This blog is maintained for the sole purpose of allowing the people of Peru and those interested in the cities of the Illinois Valley to express their views.
“It doesn’t take a majority to win, just a tireless minority that will keep starting brush fires in the mind and hearts of their fellow men.” Samuel Adams
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Thanksgiving Week is Here
29 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Some very good points brought up on WLPO this morning regarding hunger in the Illinois Valley. The host also pointed out that what we call "agriculture" in LaSalle County has little to do with feeding people. Most of our local farm land is tied up in corn production to be turned into fuel to burn in our cars. Rural Schools are also paying the price through property tax exemptions for this same "farm" land. Since North America is now largely energy independent, it is time to remove the subsidies that farmers receive for growing corn to be used in ethanol production. Instead - it is time to take those incentives and give them to agriculture that actually produces food. Furthermore, farm land should be taxed at a higher rate if it is not used to produce food. Additional tax incentives should be given to young farmers to enter the field - pun intended. Older farmers should receive incentives if they sell land to new farmers.
the farmers around here are also compounding the flooding issues by farming on the bottom land near the river. They should double the tax on land that is farmed near the river.
This morning while reading the N.T. online, I noticed an advertisement for the Peru BB Gun Club with the City of Peru logo next to it. Am I to assume that the city is now paying for a recreational activity and using paid ads? Does anyone ever remember any activity in the city getting commercial advertising to further the activity? Or the N.T. donated space?
Looking back at the topics discussed on the blog this year such as a realistic splash pad built for $95 to $115K which was inflated to 1/2 million, a BB Gun Club which developed from a donated sponsorship without any costs to the taxpayer to a work in kind and untouchable drug money, a free dinner at a local restaurant for city officials paid by who? This and many more extravagant costs that have evolved into a huge amount of money including pay raises that were promised to never happen, expense accounts, IML convention, Retail Convention at Navy Pier, IMEA Meetings attended by up to three or four unqualified and than I think of the unemployed and poor who in the next months will be saddened because they do not have any means to skimp by for their children and loved ones. Rather than approach the city to become involved I would appreciate it if anyone who knows of families in need would comment to the blog of where financial, food, clothing and toys could be donated to. Rather than giving more to those who can't get enough I want to help those who would be thankful for anything. Happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas
The farmers who own land near the river have nothing to do with the river flooding.
They, however, shouldn't be granted incentives to plant near the river through government handouts. All that does is reward people to use resources where they otherwise wouldn't be used.
That is not correct Justin. Wetlands along rivers act as natural sponges that hold water when it rains and slowly release it. More than 80% of these wetlands in Illinois have been destroyed by farmers draining them and planting crops - eliminating the natural buffer. Compound this with poor development practices and the increased use lf levees, and extreme "100 year" floods become the normal.
Speaking of "Glad-Handing", has TEST provided the annual "Holiday Bribe" to Peru's elected officials and guests in the form of dinner and drinks as of yet? Also, did the council approve any Christmas bonuses or gifts for employees or themselves this year? TEST likes to "Grease" our ethically challenged elected officials and spouses with a free meal booze at holiday time in return for refusing to allow fair bidding for city contracts. TEST officials fund the corrupt Holiday Feast with funds "built in" to the contract approved by the Peru council so that in reality Peru taxpayers are the ones fitting the bill for the elected officials to stuff their faces for free. This is a very Merry Holiday "Screw You" from the Peru City Council and TEST, Inc. to the citizens of Peru. Thank you Mayor Harl and aldermen. Bless us all, everyone!
9:52, yes you are correct. TEST had their annual holiday dinner last Saturday. I wonder who all went? Shame on anybody who went and stuffed themselves!
12:10 pm. You must not be aware that TEST provides a meal and drinks at the Chicago convention as well as another party with meals and drinks right here in the Illinois Valley. TEST needs to make sure the council doesn't vote to go out for bids, and they accomplish it with dinner and drinks. And the council continues to fall for it.
@3:17 Do you really believe that the city council falls for no bid contracts because certain corporations of high ethics and quality workmanship (quality that cannot be equalled anywhere else in the world) buy them dinner and drinks. I don't! I don't believe the council falls for anything but that they are every bit as guilty as the corporations. They are well aware of what they are doing and are instigators of these unethical practices. Anyone and everyone can and will make mistakes now and than but free drinks and dinner, fishing trips and ball games are not mistakes but rather long term yearly tradition. Two of the three parties who are at fault have been mentioned but the third party who has not been confronted is you, the citizen who has shown a lack of interest as long as everything is taken care of for you. Oh! You say you care, than why does Peru have such a low percentage of voters and how many of you have ever been at a council meeting? Most of Peru doesn't even know who their city officials are unless they are city employees.
To 1:47 PM, Where was the TEST Holiday Bribery feast held, and who were the Peru offcials who "indulged" in the "gluttony" at the expense of Peru's taxpayers?
If you truly have a wetland, then its already saturated with water and won't provide as a "buffer" to prevent future flooding. Its like getting 5 inches of rain one day, and you expect the ground to soak up another 5 inches of rain the very next day. It just doesn't happen.
The point I'm trying to make is these farmers who own land next to the river shouldn't be receiving a subsidized incentive to do so. The term here is "moral hazard."
9:33 p.m. Many local businesses are corporations. Corporation does not mean "large" or "not local". A person can open any kind or size of business and decide to incorporate or not.
Justin - I agree with the point about the subsidies. But please read up on the value of wetlands as related to flood control. Particularly as it applies to areas downstream of large population centers. Here is a good place to start.
@9:46 You are wrong. Many news organizations define a corporation as an impersonal and amoral entity that places profit to shareholders above all else. A casual review of news articles reveals that there is no such thing as a good corporation. Corporations put greed above social good. They do not create enough jobs for American workers that pay a living wage. They have exploited overseas labor to destroy the American middle class. They are anti-democratic institutions with a sole mission of extracting as much profit from every available resource consequences be damned. Most Successful Corporations seek to exploit people for the labor they perform in exchange for higher profit margins while the very people that enable and perform the work necessary for them to do businesses live at or below the poverty line. They care not for the workers wellbeing on or off the job site, which shows in impoverish salaries and unsafe working conditions in many the world’s most profitable corporations and that is essentially the essence of greed that dwells in only the blackest of hearts. Furthermore, corporations are responsible for the travesty of justice in Ferguson Mo. this week - they caused the violence as they always do.
11:28, I think you're off your rocker. A good friend of mine owns a small corporation in the IV area. He is very good to his employees. How in the world did corporations cause the violence in Ferguson?
11:28 We thought we heard the last of you. You continue to show your deep rooted conspiracy viewpoints. Your too liberal for anybody to believe. Happy Thanksgiving and hope you enjoy the dinner provided by those corporations called the American Farmer.
11:28 Boy oh boy do I love finding anonymous folks such as yourself on the fringes of the internet!
"Many news organizations define a corporation as an impersonal and amoral entity that places profit to shareholders above all else"
As a shareholder, do you not want to see your investment increase over time? In any case, since they are technically artificial persons, you still have to interact with actual human agents.
"A casual review of news articles reveals that there is no such thing as a good corporation"
That's interesting since companies offer me goods/services which I must voluntarily buy. What do these two categories offer me? A higher standard of living. If you don't like a companies practices, don't patronize them.
"They do not create enough jobs for American workers that pay a living wage"
This sounds like a golden opportunity for you to start your own business and pay your employees substantially higher than a basic "living wage."
"They are anti-democratic institutions with a sole mission of extracting as much profit from every available resource consequences be damned."
They are actually as "democratic" as they come. People vote with their dollars, plain and simple. As I said earlier, if you don't like a businesses practices, then no one is holding a gun to your head to shop there.
"Most Successful Corporations seek to exploit people for the labor they perform in exchange for higher profit margins while the very people that enable and perform the work necessary for them to do businesses live at or below the poverty line."
People have always exchanged their labor for a wage. If an employee and employer both VOLUNTARILY agree to the price, then who are you to say the price is unfair?
It is hardly liberal propaganda. I did not write it, but the naivety of some of you is beyond belief. Corporations are a business structure that essentially can perfect the capitalistic goal of maximizing profit to owners. There is little social conscience in any of them, and they will operate like the perfect profit predators, using survival of the fittest to crush or absorb competition.
There are economies of scale benefits (standard of living), and efficiencies in delivering goods and services, but in general the entities must be regulated tightly because their natural mission is not altruistic. They are neither good nor evil. They simply are. Justin can theorize about the nirvana of pure and golden capitalism, and ignore the historical landscape of unregulated large corporate entities acting on job one. Survival and max profit.
So indeed they must be monitored for controlling and outsourcing labor markets, reducing hours and wages to a Potterville have and have not state, raping resources in an unsustainable fashion... all for the common good.
Liberal tends to be anything that does not fit in a conservatives polyana view of the wonders of capitalism. Conservative often is thrown out when the efficiencies and successes of capitalism are trying to be minimized by people wanting an unfair world to be perfectly fair {yes Fracking loweered my Gas Prices, but DDT killed lots of pests better too.)
All the while, the ever increasing moderates and social diplomats try to hold it together while the nut jobs on both sides try to rip us apart.
It is perfectly rational to take any social conscience statement by a large and successful corporation with a grain of salt (pardon the pun). When you have worked for a few of them and seen the inner workings, you get a little better perspective. The have boards and are influenced by corporate culture and leaders, but in the end accounting generally rules. Its not always good, not always bad. It just is.
"Justin can theorize about the nirvana of pure and golden capitalism, and ignore the historical landscape of unregulated large corporate entities acting on job one. Survival and max profit."
We haven't had "pure and golden capitalism" for at least 100 years, but that's beside the point. Capitalism is a system based on a feedback mechanism that provides insight on efficiently using land, labor and capital.
it is not Liberal Propaganda, it is Progressive Propaganda... closely related to Communist Propaganda. Should we start carrying around a little red book? No thanks, I'll stick to carrying around a copy of the Constitution.
I think a lot of people have little black books they carry around. Oh no, not any more, numbers in their contacts on their cell phone with false names so if contacts ever looked at, they can lie to those they lie to. Just say'in. True humor, had to post, due to the comment regarding little red books.
29 comments:
Some very good points brought up on WLPO this morning regarding hunger in the Illinois Valley. The host also pointed out that what we call "agriculture" in LaSalle County has little to do with feeding people. Most of our local farm land is tied up in corn production to be turned into fuel to burn in our cars.
Rural Schools are also paying the price through property tax exemptions for this same "farm" land.
Since North America is now largely energy independent, it is time to remove the subsidies that farmers receive for growing corn to be used in ethanol production. Instead - it is time to take those incentives and give them to agriculture that actually produces food. Furthermore, farm land should be taxed at a higher rate if it is not used to produce food. Additional tax incentives should be given to young farmers to enter the field - pun intended. Older farmers should receive incentives if they sell land to new farmers.
the farmers around here are also compounding the flooding issues by farming on the bottom land near the river. They should double the tax on land that is farmed near the river.
This morning while reading the N.T. online, I noticed an advertisement for the Peru BB Gun Club with the City of Peru logo next to it. Am I to assume that the city is now paying for a recreational activity and using paid ads? Does anyone ever remember any activity in the city getting commercial advertising to further the activity? Or the N.T. donated space?
another donation to the NT.
Looking back at the topics discussed on the blog this year such as a realistic splash pad built for $95 to $115K which was inflated to 1/2 million, a BB Gun Club which developed from a donated sponsorship without any costs to the taxpayer to a work in kind and untouchable drug money, a free dinner at a local restaurant for city officials paid by who?
This and many more extravagant costs that have evolved into a huge amount of money including pay raises that were promised to never happen, expense accounts, IML convention, Retail Convention at Navy Pier, IMEA Meetings attended by up to three or four unqualified and than I think of the unemployed and poor who in the next months will be saddened because they do not have any means to skimp by for their children and loved ones.
Rather than approach the city to become involved I would appreciate it if anyone who knows of families in need would comment to the blog of where financial, food, clothing and toys could be donated to.
Rather than giving more to those who can't get enough I want to help those who would be thankful for anything. Happy Thanksgiving and a Merry Christmas
10:39
The farmers who own land near the river have nothing to do with the river flooding.
They, however, shouldn't be granted incentives to plant near the river through government handouts. All that does is reward people to use resources where they otherwise wouldn't be used.
That is not correct Justin. Wetlands along rivers act as natural sponges that hold water when it rains and slowly release it. More than 80% of these wetlands in Illinois have been destroyed by farmers draining them and planting crops - eliminating the natural buffer. Compound this with poor development practices and the increased use lf levees, and extreme "100 year" floods become the normal.
Speaking of "Glad-Handing", has TEST provided the annual "Holiday Bribe" to Peru's elected officials and guests in the form of dinner and drinks as of yet? Also, did the council approve any Christmas bonuses or gifts for employees or themselves this year? TEST likes to "Grease" our ethically challenged elected officials and spouses with a free meal booze at holiday time in return for refusing to allow fair bidding for city contracts. TEST officials fund the corrupt Holiday Feast with funds "built in" to the contract approved by the Peru council so that in reality Peru taxpayers are the ones fitting the bill for the elected officials to stuff their faces for free.
This is a very Merry Holiday "Screw You" from the Peru City Council and TEST, Inc. to the citizens of Peru. Thank you Mayor Harl and aldermen.
Bless us all, everyone!
9:52 Bitter old fool! That was the convention. You got all the names and amounts.
9:52, yes you are correct. TEST had their annual holiday dinner last Saturday. I wonder who all went? Shame on anybody who went and stuffed themselves!
12:10 pm. You must not be aware that TEST provides a meal and drinks at the Chicago convention as well as another party with meals and drinks right here in the Illinois Valley. TEST needs to make sure the council doesn't vote to go out for bids, and they accomplish it with dinner and drinks. And the council continues to fall for it.
@3:17 Do you really believe that the city council falls for no bid contracts because certain corporations of high ethics and quality workmanship (quality that cannot be equalled anywhere else in the world) buy them dinner and drinks. I don't!
I don't believe the council falls for anything but that they are every bit as guilty as the corporations. They are well aware of what they are doing and are instigators of these unethical practices. Anyone and everyone can and will make mistakes now and than but free drinks and dinner, fishing trips and ball games are not mistakes but rather long term yearly tradition.
Two of the three parties who are at fault have been mentioned but the third party who has not been confronted is you, the citizen who has shown a lack of interest as long as everything is taken care of for you. Oh! You say you care, than why does Peru have such a low percentage of voters and how many of you have ever been at a council meeting? Most of Peru doesn't even know who their city officials are unless they are city employees.
Is TEST a CORPORATION? If so, the city should not do business with them. We should support local businesses, NOT corporations!
To 1:47 PM, Where was the TEST Holiday Bribery feast held, and who were the Peru offcials who "indulged" in the "gluttony" at the expense of Peru's taxpayers?
9:14
If you truly have a wetland, then its already saturated with water and won't provide as a "buffer" to prevent future flooding. Its like getting 5 inches of rain one day, and you expect the ground to soak up another 5 inches of rain the very next day. It just doesn't happen.
The point I'm trying to make is these farmers who own land next to the river shouldn't be receiving a subsidized incentive to do so. The term here is "moral hazard."
9:33 p.m. Many local businesses are corporations. Corporation does not mean "large" or "not local". A person can open any kind or size of business and decide to incorporate or not.
Justin - I agree with the point about the subsidies. But please read up on the value of wetlands as related to flood control. Particularly as it applies to areas downstream of large population centers. Here is a good place to start.
http://water.epa.gov/type/wetlands/flood.cfm
7:58
only those that indulged in the gluttony at the TEST dinner at the expense of Peru taxpayers know for sure who was there!
@9:46
You are wrong. Many news organizations define a corporation as an impersonal and amoral entity that places profit to shareholders above all else. A casual review of news articles reveals that there is no such thing as a good corporation. Corporations put greed above social good. They do not create enough jobs for American workers that pay a living wage. They have exploited overseas labor to destroy the American middle class. They are anti-democratic institutions with a sole mission of extracting as much profit from every available resource consequences be damned. Most Successful Corporations seek to exploit people for the labor they perform in exchange for higher profit margins while the very people that enable and perform the work necessary for them to do businesses live at or below the poverty line. They care not for the workers wellbeing on or off the job site, which shows in impoverish salaries and unsafe working conditions in many the world’s most profitable corporations and that is essentially the essence of greed that dwells in only the blackest of hearts. Furthermore, corporations are responsible for the travesty of justice in Ferguson Mo. this week - they caused the violence as they always do.
11:28 AM
LIBERAL PROPAGANDA
11:28, I think you're off your rocker. A good friend of mine owns a small corporation in the IV area. He is very good to his employees. How in the world did corporations cause the violence in Ferguson?
11:28 We thought we heard the last of you. You continue to show your deep rooted conspiracy viewpoints. Your too liberal for anybody to believe. Happy Thanksgiving and hope you enjoy the dinner provided by those corporations called the American Farmer.
The American Farmer has been taken over by the Corporations. They primarily grow fuel now - particularly around here.
11:28 please show even one news organization that defines a corporation as per your above comment.
11:28 Boy oh boy do I love finding anonymous folks such as yourself on the fringes of the internet!
"Many news organizations define a corporation as an impersonal and amoral entity that places profit to shareholders above all else"
As a shareholder, do you not want to see your investment increase over time? In any case, since they are technically artificial persons, you still have to interact with actual human agents.
"A casual review of news articles reveals that there is no such thing as a good corporation"
That's interesting since companies offer me goods/services which I must voluntarily buy. What do these two categories offer me? A higher standard of living. If you don't like a companies practices, don't patronize them.
"They do not create enough jobs for American workers that pay a living wage"
This sounds like a golden opportunity for you to start your own business and pay your employees substantially higher than a basic "living wage."
"They are anti-democratic institutions with a sole mission of extracting as much profit from every available resource consequences be damned."
They are actually as "democratic" as they come. People vote with their dollars, plain and simple. As I said earlier, if you don't like a businesses practices, then no one is holding a gun to your head to shop there.
"Most Successful Corporations seek to exploit people for the labor they perform in exchange for higher profit margins while the very people that enable and perform the work necessary for them to do businesses live at or below the poverty line."
People have always exchanged their labor for a wage. If an employee and employer both VOLUNTARILY agree to the price, then who are you to say the price is unfair?
It is hardly liberal propaganda. I did not write it, but the naivety of some of you is beyond belief. Corporations are a business structure that essentially can perfect the capitalistic goal of maximizing profit to owners. There is little social conscience in any of them, and they will operate like the perfect profit predators, using survival of the fittest to crush or absorb competition.
There are economies of scale benefits (standard of living), and efficiencies in delivering goods and services, but in general the entities must be regulated tightly because their natural mission is not altruistic. They are neither good nor evil. They simply are. Justin can theorize about the nirvana of pure and golden capitalism, and ignore the historical landscape of unregulated large corporate entities acting on job one. Survival and max profit.
So indeed they must be monitored for controlling and outsourcing labor markets, reducing hours and wages to a Potterville have and have not state, raping resources in an unsustainable fashion... all for the common good.
Liberal tends to be anything that does not fit in a conservatives polyana view of the wonders of capitalism. Conservative often is thrown out when the efficiencies and successes of capitalism are trying to be minimized by people wanting an unfair world to be perfectly fair {yes Fracking loweered my Gas Prices, but DDT killed lots of pests better too.)
All the while, the ever increasing moderates and social diplomats try to hold it together while the nut jobs on both sides try to rip us apart.
It is perfectly rational to take any social conscience statement by a large and successful corporation with a grain of salt (pardon the pun). When you have worked for a few of them and seen the inner workings, you get a little better perspective. The have boards and are influenced by corporate culture and leaders, but in the end accounting generally rules. Its not always good, not always bad. It just is.
4:38
"Justin can theorize about the nirvana of pure and golden capitalism, and ignore the historical landscape of unregulated large corporate entities acting on job one. Survival and max profit."
We haven't had "pure and golden capitalism" for at least 100 years, but that's beside the point. Capitalism is a system based on a feedback mechanism that provides insight on efficiently using land, labor and capital.
it is not Liberal Propaganda, it is Progressive Propaganda... closely related to Communist Propaganda. Should we start carrying around a little red book? No thanks, I'll stick to carrying around a copy of the Constitution.
I think a lot of people have little black books they carry around. Oh no, not any more, numbers in their contacts on their cell phone with false names so if contacts ever looked at, they can lie to those they lie to. Just say'in. True humor, had to post, due to the comment regarding little red books.
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