally, am one of the strongest believers in the free market you will
meet. I know that America has countless talented people, ready to innovate
and design great new electronics. But I also know that at times, Government
needs to step in and help make sure people are doing what is right so that
those of us with disabilities are not left behind. Apple is to be commended
for making their products accessible to people who are blind or visually
impaired right out of the box. Not all of us want to purchase Apple
products. You and the Consumer Electronics Association should be
encouraging other companies to follow Apple's lead as Apple has proven that
off the shelf access is feasible. Since it appears you have not, then
H.R.3101 must be passed and signed into law. After all, the more devices we
who have disabilities can choose to purchase, the more profits the consumer
electronics industry will make as a whole. The population of people who are
blind or visually impaired is expected to grow exponentially over the next
several years. Most of those who will develop vision problems will be
seniors as they live longer. They are used to being active, being able to
do all sorts of things. They're not going to stand for being told, sorry,
you can't access this computer or that television set top box, and they
shouldn't. By passing H.R.3101, we can unleash the talents of designers and
engineers in electronics companies across the world to come up with products
everyone, including those with disabilities can use. You should want
nothing less, for remember, the minority group of people with disabilities
is the only one that you, a member of your family or a close friend can join
at any time.

Thank you for your time and attention. I hope you will re-think your
demeaning, ridiculous assertions about H.R.3101 and come out in support of
true access to the latest and greatest devices for all of us.

Remember True Reason We Celebrate Memorial Day

2010-05-30T20:02:00.001-07:00

This weekend, we celebrate the Memorial Day holiday. For many, Memorial Day
signifies the start of summer. People will be visiting family, barbecuing,
enjoying sports and other things. For most workers, this is a three day
weekend.

As you celebrate this weekend, please take a little time and remember the
true reason we celebrate Memorial Day. It is to honor those men and women
who have fought and died to protect the freedoms we all cherish here in the
United States of America. To those who have fought for our country and
given the ultimate sacrifice, I say thank you to them and to their families.
There are times when our fighting men and women go to war. No matter how
you feel about the current conflicts we are involved in, or, how you have
felt about past wars, those who fought and died for our country deserve
nothing but our utmost respect and honor.

I will be going to a local Memorial Day parade tomorrow morning. My
favorite part of this parade is when the rifle squad from the American
Legion marches by. On this Memorial Day, may god continue to bless the
greatest country in the world, the United States of America.

Bizarre News Day

2010-05-08T09:18:00.000-07:00

Talk about a bizarre news day in my area yesterday. First, we find out the
Executive
Director of our commuter rail service took his own life by, of all things,
walking in front of a commuter train. He was probably about to be fired due
to financial improprieties. It is reported that he got an unauthorized,
$56,000 bonus. Now that is bad, but is it worth taking your life over?
There had to be other things going on.

Then not more than a half hour later, we hear of a shooting at the Old Navy
store in Downtown Chicago. Seems that a woman who works there had broken up
with someone, but that someone didn't think the relationship should have
been over.

The Commuter Rail Executive Director one hit me a little hard. I had the
opportunity to work with this person. While I didn't know what was going on
in his financial dealings at the agency, he was always good to work with in
my role on the commuter rail system's Accessibility Committee. I especially
liked that he, the Executive Director was at every committee meeting, that
he said it like it is and when some of the people with disabilities got out
of hand, he put them in their place. It's too bad that he, apparently, did
things improperly from a financial sense, and it's too bad he took his life.

As far as the Old Navy deal, all I have to say is there are far better ways
to deal with a broken heart. At least, that guy is out of the gene pool;
too bad he took someone with him.

Congratulations, Arizona, Federal Government, Takle Notce and Do Something

2010-04-24T13:50:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to the people of Arizona and their representatives for
passing tough immigration laws. As expected, the liberals in Washington who
think they know more than we do don't like it.

Arizona needed to do something because they are having a problem with
illegal immigrants. From crime, to high costs for education and health
care, the state has had enough and felt they needed to do something.

The message being sent by Arizona is simple. If you, the Federal Government
aren't going to do something about immigration reform, a serious issue, then
we are going to take action because we're sick and tired of being overrun
with illegal immigrants.

Certainly, the immigration issue is pretty complicated. In many ways, you
really can't blame illegal immigrants for coming to the United States.
There are jobs here and they come from terrible economic conditions in
places like Mexico.

So what should the Federal Government do? First, go hard after employers
for hiring illegal immigrants. Stif fines, documentation of legal status of
all workers, and forced closure of businesses would send a strong message
that you better hire only people who belong here or else.. Not only would
this help stem the tide of illegal immigration, it would help Americans who
are out of work find work. In particular, it would help underemployed
groups such as folks with disabilities. Yes,m this may mean we Americans
have to pay more for certain things, but so what. If that puts more
Americans to work, it's a good thing.

For those illegals who are here, the Federal Government should create a path
to citizenship which doesn't put them in line ahead of anyone else, and
which reduces the cost and time to become a citizen. I believe that all
illegals must learn English, and in fact, that many want too, realizing it's
to their advantage to do so.

Immigration reform should be done in such a way that if you are here
illegally, and you commit any crime, you are kicked out, period.

There are many more things strong immigration reform should do. Arizona
shouldn't have had to take the stand that they did, but since the Federal
Government has been unresponsive to the problem of illegal immigration, they
felt they had no choice. If the Federal Government does not want more
states to take action like Arizona did, then they need to work to enact
immigration form that punishes employers for hiring illegal workers, creates
an easier path to citizenship for those here illegally, and kicks out any
illegals that commit crimes.

I Want My Country Back

2010-03-23T19:48:00.001-07:00

I want America back. I want the America back that many including my Dad's
cousin fought for. I want the America back where Government concentrated on
the areas it was supposed to, and, didn't take over corporations and medal
into almost every aspect of our lives. I want the America back where
political debate was more civil, and while you may have disagreed with your
friend or neighbor, you could disagree without being disagreeable.

The America I want back is slowly being taken away by the likes of President
Obama, Nancy Pelosey and Harry Reed and I'm not about to let them finish
the job. I don't know yet what I'm going to do, who I'm going to work with
or how I'm going to achieve it, but I'm going to fight to get my country
back! The members of my family and others who fought for our once great
nation can't fight anymore, so it's our turn to fight.

For starters, I'm going to search out candidates running for office in
November, look over their records and resumes carefully to make sure they
represent and believe in the America I want to see and vote for those who
do. I've never volunteered for or donated to a political campaign in my
life, but that's about to change because saving our nation and returning her
to greatness is too important.

I'm going to look into the tea party movement because the more of us who do,
the less the Democrats and Media can ignore it, much as they will try.
Check out www.theteapartynation.com to find out more. I don't know if that
is a movement that has legs, but the more of us who learn about it, the more
it can work to make a difference.

What else will I do? I don't know. I don't know if I can have a say in
firing some of the 219 disgraceful members of Congress that put our
Government in charge of 1/6 of our nations economy, but I'm going to check
out www.firethe219.com and see what it's about.

As I find more ways to fight for my country, I will share them. Until then,
may God bless America and may he help us find leaders who love our great
nation and want to return her to the land of the free, home of the brave.

These People Are A Disgrace to the Democratic Party

2010-03-23T16:01:00.001-07:00

I've figured out something I wish the Democratic party would figure out and
fix. People like Nancy Pelosey, Barack Obama, Harry Reed, the rest of the
219 who voted for the Government taking over 1/6 of our nation's economy and
others are a disgrace to the Democratic party and should be booted out.
When you think of great Democrats in history, none of these people can turn
the door knob for them, much less open the door.

I'm thinking of great Democrats like the late Senator Paul Simon, the late
Senator Ted Kenedy, and even former President Bill Clinton to some degree in
his later years. These were Democrats who held very liberal values. They
truly fought for such things as fair wages, the rights of workers to form
unions, and to help the poor and disadvantaged.

For the democratic leaders of today, it's not about fighting for America,
it's about power. Everything they are doing, from the takeover of
corporations like General Motors to passing a bill that will destroy health
care as we know it is all about achieving power over the American people,
making us more dependent onb Government for everything. After all, these
people believe that Government is the answer to all of our problems. While
they say they are fighting for the poor and disadvantaged, in truth, they
are taking them for granted.

\Democrats like Simon and Kenedy were partisans to the core, but they knew
when to reach across the aisle and work together, and they were affective at
it. Today's Democrats show nothing but contempt for anyone who disagrees
with them. Darn it, we're Americans too and we deserve to have our voices
heard.

I hope the Democrats lose big time in November, because then, perhaps, they
will bring in party leaders who respect our nation's history, remember the
leaders of the past and who will, while fighting for those things they deem
important, reach out and work with others when needed.

A Sad Day in American History

2010-03-22T15:05:00.001-07:00

To paraphrase the words of one of our nation's greatest Presidents, Franklin
Delano Roosevelt, yesterday, March 21, 2010, is the day that America took
one giant step toward becoming a dictatorship, or a socialist country. Some
219 members of Congress, all Democrats, forgot about their oath of office,
which reads in part to uphold the United States Constitution. They forgot
who their true bosses are, the constituents who elected them. Instead, they
thumbed their noses at a majority of the American people and voted to pass
legislation which will lead to Government control of our nation's health
care system. Any member of Congress who voted for this boondoggle ought to
be ashamed of themselves, and if they are not, those who elected them need
to vote them out of office come November and elect people who remember who
they work for.

I'm proud to say that my representative in Congress remembers that he works
for me, not party leaders. He remembered that it is his duty to uphold the
United States constitution.

First and foremost, this legislation requires that each American must have
health insurance or face a fine. This bill is about creating jobs, jobs for
about 17,000 new Internal Revenue Service agents who will be spying on each
of us every month to be sure that we have health insurance acceptable to the
dictators in Washington. I believe this is a huge stretch of the Federal
Government's power to tax which is codified in the constitution and I
believe court challenges will rule this legislation unconstitutional.

This bill says to insurance companies, you will cover everyone, regardless
of pre-existing conditions. First of all, if that is such a good thing,
which it is, then why does it have to wait until the year 2014 to kick in
for adults? But beyond that, insurance companies can't deny coverage for
anyone, even if people have made poor lifestyle choices such as smoking,
drinking too much, eating in unhealthy ways and becoming overweight, having
unprotected sex, or whatever. These 219 idiots in Congress don't know beans
about the insurance business. Insurance is a risk-based business. The
higher the risk, the more insurance should cost you or the more likely it
should be that you are denied coverage. This is like saying, hey insurance
company, you have to provide flood insurance for the homes on the riverbank,
even though you know there is a high risk that some of these homes will
flood every year.

There is a cruel joke in this bill which, conveniently, was not talked
about. That is that the bill depends on the Medicaid system to provide
coverage to everyone. Guess what? Medicaid is a state and Federal cost
sharing partnership, and, many states are wallowing in red ink and can't
afford this unfunded mandate. So what is going to happen is people will be
told they now have coverage, but when they go to access that coverage, they
will be told they really don't have it.

Something AARP doesn't get is that this bill makes huge cuts of about 500
billion dollars in Medicare benefits. When Seniors figure this out,
Congress, look out because Seniors vote.

While I don'[t think it's a good choice, this bill takes away the freedom of
people not to have health insurance. How is the person who has lost a job
supposed to buy insurance? What about the younger worker who wants to make
a choice not to have insurance because he or she wants to save that money
for the purchase of a new car or toward a down payment on a house? That
freedom of choice has been taken away.

And what's with Mr. sell out himself, Bart Stupak? Isn't he smart enough to
realize that what the President does by Executive Order, he can undo by
Executive Order as well? This bill will lead to the repeal of the Hyde
amendment, a disgraceful slap at the legacy of one of our nation's great
statesman, former Congressperson Henry Hyde.

To the 219 who think they work for the leadership and the hell with the
American people, I hope many of you take a good look around and enjoy these
last few months in Congress, because I think that many of you will be
looking for work come January of next year. The arrogant house leadership
has grossly underestimated the American people on this, and I predict there
will be a Republican take-over of Congress this November which will make
1994 look like child's play. When that happens, maybe we can repeal this
monster, send it back where it came from and enact sensible reforms in
health care that don't balloon the Federal deficit out of control and
destroy the freedoms which many have fought and died to protect. May God
bless America, and may he bring our leaders to their senses and remind them
that they work for us, they better listen to us, and if they don't, we'll
fire them.

I Feel So Powerless, What Can I Do?

2010-03-20T20:07:00.001-07:00

Well, as I sit here this Saturday evening, we are on the eve of the United
States House of Representatives taking a vote on one of the most radical
things I've seen in my life time, reform or should I say Government
take-over of our nation's health care system. As I listen to bits and
pieces of news about this, I feel powerless because I don't know what I as
an American who values freedom and who believes strongly in the principles
this nation was founded on can do to stop this.

While I believe there are reforms that must be made in our nation's health
care system, I don't like the approach being taken by Congress and President
Obama. Nor do I like the strong arm tactics and dirty tricks being used to
try and ram this piece of shit down our collective throats. But, what can I
do? I am represented by a Republican Congressperson who, thankfully, is
going to oppose this legislation. I don't want this legislation to pass. I
want smaller, more common sense steps to be taken to reform health care that
won't lead to higher taxes, job loss and a huge expansion of Government.
But as I sit here tonight, all I feel I can do is wait and pray that members
of Congress will act in a sensible manner, kill this massive bill that none
of them have read and move toward common sense reforms.

Please, god, give our Congress and its leaders the wisdom to truly act on
behalf of the American people, who favor reform but who do not favor the
current bill. Give them strength to stand up to high pressure tactics and
bribery and say no to this bill. Give them the time and help they need to
craft common sense health care reforms that are constitutional and that most
Americans will support. I fear for our great nation if this massive
expansion of Government passes.

I'm Sick Of Hearing About The God Damn Census

2010-03-20T10:47:00.001-07:00

I've been spending the last couple days doing something I really enjoy each
year, watching the firswt two rounds of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. And
as a result of that, I'm sick and tired of hearing about the Census.

The commercials for it are so hypocritical, it makes me sick. Here they
have all sorts of people saying how important filling out the census form is
because we need to count everyone so each community gets its share of
Federal funds. Well if it were really important to count everyone, the
Census Bureau wouldn't continue to violate the law and would make the Census
truly accessible to people with disabilities. I have heard that Census
workers are telling people like me who are blind who call in on the
telephone number that is supposed to be for getting help filling out the
form that you need the Serial Number off the printed form that you receive
before they can help you. Hey idiots, I'm calling for help because I can't
read the printed form. What's that all about?

Why can't the Census be done on-line which would make it accessible to more
people. I thought our Government was supposed to be more progressive.
Wouldn't it be good not only for people with disabilities, but also for
younger people to reach them in a form they work with, the Internet?

What a waste of money the Census is. Why did the Federal Government have to
send me a letter on March 8, teling me they'd send the Census form out a
week later? Only the Federal Government would send you a letter teling you
they are going to send you a letter.

The Census form doesn't even ask about disability, which makes me wonder
just how serious they are about counting everyone. Boy, they sure want to
make sure the illegal immigrants, who don't even belong here are counted,
but they don't seem as concerned about counting people with disabilities who
are American citizens.

I'll fill out the damn form because I don't want some underpaid Census
worker puke coming to my house to take the information. But by 2020, the
process better be more accessible. And, yes, I'll do it, so there's no need
to continue to bombard me with hypocritical ads about how important the
Census is.

Day Two from Washington, DC

2010-02-21T18:23:00.001-08:00

Hello all:

We've had another good day here at the ACB Mid Year meetings in Washington,
DC. This morning, we finished up the President's meeting. Carla Ruschival,
who is ACB Convention Coordinator, talked with us about what is involved in
good convention planning. She told us not only how important it is to find
a good hotel, have hotels competing with each other for our business and ask
for the things we need, but she also talked about food and beverage costs
and several other things involved in planning a good convention.

Berl Colley talked briefly about the ACB Oral History project, as they are
trying to get interviews with long time members and leaders in ACB so we can
preserve our oral history. Then, Chris Gray talked with us and demonstrated
changes coming in ACB's Membership Database. The Illinois Council of the
Blind is one of the affiliates of ACB which will be beta testing the new web
based database interface which will make it much, much easier to certify
members, get information out to members, map out members to congressional
districts and other things.

After a break, Joel Snyder, ACB's Director for the Audio Description
Project, talked with us about the work he is doing. That man needs to
switch to decaf, I swear; he makes me tired listening to him. Finally, we
had an opportunity to provide feedback on the President's meeting and ask
questions of those ACB officers in attendance -- Mitch Pomerantz, President;
Brenda Dillon, Second Vice President; and Mike Godino, Treasurer.

This afternoon at 1:30, we began ACB's legislative seminar. After
introductions and a few remarks by President Mitch Pomerantz, we heard from
Daniel Goldstein , Managing Partner of Brown, Goldstein and Levy. Mr.
Goldestein has been our lead attorney within the Reading Rights Coalition.
He told about how Amazon.com had introduced the Kindle E-book reader in
February of 2009, which had text to speech on it, but whose controls were
not accessible to people who are blind. Through our settlement activities,
we have gotten Amazon to agree that the next version of the Kindle will have
accessible controls on it, as well as text to speech.We then heard from
Knowledge Ecology International, which is spearheading efforts to get an
international treaty passed that will allow accessible, copyrighted works to
be shared across borders. Right now, for example, copyrighted works put
into accessible formats by National Library Services here in the U.S. cannot
be shared in other countries.

We then, after a break, heard from Donald Kahl and Jennifer Wolfsheimer of
the Equal Rights Center of Washington, DC with whom ACB has collaborated on
several issues. We ended with discussion of some of ACB's legal advocacy
work including our structured settlements for Point of Sale equipment in
Staples, Trader Joes and others. Also, we discussed the settlement with
major league baseball to make areas of its website accessible, and the
social security administration which allows people who are blind to get
notices and other documents from Social Security in accessible formats. Of
significance here is that while the court settlement only requires materials
to be provided in Braille and on data CD, if you need another format like
large print or audio, call SSA and request this as they are required to give
consideration on an individual basis to providing other formats.

That pretty well summarizes our day. Tomorrow promises to be a full day as
we'll discuss various things like H.R.3101, "The 21st Century
Telecommunications and Video Accessibility Act," H.R.734/S.841, "The
Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act," and other things going on.

Today at ACB Mid Year Meetings

2010-02-20T18:00:00.001-08:00

Hello Everyone:

Well, today was the first day of the ACB President's meeting. It started at
11 a.m. this morning. After some opening remarks by President Mitch
Pomerantz, where among other things he remembered fondly Pat Beattie who was
a long time member and legislative advocate in ACB, we had introductions.

We have 40 state ACB Affiliates and I believe seven special interest
affiliates represented. We had an update on some of ACBs fundraising
projects. ACB is, again, selling raffle tickets to benefit our monthly
publication, the Braille Forum. Tickets will cost $50 each. First prize is
$5,000, second is $1,000 and third is $500. ACB is again going to do the
walk-a-thon this year Saturday, July 10 during our convention in Phoenix,
Arizona. We will be walking in an air-conditioned mall in Tempe, Arizona,
about 17 miles from the convention hotel. You can sign up for the walk, at
$25 for your entry fee. You can sign up on-line at a website which is not
yet completely on line but should be in a week or so. That website is
www.acbwalk.com.

We then had lunch, and began what we spent most of our day on, training on
how to proactively advocate for Schools for the Blind. Dr. Michael Bina,
President of the Maryland School for the Blind was our luncheon speaker. He
stressed how important it is to advocate and be proactive with our schools.
He gave us several dos and don'ts that I can't remember right now so will
have to listen to the archives for.

After that, we had a panel of several individuals talking about the
importance of advocating and building relationships with the school for the
blind. Melanie Brunson, AC B's Executive Director, spoke on the Federal
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and how we can use its language
in helping advocate for schools for the blind. We concluded with some
remarks by ACB's First Vice President, Kim Charlson and an open forum
discussion.

The training went super well and I couldn't be prouder of the Schools for
the Blind Task Force Members and others who made it happen.

We next discussed how ACB affiliates can make better use of ACB Radio and
its programming to stream, archive and make available our events to more
people. We also discussed that you really don't need that much equipment or
technical knowledge to stream a program.

We next heard an update on plans for the 2010 ACB convention in Phoenix.
This is going to be a fun convention in a hot city. Our afternoon concluded
by discussing the importance of all ACB affiliates adopting conflict of
interest and confidentiality policies, and a discussion of the various 990
tax forms our organizations may have to file based on total gross receipts
and total assets.

We'll be back at it tomorrow. If you want to listen in, go to
www.acbradio.org/world at around 7:45 a.m. central time.

First Report from ACB Mid Year Meetings

2010-02-19T21:12:00.001-08:00

Hello All:

This is my first report from the ACB Mid year meetings in Washington, DC.

I got in safely last night, although it was a pretty rough landing at Reagan
National Airport. I just spenbt the evening at the hotel, getting settled
in and socializing in the bar with several people while eating dinner.

Today was the ACB Board Meeting. We were able to finish this meeting by
5:00 today, which we wanted to do.

Tomorrow starts the ACB President's Meeting. The highlight for me will be
the training on issues related to Schools for the Blind. I'm really looking
forward to this. The members of the Schools for the Blind Task Force and I
have worked very hard on this endeavor.

If you want to hear the ACB Mid Year President's meeting, go to
www.acbradio.org/world. The meetings will be streamed starting at 9:45 a.m.
Cetral time. I hope many of you will be listening.

Take care, and good night.

A Celebration Well Deserved

2010-02-07T19:46:00.001-08:00

Well, at long last after 43 years, the New Orleans Saints have reached the
top of the football world by winning the Super Bowl. It's hard to put into
words just how happy I am for the city of New Orleans.

About five years ago, New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The
Saints didn't even play any home games in New Orleans in 2005 because they
couldn't. They played home games either in San Antonio, Texas or at LSU in
Baton Rouge. There was talk of moving the Saints someplace else. It wasn't
too long ago that Saints fans were wearing bags on their heads and the
Saints were called the Aints.

In 2006, they returned to the Super Dome in New Orleans, and you could tell
then something special was taking place with the Saints.

It was truly the Saints' year this year. And what a coaching job by Sean
Peyton in the Super Bowl. From going for it on 4th down at the 1, to the
on-side kick starting the second half, to the interception by Tracy Porter
that sealed the game. What a wonderful job. And the two point conversion,
even though controversial, what a gutsy call.

So New Orleans, celebrate like you've never celebrated before. After all
you've been through, you deserve it.

One Year Later, That Hope And Change Has To Go

2010-01-20T06:08:00.001-08:00

On the first anniversary of the Inauguration of President Barack Obama, I
will give my grade of his performance. If you are still one of the few
drinking the Obama Cool-aid, don't read on because you won't like this.

My grade, F- (F minus). There are several reasons.

President Obama promised "Hope and change." He promised we'd see more
transparency in Government. We've seen anything but these things. Right
off the bat, President Obama and his cronies in Congress rammed through a
so-called Economic Stimulus bill which was over 1,100 pages in length
without allowing time for reasoned, thoughtful debate. No transparency
there. This bill which will always be known to me as Porkulus Spendulus
hasn't done anything close to what Obama and his supporters claimed it
would. After its passage, unemployment has shot up to over 10%. Taxes have
gone up. There has been no explosion in infrastructure projects as was
promised.

President Obama and his liberal cronies continue to ignore over 60% of the
American people and push for radical health care reform which should be more
properly known as Health Care deform. There should be no greater evidence
of how much Americans dislike this legislation than the stunning victory by
Republican
Scott Brown in the Massachusetts special election to fill the late Senator
Edward Kenedy's seat. When a Republican can win a seat in the U.S. Senate
in one of the most democratic states in the country, heads turn. Health
care reform and the associated fees and taxes and overburdening regulations
is a big reason why. With Brown's victory, I believe we've seen the death
of Health Care Reform. May it never rise again.

No transparency here either. Obama and his cronies have held closed door
meetings, all but bribing politicians to support this legislation. They
talk bipartisanship, but have not entertained a single idea put forward by
Republicans on health care reform. They accuse Republicans and those who
are against health care reform of being for the status quo. In this
Republican's eyes, nothing could be further from the truth. As I have said
before in this forum, I want sensible reforms like torte reform, making
insurance forms easier to understand and allowing Medicare to negotiate for
lower prescription drug prices. None of these are included. I want to see
better access to prescription drug information and Medicare reimbursement
for vision-related services and equipment. None of these are included.

Another reason for my F- is right in my wallet. At the beginning of Obama's
presidency last January, I was taking home $16.40 more a month than I'm
taking home now. Over a year, this means I'll take home about $200 less
than I did last year. This was money I could spend on the things I wanted.
Obama and his cronies feel they can make better decisions on how to spend my
money than I. The more money individuals and businesses are allowed to
keep, the more they can and will put into the economy by investing in
growing business, purchasing goods and services and ultimately, putting
America back to work. But when you have a guy in the White House who has
never held a real job or had to make a payroll, those concepts are lost upon
him.

Finally, Obama has poured our tax money into businesses that should have
been allowed to fail. When I paid my taxes, I did not pay to own General
Motors which should now be called Government Motors. I did not want to bail
out big banks. Yes, this started under the Bush administration, but Obama
had the power to put a stop to it when he came into office but did not.

For all the reasons I've documented here and more, Obama gets an F- after
his first year. He and his cronies better take notice and move more toward
the center, or else they will see a Republican revolution in 2010 which will
make 1994 look like child's play. Unfortunately, Obama is so invested in
pleasing radical liberals he's incapable of moving to the center where most
Americans are in my opinion.

What Dr. King's Dream Means to Me

2010-01-15T20:19:00.001-08:00

Today is the actual birthday for one of the greatest men in our nation's
history, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Yes, I know we will celebrate on
Monday, January 18.

The holiday that celebrates this man's birthday is more than part of a three
day weekend to me. As I sit and reflect on what Dr. King's dream means to
me, I come up with a couple of things.

First, Dr. King's work for a society in which African-Americans are afforded
equal opportunity and respect has led to other groups being able to do the
same things. As a person who is blind, I am indebted to Dr. King for
fighting so hard for civil rights. The work Dr. King and those who followed
him did has led to such civil rights laws as the Americans with Disabilities
Act. Thank you, Dr. King, for leading our nation toward one in which all
citizens, regardless of race, gender, national origin, physical or mental
disability, ETC. can be all they want to be. My wife and I have spent the
last few years in King day doing business on the community. Thanks to Dr.
King's work, we have the right to go into stores, purchase goods and
services, and know that we have the right to receive equal service as those
without disabilities.

In thinking about Dr. King's work, I cannot help but look at the so-called
African-American leaders out there and shake my head. Jesse Womanizer
Jackson and Al Big Mouth Sharpton couldn't even hold open the door for Dr.
King, much less carry on his legacy. I truly hope African-Americans figure
that out and figure out that they can excel to whatever position they want
too, and that they thank Dr. King for that. Look at our President,
President Barack Obama. He is living proof that anyone, regardless of race,
can strive to be elected to the highest office in arguably, the most
powerful nation on earth. You have to admire President Obama, regardless of
your political persuasion. A later entry I wil post will grade him after
his first year, and it will be very harsh. But, if any President,
regardless of color did the things he has done I'd grade them the same way.

So as we reflect on the words and work of Dr. King, let us strive to keep
our nation one in which all people can equally enjoy te opportunities they
want to take advantage of.

Unimaginable Tragedy

2010-01-14T20:17:00.001-08:00

It is impossible for me to imagine the horror, anguish, and other things
those who are still alive in Haiti are going through as I write this. Many
have family members whose whereabouts they do not know. People hearing
cries for help under the rubble rought by the quake who can do nothing to
help.

Many thoughts are crossing my mind as I think about this tragedy. First and
foremost, my prayers are with those still alive in Haiti, with the rescue
teams working to save people, and with the families of those no longer with
us. This tragedy also demonstrates once again the awesome power Mother
Nature has. Think about it. Just two days ago, the people of Porta Prince
and other parts of Haiti were going about their lives with nothing but their
usual concerns. Then, in a few short seconds, their world was tragically
turned upside down.

Haiti may be the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. But neither rich
nor ppoor people deserve to have family members taken from them or have
their own lives snuffed out in an instant like this.

Finally, this tragedy reminds me how precious life is and how we must
cherish every moment we have. It reminds me to take the time and spend it
with those I care most about. Because, we never know when something will
happen to change our world in a significant way, and not necessarily for the
better.

So as we pray for the people of Haiti and those trying to help them, let's
all take a few minutes, call our families and let them know how much we care
about them. Let's make sure those we love know how much we love them. Life
is a precious gift, which God giveth and God can taketh away.

Double Standard Alive And Well, And It Makes Me Angry

2010-01-11T21:10:00.001-08:00

Well, the double standard is alive and kicking. In the book soon to be
published, "Changing game," reference is made to comments made by U.S.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reed of Nevada which were along the lines that
President Obama would have an easier time getting elected because he is a
light skinned African-American and doesn;t speak in Negro Dialect unless he
wants too.

Clearly, these comments were hurtful and offensive. They shouldn't have
been said. Reed has apologized to Obama for making these comments and Obama
has accepted. I have no problem with that.

What I do have a problem with is the way the media and others are responding
to this. They seem to be casting it off, saying it's really no big deal.
Even Al Sharpton says he's standing by Senator Reed.

Imagine if Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell would have made a similar,
dumb, offensive comment and apologized. Would the reactions be the same?
Absolutely not. There would be calls for McConnell to step down from the
Senate. There would be demonstrations outside of his office. Every talking
head would have something to say about it and it would go on and on forever.

Comments like those of Senator Harry Reed are offensive regardless who says
them. Reed apologized as he should. However, as long as you favor liberal
idiology, you can pretty much say anything you want and a simple apology is
all that is required. If you follow conservative ideology, then reactions
are quite different and it makes me sick. Reed said something he shouldn't
have said. Well, conservative folks make mistakes too and should be treated
the same way when we do.

Packers' Season Is Over, But A Lot to Build On

2010-01-10T20:08:00.001-08:00

I'm sad that the Green Bay Packers' season has come to an end at the hands
of the Arizona Cardinals. But, the Packers have a lot to build on for the
future and will probably be back in the playoffs next year, going farther.

Offensively, Aaron Rodgers has another year under his belt. He and the team
didn't quit today, that shows guts and determination. Despite the turnovers
Rodgers had today, he's an excellent game manager, and is proving to be a
very good Quarterback. He's going to be a starr in the NFL.

Speaking of stars, Jermichal Finley is emerging into a great tight end.
Finley looks like the real deal, and his ability to stretch a defense will
pay big dividends in the future.

The Packers are still very strong at wide receiver and at running back.
Their offensive weakness in my opinion is Offensive Line.

Although they didn't play the part today, the Packers' defense has greatly
improved throughout the season. Clay Mathews looks like the real deal.
Another year under the 3-4 and a few more players and they've got the
potential to be something special.

Now that the off season is upon us, darn it, here are what I believe the
Packers' needs are. At the top of the list is offensive tackle. Chad
Clifton and Mark Touscher are getting up in years and will need to be
replaced. T. J. Lang looks like he could play one of the tackle spots with
a little more seasoning.

Next on the list, a punter. They need someone who can place the ball inside
the 20 consistently. They need to bring in a kicker to compete with Mason
Crosby as Crosby had a down year. Crosby has a very strong leg, so I don't
want to totally give up on him. Having competition in training camp would
push him to improve his accuracy.

Finally, the Packers need to draft for depth at Cornerback and Safety. It's
time to end the Jarred Bush experiment. With Woodson, Harris and Williams,
they have three solid starting caliber corners, but beyond that they are
week and need to bring in some depth. Also, they need better depth at
Safety, for after Bigby and Collins there isn't much there.

As for the remainder of these playoffs, I'm rooting either for the Cardinals
or Saints to get into the Super Bowl from the NFC. I believe Indianapolis
will ultimately win the big game.

2010 Advocacy Resolutions for this Advocate Who Is Blind

2009-12-31T15:44:00.001-08:00

As we approach 2010, many of us are making New Year's Resolutions. Oh I
know, there are the usual ones like losing weight, quitting smoking,
resolving to spend more time with family, ETC., and I may or may not make
some of those.

Right now, here are my New Year's Resolutions as an advocate who is blind.

Resolution 1: resolve to fight wit every ounce of my being to see H.R.3101
increase in co-sponsors, get passed by Congress and signed into law by
President Obama. This simply has to happen so that as technology advances,
people who are blind and people who are deaf-blind aren't left behind.

Resolution 2: resolve to work to see that H.R.734 and S.841 are passed and
signed into law. This will force action to be taken to resolve the very
real safety concerns posed by quiet cars for pedestrians who are blind.
More and qieter cars are coming on the market. The time for action to help
make them safer is now!

Resolution 3; resolve to work tirelessly so that no state which has a
residential school for the blind has to live in fear that legislators, more
concerned about cutting budgets than the education of all children will
pounce on that school and either target it for closure or suggest that it be
merged with other institutions within the state. Like all children,
children who are blind have varying educational needs. While many can
thrive in mainstream environments, there are those who need the education
that can be offered at a residential school for at least part of their
educational career and that option needs to be available.

Resolution 4: resolve in my home state of Illinois to get the process
moving so that new people with new ideas have a fighting chance to get
appointed to our Bureau of Blind Services' Blind Services Planning Council.
It's kind of like bread. If you keep the same people on the council for
years and years, their ideas get stale. We all need to think out of the box
and that goes for blindness services too. Bringing in new people and ideas
wil help us do that.

Resolution 5: resolve to participate in whatever ways I can to see that the
Department of the Treasury continues moving ahead at a rapid pace to make
United States paper currency independently identifiable by people who are
blind. The courts have spoken, it's time for Treasury to move ahead.

Resolution 6: resolve to work in whatever ways I can for increased access
to the growing libraries of electronic books off the shelf for people who
are blind. Mainstream devices like the Kindle promise an unprecedented
level of access to the written word for people who are blind. We must work
to see that forces which would delay or deny this access are stopped.

Resolution 7: resolve to work for increased access to prescription drug
information and medicare and insurance reimbursement for vision-related
services and equipment. We stand on the brink of passing sweeping changes
in our nation's ealth care system. Regardless how you personally feel about
that, we can't let this opportunity pass us by to make meaningful changes in
health care which benefit people who are blind.

Whew, it's going to be a busy year. I certainly can't and won't be doing
these things alone. I hope many of you will share the resolve out there and
help this advocate and others to keep at least a few of these resolutions.
As the theme of President Obama's election campaign went, "Yes we can."

Happy New Year,

Most Significant Event of the Decade for People Who Are Blind

2009-12-31T15:07:00.001-08:00

Everyone is looking back on the first decade of the new Millennium and
talking about things that changed our lives. As a person who is blind, I
thought I'd do some looking back on the thing that most changed the world
for people who are blind.

Maybe others have different thoughts, but I think the 2000 Presidential
Election and the resulting Help America Vote Act is the most significant
thing that changed life for people who are blind. This is because for the
first time, Congress took seriously the fact that we who are blind have a
right to a secret, independently verifiable ballot. The 2000 election
exposed many of the flaws in our nation's election system, and forced us to
think of new ways to record and count votes. This brought new, electronic
technology into the voting booth and with it, increased access for those of
us who are blind.

Certainly, there were other events this decade that changed the lives of
people who are blind in significant ways. From continued advances in
technology to political changes, we've come a long way. But independent
access to exercise one of our most inalienable rights, the right to vote is
to me the most significant event that changed the lives of people who are
blind this decade.

Looking Back on 2009

2009-12-31T14:55:00.001-08:00

In many ways, 2009 was a year of change. For the first time in eight years,
we inaugurated a new President of the United States. Regardless of your
political persuasion, everyone has to admit that it was a significant time
in our nation's history, swearing in of the first President who is
African-American. Changes happened in our nation's and world's economies
that will affect all of us for years to come.

How were we as people who are blind affected by what has happened in 2009?
Certainly, we could not escape the realities of the economic downturn in our
nation. Perhaps some of us lost jobs, perhaps those of us who still are
working experienced cutbacks. Perhaps state rehabilitation services had to
cut back on purchases. Whatever your experience, the economy affected our
lives as it did the rest of the nation.

Many of the major things that happened in 2009 centered around politics.
Regardless of how one personally feels about Health Care Reform, there are
significant things we as people who are blind need. Things like better
access to prescription drug information, and Medicare and insurance
reimbursements for vision related services and equipment.

The continuing changes in technology have affected people who are blind.
The growth of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter has helped
more people who are blind become more connected. I also believe this has
been helped by alternatives to the more expensive adaptive programs like
JAWS and Window-Eyes. Programs like System Access, System Access to Go, and
NVDA have put adaptive solutions within reach of more people. We've seen at
least one company come out with a cheaper 40-cell Braille Display. The
proliferation of Netbooks can put the power of the computer, literally, ad
one's fingertips almost anywhere. And, devices like the BookSense and
Plextalk have joined the Victor Stream in making books, music, podcasts and
other things available on the go.

We've managed to bring the discussion of quiet cars and the hazard they pose
to pedestrians who are blind to a little closer to the front burner. Still
work to do there. We also must continue to work in 2010 for passage of
legislation to improve telecommunications and video access for people who
are blind.

As we approach the end of 2009, we who are blind will be affected by much of
what happens in general society in 2010. There will be a mid term election,
and who knows how or if that will change our political landscape.
Certainly, with the latest attempted terrorist attack security and safety in
the skies will be revisited and we who are blind will be affected by that.
We'll just have to see how things go. As we move toward 2010, I wish
everyone a Happy New Year. Enjoy all of those football games tomorrow, and
the Rose Bowl Parade featuring the Ohio State School for the Blind's
Marching Band.

Of Course, Security Failed!

2009-12-28T19:50:00.001-08:00

Regardless what Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano may have said
initially, of course, airline security failed. Why in the hell was someone
who is on a terrorist watch list allowed on a plane to fly to the United
States? Especially when his own Father warned U.S. officials about what
this guy was doing?

A lot of questions need to be answered. How did the guy get past airport
security with PETN, an explosive powder and a syringe with a liquid in it
that was to be used to cause a chemical reaction explosion? I have heard if
he had gone through some of the more high tech systems, this stuff may have
been detected?

What the hell is the idea of having a terrorist watch list separate from a
no fly list? Anyone on the terrorist watch list needs to be on the no fly
list.

This attack needs to be a wakeup call to liberals everywhere. These people
are out there, they hate us and they want us dead, got it! We know the
profile of these animals. They are young Islamic males who are doing these
things. Anyone who fits this profile needs to be subjected to additional
screening at airports so they don't threaten the safety of the American
public and I really don't give a fuck what the ACLU or anyone else says
about it. Got any better ideas to keep us safe?

I've heard it said by folks that practice Islam that Islam is a peaceful
religion. Well if that is the case, then why aren't they doing the
equivalent of ex-communication to get these animals out of the religion?
Since they are not doing this the entire religion is complicit.

Finally, why is our Government treating the idiot that tried blowing up
Northwest Airlines Flight 253 as a common criminal with constitutional
rights? This fucker needs to be turned over to the military and we need to
use all methods of interrogation to get information out of this ass hole.
We have a national security interest to know how many like this guy are out
there and where they are. Yet, the fucking liberals in charge of this
country won't do that. As a result, we in America are less safe than we
were before 9-11. I truly believe that. This really scares me. I work in
the third largest American city, the home city of our President. I hope not
to die as a result of merely going to work as most Americans do every day.

I truly hope our Government wakes up and realizes these people are out there
and want us all dead. I hope they take strong action to deal with them and
the countries that provide training and sanctuary to them. I am sorry to
say I don't hold out much hope that the kind of action that needs to be
taken will be taken. This is because we have people in charge who are more
worried about offending certain groups of people than keeping Americans
safe. I only pray that it's not their blood that is shed when we are next
attacked.

Book Review: "Going Rogue, An American Life."

2009-12-26T18:39:00.001-08:00

I've just finished reading "Going Rogue, An American Life" by Sarah Palen
published by Harper Collins. This book is available on www.bookshare.org.
This is an autobiographical story of Palen's life from growing up in Alaska
to her getting into local politics to her ascention to the Governor's office
in Alaska and her campaign with Republican Presidential Candidate John
McCainfor Vice President.

Palen comes across as one of the most down to earth, honest people one would
ever want to meet. She's a dedicated family woman and strong in her
religious faith. She grew up playing basketball, enduring the pain of a
sprained ankle to play in the state championship game during her Senior
year. That should tell you she's tough.

Very early on, she found her political calling to change things with a
fiscally conservative plan. Her family and husband Todd were hard working,
blue collar people. The book teaches the reader a lot about the Alaskan
lifestyle. To say things are different in Alaska and how the people there
live life is an understatement. People in the lower 48 states don't often
appreciate this. For example, many Alaskans depend on the land and water,
and activities such as hunting and fishing for their livelihoods. Don't
talk to them about banning guns or things like that. You learn how large
Alaska really is, 1/5 of the entire land mass of the United States.

Palen discusses her ascention from city council to Mayor to Governor.
Through it all, her family plays an essential role. She discusses agonizing
over how she would handle caring for her fifth child, Trig, who was born
with Down Syndrome. At no point did she consider abortion.

She takes the reader through the entire campaign for Vice President,
pointing out how mismanaged it was and how, increasingly, campaign staffers
distrusted her and considered her to be "Going Rogue." She discusses the
relentless ethics charges, lawsuits and media attacks that came down on her
after the campaign was over, leading her to resign from office.

Regardless of one's political persuasion, "Going Rogue, An American Life" is
worth reading. It left this reader with a much different and more favorable
impression of Ms. Palen. She's someone that I as an ordinary American who
doesn't walk around thinking I'm better than anyone else can relate too.
Would I vote for her if she ran for President? I don't know. But someone
who's dedicated to family and who did not come from a life of privilege
ought to be able to offer some strong, traditional American values
regardless of where she serves.

What Christmas Means to Me

2009-12-23T20:29:00.001-08:00

As we approach Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I'd like to share my
thoughts on what this special time of year means to me and also share my
hopes for things people will take away from this magical season.

Christmas is the time we of the Christian faiths ncelebrate the birth of
Jesus Christ, our Saviour. Jesus was God's only son and we need to
celebrate his birth on this special day of Christmas.

Many feel that Christmas is about getting presents, eating good food and all
of that stuff. I enjoy these things, too, but more importantly, this is a
time to be with family and those you love and care about. This year,
fortunately, we wil be able to see most of both sides of our family which
wil be great. I'd still enjoy this time of year if I didn't have the
presents and good eats, as long as I had family to be with.

Christmas is a time to listen to beautiful, reflective music. I'm sitting
here listening to "What a Wonderful Christmas," by Ann Murray. It's one of
my favorite CDs of the season.

As we approach this special time of year, I think back on the past year,
particularly the stinging political debates we've had over various issues.
As we think of peace and joy during this time of the year, I ask that
everyone: politicians, media types and others, be civil with each other.
It's perfectly OK to have differing views on issues. We can voice our
arguments without being uncivil.

One of the phrases we hear at this time of the year is "Peace on earth, good
will to men." I hope we can move toward more peace and good will. As a
line from "Let it Be Christmas" by Alan Jackson goes, "Let anger and fear
and hate disappear, let there be love that lasts through the year.:" Let's
try to move closer to a world like that.

I hope this magical season finds you with those you love and care about. To
our troops stationed far away, I wish you could be at home with your
families. I thank you for your service and wish you god speed and a return
home as soon as possible. To those who will be working on Christmas: police
and fire personnel, perhaps snow plow drivers, taxi drivers and others,
thank you for your sacrifice to be there for all of us.

Merry Christmas to all. Let's keep the good feelings we have at this time
of the year going throughout the year.

I Predict Democrats Will Pay for This Big Time!

2009-12-21T20:34:00.000-08:00

Well, late last night, ignoring the wishes of 57% or 61% of the American
people depending on which poll you believe, the United States Senate voted
to close off debate on the massively expensive and unnecessary health care
deform bill. This clears the bill for passage on Christmas Eve, what a
terrible present to give to America.

There are so many things wrong with what has gone down I don't know where to
begin. President Obama promised us hope and change we can believe in.
Looks to me like his hope and change was to bring Chicago style, corrupt
politics to Washington, DC. I understand that Harry Reed had a private
meeting with Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska and got him to cast the 60th and
deciding vote by promising him increased Medicaid dollars to his state. I
only hope if they try and sneak the public option back into the conference
version of the bill, that Nelson will stand his ground and vote no on final
passage. Or, will he allow himself to get talked into some other sweetheart
deal. You know there will be an attempt to bring back the public option,
liberals are desperate for it because they believe we cannot take care of
ourselves and the Government must make decisions for us, screw that!!!

According to an interview I heard with Linsey Graham, Senator from South
Carolina, there has never been a vote in the Senate as partisan as this one.
When Medicare was passed, only 21 Senators voted no. When the Americans
with Disabilities Act was passed, only eight Senators voted no. On this
debacle, 40 Senators voted no, all Republicans. Even the more liberal or
moderate Republicans like Olympia Snow and Susan Collins from Maine voted
no. Shows you how bad this thing is.

How come at one point, the supposedly non-partison Congressional Budget
office said this bill was going to add almost a Trillion dollars to the
deficit, and now they are saying it will cut $132 billion from the deficit?
As someone said on Fox News, the fix is in here too. This is tampering with
the legislative independence of the CBO in the highest order, if it can be
proven that the Obama administration did this.

This bill will increase all of our insurance premiums. Because insurance
companies will be required to take the sickest patients, they'll have to
raise premiums to cover them as they will have to pay out more in claims.
Obama and others, insurance is a risk based business. Insurance companies
want to minimize risk as much as possible, that's why they place limits on
coverage.

This bill isn't about improving health care. If it were, common sense
changes such as torte reform to reign in malpractice insurance costs and
allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines would be included.
This is nothing more than a wet, sloppy kiss to the liberal fringe of the
Democratic party, and nothing more than a way for Obama to say that he
delivered on his promise to reform health care. Interestingly enough,
according to what I've heard on Fox News, many of the so-called benefits of
this catastrophy don't kick in until 2014, after the next Presidential
election. If this stuff is so good, why wait?

Democrats will, I predict, pay big time for this at the polls in 2010. I
predict the Republicans will regain control of the Senate, and probably the
House. I believe many are having "buyer's remorse" with Obama and his
chronies and will toss out those who voted for things like this health care
deform bill and the so-called stimulus package. I think the Republicans
will take back the Senate by a substantial margin, and if they can do that
and control the house, maybe we can keep Mr. Obama bottled up until 2012
when we can kick his country damaging butt out of office.

Jobs and Money Trump Public Safety in Illinois

2009-12-15T20:30:00.001-08:00

The subject pretty much says it all. Our President, Governor, Senior U.S.
Senator and others have chosen jobs and money over public safety. How could
they do such a thing, you ask? By announcing today, December 15, 2009 that
the state prison at Thompson, Illinois, only 150 miles from our nation's
third largest city and a place ripe with terrorist targets will be purchased
by the Federal Government in part to house terrorists from Guantanamo Bay.

I am scared for our state if this goes through, and I hope there are ways
either through Congress, the State Legislature or the Federal Courts to
block this move. This move affects me personally. This is because it will
increase Illinois' probability of becoming a target for the next terrorist
attack. Guess what terrorists have attacked in the past? Public
transportation systems. Guess what I ride every day commuting to and from
Chicago for work? You guessed it, public transportation. Increasingly, I
and thousands of others will ride living in fear of the next terrorist
attack.

This prison purchase is part of the liberals' agenda to close Guantanamo
Bay. The liberals haven't kept very many promises, this is one promise I
really do not want them to keep. There's absolutely nothing wrong with
leaving these animals right where they are. Yes, I said animals. For the
despicable acts these things have committed, they deserve nothing less than
to be taken out and shot in public view. They do not deserve access to the
Federal court system, accommodations in Federal prison where they can have
up to 10 visitors at a time, none of that. Yet, this is what liberals like
Obama, Quinn and Durbin are foisting upon us. In doing so, Illinois will be
less safe.

I pray that something can and will be done to stop this travesty right in
its tracks. If not, and when the next terrorist attack comes, Obama, Quinn,
Durbin and others will have blood on their hands. It better not be my blood
or the blood of anyone I love and care about.

Promises of Change and Transparency Replaced by Arrogance and Partisonship, A.K.A., Chicago Style Politics

2009-12-15T06:07:00.001-08:00

In November of 2008, now President Obama promised Americans hope and change.
He promised more transparency in Government. He told us that no longer
would the special interests rule in Washington.

Lies, all lies. You want evidence, I've got evidence. Last Spring,
Congress passed a so-called Federal Stimulus bill that most of those who
voted on it didn't take the time to read. This bill was rammed through
without the promised 48 hours for people to review it. It only got three
Republican votes, and these are Republicans known to be liberal. In fact,
one has switched to the Democratic party, good riddance.

Health Care Reform, or what I call deform is the biggest example to date of
the lies. Last week, President Obama met with lawmakers to discuss health
care reform. Guess what? Only Democrats were invited to this meeting.
Today, December 15, he wil again meet only with the 60 Democrats in the
United States Senate on this issue.

What ever happened to ushering in a new era of bipartisanship. Just because
many Republicans like me don't agree with what is being rammed down
America's collective throats in terms of Health Care Reform doesn't mean we
don't have ideas for health care change, and in fact, that we don't want
change. What ever happened to the principles on which our beloved nation
was founded, Government of the people, by the people, for the people?

The lies of hope, change and transparency have been replaced by arrogance
and partisanship. So what if only 35% of people want health care reform?
We're the big bad Chicago machine, we know what's best for you and we're
hell bent on getting it through no matter if it bankrupts the country. So
what if there is an overwhelming clamor against bringing known terrorists to
Northwest Illinois? We're in charge, we're going to do it anyway and we
don't give a damn about public safety, so long as a few precious jobs get
created. By the way, you know those jobs will have to go to union workers
and follow minority set asides. More on the prison in another entry.

I hope, pray and will advocate for Congress to kill the Democrats'
orchestrated take-over of our nation's health care system. Let's kill it
and then take several steps back and implement common sense ideas, things
not even being considered right now. Things like torte reform to reduce the
cost of Medical malpractice and defensive medicine. Things like allowing
insurance companies to sell across state lines. Things like providing
meaningful access to prescription drug information so that those who are
visually impaired, for example, will knhow how to properly administer their
medications.

We who are Republican, and those represented by Republican Senators have a
right to be heard at the table on an issue that will affect 1/6 of our
nation's Gross Domestic Product. President Obama, Senate Majority Leader
Reed and Senator Durbin, you may not like our ideas, but you can't hide
behind your own special interests and pretend other ideas do not exist.
Stop trying to ram through something that most Americans don't want. Don't
do this kind of damage to our country. If you continue to push forward, you
just may find yourselves out of power after the November, 2010 elections.
Can our country survive that long? May God protect and bless the greatest
nation on earth, the United States of America. And may he bring back a true
spirit of civility and bipartisanship, and send arrogance and partisanship
to hell where they belong.

Nothing Like Good Old fashioned Christmas Music

2009-12-12T20:23:00.001-08:00

To me, there's nothing like hearing good old fashioned Christmas music to
get me into the spirit of the season. As we have done for the past 10 years
or so, we went to the <a href=:www.westtownschorus.org:>West Towns
Chorus</a> Christmas Show, "The Gift of Christmas." This is a show where
the first half is singing of Christmas music, some narration, and even a
funny bit or two like the Scrambled Craigs singing Jingle Bells to the tune
of Silver Bells. The second half, though, takes me back to the reason we
celebrate Christmas, the birth of our saviour, Jesus. Much of the second
half of this show is a reading of the Christmas story with music
interspursed. The show ends with a stunning rendition of "Oh Come All Ye
Faithful."

While I do many things at this time of the year, it's this show that really
puts me into the Christmas spirit. Hearing a chorus or quartet sing such
favorites as Jingle Bell Rock, It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,
Sleigh Ride and others just makes me feel good all over.

This show is usually on the second weekend of December. They do four shows:
a Friday night show, Saturday matinee, Saturday Night and Sunday Matinee.
The Sunday was just added this year. The venue is the Tivoli Theater, an
old movie house in Downtown Downers Grove, Illinois.

I vow that the good lord willing I won't miss this show. Even if I move out
of the area, I'll always try to come back for it. It's truly a great show
and one that shouldn't be missed. Tickets usually go on sale around October
1 of each year. Keep a watch on <a href="www.westtownschorus.org">West
Towns Chorus'</a> website for further information.

A Salute To All Veterans on Veterans Day

2009-11-11T19:09:00.001-08:00

A big, heartfelt Happy Veterans Day to all you military veterans out there.
Thank you for your service to the greatest country in the world, the United
States of America.

Because of all of you, the brave men and women who have fought and some who
have died for our freedom, I am able to live free from fear of being
arrested for criticizing our Government. That's real important because
there is very little I agree with that our Government is doing right now. I
am free, as a citizen who is blind, to go to work, be involved in my
community or go out and do business as I did today. In other countries,
people like me would either be hidden away or worse.

One cool thing I heard about today are the Honor Flights. These are put
together by groups of folks to honor the Greatest Generation, the Veterans
of World War II. We are losing 900 of these people each day. Through Honor
Flights, these people get to travel at no cost to Washington, DC to see the
World War II Memorial.. Without this program, many of these brave veterans
wouldn't be able to see their memorial.

You can learn about Honor Flights in the Chicago area by going to
http://www.honorflightchicago.org.

Again, Happy Veterans Day and Thank You for your service. God Bless
America.

Never Underestimate How What You Do In School Can Help You Later In Life

2009-10-31T16:09:00.000-07:00

Today, I had the opportunity to give an important professional presentation
to the Assistive Technology Industry Association conference in Schaumburg,
Illinois. I presented an hour long presentation on GPS technology and how
it is used by people who are blind, compared several of the systems
currently being used, and discussed when it is appropriate to offer training
in the use of these systems.

My presentation went off almost flawlessly, and I owe that to my having
competed for four years in high school in public speaking. This was the
first time I gave a full presentation using Power Point, something which
professionals are expected to do. While I didn't dry run the presentation
before giving it with Power Point slides, it still went well.

I am just so thankful that I took public speaking seriously in high school.
I was not nervous about this presentation at all. I felt it was well
organized, and my boss who was there and who is always very up front and
honest with me told me this as well. My voice, posture and body language
were all very good. There were only two things that I could have done a bit
better. These were better positioned myself based on the room layout to
face my audience, and, better placement of my Netbook computer and Braille
notes.

All in all, I am happy to report that my audience was engaged and asked very
good questions. I used to think people asked me lots of questions if I
didn't tell them enough or communicate my information clearly. This was not
the case this morning, as they were engaged in what I was saying. That is
what any presenter wants.

The things I take away from today and share with you are:
1. Never underestimate the importance of things you do in school later in
life,
2. If you plan and organize, anyone can make a solid presentation,
3. People who are blind can give professional presentations with the best
of them, and
4. don't fear getting lots of questions, if you know what you are talking
about and communicate with confidence they'll see it and ask lots of good
questions because they respect you as an expert on the subject and want to
learn more from you.

How Many Must Die Before Obama Makes a Decision?

2009-10-30T21:13:00.000-07:00

How many American troops, Afghan civilians and others must die before Obama
stops the stalling and decides to send more troops in? One more is too many
in my opinion.

A month to six weeks ago, the hand-picked commander in Afghanistan who
President Obama put in place, Stanley McCristall, said he needs some 40,000
more troops sent there. During the campaign, Obama said he would listen to
his commanders on the ground in terms of what needs to be done in both
Afghanistan, and Iraq.

Well, I guess that was then and this is the real Obama. He has been having
meeting after meeting, talking about what he should do. Obama, make a
decision why don't you! This waffling by you shows weakness to our enemies.
It will embolden others like Iran and North Korea, and neither of these need
to be emboldened as they both have the potential to set off Nuclear weapons.
This kind of waffling also sends a very bad message to our allies in that
part of the world, that we are weak and may not stand with you as readily as
you wish in times when you are attacked.

Obama, do as your hand picked commander has requested, and send in the
forces he needs. If you don't, the Taliban will take back over in
Afghanistan, and all that has been gained will be lost. This is especially
true for women. They will once again be relegated to the level of being
property, not able to go to school or make something of themselves. Is that
what you want, Obama? If not, then make a decision already, and let's get
the troops in there!

See What Happens When You're A Powerful Voting Block?

2009-10-30T21:04:00.000-07:00

Well, today in Illinois, we saw yet another example of the power you have
when you get out and vote and when the politicians know you will. When will
the Disabled community learn!

During the Fall veto session of the Illinois legislature, there was a bill,
HB4654, which if passed would have eliminated the current program across the
state where Seniors regardless of income get to ride mass transit systems
for free. This program would have been changed to only make free rides on
transit available to Seniors making less than about $22,000 per year. I
personally supported this bill, because I believe the current program of
making these free rides available to all Seniors is unsustainable,
especially in today's economy.

This bill was never called for a vote, despite the fact the Illinois House
Executive Committee passed it unanimously. Among the reasons given for not
voting on this bill was that politicians were worried about upsetting
Seniors just a bit over three months before the February 2, 2010 primary
elections.

And just why were they so worried? Because Seniors get out and vote and
they know it. Sure, their inaction will mean that those of us who are not
Seniors, and who actually pay our way on transit will likely see higher
fares, and reduced service. But, they put that ahead of upsetting this
powerful voting block.

People with disabilities, I've said it before and I'll say it again. If we
don't get off our fat, lazy asses, register and get out and vote,
politicians won't pay as much attention to our needs as they will to others
like Seniors. We represent 20% of the American population. Imagine what a
strong voting block we could be if we only got out and voted in the numbers
we should.

Let today's events or lack thereof reinforce the lesson of how important it
is to get out and vote as if our lives and programs depend on it, because
they do! If you don't vote, don't bitch to me about the type of Government
and lack of attention we get.

My Latest Letter on H.R.3101

2009-10-27T20:15:00.001-07:00

Please join with me in writing to your representative in Congress, urging
him or her to co-sponsor H.R.3101.

October 27, 2009

Honorable Representative Peter Roskam
C/O Congressional Staff
507 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

To: Honorable Representative Roskam:

I am writing to request that you sign on as a co-sponsor of H.R.3101, "The
21st Century Telecommunications and Video Accessibility Act." This
legislation, put together by the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible
Technology (COAT) with some industry support aims to improve accessibility
to telecommunications and video equipment in a variety of ways for people
with disabilities.

Generally, I believe that the free market should dictate whether or not
things become more accessible. Apple Computer is a great example of a
company taking initiative to make things accessible out of the box with
VoiceOver for the Mac and the iPhone 3GS.

Unfortunately, in general, companies have not made things more accessible,
thus the Government needs to intervene. Let me give you a recent, personal
example of this.My wife and I recently purchased a home theater system as an
anniversary gift to each other. We knew we were going to need some help
setting this unit up as we are both totally blind. We knew we would need
help wiring the system up.

Well, not only did we need help wiring this unit up, but we also needed help
setting up the system. Why? Because the setup depended on following
on-screen menus which we cannot see. There was no voice or other
accessible means of output. Even the setup DVD that was sent did offer some
voice guidance, but we still couldn't set it up independently because it
would say, scroll down to certain options but give no voice output feedback
when you reached the option you needed to find.

If H.R.3101 were law today, perhaps Sony, the manufacturer of this system
would have to include options that make this equipment independently
accessible to people like us. I worked for over 15 years in
telecommunications. I know it would be simple to add voice chips to provide
voice output on demand for equipment like this.

H.R.3101 does much more. It gives the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) authority to mandate a modest amount of video description on network
television programming, so that people who are blind or visually impaired
can enjoy television programs just as you do. It allocates up to $10
million each year from the Universal Service Fund into which we all as
telephone customers pay to assist people who are deaf-blind to obtain
telecommunications equipment that they need to decrease isolation and
enhance employment and quality of life opportunities.

H.R.3101 requires that any program which includes video description which
transitions over to the internet includes that description. And, it
requires that emergency announcements scrawled across televisions screens be
verbalized. This will end the anxiety of hearing the beeps on TV and not
knowing if a tornado is headed toward my house.

Again, please sign on as a co-sponsor of H.R.3101. Many people with
disabilities wil benefit from its being passed and signed into law. While
there will be some cost of implementing this legislation, the cost of doing
nothing will be greater. That cost will be people with disabilities being
left behind as technology advances, less employmenbt and other
opportunities.

Thank you for your time and action to co-sponsor H.R.3101. I will be
watching what happens very closely and continue to contact you as
appropriate regarding this legislation.

Sincerely,

If They Can't Handle H1N1, They Sure as Heck Can't Handle Health Care

2009-10-26T07:05:00.001-07:00

We have seen one of the biggest fiascos in some time, and guess what? It's
being done by the Government.

I'm talking about the H1N1 Flu Vaccination Program. Everyone -- Government
officials, media, ETC. -- has gotten so worked up over H1N1 that we now have
the Government:
1. Allowing a Vaccine to be administered to hundreds of thousands of
people, perhaps millions, with inconclusive research on how safe it is or if
it even prevents the H1N1.
2. Setting criteria on who can get the Vaccine. This is the scariest part.
I have heard from one person that he has been told he is too old to get the
vaccine. Is that what people will be told if we get nationalized health
care, that you are too old, too disabled, too needy, ETC?

Now, we have our so-called President declaring H1N1 as a national emergency.
Give me a fucking break! Only a thousand people have died from this
disease. This is far less than are killed annually in such things as car
accidents.

Like any disease, H1N1 does need to be taken seriously. However, with the
proper precautions, we'll survive it without having to take a risky shot.
First, people need to stay home if they are sick. If you don't feel well,
don't go to work or school and subject everyone else to whatever you have,
H1N1 or not. If your boss or teachers won't let you do that, then it's time
to find another job or go to a different school. Second, cover your mouth
when you sneeze or cough. Third, wash your hands often and use hand
sanitizer. Fourth, get plenty of sleep and eat properly.

These kinds of common sense precautions will keep you healthy and you won't
have to take a shot that may do more harm than good.

Tbhis Government fiasco is a precursor to what will happen if we get
nationalized health care. A bunch of underpaid, rude Government bureaucrats
will be making decisions about what health care you get, not you and not
your doctor. They will decide what medicines you can get, even if it may
have adverse affects on you. I have heard from one friend that this
happened to someone she knows in England. No no no to nationalized health
care. I think I'm pretty safe in assuming that my Representative wil vote
no on such a travesty.

So for all who think nationalized health care is a good idea, I say, how can
you watch how the Government is screwing up with the H1N1 vaccine, then say
national health care is still a good idea with a straight face? You can't.

They've Got No Business Telling People To Buy Insurance

2009-10-14T19:02:00.001-07:00

Anyone who has been reading this blog knows I'm completely against the
efforts by the Obama administration to reform health care. In fact, I call
it health care deform.

Yesterday, a bill was voted out of the Senate Finance Committee on this
subject. There is one provision that really frosts me.

This bill contains a requirement for all Americans to buy health insurance.
Now I'm no liberatarian, and I do think law and order and regulations are
needed. But, this requirement for insurance is overreaching by the
Government.

How is requiring people to buy insurance going to be for the common good?
It isn't. Obama likens this to requirements that automobile owners have
insurance. There is no comparison. If someone without automobile insurance
causes an accident, the other person's insurance has to pick up the bill,
possibly leading to higher costs for that person. If an uninsured person
gets sick, how are the rest of us affected? As far as I can tell we are
not.

What about someone who can't work for whatever reason, how are they going to
afford insurance? What about those who are hard to insure, like smokers,
people who use alcohol to excess, those who are fat, or those who have
pre-existing conditions? Insurance companies will have to take on these
people who are at higher risk of getting ill. This will mean, us healthy
people will pay more.

\Obama and company don't seem to realize Insurance is a risk based business.
The less of a risk you are, the easier you are to insure. This is why life
insurers often require physical exams before writing policies because they
want to know how much of a risk it is that your family will be collecting on
the insurance, and how soon.

If people won't try to get health insurance, it really isn't my problem, yet
Obama and company who see taxpayers as a bottomless piggy bank of money to
spend can'tor won't understand that. I do not think, when the dust settles,
that any substantial health care reform wil be passed and it doesn't need to
be.

Message For Anyone Planning to Buy an NFL Team: Make sure You're Liberal and P.C.

2009-10-14T06:56:00.001-07:00

Anyone out there interested in buying an NFL Franchise? Well, if you are,
make sure you're liberal, first of all. And, make sure you've never said
anything in your past that could remotely be taken controversially.

One of the parties planning to buy the St. Louis Rams is Rush Limbaugh.
There are shouts of no no from people like Al Sharpton, Roger Goodell, and
Jim Ersay. Why would anyone be against a native Missourian buying a stake
in a team to keep it in his home state?

Simple. Because, in 2003, Rush made some comments about how it was in the
media's best interest to have an African-American Quarterback be successful,
in reference to Donavan McNabb.

Let me be clear on two things. First, I'm no Limbaugh fan and in fact, I
find him to be rather extreme and offensive at times. Second, McNabb
doesn't need the media or anyone else to prop him up; he's done very well on
his own. This is all coming about because Rush dares to be conservative and
question what the current administration is doing in Washington. What ever
happened to the right of the American people to question their Government?
Seems that if you are conservative you don't have that right. Liberals are
jealous of Rush's success and will do anything to beat him down.

The comments Rush made about McNabb happened six years ago. He apologized
and resigned from ESPN's Sunday Night Football after saying what he said.
Let it go! Rush is not racist; if he thinks he could buy into a football
team and have all white players, that isn't possible. He has stated
repeatedly that he is an NFL fan and admires what the players do on the
field.

Liberals, remember this. America is the land of opportunity for all of us.
If Rush happens to have the money and fits all other qualifications, he
should be allowed to buy into the St. Louis Rams or any other god damn team
he wants. People like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson ought to get real jobs
and shut the fuck up.

Pace Suburban Bus Public Hearing Notice

2009-10-12T18:38:00.000-07:00

Legal Notice
Pace

Suburban Bus Division of the RTA
Public Hearing on Pace's Proposed
2010 Operating and Capital Programs,
2010-2012 Financial Plan for Operations,
2010-2014 Capital Plan,
Proposed Bus Route Eliminations and Reductions, and
Proposed Increase in ADA Paratransit Fares
www.pacebus.cdom

Notice is hereby given that Pace, the Suburban Bus Division of the Regional
Transportation Authority, is holding public hearings on its proposed program
and budget for the year 2010 (January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010),
the operating financial plan for 2010-2012, and the capital plan for
2010-2014.

Public comments will be taken on the proposed elimination of the following
bus routes. Routes marked with an asterisk * are proposed for a reduction
in service.

Route # Day Route Name
*210 Weekday Lincoln Avenue
326 Weekday West Irving Park
*362 Weekday Park Forest
451 Weekday Southeast Homewood
452 Weekday Northeast Homewood
460 Weekday Hazel Crest
535 Weekday Fox Valley Shuttle
616 Weekday The Chancellory Connection
*626 Weekday Skokie Valley Limited
637 Weekday Wood Dale - Rosemont CTA
654 Weekday South Glen Ellyn
657 Weekday Bloomingdale/Glendale Heights
661 Weekday Southwest Westmont
668 Weekday Burr Ridge-Hinsdale
669 Weekday Western Spring-Indian Head Pk.
676 Weekday Naperville-Cress Creek
685 Weekday Naperville-West Wind Estates
687 Weekday Naperville-Farmstead
689 Weekday Naperville-Hobson Village
690 Weekday Arlington Heights Road
696 Weekday Woodfield-Arlington Hts-Randhurst
699 Weekday Palatine-Woodfield-Elk Grove
711 Weekday Wheaton-Addison
*747 Weekday DuPage Connection
750 Weekday Country Club Hills
753 Weekday Matteson
*757 Weekday Northwest Connection
767 Weekday Congress/Douglas-Prairie Stone
781 Weekday North Naperville Office Complex
821 Weekday Woodridge-Belmont
822 Weekday Woodridge Lisle
1012 Weekday Evergreen Park-Prairie Stone
643/645 Weekday NW Elmhurst-Elmhurst Industrial
234 Saturday Wheeling-Des Plaines
*302 Saturday Ogden/Stanley
304 Saturday Cicero-LaGrange
*315 Saturday Austin/Ridgeland
320 Saturday Madison Street
348 Saturday 138th St. Riverdale Connector
367 Saturday University Park
422 Saturday Linden CTA-Glenview-Northbrook Ct.
423 Saturday Linden CTA-The Glen-Harlem CTA
528 Saturday Aurora Trans. Ctr.-Rush Copley Medical
529 Saturday Randall Road-5th Street
535 Saturday Fox Valley Shuttle
715 Saturday Central DuPage
747 Saturday DuPage Connection
*208 Sunday Golf Road
209 Sunday Busse Highway
223 Sunday Elk Grove-Rosemont CTA
304 Sunday Cicero-LaGrange
366 Sunday Park Forest-Chicago Heights

Comments will also be taken on a proposed ADA paratransit fare increase to
$3.50 for suburban service and $4.50 for City of Chicago service, and on
establishing policy setting ADA fares at twice the cash fare of fixed route
service.

Any person wishing to comment on the proposed budget, route
reductions/eliminations or the ADA paratransit fare increase may present
views orally at the public hearings or by submitting written material on or
before the last date of the hearings, which is Friday, October 30, 2009, or
by accessing our website at www.pacebus.com in the "Public Hearing Comment
Form" area. Copies of the proposed program and budget are available for
public inspection at:
Pace
550 West Algonquin Road
Arlington Heights, Illinois 60005-4412

Individuals with disabilities who plan to attend these hearings and who
require certain accommodations other than transportation in order to allow
them to observe and/or participate in these meetings, are requested to
contact Pace at (847) 364-7223 option 3 (voice) or (847) 364-5093 (TTY) ten
days prior to the scheduled meeting.

Budget information will be available at most public libraries, as well as
townships, city and village offices in the six-county Pace region. You can
also view the document via the Internet at www.pacebus.com by clicking on
"About Pace" and selecting the link "Annual Budget," followed by "2010
Annual Budget Document."

Public Hearing Locations, Dates and Times follow:
Monday, October 19, 2009
4:30 pm - 6:30 pm
West Cook County Budget Public Hearing
Howard Mohr Community Center
7640 Jackson Blvd.
Forest Park, IL 60130

Monday, October 19, 2009
4:30 pm - 6:30 pm
North Cook County Budget Public Hearing
Pace Headquarters
Board Room
550 West Algonquin Rd.
Arlington Heights, IL 60005

Tuesday, October 20, 2009
5:30 pm - 7:30 pm
South Cook County Budget Public Hearing
Homewood Village Hall
2020 Chestnut
Homewood, IL 60430

Tuesday, October 20, 2009
DuPage County Budget Public Hearing
4:30 pm - 6:30 pm
College of DuPage
West Campus-OCC Bldg-128A
425 Fawell Blvd.
Glen Ellyn, IL 60137

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
4:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Will County Budget Public Hearing
Bicentennial Park Theater
201 W. Jefferson at Bluff St.
Joliet, IL 60432.

Thursday, October 22, 2009
4:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Kane County Budget Public Hearing
Kane County Government Center
Auditorium, Ground Floor
719 S. Batavia Ave.
Geneva, IL 60134

Thursday, October 22, 2009
4:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Lake County Budget Public Hearing
Waukegan Public Library
128 N. County St.
Waukegan, IL 60085

Monday, October 26, 2009
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Chicago-Southwest Budget Public Hearing
Arturo Velasquez Institute
Westside Technical Institute
2800 S. Western Ave.
Chicago, Illinois 60608

Monday, October 26, 2009
4:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Southwest Cook County Budget Public Hearing
Oak Lawn Village Hall
9446 S. Raymond
Oak Lawn, IL 60453

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Chicago-North Budget Public Hearing
Northside College Preparatory High School
Cafeteria
5501 N. Kedzie Ave.
Chicago, IL 60625

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Chicago-South Budget Public Hearing
Olive Harvey College
Cafeteria
10001 S. Woodlawn
Chicago, Illinois 60628

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
4:30 pm - 5:30 pm
McHenry County Budget Public Hearing
Crystal Lake Municipal Complex
Council Chambers
100 W. Municipal Complex
Crystal Lake, IL 60039

Friday, October 30, 2009
12 noon - 2:00 pm
Chicago-West Budget Public Hearing
Bethesda Church
4538 W. Fullerton Ave.
Chicago, IL 60639

What Ever Happened To Til Death Do Us Part?

2009-10-12T17:45:00.001-07:00

The subject line pretty much says it all. Does the commitment of marriage
mean anything anymore?

I ask this based on two situations. First, one of my best friends and his
wife have been going through some problems for a while. It seems as though
they both want to separate, but neither will make the move to do it. These
two have not taken advantage of opportunities in my opinion to try working
out their problems. They knew who each other was when they married some 7
years ago. What ever happened to working things out? Neither of these two
is perfect, but no human being is. They both have their problems, but
that's what they agreed to live with, for richer or poorer when they said "I
do."

The second situation is a family member who is separating from her husband
of nearly 20 years. There's another woman involved here from what I
understand. This one makes me angry. He committed himself to my relative
when they said "I do." That's something that no one should break apart.
What was he not getting at home that he thought he had to go out and have an
affair with someone else?

All marriages go through rocky patches. Those that are truly committed will
work through those, bringing about a stronger bond of love. It really makes
me angry that there are so many who make a commitment to get married and
forsake all others, then when the going gets a little tough, they either
want out or have an affair with someone elswe. People need to get back to
what the true meaning of marriage is, one man, one woman, together forever
until death do us part.

I Hope Brett the Brat is Happy Now!

2009-10-06T19:39:00.001-07:00

Well, I hope Brett the Brat Favre is happy now. He finally got his chance
to try and stick it to Ted Thompson and the Green Bay Packers last night and
he succeeded in winning the game.

While Brett performed about as well as he could have, it wasn't too hard
considering the Packers' vaunted 3-4 defense didn't even lay a glove on him.
I know they were trying to shut down Adrian Peterson, but hey guys, they can
pass the ball too and some pass rush would have been nice.

But the defense wasn't the only problem. The offense really stunk last
night. Allen Barber needs to be Allen Bye Bye. During the bye week they
need to do something with the offensive line or Aaron Rodgers won't make it
through the season.

Two critical plays that stand out are the interception thrown by Rodgers in
either the first or second quarter as the Packers were driving for the tying
score. If they put up a TD there, they keep this game much closer. The
second critical play was on fourth and goal at the 1 when Donald Lee dropped
a TD pass from Rodgers. Again, they score there and the game would have
been more interesting. I agree with Wayne Larivee when he said that is a
play a pro tight end has to make.

Even with all the protection issues the O line was having, the Packers were
able to move the ball on the Vikings' defense. There is no doubt in my mind
they could have won the game.

Two bright spots were the fumble return for touchdown by Clay Mathews. This
linebacker has a bright future in the NFL. The second bright spot was the
play of Jermichael Finley. He reminds me a little of Keith Jackson, with
the ability to stretch the field and make big plays. Another weapon for
Rodgers to throw too, assuming he can stay on his feet.

It's probably been a tough day for Packers' fans living near the Minnesota
Wisconsin border. I've had a lot of Bears' fans come up to me today and say
they were rooting for the Pack; of course, had the Pack won there'd be a
3-way tie atop the NFC north.

Well, let's hope they can get some things corrected during the Bye week and
come out better against Detroit on October 18.

Remember 9-11 Like It Was Yesterday

2009-09-11T07:59:00.001-07:00

Today is a day I will never forget and a day no American should forget. It
is September 11, when the most violent attack in my lifetime occurred on
American soil and when our lives were changed forever.

I remember 9-11 like it was yesterday. I had gone to work just as I did
every day. After my wife and I talked as we did each morning, I was
checking my e-mail when she called me and told me turn on the radio cause
they were taking direct news feed from New York.

I turned on the radio in time to hear about the first plane having hit the
North tower of the World Trade center. I remember thinking, oh my gosh,
what a terrible accident.

Then, the second plane hit the South tower. This was no accident, America
was under attack. I remember thinking, this isn't supposed to happen here.
This kind of thing happens in places like Israel. Well, it was happening
here.

I spent most of the day glued to radio coverage. I remember how America
came together after 9-11, with a resolve to do whatever was necessary to
defeat the brutal enemy that was the terrorists who want us all dead.

Sadly, we've lost much of that resolve. People have forgotten what happened
on 9-11 and that's really sad. The enemy is still out there and we must do
whatever it takes to rid America and the world of terrorists.

I took a trip to Ground Zero on Halloween of 2006. In a cell phone call to
my wife from there, I could hardly talk as I was crying so hard. I remember
talking for an our and a half to a fireman who lost many of his brothers in
the rescue effort after 9-11. Afterwords, I shook his hand and thanked him
for being one of the first soldiers in the war on terror.

Today, let's remember the almost 3,000 people needlessly killed on 9-11 in
New York, Washington DC at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania. Let's also
resolve as Americans once again to defeat terrorism and keep it off our
soil.

What's the Big Fuss All About

2009-09-09T20:46:00.000-07:00

The title of this entry says it all, what's the big fuss all about? I'm
talking about the furor over the speech made by President Obama yesterday to
school children across the country.

I've read a transcript of the speech, and you can too at www.whitehouse.gov.
As a Republican, I don't like much of what the Obama administration is doing
to our country. This speech is not the thing we need to get excited about.
All the President was doing was encouraging young people to work hard, and
stay in school. He emphasized that while we can have the best educational
system in the world, it won't do any good if young people aren't prepared to
learn, listen to their teachers, and do their homework. His message to
parents was to get little Johnny and Susie away from the TV and Xbox and
doing their homework.

Let's save our excitement for major issues like health care reform. Even
former First Lady Laura Bush said the speech Mr. Obama gave was harmless.
After reading it, I hope all school children get a chance to hear this
speech.

Labor Day, A Salute To the Real American Worker

2009-09-07T16:20:00.001-07:00

As I write this entry here on Labor Day, many people are enjoying time off
of work with their families. Many haver enjoyed parades and other fun
activities during a three-day weekend.

Today is about the American worker. No, not the greedy, overpaid union
leaders who pretend to represent the American worker, but only serve to
promote liberal causes, the real American worker.

Today is for the workers on the assembly lines of American auto plants who
produce the high quality vehicles people drive. Today is for the mail
carrier who labors every day through rain, snow, sleet, hail, cold of winter
and heat of summer to deliver the mail to us. Today is for those like my
friends that work on the clock line at the Chicago Lighthouse making quality
clocks for the Federal Government. Today is for the restaurant worker that
works hard, waiting on tables every day. May many of them have today off to
enjoy a break.

For me, today is for all of the workers who don't get the day off. It's for
the condeuctors on our Metra commuter rail system and other employees who
keep the trains running so people can go downtown Chicago and enjoy the
holiday. Today is for the fire fighters and police who keep us safe, thank
you to those of you who are working today.

Today is for the baseball and football players and other sports figures who
have entertained and will entertain us today as we enjoy our time off.
Today I thank the workers at airports and in other places keeping our nation
safe.

No, today isn't about the unnecessary, greedy unions. Today is for the
workers who deserve to be represented by them but are not. To those I have
mentioned, such as the cooks and wait people who served me breakfast this
morning, I say thank you. Thank you all workers everywhere for doing the
hard work that we don't take the time to appreciate as much as we should.
May many of you continue to enjoy a day off to take a break.

America Has Lost More Than a Senator

2009-08-26T16:25:00.001-07:00

Hello All:

Early this morning, our nation lost a great politician and man, Senator Ted
Kenedy of Massachusetts. Senator Kenedy has been in the United States
Senate longer than I've been on this earth; I'm a bit over 44 years old, and
Kenedy served in the Senate for over 46 years.

In the Senate, Kenedy was very liberal, and in the words of one reporter,
"partison to the core." He championed many, many causes during his time in
the Senate. He was a great friend to people with disabilities over the
years.

However, partison as he was, Senator Kenedy had a inique way of reaching
across the aisle and compromising wen he needed too. Unlike many
politicians on both sides of the aisle today, Kenedy realized that at times
the best legislation came from working together in a bipartison way.
Senator Kenedy worked with former President George W. Bush to pass Medicare
Prescription Drug coverage, and No Child Left Behind. He worked to pass the
Kenedy-Kassebaum bill with former Kansas Senator Nancy Kassebaum which was
to provie parity in insurance coverage for physical and mental ilnesses.

But Kenedy was more than a Senator. He represented the greatest political
family in our nation's history. He possibly came to his championing of
causes helping people with disabilities as his sister, Rosemary who was
developmentally disabled lived for a time at the St. Colletta's scool in
Jefferson, Wisconsin. When I attended the Wisconsin School for the Visually
Handicapped, we swam against the team from St. Colettas each year, but I do
not know if Rosemary was still living at that time.

Many of you know that when it comes to politics, I tend to be fiscally
conservative and socially moderate. In lite of that, I disagreed viamintly
with Senator Kenedy politically. However, no matter on which side of the
political spectrum you are, you have to respect what Senator Kenedy
accomplished in his long political career. I hope those in politics now,
and those planning to enter the world of politics will learn from Senator
Kenedy, because he knew how to get things done. We can learn from and
respect him, regardless of what side of the aisle you are on. May Senator
Kenedy rest in peace.

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12:16:00

Brett the Brat

2009-08-18T20:54:00.000-07:00

Will he, or won't he play football this year? Well, that appears to be the
never ending question surrounding Brett the Brat Favre. Well, it appears
Mr. Favre, who craves attention and can't stand to be out of the lime light
is going to play football for the Minesota Vikings.

Let me be clear right up front. I respect and admire Favre for all of the
things he did for the Green Bay Packers, my favorite football team. He
brought respectability back to Green Bay. It was OK to be outwardly proud
to be a Packers fan with Favre under center. He brought us our first Super
Bowl win in 29 years in 1997. He broke several records, all while
establishing the longest, consecutive games played streak in the NFL.

Favre has nothing more to prove, which begs the question, why is he coming
out of retirement, if he ever was really there to play for the Vikings? It
certainly couldn't be for money, could it? He has plenty of that.

Favre is coming out of retirement because he wants to try and stick it to
Packers' General Manager Ted Thompson, whom he has this ridiculous idea was
the one that ran him out of town. Favre, it was you on March 4, 2008 that
anounced your retirement from football. What were the Packers supposed to
do, wait around to see if maybe, you, the attention starved little boy
you're acting like, would change your mind?

Ted Thompson did the right thing. He had a QB in the wings, Aaron Rodgers.
Thompson decided to move on without you and you, Mr. Favre, can't stand it.

Brett, I mean Brat, the Packers franchise has been around for over 80 years.
It was here and did very well before you, and it will survive long after you
finally decide to hang it up. You gave us Green Bay fans a lot to cheer
about. But you know what I'm going to be cheering about this year? I'm
going to cheer when Aaron Campman and the boys put somehard, but legal hits
on your sorry ass and plant you on the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field. I'm
going to cheer if you are driving the Vikings down the field against us,
trying to bring them back, and one of our Cornerbacks or Safetys intercepts
a pass and runs it back to deliver the "Dagger" against you. Thank you for
all you did for Green Bay and its fans, but now, your sorry ass is the
enemy!

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18:05:00

Can't We Have Intense, Political Debate Anymore?

2009-08-11T19:35:00.001-07:00

It seems as if the era of being able to have intense, but
civilized political debate is another thing going by the wayside
with the Obama administration. All over the nation, people are
coming out in droves on both sides of the issue to make their
feelings known on Mr. Obama's train wreck known as health care
reform. This is one of our first amendment rights, which many
have fought and died to protect. That is, we the people have a
right of freedom of speech and the right to disagree with our
Government.

That is, it seems, we had that right. What is happening is that
if someone dares to disagree with "The O's" health care reform
agenda, they are deemed a right wing nut job, or part of a mob.
Supporters are being told, oh, it's just a small, but vocal
minority who want to protect the status quo in health care
because they benefit from it. Or, these people want to do
political damage to the Obama administration.

I'd be outraged at the shouting down of people trying to answer
questions about health care reform, if it wasn't something
liberals have been doing for years. Liberals cannot stand being
forced to answer tough questions. That's why they despise Fox
News. Fox doesn't let them rant, shout, interrupt, etc. Fox
people ask them tough questions which they have to answer.

And where, hello, is the media on this? If it were a Republican
administration saying what groups like the Democratic National
Committee are saying about health care reform opponents, we'd
hear all the stuff about, how terrible it is. The double
standard is alive and well.

I posted in this blog several weeks ago what I would like to see
in health care reform. That is not defending the status quo.
Does the radical left think those who disagree with President
Obama on this issue don't have families living in their districts
who are struggling with health care costs? If so, they are
mistaken.

Americans have a right to state their opinions on something,
health care, which affects 1/6 of our nation's economy without
fear of name cabling, intimidation, etc. U's long past time for
liberals to face reality, realize not everyone is on board with
"The One," and work for health care reform which truly benefits
all Americans. If they think a public option is so great, then I
challenge each democrat in Congress who supports it to say, hey,
not only do I support Government run health care, but I'm going
to enroll myself and my family in it when it's passed. Anyone
care to bet me on how many will actually take that challenge?

I hope folks on all sides of the health care debate will take
several deep breaths and return the discussion to a more
civilized tone. The founders of our nation fought and died for
Government of the People, by the People, for the P. That means
all of the People, not just the radicals on either side of the
political spectrum. No one who has to deal with the paperwork
and complexities of health insurance can defend the status quo.
We hear there are some 47 million Americans without health
insurance. Those who want insurance should be able to get it.
Health care decisions should be returned to between doctors and
patients.

Congress is at home on recess. Let's all as citizens of the
greatest nation on earth take the time to make our voices heard
before our representatives, regardless what our position is.
Let's pray that when Congress returns to work in September, they
will have heard from the citizenry and craft sensible, bipartison
health care reforms.

Copy of Letter on Home Services in Illinois

2009-08-09T13:12:00.001-07:00

Hello:

Pasted below is the text of my letter to Governor Pat Quinn regarding cuts
to Home Services in Illinois.

=====start letter text=====
August 9, 2009

Honorable Governor Pat Quinn
207 Statehouse
Springfield, IL 62706

To Honorable Governor Quin:

I am writing to strongly urge that you reinstate funding to the Home
Services Program so that Centers for Independent Living (CILs) can continue
going about the job of helping individuals with disabilities live
independently in the community with qualified personal assistants helping
them meet their daily needs. As a board member of the DuPage Center for
Independent Living, the recent decision to change the program so that these
centers are not involved causes our center to lose one staff person.

But more important than that, the need for personal assistants to help
people with disabilities live independently in the community is not going
away, and in fact, is growing with the aging of the population. I ask you,
Governor Quin, if CILs like ours are not helping these individuals find
qualified P.A.s, then who wil? Will it be state employers at a much higher
cost to Illinois than CILs?

CILs are community based organizations who employ staff that are in the best
position to help consumers seeking Personal Assistant services to find
qualified P.A.s so they can remain independent in the community. If we
don't have a strong, well funded home services program, then many of these
individuals will have to move into institutions such as nursing homes.

This is wrong on many levels. For one thing, it costs the state of Illinois
far more to house someone in an institution than it does to allow them to
live independently in the community with the support services they need.
For another, forcing people with disabilities to live in institutions
violates the 1999 Olmstead decision issued by the U.S.Supreme Court which
holds that people with disabilities have the right to live in the community.
Illinois already has an abysmal record of complying with this decision and
your decision regarding home services will make it worse.

But most importantly, people with disabilities who are forced to live in
nursing homes wen they could live independently lose self esteem and
confidence, and are not in control of their own lives. They are told wen to
get up, when and what to eat at each meal, when they can use the restroom,
ETC. It is more difficult for them to see their families and friends when
they want too. They may be forced to room with someone they do not know.
They have few if any opportunities to become employed or pursue an
education. No person should have to live like this against their wil. Yet,
this is what you are forcing people with disabilities who depend on the Home
Services Program to do.

Governor Quin, remember. The minority group of people with disabilities is
one that you or anyone else can join at any time. Would you want a member
of your family or close friend to not be able to live independently in the
community simply because there weren't individuals on the ground in the
community to help him or her find a personal assistant to help take care of
their basic needs? You wouldn't want that and people with disabilities
don't want that. We are people first. Please reinstate the Home Services
Program funding so that CILs can continue helping consumers find appropriate
personal assistant services so they can live independently in the community.
Thank you in advance for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

<my name>
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08:08:00

My Co-sponsorship Letter on H.R.3101

2009-08-09T12:27:00.001-07:00

Hello:

Below, please find a copy of a letter I sent to my representative requesting
him to sign on as a co-sponsor of H.R.3101. Please read this and let it
inspire you to write your own letter on this important legislation.

=====start letter text=====
August 7, 2009

Honorable Representative Peter Roskam
c/o Mark Skerjan, Legislative Assistant
507 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

To Honorable Representative Roskam:

I am writing to ask That you sign on as a co-sponsor of HR3101, "The 21st
Century Telecommunications and Video Accessibility Act." This legislation,
which has been drafted by the Coalition of Organizations for Accessible
Technology (COAT) and introduced by Representative Edward Marke (D-MA) is
needed so that people like me who are blind or visually impaired will not be
left behind as developments in technology advance.

This legislation will insure that telecommunications devicess are fully
hearing aid compatible. Both my wife and my father wear hearing aids. They
should be able to freely select whatever telecommunications device, such as
a cell phone they want without fear that it will either not work with their
hearing aids, or require that they spend extra money to buy a kneck loop
just so it will work. My father has to take his hearing aid out just to use
his current cell phone. That should not be. HR3101 will help change that.

This legislation will restore the modest requirements for the provision of
video description and give the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
authority to promulgate rules to both implement this on network television
and require that programming with description carried over to the internet
takes the description with it. Video description, in which a narrator
describes the visual elements of a television program or movie has made it
much easier for me to enjoy movies. With it, I can watch a television
program or movie and not have to bother someone watching it with me to
describe what is happening.

HR3101 also requires that there be non-visual access to emergency
information. This means that if I am watching football on tv, for example,
and a tornado warning is issued for my area, I don't have to go to a radio
or find someone to know what is going on. Seconds count in an emergency and
I would much rather find out that there is a tornado bearing down on my home
from the tv than when it hits.

HR3101 will require that communications devices be made accessible. While I
do use a cell phone that gives me complete access to such features as call
history, text messaging, e-mail and GPS information, I had to pay a total of
over $1,000 above the cost of the pfone to get this access. Apple has
proven, with its most recent release of the iPhone that accessibility can be
built in off the shelf. When a user activates an iPhone, if they need it,
they can have all of the features either talk or be displayed in large
letters. HR3101 will encourage other companies to follow Apple's lead.

The importance of text messaging access was brought home to me in the fall
of 2008. DePaul University, where I attend school part time was affected by
a gas leak. Thanks to having access to text messaging, I was able to
quickly learn about this situation and react accordingly. As we work to
improve our nation's emergency preparedness, text messaging will become even
more essential for everyone.

HR3101 will allocate up to $10 million annually from the universal Service
Fund, into which we all pay for essential, but costly telecommunications
equipment for individuals who are deaf-blind. A woman I am acquainted with
recently received a piece of this kind of equipment and said because of it,
she was able to make a phone call, something we all take for granted, for
the first time in eight years. This woman was fortunate. Providing this
kind of basic telecommunications access to this population will decrease
isolation and expand opportunities for employment, education and social
interaction.

Finally, HR3101 will seek to standardize real time text messaging. This
will mean that services like AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, iChat
and others will be standardized so that users can communicate across these
services. Right now, that is not the case. If I use AIM and want to
instant message with someone using Yahoo Messenger, I cannot do that because
these services cannot talk to each other. Many in the deaf and deaf-blind
communications depend on instant messaging for all or part of their
communication needs. Again, by standardizing these services, we can
increase opportunities for employment, education and other things.

These are just a few of the reasons it is essential that you sign onto
HR3101 as a co-sponsor and do all you can to see that it is passed by the
House of Representatives. Thank you in advance for your time, and
hopefully, actions to sign onto this legislation. I will be watching what
happens very closely and contact you as necessary. Your strong
consideration is appreciated.

Sincerely,

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Happy 19th Annyversary, ADA

2009-07-26T19:20:00.000-07:00

This day, July 26, 1990, 19 years ago was a very significant day for
Americans with Disabilities. With the stroke of a pen, then President
George H. W. Bush signed our civil rights law, the Americans with
Disabilities Act into law. This signaled the beginning of the end of
discrimination against people with disabilities.

The ADA says that if a person with a disability is the most qualified for a
job, he or she should be hired and reasonable accommodations provided so he
or she can perform the essential functions of the job. This means employers
simply can't say they don't want to hire someone with a disability because
of biases against such people. What ADA does not say is that if you have a
disability and are not qualified for a job, you get the job.

ADA requires state and local Governments to make their programs and services
accessible to people with disabilities. This means that if a citizen who is
deaf, for example, wants to attend their city's City Council meeting, the
city needs to provide an interpreter if the individual requests it. Thanks
to ADA, we who have disabilities can enjoy the same rights to participate in
Government programs just as non-disabled folks do.

ADA also requires that there be comparable transportation for people with
disabilities. Not only does it mean that transit systems need to make their
services accessible by doing such things as installing wheelchair lifts and
calling out stops for those like me who are visually impaired, but it also
means that paratransit service needs to be provided for those people with
disabilities who cannot for whatever reason use the regular fixed route
system.

ADA requires places of public accommodation to make their services
accessible to people with disabilities. Just last night, we went to a
restaurant which is one type of entity required to do this. This
restaurant, the Outback Steakhouse, had a Braille menu which is how they
chose to make the menu accessible to people with visual impairments. It was
nice to be able to browse the menu and take the time to make a decision
about what I wanted to eat just as people who can see do.

Finally, ADA requires the provision of such things as relay services so that
people who are deaf can access telecommunications services. Without this, a
person who is deaf wouldn't be able to enjoy what many of us like to do
occasionally, order a pizza. Worse yet, they would not have access to 9-1-1
emergency services which could be a matter of life and death.

Is all perfect now that we have ADA? Certainly not. Congress has had to
amend the ADA to account for several unfavorable court decisions. But, I
don't think anyone with a disability can say that things aren't better than
they were before ADA. All of us who live with disabilities need to remain
vigilant and make sure that our rights are protected under the ADA.

Again, happy 19th Birthday, ADA. Let's all pledge to work to continue to
make things better for people with disabilities.

What Do I want to see in Health Care Reform

2009-07-19T12:52:00.001-07:00

Recently I told you what is wrong with the Democrats' health care
plan. I believe health care reform is needed, so let me tell you
what I'd do about health care if I were in charge. Aren't I
supposed to be one of those in charge? Don't we have Government
of the People, by the People, for the People in this country? I'm
not sure any more.

My health care reform plan would include:
1. No free health care for Illegal ailians. You broke the law
by coming here illegally. You have not earned the right to free
health insurance. Every insurance plan would be required to
request proof of US citizenship before coverage could be offered.
This would get some 12 million people off the health care roles
and maybe send some of these illegals back where they came from.
2. Set standards for accessible prescription information for all
citizens. No person should have to put their lives at risk
simply because they can't read the instructions for administering
their prescription medications. The Department of Health the
Human Services would be charged with coming up with standards to
make this happen under my plan.
3. Put vision related services and equipment on a par with those
for other disabilities by allowing them to be reimbursed by
Medicare. A person who loses some or all of their vision needs
the services of vision professionals, Orientation and Mobility
Specialists and adaptive equipment just as much as someone who
ends up using a wheelchair needs that to improve their quality of
life. Yet, to this day, our nation's health care system hasn't
recognized that. That needs to change. I would reimburse vision
related services and equipment at the same levels as other
services.
4. Allow Medicare to negotiate with drug companies for lower
prescription drug prices under Medicare Part D. It was a huge
mistake in 2003 that this provision didn't get included when Part
D was passed. We need to correct that.
5. End the 2-year waiting period for people with disabilities to
enroll in Medicare when they start receiving Social Security.
There is simply no reason why someone who begins receiving Social
Security Disability Insurance should have to wait two years to
enroll in Medicare. There are bills in both the House and
Senate, HR1708 and S700 respectively which would end this waiting
period. Either these need to be passed and signed into law, or,
we need to incorporate ending the waiting period into health care
reform.
6. I'd allow small businesses to pool their resources and take
advantage of group discounts so they can offer their employees
health coverage. Small business is the life blood of America.
Those employed in small businesses should be able to count on
health coverage from their employers as do employees in large
businesses.
7. Simplification of paperwork. You shouldn't have to be a
rocket scientist to understand what your health insurance will or
will not cover, how much you owe, etc. Also, all insurance
companies should be required to offer accessible, on-line access
to explanations of benefits and other vital information. This
would allow anyone, regardless of ability to read about their
insurance and what is and is not being covered.
8. a $250,000 cap on pain and suffering damages in malpractice
cases. Clearly, there is negligence in the medical profession.
Preventable mistakes are made for which their should be
consequences. Anyone should be made whole in terms of medical or
economic damages. Pain and suffering damages are hard to
quantify, allowing juries and greedy trial lawyers to inflate
these claims. By limiting these damages to $250,000, we can
focus on making someone or their family whole. We can also
reduce the costs for malpractice coverage for doctors and insure
that people, regardless of where they live, will have access to
all medical services, including high risk operations.

These are the things I want to see in health care reform. Anyone
want to bet how likely it will be that we'll see some or any of
these? I think highly unlikely because it doesn't fit the liberal
template.

More Irresponsibility from Illinois Government

2009-07-19T12:52:00.000-07:00

Once again, lawmakers and the Governor of Illinois have shown no
guts and shown they are afraid to make the tough decisions we
elected them to make. They have passed a state budget which
relies heavily on borrowing from pension funds so they don't have
to bite the bullet and raise taxes.

Isn't this rampant borrowing one of the many things that former
Governor Rod Blagojevich was kicked out of office for? What a
disservice this is to people who worked hard all their lives for
the state, and are counting on a pension for their retirement
years. How many of these people will either not be able to
retire, or, will have to take another job when they should be
able to enjoy life because of this irresponsibility?

Where are the unions on all of this? Aren't we always told that
unions are representing the workers? They sure aren't doing a
good job of it here. If I were a union leader, I'd be organizing
pickets at the Governor's office, suing the state, and doing
whatever else I had to do to protect the pensions of the hard
working state employees from Illinois. This just goes to show
once again that certain union leadership will throw their workers
and retirees under the bus for the sake of political gain. Nice
representation isn't it?

The worse thing, though, is that pension obligations aren't going
away. Our children will have to pay for the actions of today's
politicians. I have nieces and nephews who are either just
starting out in their working lives, or, going to school to learn
a trade which they will work in for a long time. Interesting how
Democrats always chastise Republicans for saddling our children
and grandchildren with debt, but yet' it's ok for them to do it
so long as they don't have to make tough, perhaps unpopular
decisions?

I've got a message for Illinois lawmakers. Stop stealing from
state workers and retirees. You were sent to Springfield to
lead, look at what needs to be done and do it regardless of how
popular what you have to do might be. Get serious and pass a
state budget next year which doesn't steal from state workers and
retirees and doesn't saddle future generations with debt that
will have to be paid. If you don't want to do that, find
something else to do with your lives!

Liberals, Take Your Health Care Plan and Shove It Where The Sun Don't Shine!

2009-07-15T17:15:00.000-07:00

The piece of crap health care plan House liberals are promoting
is bad for America, will cost us jobs and lead to socialized
medicine. That's my conclusion and I'm stickin to it, based on
what I have heard about it.

First off, the plan punishes successful people. It proposes to
tax people earning over $350,000 to pay for the people who don't
have health insurance. So you run a business which does very
well, build up your earning power to the point where you can
provide a very comfortable standard of living for your family,
and then along come President Obama and like minded liberals
reaching into your pocket and taking more of your money. Why
should anyone want to work to become successful if they are just
going to be expected to feed more of the Government bureaucracy?
Government bureaucrats have never heard of cutting spending.

The health care plan requires Americans to have health insurance.
If someone truly can't get insurance, that could be a problem,
but I would ask, how hard have they tried? And, what about those
who simply don't make an effort to get insured? Why should we
require, and pay for them, to get it? What a bunch of bull shit.

The plan calls for a Government insurance program to compete with
private plans. Besides the fact the Government bureaucrats will
probably screw it up and make it too expensive, employers will
say, hey, why should I offer health insurance, let the Government
take care of my workers. This will lead to very high taxes and
put AMERICA at a competitive disadvantage in a global economy.

Just as bad as what's in this plan is what's not in this plan or
what doesn't appear to be in it from the news reports I've heard.
For one thing, there appears to be no malpractice liability
reform. This means greedy trial lawyers and juries can continue
to hand out huge pain and suffering awards in malpractice cases.
Clearly, if someone is a victim of medical malpractice, they or
their families should be compensated for economic damages. But
there need to be limits on pain and suffering because the value
of this is hard to quantify. Plus, doctors cannot continue to
pay high malpractice premiums and will stop practicing. In some
parts of Illinois, it's already hard to find doctors practicing
in high risk specialties. Are we prepared to have people die
waiting for specialized care simply because there is not a doctor
close by offering it so we can feed the trial lawyers' insatiable
appetite for money?

This plan doesn't say anything about telling illegal ailians,
tough shit, you get no more free health care. That would piss
off a lot of people whom the Democratic party pretends to care
about. If we eliminated health care for illegals, we would take
12 million people off the roles saving a heck of a lot of
taxpayer money.

I bet this plan doesn't contain any language about making
prescription information accessible to people who are blind, or
treating vision related services and equipment the same under
medicare as are other professional services and equipment like
physical therapists or wheelchairs. For someone who has recently
lost vision, receiving services from a certified vision
professional, Orientation and Mobility Specialist or Adaptive
Tech specialist is just as important as the person receiving
physical therapy for a knee replacement. Yet, Medicare doesn't
pay for the vision professional. Same goes for the vision
related equipment like video magnifiers someone may need to
remain independent. Those things aren't covered, yet if someone
needs a wheelchair, it is.

There is a lot wrong and very little right (the health care plan
being put forward by House liberal democrats. It continues to
show they see business and successful people as a money trough
they can reach into and dip more out. It punishes people who are
successful to cover up for the irresponsibility of others. It
gets the Government into the health care business, something
which should scare all of us. It doesn't address real
despairities in what is covered for of with vision disabilities
vs. what is covered for others. Everyone reading this must
contact their member of Congress and ask that he or she vote no
on this terrible plan. The sooner we can kill it, the better off
America will be.

Another Great ACB Convention is History

2009-07-11T13:23:00.000-07:00

Again this year, we had another great American Council of the
Blind convention. The convention committee and everyone else
involved did their usual very good job.

What are some convention highlights? Well for me, I was proud
that we had four first time attendees from Illinois. All had a
very good experience as far as I can tell. Two of these people
were scholarship winners. Two of the four were not members
before convention, they are no!

The first ever ACB walk was a rousing success. I think it was
projected to raise somewhere around $10,000, it raised nearly
$23,000. I have learned never to doubt what a project can
achieve.

Hearing about people who are blind in South Africa. I always
look forward to hearing what our international guest speaker has
to tell us. It gives one a good perspective on how people who
are blind are treated in the rest of the world, and for me,
reminds me how good we have things here in the United States.
While we're not perfect by any stretch, we're a lot better off
than some parts of the world.

The presentation by Kareem Dale at The Thursday general session.
It's no secret I didn't vote for President Obama, and I
passionately dislike many of his programs and initiatives. I
have to say, though, it gives me hope having someone who is blind
raising the profile of people with disabilities in the White
House. I was really impressed with what seem; like Mr. Dale's
entrees to high ranking administration officials, and his
proactive work on such matters as the Reading Rights Coalition.

The panel on what needs to be done to keep residential schools
for the blind viable going forward. While I think we all agree
that these schools are an essential part of the continuum of
placement options as required under the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act, these schools must adapt to changing
times as has happened in places like Texas.

The honor bestowed upon me to accept the Robert S. Bray award
posthumously on behalf of the recipient's family. This was both
sad and exhilarating at the same time if that makes sense.

The presentation of ACB scholarships. What bright people we were
able to honor and help in their educational pursuits. The future
of the world and of ACB is bright.

The demonstration of the new, accessible iPhone. Apple
corporation was roundly criticized by ACB a couple years ago,
deservedly so. Yet, they have come forward and its nice to know
that we have one option for a phone which we can take right out
of the box and use. The interface has to be the more ingenious
way to make a touch screen accessible I've ever seen.

At the convention, we learned about important legislation like
HR734, the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, and HR3101,
the 21st Century Telecommunications and Video Accessibility Act.
We've talked about schools for the blind, many of which are in
trouble. It's time for all of us to return home with a renewed
sense of purpose, roll up our sleeves and work for ACB, our state
and special interest affiliates, and our local chapters. By
doing that, we will be improving the quality of life for all
people who are blind, across the United States and around the
world.

It's Sad When You Can't Award something Deserving to someone While They are Alive

2009-07-10T20:37:00.000-07:00

Tonight, I was honored to accept an award from the American
Council of the Blind on behalf of someone from my home state of
Illinois who did a lot for access ! books and the written word
for people who are blind. While I was honored to do this, I was
saddened that this person could not have been honored while he
was still alive and that instead, this well-deserved honor is
being presented posthumously.

While I am saddened that this person could not have been honored
while alive, I am comforted by the realization that this person's
family realizes what a special award this is and is prepared to
accept it in his memory. I guess it's like a lot of things.
While you can never bring back someone or some thing, know one
can take away the memories or in this case, the good work this
person did.

The Future

2009-07-07T20:36:00.000-07:00

Today, July 7, I got to take a look at part of the future for our
great nation, and it's in our young people. That was evident to
me today as I helped to honor the scholarship winners of the
American Council of the Blind.

Some 20 to 25 people were honored today. These are people that
are working on achieving great academic success in school. They
are people who are blind or visually impaired who are accepting
the challenge laid out to be the best they can be.

As I sat there today at the ACB convention and heard these fine
people accept their awards, I thought as I always do that the
future is a bright one. All of us who have been around for a
while need to help our young people. This can be done through
scholarship programs like we saw today, mentoring of these fine
people, and recruiting them into our state affiliates. We need
the strength and mostly, the enthusiasm of these people. They
will set the direction for our country and for our world. I am
so happy to be in ACB, an organization which takes the time
during its most important event of the year, the ACB convention
to recognize these people. Good luck to all of today's ACB
scholarship winners and may you do great things.

What Has ACB Done in the Last Year, Let Me Tell the Things

2009-07-05T22:02:00.000-07:00

>every you an American Council of the Blind (ACB) member, hear
that tired old refrain, "ACB doesn't do anything," and mumble to
yourself I'm so sick of that? Well, the next time you hear that,
tell whomever says it to feast their eyes on this.

In the last year, ACB achieved settlements with several major
retail chains including Dollar General, Staples, Target and
others so that when you as a person who is blind walks in, makes
a purchase, and chooses to pay using a debit card, you will have
a tactile keypad on which to independently enter your own PIN.
This means you don't have to tell strangers your PIN number, just
like sighted people do not have to do.

Thanks to work right from the great state of Illinois, yet
another banking chain, TCF (www.tcf.com) will be installing
talking ATMS, providing statements and other information was
accessible formats, and making their website accessible. This,
again, thanks in part to ACB.

As you travel, do you find yourself saying, gosh, I wish someone
would do something about all of the Hybrid cars I encounter out
there? ACB is granting that wish. Thanks to our fierce advocacy,
along with that of other organizations, legislation has been
introduced in Congress, HR734, "The Pedestrian Safety Enhancement
Act of 2009." Because this legislation is out there and has 124
co-sponsors signed on, the National Highway Transportation Safety
Administration is already conducting research designed to improve
the safety of these vehicles for pedestrians who are blind.

Want to learn more? Then tune into the broadcast of the ACB
National Convention all this week on ACB Radio, www.acbradio.org.
Simply click or press enter on the Mainstream link, then select
the link for your favorite media player and you are on your way.
So what will you do when you next hear, "ACB isn't doing
anything?" Point people to this blog, to the ACB Radio link above
and then tell them to come back and say it again!

Walking in the Florida Humidity for ACB

2009-07-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

They say if you want something bad enough, you need to sacrifice
a little to get it. Today was a prime example of that.

I got up very early this morning, around 5:15 a.m. Now normally,
I'd say there ought to be a law against being up that early on a
Saturday morning, but today, I was actually excited to do it. We
got ready and left our hotel room here at the American Council of
the Blind's annual convention, www.acb.org and boarded a bus with
about 40 other people for a short trip to Winter Park, Florida.

After getting to the place where we were dropped off, I was
introduced to a nice gentleman named Doug who would be my guide
for what we were about to do. We were about to walk the first
ever Watermelon 5K walk to benefit ACB.

This is where the second part of the sacrifice comes in. It was
a very humid morning in Florida, as I understand many summer
mornings to be. We started walking with about 4,000 other
people. We walked through the neighborhoods of Winter Park,
being entertained by a couple of bands along the way. By the end
of the first mile, I was soaking wet. But, I wanted to finish
and knew I could, so I pressed on.

Doug was a great guide, mainly because he's like me, an avid
football junky. This gave us something to talk about. As we
were nearing the end of the course, people kept saying, you're
almost there to encourage us to continue. By this time, I didn't
need that encouragement because I was going to finish. As we
approached the finish line, I was high stepping for ACB.

Why would I put myself through such an early rise and battling
the humidity? Because I want ACB to be the best it can be. In
part to make that happen, ACB needs money. We raised a
significant bit of that this morning. Remember what I said about
sacrificing for what you want? I sacrificed for ACB and I would
encourage you all to do the same, for ACB or any other
organization you care about.

To Show Or Not to Show I.D., That Is the Question

2009-06-16T20:39:00.000-07:00

There has been discussion on an e-mail list I'm on about whether
people who use guide dogs should be required to show I.D. cards
for their dogs. Let me weigh in.

To make things clear, I don't use a guide dog. Yet, I would be
the first to step forward and uphold the rights of a guide dog
user to access a public place with their dog.

The Americans with Disabilities Act doesn't require that an I.D.
be shown so I'm told, I'd have to research the appropriate
regulations to verify that. This is to accommodate privately
trained service animals. BTW, those ain't service animals but
they are glorified pets in my opinion.

Be that as it may, this is a case where if you have the I.D., you
need to show it in my opinion. So what if it isn't required.
How fucking hard is it to dig out the card, show it to the person
asking for it, and put it away? Those who think otherwise are
being militant fuckheads in my opinion. And don't use the Rosa
Parks analogy on me. That only would have worked if Ms. Parks
had to show some sort of I.D. to prove she could sit in the
front of the bus, and after showing it, she was told to move to
the back.

BTW, it's dealing with shit like this that is a big reason I
don't use a guide dog and never will! But again, don't get me
wrong, I'll be the first one to stand up for the rights of dog
handlers as long as those rights are exercised in a responsible
manner.

What Are These People In Illinois' Legislature Thinking?

2009-06-15T20:44:00.000-07:00

Below, I've posted a letter that I sent to my state representative with CC's
to our so-called Legislative Leaders. It asks them to put together a
sensible, balanced state budget while not balancing it on the backs of
society's most vulnerable citizens. If you are from Illinois, first read
and enjoy this letter, then, send one of your own to your state
representative and senator.

June 15, 2009

Honorable Senator Dan Cronin
313 S. Main Street
Lombard, IL 60148

To Honorable Senator Cronin:

I am writing to strongly urge you to communicate this message to the
Illinois Senate Leadership. That message is, work with Governor Quinn and
negotiate for a sensible, balanced budget which doesn't cut vital human
services which people in Illinois need and depend on.

I am making this request on two fronts. First, I work for an agency which
receives funding from the Illinois Department of Human Services, Division of
Rehabilitation Services. If we lose 50% of our rehabilitation funding, it
means we can't help as many people who are blind or visually impaired find
employment. Ask any person who is blind what they want most of all, and
they will say, without question, a job. Individuals with disabilities,
including those who are blind or visually impaired who are employed spend
money in our communities buying homes, patronizing businesses large and
small, and paying taxes. During the economic times in which we live, we
need to be doing as much as we can to help all Illinois citizens find
employment, including those with disabilities which includes those who are
blind or visually impaired. People who are blind or visually impaired have
an unacceptable 70% unemployment rate. Without proper funding, the division
of rehabilitation services cannot help these individuals find work which
will increase our welfare roles and costs.

Cutting funds from rehabilitation is especially harmful in another way.
State dollars which are put into rehabilitation services are used to access
Federal rehabilitation dollars. For every $1 of state funding which is cut
from rehabilitation services, $4 in Federal funds are lost as the state
match is 20%. So, every $1 in state funding which is cut is like cutting a
total of $5. Every $1 million is like cutting $5 million. You get the
idea.

I also sit on the Board of Directors for the DuPage Center for Independent
Living in your district. If the dooms day budget becomes law, this center
will lose $103,000 in state funds. This means staff will lose their jobs
and about half of the consumers this center now serves will not be served.
What will happen to the rest of them? Any number of things from their
becoming homeless, or having to go on public assistance, at higher cost to
the state. The staff who lose their jobs will need to seek unemployment,
thereby increasing costs to the state.

This center has for almost 19 years provided high quality services to
individuals with disabilities living in DuPage County. I enjoyed three
years working professionally for this center. However, this is not the
worst of things. The DuPage Center is one of 23 centers for independent
living across the state. If the dooms day budget becomes law, these centers
are all having to look at very devastating cuts in staff and services, and
perhaps, even closing their dors. In some areas, the center for independent
living is the only service provider available to individuals with
disabilities where they can receive needed services.

Again, Senator Cronin, I urge you as strongly as I can to ask the Senate
leadership to sit down with Governor Quinn and commit to negotiating a
balance budget which doesn't force Illinois' most vulnerable citizens to
bear the brunt of spending and service cuts. Remember, a society is judged
by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. We in Illinois won't be
judged very well if the dooms day budget becomes law. I thank you in
advance for your time and actions to help the legislature and Governor reach
a sensible, sustainable balanced budget that preserves needed services and
programs.

Sincerely,

Cc: Illinois Senate President John Cullerton
Illinois Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno
Governor Pat Quin

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17:54:00

What I Didn't Vote For in November of 2008

2009-06-02T18:03:00.000-07:00

Not only did I not vote for President Obama (One Big Almighty
Mistake America), in November of 2008, along with that, here are
the many other things I didn't vote for.
1. I didn't vote for a country which is far less safe than it
was before January 20 of 2009. This administration has done
nothing to address the threats we face in the world except make
worthless condemnations. North Korea, which has NUCLEAR WEAPONS,
is laughing at us. They know this administration won't respond
aggressively and they show that by continuing to test nuclear
weapons and missals. God help us.

2. I didn't vote for abandoning of enhanced interrogation
techniques used on terror suspects so we can take this holier
than though stand against torture. This is because I know we've
gotten information from using these on dangerous people which has
kept us safe. There has not been a terrorist attack on our
nation since 9-11. How much longer will we be able to say that?
The people we have interrogated are animals, not deserving of any
rights whatsoever. If they know of a plot which could harm us,
we have to do whatever it takes to get that information. If that
means water boarding, so be it. If it means food or sleep
deprivation, so be it. Yet this administration has chosen to
abandon these techniques, figuring, if we talk nicy nicy to the
terrorists, they'll tell us what we need to know. Bull shit.

3. I did not vote for closing Guantanamo without a plan for
where the people there, many of whom are very dangerous and want
us dead, would go. I do not want them in any U.S. prison. It
is a given fact that once released, many of these detainees go
back to the battle field as it were and launch terrorist attacks
against our interests.

4. I did not vote for government owned automobile companies. If
I wanted to own part of General Motors, oops, I mean Government
Motors or Krysler, I'd have bought stock in them. Same goes for
the banks and other institutions we've poured billions in tax
money into. Think how many people we could provide health
insurance too, how many children we could help educate, or how
much infrastructure we could rebuild with all that money. I also
didn't vote for the end result of this, Government control of
American business through nationalization. American businesses
compete in a global market. They need the flexibility to do
that, not the rigid guidelines put in place by bureaucrats who
never had to run a business, meet a payroll, fire an employee,
etc.

5. I didn't vote for health care policies which deem certain p
too EXPENSIVE to treat. Talk about cruel! Yet why should we be
surprised, liberals don't value life. The Government has not a
clue how to run health insurance, but god help us, they're going
to try. At what price?

I did not vote for all these things and more, because I wasn't
suckered in by the hype and false promises to vote for an empty
suit in the White House. I fear for our great nation that a
majority of Americans were stupid enough to do so. God, help us
to keep our nation strong until the day this joker and all who
serve with him are kicked out of office. On Memorial Day, we
honored those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to keep us
free. If these brave men and women could speak today, I strongly
believe they would be saying loudly, this is not the country I
fought for. America, wake up! We are fast becoming a European
bastian of liberalism, ripe for terrorist attacks. Our best hope
is, in 2010, to have Republicans swept into power in Congress so
we can grid lock the process until we can get the President out
in 2012. Can we wait that long? Probably not, but we'll have
too.

The Credit Card Reform, I mean, Rewarding Irresponsibility Act

2009-05-27T15:48:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to Congress and President Obama (One Big Almighty
Mistake America). You have successfully rewarded
irresponsibility and encouraged more people to go deeper and
deeper into credit card debt.

This was done by passing and signing into law the Credit Card
Reform legislation which in my opinion should be more properly
titled the Rewarding Irresponsibility Act of 2009. This
legislation penalizes people like myself who, with pride, pay off
our credit cards each month. My mamma and daddy taught me one
simple lesson. If I won't have enough money at the end of the
month to pay for it, I don't need it! Well guess what? People
like me are going to be hit with higher fees and interest rates
as a result of this legislation. We can also say goodbye to the
rewards programs and promotions we've seen so much of.

There are two things about this legislation I actually agree
with. First, people under 21 won't be able to get a credit card
unless they can show their ability to pay. Why restrict that to
those under 21? Why not make that apply to everyone? It's
terrible when college students come out of school with a mountain
of student loan debt. Piling on credit card debt only makes
things worse, although, if they were actually taught how to
responsibly use a credit card things would be better. Heck, I
never had a credit card in college, and things went just fine.

The second thing I agree with is the explaining of all terms,
rates, etc in plain English which can be clearly read. It's
awful hard to be responsible and know what questions to ask if
you can't read what they are telling you.

For the most part, though, this legislation is another salvo in
this administration's relentless attacks on American business.
Credit card companies don't just issue plastic out of the
goodness of their hearts. They are in business to make money.
That's why they do the things they do. This administration
should be encouraging parents, most importantly, and the schools
to educate kids on how to handle credit responsibly. I didn't
get my first credit card until I'd worked for a year. This
helped me establish a bit of a credit history the card issuer
could go on. My father refused to co-sign for me to get a card
sooner. That's the way things should be. That's not where we're
headed with this administration I'm afraid.

If I Wanted to Own Part of GM, I'd Have Bought Stock

2009-05-27T15:48:00.000-07:00

This morning's news headlines tell us that General Motors is
headed, almost certainly, for bankrupsy. Good for the GM bond
holders for not getting hoodwinked into a bad deal. These people
who have invested their money in GM were only to get a paltry 10%
of the company after restructuring. Guess who gets the biggest
piece, 70% according to news reports? You guessed it, the United
States Government, in other words, you and I.

I never wanted to own part of GM. As the subject says, if I did
I'd have bought stock. America, wake up! This is all part of the
master plan by an administration that is out of control and needs
to be stopped before it's too late. No one asked me or any other
taxpayers if we wanted to buy GM, they are just doing it. This
nation, for which many fought and died and whom we honored on
Memorial Day is fast becoming a European style bastian of
liberalism.

Why is this part of the master plan? Well, just last week, the
One Big Almighty Mistake America (OBAMA) administration released
new, mandatory fuel economy standards. Figure it out. They
release the standards, then take major ownership stakes in two of
the major automobile companies. You can bet the Government will
force the auto companies to make smaller, unsafe, fuel efficient
cars that Americans don't want. Then, guess what? There will be
all of this excess inventory that nobody wants, so more of yours
and my money, oh I forgot the liberals think it's their money,
will be spent buying that up and probably giving it away to
people who probably neither know how to drive nor know the
responsibility that comes with owning a car. But, that won't
matter to this administration, which rewards irresponsibility.

Guess what else? The Government pukes will demand that GM make
more hybrid cars, which are unsafe as they cannot be heard by
pedestrians. I guess we who walk the streets, going to work,
school, and other places are expendable, huh? Go to hell with
that!

As long as I'm going to own part of GM, even without my
permission, here are a few things I'd like to see.
1. Privatize as much production as can be done, so we're not
paying out as much in high, extortion type wages to unionized
workers.
2. Don't close down your life brood, the dealers who sell your
product. The Jack Wolfs of the world (Belvidere, Illinois) are
family businesses full of good, hard-working Americans. Why
would you want to pull the rug right out from under these people
who promote and sell the product?
3. Survey the car buying public and produce what people actually
want, not what overpaid, rude bureaucrats think they want.

Anyone want to take a bet on how likely it will be that items 1,
2 and 3 above will happen when we own 70% of GM?

I'm Still Proud to Be An American, But Is This the America I Know and Love?

2009-05-12T21:11:00.001-07:00

It is utterly amazing that I would be sitting here, a mere four months after
a new President has taken power and wondering about my country, the United
States of America. But, here I sit.

I fear that our country is turning into something that I neither recognize
nor want. Our President, Barack Obama (or should he be called King or
Dictator) has made us far less safe than we were before he took office.
Taking actions such as ordering the closure of Guantonimo without a plan for
where the very dangerous people housed there would go, and all but blaming
our honorable military men and women for a misscle strike in Pakistan are
shameful. I don't want these dangerous people from Guantonimo living in my
neighborhood or community, no American should want that. PresidentObama
made the decision on Guantomino's closure simply to keep a campaign promise.
He has not studied how the information we have gained from prisoners there
has kept us safe as I believe it has.

There was, supposedly, a terrible misle strike in Pakistan that killed
several civilians. Is that really what happened? Could it have been the
Tallaban playing propaganda games with the anti-war zealots in America? I
think these are real possibilities. However, to hear Secretary of State
Clinton talk, what happened must be investigated. She did not even hint at
a presumption of innocence for our military fighters who were doing their
jobs. War is a dirty business, liberals don't seem to understand that.

But here at home, things are going in directions I do not like. The
proposed bale outs of Krysler and G. M. are nothing more than wet, sloppy
kisses to the Auto Workers Unions as Obama and his henchmen run rough shot
over the bankrupsy laws. Bond holders in companies like Krysler and G. M.
have certain legal rights. Yet, the Obama Administration is threatening
that if they don't go along there will be consequences. I thought when you
came in, Mr. Obama, there was going to be a new level of civility. We see
you are just another politician.

I use credit cards, I pay off the balances. Yet, Obama and his cronies say
the credit card industry is evil and must be more tightly regulated. No,
people need to be taught how to take responsibility and stay out of debt. I
am proud of the strong credit rating I have and will do everything I can to
maintain it. While I realize circumstances such as a job loss can affect
someone's ability to pay, that isn't the fault of the credit card industry.
Yet, "the one," Mr. Obama thinks it is.

I fear we are turning into a socialist, liberal Euorpean country. Maybe
some think we are already there. With four months gone, the damage is
severe. What will happen in four years? I'm afraid to ask.

Swine Flu

2009-05-01T15:02:00.000-07:00

And now, for the latest on the hysteria that is Swine Flu. This,
as expected, has turned into another chapter of the media
over-dramatizing a situation. It is this kind of media crap that
has driven people to get their news from other sources such as
the internet.

Certainly, any disease that has killed people is cause for
concern. But, throwing around words like Pandemic is completely
uncalled for. What have we had, 100 cases of Swine Flu in the
United States? Because of that, schools in Chicago, Milwaukee and
other places are closing. People are being told not to travel.
Even our own Vice President, the one man gaph machine, said
people shouldn't ride in confined spaces such as airplanes on
subways. Some advocate for mass transit eh? And to his little
pee on spokesperson, no matter how you spin it, he did say don't
be in any confined spaces and he can't say otherwise, videotape
doesn't lie and it's probably all out there on the internet for
everyone to hear.

What, by our beloved Federal Government are we being told to do
about Swine Flu? The same common sense things we should do at all
times. That is, wash our hands thoroughly of often. If you are
sick stay home (better tell that to half the people who ride
Chicago area commuter trains). Keep your children home from
school if they are sick, duh!

Swine Flu is serious and needs to be taken seriously. But guess
what? So does every other illness and the sooner the media stops
obsessing over Swine Flu and communicates that the precautions we
should take are nothing more than common sense, the better off
we'll all be.

Obama Gets an F in First 100 Days

2009-04-29T21:13:00.001-07:00

President Obama gets a big fat F grade from me in his first 100 days. Why
such a harsh grade?

Why not! He is spending our nation into oblivion and creating huge
deficits. He got passed a so-called Economic Stimulus bill that we cannot
afford in difficult economic times. He has proposed a nearly 3.6 trillion
dollar budget. He is turning out to be another tax and spend liberal
politician, which is exactly what many of us who did not vote for him were
afraid he would be. But, the American people didn't listen.

In foreign policy, I feel very strongly that our nation is no where near as
safe as it was before he took office. He has banned the use of advanced
interrigation methods like water boarding, calling it torture. Obama, the
kind of people we used these methods don't care about our feelings. They
won't talk to us. They only understand one thing and that is that the only
good American is a dead American. These people want us wiped off the face
of the earth and if we have to get a little tough to gain information to
protect our great nation, so be it. Obama says we could have gotten the
same information without resorting to so-called harsh techniques. Obama,
have you ever been involved in intelligence work or interrogating someone?
No. Stay out of it and let the professionals who know best how to conduct
interrogations do it.

Afghanistan is becoming a mess, too. Our military men and women are brave
souls and need all of the help and support they can get to do their jobs.
Where are all of the troops Obama promised to send over to Afghanistan?
They aren't there. Since Obama came into office, the Talaban is
re-asserting itself. All that was gained, especially for women in that
country is endanger of being lost thanks to this President.

Pakistan is turning into a mess with a fragile Government to boot. This is
especially scary because they have Nuclear weapons. What are you going to
do, Mr. Obama, to keep these out of the hands of terrorists who want us
dead.

Does a day go by when Obama isn't traveling somewhere? How much is he
costing us tax payers for all of his jaunts around the country? President
Bush didn't travel nearly as much and was very affective. Take the plane
away from Obama.

If the first 100 days is any indication, we have a lot to fear in the next
four years.

Blogo, Just Please Go Away!!!

2009-04-16T15:48:00.000-07:00

I have not commented until now on the indictment of former
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. I am finally glad he has been
indicted and that in time, another corrupt politician from
Illinois will be put away for a while, wiping a little more of
the stain of political corruption off of our great state.

I just wish Blagojevich would go away! This idiot wants to be on
a reality tv show, "I'm a celebrity, get me out of here." This is
wrong on too many levels.

First, how can someone who doesn't know how to face reality be on
a show like this? The Son of a Bitch screwed Illinois taxpayers
and made our state a laughing stock. What lawyer in their right
mind is telling him it's a good idea to go on tv? Second,
Blagojevich is no celebrity. He is nothing more than a common
crook who needs to face up to his crimes. He's not sorry he did
what he did. He's sorry he got caught.

This is a man who did some of the most despicable things a
politician could ever do. He withheld money from a children's
hospital simply to get more campaign contributions. Rather than
appointing the best person to replace Barack Obama in the United
States Senate, he tried selling the Senate seat to the highest
bidder, eventually appointing an incompetent puppet to the
Senate. This man doesn't give a damn about the state boards and
commissions, except for those he can appoint people to in
exchange for money. For example, Illinois' Blind Services
Planning Council has not had new members appointed in at least 10
years.

In conclusion, all I can say is I hope George Ryan is getting
that cell next to him cleaned up and ready, because he'll be
getting a new neighbor. Blogo, the feds have it all on tape what
you did. So, just shut your fucking mouth, go away and let the
people of Illinois begin to heal the wounds you have caused our
great state.

Proud to have Voted Today!

2009-04-07T21:40:00.001-07:00

Today in my area we had consolidated local elections. These are
for offices such as village President and trustees, Township
Government offices, members of school boards, Park District Board
Commissioners and the like.

As usual, I went out and voted in today's election. I proudly
did this independently as I have in every election for the past
three years using accessible voting machines.

I hear many people say, well, I'm not going to vote in these
elections. It seems as though the vast majority of registered
voters do not care about these elections. Turnout was around
20%.

Those who don't think the elections held today are important are
sadly mistaken. Local Government is the level of government that
affects each of us most directly. Village trustees will decide
what our water and sewer rates are, when our streets and
sidewalks will be torn up for repair, and what kind of
development will come into our community. Township governments,
especially the Assessor are the ones who determine largely what
our property tax bill will be. They also provide programs to
help those less fortunate. School and park boards have the
ability to request tax increases through referenda. If we pay
attention and elect the right people to these bodies, they will
realize they need to make a strong case for any increase and if
they don't they could get voted out.

So, if you had local elections in your area, I hope you joined
with me and exercised your civic responsibility to vote.

The Sale is Over, the Farm is Gone!

2009-04-05T19:32:00.001-07:00

Well, the title pretty much says it all. My parents' farm sale is now
history. I was there to witness it.

Before going to the sale, I wondered how I would react. I'm certainly very
sad to see another family farm die, but I'm happy that my parents are going
out in good health and on their terms.

The sale, in many ways provided me some closure. When I got to the farm, I
walked around, looking at everything for the last time. I needed to do
that. I looked at a grain bin that I helped Dad build some 32 years ago. I
walked through the sale and at several points, memories came flooding back
to me. I passed the hay baler which I worked behind and loaded bales. I
passed several other pieces of equipment that I remember either riding on or
being around.

The sale was satisfactory in that my parents were happy with the results.
If it was hard for them, they did not show it. I must wear my emotions on
my sleeve because a couple of people told me after the sale they thought I
was a little sad about it.

So now, my family is out of farming. They can move on with the rest of
their lives. Another family farm is gone, that's the sad part. I hope
people realize how important the farmer is, even though today's farmers are
the corporate types not the family farmers.

Good Bye Dear Old Friend, Part IV

2009-04-02T20:57:00.000-07:00

Soon, my parents' farm, with machinery and buildings wil be sold. As that
day draws closer, I have mixed feelings.

I'm happy for mom and dad. They are both in very good health and can enjoy
retirement. I hope they make the most of it. If they want to travel, they
can. If they want to still maintain a garden, they can. If one or both of
them decides to go to work somewhere part time, go for it. The fact is they
won't have to spend their springs and summers worrying about getting enough
rain, or that their yields won't be high enough. They won't have to worry
about making enough money off the crop to pay their expenses. They won't
have to fix broken down machinery.

I'm saddened, though, because this means the death of yet another family
farm. It means either that corporate farmers who don't care about the land
as much will take over. Or, it means developers will move in and build yet
more houses, roads and other things on perfectly good land. Like a favorite
song of mine by Dan Riley talks about, "Quarter Acre Lots." It will be sad
to see such a great piece of property which has been in the family for
generations meet either fate.

Finally, I'm angry because what is happening to my parents is just one more
example of how people don't realize how important farmers are. Groceries
don't grow on supermarket shelves. The farmer has to raise the animals or
tend to the crops which make up our food. That big slab of ribs you may be
enjoying, well, that was a pig that was raised by a farmer at one time.
Those potato skins you are enjoying, well, they were planted, watched over,
and harvested by a farmer somewhere.

It's really hitting home that the family farm appears to be a dying breed
and it pisses me off. While I'm happy for my parents as they will enter a
new chapter in their lives, I'm saddened and angry over what the farm sale
signifies.

But with all of my feelings, there is only one thing I can do. And that is
to say, good bye dear old friend, the farm. You were there as I grew from a
boy into a man. You brought me joy. You are where I learned about life.
Good bye, and may god bless you, my parents and our whole family as we wish
our dear old friend well.

Good Bye Dear Old Friend, Part III

2009-04-01T16:49:00.000-07:00

In this post, we will talk about my teen-age years growing up on
the family farm. My parents strongly believed that I should be
as like other farm kids as possible. This was very evident in my
teen years. Actually, before that, as I joined the 4H club when
I was old enough to do so. 4H is a great organization for young
people and I think kids of all walks of life, from city to farm
kids ought to give it a try. While it is often thought of as the
thing farm kids do, it's also got a lot to offer city or non farm
kids too.

In 4H, you have regular club meetings each month. These are
filled with interesting programs for young people. You also have
the opportunity to develop leadership and teamwork skills through
4H.

Over the 11 years I was in 4H, I worked on many projects. The
highlight of 4H is that you pick a project or projects early in
the year, work tirelessly on them until the summer months, then
display them for judging at the County Fair. Also, there are
opportunities to participate in activities that can lead to a
trip to the state fair, representing your county. Last but not
least, you can participate in both regional and state leadership
conferences as I did.

I did it all, just like a lot of other farm kids did. Over the
years, I raised chickens, rabbits and pigs for show at the fair.
I also had carcass hogs and beef which were dressed out and
judged for the quality of the meat.

My carcass hogs and beef, along with the live pigs I showed were
sold at auction near the end of the county fair. I put that
money into a savings account and I, therefore, learned the
importance of saving money for the future.

Working on my 4H projects helped me learn responsibility. After
all, you have to care for your animals and you have to work with
them so they will show properly. I also learned teamwork because
I couldn't show my pigs myself. So, I always had to have someone
take them around the show ring for me.

I've been blessed with good public speaking talent and competed
for four years to represent my county at the state fair. I was
successful down state, receiving A ratings for my speeches.

The regional and state leadership conferences were fun.
Especially the state conference where we got to spend four days
at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. They told us
to bring comfortable walking shoes and they weren't kidding.
This event was held in June, when the weather in Champaign could
be very hot. It was fun, though and I both had a good time and
learned a lot.

Oh, but the greatest thing was the county fair. I always stayed
over night at the fair, especially the night before I had to show
my animals so I could get up early in the morning and get them
ready. I would usually sleep in a sleeping bag on a lounge chair
in the hog barn. Sometimes, a fig or two would get out and I
remember one morning waking up to find a pig standing over me,
oinking at me. That will wake you up real fast! I had a ball at
the fair, chasing my share of the young girls. I didn't catch
too many of them, but that was not for lack of trying.

The point of all of this is that I could do these things because
I lived on the farm. I also had a family and parents that
encouraged me to not let my disability stop me from doing what I
wanted to do. The other cool thing was that the sighted kids in
4H treated me no differently than anyone else and they shouldn't
have.

When you are a teen-ager on a farm, you are expected to help
out. Why should I be any different? Well, I was not. At age 12
to 13, I helped my dad build a new hog building. I drove nails
(and hit my share of fingers along the way, with cuss words to
prove it), put in switches and outlets, tore off insolation and
lots of other stuff. Dad built four large grain bins and I
helped to do that as well, screwing in bolts and stuff.

In the summer, I was on the wagon taking bales of hay and straw
out of the baler and stacking them. I helped unload hay into the
barn, including on one particularly hot day when it was around
100 degrees.

I cleaned manure out of the chicken house, fed pigs, gathered
eggs and lots of other chores. What I did was the typical stuff
farm kids do. It didn't matter that I am blind, nor should it
have. The work needed to be done and I did it.

But when the work was done, I often rode off on a bike or mini
bike (yes, with a motor and I drove it) down the field. I would
spend hours under a shade tree, enjoying the peace of the
country. Or, I'd go visit with my friends in the neighboring
subdivision (all girls). Probably the worst thing that happened
was I landed in a few deep mud puddles, making a complete mess of
my clothes.

I had a unique life, being free to be a teen-ager on the farm. I
grew up strong and brave, not afraid of too many things, other
than loud noises.

Yes, those are some great memories. After this week, that's all
they will be, memories as the farm will be gone for good. More
on my feelings about that tomorrow.

Saying Good Bye To a Dear Old Friend, Part II

2009-03-31T20:19:00.001-07:00

Tonight, I will recall with fond memories my early childhood years on the
family farm. It's a beautiful piece of property, measuring 160 acres in
size in the northern part of Illinois. Mostly clay soil, good for crops,
but a little sandy soil too.

When I was small, like any kid, I was curious. This got me into trouble at
times, particularly when I wandered out into the middle of the busy road on
which the farm is located. When I got into trouble, my parents put me in an
outdoor play pen they had built. That's something you couldn't, necessarily
do in the city.

I wandered out and played around the equipment, yeah, suffering my share of
bumps and bruises. Probably the two most serious things that happened to me
were when I fell over a wagon hitch one time when I was little and hurt my
leg. While I remember being in quite a bit of pain, X-Rays found nothing
broken.

The second most serious thing that happened was when I was riding my bike at
the age of about 9 or 10, and rode it straight into a hay rake. Now for
those who do not know, a hay rake is what puts hay and straw into piles to
be baled using another piece of equipment called a hay baler. If you have
ever been anywhere and seen or sat on bales of straw, those were made up
using a hay baler.

Well, the rake had to put it into piles in order for it to be baled. I got
cut up pretty good on its sharp blades, but thank goodness I didn't have to
go to the hospital for that one, although it was close.

You see, while I had my share of accidents, that was what was so great about
the farm. My parents let me explore and learn what was dangerous and what
was not, sometimes the hard way. When you are around heavy machinery and
big animals early in your life, you develop a healthy respect for them, let
me tell you. Like all of the times when I was six or seven and tried riding
on the back of a pig. Heck, I figured, if horses like to be ridden, pigs do
to, right?

Wrong. The pig riding escapade ended when I conked my head on an overhead
pipe. I discovered pigs don't like to be ridden.

Then there was the time over at the neighbor's farm when I put my foot into
a cow pen, only to be kicked by the darn cow. Guess she didn't like that!
Ouch, it hurt!

Good Bye Dear Old Friend, Part I

2009-03-30T20:19:00.001-07:00

This week will bring a series of blog entries that are very very sad. I
feel as though I'm sitting by the bedside of a dying relative as I write
these entries, sharing memories of the person. This analogy fits because,
we're talking about the death of yet another family farm.

I was born in the mid 1960's to parents that lived on a farm in the Northern
part of Illinois. When I grew up, my Grandpa tended the farm while my dad
worked in town. As a small child, I remember the days following Grandpa
around and many times, getting in his way as he fed the pigs, took care of
the cattle and planted and harvested corn and soybeans. Grandpa was always
pretty good natured about the whole thing, and through getting my share of
bumps and bruises, I learned the farm can be a dangerous place especially
for a small child who is blind.

My dad took over the farm in 1973 when Grandpa retired. He has been at it
for 36 years. Every year he has put in countless hours, blood, sweat and
tears to raise a high yielding, high quality crop. For many years he raised
pigs until it got so unprofitable he couldn't afford to stay in that
business.

I'll share more memories throughout this series, for later this week, the
farm and much of what is there in terms of equipment, buildings, and
memories will be sold at a farm sale. More on saying good bye to my old
friend later this week, as well as how the impending sale makes me feel.

Internal Virus Database is out of date.
Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.10.18/1935 - Release Date: 2/4/2009
4:35 PM

Final 4 All Set

2009-03-29T19:19:00.001-07:00

Well, just two weeks ago, 65 teams were announced as participants in the
NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and the madness began. As of this
afternoon, we're down to the final four who will compete next weekend in
Detroit, Michigan for the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship.

The National Semifinals will be next Saturday, April 4. It will start at
about 5:00 in the afternoon. After what I will have been through that day,
I'll need the escape of the games but more on that as the week progresses.

The first game will be between Michigan State University and U-Conn.
Frankly, I am surprised that either of these two teams are there. While
U-Con was a number 1 seed, I felt they were the weakest of the number 1's
and would have been knocked out. Jim Calhoune is a great coach and he's
been here before.

This game matches two great coaches, Calhoune and Michigan State's Tom Isso.
Both know what it takes to win at the Final 4. While I think this will be a
close game, I give a slight edge to Michigan State. They just seem to be
better on defense and they will, practically, be playing at home as the
Final 4 is being played in Detroit. If they can bring their defensive game
like they did today against Louisville, they should beat U-Conn. Don't
count Calhoune out, though.

The second game pits the University of North Carolina against Vilanova. It
would be easy to look at this game and say, of course, North Carolina.
Don't do that. While North Carolina has been playing very well during the
tournament, Villanova came in hot and have stayed that way. They also are
battle tested as they play in the rugged Big East conference.

Looking at this game, I give the edge to North Carolina. While I think this
will be a close game throughout, Carolina's experience will prevail in the
end.

So my National Championship game pits Michigan State against North Carolina
on Monday, April 6. Here, too, I'll pick North Carolina. While Michigan
State has had a great tournament run, and while if they won the national
championship it would not surprise me, I again think Carolina's experience
will rule the day.

Only three games to go and the madness will be behind us for another year.
As usual, it has been a great tournament. Once the madness is behind us,
it's on to baseball.

We Should Run from Universal Health Care As Fast As We Can

2009-03-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

President Obama will tell anyone who wants to listen, repeatedly
as well as those of us who don't want to hear it that we need to
reform health care. He talks about bringing down costs, mostly,
and tries to sell it as saving lots for money for American
families and businesses.

Don't be fooled! What Obama and liberals like him want is
universal health care. They want the Government, not you, not a
private insurance company, but some uncaring bureaucrat who
probably is a political appointee making health care decisions
for you and me.

As a person with a disability, this scares the shit out of me.
Words like cost controls and such are code to me which means some
people are too expensive to keep around. Many with disabilities
who require ongoing, life sustaining care would fit into that
category. No one will say it, but there are those who believe
they would be better off dead.

I resent anyone saying I or any other person with a disability is
too expensive to care for. Where is the compassion in that you
liberal pukes?

People say, countries like Canada and Great Britain have
universal health care, so why shouldn't we? A lot of good the
Canadian system did for Natasha Richardson didn't it? Why did she
end up dying in a New Yolk hospital? Probably because she
couldn't get the treatment she needed in Canada because some
Government pawn wouldn't approve it. Why, if Canada's system is
so good do people come over the border into the states for
treatment in droves? I understand this to be the case in border
areas like North Dakota.

Don't get me wrong, there are things which we need to do to drive
down health care costs. Before listing some of them, I ask that
President Obama keep his campaign promise when he said, if people
are happy with their health care, that's great. I'm happy with
my health care, leave it alone.

First, to reduce costs, we must allow Medicare to negotiate for
lower prescription drug prices like major health plans do. This
was an aggregious omission when Medicare Part D was passed in
2003. The Government has tremendous buying power and could
command lower prices, no question about that.

Speaking of Medicare, let's truly look at it from top to bottom
and eliminate fraud, wasteful spending and needless paperwork.
One way to do this is to continue to encourage the filing of
claims by electronic means. As long as stringent privacy
controls are in place, this can be done very safely.

Let's allow small businesses to pool their resources and get the
same discounts on health insurance that big businesses do. Small
business is the life blood of America, and if they can reduce
their health care costs, they can create more jobs.

Let's stop providing any health care to illegal ailians, except
for emergency care. How much does it cost the rest of us to
support these law breakers through higher insurance premiums and
taxes? Maybe if they can't get free health care they will think
about going back to where they came from. Of course, this won't
happen under the liberal piberals because they need the Hispanic
vote.

Let's promote healthy lifestyle choices. No, not by regulating
everything, but by encouraging people to live healthier which
will drive down costs. We already do a lot to encourage people
to quit smoking. Why not have health plans pay part of the cost
for health club memberships and weight loss programs to encourage
people to exercise more and lose weight? This would have to be
tied into some requirement that people actually use the partially
paid for memberships and programs. Start in school with healthy
eating education so children learn early, with reinforcement at
home what is good for them and what is not. Let's also get our
kids outside, playing ball, riding bikes and having fun and not
try to put them inside a plastic bubble. We can help to do this
was capturing the permanently locking up sexual predators, most
of whom are male.

Finally, let's put sensible caps on pain and suffering damages in
malpractice lawsuits. If a person or a person's family member is
injured or killed due to medical malpractice, that's a terrible
thing. Certainly, those who are wronged should be compensated
for economic damages. Pain and suffering is hard to put a price
on; after all, no amount of money will bring someone back or make
them whole again. Clearly, those who committed malpractice need
to be punished so they don't do it again. A cap of say, $1
million, would accomplish that.

We don't need universal health care. What this country needs to
do is implement common sense practices as I have indicated here
which will drive down costs and improve an already excellent
health care system. Our nation has the best health care in the
world. Let's not ruin it with over regulation.

I Hope For Spring To Be Here Soon

2009-03-18T17:46:00.000-07:00

Here we are in the middle of March, and looking at the calendar
it says that Spring soon will be here. Now I live in the midwest
and am smart enough to know that just because the calendar says
it's spring doesn't make it so.

Spring, to me, brings hope. We have had a terrible winter in
this part of the United States, with lots of snow and brutally
cold temperatures. Soon, however, we will hear the crack of the
bat and two of my favorite words, "Play ball." We will hear birds
singing, and see leaves on the trees. The unmistakable sounds of
a lawn mower and the smell of newly cut grass will fill the air.
And the days, well, they'll just keep getting longer.

As a person who is blind I don't feel I miss out on much of the
beauty of the spring season. I can hear the birds and smell the
flowers and plants as "you come to life. I can feel the air as
it warms up, heading us toward summer.

There is, one thing however, about this spring that will be sad
for me. For over 35 years, my father has looked forward to
spring for getting into the fields, working the ground and
planting the crops. He won't be doing that for the first time in
all those years this year. This is because he has decided to
retire from farming and will be having a farm sale very soon.

Not only has the farm been where my dad worked tirelessly to
plant, tend to and harvest his crops, but it also is where I grew
up. It's where I learned how to ride a bike, weed a garden, and
many other things. The farm held me close as I grew from a boy
into a man. With the farm sale will go a large piece of my
childhood.

So as I look forward to Spring this year with enthusiasm, that
enthusiasm will be tempered a bit by what this spring season
means to my family and the place I grew up and still call home.
Will will devote at least one blog entry to the farm before the
sale.

Let The Madness Begin

2009-03-16T21:06:00.000-07:00

We're coming to one of my favorite times of the year, the start of the NCAA
Men's Basketball Tournament. Let the madness begin.

What an exciting tournament field we have this year. We have four well
deserved number one seeds, including three from one conference. I predict
that Pitt will win the overall national championship.

As usual, we can quarrel with some of the the committee's choices. Why did
Wisconsin, a team which has been up and down all year get in, but North
Western which played very well, especially in the non conference did not?
Why didn't the University of Florida get in? Oh well, the choices are made
and now the madness can begin.

Yes, there will be several upsets, you know there are. I really wish I
could take this first Friday of the tournament off so I could watch game,
after game, after game.

Let's tip it off and watch the brackets!

Who Is Going to Bale Me Out?

2009-03-09T20:20:00.000-07:00

Just a bit over a year ago I believe, my retirement savings were
nearly twice what they are today. I just looked at my retirement
account yesterday and determined how much I have lost.

The Federal Government is baling out the big banks, auto makers,
irresponsible companies like AIG, and on and on. Meanwhile, I
and millions of other Americans who did the responsible thing are
suffering.

I did what many others did. I have saved my money, and thought I
made wise choices about how to invest it. I chose to invest in a
reputable fund family. Others did too. Yet, here we see our
retirement savings dwindling down and down and down.

My question to the President and Congress is, so who is going to
bale us out? Who is going to help us recover our losses so we can
actually retire sometime and enjoy a well earned leisure life
after working hard for many years? I know the answer and it
pisses me off The answer is nobody is going to bale us out, we're
just taxpayers who, by the way, are expected to bale everyone
else out. This sucks and it better stop and stop now!!!

Obama Continues To play Loose with Taxpayer Dollars

2009-03-09T20:11:00.000-07:00

Well, President Obama is at it again. Today, he has, by
Executive Order, lifted the ban on using Federal funds for
embryonic stem cell research. By doing this he continues to play
loose with yours and my tax dollars.

Obama's actions today were not necessary, although he did not go
as far as he could have which I appreciate. Embryonic stem cell
research has been permitted; all that was banned by the Bush
administration was using Federal dollars to pay for it. This
policy struck an important balance between allowing research to
move forward while respecting the rights of tax payers like me
who have ethical concerns with it.

If I could be 100% sure that the embryos being used truly were
those being discarded by invetro fertilization clinics, I could
support Federal funding of this kind of research. Neither I nor
anyone else can be sure this is 100% true. I fear we are heading
down a slippery slope with today's decision. You just watch!
Congress will soon act to repeal the law that bans creation of
embryos for research purposes. Then, we're really in trouble!

We need to support and fund ethical medical research. Many
tremendous medical advances have come about thanks to research on
stem cells, adult ones. I support mothers saving cord blood for
the cell contents it contains for research. The destruction of
embryos, however, crosses an ethical line and I do not want my
tax dollars used to pay for it. Let those scientists who plan on
conducting this research apply for foundation or other grants to
do it. Let them seek money from states which allow state dollars
to fund this kind of research. Scientists have said they have
alternatives to embryonic stem cells, such as adult skin cells.
Since embryonic stem cell research presents ethical questions,
Federal dollars should you be used to pay for it and I am
offended that President Obama and others feel my ethical concerns
do not matter, that they can spend my tax dollars as they see fit
for this research!

Great Progress on H.R. 734, Keep It Up!

2009-03-08T19:33:00.000-07:00

I'm pleased to report that we've made great progress in signing on
co-sponsors to H.R. 734, The Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act <a
href="http://thomas.loc.gov">Click here to learn more about it</a>. We've
got 81 co-sponsors, but more are needed.

Go to the <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov">Thomas Site</a> type in 'hr734'
into the search box, click the radio button for bill number and click the
search button. Once you have done this, click on the link that says
'Co-sponsors'.

If your representative is on the list of co-sponsors, contact their office
and thank them. If your representative is not on the list, call their
office and ask them to sign on.

Thanks, pedestrians everywhere are depending on you to help get H.R. 734
passed so we can make the streets safer, even with the growing popularity of
quiet cars.

Back To Reality

2009-03-08T19:26:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, it's back to work for me, back to reality. While I have had a
very good vacation, accomplishing what one wants to do in re-charging my
batteries, it's normally, always a little hard to get back into the swing of
things.

It's not quite as hard at this time, though. This is because as I look at
the current mess our country's economy is in, I am thankful that I have a
job. There are many out there who do not have a job and don't know when
they will get another one. Some of these folks are probably having trouble
putting food on the table, paying for housing, or whatever. I've been laid
off before and it is a scary thing to go through. I was laid off in better,
albeit not great economic times.

So tomorrow I'll go back to work thankful that I am able to make the money
to help keep us safe, warm and fed. But I pray those out there who are
jobless will find work soon.

The Economic Mess Is Obama's Problem Now, Stupid

2009-03-07T19:33:00.000-08:00

I'm back and I'm angry! What did we hear in the news this week?
Well, we heard GM may be forced into Chapter 11 Bankrupsy
protection and should bee in my opinion. The Federal Government
is contemplating throwing more money down the sewer which is AIG.
My answer is no. On Friday, we heard that the economy lost some
651,000 jobs in February, sending the nation's unemployment rate
to over 8%, worse since 1983.

Things continue to go from bad to worse in our economy, even
after President Obama took office. It's his problem now, and he
needs to deal with it responsibly! No longer can Obama claim he
inherited this mess, because the mess continues. However, the
left wing liberal nut jobs and the main stream media will
probably let him continue to do so at least for a short time.
Americans like me aren't going to buy it. We're not going to buy
stocks just because Obama decrees that owe should, at least I'm
not.

It's time for people who know financials, and not politicians to
be put in charge of trying to help our economy. The economy is
cyclical, and will recover and prosper again, even without
Governmental intervention. It sure as hell doesn't need the
kinds of out of control, deficit spending we are seeing to help
it. The sooner people like Obama and his treasury Secretary who
doesn't even know how to pay his own taxes figure that out and
get the hell out of the way, the better for America.

I Don't Want So Much Debt Passed Onto Future Generations

2009-02-26T21:28:00.000-08:00

Today, President Barack Obama released his over 3 trillion dollar Federal
budget. Among many things which this budget does is to increase the size of
the Federal deficit to from 1.2 trillion to 1.75 trillion dollars depending
on which news source you believe.

1.2 or 1.75 trillion, it's still too much. While the Federal Government
continues to spend spend spend, future generations like my nephews and
nieces will be left to pay the bill. And, the budget released doesn't even
begin to tackle the ticking time bomb, entitlement spending which is
spiraling out of control.

I'm not a Government budget forecaster and I am thankful I do not have to
make the tough decisions that have to be made, but they do. For starters,
we have to spend some money to help our economy and to fight the wars our
country is engaged in with troops on the ground. Beyond that, we need to
get our Federal fiscal house in order. Neither me nor anyone reading this
would be able to spend money we do not have. Why should the Government be
able to do this, particularly when the money they are spending is yours and
my tax money?

We've got problems economically, but we can't grow our Government to get out
of them. Doesn't anyone read history? Japan went through the Lost Decade
trying to grow itself out of economic problems. I shudder when I think of
what debt future generations, including my nieces and nephews will have to
pay off, debt that we, irresponsibly, left behind.

A Call To Action for Blind People Everywhere

2009-02-25T20:49:00.000-08:00

I can't stress enough how important it is for everyone to read this and take action, SOON!!!
Currently in Congress, there is legislation called the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act, bill number: HR734. This legislation calls on the Secretary of Transportation, who by the way is former Illinois 18th District Representative Ray Lahood, to conduct research on an appropriate sound standard so that we who are blind as well as other pedestrians will be able to hear quiet cars. The Secretary has up to two years to come up with a standard and begin to implement it.

Put much simpler, this legislation will save lives! Many reaing this have seen quiet cars demonstrated. If the fact that you cannot hear these cars either when they are stopped or operating at low speed doesn't strike fear into your heart as someone who is blind, as it does me, I don't know what will! Our very ability to continue to travel independently is threatened by quiet cars.

But, each of us can begin to do something about it. Contact your Congressional representative's office and ask that they sign onto HR734 as a co-sponsor. When you contact your representative, you need to personalize the issue. Talk about how you travel to and from work or other places and how you use audible traffic cues to cross streets. It would not hurt to mention that this legislation is supported by both ACB and NFB. Tell your representative that if HR734 is not passed, you may be forced to use paratransit if that option is available to you, which costs far more to provide than does fixed route transit.

Don't just call one time and forget it. I would suggest you call every two weeks until they sign onto HR734. After they sign on, thank them. Don't worry about bugging these folks, remember, they are elected by us and they work for us! If your representative is at home, either arrange to meet with them at their district office or attend any town hall meetings they may have in your area. We only have a total of 62 co-sponsors at this writing on HR734. We need many more. If we get to 100, this triggers a subcommittee hearing. While sometimes we hear about legislation and wonder how we are affected, it cannot be more clear how we are affected by HR734.

Currently, there is no companion bill in the United States Senate to HR734. When we get this bill through the House or if a companion bill is introduced in the Senate, Iwill keep you informed. You can keep watch on the progress of HR734 by visiting thomas.loc.gov or by contacting your representative's office.