Occupying this space with word on the 'Occupy' movement

By Jeff Orvis

Occupy Wall Street. Occupy Atlanta. Occupy Chicago. Occupy Quad-Cities. Thousands of people all over this country are gathering with only one apparent common purpose. They are all saying “We're mad as hell and we aren't going to take it anymore,” to borrow a phrase from a movie.

The majority of the talk radio folks who have been busy dispensing the audio Kool-Aid to the Tea Party crowd have been quick to condemn the “Occupy” folks as a bunch of left-wing kooks and other less-than-kind descriptions. It didn't help the cause in its early stages by the fact that there were few stated goals of the protests. We are all creatures of instant gratification and instant news and when the organizers had a difficult time forming specific goals for the demonstrations, it made it easier for those on the right to condemn the exercise.

Early news reports of those who were flocking to Wall Street and other venues around the country showed many of them who looked like descendants of the brave folks who assembled in Grant Park in Mayor Daley's 1968 Chicago. Remember “The Whole World is Watching?”

But as the new movement continues to grow, we see more and more of the participants who are like you and your neighbors. They may have advanced college degrees with 10 or more years of experience in a job who were suddenly thrown out of work. Their superiors can only shrug their shoulders and blame the cuts on the economy. But those of us who have been sidelined have been quick to notice that the decision to cut down on staff at many corporations are made by company CEOs who continue to happily cash their seven-figure annual paychecks.

I've mentioned before that it seems that many of our products, especially those in the grocery stores, aren't what they used to be. Corporate America has been busy finding ways to increase its bottom line by putting more water in canned products and giving consumers 11 ounces of coffee in cans that used to hold 16 ounces.

In our fast-paced world where few of us take time to read labels on the products we buy, it's natural to assume that we won't notice we are getting less for our dollar. But when those dollars are suddenly not there, not only are more of us unemployed, we also have more time to spend in the store reading labels and noticing the changes in our products.

Lack of jobs and obscene upper management wages are only part of the story. Many of us are realizing that there is an unhealthy shift from the philosophy in this country. It seems that an honest dollar for an honest day's work or a fair price for a good product has been replaced with “what can we do for less and still make a big profit?”

The radio talking heads would have you believe that the only thing the protestors are looking for is a free ride. But if you listen closely to the nightly interviews from the streets you will learn that all many of us want is a fair shake. Many blame the federal government, specifically Congress, for the nation's ills. Money talks and it didn't help the situation when the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that corporations were free to contribute to political campaigns.

The elections are a year away. As more well educated people are suddenly unemployed and are finding they have time to pay attention to presidential and congressional campaigns, just maybe they can see past the well-financed half-truths in broadcast ads and begin to ask serious questions of the candidates.

Last time I checked, we still elect folks with votes by the public and not by direct purchase by those with the fattest campaign bank accounts. Just maybe we will elect some leaders who care about the rest of us and not just who can contribute the most to a campaign.

The “Occupy” movement may not be the answer. But at least it has the country paying attention.

Illinois government. - you can't make this stuff up

By Jeff Orvis

I've lived almost my entire life in Iowa. For much of my adult life, I've tried to follow the actions, and at time in-actions, of state government. I've had the privilege to speak with our last three governors and all three are nice guys. Each had their own way of governing, some more successful than others. I've gotten to know a few state legislators and each seemed enthused and honored to represent their respective sections of the state.

As a whole, there have been times when I've wondered just what the heck the legislature is trying to do. During the last session, legislators faced the tough task of balancing the budget. But suddenly, they switched gears and gave us a hunting season on mourning doves. It was as if they were saying we can't handle the tough stuff, maybe you will be happy if you can shoot doves.

So there have definitely been times when you hear some things coming out of Des Moines and you just have to roll your eyes and shake your head in disbelief. But after living once again on the east edge of our great state for almost a year now, I have only one thing to say: Be glad you don't live in Illinois!

Make no mistake, there are many good things about Illinois and many good people living there. Some of them are my relatives and I hope I will still be welcome when I go to visit them. But the state and county government in the state of Illinois is so strange you can't make something like this up.

I had heard all of the old jokes about the alleged corrupt nature of Chicago politics, with dead people voting, etc. But did you know that four of the last eight governors of the state have been convicted of crimes, including corruption? The last governor was accused of attempting to sell his appointment for a senator to fill the seat vacated with the election of President Barack Obama, among other charges. He is currently awaiting sentencing.

The current governor, Pat Quinn, came into office knowing he had to try to clean up the image of the office while attempting to balance a budget that some reports indicated carried a $13 billion deficit. He has attempted to close several state institutions, much to the protests of many citizens. He simply refused to pay the state's area school superintendents, claiming that the legislature didn't give him enough money. Never mind they had signed contracts. And the governor found a judge who agreed with him!

Meanwhile, in a further attempt to balance the budget, he enacted a 66 percent increase in personal income taxes and a 46 percent increase in corporate taxes. Almost immediately, state development groups from other Midwestern states began luring businesses from Illinois with promises of healthier business climates.

One positive action that the current governor has taken was abolishing the barbaric practice of capital punishment. That was inspired by the release of an inmate who was 50 hours from being executed after 15 years on death row when DNA evidence proved his innocence.

The strange nature of government doesn't end at the state level. A real head-turner for me came this summer when I learned that Rock Island County, right across the river from Davenport, has 25 county supervisors! To put that in perspective, there are five state senates with fewer members. The Chicago City Council has 50 members, but they represent more than 3.7 million residents.

Rock Island County has approximately 150,000 citizens. Scott County, which includes Davenport and Bettendorf, has a population of 165,224 and is governed by a five member board of supervisors.

This summer, there was a move to reduce the size of the Rock Island County Board. But board members had to agree to cut their own body. Few wanted to give up their princely $3,000 annual salaries. One of the arguments in favor of keeping the board as is was that cutting the number might mean the county would have to hire a county administrator. That was also a shock for me. This is the 21^st century. Doesn't a county of 150,000 deserve a professional running the day-to-day operations of the county?

Like many other municipalities, the county is wrestling with a tight budget. But it was recently revealed that only two of its 25 sheriff department squad cars are equipped with dash video cameras. Much of the county is rural and many of the patrol miles are driven by solo deputies who must make traffic stops and arrests. It would seem that functional video cameras, mounted so that the officer's actions and those of the people who are stopped could be recorded.

This is specially true as we have experience several officer-involved shootings in recent months in this area. Much of the actions of two of those events were captured on video. They both occurred in the city of Davenport. But a traffic stop in rural Rock Island County where a deputy was forced to shoot a suspect was not recorded.

One of the most recent chapters of Illinois' Believe it or Not came recently when a new assistant warden was appointed for an East Moline state prison. The young man had no previous corrections experience, other than a brief stint as a drug and alcohol abuse counselor. There is even no evidence that he has ever been inside of a prison. This son of a recently defeated congressional candidate does have a Master's degree...in theater.

Like I've said, some of this stuff you just can't make up.

Perhaps the Iowa tourism folks should focus some advertising on the state of Illinois. They could try to lure Illini visitors with a slogan like, “Come to Iowa where our governors and former governors stay out of jail and only the living can vote!”