Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Obama Administration Nails One: Stan Gruszynski Appointed USDA Rural Development Director for Wisconsin

The Obama Administration is finally getting around to filling some very important federal jobs that have big impacts at the state level.  Stan Gruszynski is a great choice for US Department of Agriculture Director for Rural Development for Wisconsin. Gruszynski should be a great help in funneling federal dollars to worthwhile rural development projects in Wisconsin. For over 25 years, his work at UW-Stevens Point and in the legislature has been significant for the people of rural and urban Wisconsin.

Gruszynski is currently the director of Rural Leadership and Community Development for the Global Environmental Management Center at the University of Wisconsin's Stevens Point College of Natural Resources. Prior to that position, he served as the Director of Public Affairs for USDA Rural Development in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, for seven years. While at Rural Development, he promoted rural program initiatives and fostered working relationships with community groups, Indian Tribes and underserved populations. Gruszynski was also appointed acting State Director for several months in 2003. From 1984-1994, he represented the 71st district in the Wisconsin State Assembly and served on both the rural affairs and natural resources committees.

Back in the eighties in the Assembly, Gruszynski was often a guy who stood up in the Democratic Caucus and argued for doing the right thing instead of the expedient alternate. He usually lost those arguments, but he never stopped making them.

Good for the Obama Administration. Good news for Wisconsin.

- Barry Orton

Disclosure by Paul: Barry is not aware of all of the relationships between Energies Direct LLC a company that designs and builds biodigesters and in which I am a part owner and the USDA. It is possible that the Wisconsin USDA office will make decisions on grant appliations that our customers submit or in some way make decisions about biodigesters in Wisconsin that impacts our company.

It is my intention to post on this subject in the future.

Madison Schools and No Child Left Behind Nonsense

This morning's Wisconsin State Journal informs us that Two Madison elementary schools fail No Child Left Behind standards.

Leopold and Lincoln fell short of the federal law’s criteria for “adequate yearly progress” for the second year in a row, marking them as “schools identified for improvement,” or SIFI. again ...Under the sanctions, the schools will have to review their school improvement plans, offer more academic services outside of the regular school day and allow parents to transfer their child to any public school within the School District where space allows

All of which demonstrates massive failures at so many levels, but not by the schools in question.

First of all, for years the Madison District inched towards a student body with over 40% below the poverty line and now is approaching 50%. That creates challenges of educating students.

It is a national and a state-wide problem, mostly the fault of states and communities that inadequately fund education and supportive services. Madison has to now take responsibilty for the poor planning and performance of others.

Secondly the schools can only be expected to do so much. The learning environment is influenceed by major external factor. A significant number of Franklin students come from the Town of Madison not the City of Madison. The town provides far fewer resources than the city to combat poverty. 

Both schools cited are heavily impacted by households that do not have stable housing - too many of these kids are homeless.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is a lousy program. The failures are well documented as well as the cheating in Bush's home state of Texas where high school students are pushed out the door so they are not counted as failures. More importantly, NCLB is based on flawed testing that does not adequately take into account poverty, the early education of the children from outside the particular school or the district, or the resources of the district.

At the local level we are caught in a horrendous dilemma. We know that inadequate shelter is a major part of the problem. In our rush to house the homeless we do not always provide the other necessary services. The expansion of poor people migrating into Madison places demands on services for transportation, childcare, health, and job training.

The principal at Lincoln, Deborah Hamilton noted:

This was not a shock. I don’t know why anyone with any sense would think that students who are in a bilingual program, and required to learn to read and write in Spanish, would be able to accomplish the same thing in English and do it in both languages in the same amount of time.

Leopold principal John Burkholder said:

Most of our parents understand our students are doing well... ( being on the  list) concerns me. For some people, that’s all they know of our school. When you sit and look at the data, it may tell a somewhat different story. But we’re working on it. We’re trying to address this and trying to bring learning up for all kids.

Meantime, Madison Memorial High School came off the list. Good for them. But it is only important because some people erroneously believe that NCLB is meaningful.

Paul Ryan: Alarmist or Fraud, or Both

Paul Ryan is the Janesville Republican who accuses the Obama Administration of European Socialism after he voted for the massive government bailouts.

Paul Ryan wants to run for president.

Now he is writing articles for the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune. Pleased be alarmed: we can't wait to ignore the crisis in Medicare and Social Security.

...We no longer have the luxury of waiting; with each year of delay, the problem gets exponentially worse, and the likelihood grows that Congress will be forced to react with deep cuts in benefits or increases in tax or debt burdens to intolerable levels...

This is the same member of Congress who served during the eight Bush years and failed, while a member of the majority party, to solve this problem.

But Ryan voted for record spending, record deficits, the war in Iraq, the bailouts and now claims he wants to help solve the problems.

Maybe he should relocate his entire publicity operation to Minnesota.

F. James Sensenbrenner - Defies Logic in Search of Bamboozling Public

As though he did not have enough to worry about in helping the nation recover from the depression launched by President Bush with his help in Congress, Representative F. James Sensenbrenner finds times to lecture Wisconsinites on the state budget.  Governor Doyle and Internet Taxes = Double Trouble

And now, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle wants to tax the songs you download to your iPod – among all your other online purchases. This means that buying something online will now be double taxed in Wisconsin...

The errant member of Congress, who has done more than any other Wisconsinite to create massive deficits through his support of incredible tax cuts for the wealthy, figures that if the buyer purchases Internet services that are taxed, then purchases made from another vendor cannot be taxed.

Think  of the possibilities:

• If the buyers paid sales tax on their automobile, then there should be no tax on gasoline that fuels the vehicle.
• If you paid sales tax on your refrigerator, there should be no tax on the beer that goes in it.
• If you paid sales tax when the home was sold, you never should have paid property taxes.

It is appealing, but maybe Sensenbrenner should do something constructive, like fixing the disadvantage Ma and Pa brick and mortar retailers face. They have to collect sales taxes from their walk-in customers while Internet sellers avoid paying their fair share of the sales taxes - taxes that would help balance massive state deficits from California to Maine. That is the result of legislation pushed by Sensenbrenner that interfered with states' ability to set fair sales taxes.

On Socialism, Golf Courses, Blackwater, Water, Turkeys And Other Things

There are tens of thousands of public golf courses in the United States. Except for a group of Milton Friedman economists,  I doubt that the millions of right-wing Republicans who play them consider that to be socialism.

The same may be said of other public services. Water systems, streets, and libraries are all forms of socialism under the modern definition.

The right wing has a convenient mechanism for sorting out what is socialism and what is not. If there is a public good, then the government should provide the service. National defense is the most common example. If the subject is a private good,and if the government provides the service, then we have socialism. Heath care and education come to mind.

After all, there is water for sale from Nestle and many others. As for national defense, we have Blackwater and others providing on-the-ground combat service in war zones.

All of which gets us to the central point, namely the definition of public good and private good. My public good is a government function; your public good is socialism.

That reminds me. If we ever do privatize the golf courses, obviously we sell the land to the bidder with the most cash who will undoubtedly put the land to the highest and best use, which is probably not golf. Maybe a factory or a real estate subdivision when the economy improves.

I do not recall the few thousand people who gathered at the April 15 Tax Party applauding Representative Paul Ryan suggesting he was a socialist although he voted for the bailout bill. This the same Paul Ryan that accuses the President of bringing European Socialism to the United States.

All of which takes us back to the best definition of all this which is my own turkey theory of government. If there is no profit in it, and the right wants government to provide it, then  it is a legitimate function. As soon as a profit is to be made and delivery of the service is no longer a turkey, it is socialism and needs privatization.

Go figure.

(A friend recently wrote and asked my thoughts on President Obama's 'socialism' which inspired these thoughts.)

Paul Ryan Has Some Explaining To Do - To The Right. Ask Ozzy Osbourne

It is time to invite Ozzy Osbourne as the featured speaker at a evangelical teen rally for celibacy and saying 'no' to drugs.

It is amazing that highly touted Republican talking head Paul Ryan from Wisconsin's First Congressional District, was invited to be the poster boy for the April 15th Tea Party.

Paul "No European Socialism Here" Ryan was the darling of the crowd of 5,237 on the Capitol Steps in Madison. This was a boisterous crowd clamoring for the heads of those who spent taxpayers' hard-earned dollars. The purpose of the rally was to protest government spending and the use of their tax dollars for the bailout.

Paul Ryan was one of ninety-one Republicans who voted for the Emergency Economic stabilization Act of 2008 - The Bailout.

As one talking head on Fox would say, "What you say Charlie Sykes, Mark Belling, Americans for Prosperity, the MacIver Institute, and All Children Matter?"

Right-wing Teaparty Subverts the Very Fabric of the Nation

The  Boston Tea Party, December 16, 1773, was a significant date on the road to democracy and independence.

There was a simple premise that motivated the colonials who threw the tea overboard.

There should be no taxation without representation.

That patriotic ideal stemmed from the social compact - that free people gathered together and made decisions through equal participation in representative government.

The very act of declaring independence and forming this nation in the next decade recognized that decisions were made for the common good, as noted in the preamble of the Constitution:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic tranquility provide for the common defecne promote the general Welfare and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

If people are unhappy with legislation adopted by a properly elected body of delegates, they can protest, they can vote, and they can even request an 'activist' court to overturn the acts of the legislature.

The Boston Tea Party was organized to support an elected representative government, not subvert it. This government has every right to impose taxes, adopt helmet laws, regulate banks, set air and water pollution standards, control handguns, and give a woman the right to control her body.

 

 

Paul Ryan Is Right of Republican Right

Two years ago, on January 17, 2007 when George Bush was still President, the House of Representatives of the United States Congress took up HR 5, the College Student Relief Act .

HR 5 lowered the interest rate on student loans over a period of five years. Interest rates would decrease to 6.12 percent in 2007, 5.44 percent in 2006 and continue to drop until they reach 3.4 percent in 2011. The first reduced interest rate would apply on loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2007.

According to the Washington Post the bill's projected cost of $6 billion was to be offset by trimming federal interest rate subsidies and raising the fees on loan providers.

Every Democrat in the House of Representatives voted for the legislation. So did a majority of the Republicans.

In fact 64% of the House Republicans voted for the bill, which brought much needed relief to students already burdened with loan payments that rivaled their parents' mortgages.

When the dust settled only 17% of the House Republicans voted against this critical legislation.

Paul Ryan, the new inspired voice of the the Republican Party, voted against the bill.

All Ryan could say in defense of his position was, "This is a cynical way to make good on campaign promises...we'll see another $20 (billion) to $30 billion blow out the door."

This is the same Paul Ryan from Janesville who voted on April 1,2009, two weeks ago, to oppose legislation that prevented billions of federal bailout dollars going for executive bonuses.

So much for Ryan's Neo-Populism.

Barack Obama and The Pirates

No sooner was Captain Phillips rescued and the talking heads provided political meaning to the event. In fact, many of them started the speculation within hours after the seizure of the merchant sea captain last week.

We can all speculate as to what this means for the future:

• An escalation of tactics by the pirates.
• An escalation by the international community to stop the piracy.
• A firm linkage between the pirates and political terrorists.

Before we look too far into the future, we should revisit the past.

During the 2008 presidential campaign there was speculation that Barack Obama could not respond to a crisis. It was hypothesized, that with no military training and no international diplomatic experience, he did not have the qualifications to lead.

Obviously that was not the case.

Leadership is comprised of many facets. One is the technical knowledge - the marksman skilled with a weapon, the social worker skilled in counseling, the computer programmer skilled in creating software.

Each one of these people takes knowledge of their craft, but it does not mean the leader has to have the exact experiences or profound knowledge of the specific profession.

Instead, the leader must analyze, make tough decisions, and take risks.

One errant shot by a Navy SEAL, which had nothing to do with Obama's decisions, and the outcome is different.

But Obama was willing to make the decision that allowed an optimum outcome.

So far, so good.

The Peanut Murders and Capitalism: Ask Wisconsin Institute for Leadership

Tainted salmonella peanuts that kill shoppers pose a dilemma for right wing free market capitalists.

There are a plethora of organizations that decry government regulation and claim that the free market will best serve the American people. In the Badger state, we have the Wisconsin Institute for Leadership. (WIL)

WIL works to educate and mobilize Wisconsin residents on policies that expand individual liberties, encourage free markets, promote high quality education and demand accountability from public officials.

Or just ask Americans for Prosperity.

Removing unnecessary barriers to entrepreneurship and opportunity by sparking citizen involvement in the regulatory process early on in order to reduce red tape.

It would be interesting to see how these organizations respond to the Peanut Murders. The free market obviously cannot regulate itself.

After enough people die from eating tainted peanuts, sales may drop and the offending companies are penalized for selling a less than wholesome product, but eight people are dead.

Of course, the criminal law will allow for the prosecution fo those who willfully put the salmonella laced food on the market.

There are weasel words in the statements from these groups, like unnecessary, after all, none of us want unnecessary regulation.

It would be nice to hear from WIL, or perhaps some candidates for Supreme Court justice as to where they draw the line between necessary and unnecessary government regulation.

From the AP:

Peanut Corp. president urged shipping tainted nuts

• In one e-mail, Lightsey wrote Parnell discussing positive salmonella tests on its products, but Parnell gave instructions to nonetheless “turn them loose” after getting a negative test result from another testing company.
• In another e-mail, Parnell expressed his concerns over the losing “$$$$$$” due to delays in shipment and costs of testing.
• Parnell in another company-wide e-mail told employees there was no salmonella in its plants, instead accusing the news media of “looking for a news story where there currently isn’t one.”