Saturday Ramblings

As you can see, I haven’t been posting much. I just haven’t felt much like posting. Unusual for me, as I usually have an opinion I’m more than willing to express. I still have opinions; I just haven’t felt like posting. Haven’t really felt like doing much of anything, except going to work, coming home, sleeping, eating, and more of the same. I think I know what’s wrong. If I’m right, I should be feeling a little better here soon. We’ll see.

Work has been interesting. We’ve had some personnel difficulties lately. One sergeant has shown to be less than leadership material and his squad has about gone to hell in a hand basket. Too bad, there are some good people suffering for it. They are burned out and instead of helping, he’s caused more problems. A couple of weeks ago, he told everyone I was mad at him because he gave me my quarterly evaluation. It wasn’t the best I’ve ever had, but far from the worst. I wasn’t mad by any means, and not at him in any case.

Frankly, I don’t believe in evaluations, at least the way they are used at our agency. Good evaluation or bad, everyone is treated the same way. If evaluations were used properly, they would be a good training tool and a measure of promotability. As a training tool, evaluations would show deficiencies and supervisors could concentrate on training to bring the employee’s work to where it should be. For promotability, evaluations should show how one person measures against other employees vying for the same position.

This sergeant has managed to irritate and annoy everyone in the section, and I do mean everyone. He's been chewed out by both the lieutenant and captain so often that it's amazing he has anything left to sit on. I heard through the grapevine that his last evaluation was so bad it should have knocked him out of possiblity for promotion or transfer for years. His staff has little to no respect for him, the mental health counselors want to physically hurt him, and the nurses have mentioned large catheters (ouch!). The other sergeant and the SCO have both talked about transfers. I’m probably the only person in the building who doesn’t actively hate him. I wouldn’t throw him under a bus, but I’m not sure I’d warn him it was heading toward him either.

Relief is coming however. This sergeant put in for a transfer and actually scored highest of the four sergeants testing. I'm of the opinion that his scores were helped out to make sure he was transferred. I think he will do good in his new assignment unless he makes the same mistakes the last sergeant made and doesn't keep his eye on his staff and the inmates. His transfer is effective at the end of the month, the exact date hasn’t been announced.

The farewell party will be the day after.

Howard Dean might want to claim he forgot to take his medications and that’s why he’s been so off the chain. It must be miserable to have so much hatred inside you. He hates Republicans. He hates all that Republicans stand for. He says that the GOP is full of white Christians. (Is there something wrong with being either white or Christian?) I’m sure Lt. Governor Michael Steele of Maryland was surprised to hear that.

I was also dismayed to hear that many Republicans have never worked a day in their lives. I can’t speak for anyone but me (and I’m registered as Independent). But I do know that my parents, who were both registered Republicans, worked very hard all of their lives. My family is not among the privileged who did not have to work. My mother was a Kennedy, but unfortunately, her family went to Pennsylvania instead of Massachusetts.

And before anyone accuses me of being racist because I asked if there was something wrong with being either white or Christian, you’ll have to trust me when I say I’m not. I just wonder if Mr. Dean thinks there is.

Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina apparently is either proposing or endorsing a bill that would change the current tax structure to a hybrid structure. If I understand it correctly, there would be a flat tax of 9% on income and another tax (I haven’t heard the percentage) on business.

Apparently Senator DeMint doesn’t understand that businesses don’t pay taxes. Oh, a tax may be imposed on businesses, but it is passed on to the customer in the form of a business expense. You didn’t know that? You didn’t really think that businesses pay taxes, did you? Tax, employee wages and benefits, building, land, and equipment acquisition, utility expenses, all this and more are passed on to the customer. I think Senator DeMint will understand his error when he gets a ton of email and phone calls from business owners explaining where he made his mistake.

Senator Dick Durbin has created quite a stir hasn’t he? Let’s see if I understand correctly. His remarks were based on an FBI report. And we all know that we can rely on what reports from unnamed sources tell you. I watched a repeat of his remarks and I noticed that he was playing to the camera. When is he up for re-election? In my opinion, his remarks were made to create a firestorm of controversy. I think he got what he wanted. I hope he doesn’t regret it. I won’t join those who are calling for him to apologize, but if he’s smart he will and claim a head injury then fly low under the radar for a long time. As a matter of fact, the head injury should cause his sudden retirement from the Senate. Or, he could claim the head injury caused amnesia and he doesn’t remember making such remarks and is deeply apologetic for what he said. Maybe instead of a head injury, his medications got mixed up.

While I’m thinking about Gitmo, I have to talk about abuse allegations. In my own opinion, the Koran, like the Bible (and this will profoundly upset people, I’m sure), is merely a book made up of paper and ink, a binding of cardboard or leather and some adhesive to hold the papers to the binding. The sacredness (if that’s a word) is in the words and the message of the book. Would I do anything to destroy or damage a Bible or Koran? Absolutely not, but my reasons are more based on superstition than religious reasons (God will get you for that!). It’s the message of what’s contained in the book that is sacred, not the book itself. All that being said, do I approve of the Koran being damaged? First of all, I don’t think it’s been proven that any Koran has been intentionally damaged, but if it’s happened, it shouldn’t have. We have to remember that we’re Americans and one of the things that sets us apart from other countries and cultures is our respect for their religious beliefs.

I also do not believe that detainees at Gitmo have been abused, at least not in the way that Senator Durbin alleges. Abuse would include refusing to allow them food and water (religious meals are provided three times a day), the ability to pray toward Mecca (5 times a day with directions showing where East is located), refusal to treat medical issues, beatings, torture, and so on. Some have better living conditions than they have ever had. They get medical attention, again, probably better than they have ever had in their lives. I have to admit that having to listen to Christina Aguilera CD’s borders on torture, but that’s just my opinion.