Conyers on Rove - Closing In...

Here is the article.

Conyers: 'We're closing in on Rove'

Just off the House floor today, the Crypt overheard House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers tell two other people: “We’re closing in on Rove. Someone’s got to kick his ass.”

Asked a few minutes later for a more official explanation, Conyers told us that Rove has a week to appear before his committee. If he doesn’t, said Conyers, “We’ll do what any self-respecting committee would do. We’d hold him in contempt. Either that or go and have him arrested.”

Conyers said the committee wants Rove to testify about his role in the imprisonment of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, among other things.

“We want him for so many things, it’s hard to keep track,” Conyers said.

Milwaukee Small Business Times: We Need Universal Healthcare

It is all here:

Business is just booming in Canada, eh. That message rang loud and clear at the Milwaukee World Trade Association's 44th annual Wisconsin International Trade Conference Tuesday.
...
In 2004, Ontario made automotive history when it surpassed Michigan as the largest automotive producing jurisdiction in North America, according to Ward's Automotive. While Detroit withers, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Suzuki and Toyota have shifted production plants to Canada.

I asked Ward why America is losing so much production and so many jobs to Canada. She did not hesitate with her answer. "Health care."

America has the highest health care costs in the world. I know it deeply disturbs many Wisconsin business leaders to hear it, but Canada's government-paid, universal health care system is an economic competitive asset, when compared with America's mish-mosh system that is part private, part socialistic and all redundant, inefficient and costly.

Ward also noted that Canada has a more tightly regulated mortgage banking system, so its economy has not been nearly as shell-shocked by the subprime collapse as the American economy has been.

Republican Congressional Prospects Continue to Dim

After losing 3 reliably-Republican seats:

Stomping Mad: And NBC's Mike Viqueira reported on Capitol Hill that there were lots of very glum faces among House GOP members this morning as they emerged from their weekly closed-door session. Rep. Tom Davis stomped on the concrete floor of the Capitol basement when asked by reporters about Republican fortunes at the moment. "This is the floor," he said, by way of explanation. "We're below the floor." http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/14/1019748.aspx

A busy day to be Jef(f) Hall

A few highlights from my Google Alerts:

Home of the Week

College Baseball

Jazz Music

Plant Sale Falls Apart

OshNW Covers the Near East Recovery

There are 3 articles:

A neighborhood in transition: City continues work on near east project

Foreclosures, bank owners pose challenges to neighborhood cleanup efforts

Fighting crime in the Near East Neighborhood

Best Band Name Ever...

Big Jef Special


Here's the website.

Conservatives are Happier...

It's all here:

Individuals with conservative ideologies are happier than liberal-leaners, and new research pinpoints the reason: Conservatives rationalize social and economic inequalities.

Regardless of marital status, income or church attendance, right-wing individuals reported greater life satisfaction and well-being than left-wingers, the new study found. Conservatives also scored highest on measures of rationalization, which gauge a person's tendency to justify, or explain away, inequalities.

The rationalization measure included statements such as: "It is not really that big a problem if some people have more of a chance in life than others," and "This country would be better off if we worried less about how equal people are."

Voter ID - Nuns Can't Vote!

About 12 Indiana nuns were turned away Tuesday from a polling place by a fellow sister because they didn't have state or federal identification bearing a photograph.

Sister Julie McGuire said she was forced to turn away her fellow members of Saint Mary's Convent in South Bend, across the street from the University of Notre Dame, because they had been told earlier that they would need such an ID to vote.

The nuns, all in their 80s or 90s, didn't get one but came to the precinct anyway.

...

Late Tuesday, Secretary of State Todd Rokita was unapologetic.

"Indiana's Voter ID Law applies to everyone. From all accounts that we've heard, the sisters were aware of the photo ID requirements and chose not to follow them," he said in a statement released by his office.

Wisconsin Health Care Facts

From the Badger Poll:

• Approximately 45% of Wisconsin residents feel that the health care system in the state has major problems, 44% say it has minor problems, 7% say it is currently in a state of crisis and just 2% say there are no problems.
• 76% favored expanding the eligibility of existing government programs such as BadgerCare and Medicaid to provide coverage for more people without health insurance.
• 65% favored requiring every resident of Wisconsin to attain health insurance, either from their employer or another source, with government subsidies to low-income residents to help them pay for it
• 61% of residents favored replacing the current health care system with a new system administered entirely by state government that covers all Wisconsinites.
• When it comes to how responsible the State of Wisconsin and the Federal Government should be in making sure that all state residents have access to both high quality and affordable health care 44% said the State of Wisconsin should be extremely or quite responsible and 55% said the Federal Government should be extremely or quite responsible.

Healthy WI is here.

The Free Tibet Irony...

From the NYTimes:

It seems that even as the Chinese government was engaged in a massive effort to crush Tibetans and their culture, a factory in the southern Chinese city of Guangdong was manufacturing the very same ?Free Tibet? flags that have been flying in pro-Tibet, anti-Beijing demonstrations all over the world.

According to media reports quoted by the BBC, factory workers didn?t realize the meaning of the colorful flags they were producing in response to overseas orders until they saw protestors carrying the flags on TV. They then called authorities. The factory owner also was quoted as saying he didn?t know the flags stood for an independent Tibet.

The GOP is Bad for the Midwest...

From Krugman's Blog:


You can see that the Midwest was ahead of the US under Carter & Clinton...

An Interesting Way to Generate Electricity...

Read it all here:

POWERLeap is an urban flooring system that harnesses exerted kinetic energy to generate electricity. Its designer, 22-year-old Elizabeth Redmond proposes that heavily trafficked urban areas from sidewalks to airports be carpeted with the tiles she’s designed—they light up as they’re walked upon or can store energy for later use (technical info here). Redmond and her expanding team are working to develop the efficiency of the piezoelectric generators and the energy harvesting system; a custom installation is under discussion between Redmond and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

Both projects have in common a respect for the natural patterns and rhythms of life. And while each may seem small in scale, or a mite earnest in intent, their respective creators succeed in doing something most large scale endeavors rarely do: they recognize how humans and the earth can intersect in a positive way.

More info here.

Income Disparity

Today's fact:

In 2005 the wealthiest 1 percent of the country earned 21.2 percent of all income, according to IRS data, while the bottom 50 percent of all Americans earned just 12.8 percent of all income

Quote of the Day - Robert Reich

Supply-side, trickle-down economics has been a cruel joke, perpetrated on most of us by a cabal intent on justifying widening inequality. Nothing has trickled down except cuts in services.

Taxing and Fairness

Freakonomics takes on taxing and fairness for wealthy vs working people here:

So that got me to thinking about how fair the tax system really is. Do the well-off pay their fair share, or do they also deserve a tax break?

Well, let’s start with the ultra-rich. Bajillionaire Warren Buffett has argued that he isn’t being asked to pay his share. He went around his office, asking people what share of their income they pay in income taxes. Buffett’s 17.7 percent tax rate compared a bit too favorably with the 30 percent tax rate paid by his secretary.

So it appears that the tax system favors the super-rich over working stiffs.

And Buffett went a step further, putting his money where his mouth is. Last November he issued a challenge to his fellow billionaires:

I’ll bet a million dollars against any member of the Forbes 400 who challenges me that the average (federal tax rate including income and payroll taxes) for the Forbes 400 will be less than the average of their receptionists.

So far, no-one has taken him up on this bet.

Winnebago County Medication Disposal Coming

From the OshNW:

Medication collection to be held Tuesday

Operation Take Back Medication, a program to collect unwanted and expired prescriptions and over-the-counter medications, will be held Tuesday at the Oshkosh Seniors Center Annex, 234 N. Campbell St., from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Household pharmaceuticals accepted during the drop-off include prescription and over-the-counter human and pet medication such as pills, capsules, ointments, liquids, sprays, drops, creams, inhalers, vials or any other drug needed for its intended purpose.

The program is held in Calumet, Outagamie, Waupaca and Winnebago counties.

Wisconsin Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee Launch Website/Blog

The Assembly Dems are here (main page) and here (blog).

Link and go there often!

How I Spent My Friday Night

The Hold Steady at Turner Hall:

County seeks drivers to take veterans to medical appointments

County seeks drivers to take veterans to medical appointments

By ALDRICH M. TAN
of The Northwestern

The Winnebago County Veterans Department needs more drivers to transport the growing number of aging veterans.

The office runs a program to transport aging veterans to appointments at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical facilities located in Madison, Milwaukee and Tomah, and clinics in Appleton and Cleveland, said Wendy Conger, benefits specialist for the county's Veterans Department.

Read and volunteer here or here

Funny Story (unless you happen to be the 'victim')

Postal workers attacked by wild turkeys
About five to 10 of the birds have been pecking at the postal workers as they make their rounds, and some of the birds have attacked the letter carriers with the sharp spurs on their legs. One of the birds went through the open door of a mail truck and scratched the driver.

Growing up on the farm in Princeton, that used to be me... Dad had several turkeys that would swarm me when I was 6.

They usually won.

Strike back, Postal Workers!

Petri Votes Against Global AIDS Funding

House Roll Call: Global AIDS Bill
By The Associated Press

The 308-116 roll call Wednesday by which the House passed a global AIDS bill authorizing $50 billion in spending over five years.

A "yes" vote is a vote to pass the bill.

Voting yes were 230 Democrats and 78 Republicans.

WISCONSIN

Democrats Baldwin, Y; Kagen, Y; Kind, Y; Moore, Y; Obey, Y.

Republicans Petri, N; Ryan, N; Sensenbrenner, N.

Details:

The US House of Representatives passed a 5-year, $50 million reauthorization of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) on Wednesday. President Bush originally asked for $30 million for the program in his proposed 2009 budget, but the House expanded the PEPFAR funding by $20 million. The money will be used to fund programs in countries in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean.

A provision requiring one-third of funds to go to abstinence-only programs was removed by the House. However, the bill still requires prevention program funding to be "balanced" between abstinence, fidelity, and condom programs. According to the Daily Women's Health Policy Report, countries spending less than half of their funding on abstinence-only and fidelity programs would have to "explain their decision to Congress." PEPFAR money still may not be used for abortion services; though some funding for HIV services can go to family planning clinics.

The Kaiser Network reports that the reauthorization bill is intended to shift PEPFAR from an emergency relief program to a long-term program. It aims to train 140,000 new health care workers, add nutrition services like clean water programs, provide loans to women widowed by AIDS or who are ostracized because they have AIDS, increase the number of people receiving antiretroviral drugs, and prevent 12 million new HIV cases.

Poorly Named?

Last weekend the Winnebago Peace and Justice Center sponsored an event they titled 'Music and Mayhem'


From Merriam-Webster:

mayhem
Pronunciation: \ˈmā-ˌhem, ˈmā-əm\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English mayme, mahaime, from Anglo-French mahaim mutilation, mayhem, from maheimer, mahaigner to maim, probably of Germanic origin; akin to Middle High German meiden gelding, Old Norse meitha to injure
Date: 15th century

1 a: willful and permanent deprivation of a bodily member resulting in the impairment of a person's fighting ability
b: willful and permanent crippling, mutilation, or disfigurement of any part of the body

2: needless or willful damage or violence

(Emphasis mine)

Could have probably found a better word for the PEACE and JUSTICE Center...

Doonesbury on GOP Fiscal Responsibility...

Too far?

I am all for public information, but do we need a search able pet inventory of all of Oshkosh?

Want to find a rare breed? Look it up. Go get it!

Ex-girlfriend break-up and take your pet? Look up the name and find out where they are now!

I agree that we need to have this information public in the case of an attack. But does it need to be search able to any curious cat in Oshkosh.

I believe the Northwestern has gone a step too far on this one.

Some of their other databases are great... But I think this one could be cut out.

Find it on your own, I'm not linking.

More costs for county voting machines...

We have a resolution before the board tomorrow:

TO THE WINNEBAGO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
WHEREAS, a new help desk support feature has recently been added by Premier Elections to the County Clerk’s election equipment costing $3,250; and
WHEREAS, this feature provides much improved technical support to the department and eliminates per hour charges for calls; and
WHEREAS, memory cards had to be purchased for the voting machines costing a total of $17,000; and
WHEREAS, a hands free telephone would be beneficial when long phone conversations are needed with municipal clerks and election vendor help during very busy elections; and
WHEREAS, these costs were unknown or not anticipated when the 2008 budget was prepared; and
WHEREAS, there are insufficient funds in other accounts in the County Clerk Department to cover these additional costs.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Winnebago County Board of Supervisors that it hereby appropriates $20,600 from the General Fund Undesignated Fund Balance to the following accounts of the County Clerks 2008 budget:

A statement on the Bush Administration's ability to plan...

Paulson on April 20th, 2007:

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Friday the housing market correction appears to be at or near its bottom and that troubles in the subprime mortgage market will not likely spread throughout the economy.

"We've clearly had a big correction in the housing market. Retail housing was growing for some time at a level that was not sustainable," Paulson said in a speech to The Committee of 100, a business group in New York promoting better Chinese relations.

"I don't see (subprime mortgage market troubles) imposing a serious problem. I think it's going to be largely contained," he added.

Krugman makes a great point on the mortgage crisi & impending bailouts...

As I said, the important thing is to bail out the system, not the people who got us into this mess. That means cleaning out the shareholders in failed institutions, making bondholders take a haircut, and canceling the stock options of executives who got rich playing heads I win, tails you lose.

According to late reports on Sunday, JPMorgan Chase will buy Bear for a pittance. That?s an O.K. resolution for this case ? but not a model for the much bigger bailout to come. Looking ahead, we probably need something similar to the Resolution Trust Corporation, which took over bankrupt savings and loan institutions and sold off their assets to reimburse taxpayers. And we need it quickly: things are falling apart as you read this.

It's here

WMC Watch

New website here...

Charles Pierce on National Unity and Bi-Partisanship!

I don't want to come together with these people. I want them in irons until they tell me where my country went.

Penny is out-raising Wieckert

Here's the money quote:

In her latest campaign-finance filing statement, Bernard Schaber, a physical therapist and environmental activist, raised $11,309 in the second half of 2007. She spent $3,748 and ended with a cash balance of $14,457.

Wieckert, meanwhile, raised $1,584. He spent $2,311 and had $28,440 cash on hand.

Here's the article.