Corruption! Like household mold, the very thought of it sends crowds of folks scurrying for the last boat out. Corruption, like house-hold mold Stachybotrys (chartarum/atra), allows panels of experts to prove with scientific certainty that "it must be!" even though only in court is that true. Science finds it very hard, if not impossible, to prove a negative, but judges do so all the time. The mold epidemic grew out of the hysteria of early 1990's in the Cleveland era, when insurers were brought to court and forced to pay huge damages to folks who purchased homes where molds were detected - causing them life-threatening harm. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) needed back off the Cleveland hysteria - toxic mold just ain't* Nevertheless, lawyers find judges and judges make judgments.
Only in court can one prove a negative, to wit, Michael Shakman :
Only in court can one prove a negative, to wit, Michael Shakman :
Shakman filed suit against the Democratic Organization of Cook County, arguing that the patronage system put nonorganized candidates and their supporters at an illegal and unconstitutional disadvantage. Politicians could hire, fire, promote, transfer—in essence, punish—employees for not supporting the system, or more particularly, a certain politician. The suit also argued that political patronage wasted taxpayer money because public employees, while at work, would often be forced to campaign for political candidates.
In 1972, after an exhaustive court procedure and much negotiating, the parties reached an agreement prohibiting politically motivated firings, demotions, transfers, or other punishment of government employees. A 1979 ruling led to a court order in 1983 that made it unlawful to take any political factor into account in hiring public employees (with exceptions for positions such as policy making). Those decisions along with companion consent judgments—collectively called the Shakman decrees—are binding on more than 40 city and statewide offices. Encyclopedia of Chicago
Yea!!! Patronage Bad!!!!! The Progressive Lexicon grows like household mold! Mold is determined by climate -just the right of moisture with the right temperature and mold goes gangstah!
N.B. - Here is a political bonbon doillyed and dropped by Dan Kelley on Progressives and Patronage:
Berny Stone relates a story about dealing with a (future) Progressive politician:
I was in charge of 8 precincts with guys like Dick Elrod and Howard Carroll. I made sure everything ran smoothly in their precincts. Dick Elrod ran for Alderman and lost. But then he ran for Sheriff and won. I worked for him when he was Sheriff. For two years prior to the special election (Stone succeeded 50th Ward Alderman Jack Sperling resigned when he was appointed to a judicial position) I was his Assistant Chief Deputy Sheriff and I handled all of the foreclosures of the office. At that time the amount of foreclosures that we had in one year we have now in a month. Dick asked me to take the job. We lived very close to each other. My specialty as a lawyer was real estate and he knew he could trust me.
In my opinion it was about picking a good qualified person. A young lawyer came to me who never handled foreclosure before so I helped him. I took him all the way through. Later I met him again when he became an Alderman, his name was Larry Bloom. I said Larry you rail against patronage but I was a patronage appointed employee and I helped you.
Yea, Patronage begat Bosses who begat Racist Bossism which begat Systemic Torture, which begat Systemic Racism, which begat Pan-Sexism, which begat Homophobic Bullies ad infinitum.
Michael $hakman and $hakman industries ( decrees, monitors, consultants, media stooges, lawyers and tax-funded panels) were the moist climate that gave us our unique Chicago brand of Progressive government. The day that Richie Daley, while in political exile circa 1980's after defeating the Shakman Decree signing Republican Bernie Carey as Cook County States Attorney:
By what rules had the 11th Ward machine always lived? Now that Daley and company were out of power for the first time in half a century, were patronage hiring and firing no longer nice?
The Tribune wondered aloud, "How far will the 11th Ward carry its campaign for civic purity?" Suggesting that Daley embrace the Shakman ruling against political firings, the paper sneered, "Stranger things have happened, though we can't at the moment think of any."
But the strange thing did happen. Shortly before leaving office, Bernie Carey had agreed to sign a second Shakman decree. The original decree, signed by Carey in 1973, banned political firing; the new decree would ban political hiring as well. Soon after taking office, Daley became the first county official to sign the new decree. During the campaign--in which he had also come out in favor of merit selection of judges, a machine curse--he had pledged, "This office will be professional. I will not take a letter from any ward committeeman."
According to John Schmidt, who has served since 1980 on Daley's professional advisory committee, Daley has kept that pledge. Daley did have to settle a lawsuit brought by five former Carey employees whom he had fired (including Carey's brother-in-law); they had held policy-making positions exempted from Shakman restraints, but they contended that they had first been demoted to nonexempt positions, and then fired, so that the decree was violated. Daley has also hired some politicians not known for their professional skills, like former alderman and now state representative Miguel Santiago. However, the Shakman decree does not mandate that public officials hire only persons of consummate professional skill; it merely prohibits political hiring and firing of non-policy-making employees. And Daley has apparently never been found in violation of the Shakman decree.
Only a few years before hugging $hakman, while giving a talk at University of Chicago, Richard M. Daley bemoaned the fact that "One of the real problems of government is (was and continues to be) the decline of patronage" (parentheticals my own). While an Illinois Legislator, Daley began to play soft ball with and for Dawn Clark Netsch, literally and figuratively, as team mate of Don Rose, Dr. Quentin Young, Marty Oberman and Thundering Dick Simpson. Daley opened the doors of power to people who really knew how to not only wield it but hang on to it. The Hyde Park Mafia killed the Cermak Machine: The City that Worked, became the City that Shrinks.
Dick Simpson waddles through the corridors of power like a later day Sir Robert Cecil. In fact, the Richard M. Daley years often reminded me of Elizabeth Tudor's reign - the complete and utter destruction of the Catholic aristocracy and the ultimate ascendancy of a singularly secular state. Dick Simpson, like the patiently sebaceous and splenetic Earl of Salisbury, followed his political pops Abner Mikva - identical the transformative and conniving Sir Francis Cecil, 1st Baron of Burghley. Daley's Good Queen Bess Reign were marked by public executions of loyal kinsmen, competitors and courtiers ( Ald. Pat Huels, Miriam Santos & Paul Vallas e.g.) and odd alliances ( President GW Bush was not unlike the Virgin Queen's friendship with French King Henry IV).
The New Stuart, Rahm Emanuel, is very much like Scottish-born King James I, who was a Renaissance chameleon like no other. The Progressive Stuarts will prove to be as toxic and ultimately self-destructive as their historical parallels.
The toxic shock value works wonders as long as their is an unpinched mu$hroom growing out of this political mold. Corruption!
Thundering Dick Simpson is poised to contaminate the Chicago suburbs to fight Corruption - whatever the hell that is supposed to mean - with lawyers and judges who will determine Dick's terminology and prove his negative.
Shakman begat Simpson. Household mold begets mushrooming household insurance rates.
History works. Science? Nice for making better cheese, beer and Progressive nonsense. Courts give us the mandates, taxes and confusion we live with everyday.
*The term "toxic mold" is not accurate. While certain molds are toxigenic, meaning they can produce toxins (specifically mycotoxins), the molds themselves are not toxic, or poisonous. Hazards presented by molds that may produce mycotoxins should be considered the same as other common molds which can grow in your house. There is always a little mold everywhere - in the air and on many surfaces. There are very few reports that toxigenic molds found inside homes can cause unique or rare health conditions such as pulmonary hemorrhage or memory loss. These case reports are rare, and a causal link between the presence of the toxigenic mold and these conditions has not been proven.In 2004 the Institute of Medicine (IOM) found there was sufficient evidence to link indoor exposure to mold with upper respiratory tract symptoms, cough, and wheeze in otherwise healthy people; with asthma symptoms in people with asthma; and with hypersensitivity pneumonitis in individuals susceptible to that immune-mediated condition. The IOM also found limited or suggestive evidence linking indoor mold exposure and respiratory illness in otherwise healthy children. In 2009, the World Health Organization issued additional guidance, the WHO Guidelines for Indoor Air Quality: Dampness and Mould[PDF, 2.52 MB].
A common-sense approach should be used for any mold contamination existing inside buildings and homes. The common health concerns from molds include hay fever-like allergic symptoms. Certain individuals with chronic respiratory disease (chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, asthma) may experience difficulty breathing. Individuals with immune suppression may be at increased risk for infection from molds. If you or your family members have these conditions, a qualified medical clinician should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment. For the most part, one should take routine measures to prevent mold growth in the home.
No comments:
Post a Comment