{"id":372723,"date":"2010-02-28T12:07:36","date_gmt":"2010-02-28T17:07:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/illinoiseducationassociation.org\/?p=6124"},"modified":"2010-02-28T12:07:36","modified_gmt":"2010-02-28T17:07:36","slug":"we-don%e2%80%99t-have-to-hit-the-iceberg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/372723","title":{"rendered":"We don\u2019t have to hit the iceberg"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hear an audio version of this post<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

SouthownStar columnist Phil Kadner positions himself in the Crow\u2019s Nest and fixes his spyglass on the immediate future.\"\"<\/p>\n

T<\/em><\/strong>his ship of state is steaming full speed ahead as people scream, “Iceberg!” That’s what this State of Illinois budget mess looks like to me.<\/em><\/p>\n

There’s a $13 billion shortfall sitting in the water waiting to wreck havoc on the ship’s hull.<\/em><\/p>\n

The captain, Gov. Pat Quinn, sequestered in his cabin, has asked the passengers to get together and come up with an escape plan should the boat capsize.<\/em><\/p>\n

The guy at the wheel is House Speaker Michael Madigan, who seems not to have a care in the world. He keeps telling the passengers that if this ship sinks, it’s the fault of the Republican crew members, who have had no hand in charting this course.<\/em><\/p>\n

Kadner sees carnage coming fast.<\/p>\n

In about a month, hundreds, if not thousands, of teachers are going to be getting notices that their jobs are not guaranteed next fall.<\/em><\/p>\n

The state’s multibillion-dollar construction plan, designed to put people to work, is in jeopardy because people are voting not to adopt legalized video gambling.<\/em><\/p>\n

And the bond rating agencies are saying there may soon come a time when loaning money to Illinois may be too great a risk.<\/em><\/p>\n

Still, the ship maintains its course.<\/em><\/p>\n

As for the Republicans, when no one seems to be looking, you can see them laughing as they prepare the lifeboats.<\/em><\/p>\n

When the time comes, when the ship meets with disaster, they’re going to mount a rescue effort. Of course, not everyone will be saved. There will be massive suffering.<\/em><\/p>\n

But they hope to be hailed as heroes, believing no one will notice they did nothing to prevent the disaster itself.<\/em><\/p>\n

As he usually does on funding issues, Kadner hits the nail on the head.\u00a0Read the whole column<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Then read Sunday\u2019s Tribune editorial<\/strong><\/a> that proposes a \u201cno tax increase\u201d budget for Illinois\u00a0.\u00a0 The Trib\u2019s obsession with public employee pensions continues. \u00a0The paper\u2019s editorial board apparently will happily crash the ship of state into the iceberg if they can wreak revenge (for what, we don\u2019t know) on public employee unions.<\/p>\n

Then, take action.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Watch this video<\/a><\/p>\n

2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Follow the instructions for providing your input on the state budget to Gov. Quinn.<\/p>\n

3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Forward this information to your colleagues so they will do the same.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If IEA members, en masse, speak from their hearts about what Illinois will lose unless we maintain education quality, the negative, short-sighted, and often mean-spirited comments currently dominating discussion on the governor\u2019s website will be rightly ignored.<\/p>\n

The budget crisis is a revenue crisis.\u00a0 Gov. Quinn believes the answer is a tax increase.\u00a0 Tell him he\u2019s right and he needs to fight for what\u2019s right.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We don’t have to sink. \u00a0We have to make our voices heard. \u00a0Go to the IEA Website now<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong> Get ready for Lobby Day on April 21.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n


\n<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hear an audio version of this post SouthownStar columnist Phil Kadner positions himself in the Crow\u2019s Nest and fixes his spyglass on the immediate future. This ship of state is steaming full speed ahead as people scream, “Iceberg!” That’s what this State of Illinois budget mess looks like to me. There’s a $13 billion shortfall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5336,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-372723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5336"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372723\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}