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Did
you see that it took over six hours in delays for people in Utah to
get on a plane after the Olympics were over. How about any business
taking a person’s money, promising them a specific time to render
services and then screw everything up. Would that business survive
in the real world? It would if it’s the airline industry living
off $5 billion in taxpayer relief funds. Does that make any sense?
Gov.
Ryan is all hot at AFSCME because they refuse to submit to a year’s
freeze on wages that would help keep their own members’ jobs.
Doesn’t anyone remember that last year employees of the Capital
Area Career Center took a wage freeze to protect their jobs? Now
they are faced with a 20 percent reduction in funding that will send
many employees packing. Is the governor’s word really worth
believing?
While
we are on wages, let’s not forget that the governor, staff and
area lawmakers will get their raise of 3.8 percent this next year.
Why? They have to take it because the state constitution says they
have to. Where did this constitution come from? Mars? The one I know
about was written and is continually rewritten by these same
individuals. Just say "no" to a wage increase and repeal
the rule. Isn’t that the fair thing to do? Or am I just crazy?
How
is it that 95 Illinois communities will receive $23.5 million in
funds for water and sewer projects but Lincoln isn’t on the list?
Don’t tell me this is just going to the big boys. Have any of you
heard of just two of these towns? Alexis, Alma, Atwood, Bluford,
Buda, Colp, Gorham, Granville. Stop. That’s enough. Ninety-five
towns, counties and cities get free funding but not us. Somebody
explain this one to me please. (See http://wwww.state.il.us/PressReleases/
ShowPressRelease.cfm?SubjectID=
1&RecNum=1717)
Three
weeks ago the governor said privatization of the food industry in
state-run institutions would save the state $20 million next year.
Now the official figure is $15 million. Where did we lose $5 million
in just three weeks, and why isn’t anyone asking?
[to top of second column in this
article]
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What
about this craziness that the FDA isn’t checking on imports of
meat and poultry to the U.S. to see if they meet quality standards.
Are they waiting for "mad cow" or "crazy
chicken" to hit us before they get off their duffs and do their
job? They also fielded a yearlong trial of companies doing their
own inspections to see how that would work. The answer, according to
the GAO, is that the findings weren’t conclusive because the FDA
didn’t keep proper track of the study nor use other FDA-inspected
companies to form a comparison. Did everyone at FDA graduate from
the Cleveland school system or what?
Speaking
of the GAO. Did you know that the 2000 census came in 355 million
under the $4.5 billion budget? What happened to this money? The
Department of Commerce passed it out to other agencies that needed
more funds than Congress had appropriated for them. Our tax dollars
at work again.
Lastly,
have you noticed all the vegetarian and animal rights groups now
pushing to have their way with us? It isn’t good enough that we
carnivores live and let live with these "veggies"? Now
most of the world is supposed to be forced to give up all the foods
they like because this meager percentage of the population demand
that we sit around eating nuts and berries.
They
say they are doing it for our health. Why is it then that Americans
have a longer life span today than at anytime in the history of the
world? If meat and diary products are so bad for us, why aren’t we
all dying off at age 25 with a Big Mac and fries clutched in our
hands.
I
would never tell someone else what they can or cannot eat, so I sure
don’t appreciate them telling me. I have compromised a little
toward this tofu generation. I only eat bacon or steaks that have
come from animals that have died of natural causes or in their
sleep. Can’t we all get along? I’ll eat to that.
[Mike
Fak]
Reply to
Fak
(not for publication):
mikefak@msn.com
Response
to Fak’s commentary:
ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com
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The
Lincoln Courier has carried several articles regarding the claim by
Alderman Glenn Shelton that there is racial profiling in this
community. Alderman Verl Prather as well as Chief of Police Richard
Montcalm have taken umbrage with Shelton’s claim and show records
that they believe invalidate Alderman Shelton’s Martin Luther King
Day remarks that there is a higher rate of incidence for a black to
be pulled over than a white within the city limits.
Jeff
Nelson, managing editor of The Courier, wrote a Feb. 6 opinion piece
stating he believes that the numbers crunch showing 5 percent of the
tickets being issued to the 2 percent of the community that is
African-American backs up Shelton’s claim. The same statistics
were validated by the Lincoln Daily News in an article on the
same date. Comments by readers in letters to the editor claim police
officers have "favorite" targets as they patrol and
protect. Tough words to be written in small-town community
newspapers. Tougher decisions face us to look at the entire
situation with honesty.
I
look for numbers in a story more than anything else. Numbers, you
see, are an exact science. They never lie, they never exaggerate. A
number by its very definition is always the truth. We haven’t
heard numbers, however, in this issue. We have heard percentages,
and percentages, although a distant cousin in the world of math, are
a favorite haunt of those trying to take away the reality of
mathematics. What I mean is, if there is one incident and it
increases to two, the reality is one more such incident has
occurred. Percentagewise, however, one could say that the problem
has gone up 100 percent.
Sorry
if I’m drifting on you, but what I am saying is that I want
numbers, not percentages, before I pass judgment either way on the
issue. What is 5 percent, and of what? What is 2 percent? I need
those facts to sort out my opinion.
And
still, after my queries are answered, I believe we need to look past
Shelton and the police force and look at ourselves.
Being
an officer of the law isn’t a very easy task, especially in a
small town. Stop someone and issue them a citation, and immediately
you are in the doghouse with that person, their family, their
friends. Remain on the force for several years and those
animosities, justified or not, can build.
I
got nailed for $75 a few years ago by a young cop for not having my
seatbelt on. Was I, in fact, guilty? I was. But I still grumble
under my breath when I see that patrolman drive by in his squad car.
Was the cost of the infraction his fault or mine? Now that the check
has cleared and time has healed the financial wound, I can admit the
fault was mine.
[to top of second column in this
article]
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I
was once profiled. As a 21-year-old I was thrown against a car,
frisked and nearly hauled off to jail because I and my rusty old
"tater" car were in the affluent suburb of Forest Hills at
2 a.m. Did I look suspicious? Probably. Would I, if I had been in
those policemen’s shoes, decide to check me out as well? Again,
probably. Did the fact four squad cars pinned me against the curb,
frisked me and scattered all the papers in the car about tell me
they were overreacting? Still another probably. It took many years
for that night to slip off the front page in my memory. Maybe I have
gotten mellow in my later years.
Today,
more than ever, I realize that the moment you place that police
shield on your chest doesn’t automatically remove a person from
being a member of the human race, complete with strengths and
weaknesses.
It
seems that the issue of community bias is falling squarely on the
Police Department, and I find that unfortunate. I had the pleasure
of being police and fire commissioner 13 years ago when Chief
Montcalm tested for the force. Through the years in all my
conversations with him, I have never heard a single slur nor
disparaging remark come from his lips against anyone due to their
race, religion or personal lifestyle. To be honest, I can say that
of very few of us, including myself, in this community. The cops I
personally know are good people trying to do a job without having
their personal lives disrupted by those of us who cannot separate
their being a cop from the individuals they are.
I
know Reverend Shelton and have always found him to be an honest,
forthright individual with a wonderful sense of self as well as an
engaging sense of humor. I cannot for a moment believe he has not
measured every public comment he has made on this issue.
And
so where are we? We are, of course, where every small American town
is in these days we live in. We have biases against people of other
races. We find those of another religion or lifestyle or handicap
too different to not find a moment to tell and laugh at a joke told
at their expense. We even look down on others because they are less
affluent or more wealthy than we are.
We
are so much better than we were 50 years ago as an
"accepting" nation, but again let’s be honest. We are
still a very long way from needing to go to a trophy store and
buying ourselves plaques commemorating our humanity.
Bias
in Lincoln? How about everywhere in this world. It’s good to talk
about it. Having Shelton or the police force solely under this
microscope just isn’t reality. Perhaps we need to take the time to
pull ourselves over and check ourselves out. No flashing lights are
needed. Just the solitude of a moment’s reflection to look within
one’s own heart.
[Mike
Fak]
Reply to
Fak
(not for publication):
mikefak@msn.com
Response
to Fak’s commentary:
ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com
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