Wednesday, February 29, 2012

A Thousand Kisses Deep

This blog is going on 9 years old.  In that time we've covered a lot of ground and antagonized a lot of people.  That's OK; that's its purpose.  We are approaching a major milestone and I wanted to use this opportunity to send my valentines and kisses to all those who have faithfully read this site in hopes of gaining some insight into the labyrinthine ways of PERS and the Legislature.  Sometime in early March, we will cross the 1,000,000th visitor mark.  No blog can survive without eyes.  Yours have been the reason I keep going.  While I've threatened to let go soon, there is some magical draw to keep writing.  Maybe it is the thousand ways the legislature, the politicians, and the media find to continue to gang up on all public employees and retirees.  I just can't help myself; we did our part of the bargain.  We worked our collective asses off for, in many instances, sub-standard wages with the promise that the state (or local government or school district) would make up our inequities in retirement.  So, now here we are in retirement, and the assault never stops.  It is relentless and I'm quite bored with it all.  We PERS retirees are taking nothing we weren't promised.  Nobody gamed the system.  The system is ungameable.  So, all those people out there who think we have somehow collected more than we earned need to go back and do some collective reading.  I started working for Oregon in 1970.  I've looked over every contract I got from the Oregon University System.  No matter how I slice and dice the contracts, I seem to be getting exactly what they promised me - not a penny more, not a penny less.  I frankly think that all those people who want to rob me of benefits I've lawfully earned need to take a deep look inside themselves.  Would you willingly submit to the financial colonoscopy that we've all be subjected to?  Probably not.  So, you'll probably not be surprised when I say to them that they can just go "F*ck off" and leave me alone.  In the meantime, for the rest of you out there, I will keep writing this blog until I no longer see it is necessary to defend what I've (and you've) earned.

In the meantime, I want to thank all of you out there who make this blog a regular part of your web day.  If you want to help support the efforts here - this blog isn't cost-free - you can either donate through the link at the top, or purchase stuff through Amazon.  It won't cost you a dime extra and the small commission Amazon pays me helps pay for the cost of running the extra servers needed for uninterrupted access, software needed to keep the  blog current, and bandwidth required (Comcast and Century Link are not charities).

I'm trying to figure out a way to have balloons and fireworks go off once we hit the 1,000,000 mark.  If I figure it out, you'll be able to see it here.  Thanks again.

 

 

8 comments:

Unknown said...

As a long time fan, not quite the full 9 years, but not too far off, it is good to hear that you are sticking around. Best wishes to you and yours!
peg

mrfearless47 said...

Thanks Peg. The blog can be written on the run, while staying current with POD while traveling is harder. I think that after this weekend, when Susan returns from the UK, my activity in POD will definitely diminish. It won't end, but it will definitely be less frequent.

jgotime said...

We all need you to continue being our PERS WATCHDOG. Thanks to your efforts we get the real truth about the nefarious behaviors of those who seek to undo our fragile retirements. Many thanks and congratulations of your nine years of success!
Joe

jgotime said...

We all need you to continue being our PERS WATCHDOG. Thanks to your efforts we get the real truth about the nefarious behaviors of those who seek to undo our fragile retirements. Many thanks and congratulations of your nine years of success!
Joe

mpguy said...

You have a lot to do with the fact that PERS retirees haven't been completely trampled over by the media and the politicians. They know you're watching, and that you help mobilize people. Thanks for all your efforts--and most people don't realize how substantial they are.

One question: When I have been buying from Amazon, I'm clicking on the "Kindle" ad on the left side of the blog. Though I don't buy Kindles, I move to other parts of their site and make purchases. You DO get commissions on these, don't you?

mrfearless47 said...

@mpguy. I have no way of determining who makes the Amazon purchases, but if you begin from the Kindle ad on my blog, don't leave Amazon's page before making a purchase, then your purchases DO get credited to me. I appreciate your efforts. If you wanted to make certain that I'm getting credit, you can email me an example of what you have purchased most recently and I can look it up. The only purchases I know about are those from people who tell me.

Kolbs said...

I read this blog every day. Keep up the good work! Persduck

Gary said...

Thanks for all your hard work. The attacks continue nationwide.

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