Paul Soglin: Waxing America

More Great Ideas for Eliminating the Right To Vote

Racine mayoral candidate Jody Harding wrote last year, complaining that people who do not pay taxes should not have the right to vote Henny Penny and the Right to Vote

The large (and growing) segment of our society that is living off government handouts is voting to decide how that government is run.  They are voting to decide how tax dollars - dollars to which they do not contribute - are spent...

... I believe that any individual who is receiving a government subsidy should lose his/her right to vote for as long as s/he receives that subsidy.

Not much doubt about this one. We can return to 1790's when only white male property owners would have the right to vote.

But imagine all of the glorious groups of Americans that will be disenfranchised:

• All of the executives and of the banks and insurance companies that were part of the first $800 million bailout will lose the right to vote.
• They will be joined by all of the automobile manufacturers and capitalists who benefited form the second bailout.
• Anyone who has unpaid parking tickets, since that debt to the government is really a free loan so long as it is unpaid.
• Of course, any property owner who owes real estate taxes loses the right to vote along with those who fail to pay their income taxes - another form of government subsidization.
• Recipients  of tax incremental financing (TIF) along with any form of development tax break clearly qualifies as  a subsidy and would lead to disenfranchisement.
• I suppose Jody might argue about this next one, but anyone who gets a bloated, fat, government contract without a bidding process like Blackwater should also lose the right to vote.

 

 

The Threat To Arts With Overture Failure - Return the $30 Million

Lost in the discussion about the Overture Center problems is the threat to community-based performing artists in Madison.

Between the old Civic Center and the transitioning Bartell Theater, the city of Madison provided a home to children and adults to participate in the production of the performing arts. They built sets, operated sound systems, performed, and directed. Some went on to professional careers, some continued to be involved into their 80's and 90's, and others simply became the backbone of a community audience that purchased tickets.

While the Bartell will continue to provide a strong home for a number of theatrical companies, it appears that the facilities that constituted the old Civic Center are lost, most likely forever. CTM is a shell of its former self, and the Madison Repertory Theater, staggering all winter, is on its back and listening to the count of ten quickly approaching.

This is about $30 million. This is about $30 million of public dollars given away and gone.

Madison Mayor Susan Baumann, fearful of the responsibility of operating the proposed Overture Center, did agree to give, as part of Madison's "contribution" to the project, the land and buildings that made up the Madison Civic Center.

We have already seen the flawed planning and design that damaged the community-based performing arts when the city was taken out of the planning process. Overture Center: Where It Went Wrong

Lost in all of the discussion about Overture's future is the central point that Madison lost its Civic Center and more important the State Street home for local performing arts groups, the programming that went on in the Crossroads, and the community based use of its rooms from the ground to the third floor.

Most observers are taking a hands off approach.

Whether it be bankruptcy or some new merged structure which uses state funds through the University of Wisconsin, every elected official in the city of Madison must commit to the return of the $30 million so that the city can go about the business of investing in community arts.

$30 million of city public property was given away, and it is about to be given away again. The city of Madison is in a position to stop any deal or bail out.

There is a mandatory bottom line. Return of the city's money - it belongs to the taxpayers of the city of Madison who built and operated the Civic Center for twenty years.

"Secretary of Agrispinculture" Vilsack Dedicates Fake "People's Garden"

Obama Foodarama is all over this one.  On President's Day, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack's PR machine had him pose with a jackhammer and dedicate 1250 square feet of concrete near USDA headquarters in DC into a "People's Garden."  Produce grown there would be donated to DC foodbanks, educational programs would be sited there, and the idea would travel to USDA facilities around the country and around the world. Upon investigation by Obama Foodarama, it turns out that

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack's asphalt-bustin' publicity stunt for Lincoln's Birthday Bicentennial morphs from jackhammering pavement to a global veggie garden extravaganza, complete with ropin' the First Lady in, a fake picture on USDA's website, a fake composting program, fake plans for the garden, fake plans to donate vegetables to DC foodbanks, and new, fake comments about the project posted on USDA's website. It's The People's Gardengate!

Read the whole post for the lip service the USDA project gives to sustainable food. There's no budget, no staff, and no real plan: the one they held up for the cameras was a years-old plan for an ornamental memorial to a USDA employee killed in Iraq. Entirely a Vilsack publicity stunt, or in more modern terms, a media event. And of course, once called on it, the USDA website regarding the event was edited and modified to include food in the garden.

So good luck with that White House organic food garden plan, and with the organic White House farmer from Madison, too.

- Barry Orton

Twitter This

I am holding out and not signing up for Twitter. Enough is enough.

I started onto this entire Internet adventure in the early 1990's when I bought my first PC and signed up for CompuServe.  CompuServe was invaluable when traveling in the early 1990's, since it had the best dial-up network throughout the country. Far superior to AOL, which I never joined.

I moved on to various applications such as Yahoo, which I still launch on startup, Netscape, and Google- my favorite search engine.

I migrated from Microsoft Explorer to Firefox.

I have five yahoo emails, one hotmail, but no gmail. I have this blog, and my own domain and email for Soglin Consulting.

When social networking caught on I first used CompuServe's system and then looked at Yahoo's Profile and IM.

Enough was enough when it came to social networking.

While I ignored MySpace, I did explore youtube when my daughters' acting was recorded and posted. I was late to join Facebook and having just gotten the hang of it, joined Linkedin last week, after pestering from numerous friends.

In reviewing my evolution, I love Facebook for bringing me in touch with friends I had not spoken with in over forty years, and for knowing what they are doing now. I do appreciate the posts about the vacations, the pictures of the children and grandchildren, and the social, cultural, and political commentary.

The blog, the business website, and the one week of Linkdin did not bring a single business opportunity.

Now I see everyone is Twittering.

Well, Twitter Tweet this. No.

How We Know Russ Feingold's Constitutional Amendment Proposal Is A Good Idea

Because George Will is against it.  Feingold's proposal to assure that Senatorial vacancies are filled by popular election rather than appointment is here.

- Barry Orton

Fairer Wisconsin In the Making: An Invitation to WMC

Key components of Governor Doyle's budget are the domestic registry for same-sex couples and the extension of health insurance and related benefits to the domestic partners of state and university employees.

It would be nice if there was bipartisan support for the proposal.

When state voters unfortunately adopted the constitutional amendment in 2006 depriving Wisconsinites of the right to a same-sex marriage, we were assured that it did not preclude registries, or extending benefits as proposed by the Governor.

The benefit question is not of importance to just the directly effected households. It impacts the University of Wisconsin, which has already lost brilliant researchers and educators who could not obtain heath coverage for their partners.

That in turn, adversely impacts not only the moral health but the economic health of the state.

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) recently published a draft of Moving Wisconsin Forward . The document speaks of making the state economically competitive and supporting the University of Wisconsin.

As a specific strategy to further those goals, WMC must support this proposal.

Streaming the Academy Awards - Oscar Has A Headache

Sean Penn not Mickey Rourke.

Someone needs to tell Angelina Jolie that she has shmutz on her left arm.

I have it on good authority that Rourke selected Miley Cyrus' dress.

Penelope Cruz is hot and her dress is a lesson for Miley.

The guy doing the interviews for ABC is confusing me - is he more an idiot or an embarrassment?

Hugh Jackman is reallyyyyy good.

YEAH Penelope ........they were right, beautiful and a great comedienne.

That's one for Milk (screenplay). Yeah great start. I wonder how those who do not support equal rights feel about the Oscars - they probably blame the problems of the world on Hollywood,..but then who do you blame for the war in Iraq?

The musical number was great. My family is ridiculing me because I once called Beyonce something like Beonce. They keep calling me Mr. Bobinsky.

Action films.  Boring.

Madison's Second Aldermanic District: Maniaci Surprises, So Does Walsh

When the municipal election season started a few months ago in Madison, like many, I figured the hot races would be the student dominated Eighth District, which I represented from 1968-1973, and the near west side Fifth District.

With a strong finish Tuesday, Bridget Maniaci makes the Second District race against incumbent Brenda Konkel the most fun for those of us with nothing better to do than study all of the nuances of local elections.

John Nichols Weighs In

When avid Konkel supporter, John Nichols of The Capital Times writes, Is Konkel in trouble? How did Maniaci do it?, you know we will have fun for another six weeks.

So is Konkel in trouble? After all, her opponents collected almost 60 percent of the vote.

And Maniaci's relatively strong finish could draw Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, who famously sought to recruit a challenger for Konkel, into the race...Bottom-line: Konkel still has significant advantages, but this is a very serious contest.

Maniaci's strong second place finish was the first surprise this week, but the announcement by Adam  Walsh who finished third, that he might support Konkel also made heads turn.

The Phantom Walsh Endorsement

Despite his later denials, Walsh did mount his aldermanic bid with a firm anti-Konkel thrust. In a move that left his supporters mildly dazed and confused he did a post-election about face and thought of endorsing the incumbent.

I think.

First he said he was thinking of doing it, then he was supposed to have done it - all rather fuzzy. I wish there was decent documentation as to his position.

If he should endorse, Konkel, such a move is not all that unusual -though often career damaging.

Given that the incumbent was expected to win, Walsh lost to Maniaci, not Konkel. This is not the first time, or the last, that a frustrated candidate took out the post election blues on another challenger.

Of course, if Walsh makes the endorsement it will probably have little impact on the election. While a Konkel-Walsh team will undoubtedly find a few of his supporters to showcase, from the ones I spoke with, not an insignificant number, none of this changes their views as to the need for new representation in the district. That is what they thought Walsh stood for.

Walsh has to think this out not just in terms of the impact on this election but his own political future.

Meantime the next surprise may be what happens when an examination of the Konkel - Maniaci positions unfolds. From what I have seen to date, there is not that much difference in the platforms and the race may come down to effectiveness. 

District Voice

For Konkel to win, she probably needs to convince the district that the entire city needs her kind of leadership.

For Maniaci to win, she need to convince the second district that it needs her kind of leadership. 

Let Them Turn Down the Stimulus Funds in Louisiana, South Carolina

A number of Republican governors might reject federal stimulus funds. GOP governors consider turning down stimulus money:

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A half-dozen Republican governors are considering turning down some money from the federal stimulus package.

None has actually rejected the available funds. But the governors of Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alaska, South Carolina and Idaho have all questioned whether the $787 billion bill will even help the economy.

I hope they do.

For two reasons.

First it will leave more funds available for the remaining states to accelerate their economic recovery.

Secondly, and more importantly, it will provide researchers the opportunity to determine if government investment in infrastructure accelerates private sector investment and consequently grows the economy. The study will require demanding and rigorous standards. Comparisons need to be done of each state's economic health. Some state's will more wisely spend the funds than others. The states that reject stimulus funds will undoubtedly get some benefit from the investment activity in neighboring states. The local effort of each state needs measurement.

At the end of a few years, economists and social scientists should be able to measure the differences and have one more piece of evidence to document that public investment in infrastructure and in human capacity improves an economy. 

This Is The Kind of Art We Really Like

Zilly Rosen is our favorite new artist.  Her portrait of presidents Obama and Lincoln, titled "A New Birth of Freedom," was on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum for just over six hours two weeks ago, and then the gallery audience destroyed it by eating its content: 5900 cupcakes. Our favorite new food quality blog, Obama Foodarama, is all over the story.

 

Also, check out their coverage of the Peanut Corporation of America scandal, with a timeline here.  The peanut butter from their now-closed Texas plant was (gasp!) certified organic.

- Barry Orton