by Diane Benjamin

Located by the entry to the Bloomington City Council Chambers there are two flags:  US flag AND a UN Flag.  The US Flag is NOT correctly displayed because the UN Flag is the same height!

The City Council has been asked at least twice to remove the UN Flag.  It is offensive to many citizens since UN values are not the values of America.  Here are some examples of why:

• Some members of the UN want to try George W. Bush for War crimes while ignoring atrocities, like ethnic cleansing, around the world
• The Human Rights Commission has member countries who believe in stoning women and gays, honor killings, mutilations, and death to anyone who converts to another religion from Islam
• Numerous ambassadors routinely give incendiary speeches against the United States on US soil at their New York headquarters
• The UN has failed in every attempt to protect the citizens of Syria.
• The real goal of the United Nations is One World Government – them in charge – without capitalism

This is the extreme short list!  Most people think of traffic jams causes by limousines who collect parking tickets they will never pay, or children of ambassadors getting arrested (sometimes for violent crimes) and then claiming diplomatic immunity.

I stated most of this to the City Council Monday night.  Except for Judy Stearns, I was talking to a wall.  Their excuse for keeping the flag, as stated months ago, is to honor Adlai Stevenson.  Does the UN Flag remind you of him?  Do you even remember him or that he was an ambassador?

If you have never been to a City Council meeting, I strongly urge you to attend at least one.  Most of the Council is NOT there to represent citizens in their ward.  The City Manager sets the agenda and all but twists arms to get the council to agree.  Dissent from council members or comments from citizens are completely ignored.  The goal is to pass the spending agenda and adjourn.  The outcomes are mostly known in advance and other topics are not allowed.  The public hearing Monday night allowed for 5 speakers-3 minutes apiece.  7 people signed up to speak, 2 didn’t get to.  They couldn’t allow another 6 minutes!  Of the 5 speakers-all were ignored by the council who had trouble staying awake.  Did the Pantagraph report on the citizen comments?  Of course not, they are complicit.

Judy Stearns is the only council member asking questions that citizens had asked of her.  She was the only one saying seniors told her they would have to quit recycling because the new carts were too heavy.  She is the only one who expressed dismay there will be no drop-off locations for recycling anymore in Bloomington.  Judy also stated, during the “visioning” discussion, the council already knows what the citizens want:  good roads and funded pensions.  She was also talking to brick wall.  The council dismissed minimal spending projects but fully supported high dollar ones – like the recycle carts.

Luckily there are council elections next year.  Conservatives are lining up candidates!  Let everyone in Bloomington know relief from tyrants is on the way!