What I did last night...

Yep, that's a crappy phone camera picture of me with Paul Krugman!

Buy the book!

Another good reason to watch Heroes...

Creator, writer and producer Tim Kring is on the picket line with the Writers strike:

Tim Kring, a producer and writer of the NBC hit “Heroes,” said he had to revise the ending of the show’s 11th episode on the chance that it might be the last one to air this season.

“Fortunately we were able to hustle back,” Kring said from a picket line in an effort to shut down the show. “The audience won’t be left in a lurch.”

Also, guess who doesn't hire union:

“The Oprah Winfrey Show” doesn’t employ union writers and will continue uninterrupted.

WCDP Welcomes Sate Senator Kathleen Vinehout to Discuss “Healthy Wisconsin”

WCDP Welcomes Sate Senator Kathleen Vinehout to Discuss “Healthy Wisconsin”

For Immediate Release
November 1, 2007 920.203.6883 - jef@jefhall.com
Contact: Jef Hall, Chair
920.203.6883 - jef@jefhall.com

Oshkosh – Before their Nov 14th, 2008 meeting, the Winnebago County Democratic Party will welcome State Senator Kathleen Vinehout, who will discuss the details and benefits of the Healthy Wisconsin plan to provide affordable, quality healthcare to all Wisconsin residents.

“Wisconsin will lead the nation in providing real health care reform. Healthy Wisconsin is an innovative solution that expands coverage while reducing costs,” State Senator Kathleen Vinehout (D-Alma) has said about the plan. “Every man, woman and child who now lives in Wisconsin will have access to affordable health care.”

“I am happy to bring Sen. Vinehout to Winnebago County,” said WCDP Chair Jef Hall. “I am excited to start the discussion about healthcare reform locally.”

“It is the Democratic Party that is leading the healthcare discussion with real ideas. Sen. Vinehout is a great example of Democratic innovation for the benefit of all Wisconsin.”

Healthy Wisconsin is a plan that will guarantee access to affordable, high-quality coverage through a provider of your choice to every resident of Wisconsin, except those covered by public programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Badgercare.

Healthy Wisconsin saves an estimated $1.76 billion a year by:

* cutting waste and streamlining administration
* lowering drug costs through bulk purchasing
* discouraging inappropriate use of the emergency room
* rewarding healthy lifestyles and preventive care
* closely coordinating care for the chronically ill,
* rewarding providers who deliver the most efficient and highest quality care

Senator Vinehout’s presentation will begin at 6:00PM, November 14th, 2007. The regular meeting of the WCDP will begin after the presentation.

The public is welcome to both the presentation and the monthly meeting.

All Winnebago County Democratic Party monthly meetings are held at the Delta Family Restaurant - 515 N Sawyer St - Oshkosh, WI.

For more information, contact Jef Hall, Chair: 920.203.6883 or jef@jefhall.com.

Standards... Something to remember in online journalism:

OshNW Executive Editor Stew Rieckman, Executive Editor in their online forum:

If you read the print version of the Northwestern and compare it with the Web you will notice that most of the strange, bizarre and titillating stories from Sheboygan and Fond du Lac never make into print. The reason is that the print version of the Northwestern has different standards than the Web version. So we're not selling any extra papers with the Web only content.

While I understand his point, I think this is a real problem with journalism today. The focus on the 'titillation' over substance. We understand this from the blogs and the tabloids, but you would hope that the print mainstream would hold their standards no matter the forum.

Even more in light of the anonymous quotes that the Northwestern pull from their website and publish in the print edition, as pointed out in this recent letter to the editor:

Letters: Online comments not fit to print in newspaper

I would like to question the purpose of, and helpfulness of, publishing on the "Today's Conversation" page snippets of on-line chat, especially as the chat is anonymous. Is it because you think that the published chat is somehow representative of Oshkosh, and therefore newsworthy?
...
How does the publishing of anonymous, apparently uninformed (no substantiating evidence is offered by the writers) opinions contribute to the betterment of our city? By all means continue the online chats -- but let's leave it there, just as we leave the bar banter at the bar. At least there we know who's talking.

How can the OshNW claim that they have "different standards" between the print and online aspects, when they use content across both platforms?

I would hope the OshNW would hold the same (high) standards for their brand no matter what the delivery method.

WI GOP's #1 Priority.....

Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch (R-West Salem) said property taxes were controlled by limiting the 2008 property tax levies of cities, towns, villages and putting the first limit - 4% - on the levies of vocational colleges.

"That was obviously a No. 1 priority of Republicans," Huebsch said.

Yep, that's right. The Assembly GOP's #1 priority is reducing the amout of money the local units of government can levy.

It is not to keep their own house in order. It is not to find efficiencies in the governmental units that they are elected to oversee. It is, when you boil it down, to pick on those weaker than they.

Why weaker? They are putting limits on local government that they are not following themselves. To quote Huebsch:

As a point of reference, the US Department of Commerce recently announced that Wisconsin's per capita personal income grew at 4.6% in 2006. With the growth in all funds spending averaging 3.3% annually, the bipartisan budget agreement appropriates almost 1.3% per year below personal income growth and lives within the taxpayers' means.

By his own numbers, he is increasing the state budget increase of 3.3% annually as "within taxpayer's means." What does his budget hold city and county to?

State Senate and Assembly leaders ironed out a compromise with Doyle Friday evening that included allowing local tax levy spending to increase the greater of 2 percent or the value of new construction

Yep - 3.3% for them is "within taxpayer's means" but far out of bounds for the local ans most accountable to the citizen's government units.

After watching how the Assembly Republican's managed their budget, I'll thank them to stay out of ours.

Rep. Ryan Creates New Govt Waste Award... Gives it to Petri!

Ryan, colleagues unveil new version of Golden Fleece award

That's why Ryan and other Republican lawmakers, including House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, on Tuesday unveiled the "Budget Boondoggle Award."

The award is their version of the late Sen. William Proxmire's "Golden Fleece" award, which highlighted examples of government waste.
...
Another example cited by the group was money allocated to bike paths and other "cosmetic projects" while more than 73,000 bridges in the United States are considered "structurally deficient."

Funny, I personally do not think bike paths are a waste... But, I do wonder if Ryan dropped the award off at Petri's office after the announcement (from a Petri press release)?

$286.45 Billion Highway Bill Approved by House
Wisconsin Highway Funding to Rise More Than 30 Percent

Sheboygan County will receive $25 million to carry out its plan for bike and pedestrian trails. Rep. Petri was successful in having the county included in a new program to demonstrate the value of nonmotorized transportation facilities. Rep. Petri said that "This is an exclusive group. Sheboygan County is joining Marin County in California, Columbia in Missouri, and the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in receiving these funds."

David Hayford Makes Sense...

OshNW Community Columnist David Hayford has been someone I have disagreed with often, however he has a good article here.

Commentary: All presidential contenders plagued by missteps, foibles, stereotypes

By David Hayford

Barack Obama is a black man. This country has never had a black person as a serious presidential candidate. The Newsweek poll cited above states that 4 percent of Americans will not vote for a black person, no matter what the qualifications. Another 4 percent are undecided.

But fewer than 60 percent of respondents believe this country is "ready to elect" a black President. Not sure exactly what "ready to elect" means. But the disparity in numbers seems to indicate that many believe fellow Americans will be adversely influenced by the color of Obama's skin. And only 57 percent believe that Obama "could get enough votes from white supporters to be elected President."
...
Mitt Romney has a bigger problem: 28 percent of respondents in the Newsweek poll stated they will not vote for a Mormon for President. And nearly half believe that America is not "ready to elect a Mormon president." That rates highest on the bigotry scale.

One might have thought that JFK, the first Catholic president, destroyed the religious denomination test nearly half a century ago. Or Richard Nixon, a Quaker, as a member of a "non-mainstream" sect. But one would, evidently, be wrong.

I believe an Obama vs. Romney campaign would be fascinating. Perhaps Americans would vote for principles over prejudices. Wouldn't that be a giant leap forward for mankind? It would not end bigotry and racism in this country. But it would be a step in the right direction. It probably will not happen.

Dane County to Remove Inmates From Winnebgo County Jails

The OshNW has this story today:

County will no longer house Dane County inmates

By Jennifer K. Woldt
of The Northwestern

A canceled contract for housing out of county inmates will result in Winnebago County losing more than $1 million in annual revenue.

Winnebago County Sheriff Michael Brooks learned earlier this week that Dane County will not renew its contract with Winnebago County to house approximately 60 of their inmates at the Winnebago County Jail.

The contract called for Dane County inmates to be held at the Winnebago County facility at a rate of $51 per day, Brooks said, which brings in about $1.3 million in revenue to the county. Brooks said the removal of Dane County inmates will happen in a "phased out" manner.

At the last meeting, I discussed the possibility of this, in the context of this Dane County Press release:

Falk, Mahoney Agree: More Public Safety, Less Cost in 2008 Dane County Budget

Some of the new deputies will be used to staff the expanded use of the electronic monitoring program from the current 40 to 60 inmates to 200 inmates. “This was one of the recommendations included in the Institute for Law and Policy Planning (ILLP) audit by Alan Kalmanoff,” Falk said of the report which stressed modernizing some of the county’s policies to promote more public safety and cost efficiencies.

With the expansion in electronic monitoring and several other key proposals which hold inmates more accountable than does the Huber Center, Falk said the county will reduce its costs of shipping inmates to other counties from more than $2 million to $150,000.

This could make a big dent in the budget. And it shows that we need a comprehensive study of the jail needs.

I propose that it be conducted as a joint effort between the offices of the Sheriff and the County Executive.

We need to make sure there is more than one set of eyes looking at the numbers. It may well be that we need to expand jail space, but I want to know that we are looking at a comprehensive picture of the situation, both from a view of jail needs and the current political reality of WI budgeting.

Winnebago County Exec Mark Harris Nominated Vice President...

...of the WI County Executives and Administrators Association.

Click here for the release.

Kaufert's reforms are self-serving gesture - Letter to the OshNW

Kaufert's reforms are self-serving gesture

I read with great interest, Representative Dean Kaufert's laundry list of proposals to reform the budget process. What I would like to know is where these reforms were the last seventeen years that Dean has been in the Assembly? This is not the first time the budget process has broken down while Rep. Kaufert has been in the Assembly. In fact it happened twice, in 1997 and 1999. It wasn't until the fall of those years that the legislature finally approved a budget. Where were these reforms then? Or, where were they just a few years hence when Rep. Kaufert co-chaired the powerful Joint Finance Committee and wielded enormous influence in the budget-writing process? It's easy to stand on the sidelines, knowing your influence has waned, and armchair quarterback problems like the budget process. Rep. Kaufert knows his reforms will go nowhere. He can "champion" reform and pose for holy pictures, knowing full well he can score political points without changing the system that worked so well for him when he has been in power. I guess for Rep. Kaufert he can have his cake and eat it, too.

James Reiland Menasha

Leadership & Sacrifice, Then and Now...

Truman, October 5th, 1947:

Truman Calls On Nation To Forego Meat Tuesdays, Poultry, Eggs Thursdays
...This will help feed starving Europe and cut our meat bills at home.

Bush, December 20th, 2006

This war on terror is the calling of a new generation; it is the calling of our generation. Success is essential to securing a future of peace for our children and grandchildren.
...I encourage you all to go shopping more.

The Background of Immigration 'Experts'

Amid the most recent immigration debate on Capitol Hill, many of us for the first time met a whole new group of spokespeople arrayed against immigration. But did we really meet them—or just the face they would like the mainstream press to see?

It turns out that many anti-immigrant leaders have backgrounds that should disqualify them from even participating in mainstream debate. What is sad is they manage to get the American press to quote them without ever noting their bizarre and often racist beliefs.

It's all here.

Newsweek Nails Greenspan in One Thought:

Greenspan: His book praises Clinton, knocks Bush over fiscal responsibility. So why didn't he stop those tax cuts?

Romney Campaign Add?

From Slate (sorry about the real add that plays before it)...

Must Read: "The Day Louis Armstrong Made Noise"

Shortly before Mr. Armstrong’s concert, Mr. Lubenow’s editor sent him to the Dakota Hotel, where Mr. Armstrong was staying, to see if he could land an interview. Perhaps sensing trouble — Mr. Lubenow was, he now says, a “rabble-rouser and liberal” — his boss laid out the ground rules: “No politics,” he ordered. That hardly seemed necessary, for Mr. Armstrong rarely ventured into such things anyway. “I don’t get involved in politics,” he once said. “I just blow my horn.”

But Mr. Lubenow was thinking about other things, race relations among them. The bell captain, with whom he was friendly, had told him that Mr. Armstrong was quietly making history in Grand Forks, as he had done innumerable times and ways before, by becoming the first black man ever to stay at what was then the best hotel in town. Mr. Lubenow knew, too, that Grand Forks had its own link to Little Rock: it was the hometown of Judge Ronald Davies, who’d just ordered that the desegregation plan in Little Rock proceed after Gov. Orval Faubus of Arkansas and a band of local segregationists tried to block it.

Read the rest here.

Quote of the Election Cycle...

From Krugman the Great (quoting Ezra Klein)...

“The Republican vision is for a world in which the sick and dying get to deduct some of the cost of health insurance that they don’t have — and can’t get — on their taxes.”

From MSNBC's First Read...

As the NBC/WSJ poll shows that Republicans want someone with a different approach than Bush, is McCain's latest criticism of the president -- that he should have encourage enlistment instead of shopping after 9/11 -- a good way for McCain to separate himself while still supporting not withdrawing from Iraq?

Of course Bush encouraged shopping over service, you go with what you know...

From the "Timeline of Bush's ANG (Air National Guard) Service"

Aug. 18, 1973: Unsigned memo from Killian entitled "CYA," states that Staudt is "pushing to sugar coat" Bush's officer evaluation. Memo also states: "I'm having trouble running interference and doing my job." Adds that "Bush wasn't here during rating period and I don't have any feedback from 187th in Alabama. I will not rate."

Jazwiec and Crime Reporting

I'm sure we have all seen the story about Jazwiec's alleged victimization:

Jazwiec said he talked to the man at length to try to calm him and at one point gave him a beer. After being in the house "probably an hour," the man left with a computer and an iPhone, Jazwiec said. He said no one in the family was hurt.

Now, Jazwiec runs a technology company... You think he would know that if someone steals your phone, you report it right away. SO IT CAN BE TRACKED... you do not wait one week to cooperate.

As we learned in the news recently:

Authorities found the Maple Valley woman after detecting the general location of her cell phone Thursday morning, then searching along Highway 169 near Renton, southeast of Seattle, the route she took home from work.

I believe that the understatement of the month is:

"There are serious questions as to the veracity of this report at this point," D'Amato wrote in an e-mail Tuesday to neighborhood residents, many of who had been rattled by Jazwiec's statements.

Something to remember as we watch current events in Burma/Myanmar

While Bush is talking tough on Myanmar/Burma, here is something to remember:

Bush Campaign Gear Made in Burma
His campaign store sells a pullover from nation whose products he has banned from being sold in the U.S.

The official merchandise Web site for President George W. Bush's re-election campaign has sold clothing made in Burma, whose goods were banned by Bush from the U.S. last year to punish its military dictatorship.

Quote of the day!

Jeffery Hall is a good example of ugly architecture, all concrete and lots of peeling paint. The building consists of three floors above ground and three floors below ground.

Clicking on this link will take you to a picture gallery of Jeffery Hall, a building on Queen's University...

Lena's In!

WI State Sen (and Vice Chair of the DPW) Lena Taylor has declared her candidacy for Milwaukee County Exec:

State Senator Lena Taylor today filed the paperwork required to run for Milwaukee County Executive in next spring’s critical elections, vowing to “restore balance, integrity, and fiscal accountability for the Milwaukee residents who depend on public service — and the taxpayers who foot the bill.”

Go get him!

Krugman has a new blog...

Titled "The Conscience of a Liberal" NYTimes columnist Paul Krugman's new blog is here:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/

Another Political FEMA Appointment:

While Bierman has been a loyal Republican, he has no background as a police or fire professional, or in emergency management or homeland security. That has raised concerns for Rhode Island U.S. Rep. James Langevin, a Warwick Democrat who sits on the House Select Committee on Homeland Security.

“I do know Brock Bierman. I appreciate his service to Rhode Island. He’s a nice guy,” Langevin said yesterday. “But I am concerned that FEMA hasn’t learned the lessons of the Mike Brown situation.”

Langevin said he wasn’t judging whether Bierman should have been hired. However, “when I see appointments being made with strong political ties, that concerns me,” Langevin said. “If they’re going to work for FEMA, I would expect to see individuals in those positions with emergency responder, emergency management experience.”

Moderates Continue to Flee GOP: Lincoln Chafee

PROVIDENCE — Lincoln D. Chafee, who lost his Senate seat in the wave of anti-Republican sentiment in last November’s election, said yesterday that he has left the party.

Chafee said he disaffiliated with the party he had helped lead, and his father had led before him, because the national Republican Party has gone too far away from his stance on too many critical issues, from war to economics to the environment.

“It’s not my party any more,” he said.

Chafee’s departure is another step in the waning of the strain of moderate Republicanism that was once a winning political philosophy from Rhode Island and Connecticut to the Canadian border. For the first time since the Civil War, the six New England states combined now have only one Republican U.S. House member, Connecticut’s Christopher Shays.

Chafee said he disaffiliated from the party “in June or July,” making him an unaffiliated voter. He did so quietly, and until yesterday, he said, “No one’s asked me about it.” He said he made the move because “I want my affiliation to accurately reflect my status.”

“There’s been a gradual depravation of … the issues the party should be strong on,” and the direction of the national party, he said.

That’s no secret. In a Journal Op-Ed piece published on the Thursday before the election, Chafee himself laid out some of the ways he disagreed with his party, notably as one of only 23 senators and the only Republican to oppose the resolution supporting the invasion of Iraq. He went on to criticize the “permanent deficits” caused by Republican tax cuts.

Chafee referred yesterday to the broad-based, bipartisan Iraq Study Group that Congress created, a process Chafee approved of. The study group recommended a gradual pullback of American forces, and insistence that the Iraqi government take more responsibility for security. But he said that since the study group made its recommendations, which he agreed with, “no one’s paid any attention to them.”

Doonesbury on Republican Debt...

Bush the Hero...?

The Great Krugman on Healthcare:

Most disturbing of all, the number of Americans without health insurance jumped. At this point, there are 47 million uninsured people in this country, 8.5 million more than there were in 2000. Mr. Bush may think that being uninsured is no big deal — “you just go to an emergency room” — but the reality is that if you’re uninsured every illness is a catastrophe, your own private Katrina.

Thompson, Bush Cave in to "Infant Formula" Lobby...

In an attempt to raise the nation's historically low rate of breast-feeding, federal health officials commissioned an attention-grabbing advertising campaign a few years ago to convince mothers that their babies faced real health risks if they did not breast-feed. It featured striking photos of insulin syringes and asthma inhalers topped with rubber nipples.

Plans to run these blunt ads infuriated the politically powerful infant formula industry, which hired a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and a former top regulatory official to lobby the Health and Human Services Department. Not long afterward, department political appointees toned down the campaign.

The ads ran instead with more friendly images of dandelions and cherry-topped ice cream scoops, to dramatize how breast-feeding could help avert respiratory problems and obesity. In a February 2004 letter, the lobbyists told then-HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson they were "grateful" for his staff's intervention to stop health officials from "scaring expectant mothers into breast-feeding," and asked for help in scaling back more of the ads.

And the meaty part:

The report did not assert a direct cause and effect, because doing so would require studies in which some women are told not to breast-feed their infants -- a request considered unethical, given the obvious health benefits of the practice.

Read it all here.

Run Your Home on a Prius?

Interesting story on potential energy:

Power to the People: Run Your House on a Prius
By JIM MOTAVALLI

WHEN Hurricane Frances ripped through Gainesville, Fla., in 2004, Christopher Swinney, an anesthesiologist, was without electricity for a week. A few weeks ago, Dr. Swinney lost power again, but this time he was ready.

He plugged his Toyota Prius into the backup uninterruptible power supply unit in his house and soon the refrigerator was humming and the lights were back on. “It was running everything in the house except the central air-conditioning,” Dr. Swinney said.

Without the Prius, the batteries in the U.P.S. unit would have run out of power in about an hour. The battery pack in the car kept the U.P.S. online and was itself recharged by the gasoline engine, which cycled on and off as needed. The U.P.S. has an inverter, which converts the direct current electricity from the batteries to household alternating current and regulates the voltage. As long as it has fuel, the Prius can produce at least three kilowatts of continuous power, which is adequate to maintain a home’s basic functions.

This form of vehicle-to-grid technology, often called V2G, has attracted hobbyists, university researchers and companies like Pacific Gas & Electric and Google. Although there is some skepticism among experts about the feasibility of V2G, the big players see a future in which fleets of hybrid cars, recharged at night when demand is lower, can relieve the grid and help avert serious blackouts.

Willett Kempton, a senior scientist in the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Delaware, said the power capacity of the automotive fleet was underutilized.

Mr. Kempton is helping to explore the V2G capabilities of a fuel-cell bus and battery-electric vehicles. The technology is also well-suited for so-called plug-in hybrids, which are being developed by General Motors, Toyota and other automakers. Plug-in hybrids will use larger battery packs and recharge from a household outlet for 10 to 30 miles of electric-only driving. When modified, these cars can return electricity to the grid from their batteries.

Song for the Day: Drive By Truckers - "Dress Blues"