With one Federal tentacle now wrapped around the mental accounting of Village officials and employees when it comes to accessibility to the fullest scope of Midlothian’s offerings, it’s no wonder the Illinois Municipal League decided to recently yap it up about FOIA requests being the next “weapon of mass destruction” by the “crafty” people seeking to dismantle and reform the current system that generates nothing but excellence and integrity within Illinois politics. Nothing more destructive than a municipality deleting all paths to the public having fair opportunity to hold their government accountable for its actions so that complaints against any personnel except for the Fire Department falls into a black hole of now non-existent legislation governing such recalling of people for poor work performance. Add to this the dead ends throughout the state once a complaint falls on deaf ears within a municipality…and its no wonder the general population continues to feel aggitated at the sustaining of these hypocracies via these parades complete with both Emperor’s and Empresses designed to impress or depress…depending on how you want to look at it…
With their call to Governor Pat Quinn via a letter published to the Internet (not an orchestra invention, but maybe a three-piece band composition) to abolish any effort whatsoever to solidify yet another government-funded mechanism, it is hard to argue against the idea that the last thing Illinois needs is even more government involvement…and this time around its government involvement into government! Talk about one of the darker sides to maintaining some semblance of a democracy of the people, for the people and by the people!
Now I’ve played a craftsmaster in an RPG game years ago, but to think that perhaps my former State and Local Government teacher might be aware of my own attempts to FOIA request out of the Village a full collection of the laws…well…not everything is about me…and I was always proud of my skills as a crafty! The race to fortify the docks when rumors surfaced that an invasion was coming…although being pelted by the same weapons as I was building was not always pleasant, but that’s what revivals were for! 
So when the every present almost-mythic legend of a government being run of the criminals, by the criminals and for the criminals is fed by volumes of politicians involved with sex scandal, fraud and other criminal allegations being fed into the headlines through more than just the few Old Guards of Media, such as the Associated Press, the myth is no longer a skeleton of potential reality. Instead, it is replaced with living and breathing villains and victims playing out their roles as their lives continue to roll forward along the same timeline as the rest of us.
So when the IML starts barking about the dangers of a uniform FOIA request system, it is of no surprise to discover that there is legislation currently pending the signature of Governor Quinn to anchor the Illinois Public Access Counselors Office as a permanent division of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. Yeah. Thanks a bunch for your apparent lack of support of aiding and abetting your members in coming into compliance as fast and as responsibly as they possibly can. You’d rather aid them with a letter warning of the dangers of FOIA-based issues rather than confront Sterling Codifiers, Inc. for what they continue to swear up, down and all around that it is nothing but a quality product.
With Internet fraud no longer being the newest entry into the Big Game Of Gaming The Systems, being able to remove all complaints being filed with the office regarding allegations of illegal declines of FOIA requests is but one of the many benefits the Illinois Municipal League apparently don’t want their members to benefit from…let alone the rest of the municipalities that continue to endure the heavy hands of the IML behind the scenes in Illinois.
And yet, much of what I think contributes to the discoloring of the Murawski legacy so significantly is the cheapness and lack of integrity within his pursuit of said electoral victories. “See? The people voted me back in so I must be doing as great of a job as these board meeting minutes and this ordinance book can quickly prove…let alone the newsletter written by my wife and the local paper we use almost exclusively for all public notices” and that’s how the Illinois Public Access Counselors Office becomes the giant that the Illinois Municipal League fears so greatly.
So back to this politically-charged conundrum. Through a relocation of existing resources and a trimming of the fat positions the IPACO in the perfect position to act as basically librarian for all municipalities for no less than the following documentation belonging to the public domain:
1. The Municipal Code Book
2. Board meeting minutes
3. Copy of General Ledger for the month
With storage costs being what they are, these are all documents that do not necessarily need to be duplicated on the state’s servers and such a move actually would be of potential detriment on a variety of levels. But if IPACO has an interface designed to monitor the posting/publishing of these types of documents…
well, let’s just say that whatever the current maximum profit potential from this current sighting of old school, overplayed, Illinois Pay To Play Schematics that basically equates to the specific group of people at the helm of such political operations would be instantly sliced and diced until a whole slew of individuals were brought to the attention of the Attorney General’s office besides those the AG is already aware of while awakening the public to just how significant this issue is when it comes to practicing what we preach…assuming you are one who preaches belief in the Constitution, which includes the explanation that one cannot govern over another without the consent of the individual being expected to permit such governance and my point is the question of why I should just arbitrarily turn over my consent to a group of people who will go to such lengths to ensure that these efforts are vilified and that the message is to stay away from the rule book or else!
That makes about as much sense as a government writing a law telling me I cannot wear pants because I am a woman or in Midlothian’s instance, its previous Baggy Pants ordinance that is rumored to be repealed or perhaps it never made it into the book and then arresting me for the clothing selection. I’m simply not going to abide by a law that tells me I am somehow in violation of the sense and sensibilities of the public-at-large if I wear the same tool men are permitted to wear. And since clothing is clearly a tool first and foremost, legislation defining what is and is not permitted based on sexual orientation and then authorizing law enforcement to enforce any violations of these orders they are instructed to enforce may not be on the Midlothian law books, but even worse is the fact that no one can discover what any of the laws are that law enforcement and other enforcers are being given authority to enforce.
As I mentioned, the Baggy Pants ordinance may have made the select media rounds, but how many laws have been passed before and after this event? Now all I ask you to do is jump out of this airplane with nothing but this skirt and blouse, but don’t worry. The blouse was manufactured to work with the skirt to act as a braking system and you shouldn’t hit the ground too…well…don’t worry about that. Just trust me that the manufacturers of this outfit assure us that all of their research and development proves this system will work now shut up and make the jump of your life…and this doesn’t even reflect the harshest of effects this hypocrisy continues to generate amongst those who live here in Midlothian, let alone within the United States and yes, lets even go International.
Now before dollar signs start popping up in front of contractors drooling at the proposition of yet another expensive technology-based government project, this is something that if designed properly, can be maintained by a simple Excel spreadsheet and then using one of a variety of options, providing such information to both the public and the IPACO as to whether or not such documents are available or not.
Something like this would certainly need cooperation and commitment and contemplation must be worked through on how to aid the municipalities without a strong potential tax base due to a variety of criteria, but it really is this simple to accomplish, in both architecture and economics.
So with the Blago PR machine trying to wave in an intimidating manner the ever-available FOIA gauntlet while smacking his brand squarely into the upper deck seating behind the plate with the sample FOIA request and appeal form popping up two days after the Illinois Municipal League’s letter to Quinn, all of these chatterboxes cloud the issue even more than this elongated clump of text here.
Will the new Mayor grab his surf board and race to these political waves with the exuberance of a surfer seeking to master the curls and crashes of such an anomaly or will he continue to remain the individual demanding the camera people, reporters and other spectators to sit down in order to prevent any further rocking of the leaky rowboat he was left behind and once he climbed in, he was simply dropped in the middle of this storm and told to make it back to shore on his own.
Sort of like the house that was dropped on Cicero Avenue the other day in front of one of Midlothian’s trademark castle’s, except in that case it wasn’t our Mayor sent to clean up this particular situation. And what a sight to drive by!
Referencing the Wizard of Oz in depth would be too easy, so in the spirit of continued artistic liberty…
How ironic the house was dropped right in between a candy store chain with the same sounding name as one of the troubled mortgage entities and a castle. I don’t know…there just has to be a joke somewhere in there…a house is dropped in between a mortgage giant and a castle…sounds like a scene from a video game or something like Monopoly!
So what’s up with the Medium Volume of Digital Paper Tigers Suddenly Roaming Midlothian?
With one Federal tentacle now wrapped around the mental accounting of Village officials and employees when it comes to accessibility to the fullest scope of Midlothian’s offerings, it’s no wonder the Illinois Municipal League decided to recently yap it up about FOIA requests being the next “weapon of mass destruction” by the “crafty” people seeking to dismantle and reform the current system that generates nothing but excellence and integrity within Illinois politics. Nothing more destructive than a municipality deleting all paths to the public having fair opportunity to hold their government accountable for its actions so that complaints against any personnel except for the Fire Department falls into a black hole of now non-existent legislation governing such recalling of people for poor work performance. Add to this the dead ends throughout the state once a complaint falls on deaf ears within a municipality…and its no wonder the general population continues to feel aggitated at the sustaining of these hypocracies via these parades complete with both Emperor’s and Empresses designed to impress or depress…depending on how you want to look at it…
With their call to Governor Pat Quinn via a letter published to the Internet (not an orchestra invention, but maybe a three-piece band composition) to abolish any effort whatsoever to solidify yet another government-funded mechanism, it is hard to argue against the idea that the last thing Illinois needs is even more government involvement…and this time around its government involvement into government! Talk about one of the darker sides to maintaining some semblance of a democracy of the people, for the people and by the people!
Now I’ve played a craftsmaster in an RPG game years ago, but to think that perhaps my former State and Local Government teacher might be aware of my own attempts to FOIA request out of the Village a full collection of the laws…well…not everything is about me…and I was always proud of my skills as a crafty! The race to fortify the docks when rumors surfaced that an invasion was coming…although being pelted by the same weapons as I was building was not always pleasant, but that’s what revivals were for!
So when the every present almost-mythic legend of a government being run of the criminals, by the criminals and for the criminals is fed by volumes of politicians involved with sex scandal, fraud and other criminal allegations being fed into the headlines through more than just the few Old Guards of Media, such as the Associated Press, the myth is no longer a skeleton of potential reality. Instead, it is replaced with living and breathing villains and victims playing out their roles as their lives continue to roll forward along the same timeline as the rest of us.
So when the IML starts barking about the dangers of a uniform FOIA request system, it is of no surprise to discover that there is legislation currently pending the signature of Governor Quinn to anchor the Illinois Public Access Counselors Office as a permanent division of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. Yeah. Thanks a bunch for your apparent lack of support of aiding and abetting your members in coming into compliance as fast and as responsibly as they possibly can. You’d rather aid them with a letter warning of the dangers of FOIA-based issues rather than confront Sterling Codifiers, Inc. for what they continue to swear up, down and all around that it is nothing but a quality product.
With Internet fraud no longer being the newest entry into the Big Game Of Gaming The Systems, being able to remove all complaints being filed with the office regarding allegations of illegal declines of FOIA requests is but one of the many benefits the Illinois Municipal League apparently don’t want their members to benefit from…let alone the rest of the municipalities that continue to endure the heavy hands of the IML behind the scenes in Illinois.
And yet, much of what I think contributes to the discoloring of the Murawski legacy so significantly is the cheapness and lack of integrity within his pursuit of said electoral victories. “See? The people voted me back in so I must be doing as great of a job as these board meeting minutes and this ordinance book can quickly prove…let alone the newsletter written by my wife and the local paper we use almost exclusively for all public notices” and that’s how the Illinois Public Access Counselors Office becomes the giant that the Illinois Municipal League fears so greatly.
So back to this politically-charged conundrum. Through a relocation of existing resources and a trimming of the fat positions the IPACO in the perfect position to act as basically librarian for all municipalities for no less than the following documentation belonging to the public domain:
1. The Municipal Code Book
2. Board meeting minutes
3. Copy of General Ledger for the month
With storage costs being what they are, these are all documents that do not necessarily need to be duplicated on the state’s servers and such a move actually would be of potential detriment on a variety of levels. But if IPACO has an interface designed to monitor the posting/publishing of these types of documents…
well, let’s just say that whatever the current maximum profit potential from this current sighting of old school, overplayed, Illinois Pay To Play Schematics that basically equates to the specific group of people at the helm of such political operations would be instantly sliced and diced until a whole slew of individuals were brought to the attention of the Attorney General’s office besides those the AG is already aware of while awakening the public to just how significant this issue is when it comes to practicing what we preach…assuming you are one who preaches belief in the Constitution, which includes the explanation that one cannot govern over another without the consent of the individual being expected to permit such governance and my point is the question of why I should just arbitrarily turn over my consent to a group of people who will go to such lengths to ensure that these efforts are vilified and that the message is to stay away from the rule book or else!
That makes about as much sense as a government writing a law telling me I cannot wear pants because I am a woman or in Midlothian’s instance, its previous Baggy Pants ordinance that is rumored to be repealed or perhaps it never made it into the book and then arresting me for the clothing selection. I’m simply not going to abide by a law that tells me I am somehow in violation of the sense and sensibilities of the public-at-large if I wear the same tool men are permitted to wear. And since clothing is clearly a tool first and foremost, legislation defining what is and is not permitted based on sexual orientation and then authorizing law enforcement to enforce any violations of these orders they are instructed to enforce may not be on the Midlothian law books, but even worse is the fact that no one can discover what any of the laws are that law enforcement and other enforcers are being given authority to enforce.
As I mentioned, the Baggy Pants ordinance may have made the select media rounds, but how many laws have been passed before and after this event? Now all I ask you to do is jump out of this airplane with nothing but this skirt and blouse, but don’t worry. The blouse was manufactured to work with the skirt to act as a braking system and you shouldn’t hit the ground too…well…don’t worry about that. Just trust me that the manufacturers of this outfit assure us that all of their research and development proves this system will work now shut up and make the jump of your life…and this doesn’t even reflect the harshest of effects this hypocrisy continues to generate amongst those who live here in Midlothian, let alone within the United States and yes, lets even go International.
Now before dollar signs start popping up in front of contractors drooling at the proposition of yet another expensive technology-based government project, this is something that if designed properly, can be maintained by a simple Excel spreadsheet and then using one of a variety of options, providing such information to both the public and the IPACO as to whether or not such documents are available or not.
Something like this would certainly need cooperation and commitment and contemplation must be worked through on how to aid the municipalities without a strong potential tax base due to a variety of criteria, but it really is this simple to accomplish, in both architecture and economics.
So with the Blago PR machine trying to wave in an intimidating manner the ever-available FOIA gauntlet while smacking his brand squarely into the upper deck seating behind the plate with the sample FOIA request and appeal form popping up two days after the Illinois Municipal League’s letter to Quinn, all of these chatterboxes cloud the issue even more than this elongated clump of text here.
Will the new Mayor grab his surf board and race to these political waves with the exuberance of a surfer seeking to master the curls and crashes of such an anomaly or will he continue to remain the individual demanding the camera people, reporters and other spectators to sit down in order to prevent any further rocking of the leaky rowboat he was left behind and once he climbed in, he was simply dropped in the middle of this storm and told to make it back to shore on his own.
Sort of like the house that was dropped on Cicero Avenue the other day in front of one of Midlothian’s trademark castle’s, except in that case it wasn’t our Mayor sent to clean up this particular situation. And what a sight to drive by!
Referencing the Wizard of Oz in depth would be too easy, so in the spirit of continued artistic liberty…
How ironic the house was dropped right in between a candy store chain with the same sounding name as one of the troubled mortgage entities and a castle. I don’t know…there just has to be a joke somewhere in there…a house is dropped in between a mortgage giant and a castle…sounds like a scene from a video game or something like Monopoly!