People ought to have enough sense to keep track of their own due dates

Excuse me for not being the least bit sympathetic to people who are now getting hit with late fees and other financial penalties because they miss deadlines in place for the various functions of the Illinois Secretary of State’s office.

 

WHITE: Not a bandit taking our $$$

These fees are occurring in part because of people who don’t file their applications for renewal of various functions on time because the secretary of state is not sending out as many warning notices via the mail to indicate that application deadlines are approaching.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS reported how the amount of money being collected by the state in such fees is significant – nearly double.

Which has some people whining and crying about this being a scam on the part of the state – a way of collecting even more money from the taxpaying public than it is entitled to.

Which is a line of logic that I find to be a tad nonsensical!

I honestly believe that people ought to be capable of keeping track of things such as when their license plate registration expires or when the driver’s licenses need to be renewed.

UNLESS THEY HAVE the interaction quotient of a six year old who perpetually needs to have “mommy” nag them in order to get them to do anything on time, people ought to have some sense of when something is on the verge of expiring.

They ought to know when they need to renew. They ought to be able to have a clue, then figure out how to get to the secretary of state’s office on their own to do their business with the state.

The people who are crying and whining these days about the penalties they are paying are most likely just cheap people looking for excuses to get out of paying what they owe.

I can’t express the least bit of sympathy for them, and honestly believe that anybody who can’t comprehend this as fact is somehow clueless in their own right.

IT MAKES ME wish that stupidity could be a public offense for which people could be fined, or at least subjected to some form of public humiliation.

Seriously, how hard is it to remember that one’s license plates need to be renewed each year. One has to go to a secretary of state’s facility and buy that little sticker that goes in the corner of one’s license plate.

The interesting part comes when one has had a particular plate for years and has accumulated layer upon layer of registration stickers.

There’s also the renewal of a driver’s license itself – which occurs every four years on one’s birthday. That ought to be the ultimate in remembrance.

EXCEPT THAT SOME people are determined to be mentally lazy. You’d think they’d be too embarrassed to complain about the fines they pay because it makes them appear even more clueless/vacuous/lazy/inept or whatever other label one can think of than they truly are.

Which makes me think Illinois WOULD be better off without the roughly $5.2 million in revenues it collected more this year compared to than it did last year from people who couldn’t remember exactly when their license plates expired – AND also didn’t have enough sense to just look at their plate to see exactly when the sticker is set to expire.

It is printed right on the sticker, and my own sense is that people ought to pay attention to their own vehicle because the police certainly will do so.

And if they have to remind you by pulling you over for a traffic violation, you truly are worthy of any fines or harassment you get for such a petty offense.

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Getting fined for posts on Facebook? Could be the wave of the future

A woman living in suburban Bolingbrook could be the first of many who will face fines because they couldn’t control what they decided to post about themselves on Facebook.

Actually, in this instance, the woman won’t face a fine because officials with the Will County Forest Preserve District decided to rescind the ticket they initially issued her – one that called for a $50 fine.

BUT THE FACT that someone reading a Facebook page who was in a position of authority decided that something posted there could be worthy of some form of discipline could be something we see more of.

And it’s likely that in the future, some official won’t back down from insisting on collecting a fine. Some municipality is bound to think they need the money badly enough to want to have someone scour through Facebook in search of something that could hint at a violation.

One that needs to be punished!

“Big Brother” really is watching you! Even all the stupid, trivial things you elect to post on your Facebook account page.

PERSONALLY, I ONLY use Facebook to promote this weblog and its sister site. Anybody reading my page is only going to get tidbits about what is published here. Along with the occasional comment my aunts in the greater Minneapolis, Minn., area decide to post.

Although I suppose someone offended by my opinion could try to harass me in the same way. Not that I’m overly concerned about what some anonymous crank thinks of what I choose to write.

But the larger lesson is that Facebook does put our comments out there to a wide audience – many of whom are people we don’t know. That’s kind of the whole point of the concept – which is why I don’t post much personal material beyond what I write here.

It’s kind of like asking the local police to prod in your life, which is what happened to the Bolingbrook woman.

THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE reported Thursday now the woman got a $50 ticket on May 20 because of a comment she posted on a page related to the Whalon Lake Dog Park in Bolingbrook.

There have been problems at the dog park related to “kennel cough” being passed around area dogs. The woman, according to the Tribune, posted a comment saying she hadn’t bought a permit to use the dog park this year, but wrote it in a vague way that could be interpreted to say she had used the park.

One forest preserve district read the comment, passed it along to a superior, and then the ticket was issued.

It seems the woman hasn’t been at the dog park this year, so the ticket for using the dog park without a permit turned out to be premature.

THE DISTRICT’S POLICE department said it is reviewing its policies, while saying it does not plan to routinely monitor social media accounts. They also say there are no plans to discipline the officer who issued the citation, or any others involved, because they tell the Tribune there were “good intentions” involved.

But what happens when we get a governmental entity that isn’t quite so understanding about the concept of social media and a person’s desire to express themselves?

Will we someday get overzealous officials who view social media comments the same way they now view traffic violations – as something to be routed out in great numbers so that citations can be issued and fines can be collected.

People should keep this in mind, and perhaps learn to be overly precise in what they write. Because even though they think they’re writing for a select audience of like-minded people, other people are reading. And reacting.

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Cut your grass, you slob!!!

As a reporter-type person, I have sat through many municipal-type hearings where our local government officials go into great detail about how well their residents keep up with maintaining their lawns.

What does this ...

Believe it or not, it is a municipal violation that can result in significant fines if you let your grass grow to ridiculous heights.

THERE ARE LEGITIMATE reasons for not letting your lawn return to anything resembling its natural state (ie., prairie grass). Mosquitoes and the West Nile virus can breed in grass that gets too tall.

Although the issue usually gets bogged down amongst concerns from some people who have way too much free time on their hands. They’re the ones who want everybody else around them to match up to their own prissy standards of what is proper.

Which is why a legitimate concern over grass height often gets camouflaged in hysteria – people think there’s some sort of freedom of express in letting their grass become unkempt.

I bring all this up because of the latest quirky story to gain national attention – that of a man who lives in suburban Park Ridge who let his grass grow as high as 20 inches.

HE JUSTIFIED IT by saying that he’s a Chicago Blackhawks fan, and he was going to let his grass grow until the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup (which could be sometime next week, if they play well against the Boston Bruins).

Naturally, there are those who see such talk as being silly. They called the village, which sent out an inspector who issued him a warning. The Chicago Tribune reported that the man (whom I don’t feel the need to give any more publicity than necessary) initially thought the warning was just a water bill.

The end result is that the village had a landscaping company they use for such work come in and mow his lawn – which is creating a mixture of reactions.

... have to do with this?

Tyranny at work. Evil, corrupt government telling a man what to do with his own property, then personally taking control of the situation when he refuses to comply with their petty demands!!!!

THAT’S A LITTLE over the top, but it is the way some people perceive this issue. Although there also are those who think they’re being cute. I read one nonsensical piece of commentary that claims all people should stop mowing their own lawns, since the local governments are now so willing to do it for you after awhile.

Personally, I wouldn’t buy into that logic – mainly because some governments hire private landscaping companies to perform such grass-cutting services. While some send out a crew of workers with the Public Works Department to do the job.

Either way, you’re talking about having to pay a professional rate to compensate those employees for the time they spent cutting your sloppy, ill-kempt grass. It’s not like conning a neighborhood kid with a $10 bill to do the lawn for you.

And for repeat offenders, there always are the possibility of tickets issued by the police – in addition to the cost of the grass-cutting itself.

THEN, THOSE PEOPLE could complain about government run amok – charging you all these dollars to support government programs and services that they will claim they never use.

Although the next time you flush your toilet, keep in mind that it is a government entity that is maintaining the system that ensures your waste does not get mixed with the drinking water supply. And also pays for those police who keep watch over your neighborhood.

Which is to say that I can’t help but think it a bit silly for someone to think they’re making any kind of statement about hockey by letting their summertime grass grow to ridiculous heights.

If he really wanted to make a statement, he’d somehow turn his lawn into an ice rink. He could skate around with joy (and perhaps land flat on his bottom) when, and if, the Blackhawks actually manage to win.

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Patti will still get, but won’t be rich off of, husband Rod’s federal pension

I must admit to not realizing it at first, but I am kind of surprised that former Gov. Rod Blagojevich did not get hit with all kinds of fines and other financial penalties as part of his punishment for his acts of government corruption.



BLAGOJEVICH: At least he was an honest Congressman



Perhaps it was a realization that the family Blagojevich is financially busted as a result of Milorod’s legal ordeal. Or perhaps U.S. District Judge James Zagel was more focused on imposing a lengthy prison term.

BUT IT USUALLY turns out in these kinds of criminal cases that the convicted person winds up getting hit with significant fines that everyone realizes will never be paid in full.

But their intent is to keep the defendant in debt even after a prison term is served. It keeps them in an untenable financial position so that they’re never able to rebuild and perhaps engage in their old habits once again.

In the case of Blagojevich, his fines and penalties come to just over $22,000 – a fact that got ignored in most of the news coverage of his sentencing last week.

Which strikes me as kind of odd, particularly with the activity that has occurred since then with regards to the Blagojevich pensions.

FOR THE ILLINOIS attorney general’s office (led by the same Lisa Madigan that Blagojevich once allegedly considered for the U.S. Senate seat that caused all this legal trouble to begin with) issued its legal opinion that ensured he’s not about to get a pension for his state government service.

His four years as a state legislator from the Northwest Side and his six years as Illinois governor would have been worth just under $65,000 per year upon his 55^th birthday – which, by coincidence, was on Saturday.

He will be refunded the nearly $130,000 that was withheld from his government salaries throughout the years as contribution toward his pension, although my guess is that the government will find a way of seizing at least part of that figure to ensure that his fines get paid.

But had the fines been larger, it could have been possible for the government to seize the rest of his pension.

FOR HE WAS a member of Congress for six years, which means that he is also entitled to a pension from the federal government upon his 62^nd birthday. Because to the best of anyone’s knowledge, he never did anything that could be considered criminal while serving in the House of Representatives.

Although I can already hear the wiseacres in my mind arguing he didn’t do much of anything, period, during his time serving in Congress.

Admittedly, that one is only going to be about $15,000 per year. But it won’t surprise me if government officials start trying to figure out ways to justify refusing to pay it out to Blagojevich or spouse Patti. Or they may try to find a way to confiscate it before ever giving it to her.

Because, otherwise, Patti Blagojevich will be entitled to that money beginning in another seven years.

SHE CERTAINLY ISN’T going to get rich off of it. But when one is trying to figure out personal finances (and is likely to have to fall back on her father for financial support for the next few years), every potential penny counts.

If anything, this might be the real punishment – the fact that Blagojevich and family goes onto a fixed income not much more than many senior citizens try to struggle on.

Having to wait by the mailbox so that one can snatch up the check and cash it as quickly as possible (while also enduring the fact that likely future Postal Service cuts will cause that check to take longer and longer to arrive).

For we all remember the reports that came out during the trial about the Blagojevich free-spending ways – particularly when it came to clothes and how even on his gubernatorial salary in the low-six figures, the family was in debt from 2002 to 2008.

NO MORE OXXFORD suits or shopping sprees at Saks Fifth Avenue, even when their income really couldn’t justify it to begin with.

It makes me wonder if we ought to compare the Blagojevich saga in one aspect to the cinematic one portrayed by actor Ray Liotta as Henry Hill in Goodfellas.

That 1990 film ended with Liotta’s character in a federal Witness Protection Program, uttering a line that could easily apply to the real-life former governor in the disappointment he and Patti will feel even after his prison sentence is complete.

“I’m an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook.”

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