tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49905964287934724942024-03-19T01:48:46.604-07:00Wyman on Media, New Place & LifeWyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.comBlogger63125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-53024495523587181652015-04-04T04:21:00.000-07:002015-04-04T07:48:01.648-07:00An Eyewitness View of the Crystal Lake Tornado<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdB0HV1FX-eNdW_OdYZhRNmUlCQRCsSzwJYS9926k41X1bhvWGPnWjsrC6n6UCVpp4efqmXMFhGxRGtiyLsc-i2OgnPo6-hIWXoHbeCYOBtGzJX82NZ0EPJ-MVs9l-nHCDIl-7C5lPDQW9/s1600/Crystal+Lake+Tornado.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdB0HV1FX-eNdW_OdYZhRNmUlCQRCsSzwJYS9926k41X1bhvWGPnWjsrC6n6UCVpp4efqmXMFhGxRGtiyLsc-i2OgnPo6-hIWXoHbeCYOBtGzJX82NZ0EPJ-MVs9l-nHCDIl-7C5lPDQW9/s1600/Crystal+Lake+Tornado.jpg" height="271" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The roof of the Neisner's Department Store at the Crystal Lake Plaza caved in during the April 11, 1965, Palm Sunday Tornado in Crystal Lake, Illinois.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The 50th anniversary of the Crystal Lake tornado is upon us, and those of us who lived through this devastating storm sit in wonder that 50 years have passed.<br />
<br />
A couple of weeks back, I volunteered to speak to the <i>Northwest Herald</i> reporter about being a witness to the tornado, but I never heard back from her.<br />
<br />
A story written by local historians Craig Pfannkuche and Kurt Begalka that appeared in the <i>Herald</i> on Friday, April 3rd, spelled Rae Goss's name wrong.<br />
<br />
Mr. Goss, who was killed in the tornado, had converted the upper level of a barn on his property at Cut-Off Road and Rt. 14 into a basketball court, and he allowed local boys to play there. It was sweet!<br />
<br />
On Palm Sunday, Mr. Goss shooed kids who were playing ball out of the barn just before the tornado struck. He was a hero!<br />
<br />
Some of the people quoted in Pfannkuche and Begalka's story in the <i>Herald</i> weren't even living in Crystal Lake at the time of this disaster.<br />
<br />
It's like Martians came in and rewrote the history of my home town.<br />
<br />
Time to set the record straight!<br />
<br />
Palm Sunday of 1965 was sunny, hot, and humid in the morning. My buddy Ace (Curt Esser) picked me up for Mass in his 1965 Chevrolet Impala SS convertible. The top was down on the Chevy!<br />
<br />
The weather was warm and windy one moment and cool the next. The cold air and the warm air were battling each other for supremacy that morning.<br />
<br />
Ace and I ditched Mass (me for the very first time!) and just rode around Crystal Lake enjoying the warm, humid air. It had been a long winter!<br />
<br />
Ace later picked me up again at two in the afternoon. We were eventually headed for the New Place, the teen night club on Route 31 east of Crystal Lake.<br />
<br />
We first stopped at Bob Roese's house in Coventry subdivision, and hail began falling. Time for a hail stone fight! The three of us began throwing hail stones at one another as the skies darkened and the wind began to blow. Coventry was later touched by the tornado, but not as bad as Colby's subdivision to the northeast.<br />
<br />
Because the New Place didn't open until 4:00 p.m., we went to "The Del," which was a <span class="st">delicatessen hang-out on Route 14 right across from Blanche Moan's grill at the corner of Washington St. and Virginia Street (Rt. 14).</span><br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span class="st">All of a sudden around 3:30 p.m., "The Del" lights started flickering, and the wind started blowing. As we ran to "The Del's" large window, a giantic limb from an oak tree at Blanche's Grill crashed into the middle of Virginia Street. Sheets of rain fell. There was thunder and lightning.</span><br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span class="st">About five minutes later we heard the sirens--lots of sirens. </span><br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span class="st">"Let's go," Ace said. And we hopped into the Impala and headed east on Route 14 to see what all the noise was.</span><br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span class="st">We were on the scene at Colby's before the police had cordoned off the area. Craig Knaack was a friend of mine, and I watched as rescue workers frantically tried to remove the caved in garage that had collapsed on his parents in their Harold St. home. I was standing at the intersection of Harold and Keith Avenue at the time. Craig's dad, Louie Knaack, was killed in the tornado.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="st">Jim Holter was a year behind me in school, and both his mom and dad were killed in the tornado. We couldn't get back to Holters' house on the north side of Colby's subdivision because there were so many power lines down. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="st">It was a wild scene, with the power lines down and people running around screaming. The Piggly Wiggly, where Bob Roese worked, was completely destroyed as was much of the Crystal Lake Plaza Shopping Center, including the Neisner's Department Store, which is pictured above.</span><br />
<span class="st"></span><br />
<span class="st">By this time, the weather had turned cool, and the skies had cleared. </span>
<span class="st"> </span><br />
<br />
<span class="st">The cops finally kicked us out of Colby's so we decided to follow the path of the tornado and see if it had hit the high school. We were on spring break at the time. </span><br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span class="st">There was no damage to the high school, and I remember sitting in front of the school on Franklin Street and listening to ABC News at five minutes before the hour on WLS and hearing "Crystal Lake" mentioned in the lead story. This was the first time I ever heard my hometown mentioned on a national news broadcast on radio or television. </span><br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span class="st">We picked up Zak (Jim Pietrzak) on John Street, just off of East Crystal Lake Ave., and he said that there was damage further east on Crystal Lake Ave. George Dopke's house had been devastated, and his dad severely injured.</span><br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span class="st">We then went to Orchard Acres, near the intersection of Routes 31 and 176, and saw lots of damage to the relatively new homes there.</span><br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span class="st">The tornado path continued on Rt. 176 to Island Lake, and we followed the path; however the devastation was not as severe as it had been in Crystal Lake.</span><br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span class="st">I was going to work for the City of Crystal Lake's Street Department that summer, and they called me in the next week and had me work on Saturdays till school was out cleaning up the rubble from the tornado. I then worked full-time for the city during the summer of 1965.</span><br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span class="st">As Shakespeare would say, "It was a strange-disposed time." The lives of the residents of Crystal Lake were changed on that Sunday afternoon, April 11, 1965.</span><br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span class="st">Now you have an eye-witness account from someone who was actually there! And I spelled Rae Goss's name right!</span>Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-24038345015107361022014-06-22T06:30:00.002-07:002014-06-25T09:35:47.830-07:00"Working for Peanuts Is All Very Fine . . ." If You Are a Billionaire Hedgefund Manager Who Hates Unions!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrv6cm4zfOcToSxKnQKnzl1kD7CfPjoZajUOJvpxofmYdKpT_dJSZcl0iSVgh2W3uVvm8bJz9seaHww1B8na_Io3Md_RCX13lh0M_0sXlqx3yoC-oq7jS8aW7bulzVUNAQRbSN0ajZmzwu/s1600/Radio+Announcer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrv6cm4zfOcToSxKnQKnzl1kD7CfPjoZajUOJvpxofmYdKpT_dJSZcl0iSVgh2W3uVvm8bJz9seaHww1B8na_Io3Md_RCX13lh0M_0sXlqx3yoC-oq7jS8aW7bulzVUNAQRbSN0ajZmzwu/s1600/Radio+Announcer.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You won't look this good after an eighty hour week.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
I took the plunge recently and applied for a full-time job as a sports director at an Illinois radio station.<br />
<br />
The operations director at the station called me up, and we had a nice phone interview. When we got to the end of the conversation, he sprang the salary on me.<br />
<br />
"Uh, the job only pays about $26,000 a year, Jim, but you can do radio advertising sales and earn a little extra money," the operations director told me.<br />
<br />
$26,000?! for a full-time 12 month a year job? And if this job is like other radio jobs I've had, I'd be working 60+ hours a week.<br />
<br />
Where are the labor unions when we need them?<br />
<br />
A radio station owner once told me that he had trouble competing with jobs in the public sector. "Government jobs pay too much," he said. "I can't make any money or hold on to good people. My station is a revolving door because people like you who teach school make way too much money."<br />
<br />
This from a guy who owns at least seven radio stations and who owns two houses and acres and acres of farm land.<br />
<br />
The media report regularly on the polarization of wealth in American society, and it's no joke. The good paying jobs are in the public sector. Look at all the ex-radio and newspaper people who have left the business and now work as "spokespersons" for governmental entities.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCC2ROW7rQFXHjA3jKD1F94FNWTQdYBJoguH3sPggyn4gCMe6IJHbaR2rSb8WZRdmLqVFIxyGQ3-Rh3UcfFyk75n5JWhBnaI063ak3_brdlp3MUcIfcEJfL6oJbo9rzNkzUa45lscOZ89P/s1600/Ray.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCC2ROW7rQFXHjA3jKD1F94FNWTQdYBJoguH3sPggyn4gCMe6IJHbaR2rSb8WZRdmLqVFIxyGQ3-Rh3UcfFyk75n5JWhBnaI063ak3_brdlp3MUcIfcEJfL6oJbo9rzNkzUa45lscOZ89P/s1600/Ray.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ray Hanania</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Every time there is a controversy in Cicero, I hear town spokesperson Ray Hanania, a former newspaper/radio guy on TV or radio. Hanania makes a lot more money working for Mayor Larry Dominick in Cicero than he ever did pulling a weekend shift at WLS Radio in Chicago or writing for the <i>Sun-Times</i>.<br />
<br />
When I left radio to become a teacher in 1981, the Fremd H.S. principal asked me how I could leave a career I had invested 9 1/2 years in for a job that pays less.<br />
<br />
"Pays less?" I said. "I'm getting a $4,000 a year raise coming to work for you!" He couldn't believe it.<br />
<br />
The situation is even worse today. Companies hire part-time workers in order to avoid paying benefits. Wages are low and benefits are few. A woman who was an award winning news reporter just left her radio station job because the station refused to pay her health insurance. She left for a job with a non-profit organization.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcGlzlHRPXnb8iN24m997pBEHSwGNJ5pIVbKqTds9H3_3S7_3d_i6B7SooannUEVe4IsCs7bqYBP65q6O0mhTvbUz71WM-8_qWRjDvK8-O4Q6TrVKnd9G4I2C6bb-Vbhx-tgGX4yDokJaw/s1600/ken+griffin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcGlzlHRPXnb8iN24m997pBEHSwGNJ5pIVbKqTds9H3_3S7_3d_i6B7SooannUEVe4IsCs7bqYBP65q6O0mhTvbUz71WM-8_qWRjDvK8-O4Q6TrVKnd9G4I2C6bb-Vbhx-tgGX4yDokJaw/s1600/ken+griffin.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hedge fund billionaire and union hater Ken Griffin and his wife Anne.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Meanwhile, hedge fund managers like Ken Griffin rail against public employee unions and write op-ed pieces filled with lies. In an op-ed piece in the <i>Tribune</i> last November, Griffin screamed that retired teachers get free health insurance. I sat there wondering where the $12,000 + I paid to the State of Illinois for my wife's and my health insurance went to. Maybe into Griffin's pocket!<br />
<br />
Griffin just gave $2.5 million to Republican candidate for Illinois governor Bruce Rauner, another billionaire who never misses an opportunity to bash public employee unions and teachers.<br />
<br />
You have to wonder when Griffin and Rauner will be happy. When my teacher's pension and Social Security benefits are taken away and I'm working 80 hours a week doing news, sports, sales, and programming for $26,000 a year?<br />
<br />
Nah! These greedy bastards will never be satisfied. Their greed and the greed of those billionaires in the so called "Civic Federation" know no bounds.<br />
<br />
So despite the fact that there are some warts on faces of the unions, a good union is something that helps the middle class maintain its wage structure in the face of all the anti-union negativity. When the media give Rauner and Griffin a platform to spout their anti-union venom, don't believe a word they say. They just want more money for themselves.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8fdnclifgfYjrri295wpfEg4G7nsBsFTwd8RJTa3316nTy1OWhlAEBohhshxb32p-9VucWf49IfH6T8VN0-04d4zqGMdphCthHzKxqY-rsj4rwFGYD2CcHkLsZ7ah3he5f3QXN4Bn1Byi/s1600/Dold.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8fdnclifgfYjrri295wpfEg4G7nsBsFTwd8RJTa3316nTy1OWhlAEBohhshxb32p-9VucWf49IfH6T8VN0-04d4zqGMdphCthHzKxqY-rsj4rwFGYD2CcHkLsZ7ah3he5f3QXN4Bn1Byi/s1600/Dold.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Chicago Tribune</i> editorial page editor Bruce Dold allows lies to be printed on his editorial page.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And to you media pawns like Bruce Dold, the editorial page editor of the <i>Chicago Tribune</i> who give Rauner and Griffin the platform where they can spout their lies: There's a nice warm place in hell waiting for you, buddy. You, Dold, have scared downstate women teachers who are barely scraping by, by printing lies from Griffin and Rauner.<br />
<br />
Burn in hell, liar!Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-53321124019350776222014-04-10T07:58:00.002-07:002014-04-10T09:09:00.737-07:00The Big Chill: How Noodle Spined Administrators DUMB DOWN American Education<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJTtoDJlyNt7QcO8wSG9IUmW9OUrFlur98aPfEqV4qyWRI_QXWsnQWgyHk2UrozbynoZhnpbs11LQhXN_iJZOTlj3-GyRQ19cnuhiZOW8RuaQDJiZ_kV9oZYu8mJ_uHqc2SWN3emPf6Qd4/s1600/teacher+student.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJTtoDJlyNt7QcO8wSG9IUmW9OUrFlur98aPfEqV4qyWRI_QXWsnQWgyHk2UrozbynoZhnpbs11LQhXN_iJZOTlj3-GyRQ19cnuhiZOW8RuaQDJiZ_kV9oZYu8mJ_uHqc2SWN3emPf6Qd4/s1600/teacher+student.jpg" height="319" width="320" /></a></div>
The confrontation is a classic one. Little Joanie has her seat moved in the third grade classroom because she can't keep her mouth shut and talks to her friend Ellen all the time. Mrs. Meyers, the girls' teacher, moves Joanie's seat to separate the two girls.<br />
<br />
Joanie runs home after school and tells her mom. The mother, a member of the school's parent-teacher organization, calls Mrs. Neri, the school principal, and tells Mrs. Neri that Joanie should be moved back to her original seat. The next morning Principal Neri "suggests" Mrs. Meyers return Joanie to her original seat. Mrs. Meyers complies.<br />
<br />
That afternoon Joanie and her friend Ellen chat continuously during the quiet reading period, Mrs. Meyers ignores their whispering and giggling. Mrs Meyers doesn't even look up from her book.<br />
<br />
Now Joanie feels empowered. At age nine, she has discovered that with the help of a parent and a willing administrator, a student can tell a teacher what to do.<br />
<br />
Flash forward ten years. Joanie attends the local community college. She's taking freshman composition, a required course. When Mr. Bowers, the instructor, returns Joanie's first paper, the grade is a "C." Joanie tells her classmates as she leaves Mr. Bowers' class that she is going to complain to the dean about the grade and about Mr. Bowers' teaching.<br />
<br />
Off Joanie goes to Dean Carter's office. Joanie makes an appointment, fills out the proper complaint forms, and schedules a time to seen Dean Carter in person.<br />
<br />
When Joanie and the dean meet, Joanie tells Dean Carter that <i>all </i>the students in the class object to Mr. Bowers' teaching methods. "No one likes him," Joanie tells Dean Carter. "He marks up our papers something fierce and then tells us to re-rewrite them. I don't have time for that! I'm working 30 hrs. a week!"<br />
<br />
Dean Carter tells Joanie that he will have a talk with Mr. Bowers, and he does, telling Mr. Bowers that his grading is too hard and that requiring students to rewrite essays is not part of the community college curriculum.<br />
<br />
Joanie smirks in class the next day when Mr. Bowers tells the students that they will not have to re-write their papers any longer. Joanie feels empowered, knowing that <i>she</i> is now in control of the English composition class. Her grades on her essays go up to "B's," and she wonders if she can also manipulate her "C" grade in her American history class.<br />
<br />
The next semester Mr. Bowers stops grading English papers so closely. He now uses the English Department rubric for each paper. Few, if any corrections appear on Mr. Bowers' students' papers. There are brief comments on the rubric--very brief.<br />
<br />
Mr. Bowers also stops giving grades below a "B-." He raises a grade if a student complains, and the student does not have to revise and edit the paper.<br />
<br />
The above examples show what's happening in American schools. Teachers who are tough and want their students to learn are being pushed aside in favor of those teachers who are "nice" to the students and give everyone high grades.<br />
<br />
I know one school where there used to be two or three students from each grade school class at the quarterly honor roll breakfast. Now almost every student attends. One teacher who was holding out was reprimanded by the principal for only having three students at the honor roll breakfast. "Mrs. Radke has <i>all </i>of her fourth grade students going," the principal said. "I hope next quarter you can up your student count."<br />
<br />
Ah, the velvet hammer.<br />
<br />
I'm not sure how things got this way in the short time since I left Fremd High School in 2007, but the problem is pervasive. I sat for countless hours in a dean's office at Kishwaukee College last semester because a student complained to the dean that I was censoring his journalism/newspaper stories.<br />
<br />
You know what I was doing? I was trying to figure out how to revise his sentences so that they made sense. The kid couldn't write three words without making a mistake.<br />
<br />
But this student knew he had the upper hand. He bragged at the <i>Kaleidoscope</i> editorial board meetings that he was going to meet with the president of the college because the dean wasn't moving fast enough for him.<br />
<br />
I guess it worked because I'm sitting on my butt writing this, and he's blissfully going to class at Kishwaukee bragging to his friends how he ran "the bitter old man" out.<br />
<br />
What can be done? I have no clue. I know that I'm not going back until I get a guarantee that requiring my students to write COHERENT papers will be encouraged.<br />
<br />
So the next time you hear the Chamber of Commerce or the Illinois Manufacturing Association moaning how Illinois students can't write or do math, think of little Joanie and of all the other students who now run our schools. And think too of the administrators who are empowering them.Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-81698839581963977722014-03-26T12:05:00.004-07:002014-04-11T03:38:51.563-07:00Saying Goodbye to Stupid or How a College Adjunct Got Religion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-oROmpQrNtLFOVhfC9bPbAcQ_vRL4Fc3GE6KNQhbh3txnZ8_89XRX-u85KZv_s1lR782mUdKR4CUxsMZZQNr0sjC4zBBJOoSvVlAw-QzmXTEkKFs5oUVCIANNS0ROo2Tb-jM5_6nIBdSG/s1600/Professor+Animal+House.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-oROmpQrNtLFOVhfC9bPbAcQ_vRL4Fc3GE6KNQhbh3txnZ8_89XRX-u85KZv_s1lR782mUdKR4CUxsMZZQNr0sjC4zBBJOoSvVlAw-QzmXTEkKFs5oUVCIANNS0ROo2Tb-jM5_6nIBdSG/s1600/Professor+Animal+House.jpg" height="250" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
December 17, 2013 was the day I said goodbye to stupid. I walked out of Kishwaukee College in Malta after a semester of harassment and dealing with students who could give a shit about education.<br />
<br />
One of my English Composition I classes at Kish was a late start class, meaning it began on September 23rd rather than August 29th. Only ten out of twenty-two students showed up the first day. "What's going on?" I thought to myself.<br />
<br />
<i>Two weeks later</i> three students were standing outside of my classroom as I walked in the door. "Are you Mr. Wyman?" one of them asked.<br />
<br />
"Yes I am," I replied.<br />
<br />
"I'm ______ ______, and I'm in your English class," one of the students said. The other two also introduced themselves.<br />
<br />
"No, you're not in my class," I replied. "We started class two weeks ago, and the students have done five writing assignments. You'll never catch up! Where were you?"<br />
<br />
"I had some business to take care of in the city," one of the students said.<br />
<br />
Yeah, sure you did! I had heard the stories of Chicago Public School students showing up for class in late September and the CPS push to cajole parents into getting their kids show up the day after Labor day (the traditional first day of school in the city), but this was the first time I had seen this debacle live.<br />
<br />
There's more.<br />
<br />
There was a student in my other comp. class who, according to his classmates, showed up to class every day reeking of marijuana. The class met at 2:00 p.m. I had allowed the young man to enroll in the class at the beginning of the semester even though the class was full.<br />
<br />
When it came time for the argumentative paper--the last major essay in the class--the student plagiarized the paper from the internet. I had been reading his papers all semester so the difference between his argumentative paper and the other papers he had written was glaring. I found the paper he plagiarized on the internet in five minutes. I told him he was going to fail the class.<br />
<br />
However, the student went to the dean, persuaded the dean to give him a medical withdrawal, and the student withdrew from the class with a full refund.<br />
<br />
Take that, Wyman! You lose, big boy!<br />
<br />
Then there was the student in my journalism class at Kish who went to the dean and claimed I had made racist comments about him and that I had censored his newspaper stories. The student had left us in the lurch by not completing two stories for the first issue of the school newspaper. He and the editor-in-chief, the only carry-over from a train wreck of a prior newspaper staff that simply printed college press releases the previous year, had attempted to turn the new newspaper students against me.<br />
<br />
I laughed at him. . . . at first.<br />
<br />
The dean who had hired me at Kish was on maternity leave so I had to deal with another dean who took the Hispanic student's charges seriously. All I could think of as I sat for hours in this stupid dean's office for hours was how Fremd principal Tom Howard would have thrown the kid out of his office if this had happened at Fremd High School.<br />
<br />
But this was not Fremd. This was the new world of education where students have been empowered to make-up accusations against teachers, and deans and department chairs back the students against the teachers. The teachers are wrong; the students are right in this new world!<br />
<br />
It's enough to make a teacher pick up his ball and go home. And that's what I did!<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNTBg21p5zbiOuH4T4m-T8vTm7rJDemr2WAWpxaI8ZriIlinACQ4DY9ewRWcjyQ9Y5czCViMeT4ZJEEv8Mbkw_bISjb4xdS0nX1HNAA4Ou8BdZS25w6y4l30Vehng-fD81fkc3iNrzKUzB/s1600/Garbage+can.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNTBg21p5zbiOuH4T4m-T8vTm7rJDemr2WAWpxaI8ZriIlinACQ4DY9ewRWcjyQ9Y5czCViMeT4ZJEEv8Mbkw_bISjb4xdS0nX1HNAA4Ou8BdZS25w6y4l30Vehng-fD81fkc3iNrzKUzB/s1600/Garbage+can.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
This wasn't the first time Wyman got in hot water teaching college. At Dominican University, one of my students wrote on my evaluation, "He told us we were dumber than his community college students."<br />
<br />
When the English Department chair at Dominican was prodded by the dean to confront me on the student's comment, I told him it was true.<br />
<br />
The chairman said, "Mr. Wyman, we are admitting students from Chicago into Dominican who have scores of 11 on their ACT tests. These students don't need to be told they are stupid."<br />
<br />
I guess they already know, I thought to myself.<br />
<br />
Imagine, students going to college with an ACT score of 11! Dominican has little remediation for these students, and from what I could see the college is passing them right through the English courses. Heck, the football players at Miami have to have a score of 16 on the ACT.<br />
<br />
This wasn't the same Dominican my mom had attended in 1929. "We are a Hispanic serving institution!" the dept. chair said proudly.<br />
<br />
Pick up your ball, Jim, and go home. <br />
<br />
Colleges like Kishwaukee, Dominican, and Monmouth College are struggling to find warm bodies to fill their desks. Enrollment has dropped so the schools are actively recruiting students from the City of Chicago. Lowering standards is the rule these days. I had students at Monmouth who scored 32 on the ACT and others with 12s. Imagine teaching students in that wide a range.<br />
<br />
I had one student at Monmouth who would come in for extra writing help. "You wouldn't believe how bad it is in Chicago schools, Mr. Wyman," he told me. I believe it now, Ozzie! <br />
<br />
So I'm sitting here on this cold late spring day getting all my frustration out and wondering what the hell I'm going to do with myself. The radio station gig doing basketball games in Galesburg ran out last week, and I don't think there's anyone pregnant at Fremd so I can't do a maternity leave.<br />
<br />
I guess I'll just blog.<br />
<br />
But here's a warning to all of you teachers. Be careful what you do and say in the classroom. The world of education is far different in 2014 than it was 30 or 40 years ago.<br />
<br />
Stupid has won!Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-28629118601659039152014-03-26T09:52:00.000-07:002014-03-26T09:54:12.400-07:00Teachers Unions Should Get Blame for Quinn vs. Rauner Election Campaign Fiasco<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ySSlMgCwlCukIXp8CJMHIWen2OGTuAT6nu-xjsiVhWK_ZwBNPxI7AKlnYs4te4zHGZB9928tznYUfvNgMRp273EzmyIEkOOv9GeGDzmuPmddHXYrp9OHYwY5ffipS7MQGLow8GRGH9ft/s1600/quinn+carpenter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ySSlMgCwlCukIXp8CJMHIWen2OGTuAT6nu-xjsiVhWK_ZwBNPxI7AKlnYs4te4zHGZB9928tznYUfvNgMRp273EzmyIEkOOv9GeGDzmuPmddHXYrp9OHYwY5ffipS7MQGLow8GRGH9ft/s1600/quinn+carpenter.jpg" height="265" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Illinois Governor Pat Quinn gives his victory speech at the Carpenters Union Hall.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As a member of <i>both</i> teachers unions, the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) and the Illinois Education Association (IEA), I was surprised when current Illinois Governor Pat Quinn showed up for his primary election celebration at the Carpenters Union Hall in Chicago.<br />
<br />
How could a labor union like the carpenters be endorsing a governor who supported a pension bill that screwed teachers. The IFT is part of the AFL-CIO--same as the carpenters! Shouldn't the carpenters join the teachers by opposing Quinn? <br />
<br />
Then the news came out this week that the Service Employees International Union of Illinois also endorsed Quinn.<br />
<br />
Can endorsements from the IFT and IEA be far behind?<br />
<br />
Shouldn't these unions dump Quinn for his support of Speaker Mike Madigan's pension bill which royally screwed downstate and suburban teachers?<br />
<br />
The wife and I crossed over in the primary, asked for Republican ballots, and voted for Kirk Dillard, the former WIU frat boy. I was holding my nose the entire time I was in the polling booth!<br />
<br />
As most readers know, the two teachers unions endorsed frat boy Dillard despite the fact that he is anti-gay marriage, pro-life, and pro-gun. The ads running on downstate radio stations trumpeted Dillard's stance on all these issues, never mentioning the union support or Dillard's "no" vote on Quinn's pension bill.<br />
<br />
Dillard lost, but teacher support closed a 20 point gap to only three percentage points.<br />
<br />
So now we are faced with Quinn or Bruce Rauner. What a choice! <br />
<br />
I will <i>never </i>vote for Quinn or for any other politician who voted to dump the 3% cost of living adjustment for my pension. Never! I'll never vote for Rauner either.<br />
<br />
So it looks like I'm sitting this election out!<br />
<br />
Quinn will wheedle his way into the good graces of what his opponent calls the "union bosses," and teachers will crawl back and vote for the lesser of two evils. I can hear the rhetoric from the unions now: "Do you want another Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker?" "Governor Quinn believes in raising the minimum wage!" "Pat Quinn is a friend of organized labor!"<br />
<br />
Bullshit!<br />
<br />
Pat Quinn is the worst political hack in the state, and that's saying something in Illinois. I've written before about his phony populist campaigns of the 1970's when he and his entourage would arrive at the radio station in Galesburg, and the news director would literally hide in the janitor's closet so that he wouldn't have to listen to Quinn's babbling.<br />
<br />
We teachers are the ones who helped Quinn defeat Bill Brady four years ago. Quinn was running behind during the entire campaign. Brady was so confident of victory he started releasing his plans for what he was going to do in Springfield prior to election day. The polls all said Quinn was toast.<br />
<br />
Then the teachers stepped up. We voted for Governor Gadfly in droves in 2008, and the thanks we got was a pension bill that makes active teachers work longer for less money and screws retirees out of their 3% annual cost of living adjustment.<br />
<br />
Who caused this mess? I blame the teachers unions.<br />
<br />
As far back as 2002, the teachers unions were supporting jailbird Rod Blagojevich in the primary because he was married to Chicago Alderman Dick Mell's daughter Patti. Mel's another political hack. The IFT and the IEA even supported Blagojevich in the 2006 election when they knew he was dirty. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIJ7fOlr-HodwJHNCsQNXFsLpFSCzjG90JbSzS41Y9QXW4Y3pLRUEtisqHoTzqvcDQqI-XloWzRGsXoYQZZQZcT_ODfW2j1yKpZNW5mx23ep6Wkl30GNBoUaXAKVpLeRJ9dsrG8L1rWlgB/s1600/Rauner+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIJ7fOlr-HodwJHNCsQNXFsLpFSCzjG90JbSzS41Y9QXW4Y3pLRUEtisqHoTzqvcDQqI-XloWzRGsXoYQZZQZcT_ODfW2j1yKpZNW5mx23ep6Wkl30GNBoUaXAKVpLeRJ9dsrG8L1rWlgB/s1600/Rauner+photo.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bruce Rauner declares victory on primary election night.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Rauner talks about the back-room deals that union leaders made with the state legislators in order to boost the union leaders' pensions. Rauner is right, and we're going to be hearing all about it during the upcoming campaign.<br />
<br />
For example, Reg Weaver, the former IEA president, gets a Illinois Teachers Retirement (TRS) pension of $242, 657 a year, according to the <i>Chicago Tribune.</i> Weaver is able to roll over his union salary into TRS. Other state union executives have subbed one day in the classroom in order to have their union salaries rolled into TRS. This is wrong!<br />
<br />
All of these examples of union leaders cozying up to Illinois legislators in order to enrich themselves will be coming your way in Rauner's TV ads. Get ready!<br />
<br />
I always thought that union officials were supposed to be workers who did the union business out of the goodness of their hearts. This obviously is not so. Cinda Clickna, current IEA president, made $197,212 during the 2012-13 school year. Clickna won't have to worry about losing her COLA with a pension like she'll have. The rest of us? We're blankin' worried!<br />
<br />
So until the teachers unions clean up their acts and put their own houses in order, I'm going back to my WIU days and proclaim myself a GDI--God Damned Independent!<br />
<br />
<br />Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-35480239197872371242013-11-30T10:12:00.002-08:002013-11-30T10:22:31.857-08:00Pension "Reform" Under Cover of a Major Holiday: Have They No Shame?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi4Btmy1Zy7t_AUDhUmL1SN2AD8ZygPn5dvW-yTivLr79uyWpm7HPR_8htf3k0yzFg0iduyKYcXiTziFi-2NCVnwJVHRatIiENbIAwSMZ1d0_hhg3ZD4Ms8tan7tqQo6YSSkC7jlw2Ie-L/s1600/Madigan+Quin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi4Btmy1Zy7t_AUDhUmL1SN2AD8ZygPn5dvW-yTivLr79uyWpm7HPR_8htf3k0yzFg0iduyKYcXiTziFi-2NCVnwJVHRatIiENbIAwSMZ1d0_hhg3ZD4Ms8tan7tqQo6YSSkC7jlw2Ie-L/s320/Madigan+Quin.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Pension Thieves:</b> Illinois Speaker of the House Mike Madigan and Governor Pat Quinn</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The Illinois State Legislature's leaders have agreed on a pension "reform" bill that is set for a rush vote next week (December 2-6).<br />
<br />
Under cover of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, these bozos aren't releasing details of their bill to the public, only to fellow legislators.<br />
<br />
These jokers are so sleazy I feel dirty just writing about them. This is the same underhanded thing they did during the Memorial Day weekend last summer.<br />
<br />
Wait till the holiday when teachers are busy and then screw them. I was on the phone calling legislators offices Black Friday morning, and what do you think I got? Ringing phones! But you know "Mr. Speaker" and "Governor Gadfly" were in touch with the legislators via cell phone.<br />
<br />
Here are some of the details about the "reform" bill that are trickling out:<br />
<br />
If you are younger than 45 years of age, you will be working longer. The retirement age will be raised.<br />
<br />
If you have one of those big District 211 salaries over $100,000, get set to see your potential pension lowered as the legislature will only figure your pension on what is believed to be $106,000. You're paying for something you will not receive. Surprised? Don't be; there's more!<br />
<br />
The cost of living adjustment (COLA) for saps like me will be reduced from the current 3% compounded annually to a formula based on how long you worked and tied to the rate of inflation. My wife, who taught 7 1/2 years longer than I did will now get a bigger COLA even though my pension is higher and I paid more into TRS than she did. Fair? Nah, fairness has been buried!<br />
<br />
Current workers will pay less to the Teacher's Retirement System (TRS), but will get less. This is being done so that active teachers won't bitch. But you active teachers should know that you are getting screwed too! You will work longer for less pension benefits than your retired colleagues received, and you've already paid more than we did.<br />
<br />
A 401(K) system is being established for those who want to opt out of the defined pension plan and establish their own retirement accounts. No word who is going to match the employee contribution. Matching is the key to a successful 401(K), and with the State of Illinois broke and most school districts teetering on the brink of financial crisis because of the state's failure to pay its state aid on time, the 401(K) option looks dead on arrival.<br />
<br />
The State of Illinois will be legally required to make its pension payments on time. This same crap was promised in 1998 when the last pension bill was passed, and look what happened! Governor Rod Blagojevich and his crony Mike Madigan moved the 2005 $405 million TRS contribution into shoring up the state budget.<br />
<br />
Then the <i>Chicago Tribune</i> reports on Friday that retired teachers get "free" health insurance and that a teacher retiring in 2012 "could expect a starting pension of $72,693." THESE ARE BOLD-FACED LIES. I paid $11,040 in health insurance premiums to the state for my wife and me in 2012. And the average teacher pension in Illinois is more like $30,000, not $72,693. The <i>Chicago Tribune</i> is a lying joke! I've invited <i>Trib</i> Editorial Page Editor R. Bruce Dold to sit in on my journalism class. He needs remediation!<br />
<br />
But this is what we have been left with. Not only are they ramming those common core standards down our throats, they are also saying that we make too much money both while teaching and in retirement.<br />
<br />
The Illinois State Constitution guarantees that retirement benefits "cannot be diminished," but if this bill is passed, the teachers unions, who by the way were completely left out of the just completed negotiations AGAIN, will be forced to sue. I'm 65 years old. I'm counting on that 3% COLA. I paid for my pension! I can't wait for a lawsuit to make its way through the court system.<br />
<br />
It's the State of Illinois that shirked its funding responsibility, and yet I am the one who will suffer if this unconstitutional bill is passed.<br />
<br />
God, I'm pissed off!<br />
<br />
What can we do?<br />
<br />
We must stop the Illinois State Legislature from passing this bill. Go to the We Are One Illinois web site and get connected to your state senator and state representative. Call him or her on Monday morning when you get up or during your free period. Follow up your call with an e-mail. Stop these sneaky bastards from ruining your life.<br />
<br />
This may be our last chance!Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-25795309131740434622013-05-03T09:06:00.001-07:002013-05-03T12:38:06.787-07:00The Heroes and Villains of Illinois Pension Reform<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio36khmB7DYuvmM4rfDuQVprKwe0J7JwkJe56Cfd1pPafKizasugDeLg5skpFZC48lTzYNTnKgllM2V9YCoLHE7VbcyW-IL5ir9I8lRzcL3wSzs4FnoPJ4e7560joX3ExMhrgeEpZAHyuz/s1600/Madigan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio36khmB7DYuvmM4rfDuQVprKwe0J7JwkJe56Cfd1pPafKizasugDeLg5skpFZC48lTzYNTnKgllM2V9YCoLHE7VbcyW-IL5ir9I8lRzcL3wSzs4FnoPJ4e7560joX3ExMhrgeEpZAHyuz/s320/Madigan.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Illinois Speaker of the House Mike Madigan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the aftermath of the Illinois House's passing Speaker Mike Madigan's pension reform bill on May 2nd, it's time to look at the heroes and villains.<br />
<br />
So let's have at it!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b>Villain:</b> Illinois Speaker of the House Mike Madigan (D) Chicago. Whoever said the boss system was dead in Illinois? Eat your words if you did! The man in the photo above, Mike Madigan, may have more power in Illinois than the former mayor of Chicago, Richard <b>J.</b> Daley, had. Madigan will never call a bill to the House floor unless he knows it will pass so I was bending over on Monday morning and holding my ankles when I heard his bill was coming up for a vote.<br />
<br />
Madigan has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the two teachers' unions, and he voted in favor of most of the pension bills that are now in the process of being ash canned. Early Retirement Option? Madigan voted "yes." Compounded Cost of Living Adjustment? Yes, Madigan was on board for that one too.<br />
<br />
Now, all of a sudden Madigan "gets religion" and decides to screw both active and retired teachers. My pension will be virtually frozen unless the Illinois Supreme Court decides to uphold the state constitution. I grew up in McHenry County. I know all about trusting judges to do the right thing!<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPwKOofh7AAXS7kruetMiVEsIhiQlTrDsXgRjgIL_KApZ0IV_zI7aaRqvM7gkaJAtyi1nEOwkeFMGCBGcSEWOkA9NU-9_rx-5al2K8tIeW5dmxrFUYcBmAHXtJNxOtgPRODmR9_iTMw3iS/s1600/Moffitt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPwKOofh7AAXS7kruetMiVEsIhiQlTrDsXgRjgIL_KApZ0IV_zI7aaRqvM7gkaJAtyi1nEOwkeFMGCBGcSEWOkA9NU-9_rx-5al2K8tIeW5dmxrFUYcBmAHXtJNxOtgPRODmR9_iTMw3iS/s200/Moffitt.jpg" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rep. Don Moffitt</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Hero:</b> Representative Don Moffitt (R) Gilson. I don't always agree with Don Moffitt on his votes, but he is a true bi-partisan statesman. Moffitt voted "no" on every pension bill that came his way.<br />
<br />
Don represents a district where teachers don't make a lot of money. Heck, the top salary for a teacher in Knoxville, just down the road from Gilson and Galesburg, is $60,000--and that's with a master's degree, another 30 hours of graduate credit, and 35 years of teaching experience.<br />
<br />
There are tons of retired teachers in Knox, Warren Henderson, and Stark Counties who have pensions under $20,000 per year and who get NO Social Security benefits because they taught all their lives. Many of these pensioners are widows.<br />
<br />
Don Moffitt recognizes this, and he stuck by his educator constituents. Thanks, Don! You're more than a hero in our house--you're what our founding fathers intended a legislator to be!<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw_57mCbChKECrx8xQBE_8maY-heIST5MpqnR-rK5_dLNEaGcvpdSBBhXTqCxJczlxHxKp50t00UfEXYYnrcwVKFdb9ji4Mujer6yBk1sOhIq-jcaQ27nrOpnhz5NUqjpRtDBu0-Lp4MHs/s1600/Cross.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw_57mCbChKECrx8xQBE_8maY-heIST5MpqnR-rK5_dLNEaGcvpdSBBhXTqCxJczlxHxKp50t00UfEXYYnrcwVKFdb9ji4Mujer6yBk1sOhIq-jcaQ27nrOpnhz5NUqjpRtDBu0-Lp4MHs/s1600/Cross.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Representative Tom Cross</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Villain: </b> House Republican Leader Tom Cross (R) Oswego.<br />
<br />
I know this guy! He went to Yorkville High School where I taught once upon a time. I'm not sure if Bob Evans or Bob Williams, the football coaches at Yorkville, terrorized him or what happened when he was a student, but Cross has had it in for teachers all through this pension process.<br />
<br />
Then last night he had the nerve to say about the legislation that HE once sponsored, “In many ways, we owe those folks [teachers and other public employeed] an apology from (the) General Assembly."<br />
<br />
Apology? Buddy, you are in the pockets of the fat cats at the "Civic" Federation of Chicago. The corporate millionaires and billionaires will be lining your pockets with campaign contributions now. All they expect is that you continue to support the massive tax breaks that the state gives them and their companies. <br />
<br />
Meanwhile teachers in Newark, Lisbon, Plattville, and other small towns in your district suffer. I'm not sure how you sleep at night. <br />
<br />
You know what you can do with your apology, big boy! <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0571qsVru9AGOHezxtTkZp2t5ED1OWvan6HP0szaJCgYe1X0SKqCLxw-3LdEJFIBLB9qT7pp3Aa002CN4NvID9pqmDq2K81WYeuqlrQJXtty4-7t24dJ1Byvn97bnbc-4WBYoFaOdK8ow/s1600/Franks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0571qsVru9AGOHezxtTkZp2t5ED1OWvan6HP0szaJCgYe1X0SKqCLxw-3LdEJFIBLB9qT7pp3Aa002CN4NvID9pqmDq2K81WYeuqlrQJXtty4-7t24dJ1Byvn97bnbc-4WBYoFaOdK8ow/s200/Franks.jpg" width="153" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rep. Jack Franks</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<b>Villain:</b> Representative Jack Franks (D) Marengo.<br />
<br />
Jack Franks is another turncoat Democrat, just like Madigan. Here's a guy who helped force me out of full-time teaching. He voted "yes" back in 2005 to NOT appropriate the $409 million to the Teachers Retirement System.<br />
<br />
The money was used to balance the state budget, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back as far as pension funding goes. Teachers over 55 (my wife and myself) were forced to choose whether to retire in 2007 or stay longer and get less in pension benefits. We got out.<br />
<br />
Yesterday, Franks voted in favor of Madigan's bill to screw teachers. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Franks is from McHenry County, which is the most corrupt county in Illinois. Historically, it was the McHenry County Republicans who wallowed the stink of the corruption. It's nice to see that Franks has learned his lessons from his colleagues from the other party. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Up92gOTiXtmDLLhUJ37OB8ULsXu6xMm9fqy_6922BvJsDDBJR7ZBVT1TGbzB5afcFiI8xVIQ3-s7AsluRNDJrV5fwSIaCdbQo1W3t2Xc6whxkbk4zVQT0bhRdSdnTX4wvEiBEWjHiHZm/s1600/Hatcher.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9Up92gOTiXtmDLLhUJ37OB8ULsXu6xMm9fqy_6922BvJsDDBJR7ZBVT1TGbzB5afcFiI8xVIQ3-s7AsluRNDJrV5fwSIaCdbQo1W3t2Xc6whxkbk4zVQT0bhRdSdnTX4wvEiBEWjHiHZm/s200/Hatcher.png" width="133" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rep. Kay Hatcher</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Villain:</b> Representative Kay Hatcher (R) Yorkville.<br />
<br />
Kay Hatcher may be the worst of the worst of the above villains. She is a liar!<br />
<br />
Back in 2010, I was filling in as the news guy at WSPY-FM radio in Plano. The primary was coming up, and I was on a panel of reporters who asked the candidates questions in the old Kendall County Courthouse in Yorkville.<br />
<br />
Pension legislation was in the wind even then, and I asked Hatcher about what she thought of freezing the cost of living adjustments for retired teachers.<br />
<br />
"Oh, I would never be in favor of that," Hatcher said. "Our teachers have worked long and hard for their retirement pensions. I would never vote to do anything to hurt our retired teachers."<br />
<br />
Hatcher voted "yes" on Madigan's pension killing bill yesterday. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMaD99xVa68WPVop63RtqRWzZ1_nV8urdasVXyIz8caYWo50OYwP9dHhz1CFR2H6x4HcYl9H3_gaYP7bIiAU4fSRwuOMVP48bLYET3JmKwtWSVldDa72dIDHZ2wKMTZLRfdfcDAgCoMyDv/s1600/Tribune.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMaD99xVa68WPVop63RtqRWzZ1_nV8urdasVXyIz8caYWo50OYwP9dHhz1CFR2H6x4HcYl9H3_gaYP7bIiAU4fSRwuOMVP48bLYET3JmKwtWSVldDa72dIDHZ2wKMTZLRfdfcDAgCoMyDv/s1600/Tribune.jpg" /></a></div>
<b>Villain:</b> <i>The Chicago Tribune</i>. Here's what the "World's Greatest Newspaper" said to teachers in its editorial in the May 2, 2013 edition.<br />
<br />
"You'll still be getting a generous deal--benefits that all of your friends in the private sector will subsidize, but for higher than what they'll receive from Social Security. You're still in a defined benefit retirement plan at a time when governments elsewhere are starting to shirt toward defined contributions plans similar to 401(k)s. And of course, you can invest on your own to secure an even more comfortable retirement."<br />
<br />
The <i>Trib's</i> editorial board has been spewing crap like this for years now. What the <i>Trib.</i> doesn't say is that most teacher pensions in Illinois are not "generous." The newspaper only writes about the suburban administrators and teachers who are getting six-figure pensions. Retired downstate teachers are barely mentioned.<br />
<br />
And by the way, <i>Tribsters</i>, we retired teachers paid much more for our pensions than we would have paid for Social Security benefits. Our pensions SHOULD be higher than SS.<br />
<br />
As far as investing goes, try investing a portion of your teaching salary when you are living in Roseville, Illinois, making $28,000 a year with a Master's degree, and a wife and two kids. Yeah, sure!<br />
<br />
I'd love to teach the <i>Tribune</i> Editorial Board beginning journalism. Their bias leaks from the editorial page onto the news pages every day. They should be ashamed. <br />
<br />
_______________<br />
<br />
There are lots more villains who could join this club. Governor Pat Quinn; Representative Elaine Nekritz (Madigan's toad); Representative Pam Roth, who likes to tout that she will not accept a pension from the state when she and her husband, Steve, are independently wealthy.<br />
<br />
More on them next time and more on the unions and whether they are what Madigan says they are ("Paper Tigers") or if they are indeed representing their members.<br />
<br />
Thanks for reading this! Writing it has made me feel better!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-46628388638900577332013-04-11T07:24:00.001-07:002013-04-11T07:24:43.518-07:00Letter to Your Illinois State Legislator. Copy and send!
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Dear __________________:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I am writing you to ask you to please support
Senate Bill 2404, which is being considered by the Illinois State
Legislature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Please do not support
Speaker of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>House Michael Madigan’s
pension bill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Speaker Madigan’s
bill will hurt my family.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I am a retired teacher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will not get Social Security
benefits because of my years paying into the Teachers Retirement System rather
than paying into Social Security.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Therefore, freezing my cost of living
adjustments is freezing my income.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If Speaker Madigan’s bill passes and is signed by the
governor, I will be forced to find full-time work in order to maintain
our home and family.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">The Illinois Constitution guarantees pension
benefits for retired teachers, stating that these benefits “cannot be
diminished.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By voting for Speaker
Madigan’s bill, you are violating your oath of office to uphold the Illinois
State Constitution.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Think of the widowed retired teachers in
downstate Illinois who are living on a pension of less than $25,000 per
year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These retired teachers are
close to the poverty level, and since CIGNA, the state insurance is not paying
its vendors on time because the state is broke, these widows are even more
strapped for money.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Every time the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chicago Tribune</i> runs a pension story, a rich, retired administrator
from the Chicago suburbs is singled out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The fact is that in places like Serena, Knoxville, and Morrisonville,
retired teachers are living from hand-to-mouth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You must consider the plight of these female, retired
teachers and not listen to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Tribune</i>,
which is a shill for the Civic Federation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Civic Federation is not concerned with “fixing” the
pension problem; its members are rich billionaires who only want to continue
the corporate tax breaks that the State of Illinois is giving their companies.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">A widowed teacher in Alexis, Illinois living on
a pension of $19,000 per year will be hurt considerably by Speaker Madigan’s
bill should it become law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope
that you will vote yes when SB 2404 reaches your chamber.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Thanks for considering my request.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 13.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">[Your Name]</span></div>
Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-76839733066714760352013-03-24T06:42:00.000-07:002013-03-24T06:42:06.683-07:00A Letter to Representative Elaine Nekritz Regarding Her Teacher Pension Bill
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>"The wife" has her say on pensions:</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiYmEK6MzQrARNLBT1TmfdJGwD-orn4Ze8RKGawb_6VoLIgkLhyphenhyphenKIqutRmFOZXLedPbPRZvX0RbOLbSMG8rjk7TGOuxfdTQx0oqVtwyJ9NBPNQYkobrwey25srWbTeKZOz8ss-TUGQtx8l/s1600/elaine+pointing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiYmEK6MzQrARNLBT1TmfdJGwD-orn4Ze8RKGawb_6VoLIgkLhyphenhyphenKIqutRmFOZXLedPbPRZvX0RbOLbSMG8rjk7TGOuxfdTQx0oqVtwyJ9NBPNQYkobrwey25srWbTeKZOz8ss-TUGQtx8l/s320/elaine+pointing.jpg" width="288" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">State Representative Elaine Nekritz</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dear Representative Nekritz,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You are quoted in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Chicago
Tribune</i> today (Sunday, March 24, 2013) saying you are going to go home for your spring break
and "think about pensions."</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While you are doing that, think about the downstate teachers
outside of the Chicago suburbs who are getting very little in pension benefits
and now will see their Cost of Living Adjustments frozen or limited to $750 a
year should your bill become law.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As a woman, you know that taking time off from work to raise
children is a part of life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Downstate female teachers who took five-ten years off to "stay home
with the kids" will be hurt if your bill becomes law.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
These women teachers were unable to go to graduate school
because of family obligations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
many cases they retired with pensions under $30,000 a year, and since women live
longer than men, these retired women teachers who are widows or single are
close to the poverty level right now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Your bill will push them over the edge.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Representative Nekritz, you and your colleagues should look
at the corporate tax breaks that are being given out to keep companies from
moving out of Illinois, and while you are at it, look at CAT chairman Doug Oberman's $42
million dollar a year salary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
might find that an investigation of THOSE factors mitigate your eagerness to
hurt women teachers.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And also ask yourself why Laurence Msall and his billionaire
fellow members of the Civic Federation are working so hard to limit teacher
pensions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their work is not
"civic"; it is self serving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The Civic Federation members simply don't want to pay taxes.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I hope that you will listen to my voice crying out in the
wilderness and that you will defend the pensions of retired teachers who are
women.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Thanks for listening to my opinion.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Pam Wyman</div>
Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-55910064524942714452013-03-19T18:23:00.001-07:002013-03-19T18:23:36.912-07:00Most Teachers Get Meager Pensions<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI-TyNwDIQcTQxZoQCZ7iIZZDPxeccL0RZn8SBmtIOeaiDJwHJiNMtvdH3x-NgBb-2AMVOZGgSk7L7TOzm1efZtG939GNJMUWKk0wyPKyBlE91K7-N0x43Bp0tOvOn8yhmTRwimgBvPhzr/s1600/Pension+Column.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI-TyNwDIQcTQxZoQCZ7iIZZDPxeccL0RZn8SBmtIOeaiDJwHJiNMtvdH3x-NgBb-2AMVOZGgSk7L7TOzm1efZtG939GNJMUWKk0wyPKyBlE91K7-N0x43Bp0tOvOn8yhmTRwimgBvPhzr/s1600/Pension+Column.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-41614819900013168632013-02-14T06:17:00.000-08:002013-04-17T07:36:29.170-07:00Happiness Is Knowing When You're Happy!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoEQVvS1Cb-L3DmfhB90VfSyswsaatOwjzgov4hSQZ7zArcG03N8WAo7qtxvmBLPRsgBZX7qoly6tSiSb13tWLZGyblRflDe7UI5rln4Zr_7qylLXJsPJ37xy_OjZ2zrBM7YUSdrIKzcT0/s1600/Remaining+Few+at+Corbin-Olson+Dance+%281966%29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="451" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoEQVvS1Cb-L3DmfhB90VfSyswsaatOwjzgov4hSQZ7zArcG03N8WAo7qtxvmBLPRsgBZX7qoly6tSiSb13tWLZGyblRflDe7UI5rln4Zr_7qylLXJsPJ37xy_OjZ2zrBM7YUSdrIKzcT0/s640/Remaining+Few+at+Corbin-Olson+Dance+%281966%29.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Happiness is a Warm Fuzztone:</b> The Remaining Few. L-R: Jim (Rona) Wyman (organ), Ed Fischer (drums), Buzz Graham (bass guitar), Paul Cooler (lead guitar). Photo taken in the Corbin-Olson cafeteria in the fall of 1966 at Western Illinois University.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
An exciting week in the annals of a garage band life as Bev Cookson, who was mentioned in my recent blog posting about garage bands, contacted me last weekend.<br />
<br />
Bev was the girlfriend of Buzzy Graham, who was the bass player in my band at Western Illinois University in 1966-67 called The Remaining Few.<br />
<br />
Bev and Buzz were an item when I began playing in The Remaining Few in October of 1966, and they dated throughout my tenure with the band. Unfortunately, Bev and Buzz broke up, Buzz married a Macomb High girl, and both Bev and Buzz went on with their lives . . . their completely separate lives.<br />
<br />
Another "unfortunately" is that Buzz died at the age of 58 in 2008. He was a reading instructor at Rock Valley College in Rockford at the time of his death.<br />
<br />
There is some unhappiness in the above words so let's get to the happiness part of this posting.<br />
<br />
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
When I sat down at the computer last Sunday, there was Bev Cookson's reply at the end of my "Garage Bands I Have Known" posting. Here's what she said: "It's the middle of the night and insomnia has struck again. I was browsing and got to wondering whatever happened to [the Macomb band] Brillo and the Firebirds, believe it or not. So I Googled it. Anyway, long story short, it led to me to wondering whatever happened to Roger Vail, and lo and behold, it popped up. The Vectors, The Remaining Few, Fischer, Cooler, and Rona. Seems like a million years ago. How about a little "My Generation"? Loved you guys doing that song! Great band, great memories, even for a silly high school kid."</div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
<br /></div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
Bev and I have been exchanging e-mails ever since I received her note, and I have been gabbling to anyone who will listen about my days playing in garage bands, especially in the bands at Western. </div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
<br /></div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
I have had a happy week, very happy!</div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
<br /></div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
I guess the reason why I've felt so good is because I realize that my life was really happy when I was playing in that band at Western, and I've been able to resurrect that happiness this week. Dodging the pitfalls of life was always a concern, but I was able to successfully avoid all the negative things that came my way--at least then!</div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
<br /></div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
Bev mentioned in one of her e-mails how she made the ruffled shirts and burgundy vests that the band wore, and I remembered how she measured us for the shirts in the basement of Buzz's house and how when I looked at her running that tape measure up my left arm as she jotted down my sleeve length that I knew right then that I was happy and that I was going to remember that moment in time for the rest of my life. </div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
<br /></div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
I knew I was happy when I was happy, and that is the key. Knowing you are happy at the time you are happy.</div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
<br /></div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
It sounds a bit stupid, but it's true. How many days do we plod through life looking for happiness. "If I could only get to this point, I could be happy," we think. And more often than not, that point never comes.</div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
<br /></div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
We reminisce about the days when we had happiness in our lives and strive all our days to recapture those fleeting moments. More often than not that never happens.</div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
<br /></div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
But when Bev was measuring me for that shirt on that warm and sunny October day in 1966, I <i>knew </i>at that moment that I was happy--happy that I was away from home and all the conflict and unhappiness that existed in my family, happy that I was going to be wearing a cool looking shirt and vest, not to mention wearing burgundy Levis and burgundy Beatle boots, and also happy that I was playing with guys who were not only good musicians but great guys as well. And most of all happy that Bev Cookson was so devoted to all of us. She loved our music, and we loved her for that. Even after 46 years, I never forgot Bev's kindness.</div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
<br /></div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
The teenage years can be years of heartbreak and anguish. I suffered from chronic depression in the fall of 1965 when I thought my life was falling apart. A broken heart, an overbearing parent, academic struggles all contributed to the depression.</div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
<br /></div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
But the teenage years can be times of great happiness as well. The key is recognizing happiness when it comes and then treasuring those moments in your heart.</div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
<br /></div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
Every time I hear that song, "The Way You Look Tonight," by Frank Sinatra, I think of my first real girlfriend getting in my dad's Chevy, turning towards me, and giving me this big smile on a beautiful June night in 1965, the early evening sun shining into the car onto her blue Madras blouse.</div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
<br /></div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
"Some day, when I'm awfully low,<br />
When the world is cold,<br />
I will feel a glow just thinking of you<br />
And the way you look tonight." </div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
<br /></div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
I'm thinking of you today, Sandy, Bev, Paul, Ed, and Buzz. I'm thinking of playing "My Generation," "The Jolly Green Giant," "Stepping Stone," "On Broadway," and "Little Latin Lupe Lu." </div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
<br /></div>
<div class="comment-content" id="bc_0_5MC">
And I'm happy, even if there are tears in my eyes! <br />
<br />
Hope this helps you too!</div>
<span class="comment-actions secondary-text" id="bc_0_5MN" kind="m"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4990596428793472494" kind="i" target="_self"></a><span class="item-control blog-admin pid-1303646503"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/delete-comment.g?blogID=4990596428793472494&postID=3691193007827229359" target="_self"><br /></a></span></span>Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-57527493211867286152013-01-07T19:12:00.001-08:002013-01-07T19:12:24.140-08:00Pension Bill Must Be Stopped. CALL NOW!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUXclBc7PGixYXhRrExSGicmu_4uyjAmg44Zn9KTnuMnEq-F33O0AUXPxZaU2XlwoQzKhYHVWdUyhyphenhyphen045iEDMldsJt1_0u_I10GTHYQvpFiCB70kLBpxafNcnKUN59hr1WaeVeHBUU3f7u/s1600/Illinois+State+House.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUXclBc7PGixYXhRrExSGicmu_4uyjAmg44Zn9KTnuMnEq-F33O0AUXPxZaU2XlwoQzKhYHVWdUyhyphenhyphen045iEDMldsJt1_0u_I10GTHYQvpFiCB70kLBpxafNcnKUN59hr1WaeVeHBUU3f7u/s320/Illinois+State+House.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
O.K., teachers. Enough 60's garage band nostalgia--it's time for all of you to get up off your butts and call your state legislators about this pension legislation that the Illinois House will consider tomorrow.<br />
<br />
For you active teachers, you will be forced to pay 2% more of your salary to TRS, and you will teach until you are 67 years old. As an active teacher, you will be paying more money for less benefits. Female teachers who stayed home with the kids and went back into the classroom after four or five years, you will be 75 before you retire. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Ukep9gRsZu3j-5o7KXFC_3SNDnJX0DOzKL5NzangP_jzEB62SW3Hx58fmog0-vnO94BlbKvuYlBb5lh781wYzJw7Px9fOSw07D7mtHy2kv3A5po0jiaQlF8Qs3tKuNGABv6q3hH4n1mC/s1600/Grandma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-Ukep9gRsZu3j-5o7KXFC_3SNDnJX0DOzKL5NzangP_jzEB62SW3Hx58fmog0-vnO94BlbKvuYlBb5lh781wYzJw7Px9fOSw07D7mtHy2kv3A5po0jiaQlF8Qs3tKuNGABv6q3hH4n1mC/s320/Grandma.jpg" width="268" /></a></div>
<br />
Ready to teach <i>The Canterbury Tales</i>, Grandma? How about the Speech to Convince?<br />
<br />
Retirees, this bill is worse for you. Your Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) will be frozen. Retired teachers will not receive the COLA until age 67 (even if you have already been getting it), and then the COLA will be based on a meager salary of $25,000. If, like me, you will draw Social Security benefits, the amount used for your COLA will be $20,000--that's 600 bucks a year. SHEET!<br />
<br />
Oh, yeah, if you worked in a job where you paid Social Security, there already is a law on the books where your SS benefits are garnished. I worked 9 1/2 years full time and 34 1/2 years part-time in radio, but those benefits will go bye-bye next year when I turn 66 and begin to draw SS benefits. I'll be lucky to get $250 a month from Social Security.<br />
<br />
Geez, what did teachers ever do to these politicians. They must have had a shitty teacher like the p.e teacher who terrorized my brother by reading his grades out loud to the entire gym class.<br />
<br />
My mom took care of that asshole. However, Uncle Roy's story will have to be saved for another day. There are phone calls to be made tonight and Tuesday.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRvIVK0p-sSrg68F9uYv7eZc-gdLS2StFeeUUlbyJtS0jbd96m69Dx1dERQAKC_wPqW0Vtj6QjFXYR1paFNIhiGAXf2On10M1xeemK2fJ-9oaz5NaNWHIouoDzFE3t5DNslJhqY0-QD31e/s1600/Madigan.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRvIVK0p-sSrg68F9uYv7eZc-gdLS2StFeeUUlbyJtS0jbd96m69Dx1dERQAKC_wPqW0Vtj6QjFXYR1paFNIhiGAXf2On10M1xeemK2fJ-9oaz5NaNWHIouoDzFE3t5DNslJhqY0-QD31e/s320/Madigan.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mike Madigan. The man pulling the strings.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Once again, Mike Madigan, Pat Quinn, and Tom Cross have left the unions in the lurch. Neither the Illinois Federation of Teachers or the Illinois Education Association were invited to the table to negotiate future pension legislation.<br />
<br />
<br />
The union proposal calls for <b>everyone</b> to bite the bullet--not just teachers! Under the current bill being considered, teachers and other public employees pay. Everyone else is off the hook!<br />
<br />
The unions have proposed cutting out Illinois corporate tax breaks, having teachers pay more for their pensions, and requiring a law that forces the state to make its pension payments. Union leaders would also like to see a graduated income tax law passed. Right now billionaire Penny Pritzker pays the same percentage of her income for state income tax as a first-year teacher pays.<br />
<br />
Where are Laurence Msall, the president of the Civic Federation and Ty Fahner of the Civic Committee this week? Both Msall and Fahner have been pounding the drum for pension reform, and their groups made up of millionaires and billionaires have been pouring money into radio/television commercials against public employee pensions. But these jerk weeds disappear every time push comes to shove. <br />
<br />
But teachers and other public employees have one thing that these rich bastards don't have. Votes! Last night when I was going through my list of state legislators (My House and Senate districts will change Wednesday when the new General Assembly is sworn in), Senator Chris Lauzen of Aurora answered his phone in person.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7X9Fv8vLBwwl1cT4KDKq9srU_9xlW-EVlqXYUR8WRQX3P8iNXg-q2xAutt3OCwkNteaOW60c0SOgZvQ7Nb2VLeby1fKe5ujrJEnn35r2o5NEw1gizjmP56hWTmvT5bqg1Ea0vGcvX_mO2/s1600/Lauzen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7X9Fv8vLBwwl1cT4KDKq9srU_9xlW-EVlqXYUR8WRQX3P8iNXg-q2xAutt3OCwkNteaOW60c0SOgZvQ7Nb2VLeby1fKe5ujrJEnn35r2o5NEw1gizjmP56hWTmvT5bqg1Ea0vGcvX_mO2/s1600/Lauzen.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">State Senator Chris Lauzen</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Lauzen, who has never been a friend of teachers, listened to my arguments and promised to look closely at any legislation that comes before the Illinois Senate. I don't know if I persuaded him to vote "no" on Elaine Nekritz's bill, but I felt good about the phone call.<br />
<br />
You must call too. We have power at the ballot box, and these politicians do not want to be voted out of office. Just think how many retired teachers and retired NIU professors live in DeKalb County. Lauzen and other politicians know this, and they will not vote for a bill that undermines their chance for re-election. <br />
<br />
Probably the most persuasive argument against the current pension legislation is the fact that the pending bill is unconstitutional. There is a clause in the Illinois State Constitution that prevents existing pension benefits from being “diminished or impaired.”<br />
<br />
The two teachers unions are also telling legislators that they are violating their oath of office by voting for this bill: <i>“I do solemnly swear (affirm) that I will support the Constitution of
the United States, and the <b>Constitution of the State of Illinois</b>, and
that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of …. to the
best of my ability.”</i><br />
<br />
Maybe we should make a citizen's arrest and throw those legislators who vote for this bill in jail!<i> </i><br />
<br />
My wife and I were forced out of teaching because Mike Madigan and his buddy Rod Blagojevich skipped the $405 million dollar payment to the Teachers Retirement System in 2005. We had one chance to get out under the old pension formula. We HAD to retire.<br />
<br />
I told Representative Kay Hatcher's secretary this morning that I wanted my old job back. "If Kay votes 'yes,'" I told the secretary, "I want to go back into the public school classroom full-time. And I'll sue if I can't return."<i> </i>The secretary was quiet for a long time.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6J0Bw2Cr3BVRvx3M6MYpK2pTn2aKz06zaLTlh6WzwrHjXBKgHuJ3fRuqn_FxRqp9TONh18ofvdRsu4VattUXRLiEqCZj2G9Ts-EBa7u-hoQf6HSTET5d4vUo1dwnwGEjcTBM0bK2WSzRy/s1600/We+Are+One+Illinois.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6J0Bw2Cr3BVRvx3M6MYpK2pTn2aKz06zaLTlh6WzwrHjXBKgHuJ3fRuqn_FxRqp9TONh18ofvdRsu4VattUXRLiEqCZj2G9Ts-EBa7u-hoQf6HSTET5d4vUo1dwnwGEjcTBM0bK2WSzRy/s1600/We+Are+One+Illinois.jpg" /></a></div>
So find out who your legislators are, go to the We Are One Illinois web site. Fill out the form, and the web site will automatically connect you with your legislator. Leave a message for your state representative and your state senator. Simply leave your name, address, and phone number, and tell them that the pension legislation being considered is unconstitutional.<br />
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It is a simple task. DO IT! YOUR FUTURE DEPENDS ON IT!Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-66979691898505468082013-01-02T13:14:00.000-08:002013-04-12T05:46:52.228-07:00Garage Bands I Have Known!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjikb4mU7AiIJSzJmG1YLZPh9Nli9c01mvHHOeG13Vufl7RUnzV46GlCFlYVBcfkLCxWB8AgpRTonKx1LzCsBPx9J3ajwXBmZ2zQ7i2Zc9mYR9pRzQvvwnPfPAgjhOYDVaMVJF5nkLaghk6/s1600/Not+Fade+Away.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjikb4mU7AiIJSzJmG1YLZPh9Nli9c01mvHHOeG13Vufl7RUnzV46GlCFlYVBcfkLCxWB8AgpRTonKx1LzCsBPx9J3ajwXBmZ2zQ7i2Zc9mYR9pRzQvvwnPfPAgjhOYDVaMVJF5nkLaghk6/s640/Not+Fade+Away.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A still from the new film <i>Not Fade Away</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The new movie <i>Not Fade Away</i> jogs my memory back to 1964 when the band The Rooks first took the stage in Crystal Lake, Illinois. I haven't seen <i>Not Fade Away</i> yet--it's only playing in downtown Chicago-- but from what I've seen online, I lived that movie's story.<br />
<br />
A couple of suburban kids decide to form a group. They do. The band prospers, but egos get in the way. The band breaks up, and the musicians move to different bands and begin anew. From 1964-1968 that was my scenario. In fact I lived it many, many times!<br />
<br />
So this morning when I received a "Happy New Year" wish on Facebook from former bandmate Hamilton "Tip" Hale, I was transported back to December 31, 1965, when Tip and I, along with John Baldwin, Mark Smith, and Jamie Pennebaker played at Mickey Cox's raucous New Year's Eve party on South Walkup Street in Crystal Lake. We were the garage band called Aristotle and the Aminal Crackers, and we rocked the world that night!<br />
<br />
I wish every New Year's Eve could be like 1965's. Seventeen years old. No responsibility. Running wild and playing rock 'n roll music every blankin' day of the week.<br />
<br />
How did I get in a garage band anyway?<br />
<br />
Flash back further to the fall of 1964 and the delicatessen on Virginia St. in Crystal Lake, just across the street from Blanche Moan's grill. Steve Brown worked there manning the snack counter, and I used to hang out at "the del" just so I could get away from my old man who was constantly on my ass about everything--hair, work, shitty grades, and not helping out around the house. "The del" was only a couple of blocks away from home, and it became a place of refuge for me. I was there all the time!<br />
<br />
Brown, who was in the class ahead of me and who played the drums, started talking to me one day about forming a rock band. He had already approached Mike Walkup and Tim McPike, who were both in the Class of '67, a year behind me, about playing with him.<br />
<br />
Steve was sitting behind the yellow formica counter and started talking about his rock 'n roll plans. <br />
<br />
"Rona, can you play guitar?" Steve asked me.<br />
<br />
"No, but I took piano lessons in fifth and sixth grades," I told him.<br />
<br />
"What? You're kidding!" he said. "Can you play the electric organ?"<br />
<br />
"I'm not sure. It's just like the piano isn't it?"<br />
<br />
"Wow! Two guitars, drums, and an organ. That would be great!" Steve jumped up and started excitedly pacing back and forth behind the counter.<br />
<br />
"But I haven't played regularly in years, Steve," I told him. "I do have a piano at home though."<br />
<br />
"Go home and practice, and I'll bring Walkup and McPike over in a few days and we'll listen to you," Steve said.<br />
<br />
When Brown, McPike, and Walkup came over to my parents' house to hear me, I played them "Rockin' Robin" on the piano, and they immediately asked me to join their new band, The Rooks. <br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCrEk3DARRDVDV_VJZKzsyfPRiJmqNDPFiatrLrEGlknx4UMdm9m7ZJ83Wu_I6CqmnKUslTibh1TLA6uP-k8fcFwkQTQMWBTMquojwV-XsMvv3AYsuNvCrHYc1-NNH1De79DF6Y7sDILkG/s1600/Danelectro+amp.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCrEk3DARRDVDV_VJZKzsyfPRiJmqNDPFiatrLrEGlknx4UMdm9m7ZJ83Wu_I6CqmnKUslTibh1TLA6uP-k8fcFwkQTQMWBTMquojwV-XsMvv3AYsuNvCrHYc1-NNH1De79DF6Y7sDILkG/s320/Danelectro+amp.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Danelectro amp.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
A few weeks later, I found myself in Walkup's basement with a crappy organ that I was able to talk my parents into buying me at the music store at Meadowdale Shopping Center. The store technician had installed microphone pick-ups in the organ, but I couldn't jack the sound up high enough to compete with the guitars because the organ would feed back through my used Danelectro amplifier. It was a mess!<br />
<br />
In another two weeks The Rooks played their first job at Milton College in Milton, Wisconsin, where Steve's sister went to school. Then we were asked to play a dance in the lower gym in at Crystal Lake Community High School. But my organ was still a problem because nobody could hear it.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVuG6ZHoVcaGg8gW8XzzkyGrPlHuFLGhFeuGDHSF-edRvUd4T1Y-DvbTCpJ5dM3bO07A-VMKvPCCjvHQxnGjAkvw2aaNhqUMyW2yXJZWlSm0kylLv572c1pgLUugC5ytPcR4QrD0nwNpZ5/s1600/Farfisa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVuG6ZHoVcaGg8gW8XzzkyGrPlHuFLGhFeuGDHSF-edRvUd4T1Y-DvbTCpJ5dM3bO07A-VMKvPCCjvHQxnGjAkvw2aaNhqUMyW2yXJZWlSm0kylLv572c1pgLUugC5ytPcR4QrD0nwNpZ5/s400/Farfisa.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Farfisa Combo Compact</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Brown, Walkup, and McPike were going to kick me out of the band unless I got a new organ. About this time, in early 1965, Paul Revere and the Raiders had released the songs "Steppin' Out" and "Just Like Me," and the Raiders were all over television. Paul Revere played a bright, candy apple red Farfisa Combo Compact electric organ. So did Sam of Sam the Sham and the Pharaoahs, the group that did "Wooly Bully." The Medowdale music store had one in stock for $700.00. Big money in late spring of 1965! In fact, $5,100 in 2013 dollars!<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikcV7s0iJArwdiOB0mETR5hia2rNCL-RURt0b_5WfK7CGhUVD4WeQQQyuYpXVn7ybbokjua5pa5_q2WQJIywh9ohNPpJciKxJqS9D4YkVpMsZKtcK7PoKOr6oe8sUlzqn72-49y25A8kCY/s1600/Sam+the+Sham.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikcV7s0iJArwdiOB0mETR5hia2rNCL-RURt0b_5WfK7CGhUVD4WeQQQyuYpXVn7ybbokjua5pa5_q2WQJIywh9ohNPpJciKxJqS9D4YkVpMsZKtcK7PoKOr6oe8sUlzqn72-49y25A8kCY/s320/Sam+the+Sham.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sam the Sham playing the candy apple red Farfisa organ.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
Believe it or not, I was able to persuade my mother and father (mostly my mom--she was the musician in the family) to buy the Farfisa for me on credit. <br />
<br />
I can still see the bright red Farfisa sitting in Brown's basement the very first time I set it up in late spring of '65. All of the sudden, I had become a valuable commodity in the band. We had a great time playing together too! Donna Brown's eight grade graduation party, the eighth grade dance at Lundahl Jr. High, Candy Kirchberg's birthday party behind the cart shack at Crystal Lake Country Club. The gigs just kept on coming.<br />
<br />
However, the Rooks broke up mid summer of '65 because I left to join the best band in Crystal Lake, The Jades, which was made up of Dick Lockwood, Gary Burhmann, Al Sherwood, and Mike Wienke. The Jades played all over the county, including Vern Seaquist's famous summer party in Lakewood at Gate 21 in August of 1965.<br />
<br />
But those guys in the Jades all got drafted that fall so that was the end of that band. I still had another year of high school. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3SNt87AkdfIpH5ooNhIVTaO87KQN78-3BiuMCdaBQ9Sx6MgmzZ4KfEwHGL3ThfHrxg55c4sTDH70ipCX7D-uAsyJxzvxEo4I_CZpRJyIIF6u8Q962yFxkfYeV7WTXXqImg6esYw0d-Uva/s1600/The+Remains.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3SNt87AkdfIpH5ooNhIVTaO87KQN78-3BiuMCdaBQ9Sx6MgmzZ4KfEwHGL3ThfHrxg55c4sTDH70ipCX7D-uAsyJxzvxEo4I_CZpRJyIIF6u8Q962yFxkfYeV7WTXXqImg6esYw0d-Uva/s640/The+Remains.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The Remains</b>: From L-R: Mark Smith, John Baldwin, Tim McPike, Jim Wyman, and "Tip" Hale (March 1966).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In fall of 1965, I joined Aristotle and the Aminal Crackers, which consisted of Tip Hale, Jamie Pennebaker, Mark Smith, and John Baldwin. Baldwin and I had played Babe Ruth League baseball together. Hale's and my mom's families were early settlers in the county, so my mom knew Tip's dad. And Jamie Pennebaker was my neighbor on Eagle St. We had grown up together! Smith is another story for another day--he became a serial killer!<br />
<br />
Jamie's mom worked nights at the Pinemoor, a neighborhood bar and pizza joint, so the band could practice, play cards, and drink beer to our hearts' content at Jamie's house without any adult interference. <i>Rubber Soul</i> by the Beatles had just been released, and I remember sitting at the kitchen table playing cards and listening to "Norwegian Wood." Aristotle and the Aminal Crackers were pretty darn good too! Sometime that winter, Pennebaker was out of the band and Tim McPike, who I had played with in the Rooks, was in. I don't remember how or why Jamie Pennebaker was replaced. Aristotle and the Animal Crackers now became The Remains.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNWtKM2GX6wzop-MgPVtOkRQ_0zoFS13YzwkWKVCZ5foJHAGB_UPbaxqA-zmWCdE1rks1vmR8MRSu6nSRpjkravMJ4hctFVXTPAhlAQHc4tz0P4bcsS05cUWFCQyN2Fx3o624BVprbpBaJ/s1600/Vox+Buckingham.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNWtKM2GX6wzop-MgPVtOkRQ_0zoFS13YzwkWKVCZ5foJHAGB_UPbaxqA-zmWCdE1rks1vmR8MRSu6nSRpjkravMJ4hctFVXTPAhlAQHc4tz0P4bcsS05cUWFCQyN2Fx3o624BVprbpBaJ/s320/Vox+Buckingham.jpg" width="275" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vox Buckingham amplifier</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I never made any money playing for the Remains because all the amps and the P.A. were bought on credit by Mark Smith's mom so all the money from the gigs went to pay off the interest on the loan. I had a sweet Vox Buckingham amplifier, but had to give it back to Smith when the band broke up the summer of 1966.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHy6cKoHZU16QsTKPetT6BzL4E3a28wdyi3ejExmXNLd5QZfRwNHujwjUtJoe7iiFM0OAPtd5lIEIvvaXuMQC0tKZfGBKVxThJTTflnDqZ6jMAWINYTiMqP6aX18uvJj4Le-lIzTavBL61/s1600/Sears+Silvertone+Amp..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHy6cKoHZU16QsTKPetT6BzL4E3a28wdyi3ejExmXNLd5QZfRwNHujwjUtJoe7iiFM0OAPtd5lIEIvvaXuMQC0tKZfGBKVxThJTTflnDqZ6jMAWINYTiMqP6aX18uvJj4Le-lIzTavBL61/s320/Sears+Silvertone+Amp..jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sears Silvertone amp. Crosby, Stills, and Nash still were using one the last time I saw them in 2007.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I replaced the Buckingham with a Silvertone amp from Sears that I got second-hand from a guy I worked with at the Terra Cotta plant. My time in Crystal Lake was up, however, as I was off to Western Illinois University. It was time for college!<br />
<br />
I left my Farfisa and my amp at home when I traipsed off to WIU. The break-up of the Remains had left a sour taste in my mouth because I had played my ass off and had made zero money. But I was still playing music in my spare time.<br />
<br />
I didn't know it then, but I am very caffeine-sensitive. Every night I would drink a Coke before bed and then be unable to sleep. So I would grab my music books and go downstairs to the Ravine Room in Lincoln-Washington Towers (Lincoln was my dorm) and play the piano at two in the morning.<br />
<br />
There was normally no one down there, but one night these two hippy-type guys came over to the piano and started firing requests at me. I played them all! The two guys were Ed Fischer and Paul Cooler, who had been members of the band The Vectors during the previous school year. Fischer and Cooler were both sophomores at WIU; I was a freshman.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtMns4Z9pndhRqoSUxvq4pABtQu-e6xqjeGt90u6TrtCDVabJgrIQ9rbB-bsR0zfPmaJU9SzfG2JNqjHfNV9Bts7tq6ITuOybw6cbJnPUGtQv905Z1EbBw3H53eQgIIE8Es0O8iRp3SZCy/s1600/The+Shadows+of+Knight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="440" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtMns4Z9pndhRqoSUxvq4pABtQu-e6xqjeGt90u6TrtCDVabJgrIQ9rbB-bsR0zfPmaJU9SzfG2JNqjHfNV9Bts7tq6ITuOybw6cbJnPUGtQv905Z1EbBw3H53eQgIIE8Es0O8iRp3SZCy/s640/The+Shadows+of+Knight.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>The Shadows of Knight</b>: Joe Kelley is center in the back.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Joe Kelley, who played with the Shadows of Knight on their hit record "Gloria" had been in the Vectors the previous year at WIU with Fischer and Cooler along with Roger Vail and Buzzy Graham (townies from Macomb) so when Fischer and Cooler told me they wanted me to help them form a band, I agreed on the spot. The Shadows of Knight were legendary in the northwest suburbs, and getting the chance to play with guys who played with Joe Kelley was a lot closer to the big time than I had ever been.<br />
<br />
I headed back to Crystal Lake that weekend with Charlie Schott in his '49 Ford, got my Farfisa and my amp, and joined the band at WIU called The Remaining Few. Cooler was lead guitar, Fischer sang and played drums, and Buzzy Graham played the bass.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs-bEG4BrIYpRO4Jy6Lk7xiLq9o0y0__vQsgklRYc0YXdsxY5rTY-EgOYNSmQX31gFiNrwS9uz7yvklGea8IZzRRiyrfs0QiUXx1xuERSJ6AvH7J5PuDhJW08Z8zVHQwoRbfQkAJYHlnDb/s1600/Remaining+Few+at+Corbin-Olson+Dance+%281966%29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="451" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs-bEG4BrIYpRO4Jy6Lk7xiLq9o0y0__vQsgklRYc0YXdsxY5rTY-EgOYNSmQX31gFiNrwS9uz7yvklGea8IZzRRiyrfs0QiUXx1xuERSJ6AvH7J5PuDhJW08Z8zVHQwoRbfQkAJYHlnDb/s640/Remaining+Few+at+Corbin-Olson+Dance+%281966%29.jpg" uea="true" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Remaining Few, playing at a Saturday night dance in the Corbin-Olson cafeteria at Western Illinois University--fall of 1966. L-R: Jim "Rona" Wyman (organ), Ed Fischer (drums), Buzz Graham (bass), Paul Cooler (lead guitar).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
When I say the money began rolling in, I'm not exaggerating. We played gigs every Friday and Saturday night. Dances at the union, frat parties, high school proms and post-proms--you name it, we played it! I was able to pay a lot of my college expenses with money I made from playing in The Remaining Few. <br />
<br />
The Remaining Few's first gig was at the Teen-a-Go-Go in the small town of Blandinsville, about a half-hour north of Macomb. Buzzy Graham's girlfriend, Bev Cookson, got us the gig, and a bunch of my buddies from Crystal Lake, including Craig Knaack and Danny Treptow, came up to see us play. Treptow had played in a competing band in high school back in Crystal Lake.<br />
<br />
Well, the local Blandinsville girls started to dig on the college boys and began asking them to dance. The local boys from Blandinsville objected to their girls dancing with the college boys so a big fight broke out. We were playing "Stepping Stone" by the Monkees when the fur started flying. Blandinsville had one cop, and he arrived to break up the fight and threw the college boys out.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheFhIN-fMdcvgee9woCJ-FN5Q92AXE89B9jbt-KCZSmZ2FoLLIGfpOLwex0J64N05aEOb5xE3KLAoGmTnkpg5y4RNB-b89dc8RpnWNcdUFeX2NY5y8sl_bXmnMGjgBk3OgWIx2ziHfy2N_/s1600/Bobo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheFhIN-fMdcvgee9woCJ-FN5Q92AXE89B9jbt-KCZSmZ2FoLLIGfpOLwex0J64N05aEOb5xE3KLAoGmTnkpg5y4RNB-b89dc8RpnWNcdUFeX2NY5y8sl_bXmnMGjgBk3OgWIx2ziHfy2N_/s640/Bobo.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
The Remaining Few evolved as Buzzy was replaced by Bob Palazoa, and John "Bobo" Rosemond took over as lead singer. Bobo, like Mark Smith, is famous today. He is a noted child psychologist who has appeared on <i>60 Minutes</i>.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSfJNv6KUXT2KS_sdry77D5F_WpkBNQzSZX10HgH4GKvUtmDtvOgMxldYHnddPw3Re2MSOeFcAwcyn_GtM128C-pLv2kbvdDDG6ar2o0WQL6nspxvDN7iMnB5KDsLZmqQ19jl3zrlF08Fa/s1600/RemainFew1967.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSfJNv6KUXT2KS_sdry77D5F_WpkBNQzSZX10HgH4GKvUtmDtvOgMxldYHnddPw3Re2MSOeFcAwcyn_GtM128C-pLv2kbvdDDG6ar2o0WQL6nspxvDN7iMnB5KDsLZmqQ19jl3zrlF08Fa/s640/RemainFew1967.jpg" width="520" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Remaining Few on the steps of Grote Hall, Western Illinois University, March 1967. L to R: Jim (Rona) Wyman (organ), Bob Palazoa (Zoa) (bass guitar), Paul Cooler (lead guitar), John (Bobo) Rosemond (vocals), Ed Fischer (drums) (<em>Courier</em> Photo by Kay Chin).</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The Remaining Few played two gigs that are somewhat famous in western Illinois rock 'n roll histroy. First, we replaced the Buckinghams as the featured band at the University Union Winter Concert in January 1967. The Buckinghams couldn't get out of Chicago because of the famous blizzard. I can remember seeing kids dancing for what seemed like miles as we played on that cold winter night in the University Union's Grand Ballroom.<br />
<br />
Second, The Remaining Few opened for Saturday's Children and the Shadows of Knight in a concert at Robert Morris College in Carthage in May of 1967. Cooler and Fischer had a happy reunion with Joe Kelley that night, and we partied long and hard with the two bands. Both the Shadows of Knight and Saturday's Children came out of the Cellar, the most famous Chicago teen dance club in northwest suburban Arlington Heights.<br />
<br />
Cooler and Palazoa left WIU, Fischer got married, and in the fall of 1967, I began playing with Roger Vail, who had been in the Vectors with Fischer, Cooler, and Graham. This is my Roccoco Period in Garage Band annals. There were just three of us in the band, Vail was the main guy, and we played the Showboat Strip Club as the house band--not a very happy time.<br />
<br />
But during the summer of '67 I did reunite with Tim McPike, who was playing in a great band from McHenry. We even had a chance to cut a record, but I headed back to college trying to avoid the draft.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl31bO4R_vghCQTMN7zcGeP3eLLwFx9VTlTr1TUz79qcBnosTaWxa6dr876QSpQ3-Qjo2xp0H8uPZusQtmvYjoVQRPhKFpPFvL7O7rmQQ7FcDzW7RG0hZagtGG4eQMwk2GrPfTY7dTO-TG/s1600/Terry+Cox.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl31bO4R_vghCQTMN7zcGeP3eLLwFx9VTlTr1TUz79qcBnosTaWxa6dr876QSpQ3-Qjo2xp0H8uPZusQtmvYjoVQRPhKFpPFvL7O7rmQQ7FcDzW7RG0hZagtGG4eQMwk2GrPfTY7dTO-TG/s200/Terry+Cox.jpg" width="156" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Terry Cox</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Other then jamming once in a while, my music career ended in 1968. But I still remember giving Terry Cox, Mickey Cox's sister, a soul kiss at midnight on December 31, 1965. That kiss wouldn't have happened without me being in a garage band.<br />
<br />
And that kiss is a good memory to recall on January 2, 2013. A very good memory!Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-47854721108422222942012-12-04T19:43:00.001-08:002013-02-22T04:59:46.309-08:00Pension End Run May Happen NOW! Call Your Legislators!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Oj0ertiSLw6Q6feSHFceoIw9X_8tUfG_eD_ODqCF5JEi8BLSXujmWhmMbvC2ntAg08FQzU3teG4QeN-bwgzuwZGzb9ORRO4sEM7J0lM0gjNzqsuMV2NRGN64WaOxIiYYHIVtyrCvkmTP/s1600/Elaine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Oj0ertiSLw6Q6feSHFceoIw9X_8tUfG_eD_ODqCF5JEi8BLSXujmWhmMbvC2ntAg08FQzU3teG4QeN-bwgzuwZGzb9ORRO4sEM7J0lM0gjNzqsuMV2NRGN64WaOxIiYYHIVtyrCvkmTP/s400/Elaine.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pictured above is Mike Madigan's Stooge, Representative Elaine Nekritz of Northbrook, who is leading the charge against active teachers and retirees.</td></tr>
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I just heard on WBBM radio in Chicago tonight that the Illinois State Legislature plans to consider a pension bill on Wednesday, December 5th, the last day of the fall veto session.<br />
<br />
According to the Associated Press, State Representative Elaine Nekritz, a Democrat from Northbook will hold a press conference Wednesday morning which will feature at least two unnamed Republican lawmakers.<br />
<br />
Nekritz is House Speaker Mike Madigan's toad. Madigan is of course nowhere to be found.<br />
<br />
According to the <i>Springfield State Journal-Register</i>, the bill calls for the following provisions for teachers hired before January 1, 2011:<br />
<br />
*Cost of living adjustments would apply only to the first $25,000 of a
pension if the retiree does not receive Social Security and $20,000 if
he or she does. This change applies to both current and future retirees.<br />
<br />
<b>*Pensioners would receive no COLA adjustment until they reach age 67 or
five years after they retire, whichever comes first.</b> The summary says
this provision will apply to retirees already receiving COLAs. So an
employee who retired at age 58 and is now 60 would not receive another
COLA adjustment until age 63.<br />
<br />
*The retirement age would increase as follows: Retirement ages in the current statute would apply to employees 46 and older. One year would be added to current retirement ages for employees between 40 and 45 years old. Employees age 35 to 39 would have to wait an additional three years. Employees 34 and younger would have to wait an additional five years to retire.<br />
<br />
*Employee contributions to pensions would go up by 1 percentage point
in fiscal year 2014 and 2 percentage points in fiscal year 2015.<br />
<br />
*The salary that counts toward a pension would be capped at the higher
of the Social Security wage base or the employees’ salary when the bill
becomes law.<br />
<br />
Once again the two teachers' unions, the IEA and the IFT, have been left completely out of negotiations. I'm sure Laurence Msall and his rich cronies at the Civic Federation in Chicago have had their red noses right in the middle of negotiations. The Civic Federation has spent millions in anti-pension propaganda.<br />
<br />
And these Civic Federation jokers will not pay a dime if this bill passes. The burden will be placed on the backs of teachers, and the rich Civic Federation members will wallow in their tax breaks provided by the State of Illinois.<br />
<br />
I'm bitching and moaning when I should be calling--and so should you! Call now and leave a message in Springfield for your state legislator. Tell him or her to vote "NO" on this unconstitutional bill.<br />
<br />
If you get no answer in Springfield, call the local office and leave a message there. <br />
<br />
Don't let the legislature pass this bill on Wednesday!Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-75580284953587938892012-11-21T13:38:00.002-08:002012-11-22T15:22:03.474-08:00Chicago: The New Capitol of Golf Misogyny<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeIA7_TixvrLRbB-xQ6ygbSf1PVlVIdA-o468WzvH1wcGecJ7xILZ02VCE1WP5AwsNIqeSv1mBoo_qDl9vJttzErjKF_b1rgPwMsrgBSVdsQjR-WOjg2Yzk_LvP-qrOEF_b96QkWYikvca/s1600/ButlerAugusta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="499" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeIA7_TixvrLRbB-xQ6ygbSf1PVlVIdA-o468WzvH1wcGecJ7xILZ02VCE1WP5AwsNIqeSv1mBoo_qDl9vJttzErjKF_b1rgPwMsrgBSVdsQjR-WOjg2Yzk_LvP-qrOEF_b96QkWYikvca/s640/ButlerAugusta.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
The misogynists at Butler National Golf Club in Oak Brook are celebrating today after voting not to admit women members. The all-male country club is teetering on the brink of financial ruin and would most likely host a major PGA tournament if women did become members, but the good old boys said "NO!”<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
Butler National hosted the prestigious Western Open from 1974-1990, and that tournament has now disappeared from the local golf radar screen. Sadly, Chicago is not hosting an annual PGA event, which is a shame because our area boasts some of the finest golf courses in the world, and Chicago golf fans are some of the most rabid--note the huge crowds at Medinah for the Ryder Cup last fall.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
But Chicago is also a bastion of misogyny, with Bob O’Link and Old Elm golf clubs in Highland Park and Black Sheep Golf Club in Sugar Grove all banning women. Bob O'Link, which boasts former Bears coach Mike Ditka as a member, supposedly paid $250,000 to move its gas meter outside of the country club gates. Apparently NICOR's meter reader was a woman and was entering the grounds to read the meter located next to the club house. These jerk weeds didn't want any woman anywhere near their circle-jerk clubhouse so they paid the $250,000 to put the meter outside of the gate because no women are allowed on Bob O'Link grounds.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
To quote the Doors Jim Morrison, "I wonder what they do in there?"<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p>Do these Bob O'Link members have wives? What do the wives say about Dad going to Butler every weekend? I know Ditka once said that he could get a wife anytime. That seems to be the prevailing attitude of these jokers!<br />
<br />
The two country clubs I have been associated with, Soangetaha and Crystal Lake, are family clubs where mom, dad, and the kids can go and enjoy the golf course, pool, tennis courts, card room, and restaurant.<br />
<br />
But Butler National, even in the face of falling off of a fiscal cliff, refuses to change its no-woman policy. Heck, even Augusta National has two women members now, Condi Rice and Darla Moore. If the racists and misogynists at Augusta can admit women, you'd think that sophisticated Chicago business executives would right this extreme wrong at Butler National. <br />
<br />
But nooooooo! <br />
<br />
However, even the so-called family country clubs still have antiquated anti-women policies. The wife and I were playing at Illini Country Club in Springfield a few years ago, and we wandered into the club's basement grill room. "Can we get some lunch?" the wife asked the male bartender. "Your husband can, but you can't" he replied. "This room is for men only. Our members like to come in here wearing a towel after their showers and have a drink. Women are not allowed."<br />
<br />
I had to get the wife out of there pronto before she caused a scene so we walked upstairs and had lunch in the country club's restaurant. But the wife still seethes when I bring up our Illini grill room experience. <br />
<br />
And isn't the whole concept of male-only clubs antiquated? Most public and private golf courses have ladies' days so there is never a problem with male golfers having to wait for women playing in front of them. At Soangetaha the women play on Tuesday nights, Thursday mornings, and early on Saturdays. No one complains because the schedule has existed forever.<br />
<br />
If women are playing bridge in the Soangetaha grill room, the waitress closes the door so no one is disturbed in the other part of the restaurant. Men and women co-exist in peace.<br />
<br />
Surely, there must be women corporate executives in Chicago who can afford the six-figure Butler National initiation fee. And surely these women would be an asset to this very exclusive country club.<br />
<br />
I just want the Western Open to return to Butler. Former TV analyst and former U.S. Open champion Ken Venturi once called the Western Open "Golf's fifth major." Let's hope the Butler members have a change of heart and let women join and then persuade the PGA to bring back the Western.<br />
<br />
Chicago deserves a yearly PGA event.<br />
<br />Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-83842314558812766432012-11-16T05:56:00.001-08:002012-11-17T06:22:37.749-08:00Basketball, Home Town Boys, and Full-Time Teaching <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ2rbeWwMm1RgE7LXenZt17VSEZkrXXJ8glntR1vKxrzyZoXyC4Jz2ZQge553UnOOakOCuqdNsnBvmuT2czTqEH-Nz9Ii8m0x7lTT8SDTjbB2Xqq9PJaBJvKTn2fVgX224cls1otK4IDsB/s1600/Massey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="369" rea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ2rbeWwMm1RgE7LXenZt17VSEZkrXXJ8glntR1vKxrzyZoXyC4Jz2ZQge553UnOOakOCuqdNsnBvmuT2czTqEH-Nz9Ii8m0x7lTT8SDTjbB2Xqq9PJaBJvKTn2fVgX224cls1otK4IDsB/s400/Massey.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Evan Massey at the end of Galesburg's loss to Springfield Sacred Heart Griffin in December of 2007.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The Galesburg High School girls basketball team is hosting its annual Thanksgiving Tournament at Thiel Gym in Galesburg, and I'm not going to be there. I was supposed to be broadcasting the games on WAIK this year, but after repeatedly asking for better remote broadcast equipment and not getting it, I gave up. WAIK uses a cell phone (and if you've listened to the broadcasts, you already know this), which sounds like the announcers are coming out of a barrel. So best of luck to Coach Evan Massey and the girls, and best of luck to my broadcast partner, Jimmie Carr. Have a great season! I'll really miss calling all the games!<br />
<br />
* * * * <br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrSDptzfQgQzYhsmxGuArQfRJmIT4mgC7BSWarZjksCaQDo0czz452-LwWUltEHNzbqYid-ihWngm8g_PM45W7mOeE6WH0VzV1QT9gcjWwZmg1rtrk-MR8sH9gAqkV_vb3gBm5CFm-iijf/s1600/Gibson+and+Pepmeyer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="221" rea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrSDptzfQgQzYhsmxGuArQfRJmIT4mgC7BSWarZjksCaQDo0czz452-LwWUltEHNzbqYid-ihWngm8g_PM45W7mOeE6WH0VzV1QT9gcjWwZmg1rtrk-MR8sH9gAqkV_vb3gBm5CFm-iijf/s320/Gibson+and+Pepmeyer.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Erik Gibson and John Pepmeyer</td></tr>
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The recent Knox County state's attorney election in Galesburg reminded me how golden home town boys can be. I grew up with a home town boy named Itchie, who played sports in high school and went on to become a lawyer and an important member of the country club in my home town. I played with Itchie on the high school golf team for two years (until I got kicked off), and he was friendly. We were neighbors, and our moms went to the same college so he probably had to be nice to me when we were kids. <br />
<br />
But in 2005, when I went back to the country club with a former student of mine and his dad (The dad was a country club member), Itchie wouldn't even acknowledge my presence. He completely ignored me in the grill room while we were having lunch. When Itchie's dad died and I sent him $25.00 for the memorial, Itchie ignored that too--no thank you note was forthcoming. But whenever Itchie's name comes up among my friends back in my hometown, he is spoken about with reverence. Itchie is a golden home town boy!<br />
<br />
That's why I wasn't surprised when John Pepmeyer beat Erik Gibson in the state's attorney's election on November 6th. Home town boys like Pepmeyer are teflon, and during the campaign Pepmeyer never missed an opportunity to brag to the voters that he grew up in Galesburg, and that Gibson did not.<br />
<br />
Gibson is a bulldog, and he ran hard. Erik and I did lots of girls basketball games together on the radio and rode many bumpy roads to places like Quincy, Peoria Central, and Bradford. Gibson would never say specifically what was going on in the state's attorney's office, but enough was said to tell me that problems indeed existed.<br />
<br />
But John Pepmeyer ("Peppie") is a home town boy, and everyone in town knows that the alleged shenanagins that occurred in his office are probably true. Two of the women who Pepmeyer allegedly sexually harassed have settled their law suits out of court, and the other is still suing. No criminal charges were filed against Pepmeyer by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. But the county has paid out money in settlements to the former employees; however, no one will say how much.<br />
<br />
Gibson would have been a great state's attorney, and I'm not sure what the future holds for the "Peotone Flash." But I'd have to bet that Gibson's days in the state's attorney's office are numbered.<br />
<br />
I asked one of my neighbors the other day what it would take for him to jump off Peppie's ship and vote for Gibson. "Those women who sued John were from Mangieri's administration [the former state's attorney]," my neighbor said. "The gals ran the office, and they didn't like John. He was only trying to right the ship." Yeah, sure!<br />
<br />
Now if that was me or you allegedly playing grab-ass in the office, we'd be out on our ears. But a home town boy lives a charmed life, and to be honest, I'm jealous. When I go back to my home town, people remember me from what I was doing the last time I lived there--1970 at age 22. You can only imagine what was going on then!<br />
<br />
* * * * <br />
<br />
There haven't been many postings on this blog since summer because I'm back working full-time for the first time since June of 2009. I'm loving it! I travel to Dominican University three days a week and to Joliet Junior College five days a week. The big problem with retirement was the lack of interaction with the students and the other teachers. I'm still working on getting to know the teachers, but the students are great. <br />
<br />
Some things I've learned this fall:<br />
<br />
I had gained about 40 lbs. since I retired from full-time teaching, and I could barely walk around the Joliet Junior College campus because I was so fat. I've lost 20 lbs. since the end of September and only have 80 more to go. Hmmmmmm.<br />
<br />
The Hispanic enrollment in Chicago Public Schools is now at 46%. Dominican U. is actively recruiting from Chicago so about 80% of the students in my two composition classes are Hispanic. I'm having some problems relating to them--I can only tell my getting stopped by the cops in Mazatlan story so many times--but I've learned that diversity in the classroom is a big plus compared to the lily white classes I had while teaching at Fremd.<br />
<br />
Some students should not go to college. I have some students in my developmental English classes at JJC who literally squirm in their seats because they hate college so much. As one who quit college and went back--twice, I can sympathize. One of my squirmers told me the other day that he was going to college because he couldn't get a job, and his parents told him that they wouldn't give him any money unless he enrolled at JJC. He's a competent writer, but I'm not hopeful about his future in college--at least at this time.Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-10052750536129963782012-10-27T09:14:00.001-07:002012-10-27T09:16:06.631-07:0060's Music: Gone from Chicago's Radio Stations<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-PkqGcIZvGNl_BqSj3OHAiW3Ql8XMfOMyO4cUp1cTgAj-aYBFTXqQx99skKw12yCv3c4n4TJlCkUzAXAtMGBOdRoJP-mc2qYk5VvMdelCCSv1cWSZgU8zOEMpCMVy7DE_nwg31_aw7rWZ/s1600/Prizm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-PkqGcIZvGNl_BqSj3OHAiW3Ql8XMfOMyO4cUp1cTgAj-aYBFTXqQx99skKw12yCv3c4n4TJlCkUzAXAtMGBOdRoJP-mc2qYk5VvMdelCCSv1cWSZgU8zOEMpCMVy7DE_nwg31_aw7rWZ/s320/Prizm.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"The Wandering Adjunct Mobile"</td></tr>
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Since the end of August, I've spent lots of time back in the automobile driving from Sandwich to River Forest to Joliet. I call my 2002 Prizm the "Wandering Adjunct Mobile," because I'm teaching this year at both Dominican University and at Joliet Junior College. The Prizm only has an AM-FM radio with a CD player--no satellite radio. So I've had the opportunity to listen to Chicago's radio stations once again like I did when I drove from Sandwich to Palatine for 26 years while teaching at Fremd.<br />
<br />
The listening results have been disappointing!<br />
<br />
Believe it or not, the songs from the 1960's have all but disappeared from Chicago radio. Oh, yeah, you'll hear a 60's song once in a while, but most of the so called "oldies" or "classic rock" stations ignore what is the best rock music ever produced--the music from 1964-74. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv6WJNl93jo2XpbQQnsChqjVTyy1LzOhAVRbSAuebcsluRCKR9bN5euRS2Y45vFEkCWhd7srVzGk6fiTEorJpWeF9dllX0vOEYO4lU62Q7Ch1efG1_tTWsMeDX9NWjouE_QmzGDBn4SRR8/s1600/Cream.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv6WJNl93jo2XpbQQnsChqjVTyy1LzOhAVRbSAuebcsluRCKR9bN5euRS2Y45vFEkCWhd7srVzGk6fiTEorJpWeF9dllX0vOEYO4lU62Q7Ch1efG1_tTWsMeDX9NWjouE_QmzGDBn4SRR8/s320/Cream.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cream: Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce, and Eric Clapton</td></tr>
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If I hear Eric Clapton on the radio, it's the acoustic version of "Layla" or worse yet that horrible "Wonderful Tonight." "Sunshine of Your Love" is gone, as are "White Room" and "Crossroads." And if an Animals' song is played, it'll be "House of the Rising Sun"; "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," "It's My Life," and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" are missing in action from Chicago radio stations. "Sky Pilot"? You gotta be kidding!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtTe1TzF1k8VUfSN89GHJLcxjamdK8QtGJieNSRWinhdBjKqjQ-X-6QR8ic6_hVsz2j6GFNiXWQnrKVMkFK5sa2KIJkB7dG8TRhN_JeqePnXB592cP1zHztHwGanljvmwzN4sEoC1tOnfy/s1600/beatles-for-sale-two-ep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtTe1TzF1k8VUfSN89GHJLcxjamdK8QtGJieNSRWinhdBjKqjQ-X-6QR8ic6_hVsz2j6GFNiXWQnrKVMkFK5sa2KIJkB7dG8TRhN_JeqePnXB592cP1zHztHwGanljvmwzN4sEoC1tOnfy/s1600/beatles-for-sale-two-ep.jpg" /></a></div>
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What about the group that started it all? The Beatles! The corporate radio programmers have ash canned them too, except for the nominal "Breakfast with the Beatles" shows on Sunday morning. Who listens to WXRT (FM-93.1) on Sunday morning with Terry Hemorrriod anyway? I'm racked out!<br />
<br />
What you do hear on Chicago stations are a smattering of 1970's Rolling Stones songs, "Start Me Up" for example, and lots of Elton John music. All that crappy late 70's music is holding sway. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgL-NgFMKOL-D-qAozlxXET9HBtE-bAiwY6k3Mn4pS4bgzPOTGcFvlvr1Ie8vKQXQBd_uVYokkWzWd7geWOAWMbRiOzueLRDMDHPig7XmORdW7lFhK3vNpVaf1jRmia3CXaP81qCzGLbbX/s1600/Rod.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgL-NgFMKOL-D-qAozlxXET9HBtE-bAiwY6k3Mn4pS4bgzPOTGcFvlvr1Ie8vKQXQBd_uVYokkWzWd7geWOAWMbRiOzueLRDMDHPig7XmORdW7lFhK3vNpVaf1jRmia3CXaP81qCzGLbbX/s320/Rod.jpg" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look at this gem! Rod Stewart in his disco togs.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac, Rod Stewart (I'm puking now!), Supertramp, Eagles, Foreigner, Heart, Toto. God, please kill me. When I looked at the playlist for the the last 24 hours at WLS (FM-94.7) this morning, there was not one Beatles song played yesterday, not one.<br />
<br />
Ask yourself when was the last time you heard "I Want to Hold Your Hand," "She Loves You," or "Please Please Me" on the radio in Chicago during morning or afternoon drive time? Maybe, just maybe a station will play "Hey Jude" or "Something" by the Beatles, but I'm so sick of those songs I hit the button when I hear them. How about "Nowhere Man"? Heard that lately? Or "Eight Days a Week"?<br />
<br />
You haven't heard these songs because they aren't there.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtwtr5NNax8WlrZH5wODCLMn2Qsh8CcFUtVruY5BBTnvPGbMEu7Gmf_YxOhTCqDG0BaWU9cINHZhiqBmuF4G05W4YZ0z_pCZsP2yAdkyIEeFHVSeeRne-L4TLAFvYHqARWGjgSZ9lHSNBA/s1600/Bon+Jovi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtwtr5NNax8WlrZH5wODCLMn2Qsh8CcFUtVruY5BBTnvPGbMEu7Gmf_YxOhTCqDG0BaWU9cINHZhiqBmuF4G05W4YZ0z_pCZsP2yAdkyIEeFHVSeeRne-L4TLAFvYHqARWGjgSZ9lHSNBA/s320/Bon+Jovi.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bon Jovi in the 1980's</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The biggest disappointment is "The Drive," WDRV (FM-97.1), which USED to play 60's and early 70's songs. When I heard Bob Stroud play Bon Jovi the other day, I swore that "The Drive's" push-button on my radio was going to be changed. But what can I change it to? Country music. Nah, that stuff is worse than listening to WGN's Milt Rosenberg purposely mispronounce President Obama's first name every night on Extension 720.<br />
<br />
The irony of the situation is that we aging Baby Boomers who turned 17 in 1965 and 21 in 1969 (Thanks for remembering us Jackson Browne, but you're songs are gone too) have more disposable income that any other radio listening demographic group. You'd think that the radio programmers would be falling all over themselves putting stations on the air that cater to Baby Boomers' musical tastes.<br />
<br />
So what if the stations have to advertise Viagra, nursing homes, no-fall bath tubs, or Depends. Money is money!<br />
<br />
But these assholes are too busy looking at the 35-54 age demographic. That's why you're hearing Steely Dan and Foreigner so much. The programmers have completely forgotten us.<br />
<br />
The company I used to work for, Nelson Multimedia, has an AM station WSQR (AM-1180) in Sycamore, Illinois. For a while, the station played classic 60's hits (It's now gone to a "Music of Your Life" format.). Two years ago while working for the station at the Sandwich Fair, I shook hands with hundreds of listeners from Elgin, Joliet, Rochelle, Rockford, Woodstock, DeKalb, and Mendota who were devoted to the radio station and who loved the music. "Keep that music coming," a typical listener would say. "We can't find that music anywhere else!" <br />
<br />
The other problem is that the same jerks who ran the Chicago radio stations in the 1970's are still around as are some of the same DJ's. When I heard Fred Winston last week back on the air at WLS (FM-94.7), I almost drove off the road. But Winston is not playing the Supremes or the Zombies in his latest radio gig. He's playing some late 70's or early 80's crap. Fred, you're a whore!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDDL4LWch0ohdc80yKZ0knDrFKD8gQrAbMpG7F6PO9-YCnOtsgup8YToDmPEX5kWt-Zu1cuzrter75T1tbVgQ4jlUDDabgNJIWc-Wi9hru_pK5DjofX0BAPhiAul97drGNjM4vYJtI8yIH/s1600/Nelsons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDDL4LWch0ohdc80yKZ0knDrFKD8gQrAbMpG7F6PO9-YCnOtsgup8YToDmPEX5kWt-Zu1cuzrter75T1tbVgQ4jlUDDabgNJIWc-Wi9hru_pK5DjofX0BAPhiAul97drGNjM4vYJtI8yIH/s1600/Nelsons.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pam and Larry Nelson</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Some day someone like Larry and Pam Nelson, the owners of Nelson Multimedia, are going to wake up and realize that there is lots of money to be made programming the music of the 1960's and early 70's. <br />
<br />
Until that day, I'll make a point to listen to North Central College's radio station, WONC (FM-89.1). From 10:00-midnight every night, WONC plays the best of the best in 60's music.<br />
<br />
Leave it to college kids to recognize the best music!Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-51905638063727329642012-10-11T08:41:00.000-07:002012-10-12T05:08:45.408-07:00The Sad State of American Journalism <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIkXC6zus70FjNQnpYPEQDwWFpqPlWc-u0NRYuTBT1h-bgV32WrM45Sr1djCn09AvA6loP0L0EPSZgeCgmjf90Izf9jYe0SJ5DLeIBf3thdnoVoaDQ1UYLarvvmqwKIhFVp1K3OBwbDSba/s1600/Roger+Goodell.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" nea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIkXC6zus70FjNQnpYPEQDwWFpqPlWc-u0NRYuTBT1h-bgV32WrM45Sr1djCn09AvA6loP0L0EPSZgeCgmjf90Izf9jYe0SJ5DLeIBf3thdnoVoaDQ1UYLarvvmqwKIhFVp1K3OBwbDSba/s320/Roger+Goodell.jpg" width="218" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell comes to Bears camp last August, and the <i>Chicago Sun-Times</i> does a two page spread on how the Bears players hate him and how they think he's a dictator. The <i>Chicago Tribune </i>runs one short paragraph under "Bears Bits," which just says Goddell was present at the camp. Nothing is said in the <em>Tribune</em> about the Bears players' opinions of Goodell. Of course, the <em>Tribune</em> has become famous as an anti-labor newspaper.<br />
<br />
The <i>Tribune</i> also runs a series of stories on the Illinois pension crisis, highlighting abuses of double dipping in the system. The stories reek of bias against the pension systems. After the series, the <i>Tribune </i>runs editorials demanding pension reform and calling for retired public employees to give up their cost of living adjustments or their medical insurance. The <em>Trib's</em> editorial bias against pensions, teachers, and public education moved onto the front page into what should be non-biased news stories.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigBf1gl9K0QRW078pMoVmXx2Ro-3CAWjGB3v0EXlcH9x-JkDwhih33E5OQXHykSC-8WD8cGJVoiNqPr31Xs0dvFPjat61yCMKoTiGlmx8vr5qSkFXWtkNZN3wS_IWjiDE1Si-k9u3CjnjY/s1600/mike-adamle-jan122011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" nea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigBf1gl9K0QRW078pMoVmXx2Ro-3CAWjGB3v0EXlcH9x-JkDwhih33E5OQXHykSC-8WD8cGJVoiNqPr31Xs0dvFPjat61yCMKoTiGlmx8vr5qSkFXWtkNZN3wS_IWjiDE1Si-k9u3CjnjY/s320/mike-adamle-jan122011.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Channel 7's Mike Adamle</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Channel Five's Mike Adamle leads his nightly sportscast with the fact that the Cubs brought up two rookies for a Sunday game. The first-place White Sox taking two of three from division leading Texas is relegated to the second slot. in the sports segment The Cubs are in last place, 25 games under .500 at the time!<br />
<br />
WGN Radio always leads its sportscasts off with a Cubs or Blackhawks story because both teams' radio broadcasts are on the station.<br />
<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjFvCSHB917BJLH9ienhEHMpvs7vr05GkcUe1Fu9666JdmmiGi_3JyPjHBB81q5WlkDh6vZiI78qVjrZbDYeECsMZAdZYth18e5Fb_vqzrDV5KuWU0KjjweXBWSvG85hSOKUD1fQBWbc65/s1600/brian_williams_20110513001825.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" nea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjFvCSHB917BJLH9ienhEHMpvs7vr05GkcUe1Fu9666JdmmiGi_3JyPjHBB81q5WlkDh6vZiI78qVjrZbDYeECsMZAdZYth18e5Fb_vqzrDV5KuWU0KjjweXBWSvG85hSOKUD1fQBWbc65/s1600/brian_williams_20110513001825.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NBC Nightly News Anchor Brian Williams</td></tr>
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NBC news anchor Brian Williams asked Texas Governor Rick Perry the following question during last September's Republican Presidential Debates: "Governor Perry, a question about Texas. Your state has executed 234 death row inmates more than any other governor in modern times. Have you struggled to sleep at night?"<br />
<br />
Wow! The journalism that Ray Vanderburg, Reef Waldrep, and some guy named Larry (I can't remember his last name, but he DID give me a "D" in Public Relations.) taught me at Western Illinois University seems to have gone by the wayside. There is no attempt to judge stories for news value any longer. The Cubs get the top slot because WGN carries the games, no matter what the White Sox or Bears do. The <i>Tribune</i> is anti-union so the heck with what the Bears players say about Roger Goodell.<br />
<br />
Brian Williams makes no effort to be non-biased in his questioning of Rick Perry. Williams lets it be known that he is against capital punishment, and damn it, Perry better be against it too. Did we ever know the politics of Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, Walter Cronkite, Edward R. Murrow, or Howard K. Smith when they were on the air? <br />
<br />
I don't think I did! <br />
<br />
And now every night when I see Williams sitting behind the same anchor desk where Tom Brokaw used to sit, I wonder if the news that night will be filtered through Williams' liberal bias. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdwSLW7cYdJYU5doU9yyey7A3W2p_FgEZH52-CVYcakUaIoUAo00SwLxlypN-iHOr15_N5mBWI84xuMqDVLX-cdIVrEGJm1035fSg6_1tatZr4P_wp6DkOZMnrYBYk_H1VkhsCfOihS_xv/s1600/roger-ailes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" nea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdwSLW7cYdJYU5doU9yyey7A3W2p_FgEZH52-CVYcakUaIoUAo00SwLxlypN-iHOr15_N5mBWI84xuMqDVLX-cdIVrEGJm1035fSg6_1tatZr4P_wp6DkOZMnrYBYk_H1VkhsCfOihS_xv/s320/roger-ailes.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fox News' Roger Ailes</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Fox News is worse. Under one time Republican campaign manager Roger Ailes, Fox makes a habit of airing the conservative side of each issue and leaving the other side unspoken. Sean Hannity's interview of George Zimmerman, who is accused of killing Black teenager Travon Martin in Florida told America where Fox News stood. Hannity kissed Zimmerman's butt for the entire interview.<br />
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Voters have a harder time making up their minds who to vote for because the media outlets that should be weighing candidates' positions on key issues are too busy spinning the news to promote the candidates of their choice.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP72zA1Z6jDQjMRmM4APoczzYYe9jLDiZ8drWlFB4IzC3qCZvli2iIW6DxomI7udb4s3X0yoHhh997WbQJDgO7wSUaqGZ3XoO5wrlqJTJwPs-NTqNUajg7oK9-1ab_Qz8H1QoGDJgyi7D8/s1600/Larry+King.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" nea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP72zA1Z6jDQjMRmM4APoczzYYe9jLDiZ8drWlFB4IzC3qCZvli2iIW6DxomI7udb4s3X0yoHhh997WbQJDgO7wSUaqGZ3XoO5wrlqJTJwPs-NTqNUajg7oK9-1ab_Qz8H1QoGDJgyi7D8/s1600/Larry+King.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Larry King</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Media experts used to complain about Larry King's show on CNN and claim that King just lobbed softball questions at his guests. But I always found King to be thorough and probing. He wasn't looking for a "gotcha moment." King was looking to have his guests comment on the key issues of the day, and no one ever knew where King stood politically. When I watch Hannity doing an interview on Fox News or Lawrence O'Donnell interviewing a public figure on MSNBC, I have to sift through the bias in order to get to the real story. And sometimes the real story never emerges.<br />
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Our local radio station, WSPY-FM in Plano, sent its news director, Ryan Morton, to the Republican National Convention last summer. For the entire week, Morton sent back puff piece interviews of local Kendall County Republicans giving their take on the convention. When I sent Morton a message on Facebook telling him how I was looking forward to his coverage of the Democratic Convention the next week, he sent me a message back telling me he wasn't going to Charlotte.<br />
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I told him that WSPY's news coverage was the best argument I'd seen for the reinstatement of the equal time rule which used to force radio and television stations to air opposing views. I never thought I'd want the equal time rule back (It was a pain in the rear dealing with it), but after listening to Morton, Williams, Hannity, and O'Donnell, I'm not so sure any more.<br />
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The station I used to work for in Galesburg, WGIL-AM, runs Glenn Beck in the morning, Rush Limbaugh in the afternoon, and Dennis Miller at night--all conservative commentators. And now WGIL owner John Pritchard is running for mayor of Galesburg. I guess we know where he stands politically! <br />
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Will journalism in America ever return to its glory days? Could there be a Woodward and Berstein today? <br />
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The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind!Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-46269075107696970002012-09-12T05:55:00.001-07:002012-09-12T07:24:26.364-07:00Noisy Bear Fans Not Alone When It Comes to Boorish Behavior in Chicago! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVIh7PFnJdxe82PIlNkve0Iu0bmalTJW6PIxOQCqhqlXfYf8Zoo1Mte4Y7yRdad_5a8AMoxoeYwt3AHJIEl48Kb6zFFGLw4joJmZx_TFrD9BSsVgnctB6JN208IZemf3YI0WDBJijsq3Oj/s1600/Jay-Cutler.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hea="true" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVIh7PFnJdxe82PIlNkve0Iu0bmalTJW6PIxOQCqhqlXfYf8Zoo1Mte4Y7yRdad_5a8AMoxoeYwt3AHJIEl48Kb6zFFGLw4joJmZx_TFrD9BSsVgnctB6JN208IZemf3YI0WDBJijsq3Oj/s400/Jay-Cutler.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bears quarterback Jay Cutler now knows what those of us who have been going to sports events and concerts in Chicago have known for a long time. Chicago audiences are there to see and be seen, not to watch the game!</td></tr>
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I had to laugh during Sunday's Bears game against the Colts when Bears quarterback Jay Cutler was forced to call time-out in the Red Zone because the fans in the north end zone at Soldier Field wouldn't shut up. Cutler wanted to change the play at the line of scrimmage, and his teammates couldn't hear him because of the noisy fans screaming their heads off.<br />
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Cutler now knows what many of us have known for a long time. Bears fans (and Chicago fans in general) are mostly at the games to see and be seen. They really aren't there to watch football. In fact most of these newer Bears fans could care less about the games. Going to a Bears game for these North Shore yuppies consists of four hours of tailgating, smuggling some exoctic liquor into the stadium, and being in their cars and gone before the fourth quarter is half over.<br />
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It didn't used to be that way!<br />
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You still hear national sports commentators talk about how knowledgeable Chicago Bears football fans are. That was once true, but it's not the case any longer. A knowledgeable Bears fan would never scream and yell when the Bears are on offense in the Red Zone. A knowledgeable Bears fan would shut up and wait until the team scores, then let loose. <br />
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When the Bears moved into the new Soldier Field in 2003, the organization jacked up ticket prices and made season ticket holders buy expensive seat licenses before they were even allowed to buy their season tickets. Old time Bears season ticket holders left the team in droves.<br />
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Make way for the North Shore yuppies, ladies and gentlemen!<br />
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When the yuppies came in with all their money, they made going to a Bears game an exercise in showing off. "Here I am! I'm dressed in my brand new designer Bears gear. I'm good and lubricated too! I'm ready to watch some football. No, wait a minute. I don't know anything about football. I just want to be seen and get myself sloshed. Then I can drive back to Winnetka and get ready to go to the office in the morning and tell everyone I was at the game. Oooooh! What will my co-workers think of me?"<br />
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God help us!<br />
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And these idiots have been calling up Chicago sports-talk radio stations all week defending themselves from Cutler's complaint: "If I buy my ticket, I can cheer whenever I want!" they say on The Score and on WMVP.<br />
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Jeeeeeeez!<br />
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I've quit going to games and concerts in Chicago because of this crap. When the wife and I went to a Simon and Garfunkel concert at the United Center a few years back, I was able to get prime seats on the side with a great eye-level view of the stage. It was perfect--until these four thirty-something jerks in front of us commenced to talking to each other about their jobs and then talked on their cell phones during the entire concert.<br />
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Artie Garfunkel sang, "When you're down and out./ When your're on the street . . ." and all I heard was. "That was something that Jay-Bird screwed that account up and had to eat the results."<br />
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Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHVOAptvv-log6mIMgACVd2btrsc-MI5LmJAg_OhN01ZLhKZLEUUefhbd_Xy8uuQqzQ1f2yUJMQWlTjW1XctpfDZ1JY6PxDfhXD183NgRqGTG93P2ChftKiIMzXPhhmQCgBIJzLaWcitN3/s1600/Springsteen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHVOAptvv-log6mIMgACVd2btrsc-MI5LmJAg_OhN01ZLhKZLEUUefhbd_Xy8uuQqzQ1f2yUJMQWlTjW1XctpfDZ1JY6PxDfhXD183NgRqGTG93P2ChftKiIMzXPhhmQCgBIJzLaWcitN3/s1600/Springsteen.jpg" /></a></div>
Then when the daughter and I followed Bruce Springsteen's <em>Devils and Dust </em>and <em>Seeger Sessions</em> tours around the Midwest in 2005 and 2006, I discovered that audiences in Madison, St. Louis, Des Moines, and Milwaukee did not scream out song titles or call out "Bruuuuuuuuuce" between songs like the idiots in Chicago did. Just before Springsteen took the stage at each concert, Allison Krause's "Down to the River to Pray" would play. In Chicago a woman behind me excitedly asked her friend, "Is that Celine Dion singing?" My daughter and I rolled in the aisle laughing. Celine Dion? She sunk with the <em>Titanic</em>, honey!<br />
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But maybe the worst place to watch a game in Chicago is Wrigley Field. The place is crawling with North Shore 20 and 30 something junior yuppies talking and walking round the ballpark throughout the entire game. And none of their talk is about baseball. I tried to keep score (I know, I'm a relic!) at my last Cubs game, and I made it to the bottom of the second inning before I gave up. The people around me were distracting me with their inane talk to the point of insanity.<br />
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So now I only go to electric concerts in Chicago. Paul McCartney was so loud at Wrigley Field that the yuppies could have talked about their jobs all night and I wouldn't have heard them. I was grooving to Paul singing "The Night Before" and "Paperback Writer" (I still can't believe he did "The Night Before"!).<br />
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So I hope that the fans at Soldier Field will be silent the next time Jay Cutler leads the Bears offensive inside the 20 yard line. But I sure ain't betting on it!Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-47235722362164259042012-08-19T06:57:00.001-07:002012-11-17T06:32:34.065-08:00A Bitter Strike Ends Badly for CAT Workers<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi79ZxRjE-zgFA-S225I4_0GbSAO7ftfF-t_kEnNEtjfEs2vy65InGENWo9TIPO9xbVE1U496pRdr-HPGaB1UsSgvnuDmlWxFsREBd-5H-eahqDKJCZ1H0wO3-jrKdqxH4vTEBJo_FJpwBu/s1600/Vickey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="385" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi79ZxRjE-zgFA-S225I4_0GbSAO7ftfF-t_kEnNEtjfEs2vy65InGENWo9TIPO9xbVE1U496pRdr-HPGaB1UsSgvnuDmlWxFsREBd-5H-eahqDKJCZ1H0wO3-jrKdqxH4vTEBJo_FJpwBu/s400/Vickey.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CAT worker Vickey Pogliano reacts to results of the strike vote outside of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union hall in Joliet on Friday.</td></tr>
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The rich, corporate hacks at Caterpillar Tractor are celebrating this weekend. They have busted out another union, this time the Machinists Union at the Joliet, Illinois CAT plant. Look at the above photo of CAT worker Vickey Pogliano. It even makes ME cry! Vickey and other 600 machinists in the local voted to return to work on Friday--they HAD to--they'd been without a salary since May 1st. But Joliet CAT workers will be paying double for health care, their pensions have been frozen, and those hired before May of 2005 get no raise. There is a $3,100 one-time signing bonus for all workers. Big blankin' deal!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj036Bx7J8TmuJViX39PAhIyFo_nGqMCXfpaicnvQtN89Wo_P81ASPoTpPGj-APz1scwimYKUFVkU_sUXv0wbjoZKlTFwJEAa5Xft9-YIHomhCRwRh5Q32puoukRaYHmNIY8pcXkCRD7iyf/s1600/Dougie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj036Bx7J8TmuJViX39PAhIyFo_nGqMCXfpaicnvQtN89Wo_P81ASPoTpPGj-APz1scwimYKUFVkU_sUXv0wbjoZKlTFwJEAa5Xft9-YIHomhCRwRh5Q32puoukRaYHmNIY8pcXkCRD7iyf/s1600/Dougie.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CAT CEO Douglas Oberhelman is smiling. His company has busted out another labor union.</td></tr>
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This is in contrast to CAT's CEO, Douglas R. Oberhelman, who made $49,114,564 in 2011, according to Morningstar. Six CAT "group presidents" averaged over six million dollars for the same year. That's like winning the lottery every year! The executives' salaries go up, the plant workers' salaries go down.<br />
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Tier I Cat workers (workers who were hired before May 1, 2005) will continue making an average of $26.35 an hour for the next six years. There is no raise. <br />
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So it is in the corporate run America of 2012.<br />
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What CAT is doing to its workers is criminal. Here is a company that is getting $330,000,000 in tax breaks per year from the State of Illinois, is making money hand-over-foot, and CAT cannot pay give its workers a cost of living increase? Shouldn't the CAT workers be sharing in the company's good fortune? <br />
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Yes they should!<br />
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The Republicans like to talk about President Obama starting a campaign of class warfare when the president proposes raising the income taxes of those making over $250,000 per year. But what CAT did to its Joliet machinists is the real class warfare.<br />
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Just think what Vickey Pogliano and her family will have to do. First, Vickey will have to work longer because her pension has been frozen. The night when she and her husband took the kids out to Pizza Hut will fall by the wayside. Instead of having chicken every Sunday, the family will eat rice and beans. Any hope of sending the kids to college will disappear. They will have to find their own way to college. The back-to-school supplies and clothes will not happen this year.<br />
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Meanwhile Doug Oberhelman's salary went up 42% this year because of CAT's record profits. Doug and his wife Diane will have a multi-million dollar pension when he retires. They can vacation anywhere they want in the world. I can't believe this guy's from Woodstock. In my next life I'm going to have a long talk with him in 1965 as I hold him by his shoe laces over the side of bridge above the Chicago & Northwestern tracks. ("Now when you grow up, you're going to be a Chuck Percy Republican, Dougie! Got that?")<br />
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The question then is how long will Americans sit by and watch this go on? How long before you get up off your dead ass, head out into the streets, and protest what CAT and all of corporate America is doing to the middle class?<br />
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Here's hoping you get up soon. Time's running out! <br />
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Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-80383714273377871142012-08-16T08:19:00.000-07:002012-08-16T10:37:09.855-07:00Governor Gets His Oats at Illinois State Fair<br />
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Take a look at the photograph above, fellow teachers! This picture of Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan and Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, which was taken at the Illinois State Fair yesterday, should scare the crap out of you as the Illinois State Legislature gets ready to re-convene on August 17th to consider pension reform for Illinois teachers.<br />
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I get as paranoid looking at this photo as I did when a Crystal Lake cop car pulled up behind me in 1968. Madigan and Quinn have been at odds over school districts footing the costs of future pension payments for active teachers. Madigan thinks the Illinois school districts should pay the pension costs since they are giving huge end-of-career salary increases to administrators; Quinn and his new-found Republican buddies believe that property taxes would go way up if the school districts have to pay pension costs. Quinn and Republican House Minority Leader Tom Cross want to wait and phase in a system where school districts pay teachers' pensions over a ten year period.<br />
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Now Madigan and Quinn have their arms around each other? Yikes! Have they made peace? And Madigan in a White Sox cap? I'm going to ask the wife if the Cubs will have me as a fan (like Mike Royko did in reverse!). I want nothing to do with either of these two jokers.<br />
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All the experts are saying that nothing will happen on August 17th, but this photo tells a different story, fellow teachers.<br />
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Union members are not sitting still. According to the <i>Springfield State Journal Register</i>, Governor Quinn was booed off the stage when he spoke Wednesday at the Illinois State Fair. The union protesters followed Quinn all the way from the Democratic County Chairmen's breakfast until the governor finally bailed out and fled the fair grounds after the booing in the afternoon.<br />
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Look at the photo above, no one will shake Quinn's hand! Don't you love the look on the farmer's face? Classic!<br />
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Quinn was so flustered during his boo-shortened speech that he called President Obama, Osama bin Laden: "I think everybody knows that <i>Obama,</i> uh, he's gone, he's dead, and the American auto industry is alive and well, thanks to our president."<br />
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Madigan also got booed, and the unions hired a plane to fly over the fair grounds with a banner that said, "Gov Quinn--unfair to workers."<br />
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Get to the phones, teachers. Quinn and Madigan can't screw us unless they have the Republican votes in the legislature. If you have Republican representatives and senators (like I do), call them and tell them to vote "no" on any bill that would raise property taxes.<br />
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It may be our last chance!<br />
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<br />Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-90626508433433156712012-08-03T14:12:00.000-07:002012-10-30T09:14:50.958-07:00Taking an August Breath During Chicago's Sports SeasonThe Chicago baseball teams had a day off yesterday, so all sports addicts had a chance to reflect on the baseball season and what's going on with the other off-season team.<br />
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Let's take a look!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivWpq11mWYGeCaikF8SZXSNSlyhZIzwakYMjwFDrmc7WrkvdfJtimhFfRXqvga3DueNkFxheQu_RDO8Ww6EBGh0M2RfJG4c3Yp8aWkNd-uEBko2ZBLKGTz9koGZfzeqfnY_NShaiataTAY/s1600/Jake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivWpq11mWYGeCaikF8SZXSNSlyhZIzwakYMjwFDrmc7WrkvdfJtimhFfRXqvga3DueNkFxheQu_RDO8Ww6EBGh0M2RfJG4c3Yp8aWkNd-uEBko2ZBLKGTz9koGZfzeqfnY_NShaiataTAY/s320/Jake.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White Sox righthander Jake Peavy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Chicago White Sox:</b> The first place Sox have been lucky and good. And you need that during a pennant race--look what happened in 2005! Kevin Youkilis was a real steal from the Red Sox (Is Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine really that bad?), and Brett Myers has pitched well so far in a set-up role. I just love starting pitcher Jake Peavy, who was maligned by the Chicago media establishment as a "waste of money" all last season when he was coming off surgery. Just goes to show you what those idiots in the sports media know. Peavy will top 200 innings pitched, and he'll make it hard for the Sox to let him go next year. Here's hoping that the Sox re-sign Jake, and look to get a 2nd baseman. Robin Ventura FINALLY benched Gordon Beckham on Wednesday against the Twins. The problem is that back-up Orlando Hudson's batting average is worse than Beckham's. The Sox also need a back-up catcher who can hit over a buck eighty. Some think starting catcher A.J. Pierzynski is the best catcher in modern Sox history, and I'm not arguing with that premise--at all! (Sorry, Pudge!)<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrDTJQinCXI-yiXTmbnJNTYM2dBnnedudiz8GJlUKbbyS8uq6XiGkC1fwUOesvWzNULlr-0Y8ePwwLpgxiH-tmrHeQw6nAZU5I0F8JyVghnjtWXtBlSF0qtXrDvbiVtdJLPWvObGuA6_Kg/s1600/casey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrDTJQinCXI-yiXTmbnJNTYM2dBnnedudiz8GJlUKbbyS8uq6XiGkC1fwUOesvWzNULlr-0Y8ePwwLpgxiH-tmrHeQw6nAZU5I0F8JyVghnjtWXtBlSF0qtXrDvbiVtdJLPWvObGuA6_Kg/s320/casey.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cubs pitcher Casey Coleman.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<b>Chicago Cubs:</b> Get ready for 100 losses, Cubs fans. Any chance of a .500 season went out the door when the Cubs dumped Paul Maholm, Ryan Dempster, Geo Soto, and Reed Johnson at the trade deadline on Tuesday. Man, that was a house cleaning! What's left? Well, Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo, that's what! I don't think Darwin Barney will make the down-the-line cut, and Steve Clevenger will NEVER be an everyday catcher. Who else is there? Vitters? Jackson? More minor leaguers? Cubs GM Theo Epstein wanted to trade Matt Garza and Alphonso Soriano last Tuesday but couldn't. Garza has a bad elbow, and Soriano supposedly nixed a trade to the Giants. I went to a game last year that Casey Coleman started, and I swore, never again. Let's see if the lemmings that are Cub fans continue to fill that ballpark. I know I won't be there.<br />
<br />
<b>Chicago Bears:</b> The Bears hype machine is in full throttle. In fact it's worse than ever. Even some of the national mopes point to the Bears as a playoff team and a threat to unseat Green Bay as Central Division champs.<br />
<br />
Don't believe it!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhChLqo05SRafK3bN1rMDt6FKQ2cjDT2-L5w12TcrGCNC1lPnCwC5Lq0ZgDWcu09FA51exRXl7Ift5k5zgHEjAxXSNPp_xfLN-2vxPIauDULZClEiwcdlVkSRhpwMvr0ToFdp52_A1Xv5sr/s1600/gabe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhChLqo05SRafK3bN1rMDt6FKQ2cjDT2-L5w12TcrGCNC1lPnCwC5Lq0ZgDWcu09FA51exRXl7Ift5k5zgHEjAxXSNPp_xfLN-2vxPIauDULZClEiwcdlVkSRhpwMvr0ToFdp52_A1Xv5sr/s1600/gabe.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bears right tackle Gabe Carimi. Will he make the whole season?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Here's why the Bears won't win and won't make the playoffs. First, the offensive line can't protect quarterback Jay Cutler. First round draft choice Chris Williams is a a bust, and the rest of the line (except for center Roberto Garza) is a piecemeal bunch. Right tackle Gabe Carimi's knee is a big question mark, and there is absolutely no depth behind the starters. How can a team that was so lousy up front last year not draft an offensive lineman? Easy, every offensive lineman they draft is a bust. We'll know about Carimi soon. The Bears sure botched his surgery--wait, his two surgeries!<br />
<br />
Second, Cutler will get hurt because the offensive line is so bad. Back-up QB Jason Campbell will be better than Caleb Haney, but anyone's better than that guy (It makes you wonder how these coaches evaluate talent, doesn't it?). The Bears will become more of a running team under Campbell, which will result in running back Matt Forte going down. Michael Bush will be better than Marion Barber, but anyone is better than Barber (No, Jim, don't think of the Denver game again! You'll have nightmares!)<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj11yUizWPD6p5SIWHiF-O2k8vrtD-arZcXctcmpZxkQXfoDmqe98h7Sfl2zza-QWzgOxx93_vdg32rfbZwL28cIi0n1I8cvpXQvkTRNlq23TZ7GolPNBBQoIoWaH0hjBx9IK4IxzzG2O5e/s1600/earl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj11yUizWPD6p5SIWHiF-O2k8vrtD-arZcXctcmpZxkQXfoDmqe98h7Sfl2zza-QWzgOxx93_vdg32rfbZwL28cIi0n1I8cvpXQvkTRNlq23TZ7GolPNBBQoIoWaH0hjBx9IK4IxzzG2O5e/s320/earl.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bears wide receiver Earl Bennett. How's the lacerated liver?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Third, the receivers are definitely better in 2012, but the number two guy is still a rookie, Alshon Jeffery. And look at the questions about Jeffery's conditioning and his heart. I love Earl Bennett, but the Bears just admitted this week that Bennett sustained a lacerated liver in that New Orleans game last year. Can Bennett be a no. 2 or 3 receiver? And I'm so sick of the talk about Devin Hester being the new Johnny Morris. Hester will be 30 this fall. Watch for a fall off in his production. I know, I know, Brandon Marshall, Brandon Marshall! All I have to say is look at his track record. Miami <i>gave</i> him away. That's telling!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9DFv1ZDUR3-2NITLCPvlVi748G9r3ZlOqDktmMeLJ-AoW0GxMf0890dxMe1iVxJwckSacqkKaTfzMoYHY-AJhlYKbxSnvOKJVf2oYAH8DjxFsJP-seDT5tL4baoE841dBiptScMx2wFNU/s1600/shea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9DFv1ZDUR3-2NITLCPvlVi748G9r3ZlOqDktmMeLJ-AoW0GxMf0890dxMe1iVxJwckSacqkKaTfzMoYHY-AJhlYKbxSnvOKJVf2oYAH8DjxFsJP-seDT5tL4baoE841dBiptScMx2wFNU/s400/shea.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Defensive end or linebacker? Bears No. 1 draft choice Shea McClellin</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Fourth, the defense has no depth--none, nada. When Green Bay won its last Super Bowl, the Packers were decimated by injuries, but they overcame those injuries with depth. There is no depth on the Bears. No. 1 draft choice Shea McClellin is undersized for a defensive end, and Bears Coach Lovie Smith is determined to play McClellin at end, not linebacker where he seems to fit better. Middle linebacker Brian Urlacher is age 34, outside linebacker Lance Briggs will be 32 in November, and cornerback Charles Tillman is 32. Heck, Julius Peppers will turn 33 in January. These ages are not a bad sign alone, but when you look at the players behind these starters, there's no one home. Safety Major Wright has been a major disappointment. Safety Chris Conte is bordering on being a bust and hurt all the time, and defensive tackle Stephen Paea must become a factor this season. I'm scared that this defense, if left on the field too long, won't be able to stop anybody. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8B8-3grqFAJDWh1i9sYsx8TiCkmk1qGAjnfGEwJSHG0iUheTJVETP6p5qGExgJQnLDJ8RDJ2g_8YKkd6ZsTmOwrQMpy0iI5rg5bLdCoysbg8bv8tgG9AOyqv2n84g2V8gFFrXSu95LP_C/s1600/bates.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8B8-3grqFAJDWh1i9sYsx8TiCkmk1qGAjnfGEwJSHG0iUheTJVETP6p5qGExgJQnLDJ8RDJ2g_8YKkd6ZsTmOwrQMpy0iI5rg5bLdCoysbg8bv8tgG9AOyqv2n84g2V8gFFrXSu95LP_C/s1600/bates.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bears assistant coach Jeremy Bates</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Fifth, coaching. The Bears players love Lovie Smith, but he continues to be the worst game coach in the NFL, and his talent evaluation is horrible. Remember Earl Bennett being inactive for a whole year when he was healthy? Jeremy Bates is a breath of fresh air on the coaching staff, but he's kind of a free spirit who doesn't fit into Smith's rigid tell nothing to the media mantra. Lovie better produce because this team can't miss the playoffs again.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, I think the Bears will just sneak into the playoffs at 9-7 or will duplicate last year and finish 8-8. <br />
<br />
Hopefully, the White Sox will be entertaining us in October!Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-50426584704939455942012-07-30T22:40:00.001-07:002012-08-17T05:43:10.254-07:00Pension Games--AGAIN!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN0SbnufwpCKAdn-vPHHiEpM_Sl_N7oRrewEOjY4VSJnhxXV4fcgi3T5vJ64DIfM1fhdXN7vGqAjbL-ICgGKD1i4jmZPZgTPOpKGnlrmpVcjE-5dw5wpjSfe9ZIo0hoZ0S6joajDrjnDOg/s1600/Pension+Games.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN0SbnufwpCKAdn-vPHHiEpM_Sl_N7oRrewEOjY4VSJnhxXV4fcgi3T5vJ64DIfM1fhdXN7vGqAjbL-ICgGKD1i4jmZPZgTPOpKGnlrmpVcjE-5dw5wpjSfe9ZIo0hoZ0S6joajDrjnDOg/s400/Pension+Games.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Grab your wallets, fellow teachers, Governor Pat Quinn and the Illinois State Legislature are getting ready to try to pass pension reform again. Quinn called a special session of the legislature for Friday (You didn't think they'd have the session on a Monday, did you?), August 17th to consider changing the pension benefits for active and retired teachers. <br />
<br />
I love the transparency of these guys! Just as teachers are getting ready to start the new school year, the governor calls for the special legislative session. And we thought trying to slip the bill through during the long Memorial Day weekend was sneaky and unethical! How much time are teachers going to have to call their legislators when they are back in their classrooms teaching or preparing to teach? I'm teaching five classes this fall; I <i>will </i>make time to call, but I know that many of my colleagues will have trouble finding the time. However, call we must, fellow teachers! Call your state senator and state representative starting today, and then keep calling up to and through the special legislative session!<br />
<br />
Now you can see why Quinn didn't call the legislators back in June. Having the special session on August 17th is a tactic to thwart the teachers unions from mobilizing their members. After all, we're the largest state pension system by FAR!<br />
<br />
I began to get suspicious something was brewing when I watched a baseball game on Channel 9 last week, and saw the station heavily promoting anchor Mark Suppelsa's show <i>Pension Games</i>, which ran tonight on WGN-TV and on CLTV.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirWtRbMDipGlznmYtHbmj5aV2ut6ecvz8BdrSmdSF2YFcTDupVg6R5do0r3KbZWs-R0XJHshQuX1u5hSfaEDF1BPw1ezZQ7TsvGKypS_eMcyIMKnbr8kYoAtkmnCu9TSjqJj2UXredJCL6/s1600/Mark+Suppelsa.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirWtRbMDipGlznmYtHbmj5aV2ut6ecvz8BdrSmdSF2YFcTDupVg6R5do0r3KbZWs-R0XJHshQuX1u5hSfaEDF1BPw1ezZQ7TsvGKypS_eMcyIMKnbr8kYoAtkmnCu9TSjqJj2UXredJCL6/s1600/Mark+Suppelsa.tiff" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Whatever happened to ethics in journalism? Mark Suppelsa of WGN-TV (Channel 9</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Suppelsa has become a pawn of the Civic Federation, which is made up of millionaires and billionaires who receive huge tax breaks from the State of Illinois and who have been pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into the campaign to fix Illinois pensions and screw active and retired teachers.<br />
<br />
Channel 9's Suppelsa and the <i>Chicago Tribune</i> newspaper, both owned by the bankrupt Tribune Company, have been banging the drum all this year about the abuses in the state pension systems. Suppelsa tells us about double-dipper politicians in Chicago and how they are making hundreds of thousands of dollars drawing from multiple pension systems, about superintendents who retire from a school district in Illinois and then move to Iowa or Missouri and get a job there making three or four hundred thousand dollars a year, blah, blah, blah.<br />
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These are the exceptions, fellow teachers, not the norm! <br />
<br />
The norm that Suppelsa and his media cronies at the right-wing <i>Tribune</i> never talk about is the retired downstate teacher whose pension is right around the average of $30,000 per year, who gets NO Social Security benefits, who pays $445.00 per month for a state PPO health insurance policy that sucks, and who now must make a decision whether she should lose her 3% per year cost or living adjustment or lose her health insurance policy from TRS. (I say "she" because 85% of retired and active teachers in Illinois are women. (Feminists, that little 85% tid-bit is for you!)).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYVea4MpHf_8OyXqu0JkA4UwYKrCijw0D7bCjlBM-T8Dgc7LaOBlEJrdkvH0RdESqTY4bte598z5kgu6dM-j4ptLjP8gOr3eKu5OfVcvCt-YWRq9XXz0hoY6WMGZQ-4jGjVo7vaik6p4Q_/s1600/Laurence+Msall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYVea4MpHf_8OyXqu0JkA4UwYKrCijw0D7bCjlBM-T8Dgc7LaOBlEJrdkvH0RdESqTY4bte598z5kgu6dM-j4ptLjP8gOr3eKu5OfVcvCt-YWRq9XXz0hoY6WMGZQ-4jGjVo7vaik6p4Q_/s1600/Laurence+Msall.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Laurence Msall, President of the anti-teacher Civic Federation</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
On tonight's show Suppelsa had the nerve to have Laurance Msall, the president of the Civic Federation sitting first at the table in the WGN-TV studios. There was no representative from the Illinois Federation of Teachers or the Illinois Education Association, the two teachers unions. The only voice that remotely spoke for us was Democratic Senator Michael Noland, and he wasn't much of pension defender. In fact, he was pretty sad. The others? Governor Quinn; Senator Christine Radogno, Republican minority leader; Rep. Tom Cross, Republican House Minority Leader; and Representative Elaine Nekritz, who is House Speaker Mike Madigan's lackey. Madigan, of course, was nowhere to be found!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiknfU87AeZGdAHiLKczMUzmQeRFQZM6V0IIqiL8NhzaBPJkbBQLam92OHd3eAYsquLeuW-ldHaY5COBR9XUyi9WsfqnFpE1qmfwGkbrXvFPkBrFRCBCsB2cU1xqzUfYzzSo08NuL3RTJ-1/s1600/CAT.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiknfU87AeZGdAHiLKczMUzmQeRFQZM6V0IIqiL8NhzaBPJkbBQLam92OHd3eAYsquLeuW-ldHaY5COBR9XUyi9WsfqnFpE1qmfwGkbrXvFPkBrFRCBCsB2cU1xqzUfYzzSo08NuL3RTJ-1/s1600/CAT.tiff" /></a></div>
All of this comes as Peoria, Illinois based Caterpillar Tractor last week reported record profits. <span class="paragraph-0"></span>
<span class="paragraph-1">Caterpillar announced Wednesday
that the company’s sales and revenues grew 22 percent from
second-quarter 2011, which adds up to $17.37 million. In the same amount
of time, profits grew from $1.02 billion in the second quarter of 2011
to $1.7 billion in the second quarter of 2012, an increase of 67
percent.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, 800 union workers at Cat's Joliet plant have been on strike since May 1st. The company wants to raise employee health insurance costs which would negate the workers' miniscule raises. According to the <i>Peoria Journal Star</i>, Cat received $330 million in tax breaks from the State of Illinois last December. Add Motorola, Boeing, Sears, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange--the list of companies receiving corporate welfare from Illinois taxpayers goes on and on!<br />
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And don't forget these companies pay little in the way of taxes back to the State of Illinois. The percentage of taxes we teachers pay is higher than any of these corporate welfare hogs. Maybe if these big companies stepped up to the plate and said, "O.K., we see you have a problem. Let's all work together to solve the pension deficit," the teachers unions would agree to help out. <br />
<br />
But noooooo, what do these companies do? They hire Laurence Msall, Ty Fahner, and other Civic Federation mopes to go out and spread lies about our pensions--<b>which we paid for</b>--and try to make us agree to take the hit ourselves instead of spreading the cost around. When negotiations are held in Springfield, representatives of the unions are not invited, but the Civic Federation gets the first chair.<br />
<br />
The problem is that the anti-teacher pension campaign is working. My brother, who is covered under the flush IMRF pension, said to me tonight, "Well we've got to do something!" implying that we teachers were going to have to bite the bullet because of years of legislative mismanagement of the state pension system. My brother's wife feels the same way.<br />
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Remember, fellow teachers, that you paid, or are paying, over nine percent of your salary to TRS for your pension. The State of Illinois has not funded TRS to the level required by law. THAT is what has caused the pension deficit.<br />
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Teachers should NOT be forced to bear the palm alone! Call now!</span><br />
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<br />Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-27125468397983690302012-07-23T10:46:00.001-07:002012-07-23T13:07:21.909-07:00Tom Cook's Mom, Howie the Assistant Golf Pro, Shannon, and the British Open<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtLLVxByJd-_OYP9RTJbsHzT7joE32Cl_SJXhmTZ9mKffHQOPjQu1Z9pIhWBdsfYo-xnalNS5T9BSx3bn5E8Ax9qXBFsH854oNhGR9mQKFbDPg9d9dB0dfD3iFu6qziWWH51B3_tPTQNL9/s1600/ernie-els-2012-british-open.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtLLVxByJd-_OYP9RTJbsHzT7joE32Cl_SJXhmTZ9mKffHQOPjQu1Z9pIhWBdsfYo-xnalNS5T9BSx3bn5E8Ax9qXBFsH854oNhGR9mQKFbDPg9d9dB0dfD3iFu6qziWWH51B3_tPTQNL9/s400/ernie-els-2012-british-open.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ernie Els holds up the Claret Jug after backing into the British Open championship on Sunday.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Headed over to the country club on Monday morning to drink coffee, and shoot the bull with my buddy Howie, the assistant golf pro. As I pulled into the parking lot on my bike, Tom Cook's mom, who is a cocktail waitress at the club, was exiting the cart shack where Howie has an upstairs apartment. She glared at me as she walked toward her car, a 1968 blue Chevy, which was sitting alone in the parking lot. Howie's apparent paramour was still wearing her cocktail waitress uniform, and her hair was all messed up. She wore no make-up. I stood there staring at her as she put her nose up in the air, looked at me like I was a piece of garbage, and proceeded to her beat-up Chevrolet.<br />
<br />
A few minutes later Howie appeared.<br />
<br />
"What's going on, my man?" I asked him as I pulled my bike over near the caddy pen. Howie's face was covered with lipstick and his neck full of hickies. He glanced at me and began to open up the cart shack doors; he was kind of hang-dog like and wouldn't look at me, apparently embarrassed that I had seen Tom Cook's mom coming out of the cart shack at 6:30 on a Monday morning. Howie and I have known each other for a long time.<br />
<br />
"Must of been a hell of a night!" I said as I walked past the pro shop toward the cart shack where the coffee was.<br />
<br />
Howie still didn't say anything. He just began pulling out carts for the country club's afternoon golf outing. That was my cue to head to the back of the cart shack and put on the coffee pot. A few minutes later Howie finally appeared in the coffee area. I was already sitting down sipping my coffee.<br />
<br />
"Not a word about Donna!" he said as he held his right hand up in a stop motion.<br />
<br />
"Who's Donna?" I asked. I had already forgotten the forty-ish red-head I had seen in the parking lot.<br />
<br />
"The waitress you saw leaving my apartment," Howie answered as he walked over to grab a cup of java. "You know, Donna, the waitress?!"<br />
<br />
"Oh, I just know her as Tom Cook's mom," I said. "Hey, at least you're not bopping members' wives like the last assistant pro did. That's a one-way ticket to unemployment."<br />
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Howie frowned, coughed, and looked away, not saying anything. <br />
<br />
"Hey, Howie," I said, changing the subject, "how did "The British Open" ever become 'The Open Championship'?"<br />
<br />
"What do you mean?" Howie asked.<br />
<br />
"You know, we all refer to yesterday's golf tournament as 'The British Open,' but the announcers and advertisements all call it 'The Open Championship,'" I said. "How did that happen?"<br />
<br />
"You're Irish," Howie responded, "you know how arrogant those English are. They invented golf so they think by calling the tournament 'The Open Championship' instead of 'The British Open' that they are making their tournament <i>the</i> <i>only</i> open golf tournament." Howie sat down and actually looked at me for the first time. He had washed his face and covered up his neck with a turtle-neck. He looked human again.<br />
<br />
"What about the U.S. Open and the Canadian Open?" I asked. "Isn't the U.S. Open just as important as the British Open?<br />
<br />
"To an American, the U.S. Open is<i> t</i><i>he</i> most important golf tournament," Howie said. "You remember when Kenny Pinns was a member here how the club used the fact that he had played in a U.S. Open as a way to get new members. Those British snobs are just trying to lord it over the rest of the golf world by calling their tournament 'The Open Championship.'"<br />
<br />
"I think it's confusing," I said. "But at least I didn't have to listen to Mike Tirico, Curtis Strange, and Paul Azinger yesterday."<br />
<br />
"How'd you avoid them?" Howie asked.<br />
<br />
"DirecTV had a channel with international coverage so I watched that. Peter Alliss was on there, and I can't understand him because his British accent is so thick. It was great. But Nick Faldo came on about half way through so I had to turn off the sound."<br />
<br />
"You're just in love with Johnny Miller and Roger Maltbie!" Howie said as he laughed heartily. "I like Strange. But nobody likes Tirico or Azinger. The problem is that ABC only broadcasts a limited number of tournaments each year so they're not as good as NBC or CBS. Nobody saw the end anyway," Howie said.<br />
<br />
"Why not?" I asked.<br />
<br />
"When Tiger got that triple-bogey seven on the sixth hole, millions of television sets went off around the world."<br />
<br />
"Mine didn't," I said.<br />
<br />
"I'll bet you fell asleep in front of the television," Howie said with a gleam in his eye.<br />
<br />
"Well, I <i>did</i> miss Adam Scott bogeying 15, 16, and 17, but I saw his last putt on 18," I said sheepishly.<br />
<br />
"See, I told you," Howie laughed. "Golf's television ratings depend on how well Tiger does in a tournament. When he flops, the ratings go in the toilet. What it shows is how weak the PGA tour is. If it wasn't for Tiger, the men's tour would be in as sad a shape as the women's tour is. When was the last time you watched a LPGA event or even saw one on TV?"<br />
<br />
"Uh, not lately," I said. "But don't viewers hate Tiger after what he did with the porn stars?"<br />
<br />
"Nobody talks about it!" Howie said. "The network commentators never say a word about the golden showers and the porn stars. You'll hear a reference to Tiger's wife Elin taking the three-iron to him once in a while, but that's it! They're trying to protect Tiger and the TV ratings so nothing is said!"<br />
<br />
"You should be on TV, Howie," I said. "You know <i>all</i> the inside dope!"<br />
<br />
Suddenly we heard a noise in the front of the cart shack, and Shannon, the wife of one of the members appeared.<br />
<br />
"Oh, Howie, I was looking all over for you," Shannon said in this Marilyn Monroe voice. "The pro shop is locked, and I need to find out when my new golf cart is going to be delivered. Do you know? You said you would bring the cart over when it came in. Don't you remember that? Is the cart here?"<br />
<br />
She put her hand on Howie's shoulder and leaned down so her ta ta's were exposed to Howie's gaze alone. I was completely ignored.<br />
<br />
"Let me check on that, Mrs. J.," Howie said as he got up, walked to the pro shop, and unlocked the door. Shannon followed him inside.<br />
<br />
"I'm getting the hell out of here," I thought to myself as I headed toward the caddy pen and my bike. As I was riding down the country club driveway, a '68 blue Chevy turned in.<br />
<br />
"There's going to be a hot time in the old pro shop this morning," I thought as I pedaled down Riverside Drive to Lake Avenue.<br />
<br />
Hope Howie is still employed for next week's coffee klatsch.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4990596428793472494.post-2295249669545813242012-07-19T13:03:00.000-07:002012-07-19T14:58:38.228-07:00Ron Santo: Cubs 3rd Baseman's HOF Induction Way Overdue<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The wife with Ron Santo in Mesa in 2009. Ronnie was simply the nicest guy you could ever meet.</td></tr>
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I'm sitting here wondering today about these idiots who kept former Chicago Cubs third baseman Ron Santo out of the Baseball Hall of Fame for all these years. Who are these jerks? They are hard to find and hard to name.<br />
<br />
What a tragedy that Ronnie will not be in Cooperstown this weekend to savor this supreme moment. I just seethe every time I think about these bozos who kept Santo out for so long. <br />
<br />
Number one on the culprit list are the sportswriters who use the Hall of Fame balloting as their revenge on players they didn't like when they were covering them. Santo wore his heart on his sleeve, and he never missed a chance to let a sportswriter know when the writer was asking a stupid question. He also had run-ins with teammates, notably Don Young and Dick Allen, when Ronnie felt the teammate wasn't pulling his weight.<br />
<br />
My theory is that the sportswriters and players outside of Chicago are jealous of the Cubs and the fan adulation they receive. Major leaguers WANT to play in Chicago for the Cubs; they don't want to play in Cincinnati! And can you believe that these sportswriters have never unanimously elected <i>any</i> player to the HOF--that includes Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, and Cy Young? Santo never came close to the 75% of sportswriter votes needed for induction.<br />
<br />
The Hall of Fame Veterans Committee was worse when it came to inducting players. Led by former Reds second baseman "Little" Joe Morgan, who has always had a hard-on for any Cub player, Santo was left out. Year after year Ronnie hoped and waited, and year after year these pricks left him out. Hell, the Veterans Committee left everybody out!<br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ron Santo (#10) clicks his heels after a Cubs win in 1969 on his way to the clubhouse with his teammates.</td></tr>
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<br />
Santo naysayers point to Ronnie clicking his heels after Cubs' home wins during the 1969 pennant race. Mets pitcher Tom Seaver thought Santo was bush league when Ronnie did the heel click, and Seaver mocked Santo by clicking his own heels when the Mets beat the Cubs and passed them in September. Santo always said that Cubs manager Leo Durocher, who was always looking for some kind of publicity, told Ronnie to do the heel click.<br />
<br />
What does Santo clicking his heels have to do with getting in the Hall of Fame for God's sake? It was 1969! The Cubs lost! The Mets won! Who is the hell is going to carry a grudge that long? Seaver sounds like my hard headed German grandmother!<br />
<br />
Another argument is that there are too many members of the 1969 Cubs team in the Hall of Fame and that the team never won anything. Here are the other Cubs Hall of Famers from the 1969 team:<br />
<br />
Ernie Banks, first baseman<br />
Billy Williams, left fielder<br />
Ferguson Jenkins, starting pitcher<br />
Leo Durocher, manager <br />
<br />
Please tell me which one of the above players/manager is not deserving. I can remember President Richard Nixon visiting the troops in Viet Nam during the summer of 1969 and talking to the soldiers about how good the Cubs were playing. Nixon thought the Cubs were going to win the whole thing--everybody did! The whole country was captivated by that '69 team.<br />
<br />
As much as I dislike sabermetrics (Cubs play-by-play man Len Kasper drives me to the vodka with his constant stat spouting during a Cubs broadcast), John Grochowski has a great story in Tuesday's <i>Chicago Sun-Times</i> about how Santo stacks up with other Hall of Famers: <a href="http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/13816327-573/ron-santo-a-rightful-hall-of-famer-according-to-sabermetrics.html">http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/cubs/13816327-573/ron-santo-a-rightful-hall-of-famer-according-to-sabermetrics.html</a><br />
<br />
Grochowski uses offense and defense to evaluate Hall of Famers. The statistic is called Wins Above Replacement (WAR). <b>Santo's WAR is 66.6</b>.<br />
<br />
<span class="body.bold">Hall of Famers with a higher WAR than Santo:</span> Rickey Henderson, 106.8; Cal Ripken, 90.9; Wade Boggs, 88.3; Ozzie Smith, 73; Paul Molitor, 72.5; Larkin, 67.1.<br />
<br />
<span class="body.bold">Lower WAR than Santo:</span> Gary Carter, 66.4;
Tony Gwynn, 65.3; Ryne Sandberg, 64.9; Carlton Fisk, 63.7; Eddie Murray,
63.4; Roberto Alomar, 62.9; Andre Dawson, 60.6; Dave Winfield, 59.4; Tony Perez, 50.1; Kirby Puckett, 48.2; Jim Rice, 44.3. <br />
<br />
Ronnie sure belongs if you look at the WAR stats!<br />
<br />
My greatest argument in favor of Santo's HOF induction is personal experience. I watched him from his first game to his last game, and I listened to him on many, many radio broadcasts. I can even remember where I was when Cubs left fielder Brant Brown dropped a fly ball in left field on September 23rd, 1998 against the Brewers. I was driving home from school on the North-South Tollway at Roosevelt Road. I'll never forget that moment. Santo's groan put me on the I-355 shoulder. <br />
<br />
Santo was a great clutch hitter and an even better fielder. He may not have been as good defensively as Brooks Robinson, but Ronnie was in the conversation, and Santo was the better offensive third baseman. No one knew Ronnie suffered from diabetes. Santo never wanted his medical problems to affect how fans or the media perceived him. <br />
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ronnie with his fan club in the 1960's. </td></tr>
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<br />
Santo was a great broadcaster, despite what turds like WSCR talk show host Dan Bernstein say about him. Bernstein never misses an opportunity to make fun of Santo. Guys lie Bernstein like to hear statistic after statistic recited during a broadcast. Not me! I like a broadcaster with personality like Santo or Jack Brickhouse who groan and scream when things happen in a game.<br />
<br />
Surprisingly, the Santo family has not shown any bitterness toward the Hall of Fame and the fact that it took so long to induct Ron. Ronnie's wife Vicki was a guest on <i>Chicago Tribune Live </i>on CSN Chicago last night, and she would not say a bad word about the sportswriters or the Veterans Committee.<br />
<br />
I just see the voters' delay as meanness and jealousy. Ron Santo's personality is bigger than the Baseball Hall of Fame. It's as simple as that. I sure hope Ronnie and my old man are sharing an Old Style in heaven this weekend. <br />
<br />
Here's to you Pizza Man!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Wyman on Media, Music, CL and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15232045790152105762noreply@blogger.com0