Things I am glad I learned in school

1/ Don't run the water while you brush your teeth. Cause that uses up a lot of water, unnecessarily. I think this came from my kindergarten teacher, and I thank her for that. Of course, I wash dishes by hand and run the water, but hey ...

2/ There is no reason to crumple up paper before you toss it. Of course, back then in what must have been like third or fourth grade, there was no recycle bin, but I do appreciate now that the teacher insisted we throw out paper just by laying it in the bin, not crumpling it up first. Now, it drives me nuts when I see someone crumple paper. The only time this is acceptable is if you are going to play some hoops with said crumpled paper.

3/ Push in your chair when you are done. It drives me nuts when I am at a restaurant, the library, whatever, and people leave their chairs half way in the aisle/walking space. It is just etiquette people.

4/ Don't slouch. I think that was Mrs. Allen in the ... fourth grade? But, she also had a weird rule about no talking when we had bathroom breaks. That one still makes no sense to me.

5/ You are in traffic and in the center/left turn lane. Which way do you point your tires? Trick question, of course, because you leave your tires pointed straight ahead so that if you are rear-ended, you go straight and not into oncoming cars. I wish every day, when I see people who have their car turned half-way into oncoming traffic, that everyone had my driver's ed teacher ... or, apparently, a driver's ed teacher at all.

That is all.

I think we are just fed up

While having lunch with Ruth today, we were talking about the state of Illinois and the financial problems schools and social service agencies are having because the state is not paying its bills.

This state's finances are a mess. Admittedly, a lot of other states are having the same problem because of the economic downturn. Less funds are coming in via taxes and fees and when less is coming in, some bills just don't get paid.

But the people being hurt by the state not paying its bills are the people who need the most: children and working (or working poor) families.

There is a feeling among many people that I've talked to, and from bits and pieces I have heard in the media, that the only thing left to do is increase income tax. You've heard the political ads already, that "so-and-so wants to increase the income tax by 50 percent."

The thing is, an income tax increase has been bandied about for years, but when the economy wasn't in the tank, no one took it seriously. Two or three "Blue Ribbon Task Force" committees have suggested a 1 percent increase in Illinois income tax to pay for schools.

I am not going to go into the "isn't the lottery supposed to be paying for schools" debate, because if you still believe that, you are just ignorant.

There are also those who've suggested that the state is playing games by not paying its bills, so that the electorate will be more accepting when/if an income tax increase happens.

But, here is the thing. Until the lawmakers understand that we've had enough, the electorate is never going to accept that increase. Until insiders are no longer paid salaries to serve on boards that meet once or twice a year, until we don't hear about "pay for play" and about the Toddler putting one of his relatives on the Cook County payroll, until the last unqualified person is fired from their high-paying state job, the state isn't going to get one more penny out of us.

I heard a politician say last year (and no, I don't remember who it was) that they could get rid of all of those issues and still not have enough to pay the bills. Yeah, and? It might not be enough to solve the problem, but at least then we'd have enough faith in our lawmakers to give them more, knowing that it wouldn't be wasted on padding their pockets.

H&M controversy

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/07/nyregion/07clothes.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/nyregion/06about.html?scp=2&sq=jim%20dwyer&st=cse

So a grad student walking through New York sees people (poor, homeless, or both) sorting through bags of discarded clothing from an H&M store, one that happens to be around the corner from a charity doing a clothing drive. She contacts H&M's Swedish HQ and gets nothing from them, so she contacts the New York Times, instead. Journalism doing what it is supposed to be doing.

Same thing seems to be happening with Walmart, at least in New York. If they can't sell it, it gets mutilated before it gets tossed.

I agree that it sucks, and that clothes that can be used shouldn't just go into a landfill. It is neither green, nor showing corporate responsibility.

But, I get it, too. Stores have been doing this kind of thing for ages. Remember the big box store in my hometown (small midwest chain), that punched holes in everything before it went into the dumpster. However, I think it is a new awareness of people in need that gets our ire up about this.

As the NYT story says, the biggest issue is people getting the clothes from a charity, then trying to return it for cash. Anyone who has worked in retail knows how some people can get when trying to return something. Sometimes, they give them the money just to get them out of the store. (Ask my sister who worked Dec. 26 at the local Walmart. People are crazy.)

My guess (and just a guess) is that these stores are afraid of donating locally because of that, and balk at the cost of shipping to send it to an organization that would give it to people in developing countries (read: somewhere where they will not have a local store to try and return it to).

H&M promised it would not happen again. Walmarts response was a little less robust, but did say in the original story that they were surprised the clothing was in the dumpster, and that it does recycle or donate unsold clothing. All it takes is one unethical hauler for there to be a problem.

I was also anti-Walmart for a long time, until a Walmart opened in my hometown. My sister is working there nights and weekends while running a home-based licensed day care, so that her family can have health insurance. (In North Dakota, BC/BS has like 90-plus percent of the health insurance market).

They work with her schedule and show their appreciation. It is also bringing people who used to drive to Fargo and Fergus Falls, Minn., Walmarts to shop back in town, and people from the small towns around them there, instead of to Fargo.

I read somewhere (may have been on Facebook), from a friend who said that since they would drive to Fergus, anyway, they would go out for dinner, or buy tires, or go to the mall there. Now, he is more likely to do those other shopping trips in town.

Again, I am all for corporate responsibility and doing the "green" thing. But I don't think Walmart or H&M deserves to be the whipping boy for this topic, either.