Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Wisconsin Bloggers: Individually and Collectively Inept, Inattentive, Incompetent

With one of the greatest blogging stories sitting right under their collective noses, Wisconsin bloggers sat on their collective behinds and allowed the mainstream media, the CBS Evening news with Katie Couric, to scoop them on the biggest stories of the departing year, the Shawano -SIST story of international intrigue:

Alleged Murder-For-Hire Rattles Small Town:Placid Midwest Town Turned Upside Down By Alleged Hit List And Secretive Group

All a reaction to news of an alleged hit list and claims by a so-called hit man, now telling his story for the first time.

"And I said, 'you want me to kill 60 people? You want me to kill the whole town of Shawano?" said Canadian businessman Bob Cameron.

Keteyian asked: "They were hiring you as a hit man?"

"Yes, they were," Cameron said.

"You're talking about the mayor, the city administrator, the city treasurer, the city attorney, the police chief, judges, investigators, fire commissioners," Keteyian asked.

"Uh huh," Cameron assented

Cameron says in late October he received $175,000 in wire transfers from people known to be part of a secretive group long run out of a house near Shawano called SIST.

Its is a story that could never be fabricated. The cast of characters are from the next great movie, a combined effort of the Coen Brothers and Quentin Tarantino.

The mayor (Kathy Bates) tops the list of sixty potential local victims. The Canadian hitman (Martin Short) was trying to do no more than collect some unpaid bills from the local cult when asked to wipe out half the town. The cult leader (Samuel L. Jackson in a reprise of his role of Jules in Pulp Fiction) is responsible for the investment of over $15 million in local real estate.

The real estate holdings fail and the county treasurer (Johnny Depp) is now foreclosing. The sheriff (Ben Stiller) and his deputy (Owen Wilson) manage to keep the town on edge as they tail two SIST members (Mike -Wayne-Meyers and Dana -Garth- Carvey), who prowl the city streets with a camcorder filming anyone they suspect is in cahoots with the town leaders.

SIST spokesman and attorney (Johnny Depp or should that be Robert Downey Jr.?) manages to bring some semblance of reality to the entire story claiming this was all a misunderstanding.

Sanity is maintained. The FBI agent (Brad Pitt) brings calm and peace to Shawano.(Pronounced Shawn-o as in Shauno of the Dead).

All this going on in plain view. Badger bloggers are writing about Republican committee assignments in the legislature, the performing arts, and Lake Michigan.

Phooey.

                

Blagojevich: Sleaze vs. Crime

Last Friday I was on Wisconsin Public Radio's Week In Review with Joy Cardin and fellow guest and blogger at Boots and Sabers, Owen Robinson.

When the conversation turned to embattled Illinois Governor Blagojevich, I made the observation that:

On the sleaze meter the guy is off the charts, but that so far, the complaint against him has no concrete proof that he either specifically asked anyone for a bribe or that her ever received anything of value.

All of which poses a dilemma, namely when does a politician cross the line from playing hardball politics in appointing only friends and supporters, to the world of extortion and criminality?

The New York Times took up this question on Monday, In Blagojevich Case, Is It a Crime, Or Just Talk?

Ever since the country’s founding, prosecutors, defense lawyers and juries have been trying to define the difference between criminality and political deal-making. They have never established a clear-cut line between the offensive and the illegal, and the hours of wiretapped conversations involving Mr. Blagojevich, filled with crass, profane talk about benefiting from the Senate vacancy, may fall into a legal gray area.

The best advice for any politician, is do not go near that line. You do not want to be in the gray area or any other area that comes near crossing the line.

Terrorists Attack U.S. Homeland; Lower Manhattan, Main Street In Shambles

Almost seven years to the day, terrorists again struck the United States.

A stunning makeover of the Wall Street landscape sent stocks falling precipitously Monday, with the Dow Jones industrials losing 500 points in their worst slide since the September 2001 terrorist attacks. Investors recoiled after a shakeup of the financial industry that took out two storied names: Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co.

Lead by the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse*, all domestic criminals, instilled into the highest levels of the Bush Administration, the results were devastating on Monday.

It left hundreds of thousands of Americans either losing their homes and jobs, or both, and the children and grandchildren of the American people enslaved to pay billions of dollars in debt.

The attack began when the Bush Administration was instructed by Wall Street to open the doors at U.S. Department of the Interior and release lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, and envy.

It is rumored that pride and sloth are still hangin' with Dick Cheney.

The wonders of an unregulated economy, encouraged by a right-wing insistence that markets will correct the excesses in private behavior, demonstrates the power of terrorists willing to sacrifice the security of their nation and families.

While there was no immediate loss of life, the death toll should reach into the tens of thousands as dedicated workers find that they and their loved ones no longer have access to a health care system capable of treating the most catastrophic illnesses and diseases.

One disgruntled business leader, previously supporting John McCain remarked, "I cannot trust him. He is so bent on winning, he gives us Sarah Palin. If he died, I cannot imagine her leading us out of this mess. In fact, I cannot imagine McCain doing it either."

*Conquest, War, Famine and Death

Is it the water or the air in Milwaukee?

It could be Milwaukee's air, or the water, or both.  Last week I posted  What Do We Do About the Parents - Incarceration- Especially Blacks, leading with 

Every time we hear right wing analysis about societal problems, whether it comes from Mark Belling or his protege, Charlie Sykes, the rant is about the parents. The not so unsubtle message is that drug addled, unwed inner city residents, authority dissin' and probably black, are incapable of rearing their children.

Then, before the Internet ink was barely dry, Rick Esenberg was in my face with "Inconvenient Truths?" leading with:

Paul Soglin is upset with right wingers for blaming poor educational results in MPS on the "parents."

Before going any further, would someone, anyone, show Rick where there is a reference to the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS). I did mention the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD), but not Milwaukee.

But Rick's errant missive does not end with the first paragraph. Writing in paragraph three, the legal scholar observes,

It doesn't seem to be a simple function of racism and poverty and the absence of social programs because the degree of dysfunction has increased as both have decreased.

Rick, go to MPS and get a graph of the number of children in households where they are eligible for the free lunch program. Kids in the free lunch program is a good measurement of poverty in a school district. Compare that over the past twnety years and then come back and we can continue the conversation.

Just for the record, kids in the free lunch program in Madison have increased from 20% in the late 1980's, to 26% in the mid 1990's, to over 48% presently.  Of course most of that is because of the migration of families to the Madison area from other Midwestern cities, including Milwaukee. What is amazing about Madison is that despite this significant increase in poverty, academic standards have not  been severely impacted.

Much of the success is the result of the kind of programming that goes beyond direct education of the kids. It impacts the family, it enhances the family, and it set neighborhood standards that even Rick admires. Unfortunately, even Madison is in danger as budget cuts jeopardize many of these programs.

But so long as Rick and his compatriots blame the parents without any recognized programs to break the cycle, Milwaukee will be fighting a desperate losing battle.

Rick gets one thing right. It is something I suggested to him last year as being part of the problem.

Is it the abandonment of poor neighborhoods by the black middle class?

Yes, middle class blacks left the city just as their white middle class counterparts had done years before. So that is part of the problem, but only part of it. There were other institutions and structures available years ago that are no longer effective against poverty and crime.

There are ways to fix the problem. Blaming the parents and leaving it at that is no solution. Frankly, I don't think everyone praying cuts it either.

Rick, racism for middle class blacks may be on the decline, but I am not so sure that poor black families felt any signicant improvement in the past decade.

What Do We Do About the Parents - Incarceration - Especially Blacks

Every time we hear right wing analysis about societal problems, whether it comes from Mark Belling or his protege, Charlie Sykes, the rant is about the parents. The not so unsubtle message is that drug addled, unwed inner city residents, authority dissin' and probably black, are incapable of rearing their children.

Some of that was mimicked yesterday when I posted Government Falls to Right Wing Cynics - Quality of Life Declines.

The problem is because of a cynical shift in taxation and revenue policies implemented by a right-wing Republican legislature and a few Democrats.

To which Terry replied:

More money for education won't replace the lack of support from absentee parents. Raising a child is hard, demanding work and most parents do a great or at least reasonable job. Those who don't should be held accountable, but they aren't - not by the school system, not by local governments, not by politicians, not by pundits. The children of these absentee parents deserve our support, but what they really need is the support of their parents. Even more money doesn't make up for the lack of parental support and guidance.

Interesting sentiments. The problem is their right wing talking point about the parents identifies a problem with no specific solution other than a lot of hand wringing and a cry to "be held accountable."

Here are some very specific things that were done to get parents more involved in their children's education.

• The Madison Metropolitan School District funded outreach programs that got parents more involved in their children's education. It ranged from transportation on parent-teacher nights to time spent explaining classwork to the adults. It was cut among the spending limits and the hue and cry about 'bloated bureaucracy' and too many administrators.
• A non-profit, Family Enhancement, was located at Harmabee providing direct services focused on parenting skills for households with infants and toddlers. Funding cuts and a rent increase forced the non-governmental agency to leave.
• In talking to everyone from police officers to educators, health officials to building inspectors, there is a consistent refrain that what would really make a difference would be more case workers. In any budget crunch, some of the first casualties are the case workers.

That leaves us with too many struggling parents who do not have the skills to make sure their children are completive in an every increasing technological world.

Some suggestions:

• If a parent is caught with drugs, immediate incarceration and the children go off to the orphanage. Very expensive but effective.
• If the children are up past midnight and cutting school, immediate incarceration and the children go off to the orphanage.
• If the mother has another child, immediate incarceration, yes, incarceration.

Terry suggested that we on the left have no solutions. Readers of Waxing America know that I have written dozens of posts about how to break the cycle of poverty. The solutions need the will to act and money.

Meantime, the right wing rants about the parents, while they offer no realistic solution other than their moral indignation, which is as valuable as their outrage.

To bring about change there must be a shift in community standards. That cannot be imposed from the outside, it must come from the neighborhood. The parents with the high standards must be supported so that their values become the dominant culture. They are essential to bring about change. But they cannot do it alone. They need support from public and private institutions.

It means more than law enforcement. It means spending money on education, health, and even some of the most effective social programs available - simple and logical - after school and summer recreation.

Law and Order American Style: Fascist Home Wreckers

Last week's story from Prince George's County, Maryland was not unusual or rare except that the facts in this instance are so clear and unconverted. A police dog found a package at a shipping facility that contained thirty pounds of marijuana. They followed the delivery to the nice middle class home and then conducted a raid.

There was a problem. They knew nothing about the intended recipients of the package. Police raid Md. mayor's home and kill his dogs

Mayor Cheye Calvo got home from work, saw a package addressed to his wife on the front porch and brought it inside, putting it on a table. Suddenly, police with guns drawn kicked in the door and stormed in, shooting to death the couple's two dogs and seizing the unopened package...

...Police say the couple appeared to be innocent victims of a scheme by two men to smuggle millions of dollars worth of marijuana by having it delivered to about a half-dozen unsuspecting recipients.

Before this chaotic event was resolved, the two family dogs were shot,

Calvo insisted the couple's two black Labradors were gentle creatures and said police apparently killed them "for sport," gunning down one of them as it was running away.

and Calvo's mother in law was treated like the victim of a Fascist state:

But officials insisted they acted within the law, saying the operation was compromised when Calvo's mother-in-law saw officers approaching the house and screamed...

...when she was handcuffed and interrogated for several hours.

Nothing surprising here. Nor should you be stunned or shocked by the response of the police department:

Prince George's County Police Chief Melvin High.. defended the way the raid was conducted. He and other officials did not apologize for killing the dogs, saying the officers felt threatened...But officials insisted they acted within the law, saying the operation was compromised when Calvo's mother-in-law saw officers approaching the house and screamed.

Years ago I had a discussion with Madison police officers on city policy regarding searches and intrusions without a warrant. One officer defended departmental policy saying, "Recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions allow us to do it, it is within the law."

He was right, but I responded, "Just because the Supreme Court has lowered the bar, compromised rights to protect citizens from abusive process of law, does not require us to lower our Constitutional standards."

This is the result of the cynical appointments to the United States Supreme Court by Reagan, Bush, and Bush.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court rulings are no different with the court now owned by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) The election of Anette Ziegler and Max Gableman ensured a right-wing majority that will do all within its power to limit citizens' protections against illegal search and seizures and unwarranted brutal force.

Years ago I created a Public Safety Review Committee for the city of Madison.  This is exactly the kind of subject they should examine. It would be wise for them to call in police officials and go over the Madison standards in these kind of situations. Nowhere is it written that we have to live by the lowest common denominator whether it is set by Clarence Thomas or Max Gableman.

These folks were white and middle class, and the mayor. Imagine being black and not so middle class, and not the mayor.

Masks in China. The Olympic Committe is A Joke. Nothing Has Changed

The hoopla, pageantry, silliness, nastiness and profiteering of the Olympics has not changed in over fifty years. If there is any question in your mind, run out and get Dave Maraniss' insightful  Rome 1960. The Olympics that Changed the World. 

Soviet Communism and the Cold War ended,  but the organizers and operators of the games are still far more important than the athletes. While the achievements of the competitors is often compelling and poignant, on the world stage the manipulations of governments, businesses, and  street level ticket scalpers is far more important when measuring the impact on the world's peoples.

Start with this story, and follow what unravels over the next few weeks. US cyclists apologize for wearing masks.

BEIJING (AP)—A group of American cyclists has apologized to Beijing Olympic organizers after arriving in China’s capital wearing face masks.

Jim Scherr, the U.S. Olympic Committee’s chief executive officer, said his organization didn’t ask the cyclists to apologize.

“Those athletes regret that action and have written an apology to BOCOG on their own behalf,” Scherr said. “They now realize and understand how their actions were perceived by the host nation and by the organizing committee.”

The China Olympics are a joke. A failure before they start.

For starters, the International Olympic Committee had this silly notion that by awarding the Olympics to China, it would induce that government to halt repression and recognize basic human rights. That was Joke 1.

Not content with destroying the jobs of American industrial workers with wages unfit for any dignified person, the Chinese spent most of this past year trying to murder our dogs and cats with poisoned pet food. Joke 2.

Finally there is the effort to contain the pollution. As though the soiled land, the contaminated waters, and the fouled air disappear by banning half the cars in Beijing on alternate days and temporarily closing industrial plants. Joke 3.

You cannot possibly insult the Chinese government by wearing face masks when eleven months of the year half of China tries to keep the pollution out of their lungs.

"I am sorry my voice sounds muffled, but if I remove my mask, the air pollution will burn my lungs like dry twigs in a campfire."

Those voices are muzzled for reasons other than the pollution. Those faces are hidden for reasons other than the pollution.

A Way To Cut Government Spending: Control Alcohol Abuse

During my fourteen years as mayor of Madison, the biggest waste of money I witnessed was the expenditures for additional law enforcement, paramedics, and other costs associated with alcohol abuse.

This week, the Oskosh Northwestern editorialized, State must admit alcohol is a problem

But first, Wisconsin has to admit it has a drinking problem. Wisconsin has to awaken and realize Number One is a ranking we don't want to have when it comes to a categories like "highest percentage of underage alcohol consumption."

Simultaneously, similar opinions were published by other Gannett newspapers including the Herald Times Reporter of Manitowoc, the Green Bay Press Gazette, and the Appleton Post Crescent.

As weekends approached, I would contemplate the additional $20,000 or more that was spent to deal with alcohol abuse. That was money we could use to combat poverty, fund wellness clinics, or even lower taxes.

There are a lot of things wrong with the way we treat alcohol in Wisconsin, and much of it is cultural.  Most of it can be traced to underage drinking, which leads to tragic accidents, wrecked lives, and life-long substance abuse problems.

Curiously, based on my own review of reports in Madison, the problem is not centered so much in bars and taverns, but in homes and campus apartments. Most licensed operators have too much to lose by admitting underage drinkers or over-serving.

The private apartments and homes provide little supervision, no identification checks, no regulation of consumption, and too many opportunities to drink and drive.

There are a lot of reasons to change our culture.

We could be motivated by the heath issues and a desire to stop the carnage.

If that is not enough, consider the cost to the taxpayers in direct expenses - law enforcement, ambulance conveyances, incarceration, and indirect expenses - deaths, maimings, and lost productivity.

Wisconsin Politicans Tell The Truth. Ask Mike Huebsch.

I would like to see Republican Assembly leader Mike Huebsch before an audience of high school students so he could explain himself. Cutting taxes even more important in tough times.  Writing this week Huebsch says:

It’s worth reminding, too, that Democrats in Madison as recently as one year ago were fighting tooth and nail for a proposal that would have raised taxes in Wisconsin by more than a staggering $18 billion.

Last year Democrats proposed a state health care plan with a price tag estimated at $18 billion. That plan would have reduced private spending on health care by a comparable amount. It was a bold initiative designed to solve the health care crisis in our state.

Technically it was an $18 billion increase in taxes.

To present it as the Republicans did last year and as Huebsch does this week is deceptive, less than candid, misleading, a distortion, and just plain wrong.

In fact if we look at one of the definitions of a lie, to convey a false image or impression, there is not much doubt that Huebsch is a prevaricator, or that he did, in fact, prevaricate.

In a day and age where skilled writers can construct a technically correct sentence but do so in a manner that allows the Speaker to so robustly deceive, I can think of no better way to educate future voters than to have a Mike Huebsch in a La Crosse or West Salem school.

Instant Replay: The End of Major League Baseball as We Know It

It looks like instant replay in major league baseball games is a forgone conclusion and it will be here by August.

The beauty of the game is the human element. The game has rules here were meant to be followed,  (unless you can break them),  but it also allows for judgment, cunning, and conniving.

The spitball is illegal but great pitchers work feverishly to find ways to doctor the ball. At least I hope they do.

It is illegal to steal signs but the runner on second is doing his best to relay the catcher's signal to the batter.

Any outfielder worth his salt always makes the catch of the sinking line drive by rolling over and raising his glove triumphantly. It does not matter if he trapped the ball. It does not matter that the replay shows he trapped the ball. What is important is the success of the deception at that moment so that the umpire calls the batter out.

The deception does not stop on defense. Credit the batter who trots confidently to first base in an effort to convince the umpire that the last pitch was either ball four or perhaps had hit him.

It is the pitcher walking off the mound in an effort to convince the same umpire that the last pitch was strike three.

Umpires falling victim to these tricks are as much a part of the game as are their most infamous calls. The game is meaningless without the failure on the umpire to call fan interference when Steve Bartman reached for the foul ball.

That may have been the correct call but we all appreciate the umpire's horrible call that gave Derek Jeter a home run in game 1 of the 1996 American League playoffs.

 

Umpires' mistakes like home runs that appear to wrap around the foul pole or calling out runners who clearly beat the throw home are part of the game.

I can see it now. It is the top of the 5th inning and the clean up batter has a 3-2 count with two outs and the bases loaded. The batter takes the pitch and the umpire calls it a strike as the ball drifts outside. The batter drags his bat muttering under his breath something about the umpire's relatives and suddenly the arm goes up to the sky and Dave Ortiz  is summarily tossed from the game.

Instant replay shows the pitch was a ball, the batter is given first base and reinstated into the game.

Instant replay will end the game as we know it. First they will only use it for select plays such as the home run or the play at the plate. Eventually it will be used for calling balls and strikes. Finally the game will be perfected when the umpires are replaced by lasers, a gps, and microchips.

There are two problems with the game today. It takes too long and the expensive hot dogs stink. The instant replay will lengthen the time of the game, increase the price of the hot dog, and do nothing to improve its taste.

Phooey.