Water Blogged in Waukesha

Are the screeners and rent-a-cops gonna feel the least bit foolish sending me back to my car when I (routinely) forget that this is in my pocket?

2011-10-28T10:43:00.006-05:00

It's just disproportionate. Somebody with concealed lethal weapon strolls right in. I take a hike.

I often look for a planter outside the entrance where I can stash this little instrument of mayhem. Once a courthouse deputy spotted me doing it and gave me the stink eye, said that was out-of-bounds.

End the Embargo and Travel Ban on Cuba

2011-10-25T13:03:00.002-05:00

Again, we are reminded of the fact that the rest of the world is against us for our policy towards Cuba.

Rather than serving the interests of dwindling minority group of Cuban Americans in the United States, we want the President to address the overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens that have been for years calling for a change in our relationship with Cuba.

Happy 20th Anniversary! Or maybe “un-happy” anniversary.
Today for the 20th year in a row, the UN General Assembly has voted to condemn the United States’ 50-year-old economic embargo on Cuba. How did the votes turn out this year?
YES (against embargo) – 186
NO (in favor of embargo) – 2
ABSTAIN – 3
(details of the country lists in the vote count have not yet been published)

Last year there were 187 votes in favor of ending U.S. sanctions on Cuba, two against (Israel and the U.S.) and three abstentions (Palau, Marshall Islands, and Micronesia).
    Many people had high hopes for President Obama and his promise to change our international image, including in reference to Cuba. We’ve seen small but significant changes in travel/remittance regulations and cultural exchanges; however, the maintenance of the economic sanctions is the basis for and most cruel aspect of our foreign policy towards Cuba. As the delegate of Egypt reminded us in the opening statement of this year’s general assembly, “On a recent trip to Latin America this year, President Obama stated that ‘The U.S. seeks a new beginning with Cuba.’ Again, the members of the Non-aligned Movement ask the U.S. to match these words with actions.”
     This vote in the UN has become a sad tradition and only underscores the hypocrisy of our role in the international community. While we tout humanitarianism and justice to the world, we cannot even follow our own advice in our own backyard.
     You may read the statements of all the United Nations countries in response to Cuba’s motion to the United Nations to condemn the embargo, here. We've highlighted some strong country statements here.
   Statements from 2011 UN General Assembly Vote on Cuban Embargo
Australia
“Since 1996, the Government of Australia has consistently supported General Assembly resolutions calling for an end to the trade embargo against Cuba. Australia has no trade or economic legislation or measures which restricts or discourages trade or investment to or from Cuba.”
Brazil
“The Brazilian Government has consistently opposed the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed against Cuba. Accordingly, Brazil has also continued to foster and pursue a growing economic relationship with Cuba.”
     “The maintenance of the economic, commercial and financial embargo against Cuba is inconsistent with the dynamic regional policy that has recently been marked by the return of Cuba to dialogue and cooperation forums of the Americas.”
China

“This [embargo] is not only a serious violation of the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and of relevant United Nations resolutions, but also a source of immense economic and financial losses for Cuba. It is an impediment to efforts by the Cuban people to eradicate poverty, to promote their economic and social development and to attain the Millennium Development Goals, it impairs the Cuban people’s right to survival and development, and it adversely affects normal economic, commercial and financial relations between Cuba and other countries.”
     “China hopes that the United States, in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and relevant United Nations resolutions, will put an end as soon as possible to its blockade against Cuba and it also hopes that relations between the two countries will continue to improve, thus promoting stability and development in the entire Latin American and Caribbean region.”
Colombia
“The Government of Colombia will continue the political support it has always given Cuba, and reaffirms that in conformity with its obligations under the Charter of the United Nations and international law.”
Costa Rica
“The Government of Costa Rica wishes to reiterate that it has not enacted or applied laws intended to enforce the economic embargo against Cuba, and that it is complying with United Nations General Assembly resolution 65/6.”
El Salvador
"Reiterating its support for the Latin American and Caribbean consensus and the solidarity of the majority of United Nations Member States in their endorsement of General Assembly resolution 65/6, the Republic of El Salvador calls for the elimination of these measures against the Republic of Cuba and reports, in accordance with the above-mentioned resolution, that it has never promulgated or applied laws or measures the extraterritorial effects of which would affect the sovereignty of the Republic of Cuba and its citizens."
European Union
“…the European Union and its member States have been clearly expressing their opposition to the extraterritorial extension of the United States embargo, such as that contained in the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 and the Helms-Burton Act of 1996.”
Holy See
“The Holy See has never drawn up or applied economic, commercial or financial laws or measures against Cuba.”
Honduras
“Honduras, in fulfilment of its obligations under the Charter of the United Nations and international law, has refrained from promulgating laws and regulatory provisions that might affect its trade relations with Cuba.”
Japan
“Japan shares the concern, arising from the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996 (known as the Helms-Burton Act) and the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992, that, if application of such legislation causes undue hardship in relation to the economic activities of the enterprises or nationals of a third party, the legislation is likely to run counter to international law regarding the extraterritorial application of domestic laws.”
Mexico
“Mexico emphasizes that [the embargo] has serious humanitarian consequences that are contrary to international law and, moreover, signify the abandonment of diplomacy and dialogue as the appropriate ways of settling disputes between States.”
     “The Government of Mexico has also consistently opposed Cuba’s economic and political-diplomatic isolation. It has therefore firmly supported Cuba’s inclusion in all regional integration machinery in order to promote economic and commercial exchange, cooperation and development.”
Russian Federation
“The blockade against Cuba, which has endured for almost half a century, has manifestly demonstrated its inability to influence the Cuban people in their sovereign choice of a model of development. The sole consequences of the sanctions that have been imposed are the worsening living conditions of the Cuban people, the erection of artificial barriers to the growth of the country’s economy and encroachments upon the rights and interests of third countries.”
     “We are convinced that [lifting the embargo],unlike the discriminatory practice of economic “strangulation”, will help ensure the success of the progressive social and economic reforms currently being implemented by the Cuban authorities.”
World Food Programme
“The United States embargo continues to severely limit trade and has a direct impact on the capacity and efficiency of Cuba’s logistics infrastructure, […] food processing and agricultural production. The efficiency of the food-based social safety nets of the Cuban Government’s, which are instrumental to household food security, is thereby negatively affected. This year, the effect is even more crippling because of the combined factors of rising food prices and persistent drought in Cuba.”
World Health Organization
“In the health sector, the consequences of the embargo have a negative multiplier effect on the cost of basic everyday health products, on the difficulties in acquiring health products, on the availability of basic services and, therefore, on the overall living conditions of the population.”
      “The embargo also stunts public health development in Cuba by preventing the country’s access to loans and donations from international financial institutions, such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, as well as by limiting its access to philanthropic contributions and donations from civil society in the United States.”
“The embargo affects the individual health care of all people, regardless of age or gender, through its impact on Cuba’s unified health system institutions, research facilities, epidemiological surveillance institutions and disease control agencies.”

Reprinted from LAWG Latin American Working Group

Senator Wacko

2011-09-29T12:06:00.000-05:00

‘”I am doing this pretty early in my career. Yeah, I realize that,” said Johnson, who called himself an “impatient” legislator. “I wouldn’t look at this as a career move. [many years ago Ron, with just two words, became a captain of industry. Amazing what can be built from scratch by merely uttering "I do".] I would look at it as a way I believe I can be effective and can have an impact.”
Johnson said he viewed the position as mainly a communications job, helping the GOP caucus marshal information [gibberish] and arguments [the circular kind].
“My primary goal in the first two years here is to communicate to the voters of Wisconsin, really to the voters of America, how serious our financial situation is in this country and how urgent it is we address it,” he said in an interview.
“Certainly sitting at the leadership table is going to dramatically increase my learning curve here,” said Johnson, who said his private-sector, non-Washington background would be a good addition to leadership. [Oshkosh is fundamentally a microcosm of the whole universe] “I do believe I bring a valuable personal perspective, particularly from a communication standpoint. I’ve been the audience for what comes out of Washington for 31 years. I hear things differently." [and I occasionally have visions]. MJS September 30, 2011

I'd bet the GOP Caucus is going to ease Ron down a bit from his hallucinations. They'll likely suggest a more behind-the-scenes communications, private-sector, non-Washington background, career path in the Senate. In the land 'o crocodiles, the impatient barge into the middle of things and the crocs do what crocs have always done.

Rejection might impel him to start mulling a flying hop into the mosh pit of Iowa caucuses.

We're wasting our time....

2011-09-19T11:22:00.003-05:00

Doc Daneeka: You're wasting your time
Yossarian: Can't you ground someone who's crazy?
Doc Daneeka: Oh, sure. I have to. There's a rule saying I have to ground anyone who's crazy.
Yossarian: Then why don't you ground me? I'm crazy. Ask Clevinger.
Doc Daneeka: Clevinger? Where is Clevinger? You find Clevinger and I'll ask him.
Yossarian: Then ask any of the others. They'll tell you how crazy I am.
Doc Daneeka: They're crazy
Yossarian: Then why don't you ground them?
Doc Daneeka: Why don't they ask me to ground them?
Yossarian: Because they're crazy, that's what you said.
Doc Daneeka: Of course they're crazy, I just told you they're crazy, didn't I? And you can't let crazy people decide if they are crazy or not.
Yossarian: Is Orr crazy?
Doc Daneeka: He sure is.
Yossarian: Can you ground him?
Doc Daneeka: I sure can. But first he has to ask me to. That's part of the rule.
Yossarian: Then why doesn't he ask you to?
Doc Daneeka: Because he's crazy. He has to be crazy to keep flying combat missions after all the close calls he's had. Sure, I can ground Orr. But first he has to ask me to.
Yossarian: That's all he has to do to be grounded?
Doc Daneeka: That's all. Let him ask me.
Yossarian: And then you can ground him?
Doc Daneeka: No. Then I can't ground him.
Yossarian: You mean there's a catch?
Doc Daneeka: Sure there's a catch, Catch-22. Anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn't really crazy.
Yossarian: That's some catch, that Catch-22.
Doc Daneeka: It's the best there is.

Between the Illusory Tenant and Dahlia Lithwick, I think emigre Canadians are miles ahead of most local thinkers...

2011-09-17T22:20:00.000-05:00

Republicans like Rick Perry are skeptical of everything the government does—except when it executes people.
By Dahlia Lithwick in Slate

Either you believe in government or you don't.

The current field of Republican contenders for president are hard at work to prove they don't. The best government, they insist, will leave you alone to repair your own ruptured kidney while your neighbors bring you casseroles and cigarettes. In recent weeks, leading Republicans have made plain they don't believe in government-run health care (lo, even unto death). They don't believe in inoculating children again HPV (lo, even unto death). They don't believe in government-run disaster relief (ditto, re death), the minimum wage, Social Security, or the Federal Reserve. There is nothing, it seems—from protecting civil rights to safeguarding the environment—that big government bureaucracies can't foul up.

Read the rest

I remember September 11th, 1973 with anger and contempt for filthy murdering thugs...

2011-09-11T16:42:00.002-05:00

Filthy murdering thug #1: Richard Milhous Nixon
Filthy murdering thug #2: Henry Kissinger

From the Nixon tapes, five days after thug/murderer Pinochet (#3) murdered the democratically -elected President of Chile, Salvador Allende and took over in Chile:

Nixon: Nothing new of any importance...or is there?
Kissinger: Nothing of very great consequence. The Chilean thing is getting consolidated and of course the newspapers are bleeding because a pro-Communist government has been overthrown.
Nixon: Isn't that something. Isn't that something.
Kissinger: I mean instead of celebrating – in the Eisenhower period we would be heroes.
Nixon: Well we didn't – as you know – our hand doesn't show on this one though.
Kissinger: We didn't do it. I mean we helped them. [garbled] created the conditions as great as possible.
Nixon: That is right. And that is the way it is going to be played

Every bit of it caught on tape in the Oval Office:

^ The Kissinger Telcons: Kissinger Telcons on Chile, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 123, edited by Peter Kornbluh, posted May 26, 2004. This particular dialogue can be found at TELCON: September 16, 1973, 11:50 a.m. Kissinger Talking to Nixon. Accessed online November 26, 2006.

I've gotta agree with TBogg...

2011-09-10T17:55:00.002-05:00

"...making plans for Sunday’s 9/11 observance which is shaping up to be 'stretching out on the couch and napping during NFL games' like most American’s who don’t feel the need for calculated show-offy somber reflection designed for public display.

To do so would mean that the terrorists won."

for those who believe in the death penalty...

2011-09-09T14:18:00.000-05:00

"...it's hardly surprising for a country which long considered public hangings a form of entertainment and in which support for the death penalty is mandated orthodoxy for national politicians in both parties. Still, even for those who believe in the death penalty, it should be a very somber and sober affair for the state, with regimented premeditation, to end the life of a human being no matter the crimes committed. Wildly cheering the execution of human beings as though one's favorite football team just scored a touchdown is primitive, twisted and base."
Glenn Greenwald

China, Cuba, oil and the 90 miles

2011-06-11T16:05:00.002-05:00

In recent weeks and months, President Barack Toricelli-Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Helms-Burton Clinton have been working America's foreign policy magic by trying to effect some regime-change in North Africa and gunning down innocent pedestrians in Lahore, along with the routine butt-smooching of Avigdor and Bibi.

They have not bothered to pay any attention to diplomatic events 90 miles from Key West.

Their going-in position with the pesky Cubans was articulated shortly after Clinton assumed the diplomatic portfolio: You Change; then, we'll talk.

Just goes to show; if you don't watch those Cubans they'll do something treacherous and sneaky.

The incomparable Rebecca Solnit 'splains all for you.

2011-05-22T20:21:00.003-05:00

Worlds Collide in a Luxury Suite
Some Thoughts on the IMF, Global Injustice, and a Stranger on a Train
By Rebecca Solnit
How can I tell a story we already know too well? Her name was Africa. His was France. He colonized her, exploited her, silenced her, and even decades after it was supposed to have ended, still acted with a high hand in resolving her affairs in places like Côte d’Ivoire, a name she had been given because of her export products, not her own identity.
Her name was Asia. His was Europe. Her name was silence. His was power. Her name was poverty. His was wealth. Her name was Her, but what was hers? His name was His, and he presumed everything was his, including her, and he thought he could take her without asking and without consequences. It was a very old story, though its outcome had been changing a little in recent decades. And this time around the consequences are shaking a lot of foundations, all of which clearly needed shaking.
Who would ever write a fable as obvious, as heavy-handed as the story we’ve just been given? The extraordinarily powerful head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a global organization that has created mass poverty and economic injustice, allegedly assaulted a hotel maid, an immigrant from Africa, in a hotel’s luxury suite in New York City.
Click here to read more of this dispatch.

A stranger comes to town... A man with a history of intimidation... A black man... A Muslim

2011-05-13T12:34:00.002-05:00

Was enjoying a nice little hour to kill last night in the lobby/piano bar of the Pfister with a friend from Chennai. We were enjoying a locally brewed dark beer and a small pizza; my back was turned as she remarked about seeing the tallest man she'd ever seen, passing through the Jefferson Street entrance, heading for the desk, carrying his own luggage.

Welcome back, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. I hadn't seen the man in-the-flesh since he headed west in the mid 70s.

Tried to be cool, avoided gawking. Some nearby youngsters in their 30s--who'd never heard of, much-less seen the skyhook--marveled at his stature, seemed in-the-dark on his history in Milwaukee.

On the way out a bit later, the doorman mentioned that he comes to the Pfister whenever he has a speaking engagement here.

A speech? Maybe another speech to go back-to-back with Herb Kohl's announcement of his coming retirement as the Senior Senator from Wisconsin.

What's the best protest song ever?

2011-04-22T18:17:00.001-05:00

Asks The Nation.

It's clearly a naked grab for your e-mail address. They've already got mine; I've had a sub since the 60s.

I remember this question--best protest song?-- popping up among nostalgists in the late 70s, when we'd hit our thirties, when disco and MBAs elbowed their way to center stage.

My perennial nominee: Compared to What. Les McCann and Eddie Harris jamming at Montreux in 1969; then, going big on the pop charts in '71. What good is a protest song if it only gets sung at hootenannys and movement potlucks? The BEST protest song has the lines you want to shout right now.

Slaughterhouse is killin' hogs
Twisted children killin' frogs
Poor dumb rednecks rollin' logs
Tired old ladies kissin' dogs....

The President, he's got his war
Folks don't know just what it's for
Nobody gives us rhyme or reason
Have one doubt, they call it treason....

Runner-up choice: something--almost anything--from Phil Ochs.

Three Myths of Israel's Insecurity. And Why They Must Be Debunked

2011-04-17T21:40:00.000-05:00

This piece by Ira Chernus at Tom Dispatch, published overnight, took me right back to the 2008 post on how candidate Obama went to AIPAC in Chicago in early 2008 to swear that Israel's Security his first priority in the Middle-east.

Here are the Three Sacred Commandments for Americans who shape the public conversation on Israel:
1. For politicians, especially at the federal level: As soon as you say the word “Israel,” you must also say the word “security” and promise that the United States will always, always, always be committed to Israel’s security. If you occasionally label an action by the Israeli government “unhelpful,” you must immediately reaffirm the eternal U.S. commitment to Israel’s security.
2. For TV talking heads and op-ed pundits: If you criticize any policies or actions of the Israeli government, you must immediately add that Israel does, of course, have very real and serious security needs that have to be addressed.
3. For journalists covering the Israel-Palestine conflict for major American news outlets: You must live in Jewish Jerusalem or in Tel Aviv and take only occasional day trips into the Occupied Territories. So your reporting must inevitably be slanted toward the perspective of the Jews you live among. And you must indicate in every report that Jewish Israeli life is dominated by anxiety about security.
U.S. opinion-shapers have obeyed the Three Commandments scrupulously for decades. As a result, they’ve created an indelible image of Israel as a deeply insecure nation. That image is a major, if often overlooked, factor that has shaped and continues to shape Washington’s policies in the Middle East and especially the longstanding American tilt toward Israel. (more)

Fifty years ago today; the beginning of a half century of stupidity and failure...

2011-04-17T07:44:00.003-05:00

Half a century ago I was cruising through the last weeks of high school when the news of this clown act hit the front page of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
We are wedded to failure, addicted to licking imaginary wounds, immune to reason, living in the past, doomed to continue to fail.

No end in sight.

Free the Cuban Five

End the Embargo and the Travel Ban

NY Times front page, 4/17/1961

It's my job to reassure the markets...

2011-04-15T19:34:00.004-05:00

ht: Charles H. Smith: Of Two Minds

Shut down government funding of Radio and TV

2011-04-08T08:21:00.001-05:00

Radio Martí and TV Martí are the most audible and visible remnants of 50 years of American futility vis a vis Cuba. But they are barely audible and seldom visible. About 1% of Cubans watch or listen. It is not the jamming, it is the near total lack of interest. Even the hapless lardass liberator, Alan Gross, trying to set up a clandestine insurrectionist communications out of his suitcase looks like a better bang for the taxpayers' buck. Cutting them off should be an easy move, since Congress has already established the principle that NPR and Public Broadcasting should live without taxpayer subsidy. And the Cuban broadcasts cost triple what goes into Public Broadcasting subsidies.

Since the OCB’s inception, more than USD 500 million has gone into funding the Radio and TV Martí broadcasts. The annual budget for the OCB reached a peak during the Bush administration in 2006 at USD 36.9 million, and hovered between USD 35 million and 33 million in the subsequent years.1 The Obama administration and formerly Democrat-controlled Congress have since stripped the OCB of USD 4 million in funding and placed restrictions on the agency’s budget. For fiscal year 2011, President Obama has proposed a budget of USD 29.2 million. In contrast, NPR receives roughly USD 5 million annually in federal funding, and provides award-winning coverage to 27.2 million listeners every week.

John Nichols, a retired Penn State University professor and expert on Cuban communications, estimates that passage of this legislation is “highly unlikely.” Although we are in a budget crisis, he says, the broadcasts are “symbolic of an irrational U.S. policy toward Cuba.” After two decades, the Radio and TV Martí broadcasts have become a forgotten issue, and their cessation may not occur until a larger change in U.S.-Cuba policy is made. See COHA Report

"It's not fair to condemn a whole program just because of a single slip-up"

2011-04-03T18:04:00.000-05:00

Transocean Ltd. gave its top executives bonuses for achieving the "best year in safety performance in our company's history" – despite the explosion of its oil rig that killed 11 people and spilled 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

No biggie. And anyway, where are you going to find good people if you don't pay them?
Safety accounts for a quarter of the executives' total cash bonuses. The total bonus for CEO Steve Newman last year was $374,062.

From Tristero at the land of Digby

"...within 48 hours of the bombing campaign’s opening salvos, the U.S. and its allies lost the support of the Arab and African institutions the Obama administration had identified as crucial for going ahead. "

2011-03-27T14:11:00.003-05:00

The Arab League--that bizarre gaggle of in-bred monarchs the President Obama and Secretary Clinton rely so heavily on to maintain heavy handed stability in those great fountains of petroleum--began using the familiar heavy-handed (polite term for murderous) methods against the opposition in their own kingdoms.

And the African Union, which had granted only the most limited approval for "no fly," withdrew its support for the U.N. approved intervention When NATO went hog wild.

Readthe whole article by Phyllis Bennis in Anti-War.com

President Obama promised us he was: "Gonna Lay down those shufflin' shoes..."

2011-03-13T18:47:00.003-05:00

On Nov. 3, 2007, Barack Obama -- as a candidate for president--promised a crowd in Spartanburg, S.C., that he would watch out for unions and protect their collective bargaining rights.

Obama said:

"If American workers are being denied their right to organize when I'm in the White House, I will put on a comfortable pair of shoes and I will walk on that picket line with you as president of the United States,”

Time to take off those golf shoes, Mr. President. No more pussyfooting.

You're expected in Madison next weekend.

A promise is a promise.

Some try to make sense of tragedy...others focus on making a buck...

2011-03-13T04:43:00.000-05:00

Juan Cole, at Informed Comment

Every once in a while, amidst our petty wars and squabbles with each other, Nature reminds us that the real threat to humankind comes from her, not from other human beings. Climate change is human-driven, but its danger is in unleashing uncontrollable natural forces of immense power. We are still defenseless against a meteor strike of the sort that helped polish off the dinosaurs. And, we lack good defenses against tsunamis. Unless we can put aside our divisions and work effectively together on these natural threats, humans remain in extreme danger as a species.

Larry Kudlow at CNBC

In these tough economic times, isn’t it nice to know that calamitous natural disasters needn't have an adverse affect on your investment portfolio? After the 8.9-magnitude earthquake in Japan failed to induce a market nosedive, CNBC’s Larry Kudlow expressed his relief in terms that seemed to appall even his fellow cheerleaders for capitalism: “The human toll here,” he declared, “looks to be much worse than the economic toll and we can be grateful for that.”

Lucat bene.....

2011-02-22T18:24:00.000-06:00

My dad was the big Pig Latin devotee. He taught my mom; and they used it effectively to discuss things that were better left unknown to the three little nippers in the house.

One evening at the supper table he asked Mom:

..."Ooday ooyay antway ootay ogay ootay Ooklidyay Eachbay?"

We nippers screamed in unison: "Yay!! We're going to Euclid_Beach".

Pop knew better than to try to have a coded conversation after that. He may have wondered how long we'd been literate and adept in this exotic language.

We all went on to study classical Latin (Caesar and the Helvetians, etc.) in high school, after learning ecclesiastical Latin ( Ad deum qui laetificat juventutem meam... and Suscipiat...etc.) at St Colman Parish School.

Which brings me to one of the most famous Latin rhyming couplets, over which Latin scholars have struggled for decades, centuries, millennia...

Lucat bene derdego
honnet busis inero
Honomo demis trux
summit causin, summit dux

Can you translate?

Extra points if you can do a double translation. Latin to English to Pig.

Thirty one years: no stress, no grey hair. Twenty four months: more than little grey

2011-02-07T11:18:00.002-06:00

What is the fatwa on dying grey hair, beard and mustache?

Answer:

Dying hair or beard is permissible with the following conditions:
1. The hair should not be dyed with black colour for the Hadith of the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) who said: "At the last period of this world, some people will dye their hair black, they will not get the smell of paradise." (Abu Dawud)
When the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) ordered to change the grey coloured hair of Abu Qahafah, the father of Abu Bakr, he said: "change the whiteness of the hair, but avoid black."
2. It should be free from the imitation of dissolute persons, polytheists, and Kuffars. The Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said: "whoever imitates a nation he becomes one of them." (Abu Dawud)
If the dye is free for the above prohibitions then it is allowed even if the hair is black.
Allah knows best.
Fatwa Date : Shawwaal 13, 1422 / 29-12-2001. Fatwa 81623
Source: Islamweb

DOT preparing to go All In to prop up the corpse of Pabst Farms and superfluous Aurora Summit Hospital

2011-01-11T22:32:00.003-06:00

Yesterday an anonymous comment on the Political Environment blog offered some updated info on the Sawyer Road/ Hwy. P interchange planned as frosting on the cake of Pabst Farms housing development, Aurora Summit Hospital and a vaporous, hallucinated "Regional Destination Shopping Mall".

We learned that the $20+ million upgrade to the I-94 Hwy P interchange is ready to begin--contracts let, and ready to go. Also, that Pabst Farms housing development has returned the huge swathes of land intended to be for the more pricey (phase II) and insanely pricey (Phase III) enclaves of the Pabst Farms Experience back into plain old farm land. This lets them pay less real estate taxes on what formerly was designated as residential land.

Good news it is--the part about the re-classified land. But... The DOT's I-94 and Sawyer Road interchange foolishness is NOT yet planned, NOT under contract and NOT about-to-happen as the commenter mistakenly stated yesterday. (hey, it's hard to keep up with this moving target).

But it is in the plans, bigger than ever, just shoved off until later. That's ok; that's good news. Means we still have opportunities to comment , criticize and harpoon the DOT plan to waste money trying to prop up Pabst Farms and Aurora Summit.
.
Here's what is in the actual 2011 plan:
1. Resurfacing I-94 for one half mile east and one half mile west of Hwy P (Sawyer Rd.) at a cost of $1.3 million is to happen in 2011. Project # 406 in the SEWRPC Preliminary Transportation Improvement Plan, 2011-2012.

2. Also in the 2011 plan is Project #404: a Park and Ride Lot at Sawyer Rd and I 94. This is a planning expenditure only. It is redundant; there is a park and ride lot at Hwy 67, just a bit more than one mile from Hwy P.

And, here's the elephant in the living room:

3. Project #436: They'll spend $1.92 million just on the planning of "Reconstruction of I 94, Hwy P interchange, adding an East-bound off-ramp and a West-bound on-ramp".

The nearly $9 million that was spent two years ago acquiring land and doing initial clearing, grubbing and crossovers, now has added to it $1.3 million in resurfacing I 94 around the interchange.

They have spent/committed a total of about $12 million on this boondoggle in support of the dying-mostly-dead development at Pabst Farms, Aurora Summit Hospital and a laughable Regional Shopping "Destination".

Sensible people need to get together a coordinated plan to get Scotty fired up about saving money / balancing the budget by dumping this ill-conceived and wasteful highway boondoggle, daring him to keep funding this clown act while the State of Wisconsin is mired in deficits.

For lots of young adults a couple years out of school the big question to somebody they like a lot: " How much school debt are you carrying?"

2011-01-11T22:18:00.009-06:00

The housing crisis is not going to resolve itself. Not next year, not under the next President, not even when housing prices sink to the level where they are in rough sync with incomes...for those who have incomes.

Why not?

Because a couple of generations of college grads-with-debt-up-the-wazoo and years--nay, decades--of underemployment under their belts will have saved nothing, zero, zilch to use as a down-payment on a nice ~~little~~ monstrosity of a tract mansion at the far reaches of suburbia.

More than twenty five percent of college graduates in Califormia are deemed to be underemployed, working at jobs that do not validate the fast-disappearing notion that higher education is the ticket to middle class income and prospects. The trend in most other states is likely headed toward Calfornia's numbers.

In this chart--from the amazing and prescient Dr. Housing Bubble--we see that aggregate U.S. credit card debt, which used to be just shy of a trillion, is shrinking, shrunk to less than the aggregate total of school debt. Lots of bankruptcies have resulted in banks writing off huge amounts of the card debt. But the school loans go on forever; there's no escape; the interest keeps mounting, no forgiveness even in bankruptcy. Legions of alumni will take huge balances on their owings, along with those memories of school days, to the grave.

Not everybody will will be in this pickle. But, if only 20 percent of those who would have in the past started shortly after graduation on buying starter houses, then moving up the domicile ladder are mired in education loans, they'll drag down, demolish, drown the whole market.

Just at the moment when huge numbers of baby boomers are unloading their big suburban--and even their modest-but-still-very-nice*--abodes, there will be a whole lot of people with high hopes and no-chance. Tough lending standards and 20% downpayments are going to be beyond the reach of a significant number. And this will kill the real estate market by driving prices down, down, down.

Suburban dreams are fading fast already. Many of the young and young-ish who are presently minimally set to buy real estate are leery of diving into the suburban lifestyle. Four hours every weekend of riding a mower, long commutes on deteriorating (asphalt is, after all, just another word for petroleum) roads. While their fathers were practicing lawn-adoration, they were inside tuning in and turning on to the prospect of living where Friends and Seinfeld lived--urban apartments.

* Even Casa Waterblogged will be for sale when the crocuses reappear, as the residents plan a move back to Milwaukee

For those who think that electric (renewable energy powered) cars will replace petroleum-powered ones check this graph...

2011-01-01T09:51:00.008-06:00

In the US, only 7% of energy comes from renewable sources. And 70% of that 7% comes from burning wood and damming rivers and streams.

First snowfall of the year. First of a lifetime.

2010-12-04T19:49:00.003-06:00

Is it right to ask for US warriors to fight and die to prop up the administration of Hamid Karzai?

2010-12-03T20:30:00.002-06:00

Juan Cole is the quintessential man who can pose the one overriding question.

If I had access to only four blogs each day they would be:
o Juan Cole on the world.
o Digby on U.S. politics.
o Illusory Tenant on the state of the State of Wisconsin politics and law.
o Jim Rowen's Political Environment on the state of Wisconsin's politics and the environment.

Just off the top of your head: what do we have little need for more of?

2010-11-24T17:22:00.002-06:00

How about furniture, mattresses, light fixtures and loans, just to name a few?

How about what we could easily do without? How about exotic foreign travel, shopping excursions to N.Y., L.A. or S.F., ice cream, frappucinos, "fine dining" of the sort where main courses for $35 are considered "reasonable," hundreds of specialty wineries producing $40-$50 bottles of wine, artsy programs paid for by tax dollars, non-profits doing nice things with donations, gew-gaws for pets, spa treatments, lawsuits with unknown odds of success involving plaintiffs with no money, cosmetic surgery, "financial services," having your nails done, costly haircuts, house cleaning services, dog walkers, travel consultants, kitchen remodels, Mercedes vehicles, or indeed, any new vehicles, now that any decent vehicle lasts 10 years with minimal maintenance, 6-foot long BBQs, "entertainment centers," more iPods, kids' toys, or clothing of any sort or type or style, given that you can buy heaps of clothing for a few dollars at garage sales or thrift stores?

This is a tiny selection of literally thousands of goods and services we can easily do without, and indeed, did do without a mere generation ago, when now-commonplace luxuries like $100 per person dinners and hip surgeries for pets would have been reserved for flamboyant millionaires.

(Lifted entirely from Charles Hugh Smith, blogger and polymath at Of Two Minds.)

A journalist questions Mr Gandhi....

2010-11-06T13:22:00.002-05:00

Mumbai, India (CNN) -- For a man who used to hang a framed picture of Mohandas K. Gandhi in his Senate office, President Obama declared that checking out a museum honoring the Indian independence hero's legacy was "pretty cool" Saturday.
Shortly after landing here for his first stop on a 10-day tour of Asia, the president and first lady Michelle Obama quickly headed over to this city's Gandhi Museum, a three-story home where Gandhi stayed when he was in Mumbai. It's now full of historic photos and posters as well as a library with about 50,000 Gandhi-related works.
The president spent several minutes in the library, which has Gandhi quotations on the walls, such as, "Freedom is like a birth."

(The President apparently did not see, nor comment on this quotation:)

Journalist:

"Mr. Gandhi, what is your thinking on Western Civilization?"

Mr. Gandhi:

"I think it would be a good idea."

World Series always flashes me back to September-into-October, 1954

2010-10-27T21:27:00.001-05:00

A Clevelander, 11 years old. All those years of Yankee hatred (even the Sisters at St Colman School taught us that there was a "good hatred"--something we'd gotten with our mothers' milk, something to be nurtured, worked-up, passed around, promoted, shouted about. YANKEE HATRED.

So we'd creamed the hated Yankees and everybody else. And hunkered down for a series with a formidable--and, actually, respectable--group of New Yorkers.

The Giants.

Boom!
Boom! (helluva catch, unbelievable throw)
Boom!
What? You're starting Lemon again? With Rapid Robert on the bench?
Boom!

The only question we had, as we threw our gloves on the ground, wandered about in shocked silence: "Should Al Lopez be allowed to continue living on this earth?"

Go, Giants!

There's this one thing that never works with me....

2010-09-29T16:14:00.006-05:00

Inspirational messaging:

Speaking of inspirational messaging, Vice President Joe Biden yesterday said we must "remind our base constituency to stop whining." Last week, Obama condemned "Democrats griping and groaning," and the day before he mocked Democrats who "just congenitally, tend to get -- to see the glass as half empty." That was preceded by Robert Gibbs announcing that liberal critics of the President who complain about continuation of Bush policies "need to get drug tested," while Rahm Emanuel had previously shared his view that dissatisfied liberals are "fucking retarded". Glenn Greenwald

David Dayen has an excellent post on all of this:

I would just add that I've never seen a politician run an election with the message "Don’t be stupid, quit your bitching and vote for me." This goes orders of magnitude beyond "Here are the stakes, my opponent would vote against everything you care about." That at least has a certain time-tested quality. That would make the election a choice and not a referendum. But "vote for me, you simpletons"?

There's a reason that strategy has never been employed: because it's so insane to think that open berating would inspire a voter to action.

Badgers Win big (embarrassingly BIG) against CYO team. Bucky in ICU.

2010-09-25T17:15:00.002-05:00

Grandpa, now that I'm a year old (almost) and walking, do you think I could get a unicycle?

2010-09-25T14:59:00.003-05:00

Kiddo, no matter that things look a bit grim from time to time.
Checking in with you makes everything just peachy.

I like my credit union, have liked it (them) since I joined in 1954

2010-09-22T17:20:00.002-05:00

I've been, happily, a Credit Union member continuously since 1954. The St. Colman Parish Federal Credit Union on the near west side of Cleveland was my CU home for 46 years. That's where I put my paper route earnings starting at age 11. And I kept my share account active long after I'd moved away.
Now, I've been with Educators Credit Union since 1992. I recently mentioned to a bank officer at a Waukesha bank (that I was forced to deal with because my employer used their payroll service) that I am a strong partisan of credit unions and a long-time member.
This bank officer got a sour and censorious look as she lectured me on the fundamental inequity that had her institution paying taxes, while ours is granted special and undeserved privileges and tax exemptions. "All we want is a level playing field".
So, I lectured back:
   "My parents, my uncles and aunts never found a level playing field in the dark days of the Great Depression. Bankers didn't want to hear from little people, didn't want to see them. Bankers fought every decent and humane thing that the New Deal stood for. That is your heritage. You may claim the slogan of 'The Bank of Friendly Service', but there's no denying your heritage.
   "Credit Unions arose because banks didn't care about the financial needs/plight of ordinary working people and farmers. They are remembered by that generation as heartless foreclosure machines. Working class people did what we had to, elected FDR and supported the New Deal. We welcomed the legislation that allowed federally chartered member-owned cooperative savings and lending institutions.
  "Do not, please, lecture me about level playing fields, unless you are willing to propose that we--credit union people--work with you, bank people, on a critical issue in banking. Let's agree to demand with joined voices the re-establishment of the sensible principles of bank regulation underlying the Glass-Steagall Act that flowed out the New Deal's response to the Great Depression. How about if we also agree to insist that "too big to fail" means "too big to exist" and "never too big for jail"?
   "Once we get that victory (and a few more) behind us, perhaps we can discuss your grievances and work together on level playing fields".

The Waukesha Council needs to think long and hard about who should lead the Water Utility Commission

2010-09-21T12:09:00.002-05:00

The President of the Waukesha Water Utility Commission is ALSO the President of the Waukesha School Board. He was nominated to serve on the Commission seven times by mayors of Waukesha. And each time he was nominated, the Waukesha Council voted (I never heard a "nay" or an "abstain," in all those votes over the past 21 years). And he has dutifully served each of those three year terms. And he's angling to get another term. As a citizen who has watched for all those decades, I thank him for his service--unpaid service.

But he should go.

The voters of the Waukesha School District (including a few who live outside the city limits) have elected Mr. Warren to be a member of the School Board six times. And for the school years '09-'10 and "10-'11 his fellow board members have elected him President of the School Board.

President of two of the largest and, arguably, most controversial enterprises in government in Waukesha County.

Waukesha School '09-'10 Budget: $185.3 Million.

Water Utility 2010 Budget $9.1 Million But with plans to borrow/beg $165 Million for a major capital commitment and a daunting procedural mountain to climb.

Warren has been elected by his fellow board members to lead both of these crucial enterprises.

Is the talent pool so thin in Waukesha that one guy is needed at the top of the heap in both enterprises? For decades?

Maybe, he's a genius?

Then, again, maybe he is a small town hustler with Madoff-sized ego, who thinks he has so much finesse and charisma and knowledge that he is needed for both these jobs, that nobody else can do them?

Maybe he's a genius?

Was it genius that led him, as the School Board's Chairman of the Finance/Facilities Committee to bring to the rest of the School Board a bright idea to get something for nothing by jumping blind into a nifty new kind of investment. Shortly after the Board's Finance Chairman Warren led the group into this huge financial commitment, the investments turned out to be practically worthless, a turd in the punchbowl?

Some genius.

Giant Puffball. Is there a consulting mycologist out there?

2010-09-21T11:21:00.005-05:00

Dave Wagner--"Wags"--moved off to Arizona decades back. He was my authoritative source for mushroom advice. It was "eat" or "don't eat". Never a hint of equivocation.

This is the 44 Oz, Slurpee of mushrooms. Found it on the edge of an old railroad right-of-way this morning. Took a bit of bushwhacking to get to it, as it was down a slippery slope covered with thorny brush in a thicket that allowed for no sunlight. There it was, glowing like last night's waxing gibbous moon.

I think it is safe. Wonder whether it'll be tasty as a pot of mushroom soup.

UPDATE: Consensus mycologist/gourmand opinion is that bigger is seldom better. Edible is not equal to tasty. It might or might not improve the compost pile. We shall see.

Extortion

2010-09-17T16:29:00.000-05:00

State offers $25 million in tax incentives to Harley

By Rick Barrett of the Journal Sentinel

Updated: Sept. 17, 2010 11:25 a.m. |(167) COMMENTS

Harley-Davidson Inc. (HOG) will get $25 million in state tax credits for keeping its factories in Wisconsin, the Department of Commerce said Friday.

The incentives are aimed at preserving more than 1,000 blue-collar jobs in the Milwaukee area and Tomahawk. They come four days after Harley employees ratified seven-year labor agreements laden with concessions but meant to keep production work in Wisconsin.

Harley had threatened to pull production out of the state if it could not get favorable labor contracts.

Other states lobbied to get the company's factories, offering generous incentives and lower labor costs.

Extortion.

It is an odyssey only if it ends with return to the place it started...

2010-09-11T19:25:00.023-05:00

It started last Wednesday at 10:00 am in Waukesha and reached the farthest point--ancestral home on the near west side of Cleveland--in just about nine hours. Tolls were about $38. Gas for the Pontiac-that's-actually-a-Toyota was about $33. Seventy-one bucks divided by 454 miles comes to just under sixteen cents/mile.

This cost is, of course, understated. I haven't included insurance, interest payments, license/registration fees and depreciation on the car. And the cost of all that frenetic widening and cyclical re-paving of the roadway ustimately figures into cost-per-mile.

Whatever the cost, it was pure pleasure to visit the family and introduce the new grandchild to lots of friends and relatives.

But here's the odyssey part. Most of our group of travelers were intent on Drang nach Osten, onward to Dutchy country and the Jersey Shore to introduce the the little squirt to the anabaptist side of the family. I planned to return to the place from which we started. They were going farther; I was heading back to Waukesha.

I got dropped off in downtown Cleveland, near the Jake, at the Megabus stop at midnight CDT. Gave my Bro. the bro-hug and hopped on a new double decker bus. Found a seat and went promptly to sleep.

Woke up at 5:30, as we were approaching the Skyway in Chicago, caught the free Wi-Fi on the bus and checked my mail. Three hundred eighty miles. Had a 40 minute layover at Chicago Union Station.

Boarded the next Megabus leg of the trip--to Milwaukee. Eighty minutes later I was at the Amtrak/Intermodal terminal on St. Paul Av. in Milwaukee.

Walked four blocks to 4th and Wisconsin and caught (fifteen minute wait at 8:20 am) the #10 Milwaukee County Transit System bus to Brookfield Square ($2.25).

Arrived at Brookfield Square about 9:00 am. The MCTS bus pulled up at the transfer point at just the moment the Waukesha Transit System bus also arrived (That's called articulated scheduling). I had a transfer that got me on the Waukesha bus for no extra dough for a thirty minute ride to Waukesha's downtown terminal.

Caught, immediately, the #9 Waukesha Transit Bus to my neighborhood, with a transfer and a quarter in the farebox.

Dropped off at the bus stop sixty paces from my front door at 10:15 AM.

Odyssey complete; (refer to the title of this post.).

o A little over ten hours--door to door.

o Five buses. Each of them spotless and comfortable.

o Fares ( Megabus pricing scheme: the earlier you buy a ticket, the cheaper it is; overnight travel cheaper than daytime)

Cleveland to Chicago--$15.00;
Chicago to Milwaukee--$16.00;
Milwaukee to Waukesha--$2.50

o Six hours of sleep on the trip.

o Three stimulating conversations with seat-mates.

o Wi-Fi for most of the trip,

o Total cost: $33.50.

The reason so many people hate and riducule and demand the end of mass transit is that they have no experience with it, NONE.

I'm lucky. I got used to having it when I was young. I still love its convenience, low-cost and conviviality.

The Reverend Lucius Walker, Jr. died this morning at age 80 in New York.

2010-09-07T14:52:00.007-05:00

God rest his noble soul.

Waukesha Freeman is a running joke; the editor's work is a sick joke...

2010-09-05T16:52:00.006-05:00

This was the story 20 months ago:

WAUKESHA - The Freeman has again been honored as among the best newspapers in Wisconsin.
The Freeman won the second-place award for general excellence in the Wisconsin Newspaper Association’s 2008 Better Newspaper Contest. In last year’s contest, The Freeman won first place for general excellence, the highest honor the paper can receive in the state...
First-place awards went to Lee Fensin for Sports pages, Jenny Sharp and Bill Yorth for Opinion pages.

Makes me happy to know that I live in a city that has such a highly regarded newspaper. And an award-winning editor.

Here's something Bill Yorth decided belonged on the opinion pages of the Waukesha Freeman on Wed., September 1, 2010.

Americans
Three hundred years ago and later, when people came to America, they never called themselves European-Americans. They were proud to be called Americans. About 30 years ago, some people (were) not proud to be called Americans and wanted to be called Native Americans and African-Americans. They were painting all blacks Africans. Well, the people from Colombia, South America, don't want to be called African Americans. Same goes for people from the Caribbean, or Panama, or Central America. The whites from South Africa don't want to be called African Americans. Now, what if all the kids that graduate from high school and go to a college, let's say, Madison, should they call themselves Eisenhower Wisconsin or any other high school name in Wisconsin at Madison? No. They are proud of the college that they are going to and don't want to change the name.

Thanks, Mr. Editor. We residents of Waukesha are pleased to see you upholding the performance that so recently earned you a First Place in General Excellence, "the highest honor the paper can receive in the state..." for your superlative presentation of the Waukesha Freeman Opinion Pages.

The opinion was unsigned. The transcription of the opinion had to be the work of someone willing to stenographically get it into shape so that it could be set in type and printed. But, the final look and Imprimatur (the precise translation from the Latin is : "Let it be printed") came from the editor.

This opinion is entirely the product of the editor's judgment. Yorth decided this needed to be published. And he had to say "Let's run this".

A typical week at the Freeman finds Bill O'Reilly, Owen Robinsin, Ann Coulter, Mark Belling, Victor Davis Hanson, Thomas Sowell, Jessica McBride, Cal Thomas and Pat Buchanan featured. In the interest of balance, there are offerings from time to time by noted flaming left-wingers Maureen Dowd and Tom Friedman.

The Freeman is a running joke. Yorth's editing is a sick joke.

This is Waukesha. The guy who wrote "Americans" fits in perfectly on Yorth's opinion pages.

The President speaks

2010-08-31T20:06:00.005-05:00

Why do we bother with this guy?

Here is the speech that I wish President Obama would give about the Iraq War, but which neither he nor any other president ever will.
Posted on August 31, 2010 by Juan Cole
Fellow Americans, and Iraqis who are watching this speech, I have come here this evening not to declare a victory or to mourn a defeat on the battlefield, but to apologize from the bottom of my heart for a series of illegal actions and grossly incompetent policies pursued by the government of the United States of America, in defiance of domestic US law, international treaty obligations, and both American and Iraqi public opinion.
The United Nations was established in 1945 in the wake of a series of aggressive wars of conquest and the response to them, in which over 60 million people perished. Its purpose was to forbid such unjustified attacks, and its charter specified that in future wars could only be launched on two grounds. One is clear self-defense, when a country has been attacked. The other is with the authorization of the United Nations Security Council.
It was because the French, British and Israeli attack on Egypt in 1956 contravened these provisions of the United Nations Charter that President Dwight D. Eisenhower condemned that war and forced the belligerents to withdraw. When Israel looked as though it might try to hang on to its ill-gotten spoils, the Sinai Peninsula, President Eisenhower went on television on February 21, 1957 and addressed the nation. These words have largely been suppressed and forgotten in the United States of today, but they should ring through the decades and centuries:
“If the United Nations once admits that international dispute can be settled by using force, then we will have destroyed the very foundation of the organization, and our best hope of establishing a real world order. That would be a disaster for us all . . .
[Referring to Israeli demands that certain conditions be met before it relinquished the Sinai, the president said that he] “would be untrue to the standards of the high office to which you have chosen me if I were to lend the influence of the United States to the proposition that a nation which invades another should be permitted to exact conditions for withdrawal . . .”
“If it [the United Nations Security Council] does nothing, if it accepts the ignoring of its repeated resolutions calling for the withdrawal of the invading forces, then it will have admitted failure. That failure would be a blow to the authority and influence of the United Nations in the world and to the hopes which humanity has placed in the United Nations as the means of achieving peace with justice.”
In March of 2003, it was the United States government itself that contravened the charter of the United Nations, aggressively invading a country that had not attacked it and against the will of the UN Security Council. The war was preceded by a summit in the Azores of the US, Britain, Spain and Portugal, for all the world as though it were the sixteenth century and a confusion between empire and piracy still prevailed.

Link to The whole speech

AP and Waukesha Freeman know how to set the tone to mark Hiroshima Day

2010-08-08T14:05:00.007-05:00

CARRIER-KILLING MISSILE BEING DEVELOPED
Eric Talmadge August 5, 2010, 5:43 PM
ABOARD THE USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (AP)
Nothing projects U.S. global air and sea power more vividly than supercarriers. Bristling with fighter jets that can reach deep into even landlocked trouble zones, America's virtually invincible carrier fleet has long enforced its dominance of the high sea.
China may put an end to that...
Read the rest of this witless, jingo bombast here.

Nothing projects the American spirit of Miles Gloriosus as much as this sort of chest thumping.

And nothing misreads what the next--perhaps the ultimate--Sino-American confrontation is going to look like. The Chinese need not risk the dangers inherent in blowing up the U.S. military-industrial complex's favorite toy.

They merely need to keep the Renminbi pegged to the U.S. Buck and steadily decline to roll over the proceeds of their U.S. Bond holdings as they come due.

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The myths about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

2010-08-06T10:46:00.005-05:00

Every August, upon the anniversaries of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, comments resume about American decisions at the end of World War II. Despite the passage of 65 years, heated opinions are repeated as fact and myths become immortalized as truths. Beyond distorting the historical record, wishful thinking leads us to repeat past mistakes in new ways against new enemies.

Among the inaccuracies :

1. Japan was ready to fight to the end.

Facts: In an intercepted cable of July 12, 1945, Japanese Emperor Hirohito revealed his decision to intervene to end the war. In Harry S. Truman’s journal, the U.S. president characterized the message as “telegram from Jap Emperor asking for peace.” Tokyo was prepared to surrender unconditionally if the monarchy would be retained, the very position the Allies accepted after Hiroshima.

Five days later, Truman predicted that Stalin would “be in the Jap war by August 15. Fini Japs when that comes about.” Nevertheless, he ordered the bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6. The USSR entered the war on Aug. 8. Truman ordered the Aug. 9 bombing of Nagasaki anyway.

2. Dropping the bomb was necessary to prevent an American invasion.

Facts: In 1946, a U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey report based on intelligence available to the White House concluded: “Certainly prior to Dec. 31, 1945, and in all probability prior to Nov. 1, 1945, Japan would have surrendered even if the atomic bombs had not been dropped, even if Russian had not entered the war, and even if no invasion had been planned or contemplated.”

3. Dropping the bomb saved lives.

Facts: Stanford historian Barton Bernstein’s study of declassified documents found that the worst-case scenario by military planners was 46,000 deaths if the U.S. invaded both Kyushu and Honshu islands. Since Hiroshima, these estimates have grown exponentially as if to justify using the bomb. In notes, Truman cites 250,000 casualties (dead, wounded, missing). His published memoir raises the number to 500,000 dead. Still later, he referred to saving a million lives. In 1991, President H.W. Bush claimed that the bomb saved “millions.”

Since both presidents, among countless others, ignored the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey conclusion that an invasion was unnecessary, it is no wonder average Americans do the same. All of these morbid calculations ignore the stark fact that more than 187,000 humans died at Hiroshima.

Read the rest

Russell Vandenbroucke, professor and chair of theatre arts at the University of Louisville, is the author of “Atomic Bombers,” a play that was broadcast on public radio to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Hiroshima. This column was provided by the PeaceVoice Program of the Oregon Peace Institute.

Who ya gonna believe, Tim Geithner or your own lying bank statements?

2010-08-03T20:38:00.004-05:00

The devastation wrought by the great recession is still all too real for millions of Americans who lost their jobs, businesses and homes. The scars of the crisis are fresh, and every new economic report brings another wave of anxiety. That uncertainty is understandable, but a review of recent data on the American economy shows that we are on a path back to growth.
[...]
While the economy has a long way to go before reaching its full potential, last week’s data on economic growth show that large parts of the private sector continue to strengthen. Business investment and consumption — the two keys to private demand — are getting stronger, better than last year and better than last quarter. Uncertainty is still inhibiting investment, but business capital spending increased at a solid annual rate of about 17 percent.

Together, private consumption and fixed investment contributed about 3.25 percent to growth. Even the surge in imports, which lowered the rate of increase of G.D.P., actually reflects healthy and growing American demand.

Omigod! We've turned the corner. Happy Days are Here Agai.... What's that? There's still a little downside?

We have a long way to go to address the fiscal trauma and damage across the country, and we will need to monitor the ups and downs in the economy month by month. The share of workers who have been unemployed for six months or more is at its highest level since 1948, when the data was first recorded, and we must do more to ensure that they have the skills they need to re-enter the 21st-century economy. Small businesses are still battling a tough climate. State and local governments are still hurting.

Train millions of 45-year olds to take jobs in the service sector at half their former income? Is this what you mean Mr. Geithner?

And while making smart, targeted investments in our future, we must also cut the deficit over the next few years and make sure that America once again lives within its means.

Yah! We're talking about cutting Social Security; making sure that your new job as an on-line customer service rep (which you stole back from some guy in Mumbai or Manila by undercutting his wages) will be still there for you until you're 75, and finally eligible for a pension.

h/t: Digby

The Conway and the Clifton....Home, Sweet Home

2010-07-31T17:26:00.006-05:00

A little research today confirmed a suspicion. I have lived about 60% of my years in Sears Kit Homes.

Something about "Kit" doesn't sound solid or long-lasting. But my research yields a fascinating story about how the Sears Roebuck Company, from 1908 through 1945 manufactured (In Cairo, Illinois and several other locations) more than seventy thousand solid, well-designed houses that arrived in one (sometimes two) railroad boxcars with complete blueprints and and an 80 page leather-bound book of instructions on assembly.

For 17 years I lived in The Conway on Madison Street in Waukesha. Twenty years ago I moved into The Clifton on Easy Street in the same city. Both were (are) solidly-built, enduring (one built in 1928, the other in 1931) residences (homes, nests, what else can I call them?) that will last another 80 years--with just a little attention to maintenance.

There's something very appealing about a house that you could buy from a catalog, from a company that offered you a mortgage on that house based on ONE condition: that you had a job.

And--best of all--the goods were delivered quickly, efficiently and cheaply on a Choo-Choo train.

The hero of San Juan Hill 'splains it all for you...

2010-07-23T21:07:00.012-05:00

I'm so angry with that infernal little Cuban republic that I would like to wipe its people off the face of the earth. All we have wanted of them was that they would behave themselves and be prosperous and happy so that we would not have to interfere. And now, lo and behold, they have started an utterly unjustifiable and pointless revolution.
--President Theodore Roosevelt, 1906

As the second half-century of the Triumph of the Cuban Revolution unfolds, it is worth reviewing how the last ten American Presidents have fared in taming, uplifting and re-directing the Cubans and their pointless revolution.

All (some more than others) have huffed and puffed about giving Castro his walking papers...or an assassins's bullet. Six of them have gone to their graves knowing they failed. Four more have left office knowing they failed. And, the incumbent has been distracted, leaving all things Cuban to his Secretary of State, whose diplomacy has consisted of nothing since the opening gambit: "You change; then, we'll talk".

A recent book is well worth the time and effort demanded by a 700 pager. The title is from TR's genocidal rant. For an overview, the first three chapters are here.

That Infernal little Cuban Republic: The United States and the Cuban Revolution, by Lars Schoultz

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This is what they call "tightening up" at HUD/FHA

2010-07-22T03:04:00.004-05:00

We are three years deep in the housing debacle. Why are we only just now considering raising the standards for FHA mortgage insurance?

For the next 30 days, HUD is seeking public comment on the following policy changes, each of which are designed to mitigate risk to the Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund while promoting sustainable homeownership for FHA borrowers:

Update the combination of credit and down payment requirements for new borrowers. New borrowers seeking FHA-insured financing will be required to have a minimum FICO score of 580 to qualify for FHA’s flagship 3.5 percent down payment program. New borrowers with credit scores of less than a 580 will be required to make a cash investment of at least 10 percent. Borrowers with credit scores of less than 500 will no longer qualify for an FHA-insured mortgage.

Reduce allowable seller concessions from six to three percent. Allowing sellers to contribute up to six percent of the home’s sales price to offset a buyer’s costs exposes the FHA to excess risk by potentially driving up the cost of the home beyond its appraised value. Reducing seller concessions to three percent will bring FHA into conformity with industry standards.

Tighten underwriting standards for manually underwritten loans. When using compensating factors in the underwriting process, lenders will be required to consider those factors which are the best predictive indicators of loan performance, such as the borrower’s credit history, loan-to-value (LTV) percentage, debt-to income ratio, and cash reserves.

Flagship Program?

FICO score of 580 is being promoted as the new and more rigorous ticket to admission, the new gold standard. Insanity for someone to be able to get a mortgage with almost nothing --$7,000 on a starter shack costing $200,000-- down payment with a rotten credit record. And just how rotten is a 580 FICO score. Here's a chart from the Fair Isaac Corporation, the developer of FICO scoring:

760-850	EXCELLENT
700-759	VERY GOOD
723	MEDIAN FICO SCORE
660-699	GOOD
687	AVERAGE FICO SCORE
620-659	NOT GOOD
580-619	POOR
500-579	VERY POOR

580 indicates deadbeat status.

And, the second "tightening" indicates how meaningless even the 3.5% is. Through sleight of hand and over appraisal, the seller of a house that is getting FHA insurance for the buyer, can boost the selling price, then make a "contribution" to the amount the buyer has to bring to the closing.

This is crazy stuff , based on "standards" to promote sales of houses and condos that banks would never finance on their own without there being a big deep-pockets co-signer.

My dad wasn't doctrinaire about many things. But he from time to time intoned with uncommon solemnity and a deep voice: "Never Co-sign". Then he'd repeat: "Never Co-sign". "Never ever ever Co-sign".

The FHA in the past did a pretty good job of underwriting the mortgages they insured. Default rates were managed by not taking risks on people who had no business trying to get loans they were unlikely to pay back.

Didn't we learn that low downpayments are a recipe for disaster? Apparently not. The reason that government programs of FHA will not do more than the miniscule tweaking they are considering is that government is just about the only lender making mortgages.

We are so deep in the hole that we'll never get out.

So, that becomes Reason #3 why the Waukesha Water Utility Scheme to divert Lake Michigan water is toast.

Reason #2 why Waukesha's Lake Michigan diverson scheme is dead....

2010-07-20T17:26:00.008-05:00

...The Top 5 percent in income earners — those households earning $210,000 or more — account for about one-third of consumer outlays, including spending on goods and services, interest payments on consumer debt and cash gifts, according to an analysis of Federal Reserve data by Moody’s Analytics. That means the purchasing decisions of the rich have an outsize effect on economic data. According to Gallup, spending by upper-income consumers — defined as those earning $90,000 or more — surged to an average of $145 a day in May, up 33 percent from a year earlier.

Then in June, that daily average slid to $119. "I think a lot of that feeling that the worst was over has sort of abated," said Dennis J. Jacobe, Gallup’s chief economist.
....
Sam Pizzigati, associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, a left-leaning research center, cautions against simply boosting the spending power of the rich through tax cuts or other measures. “Otherwise, we find ourselves in an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ world,” he said, “and the solution to the hard times that the economy is going through is to help the people that are not going through hard times.”
Motoko Rich NY Times, 7/19/2010

And now the rich have started tightening their belts.

The nearly $800 billion stimulus package, "cash for clunkers," the credit for new home buyers, the $1.2 trillion in mortgages the Federal Reserve purchased--they're all gone, used-up, finished. Those props that gave glimmers of hope for a turnaround will not be repeated. Because they failed.

The turnaround has made another turn, a U Turn; odds are it is in a very long downward slide. We'll need a conservative, low-cost fix that takes the water we have and fiddles it sufficiently to meet the standard, at a price we can afford. We will not need any extra water; we no longer can afford sprawling growth. The money markets continuing to offer impossibly low interest rates will not last (The Federal Reserve is keeping them so low they can't get any lower), meaning municipal bonds to finance the diversion infrastructure will push the price way beyond the lowball figure of $165 million.

People in Waukesha will be wanting littler houses on smaller lots, older houses they can buy at a reasonable price and fix up, houses in walking distance to schools and shopping. There is a glut of "upscale" (that word makes me gag, always has) houses--tract mansions built of chipboard and vinyl. All of this means that the tax base of Waukesha will continue contracting.

City government, including the Waukesha Water Utility, will need to put itself on a diet. And water diverted from Lake Michigan will be like a big gooey dessert--definitely off the list.

Foreclosures and Sheriff's Sales hit record high in Waukesha...

2010-07-03T15:36:00.005-05:00

The Waukesha Freeman is a mess. It wasn't always a bad paper. But the last 20 years have been a long slide--from mediocrity, into banality and now unvarnished stupidity.

Home delivery in the afternoon has given way to mailed editions, arriving midday and later to those who want the bargain rate. It's available earlier for half-a-buck in a few newsboxes and on the grocery/pharmacy shelves. Conley Newspapers also publishes the West Bend News. They try to finesse that into economizing on the newshole. Thus, a feature called something like neighboring community news, gets Waukesha readers hot items about the West Bend municipal budget. Few in Waukesha give a rip about how a community fifty miles away spends tax dollars. I'm pretty sure they feed Waukesha "news" to the West Benders to save money in both directions.

Inexperienced reporting staff. Scant indication that anyone in the newsroom has even a shred of institutional memory. Total inattention to simple copy editing. The editorial/opinion page is an abattoir.

How do they stay in business? Simple answer: agate type, the tiny typeface used for classified advertising. As Dave Wagner, former Freeman Editorial Page Editor/News Editor, used to say: "There's gold in that agate type".

This week the Freeman appeared to hit a record. Nine full pages of advertising, but none of it commercial stuff. All Foreclosures, classified under the heading "Legal Notices". Actually, there was a total of twelve pages of legal notices. Replevin, requests for bids, probate of estates, small claims by hospitals and credit card companies took up three of the 12 pages.

I focused only on the foreclosures and sheriff's sales. It is hard to look at. Behind all the legal lingo, of course, is a mountain of hurt. You find the names of people you know. You gasp at how deep in the hole some are. This week three of the actions involved amounts above a million dollars

This is a look at nine consecutive columns, detailing 17 foreclosures. I didn't cherrypick high numbers; these are just as they were printed, consecutively, over the nine columns. Here are the foreclosure amounts.

$145,618 Mukwonago
$270,410 Big Bend
$ 80,023 Waukesha
$321,928 Waukesha
$278,937 Brookfield
$303,365 Sussex
$168,233 New Berlin
$196,419 North Prairie
$274,633 Delafield
$395,929 Elm Grove
$341,171 Dousman
$144,190 Meno Falls
$586,774 Meno Falls
$201,710 Muskego
$182,068 Wales
$417,852 Lannon
$229,132 Brookfield

Real estate agents try to persuade the hopeful, the gullible, the uninformed that the market is headed back up, that this is the time to get a bargain and ride it up, as real estate recovers, returns to previous valuations.

This much economic slaughter ought to give pause. I'll wager that none of these properties will draw auction bids even remotely close to what the banksters are trying to recover. If the auctions follow recent precedent, most will get no bids.

The only thing headed up is Freeman revenue. There's gold in that agate type.

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The pup is a year old today...

2010-06-30T18:52:00.003-05:00

I've wondered several dozen times in the past twelve months ..."What in doggy heaven's name am I doing--at my age-- with a new puppy in the house". And the bride just grins and says "relax".

She's right.

This critter is smart, well-behaved, quick to learn, anxious to please, incredibly energetic, a helluva herder (He helps me get where I'm going by gently nipping at my heels in true sheep dog style). He's a mix of Australian Shepherd (high energy/mega smarts/lightning speed) and Poodle (doesn't shed).

Both of his forbearer breeds are working dogs. The dog's owners (that's us) need to supply the dog with a job or sufficient exercise to compensate for the lack of one. Lacking outside employment, the enterprising and energetic pup will get his own job. And it will invariably involve somebody's shoes.

Which leads Waterblogged to say, once again, "What in doggy heaven's name am I doing--at my age, and with a worked-over pair of Bjorns--with a new puppy in the house?".

He's here; he's staying; the bride is happy.

And--truth to tell--he's gotten to me , too.

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Just a piece of furniture...

2010-04-20T19:26:00.003-05:00

This is, perhaps, an offbeat way to re-enter the blogosphere after an eight week absence, particularly in light of this blog's raison d'etre, that being a focus on water and the politics of Waukesha.

The bride read, from the MJS, an obituary of sorts: Porter's of Racine is absolutely going out of business , finis, no mas, going to close it's doors at the end of business tomorrow.

"...Any reasonable offer will be considered".

Well, thanks for the stuff--and the style--you sold over all those years. And, sorry to see you go.

The photo up top is of a table a young couple bought in 1974, shortly after purchasing a first home, a few blocks from downtown Waukesha.

Thirty six years of family meals around a comfortable, beautiful, just-the-right-size table. First for the two of us (no leaf), later for four (small leaf), occasionally, for six or eight (large leaf).

People told us to go to Porter's for furniture because they had high quality goods. It turned out to be good advice. We agonized over buying something for several hundred dollars, then gave in to the pull 0f something that we thought was beautiful and would last a long time.

A piece of furniture that is still beautiful and useful after 36 years of daily use. It is part of the family. It has seen lots of discussion; a season of adolescent sulking; a few meals that went catastrophically bad; many more meals shared with friends that were emblematic of lifelong and sustaining friendships. And barrels of vino, leading unfailingly to veritas. A certain amount of bullshit and lots of poker and pinochle.

This table is emblematic of the life of a family. It is sturdy, beautiful, enduring, useful. And an outfit called Porter's of Racine sold it to us a long time ago. It will be passed on to a next generation, maybe several generations.

We are grateful that there was a place that sold such things... things that last. It would be better if such an organization could survive in the age of chipboard "furniture". But, the table endures, survives.

May we all endure.

PS. Waterblogged went out-of-commission early in March due to an emergency appendectomy that led to a week of of pseudo-healing and recovery, only to relapse due to "complications," followed by another week of recovery-of-sorts that foundered on further "complications". Three admissions to the hospital in 20 days, each through the ER portal, is the reason WB has had nothing to offer on the hot item of Waukesha's elections and the decision to pursue getting a diversion of Great Lakes water to the City of Waukesha.

Despite the loss of 20 pounds in 25 days (believe me, you do NOT want this to happen to you), Waterblogged will return to the debate, regarding new leadership and new perspectives on how to ensure both Waukesha's viability as a community and its need for a safe and reliable source of water.

Perhaps the Waukesha Freeman pays by the word. Or, maybe it's a copy-editing lapse. Probably just a big hiring mistake.

2010-02-23T07:45:00.014-06:00

Waukesha man, 18, charged with bail jumping
Complaint: Teen allegedly created disturbance at police station

By Sarah Millard Freeman Staff

WAUKESHA – An 18-yearold Waukesha man was charged Monday with felony bail jumping and misdemeanor disorderly conduct after an alleged altercation ended at the Waukesha Police Department Friday night, according to a criminal complaint.

Devin R. Fehrman was released from the Waukesha County Jail on $500 bail Monday. He is ordered to have no contact with any of the witnesses or alleged victims listed in the criminal complaint.

The alleged victim came into the front lobby of the Waukesha Police Department at about 8:45 p.m. Friday and told police Fehrman assaulted him because the alleged victim had taken a truck light from Fehrman, according to the criminal complaint.

The alleged victim told police that Fehrman and he were meeting at Summit View Elementary School to return the light, according to the criminal complaint.

While the alleged victim, who appeared “somewhat distressed,” was telling police about the incident, Fehrman arrived at the police department, according to the complaint.

“When Fehrman opened the first entry door into the breezeway of the lobby, he immediately appeared very agitated,” the complaint states. “Fehrman then opened the second door into the main lobby and started yelling at (the alleged victim), stating something to the effect that he didn’t ‘(explective) break into his house.’”

Fehrman allegedly was instructed by a police officer to get back and go outside the lobby, but Fehrman allegedly ignored the commands, according to the complaint.

The complaint further alleges the officer became concerned Fehrman would assault the alleged victim and because Fehrman allegedly was not obeying commands, the officer physically grabbed Fehrman’s jacket and pushed him out the front doors. The officer then called for back up, according to the complaint.

Fehrman allegedly told police that while he was meeting the alleged victim at the school, his arm became trapped after the alleged victim rolled up his window to his vehicle. Fehrman allegedly told police the alleged victim then began driving, dragging Fehrman until he was able to free himself, according to the complaint.

Police allegedly did not notice any injuries on Fehrman’s body that suggested he had been dragged by a vehicle, according to the complaint.

Fehrman allegedly also told police he did not use profane language at the police department and was not belligerent. Fehrman allegedly did tell police he was mad and as soon as he entered the department, the officer grabbed him and sat him down onto the floor between the two doors, according to the complaint.

Fehrman also is charged with child abuse from an alleged July 22 altercation. A 14-year-old boy allegedly told police Fehrman had hit him with a shovel, according to a criminal complaint.

Fehrman additionally is charged with felony bail jumping from an alleged Nov. 1 incident."

Johnny Dankworth

2010-02-07T08:05:00.006-06:00

LONDON (Reuters) - Saxophonist Sir John Dankworth, one of the leading figures in British jazz for more than half a century, has died, his agent said Sunday. He was 82.

He and Cleo Laine played Milwaukee every year for a stretch in the mid-70s into the 80s. Always filled the Hall--Uihlein Hall. She was the headliner, but their show was like few other collaborations.

Cleo sang a capella this smidgen of a Sctottish folk tune between numbers:

I know where I'm going
And I know who's going with me
I know who I love
And my dear knows who I'll marry.

Some say that he's poor
But I say that he's bonnie
Fairest of them all
Is my handsome winsome Johnny.

Bet you didn't know Mayor Nelson in Waukesha has a Blog

2010-01-28T18:01:00.005-06:00

You really need to sample the goodies on Mayor Larry Nelson's Blog

This is a blog on which it is promised that all kinds of exciting things are "attached".

But, none--not one--of the links will take you anywhere.

And the graphic display on the masthead is simply bizarre.

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Dr. King's most prophetic speech was not I have a Dream

2010-01-18T06:00:00.001-06:00

Dr. King knew--as we all need to know--that his overriding message came in this speech, a speech that went deeper into his dream than the one that gets center stage on the King National Holiday.

One year--to the day and the hour--after speaking these words at Riverside Church in New York City, Dr. King was dead from an assassin's bullet.

Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence
By Rev. Martin Luther King
4 April 1967

I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. I join with you in this meeting because I am in deepest agreement with the aims and work of the organization which has brought us together: Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam. The recent statement of your executive committee are the sentiments of my own heart and I found myself in full accord when I read its opening lines: "A time comes when silence is betrayal." That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam.

Click for text of the rest of the address/or to hear the original recording

"Silence is betrayal..."

We betray the legacy of Dr. King, by not repeating and amplifying this message. I am persuaded that--had Dr. King survived until today--his speeches would be addressing Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel; drones and collateral damage; the unconscionable conduct of indiscriminate war--war that targets "terrorists" and kills non-combatant civilians--throughout the last decade. He would tell us, once again, that silence is betrayal.

The Riverside Church address greatly impelled the tidal wave of revulsion that pushed LBJ to abandon his pursuit of a 2nd term as president. President Lyndon Johnson had pressed (as only he could press) the Congress to pass the Civil Rights Act, The Voting Rights Act, Head Start, the Job Corps, Medicaid, Medicare, the War on Poverty and so much more in his first four years in the White House.

Yet, Dr King refused to give LBJ a pass--and was berated and abused by many of his followers in the civil rights movement for doing so--because of all the President had done. King spoke on the issue that challenged the existence, the very soul, of the Dream he had described to us in 1963.

I have--we all have--the cadences, the powerful imagery, the emotion of I Have A Dream, in 0ur heads.

We still need the challenge of A Time to Break Silence as a goad to our hearts, and our shared conscience.

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Larry Nelson's boast about being 36th "Best Place to Live"

2010-01-16T16:44:00.009-06:00

Money Magazine, each August, gets down to list-making. And they publish the "Ten Best Places to Live" in the U.S. They go on to list the runners-up from 11 through 100. They have their criteria, their bias toward what makes up the good life.

And they slice and dice lots of data and opinion to come up with sub-lists: Skinniest (but no mention most blubbery), priciest, richest, best golf, easiest on commuters, least tax-hellish.

A recent comment published on a different site, but focused on the lists, had comments on the Money criteria. Here's a typical one:

What about culture, diversity, public green spaces, walkability, public services, bike-friendliness, etc. etc.? Why this kneejerk reaction that you have to have low taxes to be happy?

Regardless, we are told WAUKESHA IS ON THE LIST! It says so on the top line of the City's Web Site, close to the photo of our Mayor. The facts: just before the last election (2006) for Mayor, Money reported that, according to their criteria, our city, while not on the top ten list, was a distant "also-ran," #36 on a list of cities that made up part of the group that was "studied".

Whoopee!

I don't want to douse anyone's pride or jubilation, but--this being an annual ranking--I have to tell you, we've fallen off the list; we're washed-up; some other city is 36th. And we've fallen hard. We are no longer even in the rankings that have been published in '07, '08 and '09.

So, here we are in 2010, four years after Waukesha's brief moment at 36th Place. Larry Nelson continues to brag about how wonderfully "36th Best" we are. Get over it, Mr. Mayor. The things that got Waukesha on that list, such as it is, happened before your were elected.

During your four year term, a lot has happened, some of which seems useful, much of which seems disastrous. But, for whatever reason, we have fallen, not just down in the published rankings, but completely off the list.

Allow me to tell you about how much I think Waukesha--my home for the past 36 years--is the place where I choose to live because, for me, it has been the "Best Place". How it is the place I have lived most of my life, the place where I have the friends of a lifetime, where I want to continue to live because I like it.

Telling me, and the rest of the world, that Waukesha was once the holder of a fair-to-middling rating in a yuppie consumer magazine sells all of us short.

Now the economy is in recovery, we can afford a little military adventurism....

2009-12-17T12:43:00.007-06:00

Ashton Carter, Undersecretary of Defense for acquisition, technology and logistics, put the matter this way recently: “[N]ext to Antarctica, Afghanistan is probably the most incommodious place, from a logistics point of view, to be trying to fight a war... It's landlocked and rugged, and the road network is much, much thinner than in Iraq. Fewer airports, different geography.” In other words, we might as well be fighting on the moon.
In translation, this means at least one thing: don’t believe any of the figures coming out of the White House or the Pentagon about what this war is going to cost.

See the whole article by Jo Comerford at Tomdispatch December 17, 2009.

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An Open Letter to The Norwegian Nobel Committee

2009-12-10T20:27:00.003-06:00

On December 10, you will award the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama, citing "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between people." We the undersigned are distressed that President Obama, so close upon his receipt of this honor, has opted to escalate the U.S. war in Afghanistan with the deployment of 30,000 additional troops. We regret that he could not be guided by the example of a previous Nobel Peace Laureate, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who identified his peace prize as "profound recognition that nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time — the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to violence and oppression."

Read the rest and the list of signers...

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We are getting very close to the edge...

2009-12-09T07:32:00.005-06:00

This from the mainstream business press this week:

Almost half (46%) of 2,148 consumers surveyed recently said they weren't confident they could come up with $2,000 within a month in a crisis--from savings, family, friends, credit cards or other sources.

Even among those earning $100,000 to $149,000 a year. almost 25% doubted they could raise it, according to the survey conducted by research firm TNS with academics from Harvard Business School and Dartmouth College.

"We wanted to know if people could fix a broken car or furnace," says Harvard finance professor Peter Tufano, who adds that most studies he has seen measure "how much cash people have... not how much they can access."

The survey results surprised him. "The ability to cope with emergencies is much less strong than we might have thought."
Business Week, Dec. 18, 2009

And This commentary and analysis by Charles H. Smith:

This survey offers a staggering set of implications. Let's grant that we have no idea if the survey was scientific, but we can assume that the academics from Harvard Business School and Dartmouth College would not besmirch their reputations with wildly inaccurate or fatally less-than-rigorous data collection. Let's follow the idea that 25% of households earning $100,000+ can't lay their hands on a meager $2,000. First off, only about 20% of households earn above $100K. Most households make do on a sum closer to the national median of $46,000.

What does it mean when households not only don't have $2,000 in cash (savings), but they also lack the ability to put their hands on $2,000 from family, friends, or even credit cards?

We can surmise:

1. Their social/family networks are either threadbare or populated by others without savings or credit;

2. Their creditworthiness is near-zero. Either they've maxed out the credit they once had, or their previous credit lines have been cut off in the general reduction of risk/credit, or they are in arrears/default and thus have zero credit.

It's also possible, and perhaps even probable (though we have no data to support this projection) that both are true: most of those in Americans' social networks are in dire straits/hanging by a financial thread and their access to credit either private or institutional is near-zero.

We might even extend our query deeper into social networking, and speculate that many Americans no longer possess a social network populated with people who they could ask for a loan. (A thousand "friends" on Facebook might not replace even one real friend.)

We might also speculate that many citizens are now wary of loaning their dwindling precious reserves of cash to anyone, even friends, who they rightly anticipate will be unable to pay back the loan if the economy continues devolving.

Perhaps the cultural ethics of the nation have been so eroded by the endless (and apparently richly rewarding) scams, fraud, embezzlement, cheating and lying that people no longer trust even their friends to act with fiscal responsibility--a suspicion fueled, perhaps, by the very fact that few were able to save even a paltry $2,000 for a rainy day.

Or it may just be that the majority of Americans are essentially one paycheck or unemployment check away from homelessness and hunger, and thus the social networks of most households are populated by others in the same general economic situation.

If so, we might ask: why have so many households failed to save even a modest sum? Let's grant that many households may well have already consumed their savings as job and pay cuts eroded household income. Medical emergencies alone apparently account for a significant percentage of financial ruination (foreclosures and bankruptcies).

But we would be remiss not to ask if some households have done better than others as the bogus prosperity evaporated, and if so, why. The answer is not difficult but it is terribly painful to those embedded in American culture's permanent adolescence: long-term shared sacrifice.

Those of you who reside in states with large immigrant populations probably know families who bought a home, and by combining three, four or even five incomes, paid off the mortgage in a few years. Was this possible if every household worker spent lavishly on consumer goods and the "luxury lifestyle" propagandized by TV? No. It was only possible if all the earners in the household rejected consumerist appeals to squander money and chose instead to sacrifice desires for the greater good, i.e. reducing the mortgage to zero and assemble a substantial savings (six figures in many cases).

Such thrift was commonplace in the post-Depression decades. People did not trust banks, hence my grandmother has six savings accounts, most with modest sums--she owned more savings accounts than dresses.

I remember my first credit card, which I only applied for after years of accumulating savings. I already owned land before I ever "owned" a credit card. This was common in the so-called "hippie era," which generally distrusted debt and institutions like banks. Hippies paid with cash or barter--at least until they devolved into yuppies.

This is not to suggest every household was financially able to amass substantial savings, but it is an open question to American society: how much credit and cash which could have been saved, with relatively modest applications of sacrifice and restraint, was squandered on "luxury goods," toys and travel?

The zeitgeist (especially television) encouraged rampant consumption and saving has been disincentivised for years by super-low interest rates. Nonetheless we have to ask how many private trillions were squandered, as a sort of cultural match to the trillions in public taxpayer funds squandered to maintain the financial Elites in their positions of power and privilege.

Responsibility for our financial ineptitude and precariousness runs both wide and deep.

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Still blooming on December 3rd.

2009-12-03T04:11:00.001-06:00

Planting snapdragons in a sunny south-facing corner sometimes yields a crop of flowers that bring pleasure right up to Christmas.

Granddaughter Aya has gotten to grandpa, once again....

2009-12-02T21:38:00.001-06:00

They tell me that a six-week-old baby cannot smile a real smile. It's a physical reaction to a little baby “fot” or burp. But, you can't tell me this little one isn't --in some unknown way--just plain delighted over something. And, I suspect that what has her so smiley IS NOT the way President Obama is living up to his Peace Prize laurels.

Cuba policy: A blend of futile and stupid....

2009-11-30T12:34:00.004-06:00

First was the Cuban revolution on the first day of 1959. Then, the April, 1961 US-sponsored, US-financed and US-botched military assault on Cuba. It was inevitable that the deployment of Soviet missiles--or some other equally provocative move on the island of Cuba in 1962--would be the response.

Nikita Khrushchev and Jack Kennedy stared each other down. Then they both blinked. They both wanted out of the stand-off without nuclear war; and from that flowed the good result. US missiles pointed at the soviets came out of Turkey. Soviet missiles aimed at the US came out of Cuba. The only sensible move out of US policy-makers in the past half-century.

Ever since, it has been all clandestine stuff, mostly mischief carried out by the Miami and New Jersey bunch, with loads of CIA support and black budget cash, including repeated attempts to assassinate the Cuban leadership.

All of our attempts to wage cold war and proxy war on Cuba have amounted to making the 11 million stay-at-home Cubans pay for the sin of a love/hate relationship with the guy who pulled off their revolution, the guy who kicked Uncle Sam in the shins and threw out the mafia and waved goodbye to the fat cats who exploited their fellow Cubans.

So Radio Marti and TV Marti are merely a laughable sideshow. The production values are awful. Believe me, I’ve been there; I’ve seen and heard it. The real underlying purpose of both of those broadcasting efforts is to funnel money to the producers--Miami bitter-enders. The quid pro quo is electoral support--money and votes--every presidential election year. Republicans and Democrats are on the same page; they compete with each other to prove who really hates Castro the most.

Cubans just don’t find the Radio and TV Marti stuff appealing. Anyone who wants to see and hear the Miami broadcasts can see them or hear them. They just don't really want to. The jamming is half-hearted…and has declined in the face of this massive Cuban indifference. Some outside evaluators found that the listenership/viewership is in single digits. There is much better stuff on TV coming from Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Spain. The Miami bunch who run the radio/tv operation are equally half-hearted. They don’t care whether anyone listens/watches. They are getting their checks and that’s all that matters.

Fifty years of pushing the same tired policy…fifty years of failure. That cold-war saber-rattling never worked, just hardened the Cuban rejection of it. And the saber-rattling has devolved into piss-into-the-wind cold war rhetoric spewing unheeded out of some very big transmitters, disappearing into the ether above the Florida straits.

Why do we insist on backing it? Cuba is no threat, has never been a threat. Whatever we think of Cuban leadership, it is up to the Cuban people to choose their government. They stick with the basic tenet of the Cuban Revolution of 1959: “We’ve seen what the Yanquis do… Get the damn Yanquis out of here… and keep them out of here".

Oh...one more thing. Here's the latest on international support of our Cuba Embargo and Travel Ban, reported in Trans Africa Forum, Oct. 30, 2009:

United Nations Votes to Condemn U.S. Embargo against Cuba for 18th Consecutive Year

For nearly two decades, the majority of the world has voiced its opposition to one of our most problematic foreign policies – the nearly 50 year U.S. trade embargo on Cuba. On October 28, 2009, the United Nations General Assembly condemned it for the eighteenth consecutive year. 187 countries voted in opposition to the embargo, three countries voted in favor (the U.S. itself, Israel and Palau) and two abstained (Micronesia and Marshall Islands). This is the first time that the General Assembly vote has occurred under the administration of President Barack H. Obama and the first year the vote has occurred where the U.S. is the only country in the Western Hemisphere to not to have diplomatic relations with Cuba.

During a two hour debate, representatives ranging from countries such as China to regions such as the Caribbean (CARICOM) voiced strong opposition to the embargo and called it criminal, illegal and immoral. The Group of 77 (the largest intergovernmental organization of developing states in the UN) and the Non-Aligned Movement (an international organization of states not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc) expressed their disagreement. Even traditional U.S. allies, such as the European Union countries, came out unanimously against the policy and were openly critical.

Andreas Delfs is interested in the music director opening in Seattle

2009-11-17T00:28:00.008-06:00

Maestro's new job evaporates:

The 109-year-old Honolulu Symphony, which bills itself as the oldest American orchestra west of the Rockies, said it will cancel all of its November and December concerts and made no guarantees that the rest of its 2009-10 season would go on.

“We cannot spend money we do not have,” said Majken Mechling, the symphony’s executive director. “We cannot continue with business as usual.”

The symphony is just the latest in a string of high-profile bankruptcies to hit ....

Rick Daysog, Honolulu Advertiser

Things are really getting ugly.

.

The old lie....

2009-11-11T19:49:00.003-06:00

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys!-An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And flound'ring like a man in fire or lime...
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,-
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

Wilfred Owen
Killed on the western front, November 9, 1918, two days before the last
futile shot was fired in The Great War. . . the War to end All Wars.

Fill the hall, y'all. Sarah Palin's coming to town...

2009-11-06T10:33:00.007-06:00

Tickets still available for tonight’s Palin event

WEST ALLIS – Tickets are still available for Wisconsin Right to Life’s event tonight featuring Sarah Palin.

The building’s doors will open at 5:30 p.m., event doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and the program will run from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Wisconsin Exposition Center at State Fair Park, 8200 W. Greenfield Ave.

Tickets are $30 per person, and children under 2 are free. General seating is not reserved and no tickets will be sold at the door.

Tickets can be purchased at www. SarahPalinEvent.com. Parking is $5.

– Freeman Staff

Maybe I'm reading this all wrong. But, doesn't there seem to be just a whiff of desperation in this Waukesha Freeman story running in this morning's fishwrap?

Sarah's manager's are being generous in stipulating that some of the little nippers still in diapers, may enter at no cost.

"Hey, Buster, you trying to sneak a toddler in here widdout payin' his way? That'll be another thirty bucks."

UPDATE

We gotta have rules to make this work:

NOTICE - YOU MUST HAVE A TICKET TO ENTER
No tickets will be sold at the door

# All bags will be searched
# No exit and re-entry allowed
# No cell phones
# No recording devices
# No video or still cameras
# No laptops
# No photos or recording allowed
# No literature distribution
# No posters or banners
# No strollers or car seats
# No carry-in food or beverages

Concession stands will be open inside the Wisconsin Exposition Center hall

Congress prepares a batch of sausage....

2009-10-27T19:06:00.005-05:00

In 1962, the United States Post Office faced the increasingly evident problem--that 2-digit postal zone codes were simply insufficient for the growing volumes of mail.

For example: Any letters I received pre-1964, (perhaps containing a decoder ring or a birthday card from my godmother with a buck in it--quite a generous gift, that buck would buy four packs of Pall Malls or 20 Nestle's Crunch bars) would have been addressed like this:

Jimmy B.
6810 Wakefield Ave.
Cleveland 2, Ohio

Our mailman (back then, all letter carriers were men, so there was nothing else to call them) and about thirty others--all of them working out of the branch PO for Zone 2--couldn't start sorting the mail for their routes until other sorters, located in the branch and working the graveyard shift, sorted them down to the thirty-some piles for the individual routes The only tool available was that two-digit ZONE number. The entire City of Cleveland could have no more than 99 zones. Once the ninety nine piles were sorted by zone number, everything else depended on knowing which street and which block was in which route.

The U.S. Post Office in Washington had bright staff who researched all the possible methods of getting a zone-coding system with greater finesse at locating a building, on a street, in a neighborhood, in a zone in a city in a state, all by looking only at the Postal Code Zone.

They looked and looked. They noted what the Brits had, looked at what the Canadians were considering, and checked out what Cuba had. Cuba did not make the cut, as it had a system that delivered letters addressed like this: "...near the corner of Avenida Zanha and Calle Rayo".

The Post Office recommendation in '63, made by the esteemed Postmaster General, John A. Gronouski--a good Kennedy Democrat from Wisconsin--called for a six-digit indicator, using twin alpha-numeric sets of three, with alternating numbers and letters (A2B 3C4) that would produce a huge range of combinations, allowing an indicia sufficiently versatile that it could sort mail into some very fine categories.

For Example, A piece of mail coded A3X 7P4 could have enough precision to indicate the address was:

o In a specific zone
o On specific mail delivery route
o On an urban block
o In a specific apartment block or commercial building
o On a specific floor

It was being used-- after having been perfected--in at least two places: Great Britain and the Netherlands. And everybody LIKED IT A LOT. And many other countries were studying it.

Enter: The United States Congress.

Congress listened, deliberated, blustered, horse-traded, groaned, log-rolled, strained, compromised, eye-gouged, and finally forged an agreement among the august membership.

And Congress Spoke:

The American People will not tolerate, will not accept, will not use six digits, especially with those confusing letters of the alphabet mixed in. The American people will accept only a system of zone codes with no more than five numbers... and no alphabet soup.

Moreover, the American people will happily endorse and adapt to the use of Zipcode. In order to soften the body blow inherent in drastic change, the American people will have the ministrations of Mr. ZIP to help them acclimate to the this new and complex system, which will be--because we have decreed it--the best mail sorting system in the world.

These are the same fools who are designing a health care system, getting right down to the minutia, for the American people. They're doing it in committees and caucuses and eye-gouging, log-rolling, horse-trading confabs from now until the last lobbyist has been shook down.

They know what the American people want. They know what we need. They've undertaken similar delicate, difficult tasks with reasonably good results. And if they do not get it right the first time, they know that a little tweaking cum eye-gouging sometime in the future is always possible.

After twenty years of Mr. ZIP (a backronym for Zone Improvement Program) the US Postal Service tweaked the marginally useful ZIPcodes with ZIP plus 4. Congress no longer has any say in postal affairs, as it is now (since 1972) an Independent Agency of the U.S. Government, not funded by taxes, not run by Congress.

But is still saddled with what the US Congress did in creating the Zone Improvement Program.

Then and now in beisbol....

2009-10-07T12:25:00.002-05:00

In Game 3 of the 1997 American League Championship Series, Baltimore pitcher Mike Mussina struck out 15 Cleveland Indians in seven innings. Indians pitcher Orel Hershiser had seven strikeouts in seven innings. The game started at 4:17 p.m. in Cleveland, and 13 of the first 18 outs were strikeouts.

"I think it’s unfair to have to go out and play a baseball game at 4 o’clock in the afternoon with the sun going down,” Mussina said after the game, which the Indians won, 2-1, in 12 innings. “It’s just not fair because you can’t see."
NY Times, 10-06-09

Further back: the the darkest* moment in Cleveland's benighted baseball history was the '54 World Series. But it had nothing to do with shadows creeping across the playing field. The Tribe having won 111 games on the way to the pennant, were swept by the Giants in a 4-game series, played on 4 consecutive days, in bright sunlight without shadows.

The 1954 World Series began in the early afternoonon of September 29 at the Polo Grounds. Marv Grissom threw the first pitch, hitting Al Smith, with Doby on deck, Avila in the hole and Rosen ready to clean up. Nothing worked for the Tribe that afternoon. And Willie Mays iced the win by making the play of the decade in center. One hundred two (102) hours later, it (the entire World Series) was over, at the end of game four at Lakefront Stadium in Cleveland.

So intent on moving the season to its conclusion, the Commissioner of Baseball didn't even allow a day off for travel. I couldn't find evidence of whether the trip to game three in Cleveland was by air or rail travel; the 20th Century Limited would have been an easy choice.

Baseball in the age of TV has been bent to the desires of revenue-hungry advocates of spectacle, not to mention the endless parade of advertising, necessitating strings of official time-outs.

And since most of the games are played on week-nights, we get scenes of the Boys of Summer shivering their way through games played on the cusp of winter. I liked it better the way they did it in '54...mostly. I refuse--still--to forgive Al Lopez for not going to Rapid Robert in the 4th game.

*In truth, the death by beanball of Ray Chapman, at the plate in the Polo Grounds against the Yankees, was the worst day--Aug. 16, 1920. But, to an 11 year old fan, who hadn't yet read enough baseball history, there was no comparison.

Herb Kohl: a guy who'll offer you a glass of water on a cold day

2009-10-06T19:39:00.006-05:00

I wrote Herb Kohl a cordial and encouraging letter about why I thought he should join the growing numbers of Senators and Representatives backing bills to lift the Cuba travel ban for all Americans. I referenced Senate Bill 428, which already has 32 Senate co-sponsors.

On Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 8:59 AM, Senator Kohl wrote:

"As you may know, the U.S. has imposed a travel and economic embargo on Cuba since 1958 in response to Cuban President Fidel Castro's refusal to democratize and demonstrate greater appreciation for human rights. In light of President Fidel Castro's decision to step down, there has been some discussion on reviewing U.S. foreign policy toward Cuba.

"I understand your concerns about possible changes to U.S.-Cuba relations included in the recent Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009. Section 620 of the Omnibus Appropriations Act amended the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000. This amendment would authorize changes for travel relating to commercial sales of agricultural and medical goods. However, the Obama administration has stated that they will disregard the amendment pending a further review of the embargo against Cuba.

"I assure you that there have been no significant changes to U.S. foreign policy related to Cuba. In the future, any changes in our relationship with Cuba will be made by the Obama administration with consultation from the U.S. Senate.

"Please know that I will keep your thoughts in mind should the topic be debated during the 111th Congress."

Sincerely,

Herb Kohl
United States Senator

I replied:

Senator Kohl:

This response is an insult.

Your first sentence includes: "...the U.S. has imposed a travel and economic embargo on Cuba since 1958 in response to Cuban President Fidel Castro's refusal to democratize and demonstrate greater appreciation for human rights". Ignorant.

Why would you send me this kind of half-baked nonsense? In 1958, Fulgencio Batista was the thug "leader" of Cuba; he didn't give a damn about democratizing. He was a murderous, thieving pal of gangsters and of the American government. The travel ban and embargo were imposed years later, along with a four-decades-long program of CIA interference in Cuban affairs, including many attempts to assassinate Cuban leaders.

I asked you about your view of sponsorship of Senate Bill 428. You wrote back about Section 620 of the Omnibus Appropriations Bill. Unresponsive. Head fakes work under the basket, not in Congress.

We send you to Congress to work. We expect you to hire competent people who are able to read a letter and respond with something other than this uninformed, non-responsive "bedbug" letter. I've received letters like this one over your signature in the past: Vaguely in the same neighborhood of the subject, but non-committal, something for everyone.

Will you please have your staff return to my original letter, read it carefully and get me a responsive reply.

This whole business of sending form letters in response to real questions is--as I said--an insult to those of us who are up-to-date on the issues and ask pointed, well-informed questions.

Please, respond with real information.

A constituent, a voter...

Jim Bouman
Waukesha

Gazpacho, Pesto, Stuffed (burp) Peppers...

2009-10-01T14:56:00.005-05:00

Not the best year for garden produce--lack of heat in June and July gave us tomatoes that look fabulous and taste only so-so (but, still, infinitely more desirable than hothouse and other winter grocery store produce). The plates of beefsteak and plum tomatoes are far outdone by the still-ripening heirloom varieties. The peppers shown are now stuffed and headed for the oven. I harvested half the basil and made two quarts of pesto. What's shown in today's photo is maybe a third of the season's production.

All the beets are long-gone--down the hatch. Thyme is still flourishing, as is parsley. But the big, still-to-come treat is our three dozen leeks. They'll stay put until well into November. Getting kissed by frost makes them even better.

All that from forty sq. ft. of raised beds.

A good year. Glad I didn't take the bait and plant corn so I could make a killing selling it to the ethanol distillers.

One interesting surprise: I planted my quick-and-dirty, dirt/cheap version (a 5-gallon bucket with a hole cut in the bottom) of the "Topsy Turvy" upside-down tomato growing apparatus. They were tiny, a grape variety. Never got to bring even one of them into the house... because I ate every delicious one from that prolific producer right off the vine.

Colonel Patrick A. Lang, U.S. Army, Ret.

2009-09-27T18:59:00.003-05:00

I listened to the talking heads on Fox News Sunday and was struck by Senator Kit Bond's apparent support of the putative resistance of at least some flag officers to the authority of the president of the United States. Bond spoke strongly in favor of having Generals McChrystal and Petraeus explain to Congress what their opinion is (as opposed to the opinion of the president/commander in chief) as to what the policy and strategy of the United States should be.

This is actually an incitement to mutiny.
The rest

2009-09-07T07:53:00.002-05:00

Lincoln on Labor & Corporate Power

All that serves labor serves the nation, all that harms is treason.If a man tells you he loves America, yet hates labor,he is a liar. If a man tells you he trusts America, yet fears labor, he is a fool. There is no America without labor, and to fleece one is to rob the other....

Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration....

The strongest bond of human sympathy outside the family relation should be one uniting working people of all nations and tongues and kindreds.

American Exceptionalism...

2009-09-01T11:33:00.005-05:00

Apologies, Anger, and Apathy: My Lai and Lockerbie Reconsidered
by Nick Turse
A week ago, two convicted mass murderers leaped back into public consciousness as news coverage of their stories briefly intersected. One was freed from prison, continuing to proclaim his innocence, and his release was vehemently denounced in the United States as were the well-wishers who welcomed him home. The other expressed his contrition, after almost 35 years living in his country in a state of freedom, and few commented.
When Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the Libyan sentenced in 2001 to 27 years in prison for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, was released from incarceration by the Scottish government on "compassionate grounds," a furor erupted. On August 22nd, ABC World News with Charles Gibson featured a segment on outrage over the Libyan's release. It was aired shortly before a report on an apology offered by William Calley, who, in 1971 as a young lieutenant, was sentenced to life in prison for the massacre of civilians in the Vietnamese village of My Lai.
After al-Megrahi, who served eight years in prison, arrived home to a hero's welcome in Libya, officials in Washington expressed their dismay. To White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, it was "outrageous and disgusting"; to President Barack Obama, "highly objectionable." Calley, who admitted at trial to killing Vietnamese civilians personally, but served only three years of house arrest following an intervention by President Richard Nixon, received a standing ovation from the Kiwanis Club of Greater Columbus, Georgia, the city where he lived for years following the war. (He now resides in Atlanta.) For him, there was no such uproar, and no one, apparently, thought to ask either Gibbs or the president for comment, despite the eerie confluence of the two men and their fates.
Part of the difference in treatment was certainly the passage of time and Calley's contrition, however many decades delayed, regarding the infamous massacre of more than 500 civilians. "There is not a day that goes by that I do not feel remorse for what happened that day in My Lai," the Vietnam veteran told his audience. "I feel remorse for the Vietnamese who were killed, for their families, for the American soldiers involved and their families. I am very sorry." For his part, al-Megrahi, now dying of cancer, accepted that relatives of the 270 victims of the Lockerbie bombing "have hatred for me. It's natural to behave like this... They believe I'm guilty, which in reality I'm not. One day the truth won't be hiding as it is now. We have an Arab saying: 'The truth never dies.'"

Read the rest at http://e2ma.net/go/6510697415/208009587/208359076/25612/goto:http://www.tomdispatch.com

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Getting sick of this? I am.

2009-08-29T17:24:00.005-05:00

The daily body counts from Huntley and Brinkley in the mid- and late 60s started the pressure on a couple of obtuse and deluded American presidents to rethink land war in Asia in pursuit of the evanescent goal of preventing falling dominoes.

This time it is the equally delusional but exponentially more costly, risky, wrong-headed and fundamentally immoral than the other one.

Saturday:
21 Iraqis Killed, 53 Wounded

Friday:
2 U.S. Soldiers, 4 Iraqis Killed, 6 Iraqis Wounded

September 15, 2009, I (we) owe a quarterly income tax payment that is just shy of one thousand dollars.

It will not be paid. We'll mail in the voucher with the words "No War Taxes" written on it, establishing this act as tax refusal rather than tax evasion.

.

Thursday: 8 Iraqis Killed, 45 Wounded....

2009-08-27T19:04:00.001-05:00

Iraqis are observing a three-day mourning period following the death of Shi’ite Muslim leader Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, as his body travels through important Shi’ite cities on its way to burial in Najaf. This has not stopped the violence however. At least eight Iraqis were killed and 45 more were injured in the latest attacks.

A string of bombings vexed Baghdad today and in the overnight hours. A pair of sticky bombs wounded 12 civilians in the Adhamiya district. Two policemen and two civilians were wounded during a blast on Beirut Square. Another bomb wounded two policemen and two civilians in New Baghdad. Last night, a bomb in New Baghdad injured three people, including two civilians, while a bomb in Mansour wounded two more. A third bomb, in Ghazaliya, left no casualties but destroyed a U.S. vehicle.

One civilian was killed and six were wounded when a car bomb exploded near a U.S. base in Taji.

In Mosul, three Iraqi soldiers were killed and seven more were wounded during an attack on their checkpoint. A bomb killed a policeman and wounded another. A separate blast killed a civilian and wounded two soldiers. Police detained two men and defused the car bomb they were driving. Two gunmen were arrested as well.

A Kirkuk policeman was killed and another was wounded in a drive-by shooting. A roadside bomb wounded two civilians. MNF forces killed one man and wounded another who were apparently planting a bomb.

The 1920s Revolution Brigades announced they will escalate violence during the Ramadan observance.

Wednesday: 7 Iraqis Killed, 13 Wounded....

2009-08-26T12:40:00.002-05:00

In Baghdad, five Iraqis were wounded during a car bombing. Gunmen stormed a jewelry shop on Palestine St. and wounded two people who fought back; one gunman was captured.

In Mosul, a bomb killed two civilians in the Faisaliya neighborhood. Gunmen killed a man on a bus.

Two bodies were found in Balad Ruz.

A bomb killed a farmer in Buhriz.

A Kirkuk policeman was wounded when a bomb planted on his car exploded.

.

Tuesday: 6 Iraquis Killed, 22 Wounded...

2009-08-25T18:09:00.004-05:00

To plunder, to slaughter, to steal, these things they misname empire;
and where they make a wilderness, they call it peace.

Tacitus

The stuff you hear on Sunday morning yap shows...

2009-08-24T15:27:00.003-05:00

Jim Kunstler puts Krugman on the spot....

Paul Krugman says that we'll soon realize that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is growing. He actually said that on the Sunday TV chat circuit. Not to put too fine a point on it, but I would really like to know what you mean by that Paul....

Do you mean that the Atlanta homebuilders are going to open up a new suburban frontier down in Twiggs County so that commuters can enjoy driving Chrysler Crossfires a hundred and sixty miles a day to new jobs as flash traders in the Peachtree Plaza?Do you mean that the Home Equity Fairy is going to wade into the sea of foreclosure and save twenty million mortgage holders currently sojourning in the fathomless depths with the anglerfish?Do you mean that all the bales of deliquescing, toxic "assets" hidden in the vaults of Citibank, JP Morgan, Bank of America, et al, (not to mention on the books of every pension fund in the USA, and not a few elsewhere) will magically turn into Little Debbie Snack Cakes on Labor Day weekend? Do you mean that American Express and Master Card are about to declare a Jubilee on accounts in default everywhere? Do you mean that General Motors will produce a car that a.) anyone really wants to buy and b.) that the company can sell at a profit?

What's growing in this country besides unemployment, bankruptcy, repossession, liquidation, gun ownership, and suicidal despair? In short, are you out of your mind, Paul Krugman?

Monday: at least 15 Iraqis were killed and 21 were wounded in bus bombings in southern Iraq.

2009-08-24T13:16:00.003-05:00

Also, a U.S. family has learned that their soldier son’s death in Iraq may have been triggered by abuse from fellow soldiers.

.

Sunday: 1 US Soldier, 8 Iraqis Killed; 17 Iraqis Wounded -- Antiwar.com

2009-08-23T16:19:00.003-05:00

Summer interns at the NYT Editorial Pages

2009-08-21T11:42:00.002-05:00

How does The New York Times manage to deliver a headline at the top of the op-ed page in 30 pt. Italic that makes a hash of the name of the President of the United States?

.

Rethinking my trip to the west of Ireland...

2009-08-17T22:21:00.003-05:00

In the past, late August was preparation time for a trip to the ancestral home and relatives in the west of Ireland: County Mayo--Westport and a nearby glaciated drumlin in Clew Bay. The entire 46 acres of Inishgowla, where my grandmother lived until age 16, was once too poor to support four families. Look at it now. This cottage is presently the only structure on the island. For sale at a mere 365,000 Euros, roughly half a million USD.

Who knows the current details of ownership? It certainly isn't anyone in our family.

If there's a mortgage on it, it might be wise for the debtor lay low and work on getting current. It's hard to believe that mortgage payments are up to date on this improbable "luxury" dwelling. Ireland, you see, is in deeper financial/real estate travail than many places closer to home--places like Las Vegas and the California Inland Empire.

(Quick change of venue to the west coast of USA.)

My son lives in half of a nice-enough duplex in Los Angeles--Redondo/Manhattan/Hermosa Beach area--right on the PCH, four blocks from the surf. His landlord is a Dubliner who came to California to make money in the real estate. Currently he is renting the duplex to three recent grads of Univ. Wisconsin--well below his costs. He'd bought the place with flipping in mind. He's an engaging fellow; I hope he gets out of it without getting too badly skinned. I met him last month and he told me this story.

(Back to Ireland and its real estate travail.)

Developers/builders/contractors in Ireland had special challenges in the real estate boom. The Irish typically didn't go in droves into the fields of masonry, carpentry, roofing and plumbing. Those that could went to the University, yearned for intellectual pursuits--teaching and, in the days of the Celtic Tiger, high tech and computer systems design (not to mention mortgage banking). Those inclined to workaday labor had traditionally emigrated to the States or Australia, where good union jobs eventually got them to the 'burbs.

So, the Irish had a building boom and too few craftsmen. Enter: the Czechs and Poles. Free movement within the EU permitted a steady and growing population of skilled craftsmen from eastern Europe to craft the fine real estate that became the standard for newly prosperous Irish.

Then, the crash. Immigrant laborers out of work, subsisting on the dole or headed back to Katowice or Ostrava. In either case, it was doubly difficult because they were typically owed thousands of Euros when the developer went bust.

Enter: friendly debt collection services offered by helpful people they met when they arrived back home without a zloty to their names. These skilled collectors would "buy the paper" from the guy who got stiffed, typically paying one third of the face value. Then they'd go to Ireland and track down the developer who had stiffed their "client".

Then, they'd shoot him in the foot; next guy in the knee, the third one in the shoulder. Can't go much higher without moving from mayhem to homicide. Those first few didn't even get a chance to pay up. Since nobody wanted to be next, the rest found a way to pay up.

The Russian Mafia.

"Saints preserve us," as mom might have put it.

.

The failures of Children's Service Society are the responsibility of Children's Hospital of Wisconsin

2009-08-13T20:56:00.006-05:00

Any in-depth reporting would, of necessity, require revealing who really runs this outfit.

Children's Hospital of Wisconsin is prestigious, hugely-funded, much-given-to-self-promotion/

congratulation. It has always been the untouchable part of the health care arrangements in this community.

Nevertheless, when an agency is harpooned, and seems to be quite deserving of that harpooning by outside, objective reviewers, the daily newspaper reporting on the chronic failures ought to be thorough in identifying just exactly who sets the standards for policy, budget, leadership, priorities and accountability.

Children's Service Society is the name of an old line Milwaukee agency that was taken over by Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, though you wouldn't know that from reading what the scribblers of the Journal Sentinel investigative team have to say.

.

Vaya con dios...

2009-08-13T12:08:00.002-05:00

Les Paul, the Wizard of Waukesha 1915-2009

He's gone, but the sound is still with us.

Two cents....

2009-06-23T08:15:00.005-05:00

I work at suppressing schadenfreude. It's not healthy; it's undignified; it leads to all kinds of bilious eruptions.

And, just this once, McBride gave me a reason to keep stuffing my instinctive reaction, a reason to think at least neutral thoughts.

Three weeks ago, on the fetid opinion pages of the Waukesha Freeman, Jessica McBride wrote a long opinion titled "Where's the harm in gay marriage?". It was--for her--an uncommonly thoughtful and persuasive piece, certainly not what I would expect on that page, nor from that columnist. From a fire-breathing right winger it made for a mild challenge to the thinking of her claque.

And, it definitely tended to humanize someone whose profile has been decidedly one-dimensional.

Now, back to work. Nobody ever said that resisting schadenfreude is easy.

Time for Open Government in Waukesha...

2009-06-19T21:09:00.011-05:00

Filed Thursday, noon, at the Circuit Court of Waukesha County: A complaint and Summons alleging that the Water Utility Commission of Waukesha--naming six individuals--have repeatedly violated the Wisconsin Open Meetings Law.

SUBCHAPTER V
OPEN MEETINGS OF GOVERNMENTAL BODIES

19.81 Declaration of policy.

(1) In recognition of the fact that a representative government of the American type is dependent upon an informed electorate, it is declared to be the policy of this state that the public is entitled to the fullest and most complete information regarding the affairs of government as is compatible with the conduct of governmental business.

This citizen has twice taken this concern about a series of apparent egregious and long-standing violations of the public's right to the "fullest and most complete information regarding the affairs of government..." to the District Attorney of Waukesha. That official has declined--in both instances--to pursue an investigation.

In such cases, The Open Meetings Law provides for citizens to pursue the matter in Circuit Court EX REL the State of Wisconsin.

Read the Complaint:

STATE OF WISCONSIN CIRCUIT COURT WAUKESHA COUNTY

STATE EX REL. JAMES BOUMAN,

1909 Easy Street, Waukesha, WI 53188

Plaintiff,

Case No.____________________

v. Case Code: CV 30703 Unclassified CV 30607 Administrative Review

WAUKESHA WATER UTILITY COMMISSION,115 Delafield Street, Waukesha, WI 53188

PEGGY BULL,

223 Debbie Dr., Waukesha, WI 53189

JERRY COURI,

1215 Seitz Drive, Waukesha, WI 53186

LARRY NELSON,

201 N. Prairie Avenue, Waukesha, WI 53186

City Hall - Room 208, 201 Delafield Street, Waukesha, WI 53188

RICK TORTOMASI,

2827 Minot Lane, Waukesha, WI 53188

DANIEL WARREN,

1259 Lambeth Road, Waukesha, WI 53189

GREG ZINDA

206 Mandan Drive, Waukesha, WI 53188

Defendants,

Wisconsin oPEN mEETINGS cOMPLAINT

JURISDICTION

This Wisconsin Open Meetings complaint, taken on behalf of the State of Wisconsin, is in regard to the closed meetings held by the members of the Waukesha Water Utility Commission and actions taken in those meetings dealing with the City of Waukesha's water supply and affecting the citizens of the City, as well as the State of Wisconsin.

Furthermore, the Waukesha County Circuit Court has jurisdiction over this complaint under Wisconsin Open Meetings Law. According to Wis. Stat. § 19.97(4), a private action can be filed in court after a complaint is first filed with the District Attorney's Office and 20 days has passed. This complaint was previously filed with the Waukesha District Attorney's Office on May 15, 2009. The District Attorney?s Office has yet to respond to the previous complaint.

FACT ALLEGATIONS

1. On June 21, 2007, Jerry Couri, Commission Secretary (1215 Seitz Drive, Waukesha, WI 53186); Peggy Bull, Commissioner (223 Debbie Dr., Waukesha, WI 53189); and Greg Zinda, Commissioner (206 Mandan Drive, Waukesha, WI 53188) were members of the Waukesha Water Utility Commission.

2. Likewise, on November 14, 2007, Daniel Warren, Commission President (1259 Lambeth Road, Waukesha, WI 53188); Greg Zinda, Commissioner (206 Mandan Drive, Waukesha, WI 53188); Larry Nelson, Mayor (201 N. Prairie Avenue, Waukesha, WI 53186); and Peggy Bull, Commissioner (223 Debbie Dr., Waukesha, WI 53189) were members of the Waukesha Water Utility Commission.

3. Furthermore, on June 18, 2008, Daniel Warren, Commission President (1259 Lambeth Road, Waukesha, WI 53188); Greg Zinda, Commissioner (206 Mandan Drive, Waukesha, WI 53188); Larry Nelson, Mayor (201 N. Prairie Avenue, Waukesha, WI 53186); and Rick Tortomasi, Commissioner (2827 Minot Lane, Waukesha, WI 53188) were members of the Waukesha Water Utility Commission.

4. On these dates, the Commission was a governmental body within the meaning of

Wis. Stat. § 19.82(1). Likewise, on these dates, there was a majority of the Commission members present at the June 21, 2007, November 14, 2007, and June 18, 2008 meetings with the purpose of conducting governmental business. Therefore, the members of the Commission were in a meeting within the meaning of Wis. Stat. § 19.82(2).

5. On June 21, 2007 and November 14, 2007, the members of the Commission held closed meetings. For each of these closed meetings, the Commission cited that they were closed pursuant to § 19.85(1)(e) & (g), "to discuss strategy relative to our long term water options, as well as radium compliance, with legal counsel." Waukesha Water Utility Commission Meeting Minutes, 1-2 (June 21, 2007), available at http://www.ci.waukesha.wi.us/alfresco/service/api/node/content/workspace/SpacesStore/836a7e8e-c576-11dd-bf3d-b52a1b1f1ae9/SCSTEMP_162190.pdf?guest=true; Waukesha Water Utility Commission Meeting Minutes, 2 (Nov. 14, 2007), available at http://www.ci.waukesha.wi.us/alfresco/service/api/node/content/workspace/SpacesStore/9126c4a7-c7c3-11dd-a4ee-79531abc49a6/SCSTEMP_164800.pdf?guest=true.

6. Additionally, at the November 14, 2007 meeting, the Commission approved the 2008 Budget. The 2008 Budget contained a $300,000 expenditure for consulting services to assist in achieving a Great Lakes diversion. This expenditure was not discussed in public by the Commission.

7. The members of the Commission held another closed meeting on June 18, 2008 stating it was pursuant to § 19.85(1)(e), [for a] discussion of several potential municipal sources of Great Lakes water supplies, along with return flow options, and the potential costs associated with the supply and return flow options.? Waukesha Water Utility Commission Meeting Minutes, 1-2 (June 18, 2008), available at http://www.ci.waukesha.wi.us/alfresco/service/api/node/content/workspace/SpacesStore/7485b0cb-cb00-11dd-a0e9-ab2aa0157d05/SCSTEMP_187198.pdf?guest=true.

CLAIMS

The members of the Waukesha Water Utility Commission have consistently acted in violation of Wis. Stats. § 19.96, § 19.85(1)(e), and § 19.84(2) of the Wisconsin Open Meetings Law and their responsibilities to the public by frequently holding close meetings where they have discussed and made decisions on water supply policy, particularly regarding a potential Great Lakes diversion. The closed meetings on June 21, 2007, November 14, 2007, and June 18, 2008 were held with the purpose to prevent public debate and knowledge regarding the Commission's water supply discussions despite the tremendous public interest in the environmental, public health, and fiscal aspects of these water supply issues. Under Wis. Stat. § 19.81(1), the public would be entitled to the " fullest and most complete information" regarding these water supply concerns.

The Commission and its members violated Wisconsin Open Meetings Law in the following ways:

COUNT I ? Misuse of Wis. Stat. §19.85(1)(e) Open Meetings Exception

The Commission members have repeatedly misused the limited Open Meetings exemption Wis. Stat. § 19.85(1)(e) to justify their closed meetings. For the June 21, 2007, November 14, 2007, and June 18, 2008 closed meetings, the Commission members used broad language that does not cite, as required by § 19.85(1)(e) and case law, how "competitive or bargaining" interests are implicated and therefore give the Commission no other option than to move to a closed session. See State ex rel. Citizens for Responsible Development v. City of Milton, 731 N.W. 2d 640, 644 (Wis. App. 2007) and Wisconsin Department of Justice Wisconsin Open Meetings Law: A Compliance Guide 18 (2007).

COUNT II Insufficient Public Notice

The members of the Commission violated Wis. Stat. § 19.84(2) by giving insufficient notice to the public regarding the Commission's closed meetings. In particular, the notices for the June 21, 2007, November 14, 2007, and June 18, 2008 closed meetings fail to reasonably apprise the public on the subject matter of the closed session. § 19.84(2). These notices do not meet the reasonableness standard as set forth in Wisconsin Supreme Court decision, Buswell v. Tomah Area School District, 2007 WI 71, 732 N.W.2d 804 (2007). To determine whether a notice was reasonable, there must be a "balancing of factors that consider the burden of providing more detailed notice, whether the subject is of particular public interest, and whether it involves non-routine action that the public would be unlikely to anticipate." Id. at 814.

In the facts and circumstances of this case, the Commission's notices to the public did not meet this reasonableness standard because it would have only been a negligible burden on the Commission to give more specific notice detailing the matters that were to be discussed in the closed meetings. Additionally, there is strong public interest in water supply policy and its environmental, health, and fiscal ramifications. Furthermore, these long term water policy decisions are novel issues of which the public would be unaware.

DEMAND FOR RELIEF

Plaintiff demands the following relief:

1. Declaratory Relief Stating that Commission Violated Wisconsin Open Meetings Law.

Plaintiff requests that the Court enters a declaratory judgment, in accordance with Wis. Stat. § 19.97(2), stating that the Commission and its members violated the Wisconsin Open Meetings Law.

2. Public Disclosure of Discussions and Decisions Made in Closed Meetings.

Plaintiff also requests that the Court awards equitable relief, pursuant to Wis. Stat. §19.97(2), by ordering that the discussions and decisions made in June 21, 2007, November 14, 2007, and June 18, 2008 closed meetings that violated the Wisconsin Open Meetings Law be disclosed to the public. Such a disclosure would best fulfill the Open Meetings Law's purpose of fostering an "informed electorate" where the "public is entitled to the fullest and most complete information regarding the affairs of government." Wis. Stat. § 19.81(1). In the present case, the public should have access to the Commission's discussions and decisions made in these meetings since it would have otherwise been entitled to hear them if the Commission properly followed Wisconsin Open Meetings Law.

3. Void Any Actions Taken by the Commission in the Closed Meetings.

Furthermore, any action taken by the Commission made in the closed meetings held on June 21, 2007, November 14, 2007, and June 18, 2008 should be void. Under Wis. Stat.

§ 19.97(3), the actions of the Commission can be voided by the Court if it finds that the public interest in voiding the actions taken in an improper closed meeting outweighs the public interest in sustaining the actions. Here, there is significant public interest regarding the environmental, health, and cost consequences that relate to Waukesha's long term water supply issues. This public interest regarding these important issues outweighs the interest in sustaining the Commission's actions that were made on behalf of the public in improper closed meetings.

4. Forfeitures from each Commission Member to be paid to the State.

Also pursuit to Wis. Stat. § 19.96, the plaintiff is seeking a forfeiture of $300 from each member for each violation to be paid to the state under Wis. Stat. § 19.97(4). This amount of forfeiture is justified due to the Commission's repeated misuse of closed meetings and the sensitive nature of these closed meetings given the environmental, health, and fiscal implications of the Commission's water supply discussions which the public should have been part of under the Wisconsin Open Meetings Law.

5. Award Actual and Necessary Costs of Prosecution.

Plaintiff requests that the Court reimburses him for the "actual and necessary costs of prosecution," including "reasonable attorney fees." Wis. Stat. § 19.97(4).

Dated: June 19 , 2009

______________________________

Andrew R. Garman

Attorney for Plaintiff, James Bouman

State Bar No. 1070840

2914 Cone View Lane

Waukesha, WI 53188

608-358-9897

Chronically neglected red, red rose makes spectacular display

2009-06-18T12:16:00.018-05:00

This grandiflora rose* has always been well-behaved. The ones on either side get leggy every year. But this is a first: nine perfect blooms on one day in the middle of June.

If only it were a happier day.

We have to put the pup down this week. The rose and the furball (coincidentally, named Rose--Pixie Rose, named by a girl who got the puppy for her 11th birthday) shared our yard for the past 13 years.

I think we'll keep the two together, side-by-side, in the garden.

Update: Hey, wait a minute! That was yesterday; things are different today.

The rose got clobbered by the thunderstorms.

But, The pup's pain and travail has shown a surprising, nay, amazing remission. Her problem is a bunch of metastatic tumors that have been blocking all the gastric and other plumbing for days.

While mostly ignoring food and straining a bit (some results), she was uncommonly frisky today--even chased a rabbit out of the yard and worried a chipmunk hiding under the steps. Tail wags almost full time.

If the weather is OK, we'll walk the long trail with her at Lapham Peak tomorrow. She's not likely to recover; but, for now, she looks to be enjoying a dog's life w/o discomfort.

This is a dog who has never shown a lazy, cantankerous, obstinate, aggressive, challenging, supercilious. smelly, growling, smart-ass or bored attitude since day one. Anybody in this family who ever felt funky, depressed, alienated, really down, excessively up, high/low, bored/wired, defeated, fired, under-appreciated, overly-confident, etc., has been on the receiving end of a firm tongue-lashing administered by the Pixie critter. This dog has a Class A licker-license and has never hesitated to use it.

Easy Street fishing trip to Woodfield Pond

2009-06-14T12:21:00.003-05:00

The guy with the Zebco nabbed the biggest--a fat Punkinseed. The short guy with the long bamboo pole (fifty years old, never needs oiling or a tune-up) got seven of the nine total.

Still in the pond at 7:00 am. In the frying pan by 9:00 am. All in all, a very satisfying day.

Perps

2009-05-12T10:54:00.003-05:00

One of the six victims

2009-05-12T10:44:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday, Pete Seeger.

2009-05-03T12:56:00.010-05:00

Ninety years old today.

Always kept a U.S. Budget pie-chart in his banjo case, up-dated as needed, hauled out for a community-organizing moment in so many of his concerts. The slice of the budget that went for war today, war yesterday and more war tomorrow, like Topsy, "... just growed and growed".

Henry Kissinger has the Nobel Peace Prize. Pete has a pie chart.

Two old men, with their respective places on the world stage.

I don't know whether there's an afterlife. I'm not counting on it, but open to being surprised.

If there is, I'd hope I could be on the sidelines to see the encounters with the gatekeeper when these two present their credentials.

o A guy with a grin and a banjo case.

o A guy with a proclamation and a medal and evidence of a cash award plus a wee bit of other baggage*.

* From the Nixon tapes, five days after thug/murderer Pinochet took over in Chile:

Nixon: Nothing new of any importance or is there?
Kissinger: Nothing of very great consequence. The Chilean thing is getting consolidated and of course the newspapers are bleeding because a pro-Communist government has been overthrown.
Nixon: Isn't that something. Isn't that something.
Kissinger: I mean instead of celebrating – in the Eisenhower period we would be heroes.
Nixon: Well we didn't – as you know – our hand doesn't show on this one though.
Kissinger: We didn't do it. I mean we helped them. [garbled] created the conditions as great as possible.
Nixon: That is right. And that is the way it is going to be played
^ The Kissinger Telcons: Kissinger Telcons on Chile, National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 123, edited by Peter Kornbluh, posted May 26, 2004. This particular dialogue can be found at TELCON: September 16, 1973, 11:50 a.m. Kissinger Talking to Nixon. Accessed online November 26, 2006.

h/t Ed Werstein

David Broder. Who will rid us of this unprincipled minion of the beltway elites?

2009-04-27T09:44:00.004-05:00

Glen Greenwald in Salon today. (G.G., perhaps the only reason to look at Salon)

"...To justify the absolute immunity he wants for government lawbreakers, Broder describes the Bush era as

One of the darkest chapters of American history, when certain terrorist suspects were whisked off to secret prisons and subjected to waterboarding and other forms of painful coercion in hopes of extracting information about threats to the United States."

"But that's easy to say now that the Bush presidency is over and the evidence of its criminality so undeniable. But Broder never said any such thing while it was all taking place, when it mattered. In fact, he did the opposite: he mocked those who tried to sound the alarm about how radical and "dark" the Bush presidency was and repeatedly defended what Bush officials were doing as perfectly normal, unalarming and well within the bounds of mainstream and legitimate policy.

(snip)

"More than anything else, Broder's column illustrates the Central Creed of Beltway Culture, which should be memorialized on plaques throughout that city:

When poor and ordinary Americans who commit crimes are prosecuted and imprisoned, that is Justice.

When the same thing is done to Washington elites, that is Ugly Retribution."

Sweet....Sooooo sweet.

2009-04-18T17:59:00.004-05:00

Go Tribe!

It is hard to shake off something as deeply ingrained as a HATRED baked into one's marrow at an early age. Even the nuns at St Colman's Parish school taught us that a healthy Yankee hatred was good for the soul.

I think I've given up pretty much all those old hatreds as I age. Except this one essential hatred. I have maintained, even deepened, my abiding hatred for the Yankees. They deserve nothing less and nothing more.

So, today's 14-run top-of-the-2nd-inning performance by the Tribe, in Yankee Stadium--the new in-your-face Yankee Stadium, that has them so deep in hock they'll never get out of the hole--is too sweet for words.

Go Tribe.

Sheesh. Front Page of NYT

2009-04-14T08:47:00.004-05:00

Disney Expert Uses Science to Draw Boy Viewers
by Brooks Barnes

Kelly Peña, “the kid whisperer,” is helping the Walt Disney Company to reassert itself as a cultural force among boys.

ENCINO, Calif. — Kelly Peña, or “the kid whisperer,” as some Hollywood producers call her, was digging through a 12-year-old boy’s dresser drawer here on a recent afternoon. Her undercover mission: to unearth what makes him tick and use the findings to help the Walt Disney Company reassert itself as a cultural force among boys.

Ms. Peña, a Disney researcher with a background in the casino industry, zeroed in on a ratty rock ’n’ roll T-shirt. Black Sabbath?

“Wearing it makes me feel like I’m going to an R-rated movie,” said Dean, a shy redhead whose parents asked that he be identified only by first name.

Jackpot.

Ms. Peña and her team of anthropologists have spent 18 months peering inside the heads of incommunicative boys in search of just that kind of psychological nugget. Disney is relying on her insights to create new entertainment for boys 6 to 14, a group that Disney used to own way back in the days of “Davy Crockett” but that has wandered in the age of more girl-friendly Disney fare like “Hannah Montana.”

Click the link to read the rest of this report on anthropology...if you have the stomach for it.

This subdivision is toast...

2009-04-12T23:49:00.013-05:00

Nice sunny Spring day in Pabst Farms...

...a place that advertised itself early on with the arrogantly dismissive boast:
Everything else is just a subdivision

Something new: two houses, side-by-side, sporting "for sale" signs. And there are at least six others among the few that have been built and occupied, in the past three years that are being offered for sale. One of them is a F.S.B.O.

This one is "For Sale"...
...Or, you could rent it, if you like.
Agents always tell those who come to look at a vacant property that the previous owner was transferred suddenly to a new job in Charleston or some other unlikely place.
But this is a story I heard first-hand last fall. A guy in a white pickup came to install my new DSL service, here in Waukesha. He said that he was losing his P.F. house to foreclosure, that he and his wife had moved to Pabst Farms in 2006, thinking that they could make out pretty well--as flippers--in the hot market. He went on that his business had gone flat, and that his wife's income had been likewise halved.

They were in default, trying to sell, looking at the inevitability of foreclosure. Now, it is probably bank-owned and "for rent"--that's what it says on the little white part of the sign.
(click tho photo to enlarge)

I don't think high speed intercity rail makes sense at this moment in time....

2009-04-06T10:26:00.005-05:00

...Not that it never did make sense. And not that it never will...

Listen to Jim Kunstler make a strong case in a conversation with Jebediah Reed of The Infrastructurist, for the need to start with the abandoned/deteriorated rail roadbeds we have, and add to them, to create a great deal more stimulus bang for the stimulus buck.... And for building new rolling stock that isn't necessarily the state-of-the-art level of high tech. Just good intercity rail that will move both people and goods....

JR: So we’re starting a major new round of investment in our national infrastructure. Can we agree that’s a good thing?
JHK: Well, for instance, I think it would be a catastrophic mistake to devote a trillion dollars to fixing up the highways. I mean the days of “happy motoring” in this country truly are behind us. We should be planning for a period when energy resources are much more scarce. Throwing that kind of money at roads is not the way to go about doing this.

How would you be doing it?
I don’t know that I would undertake a spending program like this at all. That said, I’m a pretty strong advocate of repairing the national rail system. It’s obviously not the answer to everything. But it would certainly put a lot of people to work doing something that’s meaningful for society. The infrastructure is out there, waiting to be fixed. I’m pretty adamant that we shouldn’t be going the path of high-tech, maglev, high speed rail at this moment, because we need to prove that we can do this at the Hungarian level before we try to proceed past that.

That doesn’t sound very ambitious.
I perceive one our biggest problems being techno-grandiosity. We are so full of ourselves and so sure that technology is going to rescue us and that we’re so good at it that we can defeat every problem that faces us. It’s a fatal hubris, and it’s subscribed to by an awful lot people who have something to say about the course we take in this country.

In the past, you’ve been critical of Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute on similar grounds.
Don’t get me started on Amory Lovins. His basic program for hypercars promotes car dependency. Why do that unless you think we’re going to continue as a car dependent society? That’s why the highway infrastructure thing is so bad, because we’re not going to be able to continue the way we’ve been going. The car is not going to vanish overnight, of course. But it’s certainly going to become a problem as people develop resentments because they can no longer afford to participate in it [as oil prices rise over time].

But you think the answer with rail is to keep it very simple.
Absolutely. The infrastructure is already out there! The track beds are there! And you need an entirely new track corridor for high speed rail, because the high speed trains can’t deal with the curves in the existing tracks. The idea that we would have to create a whole new set of right-of-ways is nuts when we’re not even utilizing what we have. Another thing to keep in mind is that we’re going to be facing a lot of adversity in the years ahead, and we are a culture that will require psychological reassurance. We should have a project that’s achievable. We need to demonstrate to ourselves that we’re still competent.

And the simple version of the national rail buildout would do that.
This rail project is ideal for that purpose. As I’ve said, we’ve got the tracks, and the rolling stock is pretty easy to get. You could argue that GM should be making this stuff. But it’s terribly important that we fortify ourselves psychologically so we have some faith in our ability to face all the other really important challenges that lie in front of us.

A lot of smart people are warning that if we’re going make this kind of enormous national investment, it would be a political disaster for Obama not to have some very tangible things to show for it.
Well, 2009 could turn out to be a politically rocky year. It’s really not clear how things are going play out in terms of the energy picture, the oil picture, and the picture for finance and capital. I’m afraid what’s really going on here is that a huge amount of capital is gone and is never, ever coming back again in any form.
If that’s true it would have been nice to have converted more of it into real and useful things while it was around — like, say, a good national rail network and a better electrical grid.

I read a real estate soothsayer today: "Housing Market has bottomed; good time to buy, because interest rates are low..."

2009-03-22T13:48:00.006-05:00

It is a good time to buy,

IF you have a 20% downpayment
IF your credit score is above 740
IF you can sell the house you're in now
If your income/employment is secure

MarketWatch has an article looking at the fact that many Americans are one or two paychecks away from financial ruin:

“A MetLife study released last week found that 50% of Americans said they have only a one-month cushion — roughly two paychecks — or less before they would be unable to fully meet their financial obligations if they were to lose their jobs. More disturbing is that 28% said they could not make ends meet for longer than two weeks without their jobs.

And it’s not just low-income earners who would find themselves financially challenged. Twenty-nine percent of those making $100,000 or more a year said they would have trouble paying the bills after more than a month of unemployment.

Meanwhile, more than four in 10 respondents told pollsters in a recent Pew Research Center study that job-related issues were the nation’s most important economic problem.

“Since October, mentions of other major economic issues have declined, as the public is increasingly focused on the job situation,” according to the Pew study.

Since July, the study noted, there was been a striking spike in the numbers of families making $100,000 or more who said it was difficult to find local jobs — 73% compared with 40% eight months ago.”
Read the above carefully. 1 in 2 Americans are 2 paychecks away from massive financial trouble. 1 in 4 would be on the financial edge after 2 weeks only. These are fully employed people.
Read the rest

Strange stuff from Wis DOT....

2009-03-19T15:21:00.008-05:00

A few weeks ago, one of the principals of Pabst Farms Development participated in an open forum on the progress of the development, particularly the "upscale" regional shopping mall proposed as whipped topping for the dead-in-the-water Pabst Farms Subdivision.

Daniel Warren (in addition to being one of the big dogs at Pabst Farms Development is President of the Waukesha Water Utility Commission AND President of the Waukesha School Board) was quoted twice in the Waukesha Freeman saying to the group that WisDOT had spent "five to six million dollars already" on the new diamond interchange to be added to Oconomowoc to accommodate all the shoppers and upscale residents who would soon be flocking there.

The audience included lots of skeptical Oconomowoc citizens, grown weary and cynical over empty promises and hallucinated "hopeful signs" that the upscale mall was actually going to happen. They were looking for news about who was signing up to open stores--some reality to balance the baloney about Bonwit-Teller, Lord & Taylor, Ikea (that's upscale?) pipe dreams that had been floated early in the game.

"Five to Six Million Dollars," already spent on the interchange, this was big news, considering that the project has been put on hold, delayed, assigned a low priority, and--in most observers' realistic estimation--abandoned. I called the local DOT Communications pro, located in Waukesha. Who should answer but Dennis Shook, former Waukesha Freeman scribe, cut loose from that superb daily fishwrap several years back, in one of their regular purges.

Shook is a garrulous guy (and I'm not shy). So, there was a bit of small talk We reminisced briefly about some of the Freeman glory days. Then, I asked him where Warren got his information, whether he could confirm it. Shook said that his information was that "four to six million" had already been spent on the interchange; he mentioned something about the high cost of "grubbing". We shot the breeze a bit more, then I hung up.

A few hours later I sent him this e-mail.

"I talked with you earlier this morning. And, now I have a request. Will you please do some digging and provide more precise figures than the ones you offered this morning.

"As I recall it, I asked you whether Daniel Warren, quoted twice in the Waukesha Freeman, was correct in saying that "five or six million" had already been spent on the Pabst Farms interchange. Your response was that "four to six million had already been spent.

"I'd like to be able to quote you on a precise figure. More precise numbers, broken down by category, distinguishing among dollars spent, allocated, contracted, disbursed or any other useful category that DOT uses.

Thank you in advance."

To which Shook replied:

Dear Sir: I was unaware that you were quoting me at all. As you did not identify yourself, you should not use my comments.

Dennis A. Shook
WisDOT, SE Regional Office
Regional Communications Manager
141 NW Barstow St.
Waukesha, WI 53188
(cell) 1-414-750-2395

To which I replied:

The only thing I'm interested in is the figures on what has been, to date, "spent, allocated, contracted, disbursed" on the work defined and identified as Sawyer Road/Hwy P diamond interchange upgrade.

Everything else we discussed was just small talk. Mr. Warren, one of the Pabst Farms principals, appeared to have an official source for his statements. I am interested only in getting the same information that Mr. Warren has.

I would appreciate your getting those figures for me, as I am aware it is public information and available to the public.

Jim Bouman

I let this sit for a week and a half, thinking that Shook was working on it. When nothing arrived, I called his supervisor in Madison. The supervisor lit a fire under him. Seemingly, he had persuaded himself that I didn't mean it; or, that his retroactive declaration of "Off the record" held water.

Today I got this:

Dear Mr. Bouman:

Thank you for your inquiries on the Highwa P/Interstate 94 interchange. Here are the answers I was able to collect:

*To date, WisDOT has spent $8.8 million, broken down as : $1.4 million for design, $5 million for real estate acquisition, and $2.4 million for clearing and grubbing (including the crossover).

*WisDOT does not have a final project cost because the project size has yet to be determined.

*No other funds have been spent on the project or allocated to it.

Hope this helps. Thank you.

Dennis A. Shook

At long last, it is revealed: The reason Dennis Shook got canned from the Waukesha Freeman.

In most circumstances, a pink slip from Freeman editor, Bill Yorth, could be spun as advantageous to a job-seeker: too objective, insufficiently devoted to right wing causes, inclined to analytical thinking, determined to use the Wisconsin Open Meetings Law to get the facts, literate...lotsa stuff in short supply among journalists these days.

He's Civil Service, now. He's got Marty Beil backing him up. Dennis has settled in for the long haul. He'll retire as a WisDOT bullshit artist.

...this paean to the inherent nobility of the common man

2009-03-16T14:20:00.004-05:00

This past weekend saw the Milwaukee Symphony presenting--under the direction of departing Maestro, Andreas Delfs--three pieces, beginning with Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man.

Before the music started, I enjoyed reading Roger Ruggeri's Program Notes. Long the principal bassist at the Symphony, Ruggieri has been writing--for decades--witty and knowledgeable introductions and short histories of the music, in the Encore program. He's an engaging writer, does great research and often adds a little-known fact about how the music came into being.

Here's what he wrote about Copland, the naming the Fanfare and how the date of the 1943 debut performance was chosen.

Notes by Roger Ruggeri © 2009

Aaron Copland
b. November 14, 1900; Brooklyn, NY
d. December 2, 1990; New York City
Fanfare for the Common Man

Composed in 1942 for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, this 3-minute fanfare was first performed by them and their Music Director, Eugene Goossens on March 12, 1943. Scored for four horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum and tam tam, the work has been performed many times by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra...

Evoking the essential American spirit with the ringing sonority of brass and percussion, Fanfare for the Common Man was written in response to a commission for a patriotic fanfare for the opening concert of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s 1942-43 season.

Copland recalled: “…The music was not terribly difficult to compose, but working slowly as was my custom, I did not have the fanfare ready to send to Goossens until November. I had some difficulty with the title. The piece has been Fanfare for the Common Man for so long that it is surprising to see on my sketches that other titles were considered: Fanfare for a Solemn Ceremony, for the Day of Victory, for Our Heroes, for the Rebirth of Lidice, for the Spirit of Democracy, for the Paratroops, for Four Freedoms.…After I decided on Fanfare for the Common Man and sent the score to Goossens, I think he was rather puzzled by the title. He wrote, ‘It’s title is as original as its music, and I think it is so telling that it deserves a special occasion for its performance. If it is agreeable to you, we will premiere it 12 March[*] 1943 at income tax time.…”

In these days, when bitching about the injustice of taxation is glorified as the height of patriotism, it makes me think of my old friend, Bob Overs, whose advice on being a good citizen was simply: "Pay your taxes cheerfully and always, always vote".

* Not until 1955 was the due date of Federal Income taxes moved from the Ides of March to April 15.

Soda Bread

2009-03-16T03:52:00.006-05:00

The teaspoon is there merely as a size reference. I found two iron skillets--8 inch and 6 inch--at an estate sale. Makes two loaves from the typical recipe-- which was sized to the heirloom 10 inch skillet.

Have never understood where midwestern folk on St. Patrick's Day come up with the notion that Corned Beef and Cabbage is Irish fare.

And green beer? Sheesh!

Here's the recipe. Won the prize* the Irish Fest/Red Star Yeast Baking contest in 1994.

4 C. Flour
1 T. Baking Powder
1 t. Baking Soda
1 t. Salt
All sifted together

2/3 C. Sugar creamed with 2 T. Butter; with 2 small (1 large) Egg added.

1 C. Raisins, steamed with 1/4 C. water.

1 1/2 C. Buttermilk

Sugar/butter/eggs in the bottom of a big mixing bowl, dry ingredients on top of that, buttermilk and raisins added gradually as it is mixed with a big wooden spoon. Stop with the buttermilk if it is getting too wet. Turn into lightly greased pan(s). No need to knead. Top should look craggy in the pan--before and after the baking.

Bake 50 to 70 minutes at 350 degrees in pre-heated oven 'til a toothpick comes out clean.
Turn it out of the pan immediately to cool on a rack.

* First Prize was a Belleek platter, which was a beautiful and treasured piece...until they annealed the image of fookin' Paddy McFest to it.

Journal Company in the tank...

2009-03-10T12:08:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, Morningstar, was able to report on the basis of inter-day fluctuations in price, that the stock of Journal Company, (JRN)--publishers of the increasingly fetid daily Milwaukee Journal Sentinel--had shown a gain of 10%.

Whoopee!

Then we teased out the details. After opening at just about $0.43 per share, someone bumped the price by a nickel and induced this amazing ten percent increase in valuation (not for long, though; the price then retreated to forty cents at the end of trading.

Ten percent of squat is diddly squat.

One might predict that soon Patrick McIlheran, Mabel Wong and David Haynes--right wing troika of opinion--will be looking for a rexograph or mimeo machine to put out their increasingly tone-deaf nonsense.