Pension Reform for all but Judges: Craven Effort to Buy Judicial Favor?

A northern Illinois newspaper notes how the Democrats in Springfield excluded judges, apparently (according to paper) in an effort to head off any personal animosity judges might feel in response to pension cuts. You see, judges are state employees too. The civics drivel taught in government schools about judicial review, lifetime tenure, separation of powers . . . well, it hasn't caught up to America in 2011, especially the Illinoisan corner of the USA.

Excerpt:

The Illinois Constitution says public employee pensions “shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.” Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, has said changing pension benefits for current employees is unconstitutional but plans to allow a vote in his chamber if the bill passes in the House.

“Half the people think that’s it,” McCarthy said of the hope that the law will not be struck down if it doesn’t affect judges. “Many of the members are legal people, so I think they have a vested interest in not irritating the judges they have to appear in front of.

“I’m sure no judge would do that, but you know.... I wish they were in, to tell you the truth.”

Rep. Rich Brauer, R-Petersburg, criticized the exclusion of judges.

“That’s the only way they can get that thing passed,” Brauer said.

Quote of the Week: Glenn Poshard's One Liner Defending Our Pensions

In a recent email memo to SIUC staff, Glenn Poshard talked at length about the likelihood of major cuts to our pensions (all types, not just defined benefit). He included a great one liner worth repeating:

POSHARD:

In my view, this plan, including all of these options, represents no less than a forced migration into lower pension benefit plans for university employees. The notion that proponents of this legislation are suggesting that this plan can somehow withstand scrutiny on the constitutional issue of diminishment of benefits because it somehow provides a choice of options for employees, is comparable to the idea that there are free elections in Venezuela.

I'd Rather Be in Wisconsin: Illinois Democratic Leadership Attacks Pension -- Bye, Bye Constitution

http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=2255&section=Article

“....Madigan and Cross intend to run a new bill that changes the benefits for current employees. According to the current legislative proposal (not quite fully shaped, but soon to be inserted into a Pension Bill —currently an amendment to SB 512) current employees will have three "options" beginning in June 2012:

OPTION ONE: Teachers may remain in the current plan and pay a considerably higher employee contribution (possibly as high as 15 percent);

OPTION TWO: Teachers may move to the new "Tier II" plan passed last year for new employees.

Tier II reduces benefits dramatically (retirement age increases, COLA changes, using 8 years instead of 4 for average salary for pension purposes, etc.) and pay the same 9% contribution;

OPTION THREE: Chose to have an employer contribution (6%) made to a separate "Defined Contribution" plan along with your employee contribution.

In recent weeks, the Illinois Democratic leadership "works together" with IEA. The IEA opposes and then relents to anti-union acts, stating "this is not Wisconsin."

It sure ain't -- it's far worse: latest pension bill (SB 312) requires those of us with defined benefit pensions to increase our contributions from 8% to 14.5% --- a 6.5% increase (pay cut)! That's to keep our "constitutionally guaranteed" pension.

"Pinkie promise."

Even worse, because the state is contributing so little (2%?) the feds will probably add Social Security tax (another 6.5% for retirement) based on the reasoning that our employer isn't offering a satisfactory pension.

Do the math: 6.5 + 6.5 = 13% pay cut to keep a pension not to be "diminished or impaired" (IL state constitution).

In Wisconsin, Republican Senator Scott Walker went after making workers pay half the pension contributions or 5.8%. Wisconsin: 5.8 versus Illinois 14.5% (even without added SSA tax).

Why are people on the Left surprised? This is progressive law coming home to roost. The men and women in Springfield are not progressives but some of their opponents call themselves "progressives." Yet progressives were never very big on "original intent" or "plain meaning" of constitutions," were they? The state constitution means as little as the federal constitution. And now the Left is "shocked! shocked!" that people aren't looking at the letter of the constitution or even top Democratic legal counsel analysis (worth reading - below):

http://www.illinoissenatedemocrats.com/images/pensions/D/Madiar%20Pension%20Abstract%2003-02-11.pdf

Full 76-page analysis:

http://www.illinoissenatedemocrats.com/images/pensions/D/Pension%20Clause%20Article%20Final.pdf

Where is the SIUC FA? No word on their site? They are busy demonizing Chancellor Cheng for her temporary 2% pay cut while ignoring the tsunami in Springfield. But, hey, it may all be over by next week. Making politics personal can sometimes be counterproductive . . .

“O(h no) Canada!” MTV Signature Song Banned

When I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, the stereotypical bowdlerizers of speech--the people excising "offensive" lyrics and literature-- were the uptight blue-nosed sort who feared that "someone, somewhere, was having fun." (H.L. Mencken).

Now, the "progressive" Left has replaced the Puritanical Right as the great policer of speech. "Progressives" have always policed speech ("you are politically incorrect, comrade!") so this is really nothing new. Both Left and Right have a long history of searching out words they feel are too sensitive to the ears of minors or thin-skinned individuals.

(Apologies in advance for those who suffer from blue noses or thin skin).

Latest example: the Canadian "Standards Council" has banned the Dire Straits song for using the word "faggot" in the classic 1980s tune "Money for Nothing." I learned this after listening to the song on the Dire Straits' album "Brothers in Arms." The song brought back memories of my youth so I searched out the video which was as good as I recalled (classic MTV video of the 1980s). Alas, the video has also been excised so that it is "good for all countries." Now Canada can join the Religious Right in America and the Muslim bloc (in the United Nations) in bullying or outlawing "hate speech." Perhaps the result will be some Universalist Code of Speech.

What makes this even more chilling is that they are attacking not only present speech but scouring the past for things that might offend someone if ever read or heard now. Shades of Fahrenheit 451.

The new rule of thumb: don't say anything that might offend any one one hundred years from now. Good luck guessing what might be on the "hit list" in the year 2111!

Coda: the secondary definition for "bluenosed: "Canadian."

Kind of appropriate, eh?

Libertarian Defends Professor Cronon (while blasting the hypocrisy of the Left)

Over at the leading libertarian magazine, Reason, writer Shikha Dalmia attacks conservatives for using FOIA laws to invade the privacy of historian William Cronon. At the same time, Dalmia defends Open Records laws while noting that groups may abuse their rights by going after individuals. On that score, the Left comes in for a tongue lashing for politicizing the process (and so much else in academia).

Frankly, I'm surprised that Professor Cronon was so clueless about the dangers of work email addresses. I've said it before (here, here, and here): your work email is state property and open to reading by your university or outsiders who file FOIA requests.

Bottom line: DO NOT USE YOUR .edu account for anything unrelated to work. Use another account.

"Last and final offer": Full Text

The Faculty Association has it buried in their links and not on their front page. Here is the offer made by the administration and rejected by the union:

http://www.ieanea.org/local/siucfa/assets/siucfa-1yearagreement32511.pdf

Interesting that the Board couldn't agree to an index for a future contract but did feel it necessary to be politically correct by adding "transgendered" to the language of this offer!

"Section 1.02. Gender. Unless the context in which they are used clearly requires otherwise, words used in this contract denoting gender shall refer to the masculine or feminine or transgendered."

I know we have transgendered bathrooms but do they have one in Anthony Hall? How could the two sides and three genders bargain amicably if there was no bathroom for the third gender?

More seriously, check out the changes to the contract.

*No pay raise

*ARTICLE 18: Furlough Days

*ARTICLE 19: Layoff procedures ("Reduction in Force")

Key phrase:

"19.02. If the Board decides it is necessary to fully or partially lay off Faculty members in accordance with this Article, the factors which will be considered in light of the University’s program needs, in determining which, if any, employees will be retained, are: length of full-time service at the University, including approved leaves; length of full-time service in the department, including approved leaves; educational qualifications; professional training; and professional experiences. The full or partial layoff of Faculty members in the level of organization as determined by the Board to which the layoff applies shall be in the order listed below:

a. Full-time untenured tenure-track Faculty;

b. Tenured Faculty."

*Distance Learning section stripped from the Addendum B but retained in Addendum D.

OPEN FOR COMMENTS

They're Mad as Hell: Grad Students Face Job Market

As the academic job market worsens (was it ever good?), graduate students are angry, according to an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Don't expect a protest march in the streets burning PhD gowns, but the blinkered view of some tenured faculty about the job market must drive a grad student nuts.

I had a mentor who let me know I would have to walk on water, or at least not sink too much, to be considered for jobs. That was 1994 and half my applications (75 out of 150) were for community colleges. At the time, I considered that market second-class until I arrived at Southern Illinois University and found we had a Community College Teaching certificate. Together with a M.A. (or PhD) many of our grads have gone on to satisfying careers as full-time community college instructors. Did they have to pay their dues (a year or two of adjuncting), yes, but so what?

This is a growth sector of the job market and I encourage grad students in all fields to consider it. It's not just for Gen Ed instructors -- one of my former grad students is teaching history and construction courses!

It's tempting to curse the darkness but this is just one candle to light. If others have ideas for grad students in job-short fields, send them here.

For links on job advice for graduate students (with emphasis on History), see this post at my eHistory blog.

For the association representing schools with community college prep degrees in administration and teaching, click here.

Be Patriotic! Cheat! Spend!

In a recent post, Ashley Thorne discusses "Lessons of a Professional Paper-Writer" . Thorne cites a fascinating Chronicle of Higher Education column entitled "The Shadow Scholar: The man who writes your students' papers tells his story"

This is a class (inequality) issue: those with money can afford to buy entrance to careers, those without cannot advance in life unless they work hard--something not required of their affluent peers. Therefore I propose a federal program, "No Term Papers Left Behind" to close the writing gap by 2025. This means-tested program will fund ghost writing in high school and college. No child, no term paper ought to be left behind. Those who are more affluent but lack the proper skills may also be eligible if their standardized test scores fall below a certain level. Differences in intelligence and upbringing are no excuse for failing our children. We need to embrace those differences!

Statutory definition: “children” are eligible until 26 or until they complete their degree.

This vital federal program will “grow the economy” and give a hand up to the disadvantaged. With a degree in hand, they will earn (but not learn) more. With this increase in aggregate demand, they can stimulate the consumer durable sector of the economy and buy houses to soak up the inventory of unsold homes.

Privacy and confidentiality are ensured and will be protected to the utmost. The U.S. Department of Education will not tolerate revelations of plagiarism: it is nobody’s business but the student who does (or doesn't do) the work. After all, if someone does the work, then American productivity continues to rise---to the benefit of rich and poor alike. So, those dirty rats who would undermine the American dream of college credentialism will be punished.

Meanwhile, practice safe cheating until bourgeois morality (work, thrift, excellence) fades with the introduction of these new teaching methods.It is in the interest of "social justice" and American competitiveness that we have more college graduates. Only then can we boast "We 'r Numbyr Wun!"

Be patriotic! Cheat! Spend!

He's Back! Bill Ayers, Robert Kennedy's Son -- and What this Has to Do With "Higher" Education

Bill Ayers is back in the news. Robert Kennedy's son, newly on the board of the U of I Chicago, led a move denying Ayers emeritus status as a retired professor. Newsweek covered the story here (they lost a bit of the nuance in my quote but the story is an accurate summation of the controversy).

I had not thought of Ayers since I blogged about him two years ago(“Little Red School House”). In retrospect, while the issue was balance, not bias (so I argued) how does one balance someone so far to the Left? Can one even imagine a former member of the John Birch Society sans explosives being welcomed with open arms by education schools?

On turning radicals into academic entrepreneurs: The more incendiary, the better (think Angela Davis, Ward Churchill). And think of the speaking fees one can draw as a radical professor! Sure, sure, the student fees are supposed to represent the range of opinions in society at large (U.S. Supreme Court, Southworth, 2000). But who polices such Court decisions? The barbarians within the gates? Hardly.

Professor Ayers, erstwhile domestic terrorist, lived on the wild fringe of sixties radicalism. Like so many others, Ayers secured a position in academe that allowed him to bore within education by promoting "social justice" and "revolutionary education." While his ideas on education might seem "out there," they are taught in education schools as part of the canon of "progressive thought"--often in "School and Society" courses required of all future K-12 teachers.

Not that I am ungrateful. I must thank the Ayers of the world for making education school so stultifying that I left and entered graduate school to become a historian – for better and worse.

Portable Software: Better than Ever

Most of us have programs that we need but do not use very often. Why add a half dozen of these programs to your computer and thus "gunk" it up? Discover the wonderful world of "portable apps!"

A portable application is one that installs on a flash key and leaves no trace on your computer. You can run the program entirely from a flash key or on your computer's hard drive (all your portable applications run from a single folder with subfolders for each application--never touching the computer's registry!). Great for using on public computers that don't allow you to add your software or to fix a friend's computer.

The single best site for portable software (all free) is

http://portableapps.com/

This wonderful site also adds a launcher and auto-updater for all your portable applications (see above sample image. You can change how it looks and how the applications are organized.

Other sites (with launchers and updater):

http://www.pendriveapps.com/
(also comes with a launcher and auto-update)

http://www.liberkey.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_portable_software

Here are the programs that I use but you may find your own "suite" from the list of 300-400 available at the above sites. Many are cross-platform (work on Windows or Mac). All are FREE. Students take note: You can bring your flash key to computer labs (very handy since computer lab PCs do not allow you to add your own software).

7-zip: free (and more powerful) alternative to Winzip. Compress and decompress folders, file batches and test them to see if there are errors.

Audacity: the first user-friendly version of this super-popular audio editor. Past versions frustrated me to no end because they were so complex. This is easy to use and handles all file formats.

Bonkenc: audio conversion

CCleaner: cleans up temp files and registry after install/uninstall.

*Classmate Grading: fantastic grade book (commercial). I've been using it for over ten years. Tried the rest and the small lifetime fee is worth it.

DVD Styler: converts videos (AVI, MP4, FLV, WMV) to a DVD format for playing on DVD players or computers. Awesome for home videos or putting together a presentation. I use it to compile a playlist of music videos for my big flat screen TV.

Firefox 4: OK, I have Firefox on all of my computers but what to do when I'm on the road without a computer? Put Firefox, with all my bookmarks and extensions, on a flash key. I can use on any public access computer and leave no traces behind.

Filehippo Update Checker: Filehippos is an excellent place to download software. It also offers older versions if you don't like the latest version. The free Update Checker scans your computer and identifies all updates of your programs! What a time-saver compared to checking each program manually. You can even set it to run at startup, check all your programs for new versions and then shut down. Wunderbar!

GoogleChrome: fast alternative to Firefox with a huge (free) store of extensions.

Imgburn: CD/DVD/Blu-ray burner. If you are copying DVD video folders: Select “Build” – output as “Device” (not image) – and click the icon to burn. Imgburn will also create mp3 disks and ISO images (a single-file clone of an entire software installation disk). Use the default settings (the advanced features are mind numbing in their complexity).

JavaRa: "removes old and redundant versions of the Java Runtime Environment (JRE). Simply select 'Check for Updates' or 'Remove Older Version' to begin."

MozBackup: backups up all the settings of your Firefox to install them with one or two clicks on another computer's Firefox. No more adding extensions, bookmarks, etc. manually.

OpenOffice 3.3: an excellent alternative to Microsoft Office. The Microsoft suite is still the best but by a thin margin.

PDF-XCHANGE VIEWER: top-rated PDF reader with added features (highlight, typewriting)

PDFTK Builder: all the power of Acrobat in a very small program that splits, combines, merges, edits PDF files.

Renamer: how many times have you imported a batch of files with gobbledygook file names (as with digital camera numbering)? This free program will change file names according to rules that you add from a handy list. For example, I imported pictures of my family in Maine from Summer 2008. I added two rules:

1. Replace camera numbers with “Maine vacation” (followed by number sequence);

2. Add the original file date (the date I took the picture) to the filename suffice. Thus, “Maine Vacation 08-01-2008 (1).” Often, when you copy or import pictures or other files, the date changes to today’s date, not the original date. This corrects that problem and many more.

Revo Uninstaller: better than the built-in Windows uninstaller because it scours the registry and removes all keys. Revo also uninstalls stubborn programs that don't want to be removed!

Startup: great for adding or deleting programs to your startup, delaying startup of a program, etc.

VLC: plays any video or DVD file. Can also record entire movies or clips of movies by hitting a red "Record" button.

WinPatrol: prevents web sites and programs from installing unwanted start-up items (including malware). Paid version provides great information on what those stray programs are on your computer ($30 lifetime fee covers all your computers). This frees up a lot of memory and makes your PC faster. Why do computers "slow down" with age? Because the programs you install inject themselves in start-up and ALWAYS RUN even when you don't need them. This is the number one problem I encounter when “fixing” a newbie’s computer. Because I own Winpatrol Plus, I simply carry (or use) the portable version to help my friends or check my own computers. WinPatrol identifies unneeded software, and you can then disable those that don't need to be running.

Xmedia Recode: a comprehensive audio/video converter. Xmedia handles all formats and has a long list of presets to format to a iPhone, Xbox or other gadget. Fast and useful. Also does batch jobs.

One final note:

Once you find portable programs you like throw the inventor a few bucks. He/she deserves it.

See also:

http://www.davinciplanet.com/reasons-to-use-portable-applications/

http://www.mariosalexandrou.com/blog/?p=232