Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Pilots complain airlines restrict fuel to cut cost - Airlines Say Pilots Lie

From the AP: Pilots complain airlines restrict fuel to cut cost

WASHINGTON - Pilots are complaining that their airline bosses, desperate to cut costs, are forcing them to fly uncomfortably low on fuel.

You heard it here first: 

United Airlines Fuel-less Skies (June 23, 2008)

Friday was a first. We departed a bit late but the flight was managed well when we boarded and things progressed nicely as we headed west.  Then, unexpectedly, the pilot announced that our non-stop flight was going to put down in Denver for a thirty minute fueling.

Otherwise, we would not make our destination.

In these pricey times, while the airlines are unforgiving to passengers who need to rebook a flight, have two suitcases to check, or forget to keep their mileage account current, the carriers haul as little fuel as possible to reduce weight and save money.

Someone miscalculated and we did not have enough fuel. No rebates, no coupons, no extra miles were offered.  All we got was the official  apology from the pilot who pointed out that "It is better to be on the ground and wishing you were in the air than being in the air and wishing you were on the ground."

United Airlines Fuel-less Skies II (June 27, 2008)

United is two for two this past week with my flights. Heading west we had to make a stop in Denver since we were running out of fuel, United Airlines Fuel-less Skies. That was Friday.

On Wednesday I was scheduled to fly into Denver. Wind sheer caused us to circle and then the pilot announced we were to head to Fort Collins since we were running out of fuel. That is a twenty minute flight. We refueled for forty minutes, took off and twenty minutes later landed in Denver.

In the AP story the airlines prove they are full of it:

American and US Airways blame the complaints on heated labor negotiations — both are in contract talks with the complaining unions.

"It's not a safety issue; it's a contract issue," said John Hotard, a spokesman for American.

I have been there. If either of my flights had run into major weather problems, there might not have been enough fuel to make a safe landing without declaring a fuel emergency.

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce: Not Your Daddy's WMC

Moderate state business leaders from the 1980's and 1990's do not recognize today's WMC. Organized by Paul Hassett when he merged the Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce and the Wisconsin Manufacturers Association in the 1970's, WMC was then the voice of thoughtful business.

Certainly a conservative group, WMC was bi-partisan and tempered in its approach to public policy in Wisconsin. While it clearly leaned towards the Republican Party, it was careful to maintain a balance that allowed it to work both sides of the aisle.

Taken over by the political right in the late 1990's, WMC did not let the dogs out until Governor Tommy Thompson went to Washington on 2001. Since then, WMC, led by a hardcore of true believers, maintains a "take no prisoners" approach to public policy issues in Wisconsin.

Perhaps as many as half of the present board of directors of WMC would not be disturbed if the present leadership of WMC were to drop the attack ads orchestrated by its Issues Committee every election.

All of this leaves moderate Republican business leaders as the new disenfranchised cadre in Wisconsin.  Unhappy with the Democratic leadership in the State Senate, they are just as uncomfortable with the Republican leadership in the Assembly.  That discomfort extends to the politics of WMC, especially when it comes to the hard-line approach on TABOR, or supporting public education from kindergarten to the universities.

This is not to say they wield no influence in state government. When it comes to their own industries, financial services, insurance, utilities, or manufacturing, they still carry weight.

But moderate Republicans are now isolated when it comes to the larger, important issues that require mature, thoughtful, and dedicated leadership: affordable quality healthcare, educating a viable Wisconsin workforce, crime, and poverty.

Tattoos Cause Firestorm in Los Angeles

When I served as mayor of Madison, if there was an issue as dreaded as endless debates over liquor licenses, it was personnel matters that related to appearance and grooming.

The Los Angeles Fire Department  (LAFD) is caught in a tattoo controversy. According to Sandy Banks in the Los Angeles Times on Saturday, Los Angeles Fire Department tattoo coverup muddles real mission:

At issue is a policy the department announced this spring, requiring firefighters with tattoos to cover their body art whenever they are on duty.

I am not a big favorite of tattoos, especially the massive works which hides, not enhance the human body, but as Banks points out, the LAFD has more important issues to fry than tattoos. Painted or not, in a crisis the citizenry want the firefighter who arrives to be comfortable and ready to perform.

The LAFD has numerous administrative problems that make the inked arms and necks pale in comparison. Frankly, if I was chief, I would do everything imaginable to discourage the men and women of the department from getting tattoos.

This is all reminiscent of thirty years ago when police and fire departments went through the long hair controversy. Then the issue was also grooming, with the added safety issue. Police officers, it was feared, would be vulnerable to assailants pulling their longer locks. Firefighters' tresses could catch on fire.

Most police departments figured out reasonable hair lengths.

The fire departments realized that so long as the hair was covered and protected by the uniform, it was not vulnerable to fire.  The uniform protected their hair just as it protected the skin.

The tattoos might seem unflattering and distasteful to the likes of me, but so long as my firefighter is devoted, professional and prepared to serve, I can live with the ink.

Tweaking the Wisconsin State Journal - Fun At the Dells

My friends at the Wisconsin State Journal are looking to Waxing America for both news and editorial content.

Yesterday I posted Driving Back From Milwaukee: Flooding Unabated which contained this little gem:

Many farmers are losing many thousands in seed, fertilizer, and pesticides.

The Wisconsin State Journal countered with Wisconsin crop losses will total tens of millions, experts say

Flooded fields from recent rains will likely cause at least tens of millions of dollars in losses

OK, they are a bigger paper with bigger fonts and more readers so they get to use bigger numbers.

On Tuesday I posted Road Trip: Let's Head to the Dells and Lake Delton writing that

"We are going there for dinner and to spend some money as soon as Tom Diehl and the rest of the merchants say they want us, which sounds like it is immediate as The Capital Times reports...

Accompanying the story on crop losses, the Wisconsin State Journal ran this editorial, Support the Dells by having fun :

Meanwhile, the Dells is just a short drive away from anywhere in south-central Wisconsin. So it won 't cost much gas to get there.

Support Wisconsin 's classic vacation funland this summer as you always would.

Now if I could just get State Journal editors to follow me in supporting Obama.

Driving Back From Milwaukee: Flooding Unabated

When I drove to Milwaukee yesterday to meet with some conspirators to further our plots against Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC), I listened to radio entertainer Charlie Sykes marvel at the record flooding in the suburban Milwaukee area.

My assignments in place to undermine WMC and right wing Milwaukee talk radio, heading home I noticed the flooded fields and the extremely high water at the Rock River. I had noticed that the river had overflowed its banks when I headed east in the morning but the water appeared much higher in the evening.

I arrived home and heard on the news that a portion of I-94 westbound was closed until further notice because of the high waters. The Capital Times: Bad news in wake of flooding:More rain is on the way

I find it curious that the record flooding does not necessarily mean there was record rain. Flooding usually occurs because of heavy rain and/or more paved surfaces.  I find it curious that Sykes can marvel at the power of nature, discuss the flooding unabated, but never connect the dots, or in this case, the pools of water.

While the volume of rain is responsible for the flooding, undoubtedly the flooding severity is, in part, the result of more water failing to penetrate the ground and flowing down storm sewers, culverts, drainage ditches, shopping center parking lots, roof tops, and roads into already stressed waterways.

And some farmers' fields.

Many farmers are losing many thousands in seed, fertilizer, and pesticides.

Rabbit Rehab

All spring Sara ranted about the extensive damage the rabbits did to everything green in our yard during the past winter. I have little use for them.

Last week we found a nest with three babies. Sara and the girls lined up a wheel barrow and some fencing to keep predators away. This morning she checked on them. The hole was filled with water. One was dead; the other two were barely alive.

They are now in the garage in a box laying in bedding with a lamp two feet overhead. They were fed by hand using a dropper.  Ticks were removed and most of the fleas are gone.

What the world and our Madison neighborhood does not need is more rabbits. I am walking around the house muttering about rabbit stew and looking for hawks overhead.

Tomorrow they are going to some shelter for rehab. It's not a bad life; just ask Amy Winehouse.

Looking for Excuses on 'Hospital Tax' - WMC Blows It

The Capital Times took a look at the continuing Assembly opposition to the 'hospital tax' on Wednesday. The intrigue requires a scorecard, a calendar and a referee.  Here is the quick and dirty:

• February, 2007 word gets out that Governor Doyle is contemplating a 'hospital tax.'
• In the spring the 'hospital tax' is proposed. It will make Wisconsin eligible for an additional $420 million of federal dollars.
• Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) immediately opposes the measure.
• Wisconsin Hospital Association (WHA) also opposes the measure but was prepared to support the measure if assurances were sufficient that funds would be used for health, not general purpose revenues.
• By fall a number of health care providers which probably includes Humana, Aurora, and Meriter support the measure.
• In October WHA supports the measure.
• By winter, WMC changes to neutral.
• March 6, 2008, the health care providers having taken the day, WMC now supports the proposal.
• April: Governor Doyle indicates that the 'hospital tax' should be part of the budget repair bill.
• May: Budget repair bill is adopted, Republicans in Assembly continue their opposition despite the support from WMC and WHA.

May 21, 2008:  The blame game as reported in The Capital Times:Assembly GOP says no to hospital tax. It is noted that:

• Doyle hadn't even announced the details of the plan in February of 2007 when Donna Sollenberger, former CEO of UW Hospital and Clinics who was on the board of the Hospital Association at the time, announced, "Ultimately, what you're saying is you're going to tax sick people."

  It was a rhetorical shot that took on a life of its own, published in the group's newsletter and then adopted by the state's largest business lobby, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce. (emphasis added)

• In October the Hospital Association changed course. And Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, which as a rule fiercely opposes any taxes, came out in favor of the hospital tax this past March.

  "It's a very unusual instance where we come out on that side of the tax issue," said WMC spokesman Jim Pugh.

• "By the time they had it figured out," he said, "they had the Assembly Republicans sitting out on the end of the branch and they were sawing it off."

  Eric Borgerding, senior vice president of the Hospital Association and a lobbyist for the group, bristles at the suggestion that the group made a mistake...But he concedes that his group's initial opposition may have had unintended consequences.

The key to all of this is that WMC and subsequently WHA saw two things - Governor Doyle and the word tax. They immediately said 'No.'

Here is what my sources tell me: In the Spring of 2007 WMC immediately responded without knowing the details and the substance of the proposal. Consequently, the backpedaling by WMC.

Throughout the chaos, it became difficult for anyone, especially for WMC to  move the extreme right wing Republicans in the Assembly, to get sufficient conservative support for the measure.

It will be a key 'wedge' issue in the fall elections and will significantly contribute to Democratic control of the Assembly. 

from The Capital Times:

Here's how the tax plan would work:

The state would levy a 0.7 percent assessment on hospital revenues, amounting to slightly more than $200 million a year. The state would use the money to increase Medicaid rates to hospitals, which hospital officials have long complained are insufficient to cover the cost of providing care. Because the federal government provides states with matching funds for Medicaid costs, federal funds would flow to the state, about $1.40 on the dollar for the hospitals, for a $150 million a year gain. The state would garner about $62 million a year in reimbursements for Medicaid expenditures.

 

Update: May 29, 2008: I tried to edit this post with strikes, but it was too cumbersome. Consequently, I have deleted sections and rewritten others after several sources filled me in on the role of the WHA.  The bottom line is this: Initially Wisconsin hospital were reticent ot support the hospital tax because the state was often using segregated funds for general purpose revenues.  They did not trust the state.  After meetings with the Doyle Administration, they were more comfortable with the proposal.  Then came the support.

Mark Belling: Milwaukee's White American

Mark Belling is not "Standing Up for Milwaukee."

In a column on Wednesday, Millions can’t solve moral bankruptcy in central city, Belling launched into a two pronged attack attacking the city's black community and ridiculing Joseph Zilber's $50 million gift to strengthen Milwaukee neighborhoods.

For starters, the right wing commentator notes money already spent combating poverty and crime in the inner city:

How many billions in welfare, charitable programs and "investment" have been poured into predominantly black neighborhoods?

Then comes this gem:

Most blacks have tuned out white America...

Belling has a Milwaukee view, or perhaps a world view that makes him incapable of understanding the problems of poverty and crime and how to fix them.

For starters he knows nothing about Zilber's gift. An examination of the announcement reveals that the approach is significantly different than traditional efforts to institute change. It is community base building, not welfare.  It is economic development, not handouts.

Secondly, while Belling realizes that moral leadership is essential to improving Milwaukee, he has no clue as to how economic and social justice play a critical role in shaping community standards in Milwaukee or any other city around the world.

Zilber's gift is a challenge to Milwaukee leadership to add additional funds to a well crafted effort.

Milwaukee business leaders have a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to the city. They can sit on the sidelines with Belling, or they can learn about the fundamental principles underlying Zilber's commitment and open their own wallets.

As for Belling, he might want to tell us what he means by his "white America."

Remembering Those Who Cared - Med Flight

As the bodies of Dr. Darren Bean, nurse Mark Coyne, and pilot Steve Lipper are returned to Madison, I am struck by how wrong it is that people who care so much die while they are helping others.  The city of La Crosse sent them back to Madison with deserved recognition. 1,000 turn out for memorial convoy:

More than 1,000 community members watched today as La Crosse County firefighters and emergency medical personnel joined by the Madison Fire Department and Wisconsin State Patrol escorted the hearses of the three victims of a Saturday medical helicopter crash as a tribute to those who lost their lives,  photo by Dick Riniker, La Crosse Tribune

On Monday when I read the lede to Dave Wahlberg's article in the Wisconsin State Journal, Med Flight Tragedy,

More than 75 doctors, nurses, pilots and patients have died in medical helicopter crashes across the country in the past decade as the workers risk their lives to transport patients in need of medical care.

I don't know the period of time that covers, but whether it is ten years or twenty years, It is too many deaths.

I do not know that an investigation can accomplish anything. Perhaps the standards and the codes regulating these flights are as stringent as is reasonably possible. But here is one instance where an investigation, a study, of all of the crashes, not just this one, could be fruitful.

Wahlberg and Patricia Simms reported on Tuesday that,

• The Med Flight helicopter that crashed into a wooded hillside near La Crosse on Saturday night, killing its crew of three, did not have night-vision goggles and terrain warning technology as recommended.

• "The fact that they did not have this equipment did not compromise their ability to perform these missions safely," said Aaron Todd, chief executive officer of Denver-based Air Methods.

• Night-vision goggles could have helped pilots take action in 13 of the 55 medical helicopter crashes from 2002 to 2005, the NTSB said. Terrain warning systems, which can alert pilots 25 seconds before an impact, could have helped prevent 17 of the 55 crashes, the agency said.

Three wonderful men who were devoted to assisting others in the most critical moments cannot be returned.  We can make every effort to ensure that they and the 75 others who have died are not joined by other caregivers and patients.

Everyone deserves some answers.

Crumbling Dollar Lifts Wisconsin Blue Cheese

Another victim of the disastrous Bush economic polices and the war in Iraq is the absence of the finest European cheeses from swank east coast restaurants.  As the Village Voice reports, How Chefs Are Dealing With the Tanking Dollar: Getting creative with imported goods

Recently, I (reporter Sarah DiGregorio) realized that I could no longer afford my favorite stinky French cheese (not that I ever really could, technically)...

At Kellari Taverna...Greek feta, once crumbled over many dishes, is now only on the tomato salad..."It's killing us!" exclaims Gregory Zapantis, the Greek-born chef at Kellari Taverna. "A few years back, it was equal—one dollar to one euro. Now the euro is $1.60."

The concerned New York culinary reporter turned to an economist who specializes in wine economics to discover that, "... the government spends more than it has, putting us in hock to the Europeans, Japanese, and Chinese to pay for Bush's tax cuts and the war in Iraq."

But the inventive mid-town Manhattan chefs now turn to Bucky when times are tough, "Zapantis has fallen in love with the fish he gets from Long Island in the summertime. And he's happy to have discovered Wisconsin blue cheese as an unlikely alternative to feta."