Taking A Knee

I am headed back to Chicago today.  It’s a down and back.  Have to pick some necessary items up that I can’t get anywhere else.  Will be nice to be away from the mosquitoes for a night and in some air conditioning.   It’s been super hot in Grand Marais, MN.  We haven’t had much rain at all and the forest is super dry.  The fire danger is “Very High” which you rarely see.  It was 90 two days in a row.  Yesterday it was in the mid-80s.  That’s too hot when you don’t have a/c.

I was reading my friend Mark Glennon’s excellent compilation of articles on the fiscal crisis in Illinois and Chicago.  The math is tough and the die is cast.  Trench warfare is brutal and Illinois is in the middle of one.  The Machine won’t yield.  The bond markets will force them to their knees.

I take no delight in watching it.  I am shocked at the dimwitted vision of certain politicians that say they are businesspeople.  Apparently, math wasn’t their top subject.  One friend of mine that manages one of the largest muni-bond portfolios in the country said that he thinks eventually the rubber will meet the road and it will be horrible for people.  Hunger Games for government agencies.

As I was perusing the page, I read Mark’s homily on the 4th of July.    I suggest you click over and read it too.  Digest it.  Critically think about it.  Mark is right.

I recall my first day at the US Air Force Academy.  We were instructed what we could say.  There were five statements;

• Yes sir/madam
• No sir/madam
• Sir/madam may I make a statement?
• Sir/madam may I ask a question?
• No excuse sir/madam

Personally, I used the last one the most outside of No and Yes.  We were taught how to stand at attention.  We weren’t taught to take a knee.

I think politicians in Illinois ought to learn how to say No excuse sir/madam.  There isn’t one except their recalcitrance and their total lack of intestinal fortitude.  Leeches are higher up the food chain and have more intellect.  At least they are transparent about what they want.

We are at a crossroads in America.  Many people think that is an extreme view but reading Mark’s thoughts you realize we aren’t.  If you take a knee, you are part of the problem.  If you don’t know who to vote for, remember, if the Democrats get power they will bail out their political pals in Illinois.