Lead burns red and makes you dead

That's the phrase of the day! "Lead burns red and makes you dead". I think I'm going to try to put this into common every day lingo - could be a catch phrase that sweeps the country! Sort of like "The Whiter the Bread the Sooner You're dead" hmmmm both end with dead!

Anyway - there will be no labor strike for Jenny as Doctors are inducing labor tonight with Sydney (sp?) is due tomorrow. So tomorrow I MIGHT not have a blog - but of course the world comes to an end at 4:00 today when Herr Walker gives his budget speech from an unknown bunker.  
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 "Lead burns red and makes you dead"

I was working at the liqueur store last night and a person came in and we were talking and he was involved with city council meeting in Sun Prairie.  The problem was that 7% of Sun Prairie teachers are retiring which really puts the squeeze on classes.  Add the 15 to 20,000 teachers that will get layoff notices in Wisconsin and education will REALLY suck for schools!  NO MORE BEING #2 when #25 is good enough.

ANYWAY- I was talking to another customer that was looking for 15 pounds of dextrose. Why on earth would you need 15 pounds of dextrose ( a type of sugar). Seems they were making moonshine which is illegal.  I said I had never tasted moonshine which was sort of odd because I think I have tried almost everything illegal (a long time ago).  They said that would bring a sample in someday!

So I started to look up to see what the heck moonshine is.  Basically a whiskey.  One way to test if moonshine is safe is the flame test!   Put some moonshine in a teaspoon and light it.  Safe moonshine burns with a blue flame, but a tainted moonshine burns with a yellow flame. Practitioners of this test also say that if a radiator coil had been used as a condenser, then there would be lead in the distillate, which would give a reddish flame. Thus the common phrase, "Lead burns red and makes you dead."

and there ya go!
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Let's look at the OTHER side of this budget crisis! 

We all can agree that what is happening is a hostile corporate take over of Wisconsin Government. That one is a no brainer - but is it a bad thing?   Having the power plants no longer run by the government and now run by the Koch brothers in private, for profit industry might not be all that bad.  Although it is too bad Wisconsin can no longer erect wind turbines (bill passed last month making it impossible).

Government, by nature, is very inefficient.  Any bad decision can be put off to the next people in charge 3 or 4 years down the road.  I've personally seen millions wasted because the decision makers know that by saying "we were wrong" it makes them look bad.  But if they can say, keep going, even though it will ultimately fail (which it does) then they will not get the blame because they have moved on. 

The problem comes with privatizing the government is that the citizens will ultimately have to pay higher prices - SOMEBODY has to pay right?  It's no longer a tax but it's a charge.  So while you will not get higher taxes you will have higher charges.   

What about the schools!  $900,000,000 will be subtracted from public schools!  $550 per student!  10% of the teachers will be laid off with another 7% retiring THIS year.  Those teachers will ultimately be fired and will not get their jobs back. In their place will be teachers from private educators (after all, a teacher will have no rights, who can he or she complain too . . the government?  LOL)  who now can teach what THEY believe is the way of the world.  If they want to teach the world is flat - who are you going to complain to . . the government?  LOL    Perhaps schools will be cut to 4 days a week.

I gotta tell ya - Walker knows how to create jobs though.

Is seems every 30 years the government needs pruning.  30 years ago they made a "window"  to get old government employees to retire.  Now it's fear that is causing massive retirements that are crippling agencies.  But is that a bad thing?   He has in line all sorts of private workers in line to hire!  They don't care about helping the citizens of Wisconsin - it's a job!   Unlike present employees that actually CARE about what they do!

It's one of the reason people take Government jobs!  We care!

One of the problems with this whole economy thing that people "complain" about, is the fact that private industry knows that they can be more efficient with less people, thus, there is no need to hire more workers.  They are making money hand over foot!! 

So the same probably holds true with government.   So you say - why are you being such a whiny baby then.

Look at it from an insiders point of view. 

24 years ago I took a job knowing that State Government is a sweet deal, we make less then others, have poorer working conditions but the benefits are pretty darn good. Plus the great thing is that in a small way we are serving our country.  Many of us have this pride!  But no beating around the bush, State Government has good benefits, not going to lie.

So I, like 300,000 other employees go to work every day, do our jobs, cause no trouble. We don't sit there wringing our hands looking for ways to screw the people we work for.  WE LIKE TO SERVE!  

BUT - all of a sudden three years ago we take a 10% cut in pay.  OUCH,  last year, another 10% cut in pay  OUCH,  This year we bargain with good faith and understand budget problems BAM - 10% cut in pay AND we lose all rights to negotiate AND there is a chance people who have worked hard for 25 years will each have about $48,000 taken out of our retirement banks that would pay for health care. Money we have worked for and thought about for 25 years!!  

OH but wait - then the Governor tells the citizens that PUBLIC EMPLOYEES ARE BAD PEOPLE SUCKING WISCONSIN DRY!   WE ARE BROKE AND SOMEONE HAS TO PAY.  So now we have the people we were proud to work for for 25 years . . . HATE us!

And you wonder why some of us are a little cranky?     

Rod