[vendtalk] BLAST

[plume]

N. J. BEP BLIND VENDOR'S ARE GOING TO BLAST!!!
Submitted by Tom Blume, N. J. Licensed BEP Operator
Voice Mail: 206-312-7844
E-mail: blume at verizon.net
Jan. 27, 2009

At the Jan. 24, 2009, open regular N. J. BEP Committee meeting, Nick Gacos,
Vice Chairperson and NFB National Leader talked about "Sage Bush, however he
did not encourage anyone on the Committee or operators to attend this
training and information conference.

The Committee did pass a motion to send each Committee member all expenses
paid to the NFB BLAST again this year.

Each operator would get a $600.00 grant for the "Training fund" to attend
BLAST.

Since Sage Bush is sponsored by another Blind organization Nick Gacos did
not want to encourage any operator to attend.

The NFB controls N. J. and the Director for some reason thinks there is only
one organization in the country and in N. J. we should support all of the
NFB Fund Raising projects.

BLAST is just another fund raising project and N. J. has no other choice but
to support this fund raising project completely.

Each year the full Committee receives an all expense paid trip to attend
BLAST.

Each year I ask why we should fund the Committee members and operators and
"never" hear or   receive a written report what they have experienced at
BLAST.

They will always tell me "we did give a detail report".

However they never did and if you check the pass minutes of the Committee
meetings, you will find nothing there on the reports which they claim they
presented.

Each Committee member will receive a blank check from the "Operator's fund"
to have a great time at BLAST, however they will tell everyone it was A
"learning experience".

If the Committee members are attending BLAST and if they state they are the
best business blind people in N. J. they should be capable     of "writing a
detailed report", however they will come back with nothing again except a
large handful of bills to be paid from the BEP Training fund.

Several operators have asked the Committee if they will be sponsoring a
benefit package for the License Operator's this year.

The Committee members off the record stated that the "Funds are Low" and
they can not morally sponsor a benefit package this year.

The Committee will not sponsor a benefit package for the Operators but they
have no problem  taking   a all expense paid trip to BLAST, from the Blind
Operators funds to go to BLAST without reporting back to the Operator's what
they have learned.

The Committee members are going to BLAST with a:"blank check" from the
Operators funds and they refuse to sponsor a benefit package for the
Operators.

This reminds the Blind Vendors of the "A.I.G or Merrill Lynch, or the 3 car
Company's deals".

As long as the Committee members receive an unlimited amount of the
Operators funds they are not concerned about the Operators that they
represent and who has elected them to be their advocates.

Many of the Committee members are the top income earners in the N. J. BEP
and they still want to take money from the Training Fund to have their
complete way paid for to be able to attend BLAST.

This also reminds the Operators when the car CEO's went to Washington to
demand a "Bail Out", they came in their Corporate paid Jets".

"The "rich operators get richer and the poor operators get poorer".

Several Operators who went to BLAST using their own funds stated that BLAST
did have some training however it was just "one big party".

They went to BLAST with several problem hoping to have them resolved and
came home with "no" answers to their problems.

N. J. BEP Blind Vendors are going to BLAST, with an unlimited amount of the
BEP Operators training money, "let the party begin".

Reader's Note: to read "Blind Against the Blind in N. J., go to,
www.tblume.wordpress.com


I would like to close with the folowing quote:

It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to
do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time,
that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right
thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do
nothing, there will be no result.

Mahatma Gandhi