http://wauktalk.com/forum/ Tue, 14 Apr 2026 22:11:07 +0000 MyBB http://wauktalk.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=1388 Mon, 29 Sep 2014 13:34:34 -0700 Locke]]> http://wauktalk.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=1388
As much as I disagree with a lot of decisions coming from Lincoln Center and the school board, I'm siding with them this time around.

Teachers - sorry, but your demand for a 9% pay raise followed by two 7% pay raises is outrageous. Combined with your demands to have less responsibilities (2 report cards instead of 4?!?), your final offer is an insult to me and every other tax payer in Waukegan! You do NOT have my support!

Is anyone still around here? Am I the only one who feels this way?]]>
As much as I disagree with a lot of decisions coming from Lincoln Center and the school board, I'm siding with them this time around.

Teachers - sorry, but your demand for a 9% pay raise followed by two 7% pay raises is outrageous. Combined with your demands to have less responsibilities (2 report cards instead of 4?!?), your final offer is an insult to me and every other tax payer in Waukegan! You do NOT have my support!

Is anyone still around here? Am I the only one who feels this way?]]> http://wauktalk.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=1380 Wed, 16 Jul 2014 13:37:03 -0700 LittleFortProponent]]> http://wauktalk.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=1380 Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:11:07 -0700 uptonbark]]> Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:11:07 -0700 pauljs75]]>
People think Waukegan is bad, so they do business elsewhere. Thus revenue and jobs go elsewhere, which causes lack of opportunity for good paying legal employment. This also hurts the city with a decline in the collectable tax base. Which causes reduction in city services and the more well-to-do start heading out of town. Since remaining jobs are scarce or don't make ends meet, people turn to much less legal activity to fill the gaps. And that allows for proliferation of more violent criminal activities since nobody is going to take disputes over illegal activities to court. If policing is inadequate, then you also have the grounds for crimes that are rooted in vigilantism. And so on.

But some of the irony in this is that if you get robbed in Lake County, it's much more likely to occur in the parking lots at SixFlags or Gurnee Mills. Think about it this way: If you're going to do crime, why prey on somebody who is likely to live a block away and recognize you? So you can have the cops waiting at your front door? So the criminals here go to where the pickings are better and where people come as tourists. Also common sense would tell you that you don't rob somebody who's only slightly better off than you are, they're more likely to give you a serious whupping or shoot you than somebody who can write-off a theft.

Also most of the gang violence is gang-on-gang. If you can stay outside of the areas where they operate regularly, it's not that bad. If there is any leadership to such organizations they also know that having incidents with non-gang people during non-crime activities is the easiest way to get undesirable attention from the police. But then again, many activities are carried out by the younger and less streetwise members that are likely to do something brash and stupid like drive-bys.

So if that's true, why are gangs a problem in the high school? Basically you're holing up a sample of the entire city population, but not allowing for it to sort itself out like it does in the city proper. The elements that would normally separate and self organize into their own territories aren't allowed to. In that regard, it's much like a jail or prison. To be honest, most policies at the school such as closed campus really aren't that much better than those of a prison and lead to the same tensions and way of thinking that inmates have. (1994 grad, so I should know a little something. But I heard it only got worse.)

Of course you could have a separate school for the more violent and disruptive students, allowing for much more open and less restrictive schools for everybody else. Such matter should be kept separate from things like academic performance. (Thus you could still have failing grades and remain at the normal campus if your problems are non-violent, and non-predatory. Even if doing stuff like skipping out shouldn't affect that if you're not doing anything other than truancy by being off-campus.) Then those focused on their education wouldn't have to put up with all the B.S. Alternately anybody should have the option to drop out early (also make it easier to take a GED and/or get early employment), but those with a history of causing problems wouldn't be allowed on campus. But too much political correctness and related idiocy doesn't allow for it.

Of course it's also the 9th largest city in the state with 90,000+ residents. It's the largest city in Lake County. It's going to have its problems. Particularly when compared to much smaller and less diverse communities where people have less social and economic friction. Comparing Waukegan to most other cities in Lake County is comparing apples to oranges. It would be more fair and honest to compare it to Chicago or Milwaukee.

Now on the topic of the "Little Mexico" title? Well regarding that, you can thank former President Reagan and successors who decided to carry on with similar policy relating to immigration and border enforcement. (Both major U.S. political parties btw. When it comes to action and not words, neither has been better than the other in that regard.) Many businesses and corporations are also complicit, since this gives them leverage over everybody in the labor pool. Don't be mad at the Mexicans because they're here, you should be mad at the politicians and corporate fatcats making sure to keep the labor market disrupted and milking it for all it's worth. The most you can be mad at some Mexican for is failing to learn English because of laziness, but then again look how easy it has been made for him to remain lazy in that regard. Was it the Mexican that did that? If you're being honest with yourself, the answer doesn't point to any of the Mexicans. Most other countries (and our own country in the past) just don't start adding extra languages to everything because of immigration waves. That should be the biggest clue right there. (Of course you can choose to keep complaining. But as a non-Hispanic/Latino, learning Spanish is still useful. Not to cater to it, but rather so you can call the "no hables Ingles" bluff. I find it rather amusing. You'd be surprised how many suddenly start switching to "Spanglish" or get quickly proficient in English. Of course you can also choose to learn a lot by letting them continue with that game.)]]>
People think Waukegan is bad, so they do business elsewhere. Thus revenue and jobs go elsewhere, which causes lack of opportunity for good paying legal employment. This also hurts the city with a decline in the collectable tax base. Which causes reduction in city services and the more well-to-do start heading out of town. Since remaining jobs are scarce or don't make ends meet, people turn to much less legal activity to fill the gaps. And that allows for proliferation of more violent criminal activities since nobody is going to take disputes over illegal activities to court. If policing is inadequate, then you also have the grounds for crimes that are rooted in vigilantism. And so on.

But some of the irony in this is that if you get robbed in Lake County, it's much more likely to occur in the parking lots at SixFlags or Gurnee Mills. Think about it this way: If you're going to do crime, why prey on somebody who is likely to live a block away and recognize you? So you can have the cops waiting at your front door? So the criminals here go to where the pickings are better and where people come as tourists. Also common sense would tell you that you don't rob somebody who's only slightly better off than you are, they're more likely to give you a serious whupping or shoot you than somebody who can write-off a theft.

Also most of the gang violence is gang-on-gang. If you can stay outside of the areas where they operate regularly, it's not that bad. If there is any leadership to such organizations they also know that having incidents with non-gang people during non-crime activities is the easiest way to get undesirable attention from the police. But then again, many activities are carried out by the younger and less streetwise members that are likely to do something brash and stupid like drive-bys.

So if that's true, why are gangs a problem in the high school? Basically you're holing up a sample of the entire city population, but not allowing for it to sort itself out like it does in the city proper. The elements that would normally separate and self organize into their own territories aren't allowed to. In that regard, it's much like a jail or prison. To be honest, most policies at the school such as closed campus really aren't that much better than those of a prison and lead to the same tensions and way of thinking that inmates have. (1994 grad, so I should know a little something. But I heard it only got worse.)

Of course you could have a separate school for the more violent and disruptive students, allowing for much more open and less restrictive schools for everybody else. Such matter should be kept separate from things like academic performance. (Thus you could still have failing grades and remain at the normal campus if your problems are non-violent, and non-predatory. Even if doing stuff like skipping out shouldn't affect that if you're not doing anything other than truancy by being off-campus.) Then those focused on their education wouldn't have to put up with all the B.S. Alternately anybody should have the option to drop out early (also make it easier to take a GED and/or get early employment), but those with a history of causing problems wouldn't be allowed on campus. But too much political correctness and related idiocy doesn't allow for it.

Of course it's also the 9th largest city in the state with 90,000+ residents. It's the largest city in Lake County. It's going to have its problems. Particularly when compared to much smaller and less diverse communities where people have less social and economic friction. Comparing Waukegan to most other cities in Lake County is comparing apples to oranges. It would be more fair and honest to compare it to Chicago or Milwaukee.

Now on the topic of the "Little Mexico" title? Well regarding that, you can thank former President Reagan and successors who decided to carry on with similar policy relating to immigration and border enforcement. (Both major U.S. political parties btw. When it comes to action and not words, neither has been better than the other in that regard.) Many businesses and corporations are also complicit, since this gives them leverage over everybody in the labor pool. Don't be mad at the Mexicans because they're here, you should be mad at the politicians and corporate fatcats making sure to keep the labor market disrupted and milking it for all it's worth. The most you can be mad at some Mexican for is failing to learn English because of laziness, but then again look how easy it has been made for him to remain lazy in that regard. Was it the Mexican that did that? If you're being honest with yourself, the answer doesn't point to any of the Mexicans. Most other countries (and our own country in the past) just don't start adding extra languages to everything because of immigration waves. That should be the biggest clue right there. (Of course you can choose to keep complaining. But as a non-Hispanic/Latino, learning Spanish is still useful. Not to cater to it, but rather so you can call the "no hables Ingles" bluff. I find it rather amusing. You'd be surprised how many suddenly start switching to "Spanglish" or get quickly proficient in English. Of course you can also choose to learn a lot by letting them continue with that game.)]]> Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:11:07 -0700 not the status quo]]>
Own It
Although I am not a Democrat or a Republican, I used to understand why other people would choose to be one or the other. And I can still understand how some people can be Republicans, but it is beyond my comprehension how anyone could still be a Democrat in Wisconsin in the age of YouTube.


The Democrats’ response to losing an election here has been appalling; disgraceful conduct documented with phone cameras for the whole world to see. Democrat rallies and protests have been marked by profanity, intimidation, death threats, vandalism, trespassing on private residences, anti-American rhetoric, boycotts of neutral businesses, extortion, and fraud.


My dear Democrat friends, that is not what democracy looks like; it is what Democrats look like. Your Party has become vile, disgraceful, and disgusting, and you have lived long enough in denial of what and who you have become.


Own it.


It’s not just the mob scenes that disgust. Perhaps the most dishonest political ad in history was run by Democrats in a supposedly non-partisan Supreme Court race, exploiting the victim of child abuse for political gain. Own it, Party of the children.


Your Democrat legislators wore union t-shirts on the floor of the assembly while in session; shouting and throwing things and threatening to kill a female Republican lawmaker. This is how you treat women who think for themselves. Own it, Party of women.


Your public sector unions – firefighters and teachers - organized a campaign to drown out yesterday’s taxpayer rally on the steps of the Capitol building. You exist now only to deprive others of their right to be heard; and your idea of civil is dropping F-bombs at a child who came to hear Sarah Palin speak. You have embraced disgrace – so own it, Party of civil rights.


You booed the national anthem. Read that again, friends; take a moment to reflect fully upon the depths to which your Democrat party has sunk, and then OWN IT.


On that same day the office of a recall drive against one of the 14 AWOL Democrat Senators was burglarized with computers and petitions stolen – just like Nixon in 1972. You also threatened to blow up a radio station over content you don’t like. You were busy little fascist criminals on Saturday - own it, Nixonites.


If these are just isolated examples of people acting out, then show me where your Party leaders have denounced them. Who have you expelled from your Party for the shame they have brought to it? And who is your Ron Paul, your conscience who calls you out when you have strayed from your core values - Charlie Rangel?


Your Democrat State Senator Lena Taylor recently got herself on TV to rant against some $142 million of tax breaks Governor Walker has given to his cronies, but when asked, she could not name one. Your comprehensive plan to balance the budget and avoid default is to chant “Fox Lies!” This is the depth of your intellectual curiosity and the extent of your economic literacy. Own it.


Yours is the party that extended our military stay in Iraq, increased our commitment in Afghanistan, spread that war into Pakistan and Yemen, and started another in Libya. When it was Bush dropping the bombs, you came to us Libertarians and begged us to join you to stop him; haven’t seen you around now that is your guy killing little brown people. He lies to you and you love him for it. Own that.


What does it take for you decent Democrats - and I know there are many of you who will read this - to walk away from a Party that has already abandoned the principles that attracted you to it in the first place? How much of your pride are you still willing to forfeit to a Party that has none? What is your last straw – does blowing an angry horn at a downs-syndrome person for waving a flag not do it for you?


It’s your mirror you need to look in every day, not mine. It was a far less obnoxious abandonment of principle that led me to leave the GOP many years ago. It is true that I get along better with them than with Democrats as a rule; that rule is that they don’t send me death threats when I write something they don’t like.


Nearly a third of the American electorate is now non-affiliated with either of the two major Parties; each Democrat/socialist/union rally drives more of you into our camp. You Democrats do not persuade us with temper tantrums, threats, profane personal attacks, and all manner of judicial chicanery. I don’t even know what you stand for anymore; I don’t speak drum.


Yours was once the Party of Kennedy; it is now the Party that boos the national anthem. Own that – and then walk away. You will feel better about yourself, and you might just save your Party from the hooligans who have run it into disrepute.

“Moment Of Clarity” is a weekly commentary by Libertarian writer and speaker Tim Nerenz, Ph.D. Visit Tim’s website <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.timnerenz.com">www.timnerenz.com</a><!-- w --> to find your moment and watch for the upcoming release of his new book, “Capitalista!”]]>
Own It
Although I am not a Democrat or a Republican, I used to understand why other people would choose to be one or the other. And I can still understand how some people can be Republicans, but it is beyond my comprehension how anyone could still be a Democrat in Wisconsin in the age of YouTube.


The Democrats’ response to losing an election here has been appalling; disgraceful conduct documented with phone cameras for the whole world to see. Democrat rallies and protests have been marked by profanity, intimidation, death threats, vandalism, trespassing on private residences, anti-American rhetoric, boycotts of neutral businesses, extortion, and fraud.


My dear Democrat friends, that is not what democracy looks like; it is what Democrats look like. Your Party has become vile, disgraceful, and disgusting, and you have lived long enough in denial of what and who you have become.


Own it.


It’s not just the mob scenes that disgust. Perhaps the most dishonest political ad in history was run by Democrats in a supposedly non-partisan Supreme Court race, exploiting the victim of child abuse for political gain. Own it, Party of the children.


Your Democrat legislators wore union t-shirts on the floor of the assembly while in session; shouting and throwing things and threatening to kill a female Republican lawmaker. This is how you treat women who think for themselves. Own it, Party of women.


Your public sector unions – firefighters and teachers - organized a campaign to drown out yesterday’s taxpayer rally on the steps of the Capitol building. You exist now only to deprive others of their right to be heard; and your idea of civil is dropping F-bombs at a child who came to hear Sarah Palin speak. You have embraced disgrace – so own it, Party of civil rights.


You booed the national anthem. Read that again, friends; take a moment to reflect fully upon the depths to which your Democrat party has sunk, and then OWN IT.


On that same day the office of a recall drive against one of the 14 AWOL Democrat Senators was burglarized with computers and petitions stolen – just like Nixon in 1972. You also threatened to blow up a radio station over content you don’t like. You were busy little fascist criminals on Saturday - own it, Nixonites.


If these are just isolated examples of people acting out, then show me where your Party leaders have denounced them. Who have you expelled from your Party for the shame they have brought to it? And who is your Ron Paul, your conscience who calls you out when you have strayed from your core values - Charlie Rangel?


Your Democrat State Senator Lena Taylor recently got herself on TV to rant against some $142 million of tax breaks Governor Walker has given to his cronies, but when asked, she could not name one. Your comprehensive plan to balance the budget and avoid default is to chant “Fox Lies!” This is the depth of your intellectual curiosity and the extent of your economic literacy. Own it.


Yours is the party that extended our military stay in Iraq, increased our commitment in Afghanistan, spread that war into Pakistan and Yemen, and started another in Libya. When it was Bush dropping the bombs, you came to us Libertarians and begged us to join you to stop him; haven’t seen you around now that is your guy killing little brown people. He lies to you and you love him for it. Own that.


What does it take for you decent Democrats - and I know there are many of you who will read this - to walk away from a Party that has already abandoned the principles that attracted you to it in the first place? How much of your pride are you still willing to forfeit to a Party that has none? What is your last straw – does blowing an angry horn at a downs-syndrome person for waving a flag not do it for you?


It’s your mirror you need to look in every day, not mine. It was a far less obnoxious abandonment of principle that led me to leave the GOP many years ago. It is true that I get along better with them than with Democrats as a rule; that rule is that they don’t send me death threats when I write something they don’t like.


Nearly a third of the American electorate is now non-affiliated with either of the two major Parties; each Democrat/socialist/union rally drives more of you into our camp. You Democrats do not persuade us with temper tantrums, threats, profane personal attacks, and all manner of judicial chicanery. I don’t even know what you stand for anymore; I don’t speak drum.


Yours was once the Party of Kennedy; it is now the Party that boos the national anthem. Own that – and then walk away. You will feel better about yourself, and you might just save your Party from the hooligans who have run it into disrepute.

“Moment Of Clarity” is a weekly commentary by Libertarian writer and speaker Tim Nerenz, Ph.D. Visit Tim’s website <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.timnerenz.com">www.timnerenz.com</a><!-- w --> to find your moment and watch for the upcoming release of his new book, “Capitalista!”]]> Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:11:07 -0700 fintan1010]]> Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:11:07 -0700 kellyann1293]]> Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:11:07 -0700 TypesWithFist]]> How ironic it is, since her husband Terry and his cohorts are responsible for keeping the incompetent Durkin and Hyde in office and let them destroy our city.
What is her real motive in running for alderman?]]> How ironic it is, since her husband Terry and his cohorts are responsible for keeping the incompetent Durkin and Hyde in office and let them destroy our city.
What is her real motive in running for alderman?]]> Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:11:07 -0700 Danno]]> Tue, 14 Apr 2026 15:11:07 -0700 Danno]]>
i like how the story puts out all those credentials of Ms. Shales as if that alone means anythings at all. All it means to me is that she is very well indocrinated and brainwashed, which is evident by her defense of a faulty system.]]>
i like how the story puts out all those credentials of Ms. Shales as if that alone means anythings at all. All it means to me is that she is very well indocrinated and brainwashed, which is evident by her defense of a faulty system.]]>