There are also numerous “Emerald Ash Borers” among the Illinois General Assembly

I have three ash trees on my property. According to an arborist, two of the trees are approximately 60 to 75 years old. “The emerald ash borer is a beetle…  The grub-like larva is the stage that causes the damage… The emerald ash borer spends the winter as a mature larva in a small chamber in the outer sapwood of an ash tree. The larvae transform into pupae, still within the chamber, in early spring. In late May or June, the adult beetle will emerge from the pupa and chew its way to the surface…” (The Care of Trees).  

There are no natural enemies for the emerald ash borer in Illinois (or in this country); therefore, I have hired tree professionals to attempt to solve this problem by applying direct pressure injections of Emamectin Benzoate into the tree bark and xylem. This is my pre-emptive attack to stave off these parasites. I was told that insecticide treatments must be started before the trees show evidence of “canopy thinning and branch dieback.” I was also told there is no (contractual) guarantee that a treated tree will survive as well. 

The first Illinois State Teachers’ Pension and Retirement fund was created 97 years ago in 1915. The current Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois was created in 73 years ago in 1939 (TRS). Since 1953, the Illinois General Assemblies have spent years in their chambers parasitically destroying the public pension systems of the State of Illinois by not funding them. Nothing has changed today. New and old politicians alike have recently emerged again with voracious appetites for breaking a "constitutional contract" with the state's public employees.

Our best defense against their attacks is a strong offensive. Our legislators' conversations have been intentionally wrong and supported by corporate media and the Civic Committee; their misinformation has been intentionally fallacious and promulgated. We must change their erroneous focus on “pension reform” to honest and legal solutions:

·         The Illinois General Assembly must address the state’s flawed tax policy which is also a cause of the state’s financial deficits;

·         The Illinois General Assembly must revamp the heavily back-loaded “Pension Ramp”;

·         The Illinois General Assembly must cease their attacks on servants of the State of Illinois.

We must unify and fight against any legislator who is unwilling to uphold the Illinois and the United States Constitutions. Public employees did not create financial problems in Illinois. We must address the unprecedented attacks on us. They are onslaughts on the entire middle class. Our unions must not bargain away our contractual rights and benefits.

Indifference is not an option. “Indifference is not a response… Indifference is always the friend of the enemy” (Elie Wiesel).  

-Glen Brown