Saturday, June 26, 2010

Caveat Lectores’ Other Idea about the Government Funding Crisis

OK, so last week's idea about raising taxes to cover the cost of government services was not a big seller. I have more great ideas.

Stop providing so much unneeded service: Most government services are expensive and not really necessary. If the tea baggers and right wing nuts want to limit government to colonial times, fine. Let’s do it and really save some coin of the realm.

After 37 years involvement with the fire/rescue service, I claim expert status. I will confine my comments to fire/rescue, but my ideas have value in every segment of wasteful government spending. Let me tell you there is some real money to save with revolutionary retro thinking about the redundant, superfluous, unneeded and unnecessary services provided by greedy firefighters, and there is a basis for this in history.

• Disband the paid fire departments altogether and let “real men” do it for free just like the old days the tea baggers crave to recreate. Washington and Jefferson (head bowed, hand over heart in reverence) were volunteer firefighters back in the day in Alexandria, Virginia at Fire House #1. Less than 300,000 of the 800,000 firefighters in this country are paid anything at all. Guys like to hang around a fire house. Just leave the doors open and watch the “vols” show up when the fire alarm sounds.

• In densely populated urban areas where volunteer firefighters may not be reliable, let the insurance companies pay for the firefighters to put out the fires like the good ol’ days. Most buildings are insured. If the owners and insurance companies care that much about their buildings they can hire their own firefighters.

Little known secret factoid #1: All fires are fuel limited. Almost all fires will eventually burn themselves out without causing a conflagration that destroys an entire city. The propaganda put out by the firefighters about catastrophe is just scare tactics. Burning old homes makes for jobs to build new homes. As long as it is not your house, who cares?

Little known secret factoid #2: Most people who die in fires are old or sick already and were going to do soon anyway. An early demise saves on taxes and related healthcare costs. They usually do not really burn to death but are asphyxiated by the smoke. If a building burns down with them in it, think of it as free cremation. A burning house makes for one extraordinary and scintillating funeral pyre. Have you ever seen the way people congregate when a building burns in their neighborhood? Charge admission and turn it into a profit making operation. Lots of ways to save money here. As long as it is not you or your family, who cares?

Little known secret factoid #3: Emergency medical service consumes most fire/rescue resources but is a scam to keep firefighters on the payroll that provides no real service to society. Again, most of the people EMS serves are old, sickly and too poor to provide meaningful value to society. They are going to die anyway. Why do we use up so many tax and insurance dollars trying to save them? Death is inevitable for us all. Some just die sooner than others. Why do we insist on prolonging their suffering at the expense of the taxpayers? Our forefathers never heard of resuscitating a heart attack victim. There were no automobile accidents in the 18th century when our forefathers created this wonderful country. Let’s go back to a time when everything was wonderful. If you are in an accident that could kill you, isn’t it God’s will? The first ambulance services were often operated by the funeral parlors. Let’s cut out the middle man and recreate the old days. As long as it is not you or your family, who cares?

Caveat Lectores’ revolutionary ideas can apply to most government service. The amount of money to be saved is unfathomable. As long as it is not you or your family, who cares?

OMG!! My tongue is stuck in my cheek. Maybe I should call 911.

And Oh yes, Have a nice Day?

Wjc
Caveat Lectores by Jeff Carnes
6000 Readers in 390 Cities, 41 States and 15 Countries
Read at your own risk.
You may learn something you did not want to know
about political and labor relations complications that affect ALL
Public Employees: Firefighters, Paramedics, Law Enforcement,
General Employees and Teachers.
Lectores Labor Consulting 813-240-8165
LectoresIT.com
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Sunday, June 20, 2010

Caveat Lectores on Glenn Beck’s Dark Past by John Avlon

No silly, the Lector is not commenting on Glenn Beck’s younger years. I am referring readers to a book and website below that reviews a new book about the loveable teddy bear of a guy known as Glenn Beck.

The introduction to the article states, “Before CPAC tapped him for its keynote address, the Fox host's history was riddled with drugs and mental illness. John Avlon—author of Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe Is Hijacking America, available now from Beast Books—on how Beck became the Pied Piper of the right for the angry and disenfranchised.” http://current.com/1e2ss4c I will also suggest but not recommend The Overton Window, Beck’s new book for another look into the mind of the mindless.

Even though I get annoyed to the point of nearly stroking out each time I encounter him, I have always suspected Beck was nothing more than an entertainer who had found his shtick by condemning all things not right wing. The problem I had with him was that his loyal followers tend to believe what he says as if he speaks in tongues of a messianic prophesy.

The books mentioned above confirm my suspicions. He is probably just another non-believing charlatan profiting off ignorance and fear. He can get a crowd roused to a fever pitch quicker than Brothers Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart on the same stage. He is right up there with Daddy Grace and Reverend Ike, as well. The right wing-nuts and tea baggers would disagree. White supremacists would disagree publicly but privately would not care what he believes so long as he helps their cause. And that he does rather well.

Maybe I am more disturbed that Fox would place him in the spotlight although Fox is out there to make money, and he surely helps them do that. British Petroleum and Halliburton were just trying to make some coin when they caused that little oil leak in the Gulf. How can a corporation cause any real harm? It is all harmless fun or is it?

The good news is that his past tells me he will flame out one day and cause embarrassment to some; relief to others. He is too intense to stay on the edge long. Social comedians Richard Prior and Lenny Bruce let their edginess consume them. They were way out there and offensive to many but not harmful. Beck spreads hate. Hate is harmful. Maybe he just needs to attend a Devil’s Neck Kumbaya Retreat.

I do not wish him harm, but it would be nice to see the smoke and flames sooner than later because he really does incite an ever growing cadre of ill informed persons( I am being nice here) who actually can vote and might start one day. They can reproduce as well and uniformly oppose freedom of choice for women. Beck and I think it was Rush Limbaugh packed the USF SunDome in Tampa a few months back. I could not attend because it conflicted with an Ethics Class I teach at the same location. Otherwise, I may have boycotted the spectacle as an exercise in ethical conduct.

And oh yes, have a nice Day?

wjc


Caveat Lectores on the Firefighter Family

Brothers and Sisters,

FYI: What you should know about Denver Fire Department IAFF Local 858 and what they did for our Fallen Brother:

When Billy was first flown to the Trauma Center in Denver our guys out there couldn’t immediately travel the 160 miles to be with him due to the weather. When Local 858 President Pat Rhoades was notified of this situation he contacted his guys at the closet station to the hospital and sent an Engine Company to the Hospital to stay with Billy until our guys arrived some 12 hours later. By the time our guys arrived in Denver the next afternoon Local 858 had arranged hotels and a rental car for their use. Their members picked up Billy’s family from the airport when they arrived, took them to and from the hospital, took our guys and Billy’s family to dinner each night and made sure they had everything they needed while other Local 858members continued to take turns standing with them all at the hospital every day that Billy was there.

When it was time to bring Billy home they treated him as one of their own with the respect and honor he deserved. The Colorado Professional Firefighters sent out a request for all affiliates to show respect for Billy by placing an apparatus in the procession that would take Billy to the Airport. In less than 24 hours Denver FD had organized a full FD procession from the funeral home to the airport:

At 4am on the morning of June 19, DFD Local 858 Pres. Pat Rhoades picked up Billy's brother and myself to assist us in bringing Billy home. We were taken from the hotel to a downtown Denver firehouse where we met up with the oncoming crew how had come in early to ride in the procession with us. We left the firehouse in a Heavy Rescue Fire apparatus escorted by all 4 firefighters and headed to the funeral home to escort Billy to DIA. In the true tradition of a Firefighter funeral we were taken past the downtown firehouses where the trucks were out on the aprons with the lights on and FFs in Class “A”s stood at attention saluting. When we arrived at the funeral home we were met by numerous other uniformed Denver Firefighters, Company Officers and Chiefs along with off duty personnel, (all of whom joined the procession in fire apparatus, POVs and on motorcycles). Four uniformed Denver firefighters assisted President Rhoades and myself as Pallbearers as the rest of Billy’s uniformed Brothers from Denver stood at attention. As the procession left the funeral home at 5am [with a motorcade escort provided by Denver PD] two fire apparatus flanked the driveway facing nose to nose while Denver Firefighters stood at attention and saluted as the procession passed between the vehicles. When the hour long procession arrived at DIA the Airport FFs where standing by at attention beside their apparatus in Class A uniforms saluting. The procession split at this point and the fire apparatus carrying Billy's brother and myself headed to the terminal, the Hurst and all the POVs and motorcycles turned off and took Billy to the secured area where he would be placed on a flight home.

It did not matter to them that Billy was not from Denver FD. It did not matter to them that they had never met Billy before. It did not matter to them that it was 4am in the morning. All that mattered to them was that Billy was a Brother Firefighter, he was in their City and they could help.

What it felt like to see this type of support for our Fallen Brother and his family is something that cannot be put into words, but it is something I will forever remember. Quite simply “they got it right” and hopefully if we are ever faced with a similar situation will we all strive to reach and maintain the level of Brotherhood that Local 858 exemplified.

President Rhoades and Todd Revious from Local 858 will be in Ft Lauderdale Tuesday through Thursday to attend Billy's services, please take a minute to thank them in person for all they have done.

Sincerely,
Debbie Rittinghouse
Secretary Local 4321

Billy Carr was a 30 firefighter and union leader who died recently when struck by lightning during a trip out west to visit the Fallen Firefighters Memorial. Being a member of the brother and sisterhood is part of the reason why firefighters run into burning buildings when all others are running out. It is what they do when others need help. If this did not bring a tear to your eye, you know you are not a firefighter.

wjc


Caveat Lectores Solves the Local Government Funding Problem

Caveat Lectores has two novel and heretofore unused ideas about how to handle the budget shortfalls that have seemingly paralyzed local government. It is so simple I do not know why someone other than the likes of me did not think of it sooner. Here it comes. Are you ready?

Idea Number One: Raise taxes. The elected politicians AND the tax payers should grow up and realize that there is a charge for services in our country. It does not matter who provides the service... somebody has to pay.

• If government provides the service, it is a tax even though we use words like user fees, license fees, monitoring fees, service fees, admission fees. You get the idea.
• If the private sector provides the service, we call it anything but a tax.
• We still pay.

The elected officials, with the help of the professional managers they employ, should decide, based on the perceived desires of the public at large, which services at what level of service to provide. Make that decision THEN figure out how much it will cost and charge the public. I know you have to balance anticipated income with anticipated outflow, but the decisions should be service driven not income driven.

What is actually happening is that government managers and politicians are still trying to figure out how much money they will have to spend before they decide how to spend it. If they do not have enough money coming in, only then do they start to cut services, expenses and lay off employees. This is not leadership. It is management by default based on how much we give them to spend. A public manager would call my scheme naïve, amateurish and logistically impossible to implement, but my premise that the service provision decisions are based on available funding is correct.

The right wing anti government forces want to “starve the beast” by denying government the resources to operate. I say figure out what needs to be done and send the bill to the users of the services which is everybody. Right wingers and tea baggers need to be put in their place. I have not determined where that place would be. Left wingers who think government is the supplier of all societal needs could be sent to the same place as the others.

Step up to the pump and do your jobs you weaseling wimps. We call that decision making leadership where I come from. Raise taxes in an appropriate format to serve the greater good and show you have some COURAGE.

What has happened, at least in Florida, is that a right wing anti-government element of the rePuPlican party started a successful rumor campaign that taxes were too high. Naturally, the public went along with that. Never mind that Florida is one of the lowest taxed states filled with cheap tightwads who want someone else to pay the tab for services they use. There was no concerted public outcry about taxes until the anti-government policy wonks started beating the drums for Tax Reform. Now we have tea baggers who have stumbled into the fray, as well.

The right wing cannot exist without the help of the people they are trying to assert power over. Surely, if the public knew how at risk they are they would run in the other direction. "...la plus belle des ruses du diable est de vous persuader qu'il n'existe pas!"

(Verbal Kint AKA Keyser Soze was not the first to tell the world “…the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist.” Google: Charles Baudelaire and see what I mean.)

Idea Number Two: See Idea Number One.

Lest we forget the reason why government has historically provided services is that private enterprise would not provide the services to all in a democratic manner, government’s purpose is not to tax or to provide jobs but to provide service not provided elsewhere in the economy. The jobs part comes when we have to hire people to provide the service. The taxation part comes from the need to pay those who provide the service. The private sector only wants back in the mix when there is a belief they can profit off something they once did not want to unprofitably provide. Letting the private for profit companies cherry pick what is convenient and profitable does not provide for democratic or consistent service to the public. Government is supposed to add to the stability of a society.

We call these services essential services, and they provide for a democratic quality of life for all citizens. Along the way, government sometimes adds a few services to the list of absolutely essential services, but that is the way it works.
Wealthier people, who should under all circumstances pay the most in taxes, are typically not as interested in certain social services as they are those services that directly benefit them. Poor people have a different set of needs than the rich; and the middle class, which should make up the majority, are kind of stuck between the two polarized factions; so we have a constant conflict about which services to provide to whom. The debate should be over which services government should provide and how to tax whom not how to avoid taxes altogether.

The richest have more resources and use much more government resources than they will admit. The poorest use a lot of resources too but have the least to spend. All should bear an appropriate share of the burden. Oh yeah, there is that disengaged middle class in between who want to be satisfied as well but sit back and watch while they get screwed then complain. Maybe that is why I preach to my flock about getting involved with the political process or accept getting screwed. BOHICA

And Oh yes, Have a nice day.

Wjc

Caveat Lectores by Jeff Carnes
Read at your own risk.
You may learn something you did not want to know
about political and labor relations complications that affect ALL
Public Employees: Firefighters, Paramedics, Law Enforcement,
General Employees and Teachers.
Lectores Labor Consulting 813-240-8165
LectoresIT.com
Caveat Lectores
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Saturday, June 19, 2010

Caveat Lectores on the Reality of Public Sector Employment

After drafting the previous Rant, I decided to do a little research on the Internet about public sector work and the unions that represent public sector workers. I searched for “public employee unions” on YouTube to see what would come up.

The reality, as found in my search, is that it seems the entire media and right wing conservative world is out to destroy the livelihood and future of public employees which make up the bulk of the middle class who really support the economy. Is this an overstatement? Maybe, but not by much. If you want to know exactly what they are saying about you, you will have to go to the YouTube search described above because I am not going to copy and paste for you. What is out there is dismal. I will provide a summary and a few examples, however.

The videos that condemn public sector workers and their unions run about 4 to 1 over positive messages. The negative messages, of which Fox News leads the pack, are vicious and filled with lies and half truths at best used to condemn all public employees as if all are gluttons feeding at the public trough thus leading to the absolute and total annihilation of America’s god fearing, hard working non-union private sector workers and otherwise generous and fully ethical corporate America whose whole purpose is to provide good paying jobs BUT FOR the greedy firefighters, teachers, cops and other public employee miscreants who do nothing but wait on the opportunity to retire to a lavish pension all at the expense of the innocent taxpayer. Wow, that was a headful of words. Sentences come out like that when I am pissed beyond reason.

The laser beam death ray is now focused on you the public sector worker because corporate America and the right wingers have largely won the war against so much of the private sector unions and the privates sector workers in this country.

I do not want to sound like a perpetually looped recording here, but some names and organizations are consistently present in the condemnation of public employees. Here are a few: John Stossel from Fox News, Reason TV, Conservative News Media, Glenn Beck Show on Fox News. Oh but yes, I must not forget Newt Gingrich and CPAC. (The web addresses are below in case the hyperlinks do not attach properly.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BduQxAugn4c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LWNTUK8KtA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Piz6uvaReiE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNUKj7i2734
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InyiaI3mmO0

The terms, rePuPlican, right wing conservative, tea baggers and wealthy elitists who prey on ignorant dumb fucks, came to mind when I surveyed who was spreading the lies. None of these jerks are middle class working people. They put forth lies as if true and are not held accountable by their viewers because their viewers are too self-absorbed or truly uninformed to realize the ruling class is encouraging the victims to drink the right wing Kool-Aid.

We, on the union side of things, do not like to admit this, but a major part of the working class, who make up the bulk of union membership and all of public employment, wants to pretend that, if we emulate the wealthy and powerful, we will be absorbed into the group. Bullshit! Trickledown economics did not work for Reagan’s sycophants, and it will not work for the tea baggers either.

Middle class and working class are terms that some people want to avoid so as not to have it applied to them but as long as we work for a paycheck or live off a pension, we are middle class at best. What is wrong with being prosperous and middle class…NOTHING. Get over it. Any union member, public employee or working person who provides aid and assistance to someone who advocates against his/her own self interests is a traitor to himself. Oops, I hope I did not hurt anyone’s sensitive feelings.

And oh yes, have a Nice Day?

wjc
Caveat Lectores by Jeff Carnes
6000 Readers in 448 Cities, 43 States and 15 Countries
Read at your own risk.

You may learn something you did not want to know
about political and labor relations complications that affect ALL
Public Employees: Firefighters, Paramedics, Law Enforcement,
General Employees and Teachers.
Lectores Labor Consulting 813-240-8165
LectoresIT.com
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Caveat Lectores on: Looking for the Playbook

You might ask. What the f*ck is Caveat Lectores talking about?

Well, here is what I am talking about. I am looking for the playbook that exists out in the nether world that is in the hands of management, right wing politicians and the news media for how to attack public employees. There is one out there. I just cannot find it.

Remember, just because I am paranoid does not mean they are not out to get you.

This playbook tells THEM all the ways to undermine the value and credibility of any public servant. It is particularly in use right now. Each day I scan hundreds of headlines. Given enough years of doing so, the patterns clearly materialize.

I will list some of the obvious methods below, but I am still looking for that book. It’s out there.

• Make inaccurate comparisons of public and private sector wages. Ignore decades of low wages for public employees. Ignore the statistical evidence that state and local employees are still underpaid in relation to the private sector for comparable jobs and education levels.
• Do anything possible to undervalue the work that fire/rescue, police, teachers… any public servant performs. Make these jobs seem irrelevant to the lives of the tax payer.
• Constantly suggest for profit companies can and will do it cheaper and better by denying the employees fair pay and benefits. Make treating public employees like third world workers attractive.
• Remind the public daily that public employees still have real pensions and most private sector employees do not. Ignore the fact that chronic underfunding has a lot to do with pension deficits.
• Make it seem like they coerced management to offer any benefits at all.
• Remind the public daily that a large percentage of public employees are represented by unions and collectively bargain where it is legal. Be sure to connect the dots between organized labor and greater cost to the innocent tax payer.
• Constantly make the argument that the right to bargain is un-American.
• Make it seem un-American for public employees to participate in the political process.
• Make sure to use words like “union boss” and “power grab” and “corrupt” regularly.
• Never fail to capitalize on negative media exposure anytime a public employee is accused of anything illegal no matter how trivial. Preface any news statement with, “a local firefighter __________ was accused of….” or better yet “_____________, a local police union leader has been charged with….” Be sure to include the mug shot when a public employee is charged with DUI. Be there for the “Perp walk” when a teacher is charged with something tantalizing.
• Constantly remind the public that most of a local government budget is made up of employee salaries and benefits; therefore, it is the greedy public employee who “demands” payment for services rendered who is causing taxes to be so high.
• Make it seem like paying any tax at all is a waste of money.

As I have suggested so many times before, BOHICA.

And Oh yes, Have a nice day?

Wjc
Caveat Lectores by Jeff Carnes
Read at your own risk.
You may learn something you did not want to know
about political and labor relations complications that affect ALL
Public Employees: Firefighters, Paramedics, Law Enforcement,
General Employees and Teachers.
Lectores Labor Consulting 813-240-8165
LectoresIT.com
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Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Caveat Lectores on Petrofacts and Fiction in the Gulf of Mexico

The Lector thought it might be helpful to accumulate some facts and correct some fictitious facts that are being slung like oil sludge off a Pelican’s ass.

Here goes…hold on:

• Who caused this mess? British Petroleum(65% owner), Halliburton (Supplier and contractor who laid cement at the well head), Anadarko (25% owner), Cameron International, Mitsui Oil Exploration (10% owner), Transocean (owners of rig), MI Swaco (mud engineering contractor), Weatherford (Subcontractor on Deepwater Horizon), Minerals and Management Service. (Federal Agency responsible for oversight) and each one of us who was so interested in cheap gasoline for our death buggies that we did not question what could happen if, after drilling a hole in the bottom of the pool, there might be a leak. WE ARE SCREWED. Even after we decide who is responsible, they will never pay the total cost. Are you nutz? This will never be fixed as if it did not happen. And there will be less gasoline for us to buy cheaply. WE ARE SCREWED.

• How big is the oil spill? First of all, it is not a leak or spill. Since we do not normally buy oil in barrels, let’s put this in terms we can understand. The fucking hole has gushed about two gazillion* quarts of oil every day since some idiot forgot to put the stopper in the hole. WE ARE SCREWED. Nobody knows how to fix it or they would have done so. You can blame whoever you wish, but WE ARE SCREWED.

Here is some interesting information I found while doing research to see how bad the gusher really is. It does not have anything to do with the gusher, but gives some information on much of the bullshit we have been ingesting for the last 40 years.**

• From 1970 to 2008, domestic oil production has consistently dwindled from 11.3 million barrels per day to 6.73.

• From 1970 to 2008, gross imports increased from 3.42 million barrels per day to 12.92.

• From 1970 to 2008, domestic oil exports increased from .26 million barrel per day to 1.80.

What this means is that in 2008, oil producing corporations exported 28% of the oil they extracted from our oil reserves. In 1970, the amount exported was 2.3%. These companies have been selling our crude oil on the world market because the price was high and they could get away with it. Who lets them get away with it? WE DO.

The rePuPlicans, Tea Baggers, Palinites and other hypocrital patriots, who wrap themselves in the American flag, want to Drill Baby Drill in the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska and other environmentally sensitive lands so their friends can sell our oil on the open market. Imagine that.

Who is the biggest shareholder of BP? It is hard to tell because so many stockholders have been selling off the stock, but Calpers, the Teacher Retirement System of Texas and Ohio Public Employees Retirement System have retained their holdings even with the huge losses. Remember, these public pension funds are wanting to self destruct because of losses they cannot afford to makeup. BOHICA

Maybe I am just cynical. The energy corporations are really my friends and I have it all wrong.

*A gazillion is 48 million shit loads measured in dookygrams.
** Bureau of Transportation Statistics: Overview of U.S. Petroleum Production. Look it up if you do not believe me.

And oh yes, Have a nice Day?

wjc

Caveat Lectores by Jeff Carnes
600 Readers in 390 Cities, 41 States and 15 Countries
Read at your own risk.
You may learn something you did not want to know
about political and labor relations complications that affect ALL
Public Employees: Firefighters, Paramedics, Law Enforcement,
General Employees and Teachers.
Lectores Labor Consulting 813-240-8165

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Saturday, June 12, 2010

Caveat Lectores on Whipping Boys and Easy Targets

“Spurred by state budget crunches and an angry public mood, Republican and some Democratic leaders are focusing with increasing intensity on public workers and the unions that represent them, casting them as overpaid obstacles to good government and demanding cuts in their often-generous benefits.

Unlike past battles over the high cost of labor, this time pitched battles over wages and pensions are being waged from Sacramento to Springfield to New York City and the conflict is marked by its bipartisan tone, with public employee unions emerging as an intransigent public enemy number one in cities and state capitals across the country.

They're the whipping boys for a new generation of governors who, thanks to a tanking economy and an assist from editorial boards, feel freer than ever to make political targets out of what was once a protected liberal class of teachers, cops, and other public servants.”

MAGGIE HABERMAN & BEN SMITH | 6/6/10 7:03 PM EDT
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38183.html#ixzz0qBnfpUnR

This travesty occurs all over our country each day as the media and the politicians, the enemies of public service and even the public employees themselves make a mockery of the value of public employees to the citizens.

Now that the private sector middle class working man and woman have been tamed to the point of submission, so too must the public employee be destroyed. The last vestige of a successful middle class resides in the public sector workers and their unions. There is a class war going on that will have a greater effect on the American public than any conflict in the last fifty years.

BOHICA

And Oh yes, Have a nice day?

wjc

Caveat Lectores by Jeff Carnes

Read at your own risk.
You may learn something you did not want to know
about political and labor relations complications that affect ALL
Public Employees: Firefighters, Paramedics, Law Enforcement,
General Employees and Teachers.
Lectores Labor Consulting 813-240-8165
LectoresIT.com
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Sunday, June 6, 2010

Caveat Lectores Report on the Florida Professional Firefighters Convention

The Lector attended and participated in the FPF Convention in Orlando this week. There was a changing of the guard. Bob Carver has retired after 30 years service to the FPF with Gary Rainey taking over the helm as President without a challenger. Walter Dix won the race for Vice-president. It will be very interesting to see what the new leadership does as it faces the many challenges of the upcoming years. The enemies of public safety and organized labor will be sure to take notice of the change and use it to their advantage, if possible.

I did not hear a final number of attendees, but it seems like more firefighters were present than ever before. Anyone who skipped the event missed out on a lot of internal politicking and education for the younger and as well as more experienced delegates.

This year, the delegates had many educational opportunities. The FPF allows people like me to conduct seminars to increase member knowledge on all kinds of topics.

There are three types of seminars:
• Increase basic competency at the union steward level;
• Increase opportunities for success at the leadership level; and
• Proprietary seminars selling products or services.

All are relevant to the problems we face and provide value to the members for the time spent.

I have participated extensively over the years with the first two types of seminars. The seminars on basic union steward competency are the most well attended because they provide information that can bring immediate rewards. The seminars that add to leadership skills are well attended but less so because the fledgling leaders frequently do not fully understand their long range significance. Such is the way of the world of labor unions. All public sector unions have the same issues.

The leadership seminars tend to focus on “politics.” Over the years, the Lector has divided “politics” into three separate but dovetailed facets as follows:
• Public Relations;
• Political Action;
• Lobbying.

This year there were individual seminars on each of these topics. I was able to attend or participate in all three, and they were very relevant to the challenges that face public employees.

The PowerPoint Lobbying School program and handbook for the Political Action Seminar from Lectores Labor Consulting is available without charge for FPF members. Just call or email Daniel Eger, and he will forward the entire package to you ASAP.

And Oh yes, have a Nice Day?

wjc
Caveat Lectores by Jeff Carnes
600 Readers in 390 Cities, 41 States and 15 Countries
Read at your own risk.
You may learn something you did not want to know
about political and labor relations complications that affect ALL
Public Employees: Firefighters, Paramedics, Law Enforcement,
General Employees and Teachers.
Lectores Labor Consulting 813-240-8165
LectoresIT.com
Caveat Lectores blog
Caveat Lectores on Facebook



Saturday, June 5, 2010

Caveat Lectores on South Carolina Style Bigotry

I will not brand South Carolina with racial bigotry in general, but there are a few people living there who have some issues.

“On an Internet political talk show, GOP state Sen. Jake Knotts on Thursday called state Rep. Nikki Haley, a gubernatorial candidate, a "raghead" -- a slur used against Arabs or other ethnic groups who wear turbans -- and talked about Haley's family and her parents' religion.”

What he actually said is reported to be…"We already got one raghead in the White House. We don't need another in the governor's mansion." http://www.thestate.com/2010/06/03/1315978/knotts-uses-slur-to-describe-haley.html

Now do not get me wrong here, there is very little chance that Representative Haley and the Lector have anything in common politically. I am not supporting her. She is apparently very conservative and the candidates for governor seem to be trying to determine who has more right wing tendencies. That is much like trying to decide who is more stupid… Bevis or Butthead.

She is also being attacked because allegedly likes to lift her skirt occasionally, if you know what I mean. There are some guys who claim to have had sexual congress with her out of wedlock. Who knows, maybe she is a Tea Bagger. Former Governor Sarah Palin endorses her. We all know about Palin’s support for Tea Baggers.

This whole sex thing reminds me of Strom Thurmond who was alleged after his death to have fathered a child with his black maid. Apparently, there is nothing wrong in South Carolina for the whites to spend some quality time with the “darkies.” The men are bragging and the women denying. Oops, I may have offended someone’s Southern sensitivity.

Racial and ethnic hatred is a fact of life in my world. America has a long and storied history of all kinds of things of which we should not take pride. There comes a time when those elected to serve the rest of us should take the lead in growing up. Apparently, Senator Knotts never graduated the eighth grade. His defense is that he was trying to mimic a comedian from Saturday Night Live. Maybe he should leave the low brow comedy routines to someone who is not an elected public servant.

And Oh yes, Have a Nice Day?

wjc

Caveat Lectores by Jeff Carnes
600 Readers in 390 Cities, 41 States and 15 Countries
Read at your own risk.
You may learn something you did not want to know
about political and labor relations complications that affect ALL
Public Employees: Firefighters, Paramedics, Law Enforcement,
General Employees and Teachers.
Lectores Labor Consulting 813-240-8165
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Friday, June 4, 2010

Caveat Lectores on Glenn Beck

I am weary of Jon Stewart bashing Glenn Beck so frequently.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/04/stewart-slams-glenn-beck_n_600486.html

It is not fair. Beck is just another comedian doing his shtick not unlike Stewart, Dennis Miller, Lewis Black, Ron White and so many others who discuss the absurd. He does not really mean what he says. He is harmless flotsam in the garbage pail of life.

The problem is that there are so many ignorant dumbasses who take what he says seriously. Oops, did I just insult the Tea Baggers, right wingers and Palinites.

Oh well….. Have a nice Day?

wjc
Caveat Lectores by Jeff Carnes
600 Readers in 390 Cities, 41 States and 15 Countries
Read at your own risk.
You may learn something you did not want to know
about political and labor relations complications that affect ALL
Public Employees: Firefighters, Paramedics, Law Enforcement,
General Employees and Teachers.
Lectores Labor Consulting 813-240-8165
LectoresIT.com
Caveat Lectores
Caveat Lectores on Facebook