Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Iraq, Bush, Cheney, Libby, pick a 'gate'

The death toll continues to mount,    the terrorists in the White House are unmasked, and Bush's popularity continues to plummet.

Here is what we can expect:

• An even stiffer defense of the war in Iraq by the Bush Administration.
• Continued denials of wrong doing
• Pleas for understanding accompanied by cries of "innocent until proven guilty" by an administration that searches without warrants, detains without cause, and murders prisoners
• An escalation of illegal government domestic terrorism against anti war critics.

And what is needed:

• Increased anti-war activity directed, not at the administration but to the middle of America. Bush will continue to ignore and deflect anti-war sentiment. The American people are another matter.  Most have already reached the breaking point with the lies, the cowboy diplomacy that gave the once isolated Al Qaeda fertile ground to operate in Iraq, and the deaths of their sons and daughters.

Halloween, Madison Style

This weekend's Halloween Festivities improved over the past three years. Plagued by rioting and property damage since 2002 the pagan parade up and down State Street did not degenerate until close to 2:00 am.

The city of Madison is starting to get control of events but so long as it focuses on the Halloween weekend without looking at some larger problems that require year around attention, the troubles will continue.

As I told police chief Noble Wray last winter, the problems are linked not to the taverns but the private house parties which account for the majority of the alcohol abuse.  Funny thing, we need to get the kids out of the homes and into the taverns and saloons.

In bars, the flow of alcohol is controlled and supervised.  While the city made a decent effort to close down the free flowing beer in the private house parties over the weekend, that must be an on going effort year round.

Ever since Alderman Mike Verveer, Cultural Commissar of Recreation and Entertainment convinced Mayor Sue Bauman to end police raids on private house parties in 1997, problems worsened. For a fairly good history of the party check out the Badger Herald.  It is accurate except for Verveer's explanation as to why it was revived in 1997. 

The growing culture of out-of-control, underage drinkers has given Madison and the UW an unprecedented reputation for alcohol abuse.  So long as that reputation continues, Halloween will set expectations for visitors that lead to property damage and too many cases of alcohol poisoning.

The most unfortunate part of all of this is that the city spends $500,000 for police, fire and sanitation related to the event.  Anyone have a clue as to how far that money would go each year in subsidizing a computer center at Allied Drive?  The city has virtually no income from the event.  All sales tax proceeds go to the County and the State. The city does get some room taxes from the hotels and motels but that is nominal compared to the costs.

In 1992 as I watched the police raid a private house party a student asked me how they knew where the parties were and what would it take to keep the police away.

"Simple enough," I replied.  "I doesn't take a rocket scientist to find the parties.  Signs plastered all over the neighborhood announcing the party with 'all you can drink  beer for $5.00', 37 people hanging out of the window and the porches, 11 people peeing in the bushes and music than can be heard 3 blocks away over the din of State Street's own noise is a fairly good tip off of a party."

I went  on to explain, "Keep in quiet, keep it small, and keep it under control and no one will bother you.  Funny thing is, that kind of party does not rouse the police and it also does not lead to out of control, over the top behavior which gets everyone in trouble."

Come on Madison, does this mean we should get these kids back in the bars where they belong?

Libbygate; Cheneygate; Bushgate, Watergate

I know,  Scooter Libby has not been tried and found guilty, but humor me for a moment.

Since the reign  of Richard Nixon, the pundits have attached a 'gate' to every scandal that came along.  None of theses transgressions, perhaps with the exception of Iran Contragate, deserved to be placed in the same class with Watergate.

Finally we have treachery and crime, of Nixonian proportions. Reaching up into the White House where confidants of the President and the Vice President committed treasonous acts and shredding, trampling , and desecrating the Constitution we have the Bush ignobility to measure against Nixon.

Once again a President is marching down a dangerous path pursuing an unpopular war, fertilized by lies and deception.  The American people no longer buy the nonsense that things are going well.

The Administration, watching support rapidly deteriorating in the center is targeting enemies who question the War.  Is it Vietnam or Iraq?  No that is no the question.  The questions for the President and Vice President are What did they know and When did they know it?

The question for the American people is, "How much more of this is going on?"

Presidential Seal

For those interested in irritating the White House and President Bush, get your own Presidential Seal suitable for framing, acting like you know something, or impersonating  The Onion.

It will keep you in good company with the New York Times and the American media as we discover that the never ending war on humor is more important than stopping terrorism.

Don't forget to post your Presidential Seal on you own blog, website, and bumper.

 

For those in need of variety in Presidential seals, we provide :

Chicago White Sox

I went to my first Chicago White Sox game in 1952.  There were certain things I learned as immutable laws of nature.  The Yankees would almost always be the world champions and the White Sox would never win a World Series.  And certainly I would never get a seat to a ball game that cost anywhere near a $100.

I saw the first game of this year's World Series which the White Sox won.  My baseball life is complete except for one thing.

Minnie Minoso has to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.  This White Sox star is considered by Bill James to be the greatest  leftfielder in the American League of the 1950's after Ted Williams and the tenth greatest of all time in both leagues. Minoso payed in the Negro Leagues with the NY Cubans and then started out in the majors at the age of 28.  He played too short a period in both leagues to get the recognition he deserved. His major league statistics after the age of 28 until his retirement  (the first one) are simply outstanding.

Chuck Chvala

Chuck Chvala entered guilty pleas today.  My recollections of him are not good.  In the mid 1990's the city of Madison was in need of state government support in the face of rising poverty and crime. Chavla wanted me to go away and stop raising tough issues. I would not play  his game.  Capitulation and silence were unacceptable.

I battled with him for the better part of the eight years I was mayor from 1989-1997.  We all lost.  I earned  a reputation as being combative with the legislature; he has plead guilty to crimes; and most important the city of Madison never got the support it needed.

The city effectively dealt with the housing and poverty, but we could have done a lot better if we had some support from so called progressives in the state capitol.

I wrote about Chvala's performance in June, 2002.

Here is a portion of it.

Somewhere along the way Chuck forgot his purpose in the Legislature and the role he should be playing in furthering social and economic justice. There is no question that he plays an important and vital role in ensuring a woman's right to choose and that he works for funding of public education. But those are now minor footnotes to the story of his abuse of power...

Our values as progressives need a champion who can do better than the "you've-got-to-pay-to-play" dealing that has corrupted the Capitol.

Our goals need a defender, not a censor.

Our state needs a leader, not a vindictive potentate.

There was a time when Democrats and in fact most legislators in both houses and both parties welcomed debate and actually measured the value of legislation by the good it did for Wisconsin, not by the good it would do for their efforts to accumulate power -- and campaign contributions.

Debate in the legislature used to focus on values and principles, not on campaign funding or retaliation.

It is hard to believe that the parties of Bob La Follette, Gaylord Nelson and Warren Knowles would sink to such bitter, evil deeds as we have seen exposed over the past year.

... This practice has evolved over the last 15 years, during which powerful legislative leaders have used their ability to collect special interest money to force individual members of their caucuses into line, and it has become more and more important in determining the course of public policy.

Legislative leaders like Jensen and Chvala need a system of punishment and rewards to tighten their grip on the legislative process. Without such an iron fist, it is possible that their colleagues might follow the desires of their constituents, other leaders within their respective political parties, or -- horrors -- their consciences.

...Chuck Chvala may still be the champion of the right to choose for women. ..

...The Chuck Chvala way is not the Wisconsin way. It is not good government. It does not offer good lessons for our children. It is small, petty and petulant.

...Chvala not only poisoned the well, but he leads and instructs others to do the same. Intimidated by his actions, his colleagues in the Legislature adopt and imitate his behavior until they too lose their sense of purpose, their sense of dignity, and their sense of right and wrong.

The culture of the Wisconsin Legislature has deteriorated so that good men and women caught up in the quest for power lower their standards of behavior to the point where, once discovered, they cannot "play." Just ask Sen. Brian Burke, a Democrat who was forced to withdraw from the race for attorney general, or Sen. Kevin Shibilski, a Democrat who has to wonder if he will lose the nomination for lieutenant governor for his association with Chvala and the pay-to-play shenanigans that now seem to define legislative service. 

...In the meantime, however, the rest of us -- especially Democrats -- must end the silence... ...Otherwise we will all be silenced by Chuck Chvala and his pay-to-play politics.

Rosa Parks

Some believe that one person cannot change the course of human events. They argue that even  without Hitler, a Nazis Germany would evolve in the 1930's.  They argue that no Lee Harvey Oswald, and the 1960's as we know it , would still grow an angry black power movement, and a once idealistic generation would become disenchanted carrying the burden of Vietnam.

Undoubtedly, even without Hitler, anti-Semitism and some form of fascism would grip Germany in the 1930's and 40's.  No doubt even if Kennedy had lived, the 1960's would become turbulent.

And no doubt there would have been a civil rights movement without Rosa Parks. But the silent nobility of one woman did change the course of history.  It gave birth to a non-violent movement, it accelerated the demand for justice for all, and it grew great leaders who acknowledged her courage.

We could use a Rosa Parks today.  Maybe two or three. Cindy Sheehan might be one.  Do we have two more volunteers?  Rosa Parks would thank you.

Garbage-Public or Private?

Garbage collection is the usual poster child for proving that privatization is more efficient than public services.  In virtually every study conducted by conservative think tanks, the inescapable conclusion is that private services are cheaper.  And they are correct, until we get to a very significant point.

There is a problem with this analysis.  Imagine cruising down a suburban street.  No parked cars, no overhead wires, and no obstructions in the terraces like trees, and sign poles.   It is a garbage collection dream.  The truck zips along the curb from house to house and neatly picks up the garbage with few impediments.  Oh, and very little traffic.

Back in the city, the truck is dodging bicyclists, the heavy morning rush hour traffic, and additional numerous obstructions. The streets, relative to the traffic lanes are much narrower.  If the collection system uses a mechanical arm for dumping the special containers, it loses the efficiency as it can rarely make a clean grab.  Even after maneuvering the truck into position, the adjacent parked cars, street sign poles and assorted terrace obstructions get is the way minimizing the systems efficiency.

Add snow and ice to this mess and the cost of collection rises even more.

There is the flaw is the privatization studies.  The greatest frequency of private garbage collection is in the suburbs. The highest use of private collection is in the south. Public collection systems are in the northern cities, the land of snow and ice and not the southern cities or the suburbs. All the privatization studies prove is that it is cheaper to collect in the south, not the north, cheaper in the suburbs, not the cities.

Anyone who ever collected garbage knows it is about three times more costly to collect in an urban environment than a pristine suburb. The folks in the think tanks ought to try it.

Underworld, Overworld

Last winter I re-read Eight Men Out, the story of my wonderful Chicago White Sox and their destiny with larcenous thugs in both the underworld and the overworld.  I started the book from the perspective of a sports fan; I finished it with perspective of a student of history who wanted to know the story of organized crime in America. As the year progressed I read my way across the United States on my business and personal trips, occasionally stopping in bookstores like Powell's in Portland, Kaleidoscope Books in Ann Arbor, and of course Paul's Bookstore in Madison owned by our wonderful friend, Carol Askins.

The sojourn led me to a dozen books, the best were:Gus Russo's The Oufit, The Big Bankroll: The Life and Times of Arnold Rothstein , The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Gangster in America .

It was fascinating to read about the structure and method of operation of the underground. Strategies and tactics used in the old world found effective results in America by immigrants and their sons.  Traditional practice of bribing public officials was the cornerstone of every operation. Money to look the other way, money to pass favorable laws, money to create islands exempt from traditional regulation, money to overlook prosecutions, money to buy elections that emanated from old world practices which were in some instances designed to protect the family from oppressive rulers, emperors and corrupt police.

If you look at the modern political landscape we see that the overworld has perfected these techniques, principally with legal campaign contributions. The money buys the same results. It no longer goes into the personal wallets of the governing, it now goes into their campaign committees.  The results are the same.

Other books of interest that will teach more about American politics that you care to know ,include: Double Cross : The Explosive, Inside Story of the Mobster Who Controlled America, biography of Sam Giancana, The Violent Years: Prohibition and the Detroit Mobs (Gangsters and Rum Runners), Accardo : The Genuine Godfather by William F. Roemer, Jr., The Luciano Story,  Guns and Roses: The Untold Story of Dean O'Banion, Chicago's Big Shot before Al Capone , and The Rise and Fall of the Cleveland Mafia : Corn Sugar and Blood.

Is this a great country we live in or what?

Privatization By the Left: First in a Series

Here is what we have in Madison for local support for public parks and recreational activities.

Beaches are free and open to everyone; the pool will have a graduated fee based on income.

Tennis courts are free and available on a first come first serve basis

Softball diamonds are free and open to everyone Except:

Softball leagues pay a fee and get the best, nicely improved diamonds reserved for their games. Non-Madison residents are limited per team figuring there should be a preference for city residents who subsidize the program.

Golf is open to everyone; there is a fee and the golf courses, unlike the other sports, operate with no public subsidy. The fees must make the courses self sufficient.

Ice skating with shelters are available to the public for free.

Indoor Ice skating rinks for recreational skating, figuring skating and recreational and organized hockey were publicly operated with fees designed to pay most overhead and some public subsidy.  They are now private.

Frisbee greens are free and therefore subsidized.

Some sports are expected to be self supporting, others subsidized either with general funds or by lower fees based on income?  It was a very left wing city council that voted to privatize the ice rinks.

The advantages of privatization: sometimes lower costs usually from non-union salaries. A claim, not also true, of  greater efficiency. The advantage of public operation: greater public access with a value placed on public subsidy to ensure that accessibility.

In the efficiency- cost debate, the public and that includes the left often forget the original purpose of government:  To provide services to all regardless of income, to have a democratic process for distributing community resources, and to make sure that private market forces to not determine community priorities because there were other values more highly prized.  Those values usually include public health, education and safety.

There was also a realization that public participation in the process of these activities was as much a critical factor in the creation of the product.  A fine example is parents actively involved in the public school system.

More to follow.