Paul Soglin: Waxing 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.

Kevin Barrett: Someone Else's Billy Goat

My old friend, AFSCME union leader, Dode Lowe, used to have an appropriate saying for the occasional loose cannon among his members.  When confronted with a questionable individual that the union was forced to defend, Dode used to say, "He may be a billy goat, but he is our billy goat."

Those of us who defended the University of Wisconsin from narrow minded assaults this past year, often had Kevin Barrett held up to us as an example of a misguided teacher who was a waste of taxpayers' money. This is the Barrett who doubts that the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center was the work of foreign terrorists, but offers suggestions that perhaps domestic operatives were responsible for the attack.

Barrett is now running for Congress, as a Libertarian in Wisconsin's Third Congressional District.  As John Nichols notes in The Capital Times column on Friday:

Barrett will shake up District 3 race

...Barrett, a convert to Islam who has argued for a number of years that the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon "had nothing to do with Islam" and that "the war on terror is as phony as the latest Osama bin Laden tape."

...A Republican legislator, Whitewater state Rep. Steve Nass, condemned the university for a man critics describe as "a conspiracy nut."

...A 10-day review by UW Provost Patrick Farrell of Barrett's teaching record and his plans for the introductory class determined that Barrett would fairly represent a variety of viewpoints in his course -- and was thus fit to teach.

Those of us who believe that professors should be left alone to teach as long as they are open and fair, will continue to defend his right to espouse his bizarre world view.

On the other hand, now that Barrett has solidly aligned himself with the Libertarian Party, it gives me great comfort that everyone knows he is someone else's billy goat. It was last year that I repudiated Barrett and Ward Churchill as not being part of the political left.

The Libertarians and the conservatives can have him.

So there.

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."

Faculty Salaries Elevated In Public Debate

University of Wisconsin System faulty and administrative salaries are the lowest in the Big Ten but the problem is starting to gather more needed attention around the state.

On the day that UW-Madison Commission on Faculty Compensation and Economic Benefits issued its report Report: Faculty flight a 'crisis situation' at UW-Madison , the La Crosse Tribune published a thoughtful editorial based on a story from the previous week.

The La Crosse Tribune editors wrote, Public higher education needs more support from Legislature:

...there are some signs of legislative antipathy toward higher education, which also could be a real problem in the future...

... Faculty salaries also are below peer institutions, and the university system has faced larger than average state budget cuts since 2001, making it more difficult to make up any shortfall, and guaranteeing that tuition increases will have to make up some of the differences...

...Higher education does not just help students. Universities can contribute to economic development in states — and the number of adults with advanced degrees also affects the state economy.

Legislators need to be more supportive of it.

Yes they do. Both parties. Perhaps this can be the 'signature issue' for the November, 2008 state legislative races. And while we are at it, let's include the public schools.

As I wrote on April 18, 2008 The Value of Education the knowledgeable and thoughtful business leaders in this state are all saying the same thing, "I need a trained, intelligent, thoughtful, creative workforce," or words to that effect.

Faculty salaries may not be going up but at least the issue is rising in public forums and the newspapers.

Brittany Zimmerman Phoned - Reach Out And Touch Someone

Before Brittany Zimmerman died, her last effort was a telephone call. Brittany tried to reach out and touch someone.

The most important domestic function of government is to safeguard the innocent: those who need assistance when they cannot protect themselves. To establish justice and promote the general welfare.

Society tries to prevent crime. When it cannot, it offers assistance in many forms, including 911 services which we all pay for, in part, through taxes and special fees.

I cannot imagine a more poignant example of a 911 call than a person, life at risk, dialing for help, dialing for that life.

It is the very instant where they manage to dial the number but cannot speak out that we are expected to listen and respond. It makes for gripping stories and haunting movies.

For Brittany Zimmerman it was a cold, lonely reality.

Now comes the blame. First there is the dispatcher who became too busy and moved on to other calls and forgot about Brittany. Them comes the director of the 911 Call Center who did not help his agency's stature by implying there was no reason to apologize.

The fault is more complicated than that. There are a lot of capable 911 dispatchers who could fail under the same circumstances.  It is reminiscent of the constant reminders of problems in our nation's skies. Air traffic control: Safety concerns on the nation's radar: As controllers keep their eyes on the skies, mistakes and cover-ups are surfacing.

The system did not function:

• an overworked dispatcher.
• a policy that police only automatically respond to a silent 911 call from a land line, not a cell phone.
• a lousy system for linking cell phones to their location - with all of the telephone company/government spying, you would think that emergency dispatch centers could have the primary address of every cell phone number.
• underfunded critical government services (the 911 center is just one of many).
• a desire for simple solutions like blaming the dispatcher.
• and do not forget the morons who deliberately call 911 unnecessarily.

Government failed Brittany Zimmerman. Government failed all of us. In turn, the time consuming, boring task of making systems work, focusing on public management and administration does not appeal to either politicians or the public. 

In 2004 Dane County conducted a study of the dispatch center and the 911 system.  That study predicted significant failures if reforms were not instituted. That study is one of thousands floating around city and county halls, state capitols, and Washington D.C.

They still float.

We all failed Brittany Zimmerman.

Showering: Which Side Are You On?

I shower with my back to the shower head for two reasons. I shave in the shower and if I faced the shower head, all of the lather would wash off my face. Secondly, I find, as someone else mentioned, that when facing the shower the water hits your chest but does not easily roll over your shoulder down your back. With your back to the shower head, the water covers your back and very nicely comes over the shoulders and down the chest.

One morning I noticed that my back would start hurting as soon as I got in the shower. I finally figured it out. Standing in the shower with my back to the drain and the shower head, my heels were lower than my toes. A very unnatural position, which was causing the pain.

I mentioned this to Sara, who, of course, told me I was an idiot and that all normal people shower facing the water.

This got us into a debate which I left for you, the readers, to decide.

It was virtually a dead heat. 46.3% of Waxing America readers shower, back to the water, 46.1% shower  facing the water. Twice as many women shower back to the water as face it. Among the men it is almost even.

Shaving in the shower has little to do with direction or gender.

Probably the most significant finding is that almost three times as many men as women wasted their time answering the survey.

Mifflin Street Block Party - Revisited

The Mifflin Street Block Party approached and like clockwork the journalists called asking me for opinions, comparisons, and advice.  Boring.

It was sometime in the mid 1980's that I lost interest in the block party, as it lost its political content and purpose. There were some efforts in subsequent years to add some content, but face it, the block party is nothing more now than an excuse to get drunk and stupid.

As the 1990's appraoched, and I served as mayor agian, I lowered my expectations, accepted the party for what it was and just asked that behavior not be dangerous. That meant minimizing the fights, the trips to detox or the hospitals, and recognizing that the porches of one hundred year old buildings could not hold 67 pairs of stomping feet.

My age has nothing to do with this rather cynical assessment. Rather it is memories of my youth and quickly learned lessons that overconsumption of alcohol and other mind altering substances posed two undesirable outcomes: it ruined sex, and left a horrible headache.

This year, amidst the chaos of the 400 and 500 hundred blocks of Mifflin Street was the heartfelt effort of her family and friends to raise funds to honor the memory of Brittany Zimmerman.

While some students complained about the law enforcement, all I could think of was the incredible waste of money spent on the police presence. The several hundred thousand dollars spent on Mifflin Street and Halloween could pay for additional neighborhood patrols, or nursing services, or better snow removal, or a food pantry.

In the 1960's we ran up some significant overtime bills for police and sheriffs, not to mention the national guard, but it was not to party - it was political and that included the first Mifflin Street Block Party.

There is nothing wrong with a party.

The measurement of a great party is a grand time and the police not showing up.

University of Wisconsin System - Two Headed Huebsch

The University of Wisconsin System has six campuses  searching for new chancellors. Two of the chancellors are retiring and four are moving on to higher paying positions. UW System chancellor exodus could grow/

Wisconsin ranks last in faculty salaries when compared to other Big Ten schools and the entire system does badly when compared to to its cohort of institutions. Republican Party Winning Battle To Destroy University of Wisconsin System. Led by Republican Mike Huebsch, the Wisconsin Assembly underfunds the schools.

Its very simple. You cannot retain good people when you do not pay them.  You do not have to pay them extraordinary salaries, just something competitive that ranges towards the mean. The private sector knows that.

In Wisconsin we have one of the fiercest opponents of public education chairing the state committee that overlooks our schools. He uses every opportunity to attack the UW System.

Steve Nass is not the issue. The responsible party is the man who put him in power.

Last December the La Crosse Tribune published an editorial commending their local legislative delegation for supporting the UW- La Crosse campus. Local leaders, students leading way on UW-L’s plan for growth

On Thursday, our entire legislative delegation was represented at a Board of Regents committee meeting to show support...But perhaps most striking was the presence and vocal support of Speaker Mike Huebsch, R-West Salem.

To say that UW-L’s plans haven’t exactly been the darling of Huebsch’s caucus would be an understatement.

It is five months later, the UW system is hurting and hurting badly. It is unfortunate, but the more powerful, more effective Huebsch is the one backing Nass, not the one who showed up at the UW Regents' meeting.

Blacks in Madison and Wisconsin

It is no surprise to Madisonians that a black youth has a thirteen times greater chance of being arrested than his white peer. We know that there are some in our state who look at that number and simply respond, "So? Blacks commit more crimes."

A number of leaders from Madison's black community called for action, as The Capital Times reported:

Coalition wants Madison to face race issues

A coalition of leaders in the African-American community called today for a renewed assault on the disparate conditions that separate Madisonians by race...

..."The State of Black Madison 2008: Before the Tipping Point," a report unveiled at a news conference Tuesday, summarizes data on criminal justice, education, economic development, health, housing and political influence. The report was commissioned by the State of Black Madison Coalition, whose members include Gray; Robert Wynn, Asset Builders of America; John Odom, Charles Hilton Houston Institute; Richard Harris, Genesis Community Development Corporation; Ray Allen, publisher of The Madison Times; and Kenneth Black, 100 Black Men.

When I took up this issue last fall, Wisconsin Policy Research Institute: Milwaukee Can Tolerate More Black Murders Part II, one of the antagonists finally muttered, "Some of those proposed ideas for reducing black crime sound good to us (strengthen families and reintegrate fathers into communities, bringing people to God), and some sound like more of the same things that have failed (more spending on education, jobs programs).

Wrong. Read their report, read the well documented study I referenced:

Effects of a School-Based, Early Childhood Intervention on Adult Health and Well-being

A total of 1539 low-income participants who enrolled in the Child-Parent Center program in 20 sites or in an alternative kindergarten intervention...

...For preschool participation, by age 24 years, the preschool group relative to the comparison group had significantly lower rates of felony arrest (16.5% vs 21.1%, respectively; P = .02; a 22% reduction) and incarceration (20.6% vs 25.6%, respectively; P = .03; a 20% reduction). They also were less likely than the comparison group to be found guilty of a crime both overall and for a felony (15.8% vs 19.9%, respectively; P = .03; a 21% reduction)...

... That the impacts of intervention extend beyond educational performance is not surprising given the well-documented links between education outcomes and adult health, mental health, and social behavior.^{25-26,36-38 ..}

^{...This study provides evidence that established early educational interventions can positively influence the adult life course in several domains of functioning. The scope and magnitude of intervention effects reveal not only the benefits to participants in fundamental indicators of health and well-being but also the potential returns to society for investments in early educational programs.} 

Prayer is nice but just like abstinence, it does not work. what works is education, education, education, job training and family enhancement. Not necessarily in that order. Spending on education and jobs programs that are properly managed work. Spending money on education and jobs programs that are not properly managed  do not work. That is not the fault of the recipients.

Flying Over Wisconsin

Spring is the best time of year to fly over Wisconsin. The other seasons provide an inviting landscape but spring is the best.

On the hills and in the valleys you see the contour lines of rich brown, freshly turned soil. Then come the neat rectangular green fields of winter wheat and alfalfa accompanied by creeks, a few ponds, and adjacent fields of cows. Some fields are still flooded from the winter snow and spring rains.

To Madison's west in Montfort are two rows of wind turbines, one longer than the other.  The neatly laid out farms with their accompanying towns and villages make all the sense in the world.

As we approached Madison the sprawl began. The farms were continually interspersed with residential development. The problem is not the amount of housing or even the size of the homes. It is the lack of compactness.