POLICE BLOTTER Waukesha Police Department

I've never actually seen a "Police Blotter". But, this is what the Waukesha Freeman published today, seemingly, their "take" on what our local police are doing:

MONDAY Feb 16, 2009

11 a.m. – A woman reportedly wanted transients who were living in her backyard in the 1100 block of Whiterock Avenue to be removed after they lit a fire.

1:24 p.m. – A drunk who was found in the transit center in the 200 block of East St. Paul Avenue was reported as not looking in good shape.

1:47 p.m. – A male was reported for trying to start fires in an elevator in the 200 block of Barstow Street.

2:09 p.m. – A suspect was reported held down at gunpoint after a foot pursuit near Garfield Avenue and West Wabash Avenue.

5:33 p.m. – A woman who just arrived at her house in the 2900 block of Rolling Ridge Drive reported that someone may be in her home. The house was found to be empty.

5:42 p.m. – A suspicious man was reported sitting in a vehicle in the 1800 block of Milky Way Road. He told police he was watching turkeys.

It's hard to tell what's going on here: Is this merely the the worst reportorial hash from the worst reportorial (and editorial) hash-house in Wisconsin?

Or is it a realistic view of what the local cop shop is doing on an average day?

During the recent budget-making by the Waukesha Mayor and City Council, the No. 2 in the Police Department submitted an analysis of the frightening state of understaffing in the Department.

He said a lot, and gave a lot of comparative statistics.

But it all boiled down to this.

"We need an additional 42 uniformed officers to adequately protect the people of Waukesha".

Hey, It's National Brotherhood Week

The National Conference of Christians and Jews (which later morphed into the National Conference for Community and Justice, cleverly finessing the problem of changing their initials) once sponsored a week-long National Brotherhood Week, held generally during the third full week of February (cleverly cross-ruffing Lincoln's Birthday into the special week) from the 1940s through the mid-1980s.

The irony of the assassination of Malcolm X on the first day of National Brotherhood Week (cleverly landing also on Lincoln's Birthday) in 1965, inspired the Tom Lehrer song "National Brotherhood Week," and crystallized the state of race relations in the United States.

Lehrer--surviving today, well into his 80s--gave up on singing and performing his wickedly trenchant tunes in early 1970s. There is an urban legend that Lehrer gave up political satire when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Henry Kissinger in 1973. He did say that the awarding of the prize to Kissinger made political satire obsolete.

It's hard to believe that this cabaret performance was even a little bit edgy. But the 1960s are light years from today's standard fare. Lehrer had an interesting and notable career in academia (mathematics) and musical comedy.