Peg in the Machine

Not literally — don’t worry.  With all the new security features tossed into some schools now, they have locked doors at all times, classrooms can be locked, teachers need walkie-talkies to get in and out of the building with their class (during recess and such).  They even have “lockdowns” in case of a shooter (which, ironically, will trap the students with the gunman).

It’s a sad day when schools have about as much security as a min-security prison.  But here’s the real question:  what’s school like in your area?

In order to get any updates, I’ll apparently have to make an appoint to talk to the board (just to ask a question… about something that is either on the books or not, overkill if you ask me).

Over the past two days I’ve written to my local town officials twice through the information listed on the “contact us” page on their site. Their site is updated and current, yet there’s no reply at all. No read receipt, no acknowledgment that a message was even received. I literally have no idea whether or not they even got the message. For all I know, the message was never submitted to them (despite the WordPress-based site saying it was sent).

It’s confusing to say the least. So it be taken as my questions (that involve the city allowing me to make a case at a meeting) are being ignored? Or maybe is it just the website designer messed up the webpage? Maybe the employees aren’t aware how to retrieve the messages (sad, but there are others in town that don’t know how to send messages). And above all else: how long should I wait?

It’s one of those things that even if I walked into the office — it’s unlikely I’d get anyone that could answer the question, only put me on the docket for the next meeting. Which could be useful, except it’s a fairly complex idea to implement overall, but would only take one line from the council “bicycles should be given parking and secure storage at stores”.

I’ll give them two more days. That should be enough for a reply — unless of course two separate people in different departments are gone for the same two week period.

That’s right everyone, if you drill it, it won’t make it cheaper.  And it doesn’t even take a brain to realize why:

• It’d cost millions to find the oil and find a way to reach it
• It’d cost millions to reach the oil once we find it
• It’d cost millions to get the oil pumping to the surface and onto ships to be offloaded on shore
• Oh, and it’d take up to 5 years (one year at best) to even get the oil to us.

So after the price of gas keeps on going higher, and higher, and higher…. we’ll get the “low, low” prices of more than we’re spending now if the oil is found.  But here’s the thing.  We need to stop looking for oil for gas.  We need oil for so many other things (no more roads, cars, motors, problems with getting new homes, medicine, clothing, etc), that we need to move away from the fuel now.

We have the technology, and in all honesty not everyone needs a car.  Not everyone has a car.  If you can walk, and don’t have more than a three mile trip to work — you don’t even need wheels.  But I digress.

We could find out that the center of the earth isn’t magma — it’s really oil — and it won’t do a single thing for gas prices today, next month, or even next year.  It’ll be so far into the “gas price” future that when the discount does finally hit, we’ll literally be paying more for gas than we are now and considering it a “low” price!

I remember paying under a $1 for gas, and thinking $1.14 was too expensive.  The it became standard, then $1.14 was cheap.  Then $2 was the new $1.  Then $3 became the new $2.  Right now at the pumps — I look forward to only having to spend $4/gal for gas — because it’s “cheap”.  A year ago papers put in “gas prices to hit all time high over $4!”  Now it’s “Gas ONLY $4 might be around the corner!”  Assuming gas prices will raise $.50/yr, if it took 5 years to get a break on gas — gas will be about $6.50/gal standard.  Do you really think they’d cut it back to the old gas prices?

When the oil companies boast “record profits” you know there’s not a shortage so much — but it does make a person wonder: are the oil companies trying to get people to stop buying gas?  A number are investing in alternative fuels (even putting them on site).  Makes a person wonder what they know, and aren’t telling others.  It’s almost as if the oil companies know there’s a oil problem — and they’re gouging everyone now so they can keep afloat while they convert their entire business to other sources.

But then, maybe they just really do want to rake in so much cash they could build a house from $100 bills and have it be structually sound.

Here at Peg in the Machine we’re starting a campaign that we’re going to be trying in our town — and hopefully have it catch on.  It’s a “walk to work day”.  In all honesty we’re going to try and have it be “walk to work almost every day” policy, but stay tuned.

We’re planning on making the policy something done at the city and county level (meaning we’re going to try and get something setup with the politicians in the town). Basically we’re going to try and do a campaign that will cause more people to walk, potentially even getting something special from the city/county for doing so — all the while saving gas, helping the environment, and getting people in better shape….

So keep on checking back…. hopefully something good will come from it.  We’ll be posting if it does.

Everyone seems to talk about it, and acts like the minimum wage is this all-mighty powerful number that if paid makes sure that people can live without any problems.  Yet, it’s just the government making half-complete job of helping people, that sadly causes prices to go up and undoes any good it was meant to do.  As with many things in life, humans are overly obsessed with putting band-aids on compound fractures — they want to treat the symptoms and not the underlying cause of the problem.

Let’s take minimum wage as an example.  Nowhere in the name does it say it’s enough to live on — only that it’s the minimum a company is allowed to pay employees.  That’s all, nothing more.  Here in Illinois the minimum wage is listed at $7.75/hr.

• Electric: $150/mo
• Water & Sewer: $50/mo
• Rent, $400/mo (can vary –some places charge up to $750 for a one bedroom or studio).
• Food: $200/mo
• Phone: $40/mo (if no calls made)
• Total: $840/month

And that assumes that you don’t, oh, drive to work, have insurance for your stuff, have medical insurance, or need to buy anything ever (like toilet paper).  But let’s use that as an example so that if someone complains about the numbers being high — the others will more than cover it.

And let’s say someone manages to get paid for lunch breaks… so….

• Minimum wage @ 40hrs week * 4 weeks = $1240

So everything’s great right?  There’s at least $400 of spare cash!  What about taxes?  So let’s take only 20% for taxes… that leaves: $992 or $152 in “spare cash” that has to be used for insurance, gas, maintenance, and oh, toilet paper so people aren’t wiping with their hands.  If you use 20 gallons of gas a month, you’ve just cut back that by half or more.  And in all honesty, if the values above are low — you’re potentially already in the negative before you even have your other expenses.

So that leaves what…. living check to check or living with someone right?  Well…. yes.  But unless you share the bedroom with them that increases the rent, etc.  While you’re also cutting your expenses by half, if you have medical insurance, student loan, or car payment, that “extra” is actually used up as well.

But in itself is the built-in problem with the monetary system currently in use.  If you pay people more money, the cost of the services and products of the businesses goes up, which means people need to make more, and so on and so on.  And while this isn’t to go into the system of fixing this problem, something needs to be done soon.  As electricity and gas prices go up, it’s becoming harder and harder for people to heat and cool their homes.  The price for electricity above is an actual price from an electric bill from a house that almost never uses the air, and keeps the inside at around 87 degrees in the summer — but so is $275 for a smaller house next door that keeps it at 76 degrees in the summer.

A livable (living) wage would be different as people would make enough to cover their bills in the area they’re in.  And that’s all that has to be said about that for expenses.  It wouldn’t matter if bills were $50 a month or $5000 — the jobs would pay enough to cover it.  Of course, as many would realize, this also causes the same problem as raising the minimum wage that when it goes up, so would costs. In the end, however, something can be done to help offset this problem even in our current messed up system.

Every day there seems to be more and more trees cut back to almost nothing. Large, lush trees that provide shade over large areas — then they trim them back so it looks like a palm tree. When did trees become some evil thing that must be “fixed”?

What’s even worse is when you see a tree completely cut down for no apparent reason other than “it was in the way” or as sometimes people say “I didn’t like cleaning up the leaves”. Huh? You chop down a tree to save you the hassel of mowing over the leaves maybe three times a year?  You mow grass once a week  and you don’t go paving over it!

Let’s take a look at trees for a moment….

• They remove up to 13 pounds of CO2 from the air a year (per tree)
• Prevents or reduces soil erosion
• Decrease noise pollution
• Can reduce utility bills by 15-50% (compared to no tree being placed)
• Can cut heating costs up to 30% (as they provide wind breaks in winter)
• Trees can produce food for humans and animals
• Some trees can be used for medicine to prevent or treat disease (such as cancer)

So why on earth would you want to remove these things?  Heating and cooling bills are through the roof.  Flooding is commonplace.  Food found in the stores is becoming contaminated.  More and more people are driving cars (thereby increasing noise and pollution).  People aren’t able to make enough to sustain their lives, seasons appear to all blend in with no real distinction (places that used to have snow and blizzards, now frequently have snowless winters [or close to it], and people wearing shorts during it).  Power plants keep on chugging out the pollutants as do our fuel plants — all polluting the atmosphere even more.

We need trees now more than ever!  Yet why is it people keep on chopping down these life-sustaining devices?

There’s just something sad when “progress” and “improvements” involve destroying nature to put up a concrete platform.  Instead of removing trees, you should be planting them.  Build your own personal forest.  The earth will thank you.

This has to be without a doubt the biggest complaint in my family right now.  It took my mother almost 5 years to finally get it despite her being unable to do any job — and the disability office’s attorney person (the guy who shows up to court to try and prevent you from getting it) saying in court “there’s nothing she can do, she should get it”.  The judge commented it was unique for the attorney trying to “prevent” you from getting it doing an excellent job arguing the other point — even though after looking at the details he agreed without hesitation.

But it’s not her case that makes me think that politicians really need to overhaul this system…

Imagine a guy who’s a diabetic and takes insulin.  Now picture that because of this is isn’t allowed to get a CDL (for one reason or another — but it’s a potential risk).  Now imagine that he had been working (*cough* illegally *cough*) at a place that knew it (he had a CDL, but the state didn’t know at the time or laws changed or something).  Now imagine he gets really sick and can’t work.  Driver’s license comes up for renewal and… oops…. guess what?  Can’t get a CDL anymore because the state found out!  Which means, he can’t do that job anymore (despite not working at it for a few years due to the sickness).  Calls up disability, know what they said?  “Go back to driving a truck!”  After a complete “huh” moment he said “I can’t get a CDL anymore, which means I can’t drive a truck”  — they more or less just repeated the same thing, said it wasn’t their fault then told him to go back to working at a shoe factory (that closed 20 years prior), then another place (that closed more recently, but still closed).  By then they’d reached his high school years.   Two years, multiple useless politicians, multiple court dates and two attorney’s later he finally got it.  Of course all his back pay went in paying all the loans worth up to fifty grand that they had to take out to live — so they weren’t living on the streets.

Then you have another man.  Can’t work because he requires oxygen, and his workplace (due to OSHA requirements, and just an overall hazard) isn’t able to even enter the factory.  Files for disability (2 years before retirement too) and has two diseases that are a life sentence — if he’s lucky he might live another 5 years.  Denied — he’s supposed to “go back to working at the factory”.  But like above, he can’t work at the factory due to state and federal regulations.

There’s something really wrong in the world when a state agency tells you that you won’t get something because you can do something that other agencies say you can’t do because of the reason you applied to get the something.  [Really, that made sense -- I hope at least].  And all it does is hurt the people!  When the person finally gets it, they go back to when you first applied — so it’s not like they’re getting that much more money.  Meanwhile you have probably thousands of families all across the United States just on the brink of homelessness because they can’t work, and can’t get disability!

Want to hear something really funny?  Politicians won’t help — but they still call for donations to get re-elected.  Granted they probably don’t know who the people are directly and all, but it’s still funny.

For those Serj Tankian fans out there that have heard “Unthinking Majority” you’ll notice that the title is similar to the line from the song. Doesn’t make it any less true or less curious.

Finding actual statistics on drug usage is extremely hard to find — even on the CDC website — although a small report does have some info at: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/04news/hus04.htm

Basically it says that half of Americans (assumed to be “United States of America” Americans as “America” includes Canada, Brazil, Mexico, etc) take at least one prescription medication.  10% of women and 4% of men take antidepressants.  Reports keep on popping up where someone who just isn’t happy is given an antidepressant.  Don’t like not having money?  Here’s an antidepressant!  Feel better now?  Yes?  Great!  What?  Have less money now than before?  But you don’t care now do you?

Something has to be majorly wrong when half the population requires medication to be “healthy” don’t you think?  And that list was only for prescription medication, it didn’t include over the counter (OTC) medication!  Just think about that for a bit.

Really…. Think about it…

Half the people in the united states need to be medicated.  Got ten women friends?  One’s on antidepressants.  Know twenty five men?  One’s on anti-depressants.  But don’t worry!  Apparently there’s more people that need them that aren’t taking them!  Yep, we’re all so depressed that we need medicated.

Talk about putting a bandage on to fix a compound fracture.

What about the simple thing that the world is a screwed up place with no hope?  Corporations steal money from their employees.  People’s voices, the ones that do voting, aren’t heard by the people they elect.  Politicians sell their votes for policies based on the highest corporate and PAC bidders.  Then everything stays the “same” — same as in things keep on getting worse and those trying to make changes get run over by the political machine.

Here’s a situation.  Let’s say you know a woman who’s in a relationship with a guy who beats her up.  Would you recommend anti-depressants so she enjoys it?  What about your kid’s being beaten up in school — antidepressant?  You lost your job and had to train your replacement, antidepressant for that too?  What about you’re working for minimum wage and can’t get back to school (can’t get a loan, since you don’t make enough; can’t save up as you’re not making enough) — antidepressant needed?

If you like the existing parties in office — you bet!  Antidepressants are the single most useful controlling agents in the world.  They’re legal, and keep the people in line.  No need to worry about dissent when you’re able to medicate your voters into not caring and place the blame on them.  Oh?  Didn’t think of that?

Antidepressants are nothing more than saying “something’s wrong with you“.  It’s saying “everything in the world is fine, you have no reason to be depressed!”  Don’t think so?  Would you take aspirin if you didn’t have pain (or told to by a doc for heart)?  Would you take cold medication if you didn’t have a cold?  Would you take cough syrup if you weren’t coughing?  Nose spray if not congested or dry?  What about eye drops for redness if you didn’t have it?  Putting ice on if no swelling?   — Then tell me… why would you take antidepressants if you were healthy and fine?

Don’t misunderstand, there are people that do need anti-depressants for one reason or another due to actual chemical problems in the brain.  But 10% of women and 4% of men?  Bandage on a compound fracture.

Most have probably figured out what I’m saying with that bandage on a compound fracture line — you might take care of a symptom (bleeding), but you’re not dealing with the root cause (bone sticking through skin).  It’s the same with antidepressants.  There has to be a root cause that’s causing so many people to be depressed.  Environmental, or just the world’s screwed up — pick one, or both.

When there’s no guarantee that you’ll have your job next week, no guarantee that you’ll have a home, car, no guarantee for anything in your life for things that are needed to survive — what’s not to be depressed about?  Any second of the day everything you have could all come crashing around you, and know what?  You’re pretty much on your own.  Friends and family might be able to help out some, but even they are in the same situation.  Then toss in the threat that there could be a nuclear war — and that we need to bomb them first to subdue them…  And to top it all?  No matter which of the two main parties you’ll elect in elections, nothing will ever change until all hell breaks loose and it personally affects the companies that back them, I mean affects them.

So it’s no wonder so many take antidepressants…. but the real question is, when are people going to stop and think that maybe, just maybe, it’s not them that needs medicated – maybe it’s the world that needs to be changed.  So do yourself a favor this election, don’t vote for the establishment — vote for a third party, vote green cast a vote for Cynthia McKinney*.

* She not available on your ballot in your state? Sad I know, as your politicians want control so much they do anything they can to prevent third parties from being on the ballot that’s still “legal” — but vote for anyone else but the two.