SULLIVAN'S SALVOS
June 29, 2017
Sullivan’s
Salvos 7/4/17
In this edition:
*Happy Independence Day!
*Downtown Block Party
*Bad Board Policy
*Wallace on Inequality
*Trumpcare
*Mosquito Surveillance Program
*Did You Know?
*Happy Independence Day!
Happy
Birthday to the USA! 241 years old! I hope you and yours enjoy a great
Independence Day!
Looking
for ways to celebrate? The Jazz Festival is in downtown Iowa City, and the 4th
has parades in Coralville, Sharon Center, Oxford, and Hills.
*Downtown Block Party
Iowa
City held its’ first-ever Downtown Block Party on June 24th, and I
have to say, it was a rousing success! This has previously always been viewed
as something that could not be done in Iowa City. And the majority of the crowd
knew it! Just as the event ended at 11 PM, a glass bottle broke on the street
near us. As a friend of mine jokingly put it, “This is why we can’t have nice
things.” In fact, I think Iowa City proved it CAN have nice things!
Congratulations
to Nancy Bird and everyone who put the event together. It was wonderful, and I
hope it continues!
*Bad Board Policy
I recently learned of the Iowa City Community
School District (ICCSD) Board policy that says members "shall not publicly
make or express individual negative judgments about superintendent or staff
performance."
I understand quite
well the perils faced by public employees. Their bosses go on TV every week or
two, and just might throw them under the bus. Unfortunately, I have seen it
happen at Johnson County, and it is very uncool. I have always believed that if
Elected Officials feel employees deserve a tongue lashing, it should be done
privately.
This is particularly
true of rank and file employees. Frankly, they aren’t paid enough for that
crap! The more responsibility (and pay) an employee has, the more likely she/he
is to be questioned in public. And that is how it should be.
And remember, this
IS public business! There may be instances where Elected Officials NEED to
question an employee in the public interest. No policy should prevent that.
I think the piece
that really shocked me was the tone the Superintendent used toward the Board
when he wrote, "This behavior cannot be allowed to continue without some
type of warning that it must not occur again and that if it does so appropriate
consequences will be imposed."
That took guts! It
also demonstrates that staff people can get confused, and begin to think that
the Board works for them rather than the other way around. This attitude
strikes me as extremely problematic. It should be addressed immediately – and
privately!
I was honestly amazed
to see that such a policy exists. I do not understand why anyone would ever
agree to such a policy. What’s more, it is a clear violation of the First
Amendment.
ICCSD
Board Members – you have a very bad and unnecessary policy here. Please do away
with it!
*Wallace on Inequality
I
have long been a fan of Henry Agard Wallace, the Iowan who served as FDR’s Vice
President and Secretary of Agriculture. Wallace was a great thinker – a man of
ideas. So I was not surprised to find that some of the earliest thoughts on
income inequality in the US are attributed to Wallace.
In 1936, Wallace wrote, “Liberty is impossible if 36,000 families
at the top of the economic pyramid have as much income as 12 million families
at the bottom.”
I
agree. And I regret to inform you that the numbers have grown much worse. With
a combined worth of $2.34 trillion, the Forbes 400 own more wealth than the
bottom 61 percent of the country combined, a staggering 194 million people.
36,000 to 12,000,000 is a 1:333 ratio. That worried Wallace. 400
to 194,000,000 is a ratio of 1:485,000. It is getting worse, folks. Much worse.
*Trumpcare
What do I think is
going to happen in the great healthcare debate? I think Mitch McConnell is going
to get his 50 votes, and the GOP will pass the bill. The top 1% gets a trillion
dollar tax cut, and 22 million Americans lose health coverage.
Why am I so certain?
When was the last time the GOP in Congress did anything to help anyone BUT the
1%? They don’t give a damn. They just need to make it look like they give a
damn.
I’m betting it
passes. Iowa’s Senators are DEFINITE yes votes. I sincerely hope I’m wrong, but
I am not optimistic!
*Mosquito Surveillance Program
This
summer Johnson County Public Health will collecting mosquitoes to conduct surveillance
for mosquito-borne diseases across Johnson County. In cooperation with the Iowa
Department of Public Health, Iowa State University and the State Hygienic
Laboratory, Johnson County Public Health will utilize traps to collect mosquitoes
for further analysis.
The
traps are located across Johnson County in areas of likely mosquito habitat.
Each week the mosquitoes will be collected by Johnson County Environmental
Health staff and sent to Iowa State University for species identification.
After identification occurs, samples will be sent to the State Hygienic
Laboratory to test for the presence of Zika Virus and West Nile Virus.
The
Zika Virus is an emerging public health threat, and increased surveillance is
key to prevention and management. Zika can cause birth defects if contracted by
pregnant women. It is generally found in tropical climates; however, it was
first seen in the United States in 2015 by infected travelers returning home.
It is unlikely to see the species of mosquito that carried the Zika virus in
Johnson County, however, this type of surveillance helps public health
officials know exactly when that could change.
While
it is not expected that Zika will be identified in Iowa this year, active
surveillance and testing will help determine if the mosquito species that
carries the virus does reach Johnson County. The monitoring program serves as
an early warning system and provides data for state and nationwide surveillance
efforts.
*DID YOU KNOW?
New research
from economists Annette Alstadsaeter, Niels Johannesen, and Gabriel Zucman —
just published as Tax Evasion and Inequality — neatly debunks the canard that
the super rich cheat on their taxes no more frequently than the population as a
whole. Households in the highest net-worth bracket, the three economists show,
are evading taxes at a rate roughly 10 times higher than households overall.
Anyone
interested in learning more about County government should take a look at the
County website-
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serving you!
---Rod
posted by Rod Sullivan @ 8:41 PM
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