Paul Soglin: Waxing America

Wigderson: Shoot First, Ask Questions Later

About once or twice a year Jim Wigderson and I find an opening to take a pot shot at one another. Today Jim links to me and adds his post:

Liberals mugged

Remember the old joke that a conservative is a liberal that's been mugged? Paul Soglin reports some of his thoughts on his bike ride Sunday,

...The Sunday Wisconsin State Journal has an article about the significant increase in hand guns in Madison. I spent a good part of the ride mulling over what it will take to convince city leaders that crime and poverty are of major proportions.

Whether or not the city leaders have figured it out, it's clear the residents have. Thank goodness they still have the 2nd Amendment to make the choice to defend themselves. (emphasis added).

Too bad Jim shot first and, it appears never bothered to read the article or ask questions. You see, the residents who choose to arm themselves are not the kind of people who ought to have firearms:

Gun-seizure cases by Madison police have climbed nearly a third over the past five years, as officers increasingly find deadly weapons while investigating incidents ranging from traffic stops and domestic disputes to robberies...

....Police records obtained by the Wisconsin State Journal showed a total of 489 weapons and ammunition caches seized across the city from 2002-06, about half of them handguns. Police also confiscated at least 92 shotguns and 113 rifles.

Cases in which guns and/or ammunition were taken rose from 47 in 2002 to 61 in 2006, with a high of 72 in 2005. The rise in the past two years has been fueled largely by gang and drug problems in Allied Drive and other troubled neighborhoods on the West Side.

In some cases, the guns were seized because they were used to commit crimes, including weapons offenses, robberies or homicides. Many other times, officers found illegal guns while investigating something else - such as a traffic crash, a family dispute or a drug crime.

Many were seized by the Dane County Narcotics and Gang Task Force, led by Madison police Lt. Sandy Theune, in searches of the homes or vehicles of drug suspects.

Because many drug dealers are assumed to carry guns - and because it's illegal for anyone with a felony conviction to have one - the task force routinely seeks permission in its search warrants to take both drugs and illegal guns.

"We're looking for guns and we are seizing them as we can," Theune said. "It does seem like we are seeing a lot of guns. It's a pretty consistent thing." (emphasis added)

Wigderson supports a real nice collection of thugs pursuing their Second Amendment rights.

Handguns -Two Stories

Two major stories today involving handguns, one from the Wisconsin State Journal and the other from CBS' Sixty Minutes.

In a front page story we learn : Guns here, guns there

Cases in which guns and/or ammunition were taken rose from 47 in 2002 to 61 in 2006, with a high of 72 in 2005. The rise in the past two years has been fueled largely by gang and drug problems in Allied Drive and other troubled neighborhoods on the West Side.

This is just one more serious indicator of the troubling rise in violent crime in Madison. So long as the mayor and and some on the city council think that their foolish pursuit of a failed Inclusionary Zoning policy is the solution to the expanding poverty and crime dilemma facing Madison, we can expect to see more middle class flight.

There seems to be little or no realistic response from a certain portion of Madison's self-appointed left. The only thing as bad is the right-wing Milwaukee response.

Sixty Minutes focused on the ability of mentally ill persons to obtain handguns: Armed And Dangerous:

It is estimated that every year in the U.S., 1,000 homicides are committed by people with mental illness. It’s not supposed to be that way... 

...Massachusetts is one of 28 states that doesn’t supply any information on people with severe mental illness to the FBI database. That was supposed to change after President Reagan and his press secretary, James Brady, were shot and nearly killed by John Hinckley, a man with a history of mental illness.

As a long time advocate for privacy and personal freedom, I am very comfortable requiring the disclosure to law enforcement of those involuntarily committed so that they cannot purchase a firearm.

April 29, 2007 Bicycling Report

Managed 20 miles today, again the wind was a challenge. Observations:

• I use this time, when not looking around, to think of posts for Monday:
  • The interchange collapse in Oakland. I call my brother Jono before the ride and he said that his BART ride into SF will not be affected, expect for the thousands of additional riders who will take public transit. I wonder how we would react if this was a deliberate act of terrorism.
  • The Sunday Wisconsin State Journal has an article about the significant increase in hand guns in Madison.  I spent a good part of the ride mulling over what it will take to convince city leaders that crime and poverty are of major proportions.
  • Gave some thought to a friends who just bought a very nice home at a very nice price on Madison's west side.  They have no school age children and the neighborhood elementary and middle school are overwhelmed by poverty. Some of the near-by apartment complexes have crime that was unimaginable ten years ago.
  • The Saudis say we are turning the Gitmo detainees into terrorists. I don't have much use for the Saudi government but they sound credible on this one.
  • The Yankees are mired in last place in the American League East. April does not, a whole season make, but I am enjoying it.  Many times over. And they are losing again today.
  • The Turkish people are angry about the religious conservatives running the government. The Turkish army is threatening a coup. I have to think about this one. Am I actually sympathetic to a military coup, if it is necessary? This needs more thought.
• Rachael graduated from Michigan yesterday. They misspelled her name and omitted her from the list of honors graduates. It's not the end of the world. She has to decide between LA and NYC. I am going to keep my mouth quiet and support whatever decision she makes for her acting career. She was brilliant last year in Urinetown. I hope to see her again as Little Sally. How could the Wisconsin State Journal reviewer of the UW production not mention Little Sally?  Was the performance that non-descript?
• Ian Kinsler is holding my fantasy league baseball team together. I am thinking of trading some of my speed for more power.
• Saw a  bird flying toward the UW Arboretum. It seemed as though its neck and head, its body, and its legs each constituted one third of its length. I think it was a crane. I know nothing about birds.
• More bicyclists were wearing helmets today.
• I took the trail by Nine Springs. It was almost thirty years ago that city and county officials banded together to purchase the E-way, the brain child of Phil Lewis. What a marvelous legacy. I felt proud to be part of it.
• Most dangerous bicyclist: crossing a bridge on the Causeway, this goof-ball decided he had to ride next to his friend, right in the middle of my lane. It took a loud "On Coming!" to get him to move.
• Most interesting bicyclist. Just when you think you have seen it all in Madison. It was not just the little black dress. It was the accessories and that include the black patterned tights emerging from her knee high boots with three inch heels.  I asked her if she was comfortable and she said the boots and the short, tight  little dress were not a problem but the wind was most troublesome. She rode into town last night and spent the night with a friend.  She wore a scarf over her curls but no helmet. Very cool.

Wisconsin Public Television's "Here and Now" Features "Video Competition" Bill, Illinois Beetles, Invasive Species

Tonight's "Here and Now," on Wisconsin Public Television, leads its show tonight (Friday; 7 pm and again Sunday 10:30 am or watch it here) with the "Video Competition" bill. The rest of the show featured contaminated firewood from Illinois, invasive species on the Great Lakes, and a commentary regarding the tragedy at Virginia Tech.  A pattern here?

Yesterday Andy Moore called and chatted about the video bill, then asked if I would tape a segment for the show.  I agreed and when asked, suggested Thad Nation of TV4us as an advocate for the  legislation.

A couple hours before the 3 pm taping today, Andy emailed me that the taping would be with Sen. Jeff Plale live in the Milwaukee studio.  OK. Guess I better put on a tie.  I grab my clipping of the April 24 Capital Times editorial with Sen. Plale's picture and the headline: "Foul Smell of Campaign Cash," stuff it into my AB 207/SB 107 key document folder to have with me in the studio.

The taping flashes by, and Sen. Plale, Fred Freyberg and I bat around the bill for a few minutes on TV. Sen. Plale had no tie. I successfully resist waving the clipping after Sen. Plale parried Fred's obligatory question about AT&T contributions and the bill. It was all very civil.  Maybe we explained a few things to the audience; maybe we confused them further. TV4us never came up, so I failed to use "sockpuppet" on television.

At the end, pressed for time, I blurted out the key thing I wanted to say:  the Public Service Commission has expertise already on staff to do real oversight of video services.  The  DFI, which largely handles banking, has no one on staff who could even identify which of the wires on the nearest pole was electric, which was telephone, and which was cable TV.  And that's the point of this bill.

I also wanted to go over details of the real costs of DATCP's authority under the current version of the bill, and argue that state taxpayers will wind up footing over a million dollars of consumer protection once  satellite services are included in their mandate. No time.  Maybe I'll get into it on Public Radio Monday morning 7:30 am-8 am on Joy Cardin's show.

- Barry Orton

HOW TO SUPPORT "THE TROOPS": Stanley I. Kutler

From the Open University of the New Republic:

President Bush has reiterated his oft-repeated assertion that we must support the troops. He must not be allowed to monopolize "patriotism," "the flag," and "the troops." The rest of us can pay our respect to the idea of the nation, in our own mindful way, and as we see fit. On his own grounds, however, the president has a lot to answer for.

He can begin to support our troops by a) apologizing to the family of Pat Tillman; 2) apologizing to Jessica Lynch and her family; and c) apologizing to the soldiers and their families who are going through the enormous burden of three tours of duty. He can then hold a photo-op at Walter Reed Hospital, pledge to rid the hospital of its rat-infestation, and then apologize to the wounded veterans and their families for his administration's lack of support.

The president likes to dismiss Congress--meaning Democrats who are not loyal to his war--for asserting its constitutional powers. "Micro-Managers," he scoffs, in his best patronizing manner. He insists that we listen to our military leaders, and not Congress/Democrats. Well, he might remember that he removed Generals George Casey and John P. Abizaid precisely because he did not want to listen to them. They did not tell him what he wanted to hear. Unfortunately for Bush, he cannot so simply dismiss Congress.

AT&T Bill Rammed Through Wisconsin Assembly; Senate Follows the Law and Refers Bill to Joint Finance

In a marathon session yesterday, the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Assembly defeated over two dozen Democratic-sponsored amendments on party-line votes and passed AT&T's "video competition" bill, AB 207.  The Senate, on the other hand, followed state law and referred SB 107, its version of the bill, to the Joint Finance Committee for consideration of the costs to the taxpayers of Wisconsin.

Scott Bauer, writing for the AP, focused on the cost to the state:

... Majority Leader Judy Robson, D-Beloit, said a Joint Finance Committee review was needed to see what impact the bill would have on the state's $58 billion budget. Cost estimates have ranged from nothing to more than $600,000, she said.

Rules require any bill costing more than $10,000 to go through the committee, Robson said.

Under the bill, the state Department of Financial Institutions would license video service providers while another agency, the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, would handle consumer calls and complaints.

The bill also would extend consumer protections to satellite TV for the first time.

Barry Orton, a University of Wisconsin-Madison telecommunications professor and consultant to local governments, said he estimates the change would cost the state at least $1 million.

Orton said slowing down consideration of the bill to understand its costs only makes sense.

"The state has to take into account the cost to taxpayers," he said. "The budget implications can't be ignored."

A Republican member of the Assembly, Leah Vukmir of Wauwatosa, disagreed, blogging at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that:

The bill did not need further review by JFC. AB207 had already gone through the committee process where, after a long public hearing and a great deal of compromise, it was voted out of the Assembly Committee on Energy and Utilities on a vote of 9-1. In the Senate, the companion legislation, SB 107, passed on a vote of 7-0.

The hard work for any bill gets done at the committee level and Rep. Phil Montgomery (R-Green Bay) and Sen. Jeff Plale (D-South Milwaukee) did their level best to ensure the process was fair and thorough. This bipartisan bill was ready for passage when it came to the floor today.

Sure it was, except for the small matter of the Legislature's rules requiring the costs to Wisconsin taxpayers to be considered by Joint Finance, except for the inability of municipalities, access operations and the public to be in the room when the bill's language was written, and except for the bill's critics being browbeaten at every opportunity by Rep. Montgomery at the only public hearing.

Rep. Vukmir's posts on this subject took a further turn away from reality when she wrote:

As I’ve watched the debate on video franchising, all parties – save for the municipalities (emphasis mine) have acted in good-faith, committed to the competition and benefits to the consumer. Time Warner, AT&T and a variety of other providers are poised to compete not just at price points, but on customer service as well.

Sure, those municipalities, frozen out of the bill drafting, acted in bad faith. But then Rep. Vukmir wandered closer to the truth:

A wise and rightly cynical public may be wondering what all of the fuss is about. Who are these TV4US people and are they really on my side? The answer: yes, and no. AT&T and other telephone companies want to actively compete with the cable companies who are now offering digital telephone service to subscribers. The phone companies want to make money and that is the driving force behind this push. (emphasis mine)

(This blogging stuff is new to Rep. Vukmir; looks like her staff forgot to have the AT&T flacks edit this paragraph - or maybe they were all busy working the Capitol.  You couldn't throw a Nerf ball under the dome without hitting an AT&T or cable company lobbyist the last couple of days.)

The Capital Times yesterday had a good editorial on AT&T, their money, and this bill:

The legislation is an indefensible mess. It was written to serve the interests of the industries that are supposed to be regulated rather than Wisconsin consumers and communities. While there is no question that arguments can be made for changes in the way cable operations are regulated, this is the wrong plan at the wrong time.

Indeed, it is so wrong that supporters have been forced to pour a fortune into an advertising campaign designed to make Wisconsinites think they are getting a better deal -- when in fact Plale's plan makes it harder for citizens and municipalities to hold communications firms to account.

...Everything about this proposed legislation smells rotten.

But the stench that would rise from the Capitol if members who were recently lavished with AT&T money voted in favor of the company's top legislative priority would be even more foul.

- Barry Orton

Again, Lying Is the Culture War Divide

On March 27th I wrote:

Then there is the real cultural war. Lying. It is done by both Democrats and Republicans. There are outright lies, lies of omission, and lies of misattribution...

...Lying is the new cultural divide. It is time to declare war.

Literate and erudite Waxing America readers wrote in suggesting I was wrong* with their own recommendations for the biggest lies in the post Viet Nam era:

• Tom DeLay asserting his take-no-prisoners-refusal-to-retreat macho crap.
• A plethora of lies submitted by Charles H:  Katrina, Iraq, Darfur, AIDS, incarceration rates, poverty, homophobia, crumbling public infrastructures, media consolidation, global warming...

In any case I am now convinced that the Bush Administration takes first place for the combined number of lies and the gravity of the offenses.

These people not only endanger millions of lives but they have no sense of decency. From Tuesday's s news:

• Agency investigating Rove's political operation....A small federal agency responsible for safeguarding federal employees from political coercion has launched an extensive investigation into the activities of the White House's political operation and its architect, Karl Rove...
• Tillman case cover-up alleged...In a poignant condemnation of one of the compelling myths of the current wars, the brother of Pat Tillman bitterly accused the U.S. military Tuesday of consciously deceiving the public and the family of the football-star-turned-Army-Ranger to promote a story of heroism that suited its purposes...
• Bush Says Gonzales Did `Nothing Wrong' in Firings ... President George W. Bush said he's confident that U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales did ``nothing wrong'' in the firings of eight federal prosecutors and said Iraq's leader is meeting U.S. expectations.

*"I did not have sex with that woman."

2006 Texas Hunting Accident Report-Cheney Drives Up Numbers

I called the Texas Department of natural resources to see what happened to the 2006 Annual Hunting Accident report which would include Dick Cheney blowing away his friend's face. It seems it has been available seen February, but was not posted on line. We will provide the link here, when it appears. In the meantime, let me share with you the salient items. 

No report is complete without the cover page.

Page Two Shows us that hunter accidents rose in Texas from 31 in 2005 to 32 in 2006. In other words, Vice President Cheney single handily (or was that with two hands) drove up the annual hunter accident total.

Then came the documentation of each 2006 Non-Fatal Accident (for those unsure, it is the 2-11 report from Kenedy County:

Tammy Baldwin Joins Judiciary Committee and Stays on Commerce and Energy As Well: A Huge Jump in Influence

Speaker Nancy Pelosi just named Representative Tammy Baldwin to the House Judiciary Committee, a committee she served on previously. Among other things, Judiciary will be delving further into the US Attorneys/Dept. of Justice scandal, and dealing with intellectual property issues. Tammy will serve on the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security.

Rep. Baldwin gave up Judiciary in the last session to move up to the powerful Energy and Commerce Committee. She's also being allowed to keep her seat on Commerce and Energy, which is highly unusual.

This is a huge step up in position for Tammy. She just got called up from AAA ball to The Show. She's now in the majority on two of the House's most powerful committees. Her influence (and ours) has at least doubled. This is big news for her constituents.

I can understand the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel burying the story, but this really matters in Madison.  The State Journal found a little box someplace in the back of the local section for a few sentences. Can't even find it online. Curiously, the story didn't seem to make the Capital Times at all. Maybe Thursday in Isthmus.

- Barry Orton

AT&T's "Video Competition" Bill Still Fundamentally Flawed

This is the week that AT&T expects to push its "video franchise reform" bill through the greased Wisconsin Legislature.  If you doubted that this is AT&T's bill, Sunday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had the story:

Communications giant AT&T pushed a controversial bill to have state government license cable systems by showering more than $54,000 in campaign cash on dozens of lawmakers and Gov. Jim Doyle over the past 15 months.

Campaign-finance records show that AT&T's political action committee gave a total of $10,000 to four legislators and the Assembly Republican Campaign Committee in the past two months, when legislators negotiated details of the complex package with AT&T's 15 registered lobbyists.

While I've praised the improvements that Assembly and Senate committees made last week, the bill is still fundamentally flawed in several ways:

Consumers will not save the amounts AT&T sock-puppet "TV4us" claims.  Price wars will be short-lived, and both cable and phone video providers will raise rates regularly after that. Here's a Washington Post story on what happened to rates in Montgomery County.

The bill prohibits the Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) from enforcing any of the bill’s requirements. If a state agency charged with oversight of an industry cannot promulgate rules interpreting the bill’s provisions, cannot establish procedures for enforcing its requirements, and cannot meaningfully review the performance of its franchisees, it truly can be said to be powerless.  The DFI could issue a franchise, file it in a cabinet in perpetuity, and little else.  The Public Service Commission is the place to oversee state video franchises; the DFI is the place to NOT oversee them.

Despite improvements, local public, education, and government (PEG) channels will still be hurt. Specifically, the bill's current version will cause Ashwaubenon, Sheboygan, Stevens Point, and West Allis to lose their PEG funding immediately and Wausau after only one year. 

Wisconsin taxpayers will wind up paying the cost of the minimal state oversight the bill allows.  Fiscal notes estimated over a half-million dollars each year in GPR costs for DFI and DATCP to perform the miniscule oversight the original bill called for.  Last week's amendments restored some consumer protection functions at DATCP, added satellite dishes, and added some new franchise qualification analysis for DFI. A reasonable guess would be that honest new fiscal notes would at least double taxpayers' burden to over a million dollars yearly. Will there be new notes attached to the bill by Tuesday's floor action?  Will Joint Finance get a chance to weigh in? I doubt it.

There are a lot of other problems remaining with the bill, with the biggest the abrogation of existing contracts between cable companies and muncipalities before there is real competition.  We can expect only AT&T and others only to provide service to  a small portion of the state for the next few years, and probably never to large areas of of more rural Wisconsin.  So why remove subscriber protections in places that may never see an alternate wired video service?

At the least, oversight needs to be relocated to the PSC and the Joint Finance Committee needs to review updated fiscal notes on the cost to Wisconsin taxpayers.

AB207/SB 107 isn't soup yet.  Don't let AT&T and its money convince you otherwise.

- Barry Orton