[Nfb-or] Commission for the Blind rally

Wed Oct 19 23:49:02 UTC 2011

Mike,

Well, I do also see your line of reasoning. You may be correct in your 
read of how the Governor in this instance will respond. I simply do not 
know the individual well enough to predict what his response will or 
will not be...

Here's the thing, as I see it: These problems have gone on too long and 
caused too much damage to too many people for me to believe that 
whatever behind the scenes work has been going on so far has resulted in 
any improvement whatsoever. Well, I am only guessing that behind the 
scenes work has been going on all these years... To be honest, from what 
I have gathered over the years, I wouldn't bet on it. What I observe is 
a deeply entrenched system and culture which is somehow 
self-perpetuating. I keep looking for evidence that I am missing 
something and keep on finding more evidence that the system does fit my 
analysis... I'm using the word "system" there not in the lay sense in 
general usage when it comes to government and agencies but more in the 
definition under systems theory Thus the system to which I refer is the 
sum of its working parts and subsystems, etc., etc.

If I observed this behavior in a computer system or mechanical system, I 
know perfectly well what I would recommend. Granted, it used to be that 
someone would be paying me a fair amount of money to analyze said system 
and make recommendations, which does make it easier to communicate one's 
findings to someone who will make a decision to produce the desired 
result. Even so, analyzing an information management system -- whether 
it was back in the late 70s when those were still all on paper or in the 
years since as electronics came on the scene, one must needs analyze the 
human system that relies on the information and gathers it... As well as 
on the human system with which one will be communicating in order to 
achieve the desired results.  One becomes good at this part fast or 
finds another line of work. /smile/

Also, one can see companies pay a whole lot of money on a system that 
does not work and lose a whole lot of money by refusing to look at 
reality and listen to reason... Sometimes one just has to sit back 
patiently and let them get on with that until they're ready to admit 
that they might just know someone who even works with them who actually 
has a clue. Then one smiles sweetly from beneath her Shirley Temple 
curls and introduces her conclusions while handing out her proposal with 
all those nice facts and figures and flow charts and color graphics... 
/lol/

So in systems theory, there's this thing called a paradigm shift...There 
is a point at which the balance between stability and chaos within the 
systm is lost beyond recovery. From that instant onwards, paradigm shift 
is inevitable. The only question then is whether the parts of the human 
system make a single decision: Will they control the shift? Or will they 
let it control itself. Me, I prefer to restore system stability before 
that happens,  but that's easy when it's just a bunch of computers and 
data... Isolate the problem, save the data from corruption, and replace 
the part that doesn't work with something that does. Or at least fix 
whatever it is that is causing that part of the system to malfunction 
and correct it.

So... By the latest round of audits, the system in question was out of 
whack by 1995... It has not been fixed, it has gotten worse. Was it 
broken beyond repair then, or was it just that no one could be bothered 
to acknowledge the dysfunction to put the brakes  on the trend towards 
chaos?

So, a couple years back or so, I actually read that audit... I was 
following a trail of references in what was then the latest one that 
referred back to "prior failed audits." Well, the frequently used 
phrase, which by then I had read quite a few times as I followed the 
trail back was "as revealed by prior failed audits." Plural. The 1995 
audit was barely accessible, and I had to work pretty hard to read it 
only to discover that it read pretty much exactly the same as the ones 
after it.

Including that phrase: "as revealed in prior failed audits." Still 
plural. Still indicating that the problems existed and had been reported 
before that audit. Well, after that, it took some roundabout digging, 
but do you know what I found out?

I'll leave it to you to ponder that, or to find all that publicly 
available information yourself. Me, I'm running late for dinner, and we 
can't have that! /grin/

Tami

On 10/19/2011 11:09 AM, Mike Freeman wrote:
> Tami3:
>
> I am not advocating keeping quiet; I support the goal. However, by going public, one almost forces the governor to back his employee publicly. I've seen this happen before. Better IMO to work behind the scenes and get legislators stirred up and let *them* do the resignation-calling.
>
> Incidentally, I do not think the vending program is long for this world -- at least the Federal program.
>
> Mike Freeman
> sent from my iPhone
>
>
> On Oct 19, 2011, at 9:57, Tami Kinney<tamara.8024 at comcast.net>  wrote:
>
>> Mike,
>> I can't answer for Art or the organizers of the rally.
>>
>> However, I would like to ask you if you believe that continuing the practice of keeping quiet and accepting the status quo is likely to result in any change in the system.
>>
>> In my opinion, the lack of improvement in all these years can only have continued because we, the blind of Oregon, have been so willing to accept it. Those individuals who don't find it acceptable get a whole lot of pressure to get themselves back into line and follow the "sit down and shut up" rule. The vendors, by going public as a block, are getting the same response. Yup. It is up to them to sit down and shut up and stop whining and pointing fingers like children.
>>
>> While I do not know any of the Oregon vendors enough to ask them directly, I tend to believe that they, like me, do not find their incomes and careers to be kid stuff. Those with whom I do have some acquaintance appear to have enough intelligence to have grasped by now that communicating with the agency and getting together with them to find a resolution, as I hear they are still expected to do, is a waste of time and energy and resources with no result to be had.
>>
>> It is not the responsibility of the vendors, any more than it is of any given individual consumer, to do the agency's job for it or to supervise the state employees there in performing the jobs they are paid to do. And those state employees have by now made it very, very clear that they have no intention of doing the jobs they are paid to do, in deed and in word. This is true from the bottom up, through to the Board. I've only heard snippets and bits and pieces so far in the fallout from this latest documented failure of the agency, but I'm getting a strong whiff of the same response we've seen so far.
>>
>> A one-hour rally on a Monday afternoon ain't much, but it's a start. It's a chance to stand together for a change to indicate that we, the blind of Oregon, do not accept what is unacceptable. That is a pretty profound change in approach, believe me. And I see it as a far better route to saving ourselves and those who follow from more of the same. If we continue to do nothing, to accept, to stop whining like children who just want a bunch of free stuff even if it means stealing scarce resources from blind people who need them... Well, Then we all deserve what we get, don't we?
>>
>> Tami
>>
>> On 10/18/2011 08:19 PM, Mike Freeman wrote:
>>> Are you not setting yourself up by going public to force the Governor to back Linda?
>>>
>>> Mike Freeman
>>> sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>>
>>> On Oct 18, 2011, at 18:02, Tami Kinney<tamara.8024 at comcast.net>  wrote:
>>>
>>>> YESSSS!!!!!
>>>>
>>>> Oh, you betcha!
>>>>
>>>> TamiOn 10/18/2011 01:26 PM, T. Joseph Carter wrote:
>>>>> Passed along by request.
>>>>>
>>>>> Joseph
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Hi Everyone,
>>>>>
>>>>> There will be a rally at the Oregon Commission for the Blind on Monday, October 24th, from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM.  The recent secretary of state's audit and articles in the newspapers show that the administrator, Linda Mock, and the director of the Oregon vending program need to be replaced.  I'm very concerned that if they are not replaced, we could lose our commission board as it exist or even worse, our separate agency.
>>>>>
>>>>> Please join me in sending a positive message to our governor, the secretary of state's office and all Oregonians that the past performance of OCB management is unacceptable.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>
>>>>> Art Stevenson
>>>>>
>>>>>
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